Memo: Inventario Walmart-Friendly

Mientras los minoristas afrontan una campaña navideña que se verá afectada por la inminente recesión en Estados Unidos y los continuos problemas de la cadena de suministro mundial, hacen todo lo posible por anticiparse a los posibles problemas de inventario.

La temporada de compras navideñas depende en gran medida de que los minoristas cumplan sus previsiones anuales. Y desde el comienzo de la pandemia, las fiestas son cada vez más difíciles de afrontar. Los grandes minoristas como Target y Walmart están tomando nuevas medidas para asegurarse de que tienen lo que necesitan en stock de las marcas asociadas y de que sus cadenas de suministro no se rompen cuando aumentan los pedidos.

La semana pasada, Walmart expuso sus planes en una entrada del blog de comunicaciones corporativas para sortear los problemas de la cadena de suministro esta temporada, enmarcada como una actualización para los clientes sobre cómo el minorista tenía la intención de satisfacer la demanda con su cadena de suministro "estable y fuerte". El hecho de que una empresa envíe a sus clientes mensajes centrados en la cadena de suministro es en sí mismo un signo de los tiempos: antes, la gente podía dar por sentado que todo funcionaba como debía entre bastidores. Ahora ya no es así. Walmart enumeró todas las medidas que ha tomado para garantizar que su cadena de suministro esté lista para las fiestas. Entre ellas:

  • Trabajar estrechamente con los transportistas y optimizar la cadena de suministro para los artículos en stock.
  • Recogida en tienda en los 4.700 establecimientos de Walmart, que, según señala, están situados a menos de 16 km del 90% de la población. También promociona sus opciones de entrega exprés, envío al día siguiente y en dos días y recogida en tienda.
  • Entrega a través de su plataforma Spark Driver, un servicio de entrega local que puede llegar al 84% de los hogares.
  • Una política de devoluciones ampliada que incluye las devoluciones en la acera.
  • Entrega a domicilio y recogida a domicilio para miembros de Walmart+.
  • Ampliación de la red de reparto DroneUp, que entrega paquetes por zonas, actualmente disponible en 34 localidades, además de sus vehículos autónomos y eléctricos.
  • Cuatro nuevos centros de distribución que se construirán en los próximos tres años. Estos centros de nueva generación dan prioridad a la automatización. La tecnología automatizada también se extenderá a los centros de distribución.
  • Y, por último, la contratación de otros 40.000 empleados estacionales, incluidos los asociados de la cadena de suministro y otros 1.500 conductores.

Estas son las medidas que se están tomando para adelantarse a los problemas de la cadena de suministro. La inversión de Walmart en empleados, tecnología, opciones de entrega y recogida y mucho más son la venta al cliente de esta temporada: compre con nosotros y no tendrá que preocuparse por notificaciones de falta de existencias o retrasos en los pedidos. Se trata de una ventaja que sólo tienen unos pocos minoristas: además de Walmart, Target y Amazon compiten lanzando recursos ante el inminente problema de la cadena de suministro y la recesión. Es más probable que los clientes compren en empresas con precios competitivos. La presión está servida.

La presión también está en las marcas que venden en estas tiendas para no perder sus propias ventanas de entrega. Como 2PM ha escrito anteriormente, Walmart y Amazon son ahora socios minoristas atractivos por todas las razones enumeradas anteriormente en las medidas de Walmart previas a las vacaciones. Tienen los bolsillos llenos para prepararse para el impacto.

Las marcas que no puedan cumplir sus plazos de entrega se enfrentarán a multas de minoristas como Walmart y Target, que harán todo lo posible por mantener los productos en stock. Es el fin de la indulgencia normalizada al principio de la pandemia; ahora, si las marcas no pueden hacer sus pedidos, los minoristas devuelven el golpe. Esto marca un cambio en la dinámica de poder. Durante años, las marcas han renunciado a los minoristas y se han vuelto más selectivas a la hora de elegir dónde vender, y han buscado condiciones más favorables en sus contratos con los minoristas. Ahora, los minoristas vuelven a tener la sartén por el mango, ya que fuerzas externas como la inflación, la recesión y los enredos en la cadena de suministro han hecho que las marcas vuelvan a depender de las tiendas para obtener el máximo volumen.

Según ha informado hoy Bloomberg, Walmart y Target están tomando medidas enérgicas contra las marcas:

Walmart está diciendo a los proveedores que su espacio en los estantes será revisado con más frecuencia que en el pasado, dijo una persona familiarizada con el tema, y que los vendedores con una persistente falta de existencias podrían ver sus productos rápidamente reemplazados. El minorista también está tratando de sacar provecho de las tendencias, incluidas las provocadas por las redes sociales, mediante el intercambio rápido de artículos dentro y fuera.

