The latest in experiential retail

Bath & Body Works’ recently expanded men’s assortment has risen to become the retailer’s fastest-growing category, CEO Gina Boswell said during an on-stage interview at Shoptalk last week.

Although it’s a relatively new and smaller part of the business, the company said last year that its men’s segment had grown by nearly 50% since 2020. The category includes face, beard care, hair and shaving products, among other things. The company expanded the assortment less than a year ago.

To raise awareness for its men's product offering, Boswell said the retailer collaborated with influencers and conducted pop-up shops. Those efforts paid off, attracting about 750,000 men to the business, Boswell said. Bath & Body Works is continuing its collaborations and is currently partnering with Netflix series “Bridgerton.”

The company expanded its men’s shop to all stores last year and in recent years, the retailer has focused more on areas beyond the bathroom. Bath & Body Works’ offerings now include fragrances and products for every room in the house, from the bedroom to the living room to the laundry room – the company added laundry care to its offering last fall. Now, according to Boswell, the Bath & Body Works brand is in 40% of American households.

“What you’re seeing now is an evolution of really where the customer wants us to go,” Boswell said. She also acknowledged that one of the most advantageous aspects of Bath & Body Works’ business is the ability to straddle the line between discretionary and essential purchases. An example of how the company toes that line is hand soap.

“Everybody needs hand soap but when you add a scent, and you combine that with a choice of a fragrance, you are now moving into an affordable luxury,” said Boswell, who became the retailer’s CEO in late 2022. “And so that is – you could argue – [a] staple but discretionary at the same time.” Candles are another example. Many customers, she said, “don’t think they’re buying a candle. They think they’re turning their houses into homes.”

The company’s 1,800 stores are 99% profitable, “which is very rare in retail,” Boswell added. Bath & Body Works completed the introduction of buy online, pick up in store to all U.S. locations last year. Like many other retailers, a majority of customers – 80% in Bath & Body Works’ case – start browsing and shopping on the website or in the app. And when those customers come into the store, Boswell said one-third of them add more items to their BOPIS order.

Still, the company has seen sales falter recently after a period of high growth. Bath & Body Works saw record sales in 2021, driven in part by stay-at-home orders and consumers with extra cash due to government subsidies. The retailer was also a growth driver when it was part of L Brands with Victoria Secret. After separating from L Brands, Bath & Body Works sales began to normalize in 2022.

The company reported net sales of $2.91 billion for its fourth quarter ended Feb. 3. That’s up less than 1% compared to net sales of about $2.89 billion last year. An extra week on the calendar in 2023 represented approximately $80 million in net sales. However, for the full year, the retailer’s net sales fell nearly 2% year over year to $7.43 billion from $7.56 billion.

“Like many in retail, Bath & Body saw a more difficult start to 2024, a reality that was likely heavily influenced by inclement weather,” Ethan Chernofsky, senior vice president of marketing at Placer.ai, told Retail Dive in an email. According to Placer.ai’s foot traffic data, the year-over-year change in monthly visits to Bath & Body Works was down 9.2% in January, but that decline shrunk to 1.5% in February.

Store visits have been steadily improving as the year progresses, Chernofsky said. Weekly visits were up 2.6% and 3.9% for the weeks of March 4 and March 11, respectively. That indicates continued demand for products in the wellness and beauty categories, according to Chernofsky.

“In addition, viewing these types of products through the ‘affordable luxury’ lens helps drive continued optimism for the draw of these locations for consumers even amid wider economic headwinds,” Chernofsky said. “The experience-oriented nature of their locations is an additional element that incentivizes visits and helps the retailer stand out.”

To expand its physical reach, Claire’s announced Tuesday it will set up dedicated displays inside more than 4,400 Walgreens stores across the U.S. by the end of March, according to a company press release. 

Within the Claire’s section, Walgreens shoppers can browse hair accessories, cosmetics, jewelry and various seasonal items, per the press release. 

Claire’s currently partners with more than 40 grocery, apparel, toy, pharmaceutical and department stores, according to the announcement.

