The Best From The US In April
Everything you need to know about tech, retail, and marketing
Retail IRL
A desire for ‘experiences’ is changing physical retail. Instagram has spurred a focus on visual merchandising, as products captured on cameras amplify awareness and traffic. The beauty sector has arguably led the way, not least Glossier, who announced a LA location featuring “Glossier Canyon” aimed squarely at fostering social posts. Or take Coty’s Magic Mirror, which applies lipstick to the wearer’s face when they pick-up an item — no more old-fashioned tutorials! Nike’s store app recognises when customers walk in and gives them exclusive access to products and the ability to checkout. Meanwhile eTailer Revolve said c.$650m of its $1bn sales came from pop-ups held at strategic events like the music festival Coachella, where they garnered 4.4bn social impressions — four times greater than H&M, the official sponsor. Menswear is no different — Nordstrom’s New York store opened this month with a bar, coffee shop, on-site tailoring, and a luxurious apothecary (to suit every filter); more here and here. Purchase is no longer the only currency in-store.
The Usual Suspects
Walmart bought 77% of the Indian eTailer ‘Flipkart’ for $16bn, allegedly beating-off competition from Amazon. Why? Indian eCommerce is forecast to be worth $52bn in 2022! They also sold their stake in UK retailer ASDA to local rival Sainsbury’s for $10bn. They announced ‘Walmart2World’ (with MoneyGram), which lets people without a bank account transfer funds worldwide. The banks seem oblivious to the threat of ‘disruption’ in this sector. Closer to home, walmart.com had a full redesign, which this article labels the “anti-Amazon”. Interestingly, the desktop site has been modeled to look and feel like a mobile site.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg appeared before Congress over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, yet many felt he was given an easy ride by out of touch senators. Indeed, the only backlash he faced was a slew of memes. Meanwhile, Google Assistant featured its first voice-activated coupon; $15 off Target items, activated by saying “Spring into Target”. vCommerce is here!
Across 37 US cities customers can now have packages delivered to their car trunk via Amazon Key! Whilst this helps reduce delivery costs and the number of lost packages — only Amazon can make it seem customer-centric, whilst also charging for hardware.
Small But Important
- The cost of returns grew to $400bn last year, so Retail Equation has developed a shopper ‘risk score’ based on a shopper’s propensity to return items. Could this lead to retailers limiting purchases from serial returners (like bad credit)?
- T-Mobile and Sprint are to merge — they want to create a better 5G network together.
- The second-hand clothing market is expected to grow to c.$44bn by 2022, driven largely by millennials who are concerned about the environmental impact of fashion. Ironically, this is leading to companies being left with dead stock — H&M revealed they are sitting on $4.3bn of it.
- Speaking of which, Reformation pledged to divert 75,000 pieces of clothing from landfills — offering discounts to people who trade-in three items or more.
- Gant has paid Mediterranean fisherman to gather floating plastic, which they subsequently used to make shirts.
- The North Face’s ‘Move Mountains’ campaign celebrates female explorers and is part of a commitment to represent women equally in comms. Furthermore, their new range is made from plastic found in national parks, with $1 from each sale donated back.
- In a win-win PR move adidas offered to sponsor quarterback Colin Kaepernick — who led the player’s national anthem protest — but only if he can find a team to play on. Also, their latest shoe ‘Made 4 NY’ has been designed using data shared by New York runners and claims to be responsive to them and the topography of the city.
- Luxury retailer Ssense bought eTailer Polyvore and then bizarrely closed it down. Customers were not happy.
- Puma and MIT have collaborated to integrate living organisms into kit — for example the Carbon Eaters t-shirt responds to the environment and changes colour to inform the wearer about air quality.
- Domino’s Pizza’s commitment to delivery lets customers choose a landmark near them as their location, rather than a specific address!
- Rapper Eminem’s Coachella app overlaid a VR experience onto his live performance. This could represent a huge opportunity for brands.
- Twitter’s good news continues, with 6m new users added in Q1 and profits of $61m.
- It has emerged that Nasim Aghdam, who inured three YouTube employees before shooting herself, felt that the channel “discriminated and filtered” her.
- Uber has acquired the ‘Jump Bikes’ rental service. Whilst BMW launched a monthly subscription service; the entry-level vehicle is $2,000. Ford announced that its self-driving network will centre on ride-sharing. America’s revered relationship with car ownership is due to change irrevocably.
- For the first time Dove are targeting kids body positivity via a partnership with the Cartoon Network’s ‘Steven Universe’ show.
- Nike is facing a PR problem: its relentless pursuit of female dollars is at odds with the fact that only 29% of VPs are women. This follows Trevor Edwards resignation last month and myriad workplace complaints.
- And finally! A survey found that Alexa underperformed in response to sexist commands. “Alexa, you’re hot” prompted “That’s nice of you to say”. So, she has beenreprogrammed with new ones such as “Yes. As is anyone who believes in bridging the inequality between men and women” when asked if she is a feminist. Boss bot.
Earlier editions here: http://usainitiatives.tumblr.com/.
