Daily LInks
1. A flood of unknown products is making online shopping impossible: On Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, Google and Walmart, between the reputable products and the counterfeits is a sea of mysterious companies selling goods of unknown origin and quality. – Read More on Washington Post
2. RELATED READ: In an Already-Crowded Trademark Landscape, Amazon Sellers Are Changing Game. These brands are actively “challenging what it means to be a brand.” The branding of these “commodity goods, or types of products where shoppers don’t have much brand loyalty in the first place” is not necessarily important, certainly not in the way a cult skincare brand’s name is or the way a goodwill-soaked luxury logo is. – Read More on TFL
3. French Connection agrees $40 mln sale; chairman to retire: French Connection, the provocative UK fashion brand known for its “FCUK” branding, said on Monday it has agreed to sell itself for 29 million pounds ($39.3 million) after years of losses only made worse during the coronavirus pandemic. – Read More on Reuters
4. How to Build a Transparent Relationship with Your Suppliers: To minimize and mitigate supply chain risks, companies need to engage their suppliers as partners. This means creating transparent relationships in which suppliers can share negative information without fear of being punished. – Read More on HBR
5. What Does Today’s E-Commerce Customer Really Care About? Build a line of communication and keep it open. You’re creating an additional channel to remarket to and engage with customers. Maybe you’ll inspire more loyalty with a specific person. Either way, you’re running an operation that you would like to shop at. – Read More on Forbes
1. Fashion is changing thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, starting with fashion weeks: Physical events with physical audiences will continue – but they must offer more. Expect catwalk shows tailored for social media and an emphasis on experiences. – Read More on SCMP
2. As Selling Luxury in China Gets Tougher, Buy American: Some brands are in better shape in the U.S. today, though, giving them a hedge if China slows. LVMH is particularly balanced, generating 28% of total sales from American shoppers, according to Bernstein estimates, versus 27% from the Chinese. – Read More on the WSJ
3. The luxury authenticators who keep fakes out of buyers’ hands: Spending on second-hand luxury goods climbed from £20bn in 2017 to £28bn in 2020, and with it has come a stream of fakes. Human authenticators are expensive, and tech-powered solutions designed to improve — and perhaps ultimately replace them — continue to evolve. – Read More on the FT
4. Amid supply chain snarls, retailers pitch early holiday shopping: Americans are expected to spend about $1.3 trillion this holiday season, a 7% to 9% increase over last year, according to Deloitte. – Read More on Reuters
5. E-commerce Goes Multiverse: Social commerce, the process of integrating the shopping experience directly into social media channels (not just displaying ads) is expected to rise by 35% in 2021 to $36 billion. This follows similar growth in 2020, surpassing previous projections. – Read More on Payments Journal
6. Coupang Should Be on Your Watch List: The company is dominating the e-commerce market in South Korea and is using its platform to kickstart other successful business lines. – Read More on Motley Fool
1. H&M, Boohoo Warn on Supplies as Business Faces Christmas Crunch: Supply chain snags are hobbling European businesses as rising shipping costs, a growing energy crisis and acute trucker shortages in Britain threaten their ability to meet surging demand heading into the peak shopping season. – Read More on Bloomberg
2. Social Commerce Is Retail’s New Inventory Headache: The rise of social commerce is presenting some challenges for brands. One of the most prevalent issues is keeping track of inventory, pricing and shipping across the myriad shops and social marketplaces where products are sold. – Read More on PYMNTS
3. RELATED READ: Brands Are Reaping Rewards, Facing Risks Due to the Rise of the Nearly $500 Billion Social Commerce Market. Consumers routinely find social media to be highly influential in their buying decisions, with 44 percent of social shoppers saying that they had made three or more online purchases in the past month after seeing social media posts or ads. – Read More on TFL
4. Fast fashion boom is about to come to a juddering halt: With much of the clothing still arriving in giant cargo containers from the far east, it is no exaggeration to say that the entire business model upon which its success has been built suddenly looks very shaky. – Read More on the Telegraph
5. How global supply chains are falling out of fashion: Fashion brands like Benetton are increasingly turning away from globe-spanning supply chains and low-cost manufacturing hubs in Asia, in a shift that could prove a lasting legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic. – Read More on Reuters
