💰Retail Roundup (Short Mall Traffic; Long Discounting)💰

Ah, the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter is critical for retailers as they play out the “holidays” option and hope to stave off bankruptcy. How’s that working out for them?

Per CNBC:

U.S. retail sales increased less than expected in November as Americans cut back on discretionary spending, which could see economists dialing back economic growth forecasts for the fourth quarter.

The Commerce Department said on Friday retail sales rose 0.2% last month.

Surveys had predicted a 0.5% retail sales acceleration.

Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales edged up 0.1% last month after rising by an unrevised 0.3% in October.

The so-called core retail sales correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product. Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, grew at a 2.9% annualized rate in the third quarter.

The breakdown is as follows:

• Auto sales ⬆️ 0.5%;

• Gasoline ⬆️ 0.7%;

• Online/Mail-Order Retail ⬆️ 0.8%;

• Electronics/Appliances ⬆️ 0.7%; and

• Furniture ⬆️ 0.1%.

On the negative side, however:

• Apparel ⬇️ 0.6%;

• Restaurants/Bars ⬇️ 0.3%; and

• Hobby/Music/Book Stores ⬇️ 0.5%.

It gets worse for apparel. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest CPI report revealed weakness for November — which, significantly, includes Black Friday and Cyber Monday. 😬

Men’s and women’s apparel decreased by 0.9% and 3.6% YOY, respectively, while boys’ and girls’ apparel decreased 3.9% and 2.2%. Said another way, there’s an epidemic of markdowns/discounts. That can’t bode well for retail’s bottom line.

Indeed, several retailers acknowledged that markdowns are a significant issue. American Eagle Outfitters Inc. ($AEO) CEO Jay Schottenstein* noted “the challenging environment promotional activity increased relative to our expectations,” a theme that was reiterated by management teams at Urban Outfitters ($URBN), Francesca’s ($FRAN), Children’s Place ($PLCE) and Designer Brands ($DBI). Gamestop Corp’s ($GME) CEO George Sherman — while reporting dogsh*t numbers — noted:

“At this stage, we've entered the commoditization phase of the console cycle, where promotional pricing is driving sales. And if you're out shopping or doing store checks over Black Friday or Cyber Monday you likely saw a clear example of [those] discount stands.”

The problem is that retailers need to draw foot traffic and when your retail experience is commoditized and your product sucks sh*t, how do you do that?

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🥈Second Order Effects Are Real (Long #retailapocalypse Victims)🥈

We’ve spent a considerable amount of time discussing the possible and/or actual second order effects of disruption. For instance, waaaaaaay back in December 2016, we queried to what degree the scanless technology that Amazon Inc. ($AMZN) had then launched in its AmazonGo concept might affect grocers and quick service restaurants. We noted the following possibilities:

[Our] list of losers: manufacturers of conventional scanners...plastic separator bricks...cash registers...conveyer belts; landlords (maybe? - less square footage required without the cashier and self-checkout stations); print media/candy manufacturers/gift cards - all things that benefit from lines and impulse buys at checkout; human capital; people on the wrong end of income inequality.

Three years later, you don’t hear much about AmazonGo. Sure, it’s grown: there are now reportedly 20 locations with more on the way, but it hasn’t exactly taken the world by storm and caused mass disruption to either grocers or QSRs. It’s still worth watching though: the possible second order effects are countless.

An example of actual second order effects is Cenveo Inc., which filed for bankruptcy in February 2018. At the time we wrote:

…it's textbook disruption. Per the company, 

"In addition to Cenveo’s leverage issues, macroeconomic factors, including the introduction of new e-commerce, digital substitution for products, and other technologies, are transforming the industry. Consumers increasingly use the internet and other electronic media to purchase goods and services, pay bills, and obtain electronic versions of printed materials. Moreover, advertisers increasingly use the internet and other electronic media for targeted campaigns directed at specific consumer segments rather than mail campaigns." 

Ouch. To put it simply, every single time you opt-in for an electronic bank statement or purchase a comic book on your Kindle rather than from the local bookstore (if you even have a local bookstore), you're effing Cenveo.

To close the trifecta, we’ll again highlight the recent pain in the SMA space. Catalina Marketing and Acosta Inc. both became chapter 11 filers while Crossmark Holdings Inc. narrowly avoided it. Why? Because CPG companies are taking it on the chin from new and exciting direct-to-consumer e-commerce brands, among other things, and have therefore shifted marketing strategies.

So, on the topic of second order effects, imagine being in the C-suite of a company that, among other things:

• Prints signage, displays, shelf marketing and other promotional-print-material for brick-and-mortar retailers including the likes of, among others, struggling GNC Inc. ($GNC), Gap Inc. ($GPS), and GameStop Inc. (GME), all of which are shrinking their brick-and-mortar footprint;

• Creates menu boards, register toppers, ceiling danglers and more for QSRs and fast casual restaurants who are competing with food delivery services more and more every day; and

• Services consumer packaged goods companies by creating end cap promotions, shelf marketing, floor graphics and more.

Uh….YEAAAAAAAAAH. Some high risk exposure areas right there, folks.😬 And, so you’ve got to imagine that revenues of this “hypothetical” C-suiter’s company are declining, right? Particularly given that print is a highly competitive price-compressed industry?

Luckily, you don’t have to stretch the imagination too far.

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🤔A GameStop Turnaround Story? (Long Skepticism)🤔

PETITION is generally about disruption and one notable retail business is clearly in the midst of a secular sea change*…

On September 10, GameStop Corp. ($GME) reported Q2 ‘19 earnings. They weren’t, to put it kindly, dogsh*t. The results reflected a sharp decline in sales -14.3% from $1,501mm in Q2 ‘18 to $1,286mm, driven by a 41% drop in console sales and 18% reduction in pre-owned sales. Comparable same stores sales declined 11.6%. To make matters worse, GameStop gave investors lower guidance than expected. On last Tuesday’s earnings call management noted:

We are approaching the end of the current console cycle with nice generation consoles slated to be available in late 2020, and as such we expect our year-over-year sales to be down over the next three or four quarters, reflecting the end of that cycle.

Such confidence and enthusiasm!! The shift to digital video games is clearly cutting GameStop out as the middleman, and increased competition is eating up its market share: the business is becoming increasingly cyclical.**

On the earnings call, Ben Schachter, equity analyst at Macquarie Group, had some questions for management about the shift to digital in the video game industry and how $GME is going to adapt:

Can we talk about high-level -- the shift to digital, and then how it impacted the business? So a few questions on that. One, when you think about the next cycle, what percentage of total game, do you think are going to be sold physically versus digital? And what your share might look like in that? Two, how do you expect to participate in digital? How will that evolve for you guys versus what it is today? And then three, around the used business, what does that look like as we move more to digital?

Management responded:

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