Dear goodness, it was quite the year for retail news, wasn't it?
Welcome to the top stories of 2021. These are the headlines you clicked on, shared with colleagues and wrote us emails about. A number of them, like Instagram's announcement that it isn't a photo-sharing app, surprised us, even as it alludes to a broader trend of the acceleration of social commerce. Others, like Macy's perhaps tinkering with the idea of spinning off its e-commerce operations, are storylines we will closely follow into 2022.
And then there's our deal tracker. It was updated on a (near) weekly basis because almost everyone reading this decided to either IPO or buy another company this year.
Ten stories are below. They are in no particular order, but we hope you find them interesting and informative as we think back on what drove the industry in 2021.
Kaarin Vembar
Editor, Retail Dive
Email | Twitter
UPDATED
From public listings and acquisitions to brand spinoffs, here's a look back at some of the biggest deals as the year draws to a close.
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Deep Dive
The National Retail Federation won a stay against the government's plan to have big companies immunize or test their employees. That squanders a chance to thwart the pandemic, experts say.
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The discounter is eyeing 3,000 total locations for the new format, which targets higher income women in suburbs.
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Saks already did it, and Wall Street may want everyone to do it. Others are not so sure.
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The funding makes it the highest-valued private fintech in Europe and the second highest globally, according to the company.
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The $1 proposition means less room to raise prices as supply chain congestion leads to extraordinary cost increases.
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The social media platform will refocus on video, creators, shopping and messaging to hold its own against competitors like TikTok.
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Deep Dive
Since 2011, the sportswear giant has grown direct-to-consumer sales from 16% of its namesake brand revenues to 35%, all while continuing to take share.
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After an uproar over new work rules, Chief Operating Officer Minesh Shah Thursday apologized while defending them as "a complex business decision."
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The retailer said it would invest about $4 billion annually to remodel stores over the next few years, including the "glow-up" of 150 locations this year.
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