Buy now, pay later: coming to a store near you, sooner rather than later.

While the service has exploded throughout the pandemic, especially online—BNPL spending in the US is up 230% since the start of 2020, per a September report by Accenture—in-store adoption is its next frontier.

• “Retailers saw the benefit of offering BNPL on their e-commerce sites—now they want to capitalize on those benefits in the physical retail setting,” Nikki Baird, VP of strategy at Aptos, previously told Retail Brew.

Fever pitch

Klarna teamed up with Brookfield Properties, one of the largest mall owners in the US, just last month to exclusively offer its platform to tenants and stores.

• Klarna is also working with retailers like Macy’s, Lululemon, Sephora, and Forever 21 to boost in-store BNPL capabilities.

Afterpay introduced its in-store offering in fall 2020, and since then, the company has seen “incredible demand from retailers big and small given the importance of an omnichannel approach to both retailers and their customers,” Alex Fisher, its VP of retail, told us.

• From Oct. 2, 2021 to Dec. 27, 2021, in-store shopping for Afterpay grew 384% YoY, with Black Friday alone seeing a 442% increase.

So, why is now the time to bolster BNPL in stores? Well, it’s the trend these companies have seen overseas. Charlie Youakim, CEO of BNPL platform Sezzle, points out that BNPL, broadly speaking, has been popular internationally longer than it has in the US.

Looking back: Youakim believes in-store adoption of BNPL in the US will manifest similarly to how it did in Australia, where 60% of shoppers say they use the service, compared to 47% in the US and UK, per a September Marqeta survey.

It started online, gained traction, and then customers and merchants asked about how to it get into stores, he noted.

“Companies there would start to create in-store advertisements like pop-up placards—signs on price tags, signs over merchandise, signs at the checkout counter,” Youakim said. “It’s easier to advertise in-store when you’re at that stage, which is where we’re at now.”

Click here to read the full story.—KM

Hiring may be tough right now, but Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is up for the challenge. By the end of April, the company wants to add 50,000 workers to its existing fleet of 1.6 million US employees.

The move comes after the retailer already hired 5,500 pharmacists and pharmacy managers in 2021, “the highest number in a one-year period,” along with 13,000 pharmacy technicians and a record 4,500 truck drivers, Chief People Officer Donna Morris said in a statement.

• This time, the retailer wants to hire across its supply-chain facilities, campuses, and stores. It’ll also be adding jobs in new areas such as health, wellness, and advertising, per the Wall Street Journal.

Up for grabs: Amid a tight labor market, Walmart is offering new benefits to bring in workers, such as 24/7 counseling services, free of charge. Other perks include fitness memberships and Samsung smartphones.

• Walmart boosted its education assistance program last summer, and Morris noted its hourly wage averages $16.40, with “select roles” starting as high as $30 an hour.—JS

Welcome to the “shoppable content” battle royale, where companies like TikTok, Pinterest, Twitter, and even Wish compete for users’ taps. Now, grocery-delivery company Instacart is entering the ring, hoping to deliver on social content with its new product—Shoppable Recipes—which lets content creators link to Instacart shopping lists in their food videos across platforms like TikTok.

Select TikTokers like @IamTabithaBrown, @SamanthaLiving, and @SweatSpace were given the keys to start using the Shoppable Recipe function yesterday. Viewers can tap on a button to add ingredients from their favorite creator’s glazed salmon recipe to their Instacart carts.

• The integration comes after CEO Fidji Simo teased a “digital transformation” with “more inspiration” in recent months.
• It also marks Instacart’s new partnership with Hearst Magazines’s food properties. Shoppable Recipes will live in content across sites for Delish, The Pioneer Woman, Good Housekeeping, and Country Living.

While Instacart is just another contender in a crowded field and a little late to the party, the company hopes it can set itself apart as the tap-to-eat shoppable food destination.

Tap in: Shoppable Recipes are a bid to engage consumers “beyond the weekly grocery shop,” Instacart’s COO Asha Sharma said in a statement. The company wants to capitalize on that not-so-secret social sauce—made with discovery and entertainment.

Proof in the pudding: Instacart’s “Year in Groceries” December report showed how social media trends impact grocery purchases. Out of 2,000+ surveyed US adults, 44% attempted recipes they saw on social media in 2021.

• Jenni Häyrinen’s “baked feta pasta” recipe led to a 106% surge in Instacart orders for the dish’s top ingredients the week when the TikTok trend peaked, versus the week prior.—JG

Today’s top retail reads.

New frontiers: Vertical-farming models are cropping up across Colorado as water scarcity and droughts become more commonplace. (Reuters)

Underrepresented: For its new advertising campaign, Ralph Lauren partnered with HBCUs Morehouse and Spelman to shine a light on the fashion history of Black students. (The Washington Post)

Spending season: Pandemic-era restrictions are winding down, and with 2.5 million wedding parties planned in 2022, fashion retailers are gearing up for demand for bridalwear. (Business of Fashion)

The big number you need to know.

Two St. Patrick’s Days ago, the reality of Covid was just beginning to come into focus. Today, for St. Paddy’s 2022 iteration, people are ready to party again. That is, if their spending habits are any indication.

This year, NRF predicts consumers will spend almost $5.9 billion on St. Patrick’s Day-related items, up from $5.14 billion in 2021. Nearly half (46%) of those celebrating will spend on beverages, up from 44% last year and 39% in 2020.

Flashback: Last March, according to Signifyd Ecommerce Pulse data, US alcohol sales increased by 45% YoY. Online alcohol sales started to rise on March 14 and peaked on March 15, 52% higher than on the first day of the month.—JG

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• This startup wants to make it easier for local restaurants to expand beyond their hometowns
• How in-store music can help shops hit the right notes
• Inside a 150-year-old jewelry market in Mumbai