Todo lo que no sea un cumplimiento exacto puede acarrear sanciones, desde multas hasta la pérdida de espacio en las estanterías cuando se negocien contratos, lo que supone un reto especial para las pequeñas marcas, que a menudo disponen de recursos limitados para examinar los envíos.

Las marcas se han vuelto más reemplazables, mientras que los minoristas se han vuelto más selectivos. Walmart, con su vasta red de tiendas y sus capacidades en la cadena de suministro, podría convertirse en el mercado dominante esta temporada navideña y las siguientes. Las marcas reconocen que necesitan a la gran distribución para sobrevivir. En un informe de septiembre, escribimos:

La utilidad, no la exclusividad de moda, ha ayudado a Walmart a convertirse en un imán para las marcas directas al consumidor que antes se resistían a su atracción gravitatoria. Parece que la empresa no necesita imitar en absoluto a Amazon o Target para llegar a este punto. Hay algunas razones: Walmart es a prueba de recesiones e impulsa ventas rentables (en volumen) al público consumidor más importante: la clase media estadounidense. Tiene el tamaño y el alcance, aunque no tenga el atractivo de otros minoristas. Con las marcas más centradas en los resultados, Walmart es un socio atractivo para abrir la proverbial espita de las ventas y ganar nuevos clientes.

A medida que nos acercamos al final del año, el cambio de poder continuará. Ya no corresponde a las marcas decidir si Walmart merece su presencia, sino que también tendrán que demostrar su valía a Walmart. Walmart tiene el control de su cadena de suministro para gestionar estrictamente todo lo que entra y sale de sus estanterías. Estas fiestas podrían establecer un nuevo estándar en la relación entre minoristas y marcas, que incline la balanza a favor de la gran distribución. Y Walmart está en condiciones de imponerse al resto.

Por Web Smith | Editado por Hilary Milnes con arte de Alex Remy y Christina Williams 

Memo: Apple’s BNPL Ambitions

There are two classes of buy now, pay later services being formed. Klarna, Affirm, and others are competing for the masses. In a time of economic distress, those masses are relying upon BNPL more than ever. According to Credit Karma, 60% of debt users are more likely to use BNPL because of inflation. Apple is taking a different approach for a different kind of customer and it may have something to do with recent news from the Cupertino hardware and software giant.

Apple Pay Later is missing from iOS 16, delaying the company’s entrance into the buy now, pay later market. Reports have swirled that technical and engineering issues were the reason for the delay. Here’s our take. Apple could also be hitting pause after surveying the current economic landscape and the state of other BNPL competitors.

As Bloomberg points out in its iPhone 14 review, there’s no set time frame for when Apple Pay Later will be available – it could be in the spring with the iOS 16.4 update or it could be sometime this fall. Apple is likely waiting until its feature is perfect but there’s reason to believe it’s waiting until the current inflationary period passes in order to get in front of the right customer. To understand where Apple Pay Later fits into the market, it’s important to look at what’s happening in the broader BNPL space.

On Friday, Klarna announced that it will be undergoing a restructuring that will include layoffs and a focus on profitability over growth, Bloomberg reported. About 10% of the company’s 7,000 employees would be cut under COO Camilla Giesecke’s vision for the path forward. This comes as Klarna’s losses have mounted, it’s been hurt by macroeconomic forces like the war in Ukraine, America’s 9+% inflation, and recession. Private market investors have grown wary of companies that aren’t profitable. From Bloomberg:

Klarna’s losses tripled in the first half of the year. [CEO Sebastian] Siemiatkowski has said that Klarna can’t afford to be “as forward leaning” while investors are becoming more cautious on the industry, and said he aimed to bring the business back to profitability. The company’s model makes it vulnerable to rising costs that might force customers to cut spending or affect their ability to repay their loans.

Klarna, which has become a leader in the BNPL space, extended out “over its skis” as it looked for ways to grow beyond “just” payment solutions. In past coverage, Klarna has said to have goals of becoming the power platform behind the online shopping mall.

Affirm, meanwhile, announced a new partnership with Amazon on Monday to expand on the retailer’s platform in Canada. By deepening its relationship with Amazon, Affirm is attaching itself to a massive partner who can help it stretch into new areas without the cost typically associated with expansion. In a similar move, Afterpay parent Square also said this week that it will launch Afterpay in Canada to get its BNPL services in front of more customers.

Affirm and Afterpay are eyeing untapped landscapes as Klarna stumbles and Apple Pay Later looms: it’s likely a winner-takes-all for the remaining players after Apple launches its own offering. At least for traditional consumers, Apple’s BNPL strategy may differ from the rest. Like the Apple Card (backed by Goldman Sachs), Apple may be focusing on wealthier credit clients. More on this in a moment.

