www.cablespots.net Published Daily For Subscriptions, call 1-888-884-2630 [email protected] $300 Per Year Copyright 2019 Monday, March 22, 2021 STUDY: ONLINE GROCERY PICKUP GAINING POPULARITY FEB. SALES STRONG, BUT DOWN 14% FROM JAN. ADVERTISER NEWS While total U.S. online grocery sales are contracting, a high- Nike’s North American revenues fell short of analysts’ er share are being fulfilled via physical pickup services. expectations in the most recent quarter as container According to the February 2021 Brick Meets Click/Mer- shortages and congestion at U.S. ports held up distribution catus Grocery Shopping Survey, total U.S. grocery online of the company’s products. Nike says it expects to grocery sales pulled back to $8 billion for February, a 14% recapture revenue going forward that has so far been drop from $9.3 billion in January, as fewer households went lost to its supply chain issues... Anthropologie has seen online for groceries. an uptick in dress sales, while Bonobos reports that However, the delivery/pickup segment captured $6.1 bil- demand has risen for dress shirts, suits and tuxedos. lion in sales during February, accounting for more than three- The companies’ experiences are reflective of what other quarters of total online grocery sales for the month. In par- retailers selling business and formal attire have noted ticular, pickup (including in-store, curbside, lockers and drive- recently… Home good retailer Williams-Sonoma last up) represented about 50% of online grocery sales and an week posted better-than-expected results for its Q4. Online approximately 40% share of online grocery orders. sales grew 45% during the fiscal year, compared to a 24% “February’s overall sales contraction was expected,” ac- drop in in-person sales. Still, CEO Laura Alber says the cording to David Bishop, partner at Brick Meets Click, a Bar- company won’t give up on its brick-and-mortar strategy… rington, Ill.-based strategic advisory firm focus- Adidas is teaming up with Peloton on a new ing. “While January’s sales performance set a clothing line. The Adidas x Peloton SS21 record high for online grocery sales, we also collection will feature hoodies, pants, shorts saw January’s shopper sentiment related to and tank tops priced between $30 to $83. completing a grocery delivery or pickup order The partnership with the virtual cycling and within the next month drop by approximately exercise service is the first time Adidas has 10%, and that is what happened, albeit at a teamed up with fitness instructors to design slightly higher rate, in February.” a line... Dollar General plans to accelerate The study revealed the following: the rollout of its new suburban-focused concept Popshelf. • Monthly active online grocery users dropped 12%, from The dollar retailer plans to open up to 50 Popshelf stores 69.7 million in January to 60.1 million in February. Over 40% by the end of the year, exceeding past targets of 30 stores, of this reduction came from the over-60 age group. COO Jeff Owen said. In addition, Dollar General aims to • Online grocery shoppers placed an average of 2.7 or- add the Popshelf concept as a store-within-a-store to 25 ders during February, a 6% drop from January’s 2.8. Most of existing locations in 2021. In all, Dollar General estimates the drop is attributable to the ship-to-home segment, which it could add up to 3,000 additional Popshelf stores across had a 12% decrease in order frequency. the nation... Amazon is now operating eight Amazon • The combined delivery/pickup segments were only Fresh brick-and-mortar grocery locations in Southern down 4% on a month-over-month basis. California. The latest addition to the rapidly growing Despite lower overall sales and order volumes, the aver- Amazon Fresh format opened last week in Long Beach, age order value (AOV) for online grocery purchases actually Calif. The approximately 40,000-square-foot store was rose 4% month-over-month. Brick Meets Click attributes this designed from the ground up to offer a seamless shopping increase to the share mix shifting toward the pickup/delivery experience, with extra perks for members of the Amazon segment, which typically involves larger orders. Households Prime paid loyalty program. Bloomberg recently reported spent an average of $82 in February for orders received via that Amazon plans to open at least 28 additional Amazon delivery or pickup, 55% larger than orders shipped-to-home. Fresh stores across the nation... Pepsi is getting fruity with Each of the ship-to-home and delivery/pickup segments its newest permanent flavor to the fizzy beverage: Pepsi also had respective month-over-month increases. The AOV Mango. The new tropical flavor is brand’s first new flavor for ship-to-home orders jumped nearly 11%, while the AOV to stick around in five years. Pepsi said the drink will have for pickup orders grew just over 1%. “bright citrus and rich caramel notes.” The new flavor will “Rising vaccination rates, declining new COVID-19 cases also be the first time Pepsi has released both a regular and and relaxing of various retail restrictions all create head- zero-sugar version at the same time, a decision driven by winds for online grocery shopping,” Bishop explained. “Each a growing preference for sugar-free offerings... Apple has of these factors contributes in part to the growing optimism again begun allowing shoppers at its stores in the U.S. to that is leading people to revert to activities that they enjoyed try on AirPods before purchasing them, marking a move doing before... However, these factors alone are less likely to toward what was normal before the pandemic. Try-ons will change existing buying behaviors for others who didn’t hold be permitted at stores that have reopened to walk-in traffic, strong positive views about in-store shopping before, espe- but not at locations still limited to the Apple Store Express cially if they perceive that online shopping is an acceptable format. The ability to try on AirPods has been available at alternative.” locations in Asia for months already. NIELSEN: OLD COMEDIES SURGE AMID PANDEMIC REPORT: STORE OPENINGS OUTPACE CLOSURES Viewers may be stuck at home more than they’d like during