Four major multi-category retailers that released their 2024 financial results in the last month showed significant declines in sales of home goods. The category often (but not always) lagged behind other segments, according to the companies’ filings and third-party analyses of the results. The numbers illustrate the continued challenges that have been facing this sector […]
Tag Archives | Macy’s
Happy Returns For Former Retail Brands
Several formerly defunct retailers have announced relaunches, or expanded on recent relaunches, this year. Through a variety of strategies, their well-known IPs are coming back, both online and as shop-in-shops and/or standalone retail locations: Bed Bath & Beyond returned to bricks-and-mortar retail through partnerships with The Container Store and Kirkland’s, both announced in October. The […]
Enjoy Your Stay
High-end hotels are entering the home furnishings realm, creating collections positioned as allowing consumers to treat themselves to the feeling of being in a fine hotel while remaining in the comfort of their own bedrooms and bathrooms. Most often, hotels sell the furniture and home textiles they feature in their guest rooms through their own […]
Talking Turkey
The U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving is one of the few celebration days throughout the year with relatively little licensing activity tied to it. It is a holiday centered on gratitude, food, and family, and not on extensive gift giving, costumes, decorating, or other more commercial endeavors. That said, there are a few opportunities tied to […]
Calm in the Storm
Meditation and mindfulness apps saw a spike in usage after the global pandemic hit. In the seven days beginning March 29, two weeks after the start of the lockdown in the U.S., downloads for such apps were up 25% from the weekly average in January and February, reaching 750,000 downloads, according to App Annie figures […]
Secondhand Clothes
Resale marketplace sites and consignment apps, which allow consumers to sell and purchase used and vintage goods—often higher-end and/or limited-edition fashion items—have been on the upswing in 2018 and 2019. The resale clothing market overall is expected to reach $51 billion by 2023, according to ThredUp’s 2019 Resale Report, compared to $24 billion in 2018. […]
Protests and Politics
Pockets of the global licensing business are facing significant financial impacts due to political fights, trade spats, and social protests around the world. Unlike cases where companies take a stand on a political issue and prepare to face the expected backlash, these are situations that have nothing to do with any individual company’s actions. But […]
Fifty-Plus Fashion
Women aged 50 and over have long been an untapped market segment for licensing programs. But a growing number of direct-to-retail initiatives with etailers, retailers, and home shopping networks have focused on this demographic over the past few years, all involving celebrities who are in that age group themselves: Most recently, Jane Fonda paired with […]
Now We’re Cooking
The kitchen housewares and tabletop industry has in recent months been the focus of a number of retail-exclusive product lines that involve licensed properties. This type of partnership has been going on for years, but the frequency seems to be on the rise of late. The following have debuted since mid-2018: Chrissy Teigen and Target […]
The Best Medicine
A number of deals came to light in October that underscore the licensing community’s continued focus on health and wellness. The announcements involve healthy-living initiatives both traditional and non-traditional: Buzzfeed partnered with Macy’s for an exclusive line of 100 millennial-targeted home goods that promote well-being, tied to its Goodful health and wellness brand. Among the […]