All of this is happening as inflation remains high in the US. Klarna and its peers are vulnerable to tighter budgeting, shorter household cash flows, and limited spending. With many people experiencing tougher times, they are more likely to default on payments, opening the model up to risks.

However, in a US survey, 60% of people were found to be more likely to use BNPL because of inflation, and 53% were using BNPL out of necessity. Forty-five percent said they were were most likely to use BNPL when their finances are tight. That means that Klarna’s troubles aren’t to be blamed on a decline in interest on BNPL. But rather, a more tenuous financial outlook makes people more reliant on services like BNPL. For many, it’s a way to make purchases now without taking on credit card debt. It’s a dangerously unregulated substitute for traditional debt.

That raises questions about Apple’s own service and how it wants to differentiate itself from others in the market. Apple is likely looking for a more premium BNPL user, one that it can link to and turn into an Apple Card owner. Apple Pay Later purchases were previously said to be capped at $1,000, meaning Apple is positioning smaller-ticket purchases for APL, while Apple Card would be used for bigger investments. Apple Pay Later is a convenient alternative to credit for people who have the option – it’s not a necessity. Apple Card also gives perks like cashback, which APL doesn’t, but if it’s an entrypoint to Apple Card, it’s a step in that rewards direction. Apple Pay is also already a trusted service, so Apple could get the sign-off from customers who may be wary of other BNPL services. It’s also a convenience factor: Apple stores all information about upcoming payments in the Apple Wallet, keeping payment trackers and reminders in one place.

That could help Apple Pay Later succeed where other BNPLs falter. Klarna’s most recent announcement follows a year of disruption, which we reported on in June:

What is the main culprit causing Klarna’s valuation to tank after such soaring heights? Is it being in the sights of Apple’s next ground capture? Or PayPal developing its own competitive products? Is it the regulations emerging in the UK against Klarna and its peers over predatory practices appealing to young customers? Or is it the sobering up of venture capitalists as we loom on the brink of a recession? It’s likely a combination of the above.

Apple has the ability to withstand obstacles like regulations and a recession in ways that Klarna and its peers may not – at least not to the same degree. Apple’s advantage may grow against AfterPay, Affirm, Klarna, and others. Apple’s payment systems are native to its operating system and hardware, an advantage that other financial technology companies do not seem to share.

Regulations have begun to ramp up. After undergoing scrutiny in the UK for practices that lure young customers into incurring debt, BNPLs are finding themselves facing regulations in the US by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Fox Business reported on Monday. The agency does not currently oversee BNPLs, but new guidance would apply the same standards for credit cards to the sector. If Apple only lends to Apple Card holders, this regulation would benefit them.

BNPL lenders would be subject to “supervisory examinations”, like credit cards, Fox Business reported. Risks assessed by the agency include user privacy and data protection – something that Apple, which already runs Apple Wallet and Apple Card using security measures like Face ID, has an advantage in. At the same time, the CFPB is wary of a monopoly that would consolidate market power, “reducing long-term innovation, choice and price competition” while giving a few big players access to an outsized amount of consumer data.

In BNPLs, competition is a positive, the CFPB posits. From the Fox Business report:“In the United States, we have generally had a separation between banking and commerce,” [CFPB Director Rohit] Chopra said. “But, as Big Tech-style business practices are adopted in the payments and financial services arena, that separation goes out the door.”

With all of that being said, Apple Pay Later is still mysteriously delayed. When you look at the BNPL landscape, the company could be waiting until the right time to release its own entrant into the market. Once competitors start building back up, Apple could come in and disrupt the entire category. But for now, it’s waiting – for the right product, the right customer and the right conditions.

Por Web Smith | Editado por Hilary Milnes con arte de Alex Remy y Christina Williams 

Memo: Instacart’s Omnichannel OS

Instacart is on its way to becoming the Shopify of Grocery on the way to its initial public offering. A suite of new omnichannel merchant tools is laying the groundwork for its refreshed identity, one built around democratizing the access to online marketplaces for merchants – big and small. Sound familiar?

