1/15/20 - H&M Utilizes Innovation For Sustainability Initiatives

From the Simplr studios in San Francisco, this is your daily briefing.  

Introduction

This is Today in Five, for today, Thursday, January 16th. Here are today’s headlines in digital disruption.

H&M debuted two new innovative recycling bins for shoppers to drop their unwanted clothes and see the difference they’re making.

First, here are the latest headlines.

Visa Buying Plaid

In a deal worth a whopping $5.3 billion dollars, payments giant Visa is buying start-up Plaid the companies announced on Monday. Plaid’s API software lets start-ups connect to users’ bank accounts. Among Plaid’s high-profile customers is the popular payment app, Venmo. As of December, Plaid said one in four people in the U.S. with bank accounts have connected to the company through an app. Visa and rival Mastercard were early investors in the start-up. In a call with investors, Visa’s CEO stated the deal was a long-term play and would position Visa for the next decade, saying, “This fits well, strategically...We’re excited about new businesses and the ability for this to accelerate our revenue growth over time.”  

Walmart Adding More Robots

Walmart will add shelf-scanning robots to 650 more U.S. stores by the end of the summer. The new robots will join the ranks of Walmart’s increasingly automated workforce which also includes devices to scrub floors, unload trucks and gather online-grocery orders. They’re part of CEO Doug McMillon’s push to reduce costs, improve store performance, and gain credibility as a technology innovator. Walmart says the shelf-scanners can reduce tasks that once took as long as two weeks into a twice-daily routine. The potential savings are worrying many retail employees, with the robots often referred to as, “the job stealers,” but Walmart has constantly claimed that its robots lead to the redeployment of employees to less mundane roles, not job eliminations. However, its fleet of robots is growing and getting smarter, marking a new age of retail technology and the disruption of how ordinary tasks and processes are completed.

Bath & Body Works Experiencing Consistent Sales Growth

Bath & Body Works has reported 40 quarters of consistent sales growth. The L Brands owned company’s success signals that some brands are able to navigate the slow decline of mall traffic and continue to thrive. Even as other retailers have struggled in malls, the brand’s consistency and sense of discovery have continued to make it a destination. Even if Sephora or Ulta stores are nearby, Bath & Body Work’s accessible price point is simpler and more attainable than a multi-brand beauty chain while still being more upscale than a Walmart or Walgreens.  

H&M Utilizes Innovation For Sustainability Initiatives

H&M is raising the bar on their apparel recycling initiative with new smart bins. The retailer, which has been accepting unwanted clothing from all brands at its stores since 2013, just debuted two smart collection boxes at its flagship store on Fifth Avenue. The bins house a digital scale and feature integrated digital screens. As shoppers deposit their bag of unwanted clothes, the digital screen displays the weight of the donation, along with a message thanking shoppers for making a difference. The screen then displays a QR code that customers can scan for a 15 percent discount.  

The code also directs shoppers to a website outlining H&M’s sustainability efforts and how their donations make a difference. For example, for every 50 pounds of donated clothing, H&M plants a tree through One Tree Planted. The retailer has a goal of collecting 5 million pounds of apparel and planting 100,000 trees by the end of 2020, according to the company. H&M’s business development project manager of North America said, “This project quantifies the sustainability impact our customers are having in real-time.” H&M will expand the initiative to stores overseas in 2021.  

The retailer’s focus on sustainability is on par with the shifting consumer trends, particularly among younger generations, with a survey from Nielson reporting that 81 percent of global respondents feel strongly that companies should help improve the environment. Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen X were among the most supportive.    

Closing

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