Store traffic returned to Target "in droves" in Q2 as comparable store sales grew 8.7% from Q2 2020, the company reported Wednesday. Overall comp sales growth of 8.9% was driven by traffic, which had a 12.7% year-on-year increase, said CEO Brian Cornell on an earnings call. Digital comp sales growth slowed to 10% from 195% in COVID-19 pandemic-led Q2 2020. Target’s drive-up business continued strong growth, rising 80% for the quarter. It added 5,000 items available for pick-up and the ability within the app to designate an alternate person for pickup, in response to customer feedback. Order pickup grew 30%, while the Shipt delivery service dropped 20% year on year, after 60% growth a year ago, it said. New functionality in the Target app alerts customers to deals so they don’t miss out, said Chief Growth Officer Christina Hennington. When customers add items to their cart, the app will show them all the applicable Target Circle rewards program offers before they check out, she said. Shares closed 2.8% lower Wednesday at $247.55.
Virtual MVPDs Sling TV and fuboTV were the sole gainers in Q2 among major pay-TV providers who give regular reports, reported Leichtman Research Group Tuesday. Sling TV added 65,000 subscribers in the quarter to reach 2.4 million. Sports-focused fuboTV added over 91,000 subscribers, reaching 681,721 subscribers, and Hulu+Live TV lost 100,000 subscribers to 3.7 million. The vMVPD figures don’t include YouTube TV or Philo, which don’t provide regular reports. Total pay-TV subscriber losses were 1.2 million in the quarter, down from 1.5 million in Q2 2020, said LRG. Traditional pay-TV providers continued to shed subscribers, with Comcast losing 399,000 to 18.6 million, while Charter lost 50,000 to 16 million, Cox 60,000 to 3.5 million and Altice 48,300 to 2.9 million. Among other traditional pay-TV services, AT&T Premium, including DirecTV, U-verse and AT&T TV, dropped 473,000 customers; Dish 132,000 to 8.6 million; Fios 63,000 to 3.8 million; and Frontier 30,000 to 423,000, said the report.
Supply chain disruptions, delta variant impacts and increased consumer spending for dining, services and travel led to a drop in retail spending in July, reported the National Retail Federation Tuesday. NRF’s sales tally of core retail -- excluding car dealers, gas stations and restaurants -- showed a 1.1% decline from June after a 1.1% increase from May. Year-over-year sales grew 9.5% vs. July 2020, when store sales were affected by COVID-19 closures. Electronics and appliance store sales were up 0.3% month-over-month and 23.4% year on year, it said. NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said the American consumer continues to be “resilient” despite recent price increases. “If retailers could find more inventory, they could sell it,” he said. Though consumers are “a bit fearful" about increases in COVID-19 cases due to the delta variant, “they’ve learned to live with the virus and shopping continues.” The variant could have an impact on local markets, “especially where vaccination rates are low, but doesn’t appear likely to show up in the national data,” Kleinhenz said. NRF encouraged vaccination. The shift to spending on services was expected as more of the economy reopened, he said, and Amazon’s move of Prime Day to June may have “siphoned off some sales that normally come in July.” But consumer finances are “in good shape with a cushion from paying off debt and building up savings,” and employment and wages have seen recent increases, he noted. Back-to-school spending has been “solid,” and is expected to spill over into August, he said. The trade group maintained its outlook for the year of 10.5%-13.5% growth over 2020 to $4.44 trillion-$4.56 trillion.
Handsets with 5G functionality are expected to generate more than half of all smartphone industry revenue by 2025, rising to $337 billion from $108 billion in 2021, reported Juniper Research Monday. “Increasing the availability of lower-tier 5G smartphones is crucial to propagate 5G handset adoption in emerging markets,” it said. It’s pegging global Android smartphone pricing to be 65% lower than that of iOS by 2025, but “the enduring popularity of iOS devices in developed markets will make 40% of global 5G smartphone revenue attributable to North America and Europe.” It warned that right-to-repair legislation may impede 5G smartphone industry revenue growth “as more handset users choose to repair older models rather than upgrading.”
Xperi’s HD Radio is expanding into the commercial truck category, said the company Monday. Receivers will be available first on the digital dash display of the Mercedes-Benz Freightliner Cascadia truck, said the company. HD Radio’s digital broadcast system sends a signal over traditional AM and FM frequencies, allowing up to three additional channels of new audio programming, along with information such as album art, station logos, song and artist information, traffic, weather and critical emergency alerts.
Disney+ ended fiscal Q3 July 3 with 116.6 million paid subscribers, up 12.4 million from fiscal Q2, Disney announced Thursday. Hotstar in India generated about 80% of the Q3 subscriber net adds, Cowen told investors Friday. Disney+ Day, scheduled for Nov. 12, will be “an unprecedented company-wide cross-promotional campaign” to boost consumer adoption among holdouts to the service, said CEO Bob Chapek on a Thursday investor call. The event will feature a “balanced approach” to global and local content, he said. Disney is sticking with the “three-pronged strategy” it adopted last year to distribute feature films amid the COVID-19 pandemic, said Chapek. Some films went direct to theaters, others direct to Disney+, still others as hybrids with theatrical showings and as $29.99 Premier Access options on Disney+. Distribution decisions will continue to be made film by film, “based on global marketplace conditions and consumer behavior,” said Chapek.
The Canadian government will provide a $790 (Canadian) million loan and make a $650 million preferred equity investment in Telesat's forthcoming Lightspeed low earth orbit broadband constellation, Telesat said Thursday. Telesat said it committed to creating at least 700 full-time equivalent positions in Canada and to $1 billion in capital spending there for the initial constellation, plus further spending toward its subsequent constellation. Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg said the Canadian government loan and investment, atop other investments including from the government of Quebec (see 2102190002), gives it about $4 billion to put toward Lightspeed, with the remaining commitments expected in the near term. ($1 Canadian = $.80 U.S.)
Demand for 5G fixed wireless access will be the fastest growing of all residential broadband segments over the next six years, increasing at a 71% compound annual growth rate, to 58 million subscribers globally in 2026, reported ABI Research on Wednesday. It estimates the residential broadband market exceeded 1.1 billion subscribers in 2020, increasing 4% from 2019, it said. Though COVID-19 accelerated demand for broadband connectivity, “the need for high-capacity residential broadband will remain strong, even after the pandemic recovery,” said ABI.
Redbox inked a deal with Digital Media Rights to add the 24-hour anime-based RetroCrush channel to its ad-supported VOD service, it said Wednesday. Redbox will also add “hundreds” of movies and TV series to its ad-based VOD offering, it said.
T-Mobile quietly launched a “very limited” fiber internet pilot in New York City to supplement fixed wireless coverage, a spokesperson confirmed. The program serves Manhattan residential buildings "to deliver home internet over fiber-optic lines, using a local fiber provider’s fiber-optic network,” the spokesperson said: “Our fixed wireless service will continue to be our flagship home internet offering. It’s available to millions of Americans today and is rapidly expanding.”