‘It lost its consumer’: 4 takeaways from Forever 21’s bankruptcy filing

Many malls in the U.S. are about to lose yet another brick-and-mortar tenant, as Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy earlier this week. Forever 21's bankruptcy filing has prompted discussion about whether or not fast-fashion is dying, or just evolving. But there are some lessons that every retailer would be wise to take away from Forever 21's bankruptcy filing.

Bed Bath & Beyond is the latest retailer to add experiences to its wedding registries

As Bed Bath & Beyond looks for a turnaround, one of its few bright spots has been its wedding registry business. But, as more couples are adding cash and trips to their registries instead of products, the company could lose its spot as a go-to place for wedding registries.

‘I want there to be conflict’: How DTCs manage tension between their performance and brand marketing teams

As digitally-native brands are spending more on brand marketing, they find they may have to manage tension between different members of their marketing team, as what's best for the brand may not always be deemed best by performance marketing standards.

Legacy retailers are creating roles to unify e-commerce and physical stores

Nordstrom just promoted its head of digital to COO. This is the first time the retailer has ever hired for such a role -- and could be an indicator of more legacy businesses seeking out top strategic talent to more seamlessly mesh organizational objectives.

How Instagram became the new mall

Instagram’s version of the mall, then, is a reflection of the brand’s currency in culture, from a community perspective as well as how aggressively it’s pushing its way into the narrative with paid posts.

Explainer: What retailers need to know about building multi-touch attribution models

Multi-touch attribution has become the attribution method of choice for brands, especially direct-to-consumer ones,  once they start advertising on more channels than just Facebook and Google. But switching to a multi-touch attribution model isn't as simple of a switch as transitioning from one software vendor to another. It is often a months-long project, that requires close communication between a brand's marketing and data science teams.

‘We try to figure things out for the greater good of the industry’: The rise of the DTC bro

There's a growing group of business evangelists online who love to wax philosophic about DTC brands. But it's not only a pocket of Twitter, but a thriving social network of entrepreneurs, VCs and consultants. But does it run the risk of becoming too much of a clique?

With American Dream, the American mall attempts a comeback

As shopping moves online and staple retailers increasingly close their doors, developers have been working to revive the draw of the mall. An audacious attempt to reinvigorate the American mall is taking shape in the dreary swamplands of East Rutherford, just outside New York City.

‘It’s almost like a treasure hunt’: Inside the world of paid Amazon reviews

Amazon’s got a thriving market for fake reviews. This black market lives mostly in chat and social platforms; Facebook is where it really thrives.

Explainer: How California’s Consumer Privacy Act will affect retailers

DTCs are facing a copycat problem

As DTC brands grow, they face the issue of copycats encroaching on their space. This is increasingly becoming an issue founders are being forced to reckon with. The latest example is Ro, which noticed that competitor Hims had a UX almost identical to its own.

Explainer: How retail brands are building fractional attribution models

Attribution has been a sore spot for brands, especially those that are diversifying their marketing mixes, for years. There are many different methods to figuring out attribution. One that's increasingly popular is "fractional attribution." And for so-called DTC brands, who are now diversifying their ad spend beyond Facebook and Google, they're more likely to allocate their marketing dollars based on a fractional attribution model instead of last-click or click-based attribution model.

How brands can use digital messaging to make customer support personal

Digital messaging is central to human communication, yet most customer support teams sound deeply inhuman on digital platforms. To connect with modern consumers, it's crucial to get conversational through text, email and social — but without getting invasive. Download the guide to learn how.