DELIVERY

Even Bigger Delivery Energy

Within minutes of jumping on the phone with Rina Hurst, chief business strategy officer at Shipt, I was reminded of an inescapable pandemic truth: Like other same-day delivery services, Shipt had a much better 2020 than I did. 

• Shipt’s “shoppers,” gig workers who fulfill its members’ orders from stores, increased to 200,000 from 100,000 during the early stages of the pandemic. With holiday hiring, its workforce swelled to 350,000.
• Shipt’s app was downloaded 2.4 million times in 2020, Apptopia shared with Retail Brew. Over the year, it peaked at 424,000 daily active users.

What changed? Hurst sums up delivery’s quarantine transformation as one from “luxury to convenience to a must-have.” That made retailers who’d held out on same-day fulfillment options—aka anyone that isn’t a grocer—eager to catch up. 

Step by doorstep

Shipt entered 2021 with around 120 retail partners, Hurst told me. They range from pet care (Petco) to housewares (Bed Bath & Beyond) to holiday gifts (Build-A-Bear)—a substantial shift from refrigerator lists. 

Their needs aren’t much different. Giving non-grocery retailers the best delivery experience means...

• Hiring smart. Hurst said Shipt trains its shoppers like they’re brand ambassadors—communicating with customers and making personalized suggestions.
• Following through. Shipt's partner success team is responsible for keeping onboarded retailers...on board. Example? When Bed Bath & Beyond joined the roster, both orgs invested in a week of free delivery for customers. 

Some non-grocery partnerships have a seasonal tilt. Build-A-Bear joined Shipt with days left in Q4, just in time for a last-minute holiday surge. As the candy aisle at CVS reminds us, Valentine’s Day is around retailers’ corner—another time the plush delivery biz could pick up.

Long-term...“There’s lasting power in replenishable businesses that is going to look a little bit different than those that are more discretionary,” Hurst said of Shipt’s category mix. 

But more non-grocery partnerships will come to a phone near you later this year. “We are actively speaking to what I would call the ‘last frontier,’ where we might not have a presence today,” Hurst said.

Zoom out: The competition's heating up to enable same-day delivery for any and all retail categories. By clients alone, Instacart leads the pack with 500+ retail partners.

DTC

That New Category Smell

Last year, the FTC stomped on Harry’s ambitions to merge with Edgewell in a $1.37 billion deal. Now, Harry’s is putting in overtime to become a personal care emporium on its own.

Its latest step: Harry’s launched its first line of men’s deodorant and antiperspirants last week. 

Nielsen reports demand for men’s scents has dragged since last April, but Harry’s GM Jaime Crespo told Retail Brew there are fans to make up for it. “This has been the most-requested product ever in the history of Harry’s,” Crespo said. 

• 1,600+ customers wrote in or called Harry’s to campaign for sweat control products.

Crowdsourcing product ideas is a DTC trademark; so is realizing big launches need big distribution funnels. In addition to launching online, Harry’s odor control products will be carried in 15,000+ stores, spanning partnerships with Target, Walmart, Kroger, and more.

The scent of victory? Crespo told me more about Harry’s prod dev process during quarantine and shared early launch results. Read our full conversation here.

SPONSORED BY CLYDE

The Majority Are Extending Their Warranty

Remember when one-day shipping made peeps go whhhoooaaa, that's fancy? But now it’s more of an expectation than an extra perk. 

Warranties are the same story. They've become what free shipping used to be—an industry standard. And with new standards comes a new experience. Specifically, the one-of-a-kind Clyde experience. 

Clyde doesn’t do shipping, but they’ll have you sailing into a sea of customer loyalty. 

Clyde is a product protection platform that is empowering merchants by providing them with a reliable revenue stream while allowing them to get on their customers’ good side (and stay there). 

Clyde brings extended warranties into the 21st century. Their platform seamlessly matches warranty contracts with your products and gives you full visibility into customer information, claims, and program performance. 

All this warranty talk really just warrants a demo.

Schedule one with Clyde today.

LOGISTICS

Take Your Order, No Take-Backs

Retailers have tumbled through flaming hoops to ease returns for shoppers, offering to pick up packages from their homes or forging unlikely store drop-off partnerships. Now, the WSJ reports some retailers are implementing buyers-keepers policies. 

Amazon, Chewy, Target, and Walmart are issuing return refunds but allowing shoppers to keep or donate their unwanted items. Their logic: Long term, it cuts costs.

• Retail automation exec Rick Faulk told the WSJ returns can cost a retailer between $10 and $20 per purchase, excluding shipping costs.
• That adds up when 25% to 30% of all e-comm orders end up returned.

But like any return policy...this trend’s got fine print. The WSJ notes that refunds make sense at opposite ends of the returns spectrum: for items so small they’re pocket change, or items so big they’re too heavy to re-ship. Middle ground items still can go back where they came from. 

One upside: Shipping and returns are usually where customer-retailer relationships break down. No take-backs is so frictionless, it could build loyalty. 

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Etsy will remove QAnon merchandise from its marketplace.
• Staples bid to purchase Office Depot’s parent company for $2.1 billion.
• Ben & Jerry's is launching a pet treat line.
• Applications for Paycheck Protection Program loans reopen today.

SPONSORED BY PRINTFUL

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HOT TOPIC

At the mall, it’s where band tees are the only tees. In Retail Brew, it’s where I invite readers to weigh in on a trending retail topic. 

Last year, and for many years before that, the National Retail Federation’s “Big Show” took over an entire NYC convention center. On Tuesday, it’s going virtual in a six-part online event. 

The context: Virtual conferences can’t provide free fruit or color-coded lanyards, but retail event organizers hope they can still provide tactical retail advice and a whole lot of LinkedIn follow-ups. Other retail conferences have switched to digital formats over the past year, including Shoptalk. 

Be honest: Are you still attending retail events now that they’re 100% virtual? Vote here.  

SWAPPING SKUS

Commercial real estate’s going through a bit of an existential crisis. Here are a few reads to explore its evolution. 

• No matter the category, retailers have a new lease on lease terms, and landlord negotiations overall, after 2020’s challenges. (Retail Dive)
• Bustling shopping center → apocalyptic movie set → gaming company headquarters. This is the story of North Carolina’s Cary Towne Center, but more properties could soon follow a similar trajectory. (Morning Brew)

ICYMI

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• The Most Downloaded Shopping App of 2020 Was…
• Store Closures Broke Records Last Year
• Will the Latest Stimulus Checks Lead to a Sales Bump?