The Modern Retail Podcast Digiday

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.

John Foley may be best known as the founder and former CEO of Peloton, but it turns out interior design is his real passion.
"I've been passionate about rugs for decades," he said on the Modern Retail Podcast. "I love design, I love spaces."
This was all said to explain why he launched a rug company. Ernesta is a direct-to-consumer brand selling higher-end rugs. It launched in September of last year and just opened its first showroom in Manhattan last month.
"Now I'm addicted to you know those super high-end custom rugs," he said. "And we're trying to bring them now to both interior designers and to consumers at a price point that most people can't afford."
Ernesta is still in its early days, but Foley said the business is growing and gaining a name for itself. As he described it, the hope is for Ernesta to do for rugs what The Shade Store did for curtains. He even sees Ernesta's business model looking similar to it. "[The Shade store is] right around 50/50, selling to consumers and selling to trade. So we believe we're going to be right in that zone," he said.
Still, the company is very young and still has a lot of learning to do. The biggest lesson thus far is figuring out how best to tap the vast and opaque world of interior design. While customers can buy their rugs directly from its site or store, Foley is also hoping to becoming a trusted partner to designers and firms.
"My team and I come from the consumer world, and so we understand consumers a lot more than we understand interior designers and the trade," he said. "So we're learning our way into it."
Now, with the first store open, Ernesta is hoping to see how well it helps grow sales -- and eventually continue building the business from there. The company is also planning on launching an online platform for customers to share their own designs and interior layouts in the hopes of inspiring others.
"We're building this scaffolding -- this product experience community -- onto Ernesta, he said. "And I think in the next six to 12 months, that's going to come to life and be a really special part of the shopping experience."