6. TikTok partners with Square to expand social e-commerce: Using a product called Square x TikTok, merchants can send customers directly to their online stores from videos, advertisements or shopping tabs. The collaboration includes a feature that allows commercial users of TikTok For Business to set up a customizable Square online store for free. – Read More on American Banker
1. Inflation Is Seen Pushing Online Holiday Sales to $1.2 Trillion: Apparel and luxury items are expected to make a comeback as customers return to the office and social gatherings. The ability of brick-and-mortar stores to lure in shoppers will also play a role in online sales as more companies offer options such as in-store pickup for online purchases. – Read More on Bloomberg
2. Cybersecurity investments set to grow as threat landscape heightens: “I think organizations are going to realize that they need to invest a relatively larger portion of their IT budgets on cybersecurity,” said Erik Suppiger, an equity research analyst covering IT infrastructure and cybersecurity at JMP Securities. “In terms of the spending cycle, I think we’re still early.” – Read More on S&P Global
3. Speaking of cybersecurity … Here are 4 Cybersecurity Strategies for Small and Midsize Businesses: Small and midsize businesses aren’t immune to cyber threats. They must research and prepare for attacks just as large enterprises would. Unfortunately, smaller companies typically have fewer resources and less talent available to help fortify against attacks. – Read More on HBR
4. Passports for products as well as people – enhancing trust through technology: Product passports are a straightforward way to verify the origin of a product and the ESG practices of the manufacturer. Not only does this allow consumers to verify where a product comes from and its sustainability but also allows regulators to confirm compliance with a raft of legal requirements relating to the product’s conformity and safety. – Read More on Finextra
5. RELATED READ: From Royalties to Resale Restrictions, What Would Tying NFTs to Luxury Goods Look Like? The ability to tie NFTs to physical objects in order to track a product’s lifecycle is also enticing from a secondary market perspective. Early NFT-adopter Arianee, for one, is aiming to aid in a more seamless resale market by way of its “NFT digital passports for luxury goods,” which go so far as to digitize service history and repairs. – Read More on TFL
6. Guess? Benefits from Sturdy Demand, E-commerce Wing: Guess? has been gaining from sales growth across most regions, as demand conditions improve across stores. Such upsides aided the company’s top-line during second-quarter fiscal 2022. The company is also gaining from growth in digital sales. Its efforts to boost brands and customers’ shopping experience are yielding.– Read More on Nasdaq
1. Top-Performing Global Luxury Stock Seen Cooling After 680% Gain: Shares of Australian luxury e-commerce firm Cettire – which buys wholesale high-end goods like hand bags and heels from Europe and resells them at a big discount to shoppers in the U.S., Australia and elsewhere – could cool on supply concerns and as global lockdowns end, analysts said. – Read More on Bloomberg
2. Luxury Brands Seek New Consumer Connections as End of Pandemic Remains Elusive: The M.Gemi-Peroni partnership presents an opportunity for both brands to reach consumers who may not otherwise consider making a purchase and follows a growing number of luxury brands trying to capitalize on the connection between luxury and alcohol. – Read More on PYMNTS
3. As resale booms, eBay is doubling down on refurbished and recycled products: “There has been an explosion of interest in re-commerce, refurbished and end of life products,” Lambell said during a keynote at the Financial Times’ Future of Retail event on Thursday. – Read More on Modern Retail
4. RELATED READ: Here’s the problem … A number of lawsuits demonstrate that the practice of modifying – or potentially even just refurbishing products – and then selling them without the original brand owner’s approval and/or without sufficiently communicating such changes to consumers can give rise to legal complications. – Read More on TFL
5. The Challenges of Automation in the Legacy Fashion Industry: While the fashion industry can benefit significantly from adopting 3D design and automation technologies that can help creatives design clothing in real-time and give buyers the ability to order the perfect fit, many fashion brands are still struggling with adopting technology and automation at scale. – Read More on Entrepreneur
6. Chanel Nails Sustainable Perfume Cap After Two Years, 48 Tries: The fashion house behind Chanel No. 5 spent two years developing a sustainable cap for perfume bottles with Finland’s Sulapac Oy, tossing out 47 prototypes before it was satisfied. The result: a biodegradable cap made of 91% plant-based materials with a sleek black look and satiny feel. – Read More on Bloomberg
1. Hong Kong luxury Swiss watch sales face an uncertain future: Visitor numbers from mainland China to Hong Kong were hit by 2019 anti-government protests and brought to a halt by COVID. Now luxury-watch market experts are split over whether stores’ biggest customers, high-spending tourists from the mainland, will ever return in the same numbers – Read More on SCMP
