Happy Monday and Presidents’ Day. If you have off today, enjoy it. Below is a recap I compiled of industry news over the last week. All sources can be found in the hyper-linked text after the headline.
Retailer + Brand News:
- Gap profit tops estimates as Old Navy holiday sales increase. Link
- Moda Operandi raises another $60M. Link
- Michael Kors opens largest store in Soho. Link
- Yelp buys Eat24, an online food-ordering service for $134M. Link
- Urban Outfitters climbs on strong Q4 sales. Link
- Louis Vuitton shows logo isn’t dead as bags fly off shelves. Link
- Amazon’s newest tool lets anyone host giveaways online. Link
- Best Buy launches its first wedding registry. Link
- Adore Me takes on Victoria’s Secret and other bigger lingerie rivals. Link
- Jet.com raises $140M in new funding. Link
- Barney’s New York launches a print magazine. Link
- US retail sales decreased more than forecast in January. Link
- Banana Republic makes its fashion week debut. Link
- Timo Weiland eyes growth with first outside investment. Link
- Inside Levi’s comeback plans. Link
- Banana Republic, J.Crew invade fashion week to build cachet. Link
- Walmart expands online grocery shopping efforts after strong repeat business. Link
- Forever 21 arrives on Fifth Ave. Link
Social Media + Marketing:
- Pinterest cuts off style bloggers by removing affiliate links. Link
- Twitter to buy Niche, where social media stars meet advertisers. Link
- Netflix House of Cards leak wasn’t a marketing ploy. Link
- How style bloggers earn sales commissions one click at a time. Link
- Facebook adding relevance scores so marketers know how good their ads are. Link
- Marketing world says “meh” to Twitter’s ad syndication initiative. Link
- YouTube content networks preparing for a more programmatic ad world. Link
- Snapchat tries Our Stories for locals only. Link
- Forbes puts native ad for Fidelity on its actual cover. Link
- Pinterest working on a plan to introduce a buy button this year. Link
Start-ups:
- Social shopping app Depop raises $8M, plans to break into US market. Link
- Bucketfeet, a startup founded by a pair of backpackers, raises $7.5M. Link
- Clothing rental startup Le Tote lands $8.8M in funding. Link
- Bringg lets any business offer Uber-like experiences to their customers. Link
- Wedding planning startup Loverly launches its own dress collection based on user search data. Link
- Xiaomi becomes world’s most valuable tech startup. Link
International:
- [APAC]
- India may become Launchpad for Amazon’s fashion label. Link
- eCommerce sales in China will reach $1 Trillion by 2019. Link
- Kate Spade to shut brand stores while forming China venture. Link
- Alibaba’s AliExpress sets its sights on Indonesia’s promising ecommerce market. Link
- Alibaba’s TMall global site stumbles. Link
- [EU]
Mobile, Tablet, + Wearables:
- Kanye West Adidas campaign lives on with in-store, app-dependent concert tickets. Link
- Placed wants to be the standard for measuring mobile ads and in-store visits. Link
- Aiming to ease app discovery, Apple pairs with Pinterest. Link
- First Dibs launches app. Link
- Swatch plans smartwatch to compete with Apple. Link
- Yahoo says mobile is key to new business sales goals. Link
- Visa’s new fraud protection software will track customers’ smartphones. Link
Other
