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The last year has taken a significant toll on company culture across brands and retailers -- stores were shut down, people lost their jobs and teams were separated from one another. But new research from Glossy and Modern Retail shows that, while worries about mental health still remain, morale across these industries is improving.
On Thursday, Google announced a slew of new features aimed at making Google Shopping easier for brands to use and break away from the crowd. Google is adding integrations with WooCommerce, GoDaddy and Square, allowing the products of brands using these platforms to automatically show up among Google's results.
The pandemic was tough on physical retail. With month after month of physical stores closed and brands shifting much of their attention to the rapidly growing e-commerce business, it seemed inevitable that brands would pull away from their brick-and-mortar investments. Glossy and Modern Retail research shows that, indeed, many brands dropped out of physical retail during the pandemic. However, brands are already planning to reinvest in physical retail as the market opens back up over the next six months.
Brands and retailers have had to get creative over the last year to survive the harsh reality of the pandemic, like pivoting to e-commerce and direct sales. But one strategy was particularly noteworthy: launching into new categories. According to a survey that Glossy and Modern Retail conducted of 98 brand and retailer employees, 57.3% of respondents said their employer launched new categories over the last year.
Amazon’s long-rumored luxury platform, now known as Luxury Stores, finally launched on Tuesday after months of speculation. Amazon’s main appeal to brands is its scale, but out of the gate, the platform doesn’t make much use of its 112 million Prime members. Luxury Stores is launching with only one brand, Oscar de la Renta, and is invite-only, with the first round of invites going out yesterday. The small scale, single brand, small selection and invite-only model mean that Luxury Stores' potential to drive sales is limited.
J.Crew has had problems for years — but the coronavirus accelerated all of them. Now, the retailer is filing for bankruptcy. The question remains: how did it get here? And will it ever be able to rebound again?
Late last year, DTC footwear brand Allbirds surpassed a $1 billion valuation, making it one of the largest DTC success stories of the last decade. But while an eventual IPO from either Allbirds or one of the other comparable DTC juggernauts like Warby Parker seems inevitable, it won't necessarily open the floodgates for others in the space.
Fashion resellers do not have access to the same tools and strategies that brands and retailers can employ, like collaborating on a new product or dropping a hyped collection. Instead, they have to turn to other strategies to draw attention and bring in new customers. Celebrity closet sales are one way that resellers are making that happen.
Showfields, the experiential rotating retail space in New York City, opened on Tuesday its fourth floor, which had been under construction since the store’s opening in March. Rather than dedicate the fourth floor to more retail space, Showfields designed it to be a coworking space.
When Topshop announced last week that it was filing for bankruptcy in the U.S. and liquidating all U.S. stores, it should not have come as a surprise.
Tehmina Haider is the head of Harry's Lab, which both builds new CPG brands as well as invests in and acquires existing ones. Haider described the operation as being a "diversification engine." She joined the Modern Retail Podcast and explained how she's built out the program over the last three years.
Read MoreAt the Modern Retail Marketing Leaders Forum, we’ll bring together senior retail marketers to discuss the challenges they’re facing and the solutions they’re seeking in the era of smarter retail.
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