Today in retail, cryptocurrency spenders come from a range of income brackets, and retailers are stuck with inventory as shoppers transition from comfort to more professional and party-ready looks. Plus, bargain hunters may benefit as retailers try to recalibrate their inventory levels.
From Cars to Cookies, Crypto Spenders Span Income Brackets
PYMNTS’ U.S. Crypto Consumer study, released in April, found that 23% of consumers — almost 60 million — have owned cryptocurrency in the past 12 months, and of those, 30% used it for purchases, 21% in brick-and-mortar stores. People rarely buy crypto to spend it, but when they have it, they’re more likely to want to spend it.
That’s particularly true when prices are high, said Stephen Pair, CEO of crypto payments technology firm BitPay, in an interview with PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster. When it’s low, they tend not to, or if they know they’ll want to spend some of their holdings, they’ll put it into stablecoins in good times to spend in crypto bear markets.
How Brands Are Surviving the Great Unsubscribe
In the subscription-happy economy of the past two years, homebound consumers turned to subscription offers in legions, signing up for numerous channels as Netflix competitors emerged, along with every imaginable consumer product, all personalized and delivered.
Now, with COVID-19 pushed to the side and runaway prices the new enemy, consumers are scrutinizing subscriptions they’ve accumulated and deciding what stays and what goes.
Streaming is faring better than its retail subscription box cousins. According to the latest Subscription Commerce Conversion Index, a PYMNTS and sticky.io collaboration and taken from a survey of over 1,900 U.S. consumers, the average subscriber has dropped one of their five retail subscriptions since October, putting hard data behind “The Great Unsubscribe.”
Retailers Face ‘Goldilocks’ Inventory Gambit That May Benefit Bargain Hunters
By most accounts, the cardinal sin of retail is being “out of stock.”
Being unable to meet customer demand for certain items, sizes and colors is a far more costly problem with potentially lethal long-term customer relations implications than overshooting inventory a bit and then having to liquidate your leftovers. The gold standard is to always order too much and never turn a customer away.
But while that is easy to say, actually hitting a predictive bullseye on that front — often six to 12 months in advance — is never an easy task, and the so-called “Goldilocks” inventory call has only gotten harder over the past few years of supply chain bottlenecks.
Amazon Stock Split Triggers Ramifications
Amazon’s stock is up slightly on Monday (June 6), the first day of the 20-for-1 split announced by the retail behemoth in March, but shares are still trading at about 25% less than they were at the start of the year, according to a Bloomberg report.
In reality, stock splits have no effect on the share’s value, but traders were excited to see them become a bit of a regular occurrence among some of the business world’s biggest names, the report said.
Amazon continues to be a company in some transition, even as it retains its place atop the eCommerce mountain. Last month, the company said it is not only looking to grow its Alexa ecosystem but is counting on strong growth in the healthcare sector as well.
Retailers Struggling to Keep Up with Shifting Consumer Desires
As shoppers are moving away from spending on casual clothing and home items that became staples during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, some retailers are finding themselves overstocked with joggers, activewear, fleece and other goods they had expected shoppers to scoop up.
That means Gap, Macy’s and other retail chains are being forced to mark down the items they had anticipated would carry them to another profitable quarter as the spread of the coronavirus slows and more people feel comfortable shopping at brick-and-mortar locations again, even with inflation rising.
Inflation has shoppers prioritizing necessities such as food and gas and sees them booking trips, eating at restaurants and making entertainment-related plans rather than buying apparel and products for their homes, even as the supply chain is finally loosening up again, WSJ reported Monday (June 6).
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