1/8/20 - Ikea To No Longer Sell On Amazon Marketplace In The U.S.

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

Introduction

This is Today in Five, for today, Wednesday, January 8th. Here are today’s headlines in digital disruption.

Ikea is the latest in a string of retailers who will no longer sell on Amazon.  

First, here are the latest headlines.

New Study Underscores Importance of Customer Wait Times

Buy online, pick-up in-store services are becoming a popular method for consumers in a hurry and an increasingly important strategy for retailers. But the amount of time they have to wait to get their order in-store makes all the difference in their likelihood to return. According to a new study, customers who wait less than two minutes to get their buy online, pick-up in-store orders are more than 4 times as likely to return to the store than customers kept waiting for 10 minutes or more. In fact, customers who are kept waiting 10 minutes or more are less than 20 percent likely to come back, underscoring the importance of wait time as a whole.  

Nordstrom Stock Upgraded

Nordstrom is officially separating from the department store pack. J.P. Morgan upgraded the stock to neutral and boosted its price target to $41 dollars from $26 dollars per share. The analysts cited inventory improvements, fewer markdowns, recovery in its off-price Rack unit, accelerating e-commerce and buy online, pick up in-store, and its location in mostly premium malls, among other factors, for the upgrade. Analysts also called the Nordstrom Local expansion along with its new flagship in New York City, a potential accelerator with a “market halo effect.” While the year won’t be smooth sailing for any department store, including Nordstrom, the retailer’s strategies and the diminished presence of Barneys, Hudson’s Bay Co., and Lord & Taylor could present Nordstrom with a “multi-year market share opportunity.”

Hudson's Bay Reaches Deal to Go Private

Hudson’s Bay Co has reached a new deal to be taken private by an investor group led by the retailer’s chairman, Richard Baker, the retailer announced late on Friday. The new agreement is for CA$11 dollars a share, an increase from a previous offer of C$10.30 dollars a share. Supporting the agreement this time is Catalyst Capital Group, Hudson’s Bay’s largest minority shareholder and an opponent to the previous deal. Hudson’s Bay plans to hold a special shareholder meeting in February to vote on the deal.  

Ikea To No Longer Sell On Amazon Marketplace In The U.S.

Ikea will stop selling on Amazon after a U.S. pilot launched in 2018 to sell its Smart Lighting products ended. A spokesperson from the company said, “We are curious and keen on exploring new areas to get new insights on how to reach and serve more of the many people.” The announcement from Ikea is the latest in a string of brands leaving the Amazon marketplace, with many citing lack of control and counterfeits as their reason for exiting the platform. Birkenstock in 2016 said it would no longer sell its products on Amazon after a surge in counterfeit sales, and Nike in November 2019 announced it was exiting the platform to focus on its direct-to-consumer strategy. Ikea didn’t specify what marketplaces it will work with in the future, if any, though that may indicate it has something else in the works. In February 2019, the Swedish retailer teased the idea fo creating its own marketplace, which would include selling its rivals’ products, according to a Financial Times report.

Closing

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Thanks for listening to this latest episode of Today In Five. We’ll see you tomorrow.