STORES

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Despite a slow housing market curbing demand for building supplies, The Home Depot is launching a rapid delivery service for professional and DIY customers. The Express Delivery fleet employs Home Depot stores as fulfillment hubs to deliver thousands of SKUs across categories within three hours for a flat fee.

“Customers expect products to be available when and where they need them, and Express Delivery helps us meet that expectation with a fast, reliable solution,” Jordan Broggi, EVP of interconnected retail, said in a press release.

• The service complements Home Depot’s growing fulfillment network, which already delivers 65% of in-stock products same-day or next-day and 55% of big and bulky products within two days, according to the company.
• Big and bulky orders in particular have become a priority for the big box chain, as it builds out its supply chain to address the inherent difficulties of moving large items quickly.

Home Depot previously offered rapid delivery through third parties such as Instacart and Doordash, but its new service brings the offering in-house. The move is in line with the home improvement’s broader push to control its own supply chain.

Keep reading here.—AV

      

Sponsored By Paradox, a Workday Company

Being understaffed doesn’t just cost your bottom line. It costs your growth, too. Paradox reports that 43% of restaurant operators have had to postpone expansion or menu changes because they couldn’t fully staff their organization.

In this 12-part Frontline podcast series, Sean MacMillan, VP of HR at Captain D’s, unpacks how the brand approaches front-line hiring as a connected business system. To operate 500 restaurants, Captain D’s uses a productivity-based staffing model to help make scheduling + labor decisions.

By automating screening and scheduling as well as protecting manager judgement, turnover at Captain D’s has declined since 2022, dropping by another nearly 20 points this year alone.

Tune in to get the full scoop.

E-COMMERCE

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David’s Bridal wants to do more than just introduce brides to a wedding dress; it wants to help manage all the stress that comes with planning a wedding.

The legacy retailer known for its wedding gowns is using AI as a tool to help build the future of bridal retail for its core customer. During a panel on AI at eTail Boston, Elina Vilk, president and chief business officer of David’s Bridal, laid out the retailer’s plans and how it is rethinking the customer journey.

Keep reading here.—VC

      

Sponsored By Audiense

The shopper lying in wait. Black Friday/Cyber Monday shoppers aren’t just in it for the deals, deals, deals anymore. Audiense’s latest guide breaks down the six reasons shoppers wait until November to purchase and how to win their loyalty. Get into all the insights that drive customers when you download it here.

COMMUNITY

Shraysi Tandon

On Wednesdays, we wear pink spotlight Retail Brew’s readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Shraysi Tandon is founder and CEO of Kidsy, an offprice platform selling returned and overstock baby and kids products.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? As the founder and CEO of Kidsy, I work with brands and retailers to recover value from excess inventory and returns, making those products available to parents at a fraction of the original price. We help families afford all the things their kids need at unbeatable prices, and we also help brands recoup significant revenue by giving their customer-returns and excess products a second life.

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile? Some people might assume I spend my days in boardrooms and Zoom meetings. I’m actually allergic to formal meetings and prefer hopping on a phone call or texting. My investigative journalism background still shows up everyday. I spend a lot of time asking a ton of questions, digging for solutions, following paper trails, and uncovering efficiencies that we can fix. The difference is that now, instead of producing a story about a problem, I’m building a company to solve one.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? My favorite project spans two chapters of my career. As an investigative documentary filmmaker, directing Invisible Hands, which uncovered child labor in global supply chains, was the experience of a lifetime.

Keep reading here.—EC

      

Sponsored By Operators Network

Insights aplenty. DTC’s fastest-growing brands tell all on the Operators podcasts. That knowledge now lives in one place: the Operators Portal, built in partnership with Fulfil. Its centerpiece is Ask the Operators, an AI research tool that answers any question with real receipts from over 366 episodes. Try it today for free.

swapping skus

Today’s top retail reads.

Coming home: Home Depot’s Q2 earnings beat expectations, with comparable sales up 1.7% YoY. (CNBC)

Ad together: Walmart is turning to its ad business for growth as same-store sales slow. (Reuters)

According to scan: New, 2D retail barcodes could significantly aid in the response to product recalls—but adoption could take time. (CNN)

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Retail Brew

Even as AI reshapes retail operations, brands are still betting big on brick and mortar. This data-forward look at store strategy breaks down where physical retail is headed next and why it still matters.