We believe the future of grocery won’t be about choosing between shopping online and in-store – consumers are going to do both,” Fidji Simo, CEO of Instacart

The rollout of the new technology platform, called Connected Stores, is the latest move in a busy month for Instacart, which made two key tech purchases earlier in September that underpinned its independent grocery ambitions. We outlined the acquisitions of Rosie, a grocery eCommerce and mobile commerce platform, and Eversight, an intelligent pricing and promotions platform, and how they fit into Instacart’s long-term plans to connect physical and online grocery retail and advertising into a thriving flywheel for the digital age. From September 9’s Notes on Grocery:

Success online and in retail stores is connected, particularly when it comes to digital advertising. Digital ads and online visibility is necessary to drive awareness, particularly for emerging DTC brands that need to attract new customers. But physical stores are where most people buy CPG products. From Insider Intelligence, nearly 95% of food and beverage sales and 90% of total grocery sales take place in-store.

Instacart’s approach isn’t to try to replace in-store grocery sales with eCommerce sales, but to power both physical and digital purchases in a way that connects them to each other seamlessly. If successful, it will be the platform responsible for flipping the online switch for small, independent grocery companies that have so far struggled to translate their retail businesses to digital ones. The goal is to bring small, independent grocers online with as much capability and tech prowess powering them as Whole Foods has an Amazon-owned company.

It’s an ambitious plan, but Instacart has proven in the past three weeks that it’s prepared to invest heavily in the technology to do it.

Under the Connected Stores umbrella, the company is rolling out six new Instacart Platform technologies. According to the press release, the technologies will help “grocers bring together the best of online ordering and in-store shopping for consumers. Connected Stores create a unified, personalized experience for customers by enabling them to move seamlessly between a retailer’s app or website and its physical, in-store experience.”

The six new technologies are:

Caper Cart: This is an AI-powered smart cart that lets customers automatically scan items for pricing and more information as they shop in store using scales and sensors and equipped with a touchscreen and computer vision. This is Instacart’s version of the smart shopping carts, teased by grocery tech for years and most prominently executed by Amazon but still largely nonexistent in everyday stores.

Scan & Pay: Scan & Pay turns phones into scanners so customers can automatically check themselves out as they shop and skip lines. They’ll need to be logged in to Instacart, which will also save items to online shopping accounts to make future purchases easier.

Lists: Lists gives customers the ability to sync shopping lists from their Instacart app or grocery stores’ Instacart-powered apps to a Caper Cart via QR code. The Caper Cart’s touchscreen will then make it easier to locate items from the shopping list in the store and check them off as they’re added to the cart.

Carrot Tags: Carrot Tags are electronic shelf labels that can be uploaded to the Instacart platform, giving labels more functionality for shoppers and associates. Carrot Tags essentially turn traditional labels into smart labels and can let associates choose what information they want to display about an item in store. It also makes it easier for customers to match online products with in-store items by making shelf labels scannable.

FoodStorm Department Orders: FoodStorm is an order management system connected to the prepared food departments, like bakery and deli, and the new Department Orders functionality connects across departments so that they can all have one customer’s order ready at the same time.

Out of Stock Insights: This API gives retailers real-time alerts when items are nearing out of stock or have fully run out, making it easier for stores to plan ahead with inventory management, avoiding out-of-stock notices.

Together, these technologies are positioned to enable a smarter, independent grocery store. Instacart is also partnering with Good Food Holdings to build the first Connected Store at a Bristol Farms grocery store in Irvine, California. Instacart’s new services will power the store with all six Connect Stores technologies, including new checkout options and smart discovery tools. It’s not unlike Amazon’s strategy of building retail stores to show off its own retail tech, but Instacart is skipping the Instacart-branded store and going straight to the retail partners to demonstrate compatibility. It has no plans to own a branded storefront, it simply wants to enable others. Neil Stern, CEO of Good Food Holdings, on incorporating the Connected Store model:

At Good Food Holdings, we’re proud to provide our customers with a personalized shopping experience – whether they’re opting to build their baskets online or joining us in-store. As customers have adopted delivery and pickup over the past year, we’ve found it increasingly important to evolve our business with omnichannel customers at the forefront. As we look to the next decade of grocery, we want to make sure that we’re providing an inspirational shopping trip for our customers – and this starts by building a Connected Store. In partnership with Instacart, we’re excited to introduce multiple ways to checkout with Caper Cart and scan & pay, while driving inspiration through Lists and Carrot Tags. Instacart is an innovator in grocery technology, and we’re thrilled to be their partner and debut the first-ever Connected Store at Bristol Farms this year.

The partnership between Instacart and Good Food Holdings will show at large that grocery, long the last digital frontier for retail, is coming into a new era of commerce. While the majority of sales are likely to remain in-person, retail media networks and online ordering capabilities will drive business and make it more intelligent at the same time. Instacart is amassing power by giving smaller grocers a way to grow online without sacrificing physical stores. It’s the Shopify approach to grocery retail, and like Shopify, it views Amazon as its competition.

Por Web Smith | Editado por Hilary Milnes con arte de Alex Remy