NEWS NUGGETS š
Industry news nuggets from the world of DTC and beyond...
Creators Unite
The team behind Parade World have just launched the worldās first marketplace for creators - Moetic. These guys have a pretty serious pedigree when it comes to marketplaces so itās super cool to see them apply this to the creator economy (currently worth $104.2 billion and growing) and take on the likes of TikTokās seller programme.
High Zalando
The big dog German e-tailer, Zalando, has taken a majority stake in Highsnobiety. The business reasoning seems to be that Highsnobiety will make Zalando cooler by offering ācultural relevance and insightā consulting services, whilst Zalandoās eComm/tech muscle will help Highsnobiety scale. Iām intrigued to see how this will play out. I get the commercial logic above, but I reckon Highsnobiety will need to tread pretty carefully in order to maintain their authenticity USP and therefore customer base.
Another One Bites The Dust
Rapid delivery startup, Jokr, has announced it is winding down its US operations. They join a pretty sizable list of similar businesses that have either scaled back, gone out of business or have been acquired - see Getir, Weezy, GoPuff, Gorillas etc.
Iāve been super intrigued by the explosion of on-demand grocery apps over the last two years. I totally get the use case for online and on-demand groceries. But 15 min groceries? That feels really hard to execute. Operationally, it must be incredibly challenging (especially in developed countries with high wages) and Iām not sold on the consumer need.
For more on this, check out this LinkdeIn thread.
Cryptoās Going Into Hibernation
A great post from The Pragmatic Engineer laying out the crypto state of play and associated layoffs. Itās getting chilly š„¶
The Coinbase announcement was particularly interesting as they rescinded a bunch of job offers even though they said they wouldnāt. This backtracking caused quite the LinkedIn stir, however - and I get it would suck if you were one of these people - wouldn't you rather avoid going down with the sinking ship? Also, Iām pretty sure the peeps that had their offers revoked are more than employable. So anyone impacted by Coinbaseās layoffs, enjoy the summer and check out the sick jobs below š
Total Recall
DTC vegan food brand, Daily Harvest, recalled their lentil and leek crumbles dish after multiple customers complained on social media of stomach issues. Maybe they should consider investing in a Chief Taste Consultant to QA products before theyāre shipped? š
ā¦in other food-related news. KFC in Australia are being forced to replace cabbage in their burgers due to lettuce shortages (this is a bloody outrage) and Londoners will now be able to enjoy a Heinz brekkie delivered straight to their door as the iconic baked bean brand teams up with Uber. š
Amazon AR
The eCommerce giant rolled out a new AR feature that lets users virtually try on shoes. However, the new tech doesnāt help with sizing. To be honest, Iām a little underwhelmed by this - and AR applications more broadly. Like, I get itās cool to try on shoes virtually or see what a sofa looks like in your living room but I fail to see how itās a game-changer, especially as it doesnāt help with sizing. It begs the question - what does it actually offer that great product photography, video and reviews (with UGC) on a product page doesnāt? Viva La PDPs šš
And finallyā¦
Hot off the press š„Ā - Shopify has just released Shopify Editions. This is pretty cool as it looks like a nice mash-up of their general how-to guides and the announcements one usually gets at their Unite Conference. I will likely come back to this in the next newsletter.
WERK š§
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