Footprint vs. last mile

Everyone thought they'd lost. Maybe not!

Someday, somebody will write the definitive history of retail in the first 25 years of the 21st century. I’m pretty sure it will come down to a climactic battle between two forces that I like to call “Team Footprint” and “Team Last Mile.”

• Team Footprint represents all of the big, legacy retailers that spent millions, if not billions of dollars, building physical stores. Think of Walmart and Target— along with other big names that didn’t last.

• Team Last Mile includes the online-first brands that bet that they could deliver straight to customers’ doors. Amazon would be at the top of the list here, but there are so many now-forgotten companies that tried and failed.

If you’d asked me not long ago to name the winner (or likely winner) I would have said: Easy, Team Last Mile. But, like all good stories from history, this one comes with a twist.

In this case, it’s how some of the Team Footprint players figured out a way to turn their massive retail infrastructure from a potential liability into a big advantage.

The best example is Walmart. It’s been fascinating to watch how Walmart launched Walmart+ as basically a direct competitor to Amazon Prime, despite Amazon having a 15-year head start.

But there are other examples. The latest and greatest I can point to is the partnership that Best Buy and IKEA announced recently, and which we should start seeing in the coming months.

One store inside another

Let’s quote directly from the official announcement that both Best Buy and IKEA posted:

Beginning this fall, Best Buy shoppers in select markets can get inspiration, planning support and make purchases for their kitchens and laundry rooms like never before.

Best Buy and IKEA U.S. have partnered to pilot new in-store planning and shopping experiences that combine the latest and greatest major appliances from Best Buy with the well-designed, functional and affordable home furnishings from IKEA.

This is the first time IKEA products and services will be accessible through another U.S. retailer, creating innovative ways for both retailers to meet customer needs in a rapidly changing environment.

There’s a lot to unpack there, but bottom line, this seems like it could be the best combination since somebody thought up maple-glazed bacon. (I suppose that’s indicative of my personal tastes; feel free to replace with your own comparison.)

• Best Buy sells kitchen and laundry appliances (among many other things).

• IKEA sells kitchen and laundry setups and furnishings (among other things).

What better way can you imagine and locate a customer who might be interested in one retailer, than to set up a 1,000-square foot shop literally inside the other?

The never-ending story

Now, it occurs to me that there’s no vice-versa in the announcement, meaning no Best Buy display and setup within IKEA.

Maybe that’s coming, or maybe it’s a function of the fact that there are 1,054 Best Buy stores in the U.S. but only 52 IKEAs.

Also, this is just a test program with 10 stores total for now: five each in Florida and Texas.

That said, it seems like a very smart strategy in the ongoing battle. While both Best Buy and IKEA have robust e-commerce operations, I don’t think there’s much doubt that they’re both charter members of Team Footprint.

It’s a synergy that couldn’t exist if they weren’t both on that team to begin with.

And a reminder that in business, the best stories never really end.

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7 other things worth knowing

• The Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial, put its namesake digital tokens up for sale on Monday, adding some $5 billion in paper value to Donald Trump’s family fortune. The token, known as $WLFI, fell in value on Monday in their first day of trading. (The Guardian)

• A federal judge declared Trump’s use of military troops in Los Angeles illegal, barring the Pentagon from using National Guard members and Marines from performing police functions, like arrests and crowd control. In a 52-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer warned that Trump appears intent on “creating a national police force with the President as its chief.” (Politico)

• Hours later, Trump pointed to the more than 50 people shot in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend as a reason for deploying the National Guard to the city. Separately, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) on Tuesday welcomed federal law enforcement officials to stay in D.C. indefinitely, a powerful indication of her willingness to cooperate with Trump. (ABC 7 Chicago, Washington Post)

• Two more government announcements, and then we can move on: Trump said he's moving the headquarters of the U.S. Space Force to Alabama from Colorado, citing Colorado's mail-in voting and "automatically crooked elections." Also, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has approved sending up to 600 military lawyers to the Justice Department to serve as temporary immigration judges. (NPR, AP)

• Google must share data with rivals to open up competition in online search, a judge in Washington ruled on Tuesday, while rejecting prosecutors' bid to make the internet giant sell off its popular Chrome browser and Android operating system. Google has said previously that it plans to file an appeal, which means it could take years before the company is required to act on the ruling. (Reuters)

• Egyptian police have arrested dozens of teenage TikTokkers, accusing them of crimes ranging from indecency to money laundering. The police also confiscated their devices, froze their assets and imposed travel bans on them. (ABC Australia)

• A dinosaur dubbed one of the “strangest” ever boasted an elaborate armoury of long bony spikes and a tail weapon, according to findings published in the science journal Nature. Spicomellus, which roamed the earth 165 million years ago, is the world’s oldest ankylosaur, a herbivorous group of dinosaurs known for their tank-like bodies. (CTV News)

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Thanks for reading. Photo by Katja Rooke on Unsplash. I wrote about some of this before at Inc.com. See you in the comments.