Future Marketplaces, RIP American Apparel, Escape Economy, Netflix Production Speed, Upcycled Businesses, What a Croc!, Personalized Luxury, Instagram Tip$
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The future of marketplaces: coordination, capital, and creativity
Airbnb and Doordash ripped to a collective market cap well over $100B. They're also two more data points in a long trend toward marketplaces with higher commissions and that do more work to earn those commissions. This post explores what this means for the future of marketplaces and why in many cases the marketplace model will go extinct altogether.
But with access to much more data about what actually sells, Faire is able to do something the reps can’t: underwrite the transaction for the buyer, offering net terms and free returns every time a retailer orders from a new brand.
It is only a matter of time before marketplaces in all industries figure out how to solve coordination problems like price discovery, matching, and the vetting and feedback mechanisms required to establish trust.
What ever happened to American Apparel? | Glossy
What’s left behind is just a shadow of the brand American Apparel used to be, and what a generation of shoppers may view as a copy of itself.
Meanwhile, additional playerslike Royal Apparel, Bella + Canvas and American Giant have entered the American-made T-shirt scene, putting less pressure on firms like Gildan to maintain levels of U.S. production that aren’t as profitable as offshore options.
When trade policy and cheap overseas labor drove most of the United States’ apparel industry offshore in the 1980s and ’90s, low prices made it easier for consumers to accept the labels that showed the origins of their garments: Hong Kong, China and, more recently, Bangladesh and India.
The Hollywood Escape Economy Is Just Around the Corner
"The bulk of our free time on the other side will be spent right where our lockdowns began—on a sofa in front of a screen."
Millennials and Gen Z, diverse and woke, are the Bernie Sanders–AOC spoilers, forcing a reckoning with uncomfortable truths: Pretty Woman romanticizes sex trafficking; Indiana Jones employs racist stereotypes.
Hollywood recently erupted in outrage when WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar announced he would be putting the studio’s biggest tentpoles concurrently in theaters and on its own HBO Max, breaking the tradition of “windowing”—where movies first get a theatrical run.
Netflix promises at least one new movie every week in 2021
70 new movies from A-list directors and starring some of Hollywood’s finest will hit Netflix in 2021.
The theatrical landscape remains shaky , and Netflix is in a prime position to purchase films that studios like Universal or Paramount may sell.
Executives hope that some of those films, including Dune , The Suicide Squad , and The Matrix 4 , will bring in HBO Max subscribers — and in doing so, take some of the attention away from Netflix.
TV series demand across all television platforms for the U.S. (3 - 9 January, 2021)
For the first full week of 2021, January 3 – 9, Cobra Kai crane kicked The Mandalorian out of the top spot to become the most in-demand show in the US.
Among digital originals, Cobra Kai saw the greatest change in demand as it surged into the top spot, knocking The Mandalorian down a place.
Patagonia has had enormous success with upcycled clothing. Could other brands follow?
Patagonia has been steadily growing its upcycling business, creating pieces that often sell out. Apparel supply chains are designed to maximize efficiency: Brands create a single style, pick the fabric they want, then churn out identical pieces on a factory line.
Kremer says Patagonia spends much more on the cost of labor for these garments, each of which takes several hours to make, but at the same time, the company doesn’t pay for raw materials.
Crocs shares soar on raised sales outlook through 2021
Crocs said it expects 2020 sales to grow more than 12% to a record of roughly $1.38 billion, up from a previous range calling for 5% to 7% growth.
Crocs shares soared Monday after the retailer raised its outlook for the fourth quarter, and said it expects sales in 2021 to accelerate as much as 25%, building on the brand's momentum during the holidays.
Crocs, once shunned by the fashion industry, has dropped limited collaborations with celebrities ranging from Justin Bieber to Post Malone in recent years, boosting the rubber shoe's clout globally.
How personalization is transforming the luxury industry
“It’s a way for me to keep an intimate connection with my clients and to have direct feedback on how they perceive my work.” In the same article, Thomas Chauvet, an analyst at the US investment bank Citi stated that “The return to some degree of product personalisation in luxury is an astute way for brands to offer additional customisation services to a more discerning clientele while continuing to grow overall volumes, particularly in entry-level categories.”
Experiential luxury is expanding the boundaries of the discourse on, of, and around the brand: a type of reflection that is gaining ground is the overlap between personalization and lifestyle, including no longer and not only cosmetic and purely exterior aspects but broader aesthetic experiences , such as artistic ones or emotional investment on social issues .