Month: July 2015

Weekly Industry Brief: 7.27.2015

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Hello! Industry news from the last week.  Sources in the hyperlinked text after the headline. Have a great week!

Brand/Retailer:

  • Amazon Prime credit card will give you 5% cash back. Link
  • AirBnB launches new product to attract business travelers. Link
  • Apple profit up 38% but iPhone sales disappoint Wall Street. Link
  • Amazon spikes 14% after it reports surprise Q2 profit and better-than-expected revenue. Link
  • Etsy attracting more short sellers. Link
  • Moda Operandi’s co-founder is shutting down Tinker Tailor. Link
  • Rocket Internet says portfolio value is up 47% from IPO. Link
  • Everlane appoints former Gap creative director Rebekka Bay as head of product and design. Link
  • Comcast in talks with multiple new media firms. Link
  • Inside the fight for survival at Gap, J.Crew and Abercrombie. Link
  • Neiman Marcus partners with The RealReal to expand in-store consignment. Link
  • Macy’s to expand same-day delivery to new markets. Link
  • Stores like Bass Pro Shops and Restoration Hardware adding bars and restaurants to encourage lingering. Link
  • Dolce & Gabbana launches capsule collection on Net-a-porter. Link
  • Limited Too is back for millennial moms and their tweens. Link
  • Nordstrom launches personal shopping service for women under Trunk Club brand. Link
  • Amazon showrooming forces stores to go digital on price displays. Link
  • Converse wants chucks to feel like Nikes. Link
  • Inside Mercantile, J.Crew’s bet on cheaper clothes. Link
  • Tory Burch to launch Tory Sport. Link

Marketing/Social:

  • The Gap forms partnerships with companies from Birch Box to Virgin Hotels to boost business. Link
  • YouTube offers a solution to the vertical video problem. Link
  • Meerkat will now let you live-stream video from GoPro. Link
  • Print Renaissance: independent fashion magazines in an increasingly digital world. Link
  • Forever 21 turns your Instagram photos into real-time, real life portraits. Link
  • Victoria’s Secret ranks first in social popularity. Link
  • Nordstrom goes big with rooftop Instagram installation to promote sale. Link
  • YouTube chief pushes ahead with subscriptions despite questions. Link
  • Twitter introduces event-based ad targeting. Link

Startups:

  • eBay acquires San Francisco-based consignment, Twice. Link
  • Jet.com uses clever tactic to save money. Link

International:

  • Starbucks to launch mobile ordering in UK. Link
  • Taylor Swift to sell clothing on JD.com for Chinese shoppers. Link
  • How Burberry is building its Japan business. Link
  • F21 Red is coming to Canada. Link
  • eBay-backed Asian ecommerce company Giosis lands $82M in funding. Link
  • Facebook and other tech giants expand internet access in Africa. Link
  • From jewelry to hotels, Hong Kong business feel China’s pain. Link

Mobile/Emerging Tech:

  • New York Times will offer free articles on the Starbucks app starting next year. Link
  • Number of mobile retail websites using responsive design more than doubles since 2014. Link
  • Starbucks joins with Lyft on loyalty program in app. Link
  • Apple Watch to be sold at Best Buy. Link
  • Apple Music, iTunes and App Store suffer outages. Link

Weekly Industry Brief: 7.20.2015

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Brand/Retailer:

  • Google unveils “buy” button and host of new shopping features. Link
  • Amazon Prime Day promotion boosts sales as consumers squawk. Link
  • eBay sells enterprise unit for $925M ahead of PayPal split. Link
  • At Zappos, pushing shoes and a vision. Link
  • Apple is working on a new ecommerce system based on your credit card balance. Link
  • Hulu considers offering a priceier, ad-free tier. Link
  • Kate Spade adds slew of new lines for fitness, home and kids. Link
  • C.Wonder’s brand assets get acquired by Isaac Mizrahi’s parent company. Link
  • Amazon had mixed success with Prime Day – strong sales, but consumer backlash could linger. Link
  • Americans are spending less on clothing. Link
  • Retail sales in US unexpectedly fall on broad-based drop. Link
  • What will cheaper J.Crew line mean for the brand’s image? Link
  • Expedia’s Playlister will help you discover new music at the festival you’re headed to. Link

