TJ Maxx is the unexpected rebel of the corona-conomy, laughing in the face of ecommerce

Biggest fashion rebel of 2020... TJ Maxx. Discount retail giant TJX is the company behind the "affordable splurge" trifecta: TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Homegoods. Now, it's also the unexpected rebel of the corona-conomy:

• "Nothing will change:" Not a phrase you hear in an economy-pummeling pandemic. TJX's CEO said it won't leverage ecommerce to boost sales. It'll continue to do absolutely nothing to ramp up its tiny online shopping operation that's currently only 2% of sales.
• But TJX takes it to another extreme: It fully shut down its websites during lockdowns, making online ordering impossible. Now it's actively limiting the items available on its site.
• TLDR: TJX laughs in the face of online shopping, and wipes ecommerce tears away with a $6 Free People shirt.

The magnetic pull of the "treasure hunt"... TJX is confident in the joy its customers derive from the "treasure hunting" experience. Finding a $27 Michael Kors bag under a shoe rack is not only fun, but also something to brag about. TJX knows this can only be achieved at its physical stores.

• TJX's only focus: Drawing shoppers back to its 4.5K brick-and-mortar stores. Since 98% of its sales are in-store (and those stores were closed), TJX took an $887M loss last quarter — But now a majority of its stores have reopened.
• It's working: Sales at reopened stores are actually higher than they were a year ago, as deal-starved shoppers flood back into TJX. Call it it "revenge spending" — when you've been cooped up so long that you need to make up for all the shopping you didn't do.