December 23, 2024

It’s Monday, and this week we’re ~~on vacation~~ spotlighting all the great work our dedicated reporters have done this year and you will not want to have missed. You can thank us later.

In today’s edition:

—Erin Cabrey, Andrew Adam Newman

STORES

I wish I wrote that

A sign in a CVS describes how to unlock the locked display case using the CVS app..

Andrew Adam Newman

We asked our reporters, who play so well with others, to choose a favorite story from 2024 by a Retail Brew colleague.

In an attempt to cut down on organized retail crime—which some retailers have admitted to overplaying—retail chains have been putting their products on shelves under lock and key.

To retrieve an item, shoppers must buzz for attendants and wait (often, for a while) for them to unlock a case. But CVS—Andrew Adam Newman discovered through a little sleuthing on LinkedIn—was testing a new system that lets consumers unlock the cases with their phones at a location in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. And he, always up for putting his boots on the ground, headed there to test the tech himself.

I asked a couple employees about the system—just as a curious shopper, not identifying myself as a reporter—and they were both fans and said shoppers liked it, too. I asked one whether the app would now track whether I ended up purchasing the detergent and would nab me if I didn’t, but she laughed and said that was not how they were using the system.

It was a distinct improvement over my previous locked-case experiences, which often involved pushing the button for assistance, waiting, reviewing my career goals, then flagging down store associates, who often weren’t personally equipped to help but summoned someone who could.

And Andy is nothing if not persistent, continuing to follow the impact these locked cases have on consumers and retailers. This month, to get another perspective on the strategy of jailing products, he caught up with retail expert Joel Bines, who called it the “the single most customer unfriendly” strategy retailers employ. Besides deploying this phone-unlocking tech, he suggested retailers do a bit more heavylifting to combat shoplifting, like putting less stock on shelves or hiring more associates.

Read the original story: We checked out CVS’s pilot program that lets shoppers unlock display cases with their phones—EC

Presented By PayPal

Reach and convert more customers

It’s beginning to look a lot like holiday sales. And this year, the busiest shopping season of the year can be even bigger for your business with PayPal.

With PayPal, businesses of all sizes can supercharge conversion rates and stay on shoppers’ nice lists with payment options customers love.

Pay with PayPal is trusted by 430+ million active consumers.
Pay with Venmo connects you with 92+ million active consumers. You can shop with your Venmo balance, too.¹
Fastlane by PayPal increases guest checkout conversion with an experience that is 28% faster.²
Pay Later solutions allow customers to spread out their payments over time with no late fees.

It’s the PayPal checkout stack.

E-COMMERCE

Editor’s pick

A split-screen image with a pair of slippers on a shelf wrapped in plastic at 12:08 pm and the slippers on the author's feet in his apartment at 3:19 pm..

Andrew Adam Newman

In May, Andy ordered a pair of slippers online, and then he literally rode along with them:

On a recent Thursday, we visited a warehouse in Brooklyn where a third-party logistics (3PL) company, Ship Essential, has a unique approach to same-day delivery. We wanted to see how they do it by ordering an item and following its journey from their warehouse to our Manhattan apartment.

Read the whole story here.—AAN

RETAIL

What’s in stores

Matty Benedetto

These were our most-read stories about stores in 2024:

Together With Brookfield Properties

The Z factor. Gen Z’s shopping journeys often begin online, but younger shoppers crave the instant gratification only brick-and-mortar stores offer. And they’re spending more in-store mass merchandise dollars than all previous generations. We teamed up with Brookfield Properties to learn why IRL shopping thrived in 2024.

Level up your career with these resources from our sponsors!

Score in-store: Why brands + consumers love shopping IRL

Make sense of market news and trends shaping the investing landscape with our latest newsletter, Brew Markets. Subscribe now.

SWAPPING SKUS

Some of our favorite retail reads from our sibling Brews.

Hoops I did it again: Why Foot Locker went all in on basketball sponsorships. (Marketing Brew)

Closed call: In October, Walgreens shuttered 1,200 “underperforming” retail drug stores. (CFO Brew)

Betting the pharm: Walmart announced in July it was opening 25 new autoimmune disease-focused pharmacies. (Healthcare Brew)

Supercharge conversion: Crush your holiday sales goals with the ultimate checkout stack. PayPal drives growth and boosts conversion rates with payment options that connect you to 430m+ active consumers.*

^{*A message from our sponsor.}

SHARE THE BREW

Share Retail Brew with your coworkers, acquire free Brew swag, and then make new friends as a result of your fresh Brew swag.

We’re saying we’ll give you free stuff and more friends if you share a link. One link.

Your referral count: 0

Click to Share

Or copy & paste your referral link to others:
retailbrew.com/r/?kid=6b35f7e7

✢ A Note From PayPal

¹ PayPal internal data, 2023. Venmo is only available in the US

² PayPal internal data from August 2 to September 30, 2024. Comparing Fastlane accelerated shoppers vs. non accelerated shoppers for merchants that have integrated Fastlane.

☕ Popping locks