Housewares Retailers Advance Omnichannel Growth Strategies

Omnichannel in all of its multiple layers of digital complexity remains at the forefront for most retailers today as they focus on improving and enhancing in-store, e-commerce and mobile commerce. 

In the September 14 issue’s annual exclusive report on the Top 100 Housewares Retailers, HOMEWORLD BUSINESS® reveals the 2015 Top 100 list, with analysis of retail and market trends, the top retail channel leaders, who’s hot, who’s not and what’s next in the world of housewares retailing. 

The good news is that many of the Top 100 Housewares Retailers are in the forefront of omnichannel retailing efforts. Williams-Sonoma reports that more than half of its merchandise sales are now online, for example. Chart leader Walmart reigns as the third largest e-commerce retailer in the country, after Amazon.com and Apple. Macy’s and Home Depot continue to attract attention with their digital initiatives. Retailers which have never operated physical stores, such as Wayfair and QVC, are finding new ways to sell goods electronically.

Omnichannel Acceleration

Stores may not be going away anytime soon, but nearly every retailer is looking at its store network to make sure it is operating as effectively and efficiently as it can.

Store attrition can be credited in part to Amazon, but also to scores of other merchants doing business only online. There are seven Top 100 Housewares Retailers on this year’s chart that are exclusively and four others that are primarily e-commerce businesses— the most ever— with a half dozen others ready to move into Top 100 territory over the next 12 months.

All the activity online, boosted by the fast-growing m-commerce on smartphones and other mobile devices, is reflected in the Top 100 Housewares Retailers chart, where e-commerce companies and television retailers, who rely heavily on the online channel to complete sales, occupy 11 of the one hundred positions, up from seven last year. As a percentage of total housewares sales by the Top 100 Housewares Retailers, the e-commerce/television segment share rose 4.7% from 3.9% a year ago.

The large format value retailers saw their share of sales rise 53.2% from 52.1% year-over-year. This group includes Walmart, Costco, Target and Sam’s Club, which occupy four of the first five positions among the Top 100.

Grocery stores, with their kitchen gadgets, cookware and small appliances, represent the largest group of retailers on the chart, taking 24 of the spots, just ahead of specialty stores, with 23. This latter group includes such housewares stalwarts as No. 4 Bed Bath & Beyond, No. 6 Williams-Sonoma, No. 19 Crate & Barrel, and No. 22 Home Goods in the upper quarter of the list.

For the Top 100 Housewares Retailers, see the September 14 issue of HOMEWORLD BUSINESS®. This issue also features the cover story, “Buying Powers,” on the growing influence of off-price retailing.