Daily LInks
1. How to Invest in Handbags, the Luxury Asset Most Likely to Hold Value: 40% of US consumers had bought or were planning to buy a luxury handbag as of July, helping bolster the category from a global market of $72 billion this year to a predicted $100 billion in 2026. – Read More on Bloomberg
2. RELATED READ: Chanel Bags, Rolexes Make for Inflation-Proof Investments, Per Credit Suisse Report. Watches, jewelry, and handbags – “especially Chanel handbags” – are “clearly standing out as stores of value with low volatility (between 2.5 percent and 5 percent annually) and low drawdowns,” and with annual returns that average between 4.5 and 6.5 percent. – Read More on TFL
3. Pinduoduo Takes Aim at U.S. With Cross-Border E-Commerce Platform: Pinduoduo Inc. is preparing to launch a cross-border e-commerce platform targeting the United States, a move that could help the company hedge against sluggish consumer spending in its home market. – Read More on Caixin
4. Turning talk into action: retail’s path to sustainability. Numerous studies that show that a majority of institutional investors are asking about the ESG (environmental, social and governance) practices of companies when building their portfolios. “Ten years ago, that was close to zero.” – Read More on the Economist
5. Tourists—and Their Wallets—May Finally Return to Japan: One problem is that China, the largest source of visitors to Japan before the pandemic, still maintains strict border controls and there are no clear signs of when its zero-Covid policy will end. – Read More on the WSJ
1. H&M-backed UK start-up Alchemie seeks China distributor for water, energy-saving fabric dyeing machine to help fashion industry clean up its act: The waterless dyeing machine, similar to an inkjet printer, costs between $1.2 million and $1.5 million, uses 95% less water and 85% less energy than traditional methods. – Read More on SCMP
2. Russia retail sales down 8.8% y/y in July: Russian retail sales declined 8.8% in July in year-on-year terms after a 9.6% fall in the previous month, the statistics service said on Wednesday. – Read More on Reuters
3. Cut Loose from Kering, Swiss Watch Duo Plots Profit Path: The brands are enjoying a boost in popularity that has seen sales rise more than 40% by value, said Patrick Pruniaux, the chairman and chief executive officer of the Sowind Group, which owns them both. – Read More on Bloomberg
4. OP-ED: Break Up the ESG Investing Giants. The few other genuinely independent actors in the system—such as Fidelity—are privately held and controlled by families wealthy enough to prioritize luxury beliefs over productivity. – Read More on the WSJ
5. Fashion Wholesalers Try on Digital Payments, Virtual Trade Shows: There’s a great deal of interest in, and adoption of, these sorts of payment tools. They are really needed, especially because of the supply chain challenges and cash flow challenges that those create. – Read More on PYMNTS
1. Mushrooms Are Growing on Publishing, Fashion, Hollywood: Designer Stella McCartney’s website features what it describes as “the world’s first-ever luxury bag” made from mycelium, a leather alternative made from the threadlike roots of mushrooms. – Read More on the WSJ
2. South Korea cancels Gucci fashion show after Vogue cops flak over steamy photo shoot: Anger over a provocative Vogue fashion shoot in a former presidential office has forced authorities to revoke Gucci’s permit to prevent another incident of cultural faux pas. – Read More on SCMP
3. U.S. agency: It is ‘unlawful’ for Tesla to prevent employees from wearing union shirts. The National Labor Relations Board says it was unlawful for Tesla Inc to prohibit employees from wearing shirts bearing union insignia, ruling in a 2017 dispute between the electric car maker and the United Automobile Workers union. – Read More on Reuters
4. Creating A Brand Gen Alpha Loves: From acknowledging that Gen Alpha is the most diverse generation to date to finding ways to use social media, the metaverse and stores to create unique opportunities for retailers to engage their community. – Hear More on Retail TouchPoints
5. How Does Tiffany’s New Lock Bracelet Stack Up Against Cartier, Van Cleef? In the first major debut since the American jewelry brand was acquired by LVMH, designers hope to create a lasting icon like the bean or Tiffany T bangle. – Read More on Bloomberg
1. A tidal wave of returns hits the e-commerce industry: The scale of returns has been amplified by the covid-induced boom. In America online-shopping now makes up 15% of retail sales by value, up from 10% at the start of 2019. – Read More on the Economist
2. Some luxury consumers are ‘utterly immune’ to inflation: Former LVMH exec. The current environment marks a significant shift from the “very promotional environment” the luxury sector faced at the height of the pandemic. And as the sector continues to rebound, year-over-year comparisons are also looking more favorable. – Read More on Yahoo