With its Walgreens collaboration, Claire’s has added another major retailer to its lineup of partners. In 2022, the company entered a shop-in-shop agreement with a major retailer: Macy’s. In October 2023, the accessories retailer rolled out displays in about 700 Kohl’s stores, according to WWD. Claire’s also has a partnership with Walmart that it launched in 2018 then expanded in 2022. 

Beyond growing its brick-and-mortar footprint, Claire’s pulled back on its IPO plans and concentrated on attracting younger shoppers. Last July, Claire’s halted its initial public offering plans, according to its Securities and Exchange Commission filing. That same month, the retailer revamped its piercing brand with a new digital character named Pierce, a new logo and an updated voice and branding. 

Meanwhile, Walgreens has seen a number of changes, including the departure of its CEO last year. In September, Rosalind Brewer exited the company. A month later the company appointed former Cigna executive Tim Wentworth as its new chief executive officer. 

In its Q1 earnings report, Walgreens Boots Alliance saw a 10% jump in sales year over year to $36.7 billion. U.S. retail sales were down 6.1% in the period with comparable retail sales down 5%. The performance of U.S. stores for the period was in contrast to its U.K. Boots locations, where retail comps rose nearly 10% year over year, and store traffic was up 7%. U.K. Boots locations also saw its retail market share grow for the 11th straight quarter led by beauty. 

“As a one-stop destination for everyday needs, Walgreens services millions of people every day. Together, we will extend Claire’s trend-driven shopping experience to new and existing customers, giving Walgreens shoppers more to love, fostering deeper connections and inspiring self-expression,” Ryan Vero, chief executive officer of Claire’s, said in a statement. 

Alo Yoga on Friday launched an immersive shopping experience for Apple Vision Pro, the same day Apple’s new spatial computer headset was released, according to the press release.

The “Alo Sanctuary” app was made in partnership with experiential e-commerce company Obsess and marketing consultancy Ave Advisory. The app offers a selection of immersive environments and spatial audio for meditation and allows users to shop from Alo Yoga’s entire collection in 3D.

The brand said it plans to update its featured collections on the app seasonally. Each selected environment on the app comes with four styled mannequins shoppers can engage with and shop from.

Alo Yoga is among the first few to host new shopping experiences on the new Apple Vision Pro, which features over 600 environments, according to the company. 

With the launch, Alo Yoga is offering complimentary meditation exercises from its subscription-based platform, Alo Moves. Users can choose from over 20 meditations in the experience with four to six options per environment.

"We are proud to partner with Obsess, and Ave Advisory to launch the first wellness-powered shopping app that our community can experience with Apple Vision Pro," Danny Harris, co-founder and co-CEO of Alo Yoga, said in a statement. "This is a new, immersive way for a visionary brand like ours to share a mindful experience that transports consumers directly into our world through interaction designed for spatial computing."

Alo Yoga’s new app features its Navy, Midnight Green, Espresso and Wild Berry collections that customers can interact with in various environments.

Shoppers can bring products close in vision enough to see the weave and texture of an item as well as be able to differentiate between one kind of spandex over another, according to Neha Singh, CEO and founder of Obsess.

As featured with the headset, Alo’s progressive environments let users manually adjust the level of how immersed they are within the space. Spatial audio cues allow users to adjust the volume on an experience depending on how "close" or "far" they are from where the sound originates.

With Apple’s headset recently being released, brands have jumped to launch shopping apps on Apple’s visionOS spatial operating system. E.l.f. Cosmetics released a beauty shopping app for the Apple Vision Pro with guided meditations, paint-by-numbers and three environments based on E.l.f.’s “holy grail” products.

Launching an app early on for Apple’s new immersive headset builds on Alo's existing virtual spaces.

The company opened a virtual store in February last year in partnership with Obsess, which featured digital styling services, beauty and wellness tutorials, workout classes and more. And last March, the brand introduced a virtual collection of digital wearables to the metaverse.

Beauty brand Clinique announced this week its debut in the U.S. Amazon Premium Beauty store. Clinique’s skin care, makeup, fragrance and men’s products are now available on the platform, the company said in a press release.

