There was a lot going on at Shoptalk this month. For starters, it was Shoptalk’s first time doing the event in the fall. Held in the sprawling McCormick Place in Chicago, more than 3,000 attendees gathered, braving the city’s sunny yet chilly weather to hear top retail executives deliver mainstage keynotes and be a part of lively discussions around themes like unified commerce, data-driven loyalty, and building modern legacy brands. It was also the first time the primary mainstage participants during the first two days of the three-day event were all women.

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New beginnings

As it marked its 15-year anniversary, Jennifer Hyman, Rent the Runway CEO and co-founder, said a lot has changed at the company. The popular e-commerce platform has, like many other retailers, seen a series of profit dips over the last few years as it continues to adapt to the changing economy.

To better address the challenges, Hyman mentioned how the company has hired a new CMO this year to revitalize its marketing, alongside a new chief product officer. She added that it was part building out a new team, which she called “a second founding moment.”

“No matter if you’re a startup, if you’re a big company, over 50% of the ideas that you launch are not going to work anyway,” she said. “So why not get them out into the universe as quickly as possible? Figure out what works, iterate on it, and move to utilize data to guide those decisions.”

Keep reading here.—JS

Walmart is getting into home delivery of prescription drugs and medication refills. The move hints at Walmart’s ambitions to further boost its e-commerce business by adding prescription delivery to its cart.

“By combining Pharmacy Delivery into a single order, we’re strengthening our commitment to providing everything they need, whenever and wherever they need it,” Tom Ward, EVP and chief e-commerce officer at Walmart US, said in a press release.

Shoppers will be able to add prescriptions along with other items from their local Walmart in a single order, available both in-app and online, Walmart said. The “every day, low price” retailer said customers will have the option to schedule same-day delivery. However, Walmart has plans to get into fast and convenient delivery options of 30 minutes or less soon.

Walmart’s pharmacy delivery is available in six states: Arkansas, Missouri, New York, Nevada, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. By January, the service is expected to be available in 49 states, according to the company.

Keep reading here.—VC

Grocery delivery helped deliver a stellar Q3 for online grocery sales, which jumped 13.8% year over year to $27.4 billion, according to data from ​​Brick Meets Click and Mercatus released this week.

• E-grocery saw growth across all three fulfillment methods, with delivery (including first-party and third-party providers) surging 25% YoY to $10.9 billion in sales after a 6% decline last year, while ship-to-home jumped 15% and pickup rose 5%.
• The growth in delivery comes as players like Walmart and Amazon along with third-party delivery providers like Instacart, DoorDash, and UberEats have also been working to grow their grocery delivery businesses with new offerings and partnerships.

The mass retail channel, including retailers like Walmart, continued to shine, thanks to delivery and ship-to-home. It grew its share of delivery to 52.7%, pushing supermarkets down to under 38%, and share of ship-to-home to 16.4%, taking Amazon’s grip on the segment down to 50.1%. Mass lost some share in the pickup segment, however, which ​​Brick Meets Click and Mercatus said was likely due to Walmart’s efforts to grow delivery within its Walmart+ membership.

The results highlight the “importance of strengthening the customer value proposition to align better with the evolving expectations associated with shopping online for groceries,” Brick Meets Click partner David Bishop said in a statement.

Keep reading here.—EC