3. Should retail worry about the ‘quiet quitting’ trend? The movement comes as the global pandemic has led employees to reimagine their professional lives after working remotely for months. Many have also pushed to tackle additional tasks and overtime in a tight labor market. – Read More on Retail Wire
4. Apparel Sellers’ Fashion Emergency Must Be Handled With Care: Holding inventory takes up storage and comes with the risk of inevitable write-downs if the chosen merchandise doesn’t resonate with customers in future seasons. – Read More on the WSJ
5. Twitter whistleblower report complicates odds of legal victory over Musk: In the bitter fight over the disputed acquisition of Twitter Inc., a whistleblower report alleging inaccurate information about fake accounts on the social media company’s core platform has Wall Street reevaluating the odds of a legal settlement. – Read More on S&P Global
1. Companies Used to Announce Products. Now They ‘Drop’ Them: A reason drops are spreading beyond fashion is that all industries now face similar supply chain bottlenecks, and drops can be a way to manage, or even make a virtue of such challenges. – Read More on the WSJ
2. The death of brick-and-mortar is “extraordinarily exaggerated.” More than 4,000 stores have opened in the U.S. this year, more than twice as many than those that have closed, according to Coresight Research data, building on last year’s trend. – Read More on Yahoo
3. Curbside pickup is here to stay, and retailers are going all in: “As in-store shopping meaningfully returns, retailers now have to start comparing the cost of curbside fulfillment using additional labor to in-store purchases,” with moves to add fees for curbside pickup being touted “as a way to [incentivize] consumers fully back into stores.” – Read More on Washington Post
4. Williams-Sonoma will soon launch a collaboration with Roblox, says the home retailer’s CEO: “West Elm is going to be the first home furnishings retailer to provide digital furniture and be a partner with Roblox.” – Read More on CNBC
5. Europe’s High Street Retailers Feel Loss of Chinese Luxury Shoppers: Chinese shoppers purchased most of their luxury goods abroad to reap the authenticity factor, shop tax-free using European rebates, and save on the overall base price. These reasons helped make Chinese tourists the highest per-capita luxury spenders among all travelers. – Read More on PYMNTS
1. Private label ousting big brands as cost of living crisis grows: Private label sales have been on the rise for years, but a global cost of living crisis driven by soaring energy prices appears to be turbo-charging the trend. – Read More on Reuters
2. Retail is back: Empty space now below pre-Covid levels. While consumer spending influences whether companies fill retail spaces, other factors are at play. Retail bankruptcies are at their lowest level in seven years. And inflation could be prompting Americans to spend money before prices go up. – Read More on TRD
3. The Role of Localization in the Fashion Industry: Globalization, fast fashion, and heightened accessibility have given global consumers the freedom to shop outside of their local box. But now, retailers need to ensure they can take on the challenge of making their products locally appealing. – Read More on My Total Retail
4. RELATED READ: From Localization to Evolving Brand Narratives: 5 Fundamental Shifts that Are Underway in the Luxury Sector. Luxury brands are placing greater reliance on local and in-house manufacturing and resources, reducing their reliance on foreign production and reimagining their business models to cater to a new world. – Read More on TFL
5. California retail workers vote for union at second REI store: Employees at an REI store in Berkeley, California, on Thursday voted to form a union, the outdoor equipment and apparel retailer’s second location to do so in a time when more service workers have been choosing to organize. – Read More on Reuters
1. Victoria’s Secret is latest retailer to cut its 2022 outlook: Victoria’s Secret VSCO said its profits amounted to $70 million in the quarter, compared with $151 million in the second quarter of 2021. – Read More on MarketWatch
2. Three things Gap needs to fix to turn its struggling business around: Prove out the Yeezy bet. More than two years later, it’s unclear just how much the Yeezy gear will move the needle for Gap, if at all. – Read More on CNBC
3. Florida adopts anti-ESG rule for state’s $186B pension plan: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration on Aug. 23 approved a resolution barring the state’s $186 billion pension fund from considering environmental, social or governance factors when making investment decisions. – Read More on S&P Global
