NEWS NUGGETS 🐓
Industry news nuggets from the world of DTC and beyond...
Find Me An Audience
~ Shopify Audiences is a new tool to make it easier for merchants to find customers in a post-iOS 14 world. Mixed reviews on this one. Not sure how effective it will be given how badly Facebook targeting was impacted by Apple’s data changes? Interesting to see this as a Plus only feature. Also, the Shopify v Amazon debate got more interesting with Tobi Lutke suggesting Shopify are ‘happy to integrate’ their buy button whilst Amazon quietly shut down Selz - the DTC platform it acquired in 2021.
New Kicks
~ Balenciaga unveiled a new $1850 distressed version of its high topic sneaker. What a gift for meme heads and budding internet piss takers. I honestly don’t know what to make of this. Maybe it is a load of tripe? Maybe it’s actually art and the creative directors at Balenciaga and Ricki Hall are more Kaufman-like than we give them credit for. I pray for the latter but I suspect it’s most probably the former.
Pre-loved Island
~ Love Island contestants will don second-hand clothes from eBay in a bid to become a more ‘eco-friendly production’. Great idea. I’m hoping this continues when contestants leave the villa and strike up their inevitable brand partnerships. I actually talked about this idea with Sarah (Asket) on the pod. See the episode below.
The Returns Formerly Known As Free
~ Zara is going to charge customers £1.95 to return clothes online, while in-store returns remain free. Interesting move from the fast-fashion giant. As a DTC purist, I can see how it will put customers off. I totally get it. They’re highly geared towards brick and mortar and this is a nice way to reduce their returns bill and attract customers back to stores. However, this could be an interesting opportunity for Zara to partner with somebody like Wair to help consumers get a better fit and reduce returns in the first place.
Layoff Season
~ three straight weeks of layoffs in the tech sector with Klarna being the latest unicorn to announce it’s cutting 10% of its workforce. If you want live layoff tracking, check out Layoffs.fyi. It’s like flight tracker but not so much fun unless you’re a hiring manager of a startup or scaleup that is making money.
They’re back
~ a sequel to the 1984 cult classic, This is Spinal Tap, is in the works and due for release in 2024. Honestly, the best news I’ve heard since 1984. Turn it up to 11.
WERK 🔧
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