Brands from Saks Fifth Avenue to Foot Locker are transforming their stores into voter registration hubs to improve November voter turnout

• Saks Fifth Avenue opened a voter registration hub at its New York City flagship on Tuesday, joining a growing number of retailers rolling out dedicated efforts to increasing voter turnout in the upcoming election.
• “While we have a long-standing history of platforming a number of meaningful causes, using our influence to drive home the importance of voting and encouraging our community to take action is a first,” said Emily Essner, chief marketing officer at Saks Fifth Avenue.
• According to Simon Glass, CEO of the smart video platform Discuss.io, the trend is in response to changing cultural norms in which consumers expect their favorite brands to support social causes important to them. 
• A recent study from the digital media company H Code reported that 71% of Americans are more inclined to purchase from a brand that is “actively engaged with their community.”
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Retailers are looking at shoppers not just as consumers, but also constituents, as companies increasingly join the push to register Americans to vote ahead of the rapidly approaching 2020 presidential election.

Brands ranging from Saks Fifth Avenue to Foot Locker and Kith have started transforming their stores into voter registration hubs in recent weeks. By teaming with nonpartisan organizations like Vote.org and HeadCount, their goal is to improve historically low voter turnout rates in the US, which the Pew Research Center reported is among the lowest of the world’s most developed countries. 

“As an iconic brand, Saks has a responsibility to use our voice to champion issues that matter to society,” Emily Essner, chief marketing officer at Saks Fifth Avenue, said in a statement announcing its “Register to Vote at Saks” campaign on Tuesday. “While we have a long-standing history of platforming a number of meaningful causes, using our influence to drive home the importance of voting and encouraging our community to take action is a first.” 

As part of the initiative, Saks installed a voter registration center inside its New York City flagship store, added a registration portal to its website, and dedicated its famous window display on Fifth Avenue to the cause. According to the company, corporate employees will be given Election Day off as a paid holiday, while store employees will have voting times worked into their schedules. 

The Saks campaign comes less than a week after Foot Locker announced it would partner with Rock The Vote to open voter registration hubs at each of its 2,000 store locations across the country. According to CEO Richard Johnson, Foot Locker is particularly focused on registering eligible Gen Z voters in the 18-24 age bracket, a core demographic for the footwear company. 

"In a year marked with such uncertainty, amid a pandemic and social unrest, our country's future – and our collective role in shaping it – has never been more important," Johnson said in a statement last week. 

Retailers rally around voting 

While this isn't the retail industry's first foray into voting advocacy, it reflects a decided shift to a more active role in helping Americans get out and vote beyond public service campaigns that have become synonymous with efforts like Time To Vote. The organization — which started in 2016 with just over 100 participating companies including Patagonia, Walmart, and Gap — today has more than 1,000 brands that have pledged their support to giving employees ample time to vote. 

According to Simon Glass, CEO of the smart video platform Discuss.io, the rise in retailers turning into registration centers reflects a shift in larger cultural trends where consumers expect their favorite brands to support social causes. 

"Today's consumers expect more from the brands and stores they shop with," Glass told Business Insider. "It's no longer just about the product or the buying experience, it's increasingly more about what the brand stands for and the position they take on the big societal issues."

One brand that knows the power of playing to its community is the streetwear brand Kith, which announced its own voter registration day on August 28 on Instagram — involving the closing of stores and encouraging shoppers to come in and get registered with help from its employees.

"Voting is the most powerful act we can do collectively to implement change and overturn the injustices experienced too often in this country," Kith said in a statement shared on Instagram."If you are not registered and plan to visit us … we look forward to helping you become an instrument of change."

A post shared by Kith (@kith)Aug 27, 2020 at 6:26pm PDT

Forging community through voting advocacy

According to Glass, the coronavirus outbreak has added an extra level of urgency around efforts like voter registration, not just for the political implications around curbing the outbreak, but also as a means for Americans to feel connected and in control. 

"During times of stress, and in particular during the pandemic, people feel powerless and are looking for some sense of control," he said. "During this period of self-isolation, consumers have more time to talk and share and perhaps a need for connection and distraction. They want to be heard." 

While sentiments toward brands getting involved in social issues and politics has equal parts lauded and decried in recent years, a recent study from H Code, the largest US Hispanic digital media company, found that 71% of Americans are more inclined to purchase from or follow a brand that is "actively engaged with their community."

Junelle Cavero Harnal, a political advisor at H Code, told Business Insider that the rise of retailers acting as voter registration centers will prove helpful not just to anxious Americans during the pandemic, but also to minority communities who stand to benefit from an increase in accessibility and awareness of voting resources. 

"The rise of retailers serving as voter registration hubs will significantly impact minority households, who are more likely to have lost jobs or report difficulty finding child care," Cavero Harnal said. "Through these hubs, retailers are offering better opportunities for people and more flexibility in choosing when and where they can register to vote."