4. Can e-commerce help customs agencies fix old problems? Conservative estimates project that the market for cross-border e-commerce will grow from $300 billion in 2020 to $1 trillion by 2030. In a bolder scenario, the overall market could total $2 trillion by the end of this decade. – Read More on McKinsey
5. Levi’s CEO Chip Bergh: “I’d love to work with Dior. [Also,] we worked with Tremaine Emory, who had a brand called Denim Tears. He’s now the lead designer at Supreme, and I’m hoping that we will be able to continue to partner with him, even though Supreme is owned by one of our competitors.” – Read More on the WSJ
1. Gen Z consumers are feeling the pinch. For luxury brands, that’s a big problem: Gen Z were meant to make up a fifth of all luxury spending by 2025, but inflation and unemployment are hitting the discretionary incomes of young consumers. – Read More on SCMP
2. China’s $89 billion e-commerce giant JD.com posts slowest quarterly growth on record: Revenue rose 5.4% in the April to June quarter, marking the Chinese e-commerce giant’s slowest year-on-year growth on record. – Read More on CNBC
3. Physical Retail’s Sales Surge Above 2019 Levels Nothing to Cheer About: Even before the pandemic, “the traditional physical store model, which is how most everyone today defines physical retail and measures its sales, pretty much is — and has been for the last several years — on life support.” – Read More on PYMNTS
4. Lamborghini has already sold all its cars until 2024: Italian sports car maker Lamborghini has already pre-sold the entire production run to early 2024, its boss told AFP on Tuesday, the latest demonstration that luxury goods are seemingly unaffected by global economic uncertainty. – Read More on AFP
5. Macy’s CEO Says Belt-Tightening Isn’t Hitting Luxury, Work Wear: Consumers are still turning to Macy’s Inc. for work wear and luxury goods even as inflation puts pressure on household budgets, CEO Jeff Gennette said. – Read More on Bloomberg
1. China’s Pinduoduo to Enter US Market in First International Step: The Shanghai-based company is looking for new growth avenues at a time when its domestic economy is sputtering, and will follow in the footsteps of successful international ventures like Shein and AliExpress. – Read More on Bloomberg
2. E-Commerce revenue to shrink for the first time ever: Supply chain issues is the largest single weakening factor, with inflation also playing a significant part in the downwards revision. The widely expected global recession and subsequent increases in unemployment leave the e-commerce sector significant hurdles to overcome. – Read More on WeForum
3. TikTok turns Costco into a fashion magnet: “I think a lot of people are just really interested in the affordability, the convenience and then kind of taking part of this hype, which is kind of a very interesting phenomenon for Costco.” – Read More on Retail Wire
4. TikTok finds e-commerce success in Southeast Asia as political scrutiny and workplace woes weigh in the West: The SE Asia market has become a key focus as TikTok faces renewed scrutiny of its data privacy policies and as it struggles with retail programs in major Western economies. – Read More on SCMP
5. H&M Aims to Reduce Emissions and Grow Sales—All at Once: Since 2013, it has been collecting customers’ used garments in stores for resale or recycling, but executives say they can’t determine what percentage of those goods has been turned into new clothing. – Read More on the WSJ
1. Gulf e-commerce company Noon to buy fashion venture Namshi: Dubai’s Emaar Properties said it is selling fashion e-commerce venture Namshi to Noon, an e-commerce company backed by Dubai billionaire Mohamed Alabbar and Saudi Arabian sovereign fund the Public Investment Fund. – Read More on Reuters
2. Retailers Stumble Adjusting to More Selective Shoppers: Stores are responding by pushing more discounts and highlighting private-label brand to shoppers, and, in some cases, canceling billions of dollars’ worth of orders with vendors. – Read More on the New York Times
3. How e-commerce brands can outlast this market downturn: The DTC playbook was written during a period when customer acquisition was relatively cheap – but that customers left brands with an unsustainable over-reliance on growth. – Read More on TechCrunch
4. Metaverse jobs are disappearing as hiring slows at Google, Facebook: While full-time metaverse jobs have become more scarce, the number of freelance gigs for related services has risen, a study found. – Read More on SCMP
5. Gen Z poses a problem for the luxury industry: Execs are troubled by a hit to young Chinese shoppers, not only because mainland China has been a major driver of the industry’s growth in recent years, but also because high end consumers in the world’s second-largest economy are a decade younger than the global average of 38. – Read More on Reuters