Marketing/Social:

  • Eva Chen now Instagram’s Head of Fashion Partnerships. Link
  • Facebook takes big step forward on commerce, building shops into pages. Link
  • Three things marketers should note from Google’s second quarter earnings call. Link
  • Snapchat redesign puts spotlight on ‘Discover’ news portal. Link
  • Williams-Sonoma experiments with shoppable YouTube videos. Link
  • YouTube is now bigger than individual cable networks. Link
  • American Eagle launches BTS try-on sweeps with a $10K cash grand prize. Link
  • Tom’s of Maine turns to ‘micro-influencers’ to tackle Instagram. Link

Startups:

  • Beme is a social app that aims to replace illusions with reality. Link
  • Music video app Flipagram secures $70M. Link
  • Made.com raises $60M to accelerate European expansion. Link

International:

  • Uniqlo shutters JD.com flagship. Link
  • Alibaba strikes partnership with consumer goods giant Unilever. Link
  • Mexico, where shoppers still flock to Blockbuster and Woolworth. Link
  • Burberry’s plan to turn it around in Hong Kong: go local. Link
  • Mobile dominates future of China’s beauty ecommerce market. Link
  • Walmart Canada launches online grocery pickup service. Link

Mobile/Emerging Tech:

  • Birchbox’s monthly deliveries will give virtual reality a fascinating test run. Link
  • UK startups embrace Apple Pay as mobile payments grow. Link
  • Facebook’s Oculus to pay about $60M for gesture-control firm Pebbles. Link
  • Google’s ‘Mobilegeddon’ was a big deal after all. Link
  • Yahoo quietly launches a new “video texting” mobile messaging app on iTunes. Link
  • Nordstrom makes it easy to shop via text. Link
  • App engagement surpasses desktop in US. Link
  • LVMH to introduce Apple Watch rival. Link

Weekly Industry Brief: 7.13.2015

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Check out the week’s industry news in fashion, retail, and technology. Sources can be found in the hyperlinked text after the headline.

Brand/Retailer:

  • Amazon Prime Day will usher a new era of manufactured shopping days. Link
  • J.Crew debuts value-focused ‘Mercantile’ brand to spark growth. Link
  • Inside Target’s tech funhouse and search for its next billion-dollar business. Link
  • American Apparel to close stores and lay off workers. Link
  • Yahoo will enter daily fantasy sports market. Link
  • Time Inc. launching next big vertical, ‘The Drive,’ about cars for the under-35 crowd. Link
  • Levi’s responds to challengers with revamped women’s jeans. Link
  • Uniqlo had a strong Spring in the U.S. Link
  • Skechers sues Steve Madden over athleisure knockoffs. Link
  • Coty agrees to purchase P&G beauty brands for $12.5B. Link
  • Toys R Us to shift ecommerce from eBay to in-house. Link
  • American Express launches express online payment tool. Link
  • Back-to-school shopping starts early as U.S. parents seek deals. Link
  • LVMH to cut 70 jobs as it suspends Donna Karan label. Link
  • Saks and Lord & Taylor personalize websites, emails to lure high-spending shoppers. Link
  • With Flyease Nike reinvents the zipper. Link

Marketing/Social:

  • eBay and Amazon are the most visible Google Search advertisers. Link
  • Brands try to redefine emojis in Twitter’s latest hashtag game. Link
  • Twitter is now letting apps advertise with video. Link
  • Facebook changes how it charges brands for clicks on their ads. Link
  • Facebook said to seek music video licensing deals. Link
  • Facebook wants your attention so it’s charging separately for ad clicks that send you away. Link

Startups:

  • Jet.com officially launches on Monday, offering lowest prices on the Internet. Link
  • Disney’s startup accelerator enters its sophomore year with a new batch of companies. Link
  • Italy’s Quattrocento joins the race to become the Warby Parker of Europe. Link

