I’m back! Industry news from the last week is below. Sources in the hyperlinked text after the headline. Have a great week!
Brand/Retailer:
- ModCloth’s new line, new CEO offer fresh start. Link
- Yahoo buys Polyvore for more than $200M. Link
- Apple swaps online ‘store’ for ‘buy’ buttons. Link
- Sephora launching beauty box subscription service. Link
- Brad Goreski will sell C.Wonder on QVC as its new creative director. Link
- Alibaba to buy back $4B of stock after share price rout. Link
- Inditex surge takes Zara owner’s market value past $100B. Link
- How Olivia Kim is teaching Nordstrom to think small. Link
- Lime Crime slapped with FDA warning for ‘unsafe’ lipstick. Link
- NBC Universal invests $200M in Vox Media. Link
- Ellen Degeneres’ lifestyle brand is coming to Bergdorf Goodman in September. Link
- Google launches new company, Alphabet. Link
- Target tiptoes into grocery delivery. Link
- Restoration Hardware is going to sell fancy furniture for teenagers. Link
- Zalando raises annual sales forecast after strong second quarter. Link
- Old Navy delivers another win for Gap’s July comps. Link
- Online sales leading toward smaller, urban warehouses. Link
- Warby Parker signs on to Nordstrom’s pop-up concept. Link
Marketing/Social:
- Facebook joins the live-streaming crowd with a service for celebrities. Link
- Instagram takes on growing role in the art market. Link
- Facebook reverses plan to limit data for advertisers. Link
- Comcast is about to launch a major video platform called Watchable to rival Facebook and Google. Link
- Amazon tweaks ads on its site, in possible challenge to Google. Link
- Inside Taco Bell’s Snapchat strategy. Link
- Levi’s latest campaign seeks to make denim look cool again. Link
- Target to have shoppable ads in Vogue’s September issue. Link
Startups:
- Snapdeal will invest $100M in its research arm over the next three years. Link
- Will ‘Uber for Models’ disrupt the industry? Link
- Why Time Inc invested in visual search engine Snap Fashion. Link
- Jessica Alba’s startup, Honest, valued at $1.7B. Link
International:
- Alibaba lands Macy’s as first U.S. department store for its online portal. Link
- As Macy’s eyes China, some see need for focus at home. Link
- Beauty without borders as South Korean products sell in America. Link
- How Nordstrom is avoiding a Target-style collapse in Canada. Link
- How Western fashion brands are using social media in China. Link
- Smartphone shopping offers big opportunities in Indonesia. Link
- Rural Chinese villagers are the hot new ecommerce market. Link
- Five reasons India will become the world’s next ecommerce giant. Link
- Ikea opens concept store in Abu Dhabi. Link
- Hudson’s Bay sets sites on Europe. Link
Mobile/Emerging Tech:
- Google wires San Antonio for fiber-optic internet. Link
- In a shift, Rite Aid to accept Apple and Google mobile payments. Link
- Apple looking at facial recognition for easing photo-sharing. Link
- Web retailers, now with stores, teach new tricks. Link
- Google: Going mobile only is fine for our search results. Link
Fashion. Retail. Tech. News. 