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Softbank-backed, insurance unicorn Extend has announced that it had become an obligor -- a licensed insurance provider that can now design and underwrite customized product insurance plans in-house. Extend and other technology-focused, data driven providers are hoping to offer more customizable plans more quickly than legacy providers and expand services to smaller startups.
Today, the online furniture resale marketplace launched an instant offer feature for sellers to cash out with a flat fee for their used furniture, rather than waiting for a percentage of resale. Kaiyo has driven 150% to 200% growth year-over-year, every month over the past two years, in its quest to make resale more convenient.
Despite Amazon’s foray into luxury fashion, shoppers are still flocking to casualwear on its platform. The biggest brands on the online marketplace specialize in basics or activewear, according to data from Similarweb. Here's what's driving this apparel growth on the platform.
As part of a new partnership, U.S. businesses with Shopify storefronts will be able to list their products on the Chinese online marketplace, used by 550 million customers. JD.com will handle end-to-end fulfillment by transporting goods from its U.S. warehouses to China using its own cargo flights and completing deliveries.
Thrasio, an Amazon aggregator that has snapped up over 200 brands in just three years, is launching in India after acquiring a home appliances startup called Lifelong Online, which manufactures and sells over 100 products ranging from toasters to treadmills on its website and through marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart. Thrasio is looking to make a big splash in South Asia's biggest economy, home to 750,000 sellers.
Amazon is losing ground to social commerce apps in Asia. Singapore’s Shopee and India’s Meesho are two e-commerce platforms that leapfrogged it last year to become the first and third biggest global shopping apps. There may be some clues for why Amazon's overseas growth is flagging: Despite stiff competition, Amazon has yet to embrace social commerce.
Boston-based Klaviyo, for example, was already profitable by 2015, but the pandemic turbocharged the company’s growth. Amid the explosion in online shopping last year, VCs gravitated toward specialist startups built atop e-commerce services, including Amazon aggregators and Shopify apps. With its latest funding round in May, Klaviyo was valued at $9.15 billion, cementing its position as a leading light within its cottage industry.
Fashion has become big business for Amazon, but apparel brands are facing challenges around pricing that could dictate how the category performs this year. The issues range from inflation to competition from third-party sellers. Within the fast-paced and dynamic selling environment of Amazon, businesses are increasingly investing more capital and time in a bid to entrench themselves in the e-commerce marketplace, according to sellers and consultants.
Big platforms like Facebook and YouTube doubled down on livestreaming this year. To fend off the competition, a bevy of startups are using the hundreds of millions of dollars they have in their coffers to boost their offerings and bring their specialist platforms to the mainstream. And it points to a battle brewing in 2022, with the startups expanding and offering more services in anticipation of a showdown with the digital giants.
Next year, digital media giants are slightly pivoting to set their sights more seriously on livestreaming in an effort to generate more conversions. To get there, Meta and YouTube are devoting more resources to boost awareness of the format among brands and creators.
With more than $3 billion in funding raised this year, three Amazon aggregators are planning to bolster their product portfolios and launch into new markets in 2022. Thrasio, Goja and Olsam follow the roll-up playbook of acquiring third-party businesses from Amazon’s platform and boosting their sales using proprietary data. But that’s where the similarities end.
Shopify, BigCommerce and a host of other companies offer subscription-based tools to set up and scale digital storefronts. Last year, they witnessed explosive growth. Amid a recent slowdown, these e-commerce platforms are focusing on new areas of growth from international markets to social media platforms that offer shopping services.
As retailers try to optimize the use of their physical store footprint, they're upping their marketing efforts on Google's Local Inventory Ads program. Companies like Kohl's, Michaels, Petco and Kroger are pushing further into promoting their local inventory availability through Google search and shopping ads.
Makers of premium and indie skincare and cosmetic products say they are spending more on ads and obsessing over customer data to establish a foothold on Amazon. Some are benefiting from the unique perks that the e-commerce giant offers to select brands as incentives to use its platform.
Apparel rental platform Rent the Runway focuses on diversification and cost-cutting as it still searches for profitability. In its first earnings call since going public yesterday, Rent the Runway reported a net loss of $87.8 million and an active subscriber count of 116,833 users, or only 87% of its pre-pandemic user base.
Big CPG has been aggressively pushing into plant-based grocery products the past year. Many of these efforts are increasingly coming from partnerships with the likes of Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods and Hungry Planet.
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