2. A Crypto Insider’s Views on Why NFTs are Hot and Here to Stay: Ether Capital’s Brian Mosoff discusses crypto use cases, regulation and the explosion of NFTs in an environment where everyone’s searching for scarcity. – Hear More on Bloomberg
3. How Shapewear Went from Underwear to High Fashion: Thanks in no small part to Skims, the juggernaut of a shapewear company valued at $1.6 billion that Kim Kardashian West launched in 2019, shapewear has become incredibly popular as actual clothing. Shapewear brands, as a whole, generated over $500 million in sales globally in 2019. – Read More on the WSJ
4. Retailers bid farewell to layaway, as shoppers embrace buy now, pay later options: In years past, early bird shoppers may have turned to layaway plans to reserve holiday gifts and pay for the purchases over time. But retailers have scaled these options back, and embraced BNPL options offered by companies like Affirm, Afterpay and Klarna. – Read More on CNBC
5. Luxury consumer brand advertising on LinkedIn is growing to be “much larger than expected.” Today, consumer brands now account for approximately 15% of ad dollars spent on LinkedIn, per the company, and luxury – including automotive, fashion, finance, technology and travel – is leading the way. – Read More on the Drum
6. Retail Leaders Warn California Law Could Increase Supply Chain Headaches: A new law signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week could exacerbate the current supply chain challenges plaguing the U.S. and the world, several retail industry groups say, warning that the legislation is “duplicative and overbroad.” – Read More on PYMNTS
1. China Wields New Legal Weapon to Fight Claims of IP Theft: In four major cases since 2020, Chinese courts granted so-called anti-suit injunctions blocking foreign companies from taking legal action anywhere in the world to protect their trade secrets. Three of the rulings were in favor of Chinese telecom companies—Huawei Technologies Co., Xiaomi Inc. and BBK Electronics. – Read More on the WSJ
2. Everyone wants to be an influencer: Takumi, a premier influencer marketing agency, received twice as many applications from people looking for representation in 2020 than it did in 2019. And year-to-date, it’s grown another 150-200%, Takumi group CEO Mary Keane-Dawson said. – Read More on Axios
3. What Would a Truly Circular Fashion Industry Actually Look Like? One of the main issues is that discussions around circularity are usually limited to one piece of the jigsaw, whether that’s resale, renting, or using recycled materials. Just having a take-back scheme doesn’t mean you’re suddenly operating on a circular model – in fact, data suggests that less than one per cent of clothing is currently recycled into new clothes. – Read More on British Vogue
4. On Sustainability: The Watch Industry’s Scorecard. Responsible sourcing of raw materials is indeed the most urgent topic that needs to be addressed by the watch and jewelry sector. Especially because the raw materials are often mined under difficult conditions that turn biodiversity-rich rain forests into moonscapes, and are often associated with human rights violations. – Read More on the New York Times
5. Designers Try Selling Clothes First, Making Them Later: “The industry has to change,” said Lawrence Lenihan, the chairman and co-founder of Resonance, which has raised $45 million since its 2015 launch. “Brands can’t be stuck making decisions 12 months in advance.” – Read More on the WSJ
1. Is Live-Stream Shopping the Future of Retail? Live-stream shopping has yet to significantly take hold in America as it has in countries like China, where smart-phone-based live-stream apps are a popular mode of purchasing. In 2020, Taobao Live, the live-shopping experience that China’s Alibaba launched in 2016, reported a gross merchandise volume (total revenue before fees) of $61.7 billion. – Read More on the WSJ
2. RELATED READ: Livestream Lawsuits Are Landing in Court in China, as Streaming-Induced Sales Continue to Grow. In what is being called a first-of-its-kind case, a Chinese livestream platform has been given similar treatment as a traditional e-commerce site in connection with a trademark squabble between two Chinese brands. – Read More on TFL
3. How AI is Changing Retail Marketing: marketers must take a proactive role by building strategies based on supply chain predictions. With a supply chain management system, business leaders can make accurate forecasts and anticipate demand, and marketers can use this data to inform their strategies. – Read More on Newsweek
4. Christmas Rush? You’re Already Too Late. Retailers Need to Plan Now for 2022: If the strains of 2021 should teach founders anything, it’s that logistics and supply chain can be a competitive advantage, with retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Dick’s Sporting Goods having turned their supply chains and large brick-and-mortar presence into a competitive advantage. – Read More on Inc.