Even with the COVID-19 pandemic still weighing on the COVID-19 pandemic, but many have escaped to the physical retail, retailers in the U.S. collectively plan to comfort of classic TV comedies, USA Today reports. open 3,344 stores so far this year, according to a recent Although overall comedy viewing on TV dropped 9% in 2020, Coresight Research report. the audience grew substantially for a variety of long-gone That’s 39.5% more openings than announced at this sitcoms, from 1960s CBS series The Andy Griffith Show point last year and also well ahead of the 2,649 closures to Friends, according to Nielsen. And classic comedies that announced so far in 2021. In recent years, closures have reflect casting diversity were among the biggest gainers. far surpassed new stores. Last year, NBC’s Friends, which ended its 10-year run in Among those planning new stores for this year are Dollar 2004, was the most-watched comedy on broadcast or cable General, which plans to add more than 1,000 locations in TV, with 96.7 billion minutes viewed, a 30% jump from 2019. 2021, as well as Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Five Below, Andy Griffith grew 29%, to 58.3 billion Big Lots and Burlington. viewing minutes, while ABC’s Roseanne Last year brought a massive wave saw a 70% viewing surge to 20.1 billion U.S. retailers plan to open of store closures and bankruptcies. minutes. 3,344 stores so far this year. Shuttered stores totaled out at 8,960 Behind Friends is CBS’ The Big Bang That’s 39.5% more openings — nearly triple the 3,307 openings Theory (2007-19) and Two and a Half than announced at this point that Coresight logged for the year. Men (2003-15), according to Nielsen, in 2020 and ahead of the The closure figures were driven by which did not include streaming in its 2,649 closures announced bankruptcies, liquidations and right ranking. so far in 2021. sizing, all with COVID-19 raging in the The growth rate was even larger for background. some shows with casts that are more Coresight Research representative of the nation’s diversity. THIS AND THAT Year-to-year viewing of ABC’s Family A free Amazon Fire TV News app is Matters (1989-1998), which focuses on rolling out to devices, delivering live and a Black family, skyrocketed, recording 11.4 billion viewing on-demand local news to 88 major U.S. cities. Amazon’s minutes for a 392% increase from 2019. George Lopez announcement says the dozens of channels include “popular (2002-07), built around a popular comedian of Mexican- local stations from news distributors such as ABC Owned American heritage, recorded nearly 11 billion viewing Television Stations and CBSN,” in locations including minutes, a 113% jump, while The Bernie Mac Show (2001- Detroit, New Orleans, Orlando, Phoenix and Salt Lake City. 06) was up 71% to 3.3 billion minutes. It follows a 2020 rollout that had other large markets, such as Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia... CABLENET CHATTER Google blocked or removed 3.1 billion ads from its platform Oxygen will roll out its first Serial Killer Week from April worldwide last year for violating hate speech, fraud and other 10-18. The stunt kicks off with Rifkin on Rifkin: Private policies and placed restrictions on 6.4 billion ads that were Confessions of a Serial Killer, which sees killer Joel Rifkin deemed “legally or culturally sensitive.” Google also reported speak from Attica Correctional Facility in New York... an increase in “cloaking” by ad fraudsters promoting scams Roku has acquired TOH Holdings, the owner of the This sparked the formation of its advertiser identity verification Old House business, from TZP Group as its ad-supported program... The Motion Picture Association says content streaming platform continues to grow. The acquisition includes released on disc and through digital channels in the U.S. distribution rights and digital assets of This Old House and generated $30 billion in consumer spending, up from $24.8 Ask This Old House and their television production studio. billion in 2019. The uptick was driven by digital transactions, The current seasons will continue to stream on The Roku which increased 33% to $26.5 billion from $20 billion. Channel after they air on PBS. The show will also continue Packaged media sales declined 26% to $3.5 billion from $4.7 to appear on cable with Discovery... FX has handed a pilot billion. order to The Bear. Christopher Storer will write and direct the pilot, described as a half-hour show about a young chef FOX AD SALES MOVES TO CLOUD PLATFORM who returns to Chicago to run the family restaurant... Damon Fox Corp. is integrating its programming portfolio into Op- Wayans Jr. (Happy Endings) has been tapped as the lead erative Media’s cloud-native sales management platform, of TBS’ comedy pilot Kill the Orange-Faced Bear. Jessy AOS. Hodges (Barry), Alex Karpovsky (Girls) and Nate Torrence This makes Fox the first multimedia company to move linear (Hello Ladies) also have been cast in the pilot, scheduled ad sales to a single cloud system, according to the compa- to begin shooting in May. Kill the Orange-Faced Bear is nies. about one man’s (Wayans Jr.) epic revenge journey after a The partnership — unveiled as the industry prepares for bear eats his girlfriend (Hodges)... Teen hip-hop star Alaya the annual upfront media buying round — will allow Fox to High, otherwise known as Lay Lay, is to front a live-action oversee client inventory across its portfolio and manage the comedy series for Nickelodeon – a series that leads the full advertising sales lifecycle across linear, digital and ad- kids’ networks latest original programming slate. That Girl vanced audiences in a unified way, within a single solution, Lay Lay is joined by a series order for Warped!, a new live- they report. action buddy comedy series. It will also allow for accelerating Fox’s adoption of advanced capabilities such as near-real-time ad creative substitution, PAGE 2 automation of rate cards and ratings, optimization and con- verging assets across content verticals and platforms. Fox has reserved the afternoon of May 17 for a virtual www.CableSpots.net Monday, March 22, 2021 upfront event this year, according to Deadline.