The move marks the first of a select few Estée Lauder brands to open a storefront within Amazon’s ecosystem in the coming months.

As part of the launch, the brand created the Clinique Skin Analysis Tool, which is an interactive questionnaire to help customize a customers’ skin care routine and provide the user with product recommendations.

Clinique has over the years leaned into experiential retail with the opening of pop-ups and shop-in-shops within department stores. The move to Amazon is the brand’s latest iteration of expanding its base while staying on target with its strategy to create engaging experiences for its customers.

“Since inception, Clinique has always offered dermatologist and allergy guided solutions to educate and enable consumers to customize their skincare regimens to match their needs,” an Estée Lauder spokeswoman told Retail Dive in an email.

Clinique has been making ongoing strides toward skin care customization using retail and consumer testing. The partnership with Amazon is just the latest.

“We are thrilled to be strategically expanding our consumer reach in the U.S. as a select few Estée Lauder Companies brands open dedicated storefronts in Amazon’s fast-growing Premium Beauty destination over the coming months, starting with Clinique today,” Fabrizio Freda, president and CEO of The Estée Lauder Companies, said in a statement.

In 2019, Clinique launched a stand-alone store with a pop-up concept called Clinique iD in New York’s SoHo neighborhood. The pop-up, which lasted 10 days, allowed customers to test samplers and get a skin care diagnosis to help them find the right moisturizer.

The temporary pop-up experience was “to bring Clinique’s heritage of skin care customization and tailoring into contemporary conversations on a trend of customization that was surging at the time of launch,” an Estée Lauder spokesperson said in an email. “This pop-up also brought the brand’s heritage of consultants and analysis into the experience.” 

Three years later, Clinique rolled out the Clinique Lab in Macy’s at Herald Square in New York City, which included the brand’s diagnostics tool — Clinique Clinical Reality — to provide skin care and beauty recommendations to consumers. There are now 28 Macy’s locations featuring the lab concept, according to the company.

The Clinique Lab launched in Europe, the Middle East and Africa last year with a metaverse twist. Through a digital environment on desktop or mobile devices, customers can create custom avatars and browse its products, talk with a Clinique consultant and get skin care tips, according to Clinique spokeswoman.

The partnership with Amazon is a result of a “shared vision to inspire customers through unique shopping experiences and technology, meeting customers where they are, and helping them to explore and discover all this incredible brand has to offer,” Melis del Rey, general manager of Amazon U.S. Stores Beauty, Baby and Beauty Technology, said in a statement. “Clinique is a beauty brand revered around the world, drawing on a rich heritage of dermatological expertise, and beloved across generations of customers.”

Stitch Fix announced Tuesday a partnership with Spotify to launch Style Tune Ups, which offers personalized outfit recommendations based on the findings from its 2024 Style Forecast report, along with curated playlists from Spotify.

Upon answering questions on Spotify about personal style, the interactive experience will reveal what trend from the style forecast best embodies the customer. Spotify then curates a personalized playlist with the shopper’s style and music preferences. Clients can share their results with a Stitch Fix stylist ahead of their next box, according to a company press release.

The company is also debuting Tune Up Styling Sessions starting Feb. 1 where customers can book a virtual appointment to create looks to wear to live concert events.

Stitch Fix is finding new ways to integrate personalization into its platform in order to attract customers.

Data from Stitch Fix trend report shows that more than half of its clients are likely to "dress the part" when attending their favorite artist's concert, according to the company.

"Stitch Fix mined billions of data points from over 100 million Fixes to create the 2024 Style Forecast, our annual trend report, and found that music will play a monumental role in clients' styles this year, with nearly four in five of our clients taking outfit inspiration from their favorite artist, Taylor Swift," Jenny Herr, Stitch Fix Head of Trend, said in a statement. "Thanks to these and other music-related insights, it was an intuitive next step to team up with Spotify — a brand also known for its expertise in data and personalized recommendations.” 