International:

  • DHL Express to widen delivery options for internet shoppers in Australia. Link
  • Moscow malls open half-empty as retailers struggle. Link
  • Alibaba boosts Singapore Post stake, invests in ecommerce unit. Link
  • Alibaba invests $100M in luxury-focused Mei.com. Link
  • Rakuten buys virtual fitting room startup Fits.me in fashion commerce play. Link
  • Apple building a new store in Hong Kong. Link
  • Barnes & Noble closes international Nook store. Link
  • Twitter eyes Latin American market from new Miami office. Link

Mobile/Emerging Tech:

  • Six futuristic retail displays that will change your idea of ‘ecommerce.’ Link
  • Jawbone sues Fitbit for third time in two months. Link
  • Google starts testing driverless cars in Austin. Link
  • Tablet sales have plateaued but there’s a future in business. Link
  • Virgin Hotels turns mobile into shoppable Gap closet for guests. Link
  • Android Wear reportedly getting watch-to-watch sharing features. Link
  • Comcast launches its own cable-free TV with Stream. Link

Weekly Industry Brief: 7.6.2015

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Happy Monday! Light week of news (unless you are Amazon…) coming out of a long weekend in the U.S. All sources can be found in the hyperlinked text after the headline.

Brand/Retailer:

  • New Balance to challenge Nike with its biggest ad campaign ever. Link
  • Amazon partners with Michelle Phan on Amazon Fire TV app. Link
  • Sony uses new crowdfunding site to pitch advanced remote control. Link
  • Louis Vuitton opens private museum near Paris. Link
  • GoPro introduces smaller, simple action camera. Link
  • Amazon to mark 20th Anniversary with “Prime Day,” its answer to Black Friday. Link
  • Experiential commerce is the next billion-dollar opportunity for developers. Link
  • Bloomingdale’s to open first Hawaii store. Link
  • Amazon takes Prime Now outside U.S., opens one-hour delivery in London. Link
  • Pressure on margins is potentially weighing on H&M. Link
  • Tory Burch sets Paris flagship. Link
  • Apple Music offers a peak into the future of Apple Inc, and its stark contrast to Google and Microsoft. Link
  • Donna Karen steps down from Donna Karen International. Link
  • Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, and Coach are making the same mistake. Link
  • Macy’s to phase out Trump’s menswear. Link 

Marketing/Social:

  • Google highlights low prices, mimicking Amazon. Link
  • Facebook changes up its video ad pricing after complaints from marketers. Link
  • Farfetch customers ‘unfollow’ the global fashion crowd. Link
  • How Facebook and Campbell Soup are trying to read your mind. Link
  • Fake accounts still plague Instagram despite purge. Link
  • Twitter now has ads on your mobile profile. Link
  • Twitter’s Project Lightening could be called ‘Moments.’ Link
  • Instagram photos are now bigger – if you know where to look. Link

Start-ups:

  • Sole Society raises $8M from Nordstrom and Insight Venture Partners. Link
  • RewardStyle raises $15M at $290M valuation. Link
  • On-demand cleaning startup Hassle mergers with Rocket Internet’s Helpling. Link
  • Splacer is Airbnb for event spaces. Link

International:

  • Harrod’s teams up with Borderfree for international ecommerce. Link
  • These four foreign brands are successful in China. Link
  • Amazon launches in Mexico. Link
  • John Lewis to charge for Click-and-Collect. Link
  • Xiaomi makes a huge splash in Brazil. Link

Mobile/Emerging Tech:

  • Pinterest launches buyable pins on iOS, taps Braintree and Stripe for processing. Link
  • In wake of Apple Music, SoundCloud update focuses on music discovery, better user experience. Link
  • MasterCard testing online purchases via facial recognition. Link
  • How virtual reality could change shopper marketing. Link
  • Messaging and the Apple Watch. Link
  • PayPal to buy online money-transfer company Xoom. Link
  • Can Shazam become music to retailers’ ears? Link