Promises of a new back-to-the-office wardrobe might still be months (?) away, but for parents with kids back in the classroom, it’s been an opportunity to channel their fashion fancies.

Dopple, a childrenswear subscription service that raised $9.8 million in seed funding in April, has seen 2021 revenue grow 5x from last year, CEO Chao Wang told Retail Brew. (She declined to share specific figures.)

“People haven’t had the chance to actually—whether it’s for themselves or for their children—wear normal clothes, so that’s the biggest thing that we’ve seen,” Wang said.

• Dopple partnered with Bonpoint, a luxury childrenswear brand, to add more high-end items to its boxes ahead of the back-to-school season for occasions like picture day.
• Pajamas and comfort clothing are still hot-ticket items, Wang noted, but the category has dipped from its pandemic highs.

One advantage the industry has is that parents are constantly buying clothes for their kids, explained Sucharita Kodali, principal analyst at Forrester.

“There isn’t much high-quality children’s clothing. There are exceptions...but many are not made to last so they can get price points low,” Kodali said. “Frequency of purchasing is higher because kids outgrow their clothes so quickly, but the market size of children’s clothing is much smaller than adult apparel.”

• Childrenswear sales in the US reached $34 billion last year—and it’s predicted to grow to $40 billion in 2021, according to Mordor Intelligence. The overall US apparel market, meanwhile, is expected to top $523 billion this year, per eMarketer. 

Present meets past: Kodali noted that kids’ apparel is now very much influenced by streetwear, pointing to Nike, Lululemon, and Golden Goose as examples.

Oshkosh B’Gosh picked up on that same trend: The childrenswear company teamed up with lifestyle brand Kith in September on an exclusive collection. Jeff Jenkins, EVP of global marketing at Carter’s (Oshkosh B’Gosh’s parent company), described the collab as a “classic meets modern partnership,” combining Oshkosh’s nostalgic workwear aesthetic with Kith’s contemporary design elements.

• The collection is also part of Oshkosh’s new creative campaign, which is aimed at millennials, who, in 2018, were parents to 50% of the kids in the US, per the National Retail Federation.

“We thought, what better time to launch than when parents are shopping and looking to elevate wardrobes for their babies, toddlers, and kids,” Jenkins said. “In order to stay top of mind with the next generation of parents, we’ll continue to align with the brands, artists, and celebrities who shape culture.”

Click here to read why Janie and Jack, another kids’ apparel brand, is focusing on classic designs.—KM

It’s always good to have a backup. At least, that’s the approach American Eagle Outfitters is taking to tackle the supply-chain crisis.

AEO is buying Quiet Logistics, a digital fulfillment operator, for $350 million, the Wall Street Journal reported.

• The Massachusetts–based startup, which currently has eight fulfillment centers across the US, offers same-day and next-day shipping options. It uses a mix of workers and robots to complete orders.
• The acquisition is AEO’s second of the year in the space: It purchased logistics firm AirTerra in May.

“Supply chain is becoming more of a consumer-facing activity,” Shekar Natarajan, AEO’s chief supply-chain officer, said to the WSJ. “And in that world, you need to basically have consistency and control of your experience.”

Zoom out: “Shippers and fulfillment networks have been signaling for months that 2021’s holiday season will be even more constrained than 2020,” Jason Murray, CEO of e-commerce logistics company Shipium, told Retail Brew. “Major national retailers like AEO are frantically looking for alternatives to handle projected shipping volumes.”

• Big names like Walmart, Target, and Home Depot are facing the crisis head-on—and even chartering ships to stay ahead of the situation.

Murray noted AEO’s acquisition is a smart move, but he’s interested in what comes in 2022: “How it translates into a new revenue-generating line of business after the holidays is an exciting development to watch.”

+1: Under Armour cited the actual shipping of goods as its biggest concern when it reported Q3 earnings yesterday.—JS

For most shoppers, a product search starts and ends on Amazon. According to a new report by the AI optimization and intelligence platform Feedvisor, 92% of more than 2,000 surveyed US consumers say they’re more likely to buy products via Amazon than any other e-comm site. A streamlined checkout process and multiple delivery options are a few factors that go into that decision and, in turn, shape customer expectations.

• A whopping 75% check prices and product reviews on Amazon before making a purchase, per Feedvisor.

“Many of the best practices for Amazon...are best practices that apply to other e-marketplaces and e-commerce in general,” Dani Nadel, Feedvisor president and COO, told Retail Brew over email. “The goal should be to help create a cohesive, personalized, and seamless customer journey to your most relevant product page and then to optimize the experience once they get there.”

Lean on me: The post-pandemic reliance on online shopping has worked in Amazon’s favor—and has been a boon for marketplaces overall, according to the same survey. Target.com attracts 33% of consumers, while the percentage of Walmart customers has grown from 51% in 2019 to 63%.

• Walmart has also made gains in search: 10% of consumers start on its website, closing in on Google’s 18%.

Can’t beat ’em? Join ’em, and lean into competitive deals and promos. Almost a third (28%) of consumers surveyed said price is the most important factor when selecting a product. Easy delivery and returns are also key, with 25% putting convenience at the top of their list.—JG

Today’s top retail reads.

Play time: We’ve got two toy stories for you on very opposite sides of the spectrum.

• First, a pair of siblings found their niche in the industry selling plushies modeled after Hindu deities. (Bloomberg)
• Then dive into the world of haunted dolls on eBay and how sellers navigate restrictions around selling “souls” and anything that might be home to one. (the New Yorker)

Bye, design: Gone is the red and yellow paint—the McDonald’s stores of today are very much in the box. And some think that translates to a loss of identity, along with nostalgia. (Vox)

Dropping knowledge is what we do. Check out our Home for the Holidays hub from Retail Brew, sponsored by Square. It’s packed with articles we wrote to help retailers head into the holidays with confidence.*

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

Caitlin Tirakian got her start in real estate as the events director at UW-Madison’s real estate club. (UWM is home to the industry’s oldest graduate program in the US.) Sticking to the space, she later landed an internship at ShopCore and has been a retail research analyst there since 2020.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? I research consumer trends, retailer news, and market analytics to aid in the acquisition and management of shopping centers.

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile: My job touches many facets of the retail industry and teams within my company. Data research has a bland connotation sometimes. Yet I find it so exciting that I take all the numbers and data we find and make it into information for my team and company.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? I love the monthly/quarterly reports that I work on. Each one has its own focus within retail. It is very rewarding to take data and turn it into consumable information.

Name your favorite retail account to follow: I’ve always been a fan of Free People. From their products to posts, they’re consistently engaging.

Hands down, the best fast food restaurant chain is...Jimmy John’s. My college roommates and I had a tally on our white board of who ate it the most in one semester. I won by over 10 counts.

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

• What we know about Alibaba’s 11.11 sales bonanza so far
• Payment is livestream shopping’s biggest obstacle
• Even paper is caught in the holiday season’s supply-chain fiasco