Foot Locker is hyped for the holidays, in more than one sense.

The footwear retailer has had a tumultuous 2023 up until it received its earnings report for Q3, which demonstrated that the company’s turnaround efforts are paying off and the holiday shopping season could punctuate that progress in a big way.

• During Thanksgiving week, Foot Locker saw increases in ticket and basket sizes, as well as decent foot traffic and increases in online and in-store conversions.
• Foot Locker is still working through some inventory issues that led to some of the struggles earlier this year.

“The consumer has many options when it comes to apparel. And we will continue to be appropriately promotional this holiday season as we work through inventory and adjust our assortment strategies for 2024,” Frank Bracken, the company’s chief commercial officer, told investors during a call earlier this month.

Get hype: A major part of Foot Locker’s holiday strategy centers around its “Hype for the Holidays” campaign, which kicked off last month. The campaign features NBA players and their brand partners such as Kevin Durant and Nike, as well as Stephen Curry and Under Armour.

• However, the launch of the campaign is running parallel with the company’s new “The Heart of Sneakers” platform, which looks to integrate all of the company’s brand campaigns, online, and in-store experiences, and events.

Keep reading here.—KM

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If the retail industry were a high school yearbook, retail media networks, where retailers sell online and in-store advertising to brands, would be a contender for Most Likely to Succeed.

• Retail media will grow 9.9% YoY in 2023, to $125.7 billion globally, and will overtake TV spending by 2028, according to a forecast by GroupM.

But the takeaway from a new report is that unless retail media networks (RMNs) improve the experience for brands purchasing their ads, the superlative they’re more likely to earn is one more associated with wooing than outcomes: Biggest Flirt.

The report, by Turbyne, a retail media platform that expects to be available in beta form in early 2024, surveyed 225 retail executives and 87 brands.

Grade expectations: The report found that retailers who expect to make the honor roll may need to hire a tutor instead. Nearly two-thirds (65%) predicted that the largest brands—those with more than $500 million in annual revenues—would give their experience with their RMN an “A” grade. But—cue the helicopter parents—only 6% of brands in the survey said they’d give an “A” to their experience with retail media.

Keep reading here.—AAN

On Wednesdays, we wear pink spotlight Retail Brew’s readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Michael Adler is a marketing executive at Kurt S. Adler, a holiday décor company in operation since 1946.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? Kurt S. Adler Inc. is the leading designer, importer, and wholesaler of holiday décor as a one-stop shop for retailers, designers, and businesses with more than 7,000 SKUs and 80+ licensing partners in our line every year creating several trends and holiday classics. My grandfather, Kurt, started the company 77 years ago and we’re a very proud family business, so my job is to wear several hats finding ways to improve and grow the business.

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile? Even though our products are seasonal, we are very busy all year long designing and selling products a year or even more in advance.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? I’ve really enjoyed helping create custom ornaments and other holiday decorations for companies to sell or give away to clients and employees.

Which emerging retail trend are you most excited about right now, and why? It’s hard not to be excited about how AI can help businesses in such a variety of ways, even for a company that produces physical decorations.

Keep reading here.—EC

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