The launch of the new feature comes as Stitch Fix faces changes, including C-suite shakeups and layoffs. Last week, Stitch Fix announced it cut 10 “styling leader” positions, and said it would get rid of full-time styling positions as of March 31. This followed job cuts last year: The retailer in October 2023 announced the closure of a Dallas distribution center, impacting 558 jobs. Earlier that same year, the company also decided to shutter a Pennsylvania warehouse, resulting in 393 people losing their jobs.

In its most recent earnings report, Stitch Fix’s Q1 net revenues fell 17.8% year over year to $364.8 million.

Many applications of customer experience technology focus on assisting employees or customers, but physical stores offer an environment where one tool can assist both. Build-A-Bear Workshop has implemented in-store tablets that benefit the experience for associates and shoppers alike.

The tablets let employees offer greater personalization and create convenient checkout opportunities for customers, according to Dara Meath, chief technology officer at Build-A-Bear. They also let people look up loyalty information anywhere in the store.

"I almost look at it like the cloud versus a server," Meath told sister publication CX Dive. "When you're stuck to a location, you then don't get the mobility that you need to be active in front of a customer. When you're in the cloud, you can go anywhere and do anything."

Freeing up employees from the register helps them become part of the store’s community, according to Meath. Associates can proactively assist customers from the moment a customer enters a store, rather than waiting until they’re approached.

Shoppers seek speedy checkout

The devices, running Jumpmind Commerce and CX Connect software from retail solution provider Jumpmind, provide mobile and omnichannel point-of-sale functionality, allowing associates to handle transactions or place e-commerce orders from anywhere in the store.

The goal is to make the in-store journey easy and seamless, according to Meath. The tablets allow associates to scan each accessory or access Build-A-Bear’s site to order unavailable items online at any point so customers don’t have to wait until the formal checkout process. 

"What we wanted to do is really get the experience out to [customers] and help them to start the journey of checking out, of understanding other gifts and opportunities that we offer, without having to stand at a standard [point of sale],” Meath said.

Build-A-Bear’s rollout of the devices comes at a time when customers are seeking speedier and more informative in-store journeys. According to a recent study by IBM, more than a quarter of customers said that faster checkout would improve their shopping experiences, and a similar share are looking for more and better information about products.

Modern tools should eliminate friction caused by basic challenges like slow checkouts and a lack of product information, according to Karl Haller, global leader for the IBM Consulting Consumer Center of Competency. Expectations have surpassed pre-COVID levels, but in-store experiences have largely failed to keep pace.

Efficiency is essential for parents

A key demographic for Build-A-Bear is parents, who can have a hard time making it to a register when they are keeping track of their children in a busy store, according to Meath. This challenge is amplified when a store is hosting a party.

“If you're a mom, and you have 40 kids in front of you having this fantastic party, the last thing you want to do is try to run over to a register and check out,” Meath said.

This makes the tablets a particularly welcome feature for parents and grandparents who come shopping with kids in tow. Customers of all ages appreciate efficiency — teens don’t enjoy waiting in line any more than anyone else, Meath said.

Shoppers who prefer a traditional checkout experience at a register still have that option. The average Build-A-Bear store now has two tablets and two registers, doubling the speed at which customers can check out, Meath said.

Tablets simplify loyalty benefits

The new tablets were also designed with personalization in mind. Associates can access customer information through Build-A-Bear’s Bonus Club loyalty program to advise them on promotions, relevant product drops or unredeemed rewards.

“They might have bought from the web, or they might have bought from here or there,” Meath said. “The great thing is we know who they are because they're a part of our Bonus Club.”

Customers can also take advantage of this functionality to look up information about their own accounts, Meath said. This saves customers the trouble of needing to look up rewards or active promotions before they come to the store.

This year, H&M Group plans to open around 100 new stores and to close around 160, according to its annual report. While that is a net reduction of 60, the remaining stores will make a positive contribution to sales. So far in 2024, a net 31 stores have closed.

In 2023, the company opened 101 new stores and closed 197 stores, ending the year with 4,369 worldwide, among all its brands. Going forward, there will be fewer closures while new openings will continue, per the report.

