Daily LInks
1. Why E-Commerce Disruptors Are Trading Like Brick-and-Mortar Dinosaurs: 1stDibs, a furniture-focused seller with a market capitalization of $240 million that’s already said it’s working with bankers on options that could include selling itself, is holding up slightly better than its peers. – Read More on The Information
2. When Climate Collaboration Is Treated as an Antitrust Violation: Across Europe and the U.S., regulators are discussing whether corporate climate collaborations violate antitrust law. Companies need to keep an eye on this debate. – Read More on HBR
3. Lanvin Group Trims Valuation to $1 Billion Ahead of SPAC Listing: Lanvin trimmed its equity value to $1 billion from a previous $1.25 billion in March. The adjustment in part reflects a decline in the value of the euro in recent months and lower trading multiples of listed global luxury companies. – Read More on Bloomberg
4. IPO activity fell sharply in Q3 as stocks dipped, recession fears climbed: The number of IPOs throughout the world fell by more than 45% in the period from the same quarter in 2021. The total amount offered in those IPOs that did move ahead plunged by nearly $73 billion. – Read More on S&P Global
5. Half of ‘Big Retail’ Thinks Consumer Digital Experience Could Be Better: “The majority of U.S. and U.K. retailers have introduced or plan to adopt innovations to track omnichannel customer purchasing data,” with 48% percent of U.S. and U.K. retailers having already adopted this strategy. – Read More on PYMNTS
1. U.S. retail sales unchanged; consumers showing resilience: Consumers are not rolling over yet, with a report from the Commerce Department showing a measure of underlying retail sales rising last month, thanks to strong wage gains and savings. – Read More on Reuters
2. Low-Price Apparel Chains Lure Inflation-Weary Shoppers: The land grab is raising the stakes for such retailers as Gap Inc. and Macy’s as they grapple with inflation-hit customers and uncertainty around consumer spending. – Read More on the WSJ
3. Legal dispute over EU’s green label for nuclear, gas could last over 2 years: “Our goal is to prevent greenwashing and to help investors identify economic activities in line with our environmental and climate objectives,” a commission spokesperson said. – Read More on S&P Global
4. “Mark Zuckerberg is telling us he doesn’t think he has a core business.” Meta spent $10 billion in 2021 in early efforts to build the metaverse and Zuckerberg informed shareholders in 2022 that the company will continue spending heavily to create the metaverse and will bleed money for 3-5 years. – Read More on Yahoo
5. ASOS in talks with lenders to amend terms of $391 million facility: The retailer said the move would give it significantly increased financial flexibility, against an uncertain economic backdrop. – Read More on Reuters
1. ‘Recession? What Recession?’ Say Luxury Shoppers: LVMH’s results have been helped by the fact that the euro has been whittled down compared to the dollar. – Read More on Bloomberg
2. Luxury’s Resilience Hasn’t Been Tested Yet: LVMH CFO Jean Jacques Guiony pointed out that, so far, a “preannounced recession…has not materialized” and spending on luxury goods tends to be more impacted by, say, real-estate prices than a slowdown in economic growth. – Read More on the WSJ
3. How Amazon’s big private-label business is growing and leaving small brands to protect against knockoffs: There’s generally nothing illegal about copying brand-name products. It’s a business practice that, in some capacity, is widely used by most major retailers. – Read More on CNBC
4. Millennials and Gen Z Are Fueling a Boom in the Second-Hand Watch Market: Annual sales of second-hand watches will jump to 35 billion Swiss francs by 2030 from 20 billion francs now, consulting firm Deloitte said in an industry report that surveyed consumers and watch brand executives. – Read More on Bloomberg
5. Should Data be a Luxury for the Fashion Industry? Luxury (like many other industries) is suffering from widening expectations, from products and locations to service and attention, and even more subtle aspects such as the feeling of “am I really special to this brand?” – Read More on Retail Touch Points
1. Roblox says policing virtual world is like “shutting down speakeasies.” San Mateo, Calif.-based Roblox is deploying bots to patrol user-generated games and press buttons to detect any dangerous content that players have disguised. – Read More on Reuters
2. Activist Bluebell Wants Richemont Succession Plan Made Public: The activist investor’s co-founders Giuseppe Bivona and Marco Taricco made the request in a Sept. 27 letter to the listing and enforcement department of SIX Exchange Regulation AG. – Read More on Bloomberg
