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Brand and retail employees have mixed feelings about returning to the office full-time. In an April-May 2021 Glossy and Modern Retail survey of brand and retail employees, 28% said they've gone back to work full-time, and 32% said they'd be willing to go back to the office full-time in the next month.
As retail brands migrate their ad dollars toward commerce-focused sites like Amazon or Instacart, or up-and-coming social apps like TikTok, outlets like Nextdoor, are also getting a second look. Brands like Stop & Shop, Imperfect Foods and Hershey’s have all invested in Nextdoor ads over the past year, and the social platform is especially gaining interest among grocers looking to run heavily local campaigns.
Retailers like Walmart and Amazon are increasingly displaying customer reviews from their e-commerce site, on their shelf labels in-store. These new shelf labels are not only deepening the connection between e-commerce and physical retail, but they are also heightening the stakes for brands around customer reviews and search placement.
These days, brands going viral on TikTok is becoming the norm, leading these brands to build on the buzz by creating challenges or releasing in-demand products. The latest example is Gap, which is re-issuing its recently-viral vintage hoodie and crowdsourcing which new color it will release next.
In early May, Instacart quietly added a new feature called “Product Library,” which lets brands whose products are bought and sold on Instacart edit how their products appear on the platform. The Product Library update might be small, but it showcases the extent to which Instacart, as it becomes an increasingly ad-focused company, has tried to make itself more friendly to brands.
This week Pattern Brands -- a holding company formed by the former members of branding agency Gin Lane -- announced that it was pivoting away from launching its own brands, and instead would look to acquire a number of smaller brands in the home goods space. It's a move that has been in the works for over a year. Modern Retail obtained a pitch deck that Pattern Brands sent around last summer, laying out its vision for the holding company it hoped to build.
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.
Retailers and brands are experiencing a marketing rebound. New data from a Modern Retail and Glossy survey showcases that brands are expecting a post-pandemic recovery. And it's a distinct shift from 2020.
The fact that a major fashion brand like Gucci is investing in Roblox underscores how, in recent months, retail brands have increasingly been eyeing ways to build out a presence on the platform.
The Roaring '20s are here, according to brands and retailers. In a new Glossy and Modern Retail survey, 62% of brand and retailer workers said their company’s sales are at pre-pandemic levels. Of those, 36% said their sales hadn’t slid at all during the pandemic, and 26% said their sales went down but have since recovered.
New data from a Modern Retail and Glossy survey of retailers and brands found that 30% of respondents had already begun investing in event-based marketing campaigns over the last six months. This follows a trend that began at the very beginning of 2021 -- more brands and retailers were planning to up their overall marketing budgets.
Many brands see immense potential in YouTube's new video unit Shorts. And while Shorts is often cast as a mere TikTok doppelgänger, its unique infrastructure, and especially its search tools, might make it an especially appealing home for brands looking to create content that retains longer-term relevance.
For the latest installment of Digiday Media’s Amazon U series, experts zoomed in on a topic many brands are struggling to get right: retention.
Last year, Home Depot and Lowe's reported huge sales gains on the backs of people spending more time -- and more of their money -- at home. Now, the question is whether or not these gains can continue into 2021. During their first quarter earnings calls this week, Home Depot and Lowe's laid out their respective strategies for retaining customers this year.
The face of venture capital fundraising is changing, with crowdfunding taking center stage. After years of relying on VCs, lenders and bootstrapping to scale, some founders are giving crowdfunding a second look. Thanks to platforms like Republic, connecting with dozens of enthusiastic investors is paying off.
Every interaction a customer has with a brand is an opportunity to nurture the customer-brand relationship. This report highlights tactics that top brands are using to improve the customer experience.
While other states have had conflicting rulings over Amazon's liability risk -- a court in Texas last month said Amazon wasn’t on the hook for a battery sold by a third party, for instance -- the growing number of legal authorities who are holding Amazon accountable is a concerning sign for the company. The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission lawsuit is only the latest.
Read MoreAt Modern Retail’s Livestream Commerce Trends, we’ll explore how the growth of livestream and video shopping trends are transforming how retailers, brands and marketing teams are engaging with consumers in-stream and live across social and owned-and-operated websites.
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