Between 2008 and 2018, Nordstrom Rack grew at an extraordinary pace. In that 10-year span, Nordstrom’s off-price revenue more than quadrupled as the retailer rapidly expanded the Rack store base and pushed into e-commerce to meet growing demand for value […]
Nordstrom Rack: Chasing Growth Before Success Read More »
When Bed Bath & Beyond named Overstock.com as the “stalking horse” bidder for its intellectual property last month, it wasn’t much of a shock. Overstock exited all of its non-home merchandise categories in 2022, and as one of the leading
Can Overstock Reroute Its Road to Irrelevance? Read More »
For most of the past quarter century, Home Depot and Lowe’s have appeared to be unstoppable growth machines. Combined, the two home improvement giants grew revenue from just $35 billion in 1997 to over $125 billion a decade later, as
The Golden Age of Home Improvement Is Over Read More »
Amazon Prime’s U.S. membership growth ran into a brick wall last year. As recently as 2021, Prime was still growing rapidly in its home market. The program’s domestic subscriber count jumped from around 118 million individuals at the outset of
Amazon Prime Is Past Its Prime Read More »
A spate of bankruptcies has plagued the U.S. retail landscape over the past decade. During this time, private equity firms have come under scrutiny due to a slew of bankruptcy filings by private equity-backed retailers: most notably, Toys R Us.
Private Equity Owners: Not Always Toxic for Retail Read More »
Just a year or two ago, many people believed that the Covid-19 pandemic had sparked a massive, permanent acceleration of ecommerce adoption. This thesis became the conventional wisdom among executives at pure-play ecommerce retailers and other companies that stood to
Winter Arrives for Ecommerce Darlings Read More »
Target has been one of the biggest winners in the toy business since the 2018 liquidation of Toys”R”Us. The demise of the only sizable national toy chain enabled discounters (led by Walmart, Amazon, and Target) to extend their growing dominance
Target’s FAO Schwarz Partnership Is No Game Changer Read More »
Off-price retail leader TJX faced a big test after the Covid-19 pandemic swept the globe in 2020. Like other discretionary retailers, it was forced to close its stores for weeks (or months, in some jurisdictions). Meanwhile, mass merchants like Target
Even When It Loses, TJX Always Wins Read More »
When Tritton took the top job in late 2019, the iconic home furnishings destination desperately needed a reinvention. The former Target chief merchant rapidly implemented long-overdue strategy changes. While one could quarrel with some of his decisions (e.g., abruptly changing
The Share Buyback That Killed Bed Bath & Beyond Read More »
To nobody’s surprise, the Covid-19 pandemic gave Amazon a huge market share boost. So far, the ecommerce giant has been able to maintain most of its pandemic share gains even as consumer shopping patterns have started to normalize. However, the
Behind Amazon’s Thorny Profitability Problem Read More »