3. Nike to Crack Down on Sneaker-Buying Bots, Dealing a Blow to Resale Market: In a sweeping update to its rules for U.S. shoppers this month, the sneaker giant said it could cancel orders placed with automated ordering software or technology on its website or apps. – Read More on the WSJ
4. Chinese fast fashion retailer lobbies up: Shein has hired its first federal lobbyists as the company moves to expand its U.S. footprint despite concerns over the brand’s sustainability and labor practices. – Read More on Politico
5. Uniqlo owner set for record annual profit, but all eyes on China showing: The company, Japan’s biggest retailer, has posted strong performances in U.S. and Europe in the first 3 quarters of the year, but investors will look for signs of a recovery in China, its biggest foreign market with nearly 900 stores. – Read More on Reuters
1. Christmas in October as Amazon, US rivals fight for bargain shoppers’ attention: “Online will be important for the big retailers over the holidays, just much less so than it has been the past couple of years. Consumers are coming back to stores.” – Read More on S&P Global
2. TikTok chases Amazon with plans for U.S. fulfillment centers: The move signifies TikTok’s commitment to e-commerce as its next major revenue stream, following the explosive growth of its ads business. – Read More on Axios
3. Real Time in-Store Inventory Data Is the Consumer Hook Big Retail Needs: Amid the inflationary pressures and paycheck-to-paycheck pressures, it may be the case that now, more than ever, Big Data may make all the difference to retailers’ top and bottom lines. – Read More on PYMNTS
4. Proposed New York law aims to protect fashion models from exploitation: The bill, which aims to protect everyone from models to makeup artists, was introduced in spring 2022 and will once again be considered in the 2023 legislative session, which starts in January. – Read More on the Guardian
5. India’s New Rich Fuel Brand Expansion for Tata’s Jewelry Arm: “There is a lot of latent demand for luxury from India and high net-worth individuals are going to explode. This is just the beginning for luxury.” – Read More on Bloomberg
1. Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse Struggles: Zuckerberg successfully overhauled his company a decade ago, getting it to focus on how its products worked on smartphones instead of desktops. He signaled a similar shift last year, saying that investing in the metaverse would allow Meta to make the leap from one technological era to the next. – Read More on the New York Times
2. Retailers Kick Off Black Friday in October Again, This Time with Too Much Stuff: Retail profits will decline as many companies race to cut prices faster than their peers. Morgan Stanley analysts say this dynamic could hurt margins and fuel an earnings slowdown. – Read More on the WSJ
3. Former Sephora stores reopen in Russia under new ownership: In a message on its website, Ile de Beauté thanked returning customers, promising a wide range of international brands, and said that previously purchased gift cards would still be valid. – Read More on Reuters
4. Global Luxury Goods Sales Expected to Hold Up Well, Says Citi: “Following 6 years of stellar outperformance, the luxury goods sector has slightly underperformed this year. In recent months however, luxury shares have outperformed despite economic pressures, reflecting a solid 2H22 demand outlook and receding geopolitical and Covid risks.” – Read More on Investing
5. Nike Korea unveils policies banning resellers: The updated terms and conditions indicate that returns or refunds will be refused and give Nike the right to cancel orders if they appear to have been made with the intention of reselling them. – Read More on EconoTimes
1. Luxury looks less vulnerable to inflation, but isn’t immune: While the luxury sector looks less exposed to inflationary pressures than mass-market retailers, this isn’t the case for all players. – Read More on Mint
2. K-pop stars help boost heritage jewelry brand sales: Associating with these K-pop stars is a way for the jewelers to be culturally relevant, reach a new younger audience, and boost sales in an uncertain macroeconomic environment. – Read More on the FT
3. Europe gives final sign off to rebooted e-commerce rules: The DSA lays out content moderation and marketplace rules that aim to streamline the removal of illegal content, services or products and drive accountability around such decisions. – Read More on TechCrunch
4. Adidas Seeks New Boss to Bring Buzz to Brand and Bottom Line: Even more problematic is China, where Western brands face consumer boycotts. The problem is particularly acute for Adidas, which has increasingly looked to the country for growth. – Read More on Bloomberg
