Food delivery startups gained popularity among Venture Capital investors around 2010, leaving Blue Apron and other large players to pioneer the industry with high valuations and encouraging more new competition to enter the market. While there has been a remarkable diversity of proposed solutions, from…
As a pre-emptive strike against the pending opening of Lidl, Aldi announced that it will greatly accelerate its expansion in the U.S. with a goal of 2,500 stores by the end of 2022. This would be a staggering 900 or so new locations on top…
For some time, Free shipping has been the difference between me completing a purchase or abandoning my cart online. Simply put, free shipping is table stakes. Retailers don’t like it. Whether you consider the cost of shipping an operating expense or part of the cost…
Meal prep pioneer Blue Apron has filed for an IPO on the NYSE under the symbol APRN. If successful, it will be the first of its genre to make the transition to a public company. This is happening at the same time that some notable…
David Weiss joined McMillanDoolittle as a partner in May, bringing nearly 20 years of industry experience to client engagements. As a senior retail executive, David has worked for multi-billion dollar global companies, venture-funded start-ups and private-equity owned turnarounds. He is known for identifying opportunities, creating…
Ever wish you had a crystal ball to see into the future? In The Gist’s latest Q&A with industry influencer and futurist Neil Stern, we explore his retail predictions for some of the industry’s most powerful players and assess the current environment of retail innovations. We couldn’t do…
The underlying troubles that are resulting in 2017’s Retailmageddon are well documented, with the growing number of bankruptcies fueled by the growing impact of e-commerce and the general overcapacity of retail space. Grocery, however, has long been considered immune from the e-commerce space and even…
Whole Foods stock surged today on speculation that Albertsons might be preparing a takeover bid. This announcement comes on the heels of an activist investor, Janus Partners LLC acquiring an 8.3% stake in the company, suggesting that a possible sale could unlock investor value. Albertsons…
This week we listened to a business broadcast where the discussion focused on retail’s state of crisis – hypothesizing that this is the leading edge of another major recession. It is true that we are seeing an accelerated pace of distressing news about the retail…
The immediate story: Sam’s Club, a division of Walmart, will be rolling out a line of private label wines under their Member’s Mark brand. On the surface, this is probably not groundbreaking news—it is merely a response to what has been an incredibly successful Costco…
