1. Hong Kong Retail Sales Plunge Again in March on Virus Curbs: Hong Kong’s retail sales plummeted 13.8% in March, the first back-to-back contraction in more than a year as stringent virus restrictions weighed heavily on the economy and crushed consumer spending. – Read More on Bloomberg
2. Inside Shein’s Sudden Rise: In a recent 12-month period, the Gap listed roughly 12,000 different items on its website, H&M had about 25,000, and Zara had some 35,000. Shein, in that period, had 1.3 million. (Every day, Shein updates its website with, on average, 6,000 new styles.) – Read More on Wired
3. EBay and Etsy drop on weak guidance as e-commerce crunch continues: Etsy and eBay reported better-than-expected first-quarter results, but the companies gave weak guidance for the current quarter that suggests the e-commerce sector is cooling off after a pandemic-fueled boost. – Read more on CNBC
4. Zalando posts first decline in sales since founding: “The main issue is that people just aren’t into buying fashion,” said co-Chief Executive Officer Robert Gentz with a view to high inflation and the war in Ukraine. – Read More on Reuters
5. The case for circular fashion: Why retail needs an urgent reckoning. If we don’t curb fashion industry waste, mountains of clothing and accessories will continue to pollute the environment and end up in landfills. – Read More on Fast Co.
6. Crypto Is a Luxury Good: Other examples abound, some companies are building in the metaverse and minting branded NFTs. The play, though perhaps risky, is that crypto has made a lot of people very wealthy, and the crypto rich may be inclined to patronize businesses that affirm the industry. – Read More on Coin Desk