Compared to the flashy new robots, electric vehicles, and VR headsets that other industries highlighted at the Consumer Electronics Show last week, retailers were arguably more focused on immediate, short-term innovations rather than grand futuristic visions.

Deborah Weinswig, CEO and founder of Coresight Research, summed up retail’s contribution to the annual tech conference as “less speculative” than in past years and said “a lot of what they’re showing is available and can be implemented.”

Walmart, for instance, announced a number of tech upgrades during its keynote speech that are already available to select customers, including seamless checkout at certain Sam’s Club locations and expanded drone delivery service in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area. The retail giant also highlighted how it’s using AI—a ubiquitous two-letter acronym at CES—to draw better analytics from consumer data and then provide this information to merchants.

In another example of more practical AI applications, Meta announced a partnership with advertising agency Dentsu to launch “intelligent messaging” services for brands that are currently struggling to respond to the customers who reach out via social media apps.

Among product makers, however, the new tech on display was decidedly flashier.

Keep reading here.—AV

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The outlook for US retail store openings and closings in 2024 looks slightly sunnier than last year, per a recent report from research firm Coresight.

In 2023, US store openings outpaced closings for the second straight year. Major retailers closed 4,913 stores (totaling 88+ million square feet), up 28.6% year over year, and also opened 5,645 stores, up 4.7% annually. Home and office retailers were the leading sector for closures, accounting for nearly a third of them, followed by apparel, which shuttered 1,046 stores. General merchandise discount stores had the most openings, at 34.3% of all openings.

• Bed Bath & Beyond had the most store closures (886), while Dollar General led the charge in store openings (1,009).
• Off-mall retailers saw the most openings and closures of any retail location type.

This year, Coresight foresees 4,000 retail store closures and 5,500 openings in the US. About 592 stores have closed (407 of those closures being drugstores) and 1,611 have opened (including 880 discount stores) already this year, as of January 12. The firm projects that clothing retailers and drugstores will be the closures leaders, while discount stores will remain the top sector for openings.

Keep reading here.—EC

Welcome back, everyone. Keep reading for our unofficial call to action today. But first, let’s dive into what’s happening in retail this week.

In stores: Pharmacy chain Rite-Aid ended 2023 on a less-than-stellar note after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October. Part of the company’s restructuring includes shedding its 1,900 stores.

In events: On Thursday, PayPal will host a preview of a number of innovations—including from Venmo—it plans to bring to market this year. The keynote address by president and CEO Alex Chriss will be available on PayPal’s YouTube channel.

In savings: We hear today is the Super Bowl for bargain hunters. Influencers in the coupons/discounts/clearance space believe that Ross Dress for Less will have crazy markdowns on Monday. (Drop us a line if you can confirm this.)

Keep reading here.—KM

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