TECH

We gave Amazon a hand

Amazon has strayed far from its bookstore origins to become an everything enterprise, with products from cloud tech to masstige streaming series. Some recent experiments have clearer IRL retail applications than others—like Amazon One, a palm-scanning payment system that emerged from stealth mode last September. 

It’s tough to gauge Amazon One’s viability without more than corporate blog posts to reference. When Amazon One finally arrived at an East Coast Amazon Go store, we knew we needed to try it ourselves. At the very least, we could see whether Amazon One delivered on its convenience promises.

So I (Halie) handed Amazon my biometric data last week. For journalism. 

Ready for a hand-off? 

Amazon One kiosks scan shoppers’ hands and catalog their palm signatures in roughly 30 seconds. After the first palm reading, customers can scan their hands to enter the store aisles, pick up their items, and exit without any cashier small talk. I found the tech to be as quick as the blog posts suggested. (You can watch me use Amazon One here.)

Security check: Contactless payments like Amazon One obviously speed up store checkouts, but shoppers worry they could expose personal data. EMarketer senior analyst Jaime Toplin shrugs off the concerns as premature. “If they say it’s safe, it’s safe,” Toplin told Retail Brew. “It’s a matter of convincing consumers.”

• US shoppers are generally wary of trying new payment methods, Toplin said, and even more skittish when the shiny new tech involves biometrics. 
• And the hesitation is global: In a May Mastercard study, only 37% of global consumers said they were very or somewhat comfortable trying biometric payments. 

But winning shoppers’ trust isn’t impossible. Skeptics aside, the global biometric payments market is expected to expand 36x between 2018 and 2027, reaching ~$15 trillion, according to ResearchAndMarkets data. Toplin also reminded us that other tech companies have persuaded users to trust body scanning tech, like Apple’s Face ID. 

• Amazon’s already gotten buy-in for its “Just Walk Out” tech, which lets shoppers do just what its name implies. Airport giant Hudson is testing it at two locations.

Click here to read the full hands-on review of Amazon One and whether the tech is scalable across brands beyond Amazon.—HL

APPAREL

Suiting up in spandex

The pressure to wear real pants has never been greater. But judging by Lululemon’s earnings yesterday, leggings could be the new business casual.

• Lululemon reported that Q1 revenue surged 88% to $1.2 billion, from $652 million a year earlier, beating analyst estimates. Net income grew to $145 million, from $28.6 million the previous year. 

Stretching into new markets: To help fuel growth, Lulu is looking in the Mirror. 

• Lululemon expects the “invisible” interactive gym (and Peloton rival) to drive as much as $275 million in revenue this year, giving the retailer an edge in the at-home fitness space and expanding the brand’s reach.
• CEO Calvin McDonald said the company is already seeing “a large number of non-Lululemon guests owning Mirror.” 

The big number: The global athleisure market is expected to top $250 million by 2026, per Allied Market Research. And sports bras aren’t just for the gym anymore.

WFH altered our wardrobes for good, Nora Kleinewillinghoefer, a principal analyst at Kearney, told Retail Brew. “We're going to see less formality in the workplace because we've spent a year proving that it’s maybe not necessary,” she said.

But, but, but: The question is whether Lulu's momentum can go the extra mile. 

• “People have [already] stocked up their closets with athleisure,” Kleinewillinghoefer said, so new leggings might not be a priority.—JG

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STORES

Sample stage

In more signs that the Before Times are creeping up on us: Travel is ticking up, swimsuit sales are surging, and free samples are returning to Costco and Sam’s Club. 

OK, OK, don’t expect to be transported back to pre-March 2020:

• At Costco, samples will be readied behind plexiglass. And while you can still hover around the stations, customers will be served one by one. The warehouse chain plans to start with roughly a third of its 550 stores, with the rest phased in by the end of June.
• Sam’s Club said samples will only be available on weekends and in bite-sized (read: limited) batches. 

Rewind: Free samples were one of the first things pulled from stores at the outset of the pandemic, leaving shoppers devastated. But consumers aren’t alone in celebrating their comeback. 

“Sampling remains an important way to entice customers into stores,” noted Matthew Pavich, managing director of global strategic consulting at Revionics, in a RetailWire discussion. “You can’t taste things on the internet and you can’t replace the joy of seeing a free sample while making a shopping trip.”

+1: Also making its return? The industry’s favorite buzzword: experiential retail.

• Sam’s Club touted "new, immersive sampling experiences" like food trucks in its announcement.—KM

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING…

• Flink and Getir, two European grocery delivery startups, raised a combined $795 million in new funding.
• Nike appears to have released unauthorized Mambacita sneakers. 
• Walmart is rolling out a new app for store employees and giving them Samsung smartphones.
• Paula’s Choice, a skincare brand, is reportedly exploring an IPO. So is Rent the Runway.

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SWAPPING SKUS

Today’s top retail reads. 

365 days later: Retailers made sweeping promises about promoting racial justice last year. Which ones followed through? (The Goods)

Fashion matrix: Even if IRL runways make a comeback, upstart fashion brand Auroboros wants to remain 100% digital—including its designs. (Vogue Business)

Up for debate: Between WFH’s rise and formalwear’s demise, is this the end of the necktie? (WSJ)

FRIEND OR FAUX?

If you missed out on a free Krispy Kreme donut after getting vaxxed, you have another shot today, aka National Donut Day.

This is not faux news, but one of the stories below is. Can you spot the fake? 

1. All the merch from the Balenciaga x PlayStation 5 collab cost more than the console itself. 
2. Home chefs who picked up Guy Fieri’s new air fryer are complaining that it overcooks the food.  
3. A McNugget shaped like an Among Us crewmate from McDonald’s BTS meal sold for nearly $100,000 on eBay. 
4. Miller Lite and New Balance are joining forces on a shoe-koozie (shoezie?) for Father’s Day. 

Keep reading for the answer.

ICYMI

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

• Mask brands face a post-pandemic future
• Amazon Prime Day 2021 will spotlight small businesses
• Instacart explores adding robots

FRIEND OR FAUX? ANSWER

No, Guy Fieri doesn’t have his own air fryer brand. But if he did, we're sure it wouldn't ruin your food.