Gap, Walmart partner on exclusive home decor brand

Home is where the collabs are. The latest retailers to cozy up: Gap and Walmart, who are launching Gap Home. The exclusive brand will debut on Walmart.com in June.

Strange bedfellows? Not so, Sucharita Kodali, Forrester principal analyst, told Retail Brew.

• For Walmart, it’s an opportunity to bring a recognizable brand to an area it's not typically known for, she said.
• For Gap, it’s another revenue stream—the retailer has been eyeing licensing since it inked a deal with IMG last year—and an avenue to new customers.

(And if that doesn’t work, there’s still the Yeezy line, which is expected to drop...¯\_(ツ)_/¯.)

Make room: Anne Klein launched its own home collection with Macy’s this week. Not to mention the private labels coming from Bed Bath & Beyond and JCPenney—to name a few.

The bottom line: More time at home = more spending on spaces. It’s a pandemic formula we all know too well, and things aren’t slowing down. People spent more than $45 billion at furniture and home stores during the first four months of 2021, up 45% YoY, per Commerce Department data. No retailer wants to sleep on the opportunity.—KM