We’re breaking down the year in retail month by month, taking a (roughly) chronological look at the year that was through our own reporting.
During Q3, we were laser-focused on sustainability, payments, and luxury. We also embarked on a multi-month exploration of what it really means to be “made in America.”
July
📆 Our theme of the month: Sustainability
It’s critical to continue measuring retailers’ progress toward a sustainable future year-round, but we set aside a month to shine a spotlight on some of their efforts.
🗞️ Grabbing the headlines:
- Four experts on what excites them about the evolution of sustainable materials*
- Gassed mile: How the USPS’s decision not to purchase more electric vehicles could collide with retailers
- Retailers are rising to the state-mandated challenge of plastic reduction
- Inside the nine-month process of creating Oatly’s annual sustainability report
*Technically published June 30, but we don’t think you’ll hold it against us.
🇺🇲 Made in America
- What does it mean for a company to use a ‘Made in USA’ label?
- The state of American manufacturing jobs, in three charts
- Why office-chair maker All33 is moving manufacturing from China to the US
- Consumers will pay more for American-made products, but inflation takes a toll: poll
❤️ One of your favorites:
📖 Well worth the read:
- “It’s a typical beach day: The sun is shining, the sea is warm, and the sand is making its way into every bag you brought. You pull out your sunscreen with SPF 50, ready to reapply—and then your SPF chapstick and your SPF hairspray. Welcome to summer 2022, where everything has SPF,” wrote Retail Brew’s Jeena Sharma. (SPF is coming to everything)
🦜 Quote of the month:
- “Research shows regular consumption of cereal, including sweetened cereal, can be a tool for helping consumers, both kids and adults, achieve and maintain a healthier body weight while also helping them to meet recommendations for key nutrients.”—Kris Bahner, Kellogg Company spokesperson. (Bitter sweet: Kellogg’s cereals just lost a regulatory fight in the UK)
August
📆 Our theme of the month: Pay it forward
What is the future of payments, and how quickly do retailers need to jump on board? We had answers in August.
🗞️ Grabbing the headlines:
- Payment experts break down which solutions will define luxury and fast fashion in the years to come
- Is earned wage access the future of hourly pay?
- Grocery smart carts aim to be the saving grace for self-checkout hate
- Tender is the might: Why New York and other cities are mandating that stores accept cash
🇺🇲 Made in America
- Four supply chain experts on the challenges of manufacturing in the US—and the tactics to turn to instead
- How American Giant got buy-in from its supply chain before its customers
And…Katishi Maake hit the ground running in Methuen, Massachusetts, where New Balance manufactures exactly one shoe: the Made 990v5 running sneaker, for a two-parter on what “made in America” looks like in practice.
- New Balance’s new Massachusetts factory underscores vision for Made in America production
- How New Balance tackles its uphill battles with domestic manufacturing
❤️ One of your favorites:
📖 Well worth the read:
- If tech titans like Meta, TikTok, and Amazon can’t do live shopping right, who can? China, for one, Maeve Allsup wrote, and perhaps small businesses. (Live shopping: power in the hands of the small brand?)
🎗️ Remember this:
- Doing double duty, Maeve Allsup also teamed up with Marketing Brew’s Ryan Barwick for this insightful angle on a customer data settlement in California with implications for retailers. (Why Sephora’s $1.2 million settlement with California should be a wake-up call for companies)
September
📆 Our theme of the month: Luxury
Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know
Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.
What better time to focus on the luxury market than the month in which Fashion Week takes place?
🗞️ Grabbing the headlines:
- As the Indian luxury market heats up, international retailers interested in the country may need to follow a few ground rules
- For luxury brands, resale is almost an inevitability
- Razor-thick margins
- Luxury resale on the blockchain may be closer than you think
❤️ Your favorite:
📖 Well worth the read:
- Maeve Allsup (again) went in-depth on supply-chain transparency and how the biggest challenge for companies might not be the last mile, after all. (Forget last-mile, it’s supply chains’ first mile that poses the biggest challenge for companies)
🎗️ Remember this:
- “Shrinkflation, or when manufacturers make their products smaller rather than raise prices, is a contender for buzziest retail portmanteau,” wrote Andrew Adam Newman. (Honey, I shrank the bunches of oats: ‘Family’ and ‘Giant’ size cereal boxes are getting smaller)