PrimeTime: Amazon turbo-charges its private-label empire, terminates Instant Pickup, will bring 4-Star to Berkeley, will launch a free, ad-supported TV service; Stitch Fix saw stock price dip since Amazon Scout launched
The latest news on everything Amazon Amazon is turbo-charging its private-label empire, launching new brands and debuting an accelerator program for third-party sellers to sell exclusively on Amazon. The company’s private-label business…
Kiddie Cup — with Miki Berardelli of Kidbox
#82. Kidbox personalizes shopping for kids. We talk with CEO Miki Berardelli about how the company is improving kids’ and parents’ lives with its try-before-you-buy model, evolving offerings and social mission. The Loose Threads Podcast features…
The Grinds: Reformation inks wholesale deal with Nordstrom, H&M opens off-price store Afound, J.Crew plans a fall relaunch, Rent the Runway introduces maternity
Reformation expands its brick-and-mortar footprint with a new wholesale deal at Nordstrom. What happened Reformation, which sells eco-conscious clothing online and at its 11 stores, will sell at Nordstrom, both on the department store’s site and at…
Trading up or down: Ulta Beauty and Stitch Fix appeal to ever-growing consumer markets by giving customers a choice
Though the number of brands has mushroomed since the digital boom, the vast majority of new brands are founded in coastal urban areas like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The specificity of their geography and the values and ideas that…
The Niche Paradox: The difference between underserved and niche markets
While many of the newest crop of digitally-native, direct-to-consumer brands attempt to democratize luxury in one way or another, they still overwhelmingly attend to young professionals in urban centers like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.…
Kidproof — with Rachel Blumenthal of Rockets of Awesome
#69. Rockets of Awesome creates modern children’s clothes, conveniently delivered to busy parents. We talk with Founder and CEO Rachel Blumenthal, who started the company after running a previous business that made mothers’ lives easier, and has…
As Facebook advertising costs rise, digitally-native brands turn to traditional advertising
A Warby Parker pamphlet arrives in the mail. A Glossier billboard hovers above Houston Street. Clones of an Away wheatpaste coat a construction barrier. A Stitch Fix TV ad blares from the television. For a generation of digitally-native brands,…
The Grinds: JCPenney leverages Sephora, Stitch Fix adapts its subscription model, Best Buy closes mobile phone stores, BuzzFeed and Walmart launch a product collaboration, Amazon warehouses embrace chaos
JCPenney continues to leverage Sephora for its turnaround efforts, but the minimal amount of control it has over its biggest growth driver is worrisome. To-the-point analysis about one of the five important stories from the week. What…
Dear Stitch Fix: One Thing I Would Do
Watching Stitch Fix scale, fueled by a modest amount of venture capital and a major dose of revenue, has been exciting—and rare. You’ve built a real business that merges the best of shopping, styling and personalization to solve actual customer…
The Sales Associate and Stylist Report
Retailers are hurting, especially as shoppers buy more products online. But the sales associate role in this quandary receives less attention. As working in retail has developed from a career to a gig economy job, brands, retailers and customers are…
The internet was supposed to eliminate sales associates. Then it revitalized them.
As online sales rapidly increase, Amazon takes a bigger piece of the ecommerce pie, voice commerce and virtual reality appear imminent and subscription models are revitalized, why do sales associates need to be part of the shopping journey at all?…
The Plus Size Opportunity
There’s a significant divide in the apparel industry between the sizes available in stores and the sizes women wear—a divide that’s becoming increasingly important as retailers seek to differentiate themselves from fast fashion and Amazon. Over…