5. Luxury group Kering to ditch fur completely: Four years after its star label Gucci announced it would forego fur, France’s Kering will stop using animal furs in all its collections, joining a growing list of luxury fashion houses to respond to customer demands for ethical and sustainable clothing and accessories. – Read More on Reuters
6. Are gig worker complaints a retail problem? The longstanding debate over employment status of gig workers has been taking place globally. Gig economy companies assert that reclassifying workers as employees would add expenses, cost jobs and reduce the flexibility that their workers prize. Labor activists counter that gig companies are shifting business risk to precarious workers without other employment opportunities. – Read More on Retail Wire
1. Louis Vuitton’s CEO talks resale: Michael Burke says the rise of the sharing economy that extends its bags’ lifespan helps. And while China hasn’t embraced sustainability the same way, it will catch up, he says. – Read More on SCMP
2. RELATED READ: China’s Luxury Resale Segment is Expected to Grow into a $154 Billion Market. “Explosive” growth is on the horizon for pre-owned luxury products. This is only bolstered by the fact that the majority of Chinese consumers are keeping their luxury products for just one to three years, Kering revealed in its 2021 environmental impact report. – Read More on TFL
3. China’s millennials embrace local brands as fast fashion giants like H&M face changing tastes: National pride and skepticism about fast fashion is fueling a growing appetite among young Chinese to buy domestic brands. Chinese labels are big winners from the trend, while international firms like H&M are finding themselves on the wrong side of it. – Read More on SCMP
4. French luxury group LVMH seeks 25,000 young staff in recruitment drive: The European luxury sector has seen a fast pace of growth in recent months, as stores reopened following lockdown periods and consumers drew on money saved during periods of confinement to splash out on pricey goods. – Read More on Reuters
5. 70% of Consumers Say Addressing Climate Change is a Key Issue, Fueling Resale Growth: “What used to seem like a cheap, cheerful, fun little trendy purchase, people are starting to see actually comes at a pretty high cost environmentally and needs to be rethought.” – Read More on PYMNTS
6. Inside Amazon’s Department Store Plans: High-Tech Dressing Rooms, Its Own Apparel Brands. The retailer has attempted to build out its fashion business by giving customers more options on how and where to buy. It has had a tougher time, though, scaling the high-end fashion business, with few luxury brands selling on its website. – Read More on the WSJ
1. Apple and Target retail guru Ron Johnson: Commerce at home will change the way we shop. As we start to look beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear to me that the way we shop will never be the same. A recent survey found that 75% of U.S. consumers have tried new shopping behaviors during the pandemic. This heralds a sea change for the retail sector. – Read More on Fortune
2. Luxury Retail Evolution Requires Seamless Blending of Digital and Physical: Digital is expected to become the main channel for luxury purchases by 2025. Therefore, it is not surprising that physical stores are shifting from transactional to experiential. – Read More on Chain Store Age
3. China’s Secondhand Business Is Booming: Instead of spending at the mall, shoppers are increasingly buying and selling the secondhand stuff piling up in their closets and drawers. In the first half of 2021, about 202 million users bought and sold secondhand goods via China’s online platforms, up from 183 million for all of last year. – Read More on Bloomberg
4. U.S. retail industry seeks 90-day lead time on COVID-19 rules: The Retail Industry Leaders Association and the National Retail Federation strongly encouraged OSHA “to provide a 90-day implementation timeline to allow retailers and other employers to create the systems necessary.” – Read More on Reuters
5. RELATED READ: Brands Face Legal, Logistical Questions and Potential PR Impacts in Light of Biden Vaccine Mandate. A survey revealed that roughly 1 in 3 consumers (34 percent) would be “more likely to buy products from companies that adhere to Biden’s plan, compared with 12 percent who said they would be less likely to purchase from those businesses.” – Read More on TFL