On March 16th, the day before the U.S.’s first statewide stay-at-home order was announced (in California), one Consumer industry observer expressed serious concern for the sporting goods industry in an article entitled “COVID-19 Isn’t Playing Games. Neither Is Anybody Else.” The writer noted that the share price of Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS) had fallen nearly […]

Last Monday, my colleague wrote a piece in this space about the challenges faced by traditional malls and how mall operators are responding to COVID-19 called “The End of the Mall as We Know It?” One particular news item that broke in the subsequent days made that title seem nearly clairvoyant. The Wall Street Journal […]

COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on retail and accelerated a number of trends that were already challenging for traditional malls. One such trend, the growth of ecommerce, was fast-tracked in 2020, with stay-at-home orders and retail shutdowns driving much of the change. According to Adobe Analytics, U.S. online sales reached $73.2 billion in June, an increase […]

Despite the economic turmoil brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, one segment of the consumer products industry continues to race ahead as though nothing is wrong: plant-based foods. Leaders like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat continue to grow but are now facing increased competition from other emerging plant-based food brands and new products and lines […]

In a year in which seemingly nothing has gone as it usually does, Walmart has just added to this year’s long list of anomalies. The Company announced that all stores will be closed on Thanksgiving this year, breaking the tradition of kicking off the Holiday shopping season the night before Black Friday for the first […]