Hey, hey, hey. We know you’re counting down the days until you can put up your OOO—and until Retail Brew’s last virtual event of the year. Reminder: It is one day away!

Join us for The Checkout at 12pm ET tomorrow, when we’ll be chatting with Walgreens and Foxtrot about the year’s biggest retail trends, plus what to watch in 2022. Sign up right here.

In today’s edition:

• Under Armour on hiring now—and in 2022
• Pop Up Grocer’s CPG trends to watch
• Harry’s Labs makes it first acquisition

—Katishi Maake, Jeena Sharma, Julia Gray

Under Armour is used to competition. But this year, the Baltimore–based company knew the battle for workers would be fiercer than ever.

“I can’t remember a time that it’s been as competitive,” said Stephanie Pugliese, Under Armour’s president of the Americas.

In May, it raised its starting wage to $15/hour, from $10/hour—a move that Pugliese said has put the company in a good position this holiday season. She told us that UA now only needs to fill 100 retail openings, after aiming to hire 2,000 seasonal employees this year.

• In October, the company also rolled out a short-term incentives program, which offers workers at stores hitting monthly goals a bonus, starting at 8% of their pay.

She tells Retail Brew more about hiring now—and in 2022.

This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

What does training look like during a hectic holiday season?

I would characterize our training as comprehensive while still being aware that it’s a shorter timeline.

We take our new teammates through how we are providing a safe place to work and shop, then the nuance of product training comes in: Why Under Armour’s product is differentiated, why we build in performance, and how we build performance into all of that we do. We also share product details, particularly on some of the newer products of the season.

We take them through those highlights, but it doesn’t end with the onboarding training. We are consistently sending out product knowledge to our stores that all teammates have access to. That is high-fi to low-fi. We have digital learning, but we also have our employee areas in stores with information about new products posted on bulletin boards. Our teammates are consistently exposed to information and knowledge that they need to help themselves feel more confident, and also most importantly, to serve our consumers.

How do you see labor as a competitive advantage?

At Under Armour, we have seen our retail teammates as talent all along—and some of the most important talent that we have in the business, because they are the people that are greeting and smiling at and providing an incredible experience for athletes and our consumers as they walk into the stores.

We’ve always taken that relationship with our retail teammates very seriously and positively. Some of that has manifested in terms of compensation, but the other piece of it is providing opportunities to learn and grow within our retail stores, but also within other areas of our business. It is providing contests and fun product knowledge updates for our teammates. It is the camaraderie that our store management team offers every single day in our stores that is a competitive advantage for us.

What hiring trend will continue into 2022?

The most obvious is competitive wages and making sure that we are paying a fair wage to our retail teammates. The other thing that I think is going to stick is brands and companies treating their retail teammates with the respect and care that they deserve. Because teammates, employees have choices, and so becoming an employer of choice is not only about fair compensation—that’s kind of a ticket of entry—but it’s also about providing a work environment where teammates feel like they are taken care of.—KM

In 2021, we stocked our fridges and pantries with alcohol-free drinks, mushroom-packed snacks, and chocolate-hazelnut spreads not named Nutella. No, not just us. That’s according to Pop Up Grocer’s year-end look at CPG trends.

What’s in store for 2022? CEO Emily Schildt talked us through some predictions:

Bubbly bevs go global: Pop Up Grocer saw a sales uptick for drinks with international flavor profiles, specifically those rooted in Asia and South America. “Beverages are a very accessible way to experience a new flavor or a new trend,” Schildt said. “They are always a way where people can easily be a bit adventurous.”

But first, breakfast: With hybrid-working models here to stay, Schildt believes breakfast will be a space where consumers get more adventurous than cereal or smoothies. “It will be a place where people are spending more time actually preparing things,” she told us.

Story time: A Pop Up Grocer survey found that 21% of its shoppers were interested in learning about a brand’s founder and ethics. “People are inquisitive about what’s beyond the box, and the interest is growing,” Schildt explained. “They’re really gravitating toward the humanity behind a product.”

And, and, and: More than half (53.3%) of its customers preferred groceries be delivered the same day, according to the same survey, while only about 6% wanted their goods in 15 to 30 minutes.

Still, a majority ultimately like shopping in a store. “Much like online shopping, people just haven’t yet adopted the online grocery behavior overall in a way in which it would allow them to sort of expect that kind of turnaround,” Schildt said.

• E-comm is expected to make up 9.6% of all grocery sales in 2021, per eMarketer.

Wait, there’s more: From restaurants creating their own CPG products to an even hotter freezer aisle, see Pop Up Grocer’s full report here.—JS

Today, personal-care company Harry’s Inc. announced the first M&A move for its Harry’s Labs incubation arm, and it smells pretty good. Harry’s is acquiring the DTC all-over-deodorant brand Lumē.

• Lumē’s claim is that it doesn’t mask stink, it actually prevents it by blocking the ability for bacteria to consume, erm, odor-producing bodily fluids of all kinds.
• Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Fresh opportunity: Tehmina Haider, head of Harry's Labs, told us M&A has been a focus for the past year—a shift from product development—and that they spoke to over 100 different companies before settling on Lumē. She said the startup fits their goal to find products that serve “unmet consumer needs.”

• It doesn’t hurt that the all-purpose-deodorant market in North America is worth $5.6 billion, per Mordor Intelligence.

“Odor control overall is a really large market, and there’s a very high number of consumers within [it],” Haider explained. “It’s really exciting for us to be continuing to expand our presence in such a big category where we still feel like there are whitespaces.”

What else? Looking ahead, Harry’s is looking for CPG brands across the personal care, beauty, pet care, and home categories. Haider’s team spends hours reading customer reviews, gauging social media interest and general traction.

Over the next couple of years, she said, Harry’s wants to buy up to eight brands for its portfolio: “Creating things that people like more, that’s our no. 1 criteria.”—JG

Today’s top retail reads.

Bricks and clicks: “I didn’t think I would ever live in a world where industrial land is worth more than office land,” said the president of Dermody Properties. “But here we are.” (The Wall Street Journal)

Beyond big and tall: When it comes to inclusive sizing, menswear is playing catch up. (Glossy)

A dull roar: Dillard’s is one of the best-performing stocks of the year, making the family behind the department store one of the richest in the country. (Forbes)

Oh, 2021, what a year it’s been. We’re hoping you, dear readers of Retail Brew, can help us make sense of it all.

Get back: What retail trends do you think were the most overlooked this year? NFTs? Fifteen-minute delivery? Live-streaming?

• On the flip side, which were the most overhyped? NFTs? Fifteen-minute delivery? Live-streaming?

We put together a quick survey right here, where you can cast your vote (and even add your own trend if we missed anything). Drop us a line in the inbox, too, with your thoughts.

We’ll see where we all stand at the end of the year.

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

• Why department stores and Fanatics became (unlikely) partners
• Grove Collaborative moves into sustainable pet care with new line
• How greeting-card startup Thoughtful Human is rethinking its retail partnerships