5. Gen Z’s Favorite Brands: The oldest members of Gen Z are entering their mid-20s, expanding their foothold in the workforce and marketplace. This makes adapting to their consumer preferences an ever more important consideration for brands. – Read More on Morning Consult
1. Eastern European consumers are weathering a once-in-a-generation cost-of-living crisis better than some of their peers in the west, according to Poland’s LPP SA, one of the region’s biggest fashion retailers. – Read More on Bloomberg
2. Euro zone retail sales fall as expected in August: The fall in retail sales, seen as a proxy for consumer demand, underlines economists’ expectations that the euro zone is likely to go into a recession in the coming quarters, hit by the energy price shock created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. – Read More on Reuters
3. New ETFs Offer Investors a Chance to Bet on the Metaverse: “What’s driving interest among individual investors is the fact that people are now engaging in the metaverse through gaming and in other areas of their lives. They are experiencing it firsthand and are imagining a connected metaverse with exponential growth opportunities.” – Read More on the WSJ
4. US corporate bankruptcy filings tick down in September: There were 31 bankruptcy filings in September, down from 37 in August. As of Sept. 30, 279 companies had filed for bankruptcy in 2022, fewer than any other comparable period going back to at least 2010. – Read More on S&P Global
5. Web3 had a small, yet important, presence at Paris Fashion Week: Balmain, for example, introduced “Balmain Thread,” which is the brand’s Web3 hub powered by the XRP Ledger that is designed to unite their community with NFT projects. – Read More on CoinTelegraph
1. Poshmark Deal Points to More Acquisitions in Resale Market: Secondhand marketplaces face mounting competition from brands. After struggling as a public company, resale site Poshmark is being acquired. – Read More on Bloomberg
2. RELATED READ: The Secondary MArket Watch – A (running) timeline of investments and M&A events to provide a broad overview of which players are raising funds, which are merging together, and what the trajectory of this segment of the market – which only appears to be gaining in steam – looks like more generally. – Read More on TFL
3. Walmart brings TikTok-esque shoppable livestream to its e-commerce site: Social shopping is burgeoning in western markets, estimated to be worth $992bn globally in 2022 and projected at $2.9tn by 2026. – Read More on the Drum
3. Japan to Invest in Metaverse and NFT Expansion: Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a policy speech on Monday that the country’s plans for investing in digital transformation include NFTs and metaverse services. – Read More on CoinDesk
4. Swollen Retail Inventories Leave Small Businesses Short on Warehouse Space: Nearly three-quarters of the businesses in the retail segment reported cost increases, and 60% of those businesses have raised their prices accordingly. – Read More on PYMNTS
5. How Macy’s Has Avoided the Inventory Pileup: The group decided to cut orders of comfy clothes and home goods that had been big sellers during the pandemic, and increase orders of dresses, suits and shoes for work and for occasions like weddings. – Read More on the WSJ
1. Tech is driving luxury brand engagement: Investments in digital mediums ranged from revamped websites/apps, to the use of VR, NFTs, and cryptocurrencies, to reimagined runway shows like Balenciaga’s Afterworld game in which characters were clad in the brand’s designs. – Read More on Insider Intelligence
2. Retail Real Estate Is Enjoying Its Biggest Revival in Years: More stores opened than closed in the U.S. last year for the first time since 1995, according to an analysis by Morgan Stanley, and some analysts say they expect that trend to continue this year even with recession fears rising. – Read More on the WSJ
3. Consumer discretionary remains highest risk sector in Q3: Consumer discretionary, which comprises industries with strong sensitivity to economic cycles, scored the highest on two out of three risk factors — the proportion of lowered corporate guidance and the rise in short interest. – Read More on S&P Global
4. The case for and against custom apparel: Whether it is through 3D scans or measurement-based customizations, brands are coming up with a variety of unique methods to size customers from the comfort of their own homes and sell them a made-to-order product. – Read More on Modern Retail
5. H&M, Zara’s Owner Stick With ‘Made in Myanmar’ After Coup, but Some Brands Exit: European retailer Primark, which bought garments such as raincoats and parkas from 25 factories in Myanmar, said last month it would exit, citing difficulties in ensuring the safety and rights of workers who make the clothing. – Read More on the WSJ