As an industry, we have long averted our eyes from the nasty environmental side effects of the manufacturing processes and the distribution of the things we sell. We continue with business as usual, giving a nod to sustainability as the overwhelming scale of the problem has stunned us into inertia. Our immediate business survival overrules the difficult systemic change that climate change and environmental pollution demand. But honestly, how can any of us sidestep the issue (while munching on avocado toast) as we operate in a period of …
Let the Games Begin
The breathless hype of Facebook's name-change announcement, Microsoft's Mesh introduction, and Nvidia's Omniverse keynote leave us in anticipation of a big metaverse reveal one day in the future. But the metaverse has been out there for some time now. The experimentation and activations currently underway by technology-forward retailers, fashion brands, and gaming platforms have begun to seep into the commercial landscape. Ecommerce will be complemented by M-commerce as the technology develops. For now, meta-hype has nearly snuffed out the …
Brands Dip into Resales
That 2015 Balenciaga teddy bear faux fur coat that I decided against haunts me to this day. While the luxury resale market is expanding along with the rest of the category, that coat in my size is still hanging in someone else's closet. It is not alone; a recent report from BoF Insights estimates that approximately 95 percent of resaleable fashion inventory is hanging in the homes of the original buyer, much of it sitting idle. Pay It Forward The global addressable inventory represents $2 trillion in potential earnings for resale platforms …
The Metaverse Reimagines Retail
The metaverse is ascendant. The term, generated in science fiction and frequently applied to gaming platforms is trending in the commercial marketplace. Google searches for the buzzword have increased 100 percent since March 2021. The CEOs of Microsoft and Facebook in recent months have spoken in detail about their companies' commitment to its development. If the future metaverse were a straight-line iteration of the game-based worlds we currently observe in Fortnite, Roblox, or Animal Crossing, there would be no need for this article. But the …
Nontraditional Brands Break into Retail
Retail discovery has yet another channel, this time it really is a channel … well actually a streaming service. Experimentation in customer discovery is extending beyond social commerce into the greater media sphere. June 2021 was a busy month for Netflix's ecommerce projects. The streaming giant cut the virtual ribbon on The Netflix Store, an outlet for limited edition collections based on Netflix programming. Also in June, the platform debuted the resplendent limited series Halston and launched the adjacent Halston X Netflix eveningwear …
CSR in the Age of Transparency
I read great reviews of the film The Summer of Soul, a documentary directed by Questlove, known to many as the bandleader of The Roots, the in-house band for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. A treasure trove of well-preserved footage was discovered after the death of the cinematographer who documented the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. A talented team led by Questlove, who directed the documentary, pieced together spectacular performances featuring a 19-year-old Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson, a new group called Gladys Knight and the Pips, …
Shoppable Livestreams Break Through
The success of Chinese livestream shopping has been well documented since it exploded early in the pandemic, and what looked like a stop-gap solution has developed into an established retail channel. Livestreaming was a straightforward evolution in the well-developed Chinese social-retail ecosystem dominated by well-compensated KOLs (key opinion leaders) who transitioned from posting on WeChat or Weibo to livestreaming on Douyin, broadcast from the empty stores and malls during the pandemic shutdowns. By contrast, the pandemic spurred a …
Advertisers Bid Farewell to Cookies
The free flow of consumer data that has fed the digital advertising ecosystem has slowed, and will soon be a trickle. As the iOS 14.5 update began downloading into iPhones in late April, Apple, by switching its tracking default from opt-out to opt-in made advertisers dreaded worst-case scenario a reality. Now iPhone users, who are generally considered to be the more affluent consumer cohort, must actively grant permission for any app to track their activity across other companies' apps and websites. Absent this authorization, the operating …