It’s been another week with far more retail news than there is time in the day. Below, we break down some things you may have missed during the week and what we’re still thinking about.
From J.C. Penney’s sweet partnership to Dick’s Sporting Good’s play to secure its spot at the 2028 Olympics, here’s our closeout for the week.
What you may have missed
Nike names new CIO
Nike has hired a new chief information officer, Cheryan Jacob, the retailer confirmed via email this week. Jacob, whose previous work experience includes Salesforce, Flexport and Microsoft, joined the athletics retailer this month, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Jacob describes his role on LinkedIn as, “simplifying, standardizing, and modernizing Nike's platforms, developer experience, cloud, information security, and technology operations while taking a horizontal end-to-end view of the key foundational capabilities that enable, support and protect all of Nike's global technology team and the larger enterprise.”
Nike’s former chief digital and information officer, Ratnakar Lavu, left the company early in 2023.
Journeys names chief marketing officer
Footwear retailer Journeys on Monday named Stacy Doren as executive vice president and chief marketing officer, effective Aug. 1.
Doren spent over two decades at Levi’s in various roles, including as vice president of Levi's Americas Marketing.
"Stacy is an exceptional marketing leader with a resolute commitment to consumer-centric strategies. Her brand-building capabilities and strategic foresight make her the ideal partner in shaping Journeys' future chapters," Journeys Group President Andy Gray said in a statement.
In her new role, Doren will oversee all the company’s marketing functions, reporting directly to Gray.
Dick’s partners with Team USA for ’28 Olympics
Dick’s Sporting Goods has secured an exclusive partnership as the official sporting goods retail provider for Team USA and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Dick’s will also serve as an official Olympic Team USA supporter for the Paris Olympic games, which are in progress, and the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
The partnership also includes travel and training apparel, using Dick’s owned brands, for 11 Team USA national governing bodies, beginning with the USA canoe/kayak team this summer. Additionally, the deal opens an opportunity to co-create exclusive LA28-branded gear with LA28 licensees offered for sale through Dick’s stores and online.
Dick’s plans to kick off the celebration of Paris 2024 with ad placements during NBCUniversal's coverage of the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic games. The retailer first partnered with Team USA during the 2016 Rio and PyeongChang 2018 games.
Ollie’s debuts credit card
Ollie’s has partnered with financial tech company Sunbit to offer a co-branded Visa credit card, the company said Tuesday. It’s the retailer’s first credit card for customers.
Cardholders can earn points for purchases at Ollie’s and everywhere else Visa is accepted. The card’s features include a $10 statement credit for signing up; automatic enrollment into the Ollie’s Army loyalty program for non-members; and additional loyalty points for every $2 spent at Ollie’s or anywhere the card is accepted.
“This program builds on our industry-leading Ollie’s Army loyalty program, offering greater flexibility to our customers and enhancing loyalty with our members,” Ollie’s President Eric van der Valk said in a statement. The credit card program should be live “within months” and without any technology integration required from Ollie’s, which said it currently has 522 stores in 31 states.
Retail Therapy
J.C. Penney’s sweetest collaboration
J.C. Penney’s latest collaboration collection is “for the inner child in us all.” The department store retailer on Thursday announced it teamed up with Haribo, the brand famous for its gummy candy, to launch a limited-edition collection, according to a press release.
“With so many fun and colorful options, it mirrors our vision of feeling like a kid in a candy store marveling at the tasty variety of Haribo favorites like Goldbears, Twin Snakes and Starmix,” Seth Klugherz, Haribo’s vice president of marketing, said in a statement. “This ‘Goldbear Wear’ collection is a playfully unexpected chance for families to have fun with Haribo through displaying their fandom and we can’t wait to see their excitement.”
Designed for young adults, teens and kids, the collection includes T-shirts, sweaters, pants, shorts and accessories. The first drop, which is available in select stores and online, is available now. J.C. Penney and Haribo plans to drop a holiday collection — featuring apparel, sleepwear and accessories in festive colors — on Nov. 7.
Poppi adds guac?
Ahead of National Avocado Day on Wednesday, soda brand Poppi tapped Avocados From Mexico to launch a unique spin on guacamole.
The pair has introduced “Pop-Guac,” a guacamole recipe using Avocados from Mexico and Poppi’s Ginger Lime soda.
“Innovation is at the heart of our brand, and Pop-Guac shows avocado fans a new way to enjoy the great taste of guacamole on one of our favorite occasions, National Avocado Day,” Avocados From Mexico President and CEO Alvaro Luque said in a statement.
To coincide with the launch, Avocados from Mexico is hosting an Instagram giveaway through Wednesday to gift a Pop-Guac kit that contains everything needed to make the recipe.
What we’re still thinking about
$950M
That’s how much Belk shrunk its debt load. The department store retailer also secured about $485 million in new loans, according to a Tuesday announcement.
At the same time, some of Belk’s lenders — including KKR and Hein Park — have taken a controlling interest in the company.
The debt reduction marked the biggest financial relief since the department store filed for bankruptcy in 2021.
$2.5M
That’s how much Walmart has agreed to pay to settle class-action wage claims. The suit alleged the mass merchant failed to compensate over 80,000 hourly workers in Arizona for time spent undergoing mandatory pre-shift COVID-19 screenings, which took about 10 to 15 minutes.
According to the settlement, each worker will receive about 50% of their potential claim based on the number of weeks worked between April 10, 2020, to February 28, 2022, within the Arizona store.
What we’re watching
Ulta stock downgraded amid increasing competition, promotions
Piper Sandler analysts led by Korinne Wolfmeyer downgraded Ulta’s stock to neutral and lowered its price target for the beauty retailer on Wednesday, citing increased competition and promotions. The analysts specifically noted Sephora’s increased presence in Kohl’s and Amazon’s growth in the beauty space, which are pressuring Ulta, as well as slower growth in Ulta’s loyalty program.
Ulta itself in its most recent quarter seemed to allude to pressure from Sephora, noting competition from 1,000 new points of distribution in the prestige beauty space in the past two years. (Sephora, which announced its Kohl’s deal in 2020, had opened shop-in-shops in 900 Kohl’s stores by the end of 2023.) While Ulta has its own deal with Target, announced around the same time, the partnerships put Sephora and Ulta in more direct competition with each other and Sephora’s rollout has been faster than Ulta’s. Piper Sandler noted that Ulta is in just 540 Target stores, in comparison.
Ulta’s 43 million loyalty members still represent a “very strong” program, according to Piper Sandler, but slowing growth suggests more competition. The analysts have also witnessed younger shoppers shifting spend from Ulta to Sephora and Amazon over the past two years in its semi-annual teen surveys.
“The bottom line is that management looks to be increasingly pulling on traffic drivers, and despite efforts to improve efficiencies in the supply chain, which we've historically been positive on, we don't believe it's enough to offset the several sources of margin dilution,” the analysts wrote. “As such, we believe a rather lackluster long range plan come October is probable.”