This year, H&M will also refurbish about 250 stores, including in New York, London, Berlin and Stockholm, according to another report on the company’s Q1 results.

Four years ago H&M Group pulled back on what had been a global expansion of its store network and began to emphasize e-commerce. In 2020, that meant closing some 170 stores, and in 2021 another 250; at the time its footprint topped 5,000 locations.

In its year-end report, the fast-fashion company’s former CEO, Helena Helmersson, said that physical locations provide customers with an opportunity to “try on clothes and be inspired.” Helmersson stepped down unexpectedly in the new year after four years at the helm, replaced by former H&M brand chief Daniel Ervér. 

“The physical stores continue to be incredibly important and in 2024 we are stepping up the pace of investment in the existing stores to further elevate the shopping experience,” Helmersson said. “We are ensuring that we have the right store with the right format in the right place. Our stores, which are in prime locations, are a major asset where we meet our customers every day.”

The company’s stores also foster sustainability and serve as fulfillment hubs for delivery, pickup and returns. All use RFID technology, providing “precise information on availability and size options.” Some offer customers repair services. Stores are built, furnished and operated with sustainability in mind, with 91% equipped with LED lighting, the company said.

Most new stores will be located in growth markets, while most closures will affect established markets, the company said. The H&M brand plans to open its first store in Brazil in 2025.

By brand, H&M runs 3,872 stores in 77 markets, with an online presence in 60 markets; COS has 245 stores in 47 markets; & Other Stories has 72 stores in 25 markets; Weekday has stores in 14 countries; the Monki brand has 64 concept stores in 15 markets; and Arket has 30 stores in 14 markets. 

In 2020 the company launched a membership-based brand dubbed Singular Society, which has a flagship store in Stockholm, per the report. More than 170 H&M Group stores in Russia have permanently closed. Two years ago the company temporarily closed its stores in Ukraine, but has been able to gradually reopen most, per the report.

This week, H&M Group also reported that Q1 sales declined 2.2% to 53.7 billion Swedish kronor ($5 billion at press time). Gross profit rose 7%, reaching gross margin of 51.5%.

Alongside other brands flocking to Roblox, Amika, a New York-based hair care brand, has partnered with the experiential e-commerce company Obsess to introduce a virtual experience within Roblox, according to a Wednesday press release. 

Within the “Amikaverse,” players can choose from various avatars, each of which has a corresponding mini-game to play. Players can also buy digital wearable items, including hair accessories, for their characters, according to the announcement. 

The brand is also working with Obsess to create a virtual store on Amika’s e-commerce site, which is set to debut this year.

Like Amika, multiple major brands and retailers have created virtual in-game experiences on Roblox in the last year or so, including Walmart, Threadless and Adidas.

In the Amikaverse, players can select one of three characters: the Stylist, Gardener or Recycler to guide them through an immersive, 3D experience. Depending on which character they select, they'll either have to find the right product to address another character’s hair issue, harvest ingredients to create Amika hair products or gather recyclable materials to create packaging based on Amika’s designs. 

“Roblox is a natural place for us to continue building our community,” Shannon Otto, senior director of consumer engagement at Amika, said in a statement. “The Amikaverse is an ideal extension of our brand purpose, and a prime example of how we're meeting our next-gen customers where they are. Amika has roots in the salon community and we're a proud friend to the planet — using naturally derived ingredients and PCR packaging is table stakes for us. All of these things come to life in a beautifully immersive way in the Amikaverse, and we're excited to partner with Obsess as we build our community on Roblox.”

Like Roblox, Obsess has also attracted a variety of retailers and brands in recent years, such as J. Crew, Crate and Barrel, Crocs and Alo Yoga. In addition to collaborating directly with brands, the company introduced a tool in April 2023 to help brands develop their own virtual stores.

Meanwhile, some retailers are turning to an Obsess competitor, Emperia, to create digital representations of their stores and brands. In recent years, Emperia has partnered with brands the Japanese skincare company Tatcha, Bloomingdale’s and Lacoste.