NRF Lists Hot 100 Retailers

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For retailers, it’s better to be hot in 2020 than top.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) said on its blog this week that the Hot 100 Retailers, while vulnerable to mergers and acquisitions, as a group is more stable than the Top 100 Retailers ranking, as stores are impacted by the unpredictability of COVID-19.

The Washington, D.C.-based trade group said the Hot 100 report provides a glimpse into the future of retailing as experts make predictions for a post-coronavirus world.

The hottest retailers, based on the previous year’s sales, include eCommerce merchants, food sellers and some brick-and-mortar operators that feature traditional shopping experiences.

These stores are best equipped to survive and thrive in the wake of COVID-19 restrictions and well into the future, the organization said.

The group said eCommerce’s role in retail’s evolution was on display in April when so-called nonessential stores were shuttered to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Non-store sales increased 28 percent and eCommerce accounted for 19 percent of all retail sales, a 12 percent increase over the last two years, the NRF said, citing data from the Wells Fargo Economics Group.

“Where we are now, in terms of how we shop and purchase items, is where we would have been 10 years from now,” said Reid Greenberg, executive vice president of global digital and eCommerce at Kantar, the London-based data and consulting company, as quoted on the NRF blog. Over the last four months “we’ve pressed the fast-forward button on shopping methods. The retailers and brands who have been over-investing in building digital, eCommerce and omni capabilities are emerging as the clear winners during COVID-19.”

In-person retail will never go away, Greenberg wrote, noting that people are social creatures who like to look, touch and feel things.

“But COVID-19 has changed the size and quantity of retail locations across the U.S., if not the globe,” he added.

Brick-and-mortar stores will be used more as galleries, showrooms and event spaces,” said Doug Stephens, author of “Reengineering Retail: The Future of Selling in a Post-Digital World.” He said consumers will rely on physical retail for convenience-based products and items requiring more physical consideration, such as fresh meat and produce.

Stephen’s vision of the future could be used to describe merchants at the top of the Hot 100 Retailers list: Lidl, Wayfair, Build.com, Don Quijote and Amazon.

The Hot 100 Retailers ranks the country’s fastest growing retail companies. Rankings are determined by increases in domestic sales between 2018 and 2019. All retail companies with domestic sales in excess of $300 million were eligible.