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Casper is finally a public company. The road here was bumpy. It involved the mattress brand slashing its valuation by more than half and hoping Wall Street would take the bait. Conversely, Peloton, which IPO'd earlier this year, went another route -- going all in and hoping its buzz would lead to fortune. Both are having difficulty on the public markets. And they show the evolving blueprint growing DTC brands have to make when looking for an exit.
Selling on Amazon can be tricky. The company’s sheer scale means the key to getting the most out of Amazon as a retailer is the details. That was the major takeaway at Digiday Media’s recent Amazon Strategies event.
Many onlookers believe a DTC cooling is on the horizon. With a bunch of less-than-stellar exits from the likes of Casper, Peloton and Harry's, the VC-funding model of branding building seems to be crumbling. This leaves both investors and founders left with the question: Is it worth it to raise money from venture firms? It's becoming a more complicated topic, and one that will have a big impact on a company's choices down the line.
Venture capitalist and Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary recently invested in the DTC eco-friendly cleaning product brand Blueland. In his opinion, online remains the best place to grow a business. Modern Retail sat down and talked with him about the direct-to-consumer landscape, and he had a few warnings for companies that don't have their margins in check.
Reviews have been on Amazon for decades, and so too have fake ones. But as Amazon has become a more dominant e-commerce force, the problem review fraud presents has become more clear. Here is a look at how Amazon has approached its review ecosystem, and how it's led to dark network of bad online actors.
The retailer will now close 100 of its 650 stores in the next two years. It's a piece of its wider strategy to bring Express back into profitability, a plan the retail is calling the "Expressway Forward" plan. It involves a shifted focus to more streamlined merchandise offerings and investing in online sales.
For the last five years blockchain has been hyped as the next technological paradigm. Despite many believing that it could radically change retailers' supply chain, blockchain-based applications have yet to hit the mainstream. Now that the craze has settled, some use-cases may end up quietly being adopted.
DTC startups didn't invent the practice of bombarding customers multiple times a week with emails. But DTC brands do face a unique challenge compared to other retailers: how to get customers to keep opening their emails when they only have a few products to promote.
A new type of restaurant is becoming popular, and you can't sit down in it. Called "ghost kitchens," these delivery only establishments are catching entrepreneurs' eyes and investors' capital.
As more DTC companies face cultural growing pains, Lola's co-founders are trying to build a culture that supports all of its employees.
The Trump administration has proposed a 100% tariff on all European wines. This has caused the wine industry to go into panic mode. While importers would be on the front lines of this change, a whole slew of wine-adjacent businesses stand to be adversely impacted by these new duties.
Large national retailers are all trying to grow out their own advertising businesses. Part of that is convincing brands that they have a unique platform that will lead to more sales. Modern Retail obtained Target's pitch deck, which shows how the retailers is positioning itself as a treasure trove of customer data.
When retailers seek to cut costs, salaried store employees can be the first ones to get the ax. Among those who do remain, many of them say that their job is becoming harder and the hours more unpredictable, according to five current or former salaried managers Modern Retail spoke with.
Amazon has long been touted as the "sleeping giant" of online advertising, and the retail giant showed further signs of fully awaking from its slumber in 2019. The company made significant improvements to its ad products over the course of the year -- particularly around data and analytics -- and ad-buyers say the company is getting more serious about making its tools more accessible and less confusing to understand and use.
The rise of retail media in recent years has unlocked new options for brands' digital ad dollars beyond just Google and Facebook ads.
As brands navigate the waters of in-house marketing, they're developing new strategies and tactics to develop data, skillsets and efficiencies for a competitive advantage.
As direct-to-consumer startups feel greater pressure to rely less on digital channels like Facebook and Google, other, they're considering investing more in traditional media advertising. That includes out of home advertising (OOH), like billboards, digital bus stops and painted murals.
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