The Modern Retail Podcast

Online resale may be a hot retail buzzword now, but ThredUp has been around for over a decade building out its business.This week on the Modern Retail Podcast, ThredUp CEO and co-founder James Reinhart spoke about rising demand for resale and how the platform has expanded its offerings. Not only does ThredUp have its own marketplace business, but the company has been building out its resale-as-a-service offering, allowing brands to use its infrastructure to create their own consignment programs."In some ways, I describe us as really the infrastructure and backbone of how resale works on the internet," Reinhart said.Compared to some of the recent fast-fashion upstarts, ThredUp is an older player. The company was founded in 2009, and went public in 2021. Still, ThredUp has been able to stay current with recent business movements. The rise of Shein and Temu -- as well as the backlash to their fast-fashion value-focused offerings -- has given ThredUp some helpful tailwinds, for example."It's easy to have a boogeyman," Reinhart said.Reinhart also said that resale as an industry should be treated like other nascent technologies contributing to a greater good, like electric vehicles and solar energy. As such, he's calling for more government assistance as companies try to figure out ways to build new sustainability-focused technology."I'm a big believer that government has a role to play in bridging the economic and innovation gap that it takes to develop some of these new technologies," he said.

On this week’s Modern Retail Rundown, the staff discusses how Hoka went mainstream in the last few years and how the company's roadmap will cater to this newfound customer base. Meanwhile, Amazon Prime is facing pressure from memberships like Walmart+, prompting the company to constantly expand its included perks. Lastly, store brands and private labels continue to see growth as Americans trade down from higher-priced national brands.

Century 21 was an iconic New York off-price store that is now trying to return to its former glory.After filing for bankruptcy and shutting down all 13 of its locations, Century 21 reopened its lower Manhattan locations."We are, in fact, an iconic legacy piece of New York, and we're happy to be back," Larry Mentzer, the retailer's chief operating officer, said on the Modern Retail Podcast. Mentzer spoke about the strategy with the reopening as well as plans for the future.The retail landscape has been transformed over the last four years -- and Century 21 has had to reckon with those changes. As part of the reopening, the company dramatically cut down its store size as well as the types of products it sells. Now, it focuses predominately on apparel and less on areas that didn't sell as well, such as home goods and kids shoes."We really made a conscious effort to edit the assortment, keep it tight, turn faster, carry less inventory and show the customer really must-have designers and must-have items that you can't come back tomorrow and get it," he said.While foot traffic and sales have gone up and down over the last year, Mentzer says things are looking promising. "I can tell you that Q1, which was February, March and April of 2024, was better. And Q2, which we're just recently rolling into, is incredibly better. So we're excited about the summer," he said.

The podcast discusses Target's price cuts, Amazon's new Alexa features, and Macy's earnings. Target lowers prices on essential products, Amazon plans to sell Alexa as a subscription service, and Macy's sees positive results.

Resale has proven difficult for many players in the apparel space, but KEH has made it work for the camera industry.KEH has been around for 40 years, beginning first as a used camera business. It's grown into the leading platform for pre-owned camera gear. Today, the company continues to see year-over-year growth and is profitable. CEO Noah Treshnell joined the Modern Retail Podcast and spoke about KEH's history, as well as his vision for the future.One of the real lessons Treshnell has learned is that online resale may not work for every type of product. It's usually grouped in with apparel, which is a difficult business margin-wise. But for more expensive products like cameras, the model has proven to work especially well.Brands have to ask, he said, "Is it a category that dramatically drops off in terms of retaining its value? So, is the depreciation curve shallow? That's very important, especially in e-commerce."Lucky for KEH, its products work for a profitable resale business. With resale being such a buzzy word, the business is only continuing to grow."We've got tailwinds behind us and we're going substantially faster than even the market is growing," he said. "And that's really a testament to the team and our customer."

This week's Modern Retail Rundown kicks off with an abridged history of Under Armour’s plans to overhaul its business, which dates back as far as 2017. Meanwhile, Shein has reportedly attempted and failed to get into the National Retail Federation multiple times as it prepares to go public. Last, Costco and Uber Eats are teaming up to bring grocery delivery to people without a Costco membership.

Workwear has become high fashion, and Cargo Crew has spent the last two decades riding this wave.The Australia-based company, which first launched in 2002, makes items like cooking aprons and boiler suits. Over the years, the company has expanded and grown -- Cargo Crew now works with 45,000 teams in over 80 countries and projects sales will grow 186% this year.This growth is partly thanks to high-profile clients and fans like celebrity chef Curtis Stone, Goop and even Paris Hilton, who wore one of Cargo Crew's suits earlier this year. "I think the power of celebrity, whilst it's important here in Australia, it's even more important in the U.S.," said Cargo Crew's founder and chief creative officer Felicity Rodgers. She joined this week's Modern Retail Podcast and spoke about the two-decade-plus journey.

On this week’s Modern Retail Rundown: The Information reported that Gopuff lost $400 million last year in its quest to grow revenue. Equinox launched a new health and wellness program that costs $40,000 a year and promises members lifelong health. Meanwhile, Sweetgreen has upset fans by getting rid of arugula the same week it introduced steak to its menu.

"Everyone said that millennials were never going to buy watches," said Margot Grinberg, president of the Movado Brand and svp of e-commerce at its parent company Movado Group. The going theory was: "They don't need them to tell time, they had a phone; watches were dead after the cell phone came out."But that didn't happen. In fact, timepieces have never been more popular. According to a recent survey from the Boston Consulting Group, between 2021 and 2023, 54% of Gen Z and younger millennials increased their spending on luxury watches.Grinberg joined the Modern Retail Podcast and spoke about the state of higher-end watches, as well as its evolving marketing playbook. For her, it's a family affair as her grandfather founded the company.But even with its long history, Movado has been intently focused on attracting younger shoppers. Despite being over a century old, the watch brand -- which also works with top names like Coach, Tommy Hilfiger and Hugo Boss -- has been figuring out ways to introduce itself to younger shoppers. This has included a revamped logo, soon-to-be redesigned packaging as well as updated messaging.While the products have remained relatively consistent, Grinberg said what makes shoppers -- especially younger shoppers -- more amenable to higher-end brands is in messaging. "I think in today's world, a lot of it is about marketing and how you're communicating to customers," she said.The other part of the equation is being available on multiple channels. Movado's watches are sold in most any store that sells time pieces, but it's also available on marketplaces like Amazon as well as its own website."There are so many new elements that you can offer consumers from an e-commerce experience that we didn't even have five, 10 years ago," Grinberg said.

 On this week's Modern Retail Rundown: The show kicks off with a recap of Starbucks' latest earnings. The coffee shop chain cited bad weather, out-of-stock products and long wait times on app purchases as factors for a slight sales decline. Meanwhile, this week Walmart rolled out a new in-house brand called Bettergoods which features products like plant-based cheese, pistachio nut butter and trendy condiments. Meanwhile, arcade games destination Dave & Buster's said it's launching an in-app experience that will allow adults 18 years and older to place bets with real money.