Rebecca Day

When Apple and Amazon wrapped hi-res music into their standard music subscription packages in the spring, a fifth of all music streaming subscribers had access to high-quality music, said a December Futuresource report. Though the music services helped enable a “mass-market migration” toward hi-res audio -- delivering to their music streaming subscribers hi-res tracks “almost overnight, at no extra cost” -- challenges are blocking widespread adoption, said Futuresource's Simon Forrest.

The 2021 holiday season is poised to top the National Retail Federation's strong growth forecast, despite supply chain disruptions, inflation, early shopping and concerns over the COVID-19 omicron variant, said NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz Friday.

Five years from now, Walmart will be a different company, said outgoing Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs (see 2111290043) at a Wednesday analyst event, outlining the retailer’s vision to use its “flywheel” to expand advertising, marketplace, healthcare and financial services initiatives. The company grew from a supercenter business with annual revenue of $160 million in 2000 to a $560 million company going “further than the supercenter,” said the executive.

Redbox is using digital video signage atop more than 2,000 kiosks in the U.S., on the way to an expected 4,000, said the DVD rental provider Thursday. The displays are designed to be used by Hollywood studios to promote new releases, to push Redbox's own streaming media service and to display local advertising. Redbox partnered with Velocity, which will source, operate and support the signage network. Initiating coverage of Redbox Monday, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter called Redbox a “compelling, long-term growth story,” due to its 39 million loyalty members, “as many of them are late technology adopters and Redbox makes the transition simple and inexpensive.” Redbox should also benefit from the ongoing share shift from linear broadcast to ad-supported VOD services, Pachter said.

Advertisers’ spending on connected TV platforms remains much smaller than on linear TV, but the gap will narrow over the next four years, said a Wednesday eMarketer report. EMarketer’s first CTV advertising forecast in 2019 said connected TV ad revenue was a tenth of linear TV’s; by 2025, it will be more than half, it said. U.S. TV viewers will spend 80 minutes a day watching subscription over-the-top video this year, up 8.7% from 2020, it said.

The National Retail Federation will continue convening with law enforcement and work with the Biden administration and Congress on a “variety of proposed legislative measures” on the recent spate of mass “smash and grab” thefts across the country that are “incredibly challenging” for retailers, said CEO Matthew Shay on a Tuesday call. “I can’t tell you how concerning this is for our members,” he said, and NRF will take a “much more aggressive position" on the events, he said. The trade association convened a group of members Monday to address the trend and has “hundreds” of people participating in calls about the incidents, Shay said. NRF wants more resources and "greater coordination between federal, state and local authorities,” Shay said. Efforts to combat the crimes have been stymied by factors including “different approaches by different prosecutors” and by a reluctance of law enforcement to prosecute in some cases. Shay wants involvement by DOJ and federal law enforcement.

Despite a falloff in total shopper numbers from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, the National Retail Federation is holding to its Nov. 1-Dec. 31 holiday forecast of 8.5%-10.5% year-on-year growth to $843.4 billion-$859 billion, said CEO Matthew Shay on a Tuesday wrap-up of the five-day holiday period.

Early shopping led to a lower Black Friday weekend e-commerce spend for the first time since Adobe began tracking high-profile holiday shopping days in 2012, emailed the analytics firm Monday. Sales were at the low end of projections, with Black Friday online sales down about $100 million from 2020 to $8.9 billion; Thanksgiving Day sales were flat with 2020 at $5.1 billion.

Sonos meant it when it said on an earnings call this month that it would be less promotional this holiday season than in other years (see 2111180049). Due to supply constraints, “we won't be running typical promotional environments” in the holiday quarter, said Chief Financial Officer Brittany Bagley. We found only three “deals” at Sonos.com on Cyber Monday: a turntable and Sonos Five speaker, $49 off to $949; a pair of Five speakers, cut $49 to $1,049; and a pair of One speakers, $19 lower to $419, for a 4.3% discount. None of the company’s newest products was discounted, including the second-generation Beam we had our eyes on. Best Buy had an open-box version of the $449 Beam for $336; the first-generation Beam it’s replacing was $399 new.

Electronics had the highest online out-of-stock levels as of Tuesday, Adobe reported in a Wednesday email. Overall, out-of-stock messages were up 8% in a week; for November, they were up 261% vs. pre-pandemic levels in November 2019, it said.