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Athletic footwear company Hoka is taking to experimental platforms like connected TV in its first-ever global ad campaign, marking a big public leap for a brand that’s been busy with behind-the-scenes retail growth. The “Fly Human Fly” campaign is launching in 32 countries. But a cornerstone of the North American campaign is launching on connected TV platforms.
The company, which has around 24,000 followers on TikTok and over 50,000 followers on Instagram, has leveraged its platform to attract the attention of other retailers. Starting Tuesday, two flavors of Deux products, birthday cake and chocolate chip, will be available at 260 Target stores nationwide. Deux products can now be found in Erewhon, Whole Foods and Foxtrot, among others.
Last year, portable blender startup BlendJet added a marketplace section to its website. Today, the marketplace is a “multi-million dollar” a year business – which is still a drop in the bucket, given that BlendJet is a nine-figure business. But BlendJet’s strategy is one that’s increasingly being adopted by direct-to-consumer startups as customer acquisition costs rise.
Young people have made celebrity and influencer meals popular -- leading fast-food chains to drop them regularly. Now, one startup called Popchew is trying to tap this trend by facilitating collaborations between creators and restaurants.
Away's new line is yet another sign that retailers are catering to new travel habits, which involve an increasing amount of car trips, close-to-home getaways, and outdoor adventures.
Last week, cowboy boot brand Tecovas announced that Deckers chief operating officer David Lafitte would be joining the startup as its CEO, effective June 27. Founder Paul Hedrick will be transitioning to executive chairman. The c-suite shuffle comes as Tecovas is projecting over $200 million in gross sales this year, after growing more than 70% last year.
Founders of e-commerce startups are used to economic conditions swinging wildly over the past two years. But talk of a potential recession has recently started to pick up at a rate that many founders hadn’t seen since the early days of the pandemic. “For me, I think it became really more real in in the past few weeks,” Ju Rhyu, founder of Hero Cosmetics said.
While reintroducing in-flight services following pandemic-era lockdowns in 2021, Delta began sourcing from multiple new brands. The airline specifically focused on working with underrepresented populations and those that take a conscious approach to their business.
In total, Rae Wellness products can be found at 7,500 physical stores nationwide. Just months after the brand launched, it formed an exclusive partnership with Target. And now, Rae products – including its Daily Cleanse Capsules, Destress Capsules and Sleep Capsules – are now available at Walmart stores and Walmart.com.
In the past month, several headlines have warned of a national "tampon shortage." Conglomerates like Tampax-maker P&G have been mum about the reasons for empty shelves. However, several startup feminine care brands say the media coverage has helped boost their brand awareness and sales.
What began as an at-home hair color brand, Madison Reed has become a full-fledged salon chain. Nearly a decade since launching, Madison Reed is doubling down on retail as it expands nationwide.
Rapid delivery app Jokr is winding down its U.S. delivery operations. In an email sent to vendors and obtained by Modern Retail, the company notified brand partners of the “incredibly difficult decision we’ve made at Jokr.”
In late May, Unilever acquired a majority stake in hair supplements startup Nutrafol – continuing its streak of acquiring health and wellness startups. Giorgos Tsetis, co-founder and CEO of Nutrafol, told Modern Retail that the company will continue to operate independently. However, the acquisition by Unilever will help with the brand’s retail and international expansion, product development and internal team growth.
Privacy-related changes – namely from Apple’s iOS14 update – has made targeting customers through digital channels like Facebook less effective. As a result, direct-to-consumer startups that launched within the past year are no longer dedicating 90% of their budget solely to Facebook and Google.
Like many e-commerce categories, online grocery shopping rose significantly during the pandemic, with growth expected to reach $1 trillion this year, according to a report from Adobe. As a result, many grocery startups have started investing in shoppable recipes as a means of driving sales and visits to their site. Some build their recipes in-house, while others have been teaming up with third-party sources to grow their recipe options.
Many retailers are working to find new ways to cut down on waste and run more efficiently -- and some are betting more advanced technology will help along the way. Urban Outfitters' Nuuly, for example, is now using Google Cloud to help its sustainability tracking.
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