Retail Brew’s year in review 2022: Looking forward, labor, beyond our borders

We’ve sent upwards of 250 newsletters this year and published somewhere in the neighborhood of 900 stories. Below is a (roughly) chronological look at the year in retail through the lens of our own reporting.

We’re starting with Q1, when we projected the year ahead, delved into labor issues, and looked at retail around the world. If you want to jump right to your favorite quarter (because who doesn’t have a favorite quarter?), feel free:

Jump to: Q2 | Q3 | Q4

January

📆 Our theme of the month: The year ahead

We took a broad look at the trends we expected to play a key role in 2022. Plus, it was when NRF’s Big Show, which often sets the stage for what’s to come, took place.

🗞️ Grabbing the headlines:

• Will the e-commerce spin-off trend continue in 2022?
• What retailers will focus on in 2022
• How men’s beauty brands plan to take off in 2022
• The future of alt-meat: cleaner ingredients, whole-cuts, and a lot more competition

❤️ Your favorite:

• Smell that? Scents are a key part of a store’s identity, even in Covid

📖 Well worth the read:

• Retail Brew’s Erin Cabrey took a deep dive into non-alcoholic (NA) beverage brands’ efforts to make a buzz in stores. (Non-alcoholic beverages seek a new frontier this year: retail doors)

🦉 Words of wisdom:

• “Gen Z is powering a lot of the energy to the metaverse and it’s important for brands to have a presence there.”—Meagan Loyst, Lerer Hippeau, Gen Z VCs (Why NRF is taking the Metaverse very seriously)

February

📆 Our theme of the month: Workforce watch

From automation to unionization, the retail workforce is changing faster than ever, and we were there to break down the industry’s biggest labor trends.

🗞️ Grabbing the headlines:

• Here’s a reading list of how the pandemic has changed the retail workforce
• Robots have landed in grocery store aisles—here’s how they’re helping retailers “remain competitive”
• How robots could lend short-staffed grocers a helping hand
• Unionization efforts pick up across the retail industry

❤️ Your favorite:

• Foot Locker braces for Nike’s shift to DTC

📖 Well worth the read:

• “The good news?…There are hundreds of thousands of conveniently located secure lockers where retailers can use a carrier of their choice to deliver packages…The bad news? These lockers are easily accessible all over Europe and Asia…but they’re not in the US,” wrote Andrew Adam Newman. (Secure delivery lockers are huge all over the world. Why not in the US?)

🦜 Quote of the month:

• “You are right, that I’m saying that the customer comes first. But I am right when I say that everyone before now, for the most part, who said the customer comes first was lying.”—Joel Bines, author of The Metail Economy (Consumers are storming the castle. Joel Bines says retailers better lower the drawbridge.)

March

📆 Our theme of the month: Retail beyond the US

Retail Brew’s primary focus is firmly on American retailers, but there are, of course, markets and companies beyond our borders that are reshaping the industry. In March, we started scratching that surface.

🗞️ Grabbing the headlines:

• A futuristic McDonald’s in Australia is on the cutting edge of experiential retail
• Inside India’s 150-year-old jewelry hub: in photos
• How the Ukraine-Russia conflict is impacting global commodity exports
• Inside kirana stores, India’s ubiquitous mom-and-pop shops
• How India’s MyGlamm found DTC success
• Why Canadian cities are so popular as test markets

❤️ Your favorite:

• The list of retailers halting operations in Russia grows: Uniqlo, Burger King, and more

📖 Well worth the read:

• Surely, you know all about BOPIS, but how much do you know about BOSS? Andrew Adam Newman told the story of the click-and-collect option “that doesn’t baffle people looking up recipes.” (Buy online, ship to store doesn’t get much glory. Here’s why it should)

🦜 Quote of the month:

• “Typically if you raise money, you’re going to start to get on the treadmill of having to raise every 12 to 18 months. Some people don’t realize just how much bandwidth that can take up in terms of your attention and your resources.”—Dulma Altan (This TikToker is delving into what makes DTC CPG businesses tick)

🎗️Remember this:

• “Plenty of ink has been spilled on the importance of brick and mortar. Allow us to spill a little more: Montblanc opened a new boutique in Belfast, Ireland, last month, in the latest example of the company’s store strategy. The space is rooted in providing an experience,” wrote Katishi Maake in March. (Montblanc spills on its brick-and-mortar strategy)