Peloton IPO Debut, Twitch Courts Non Gamers, Amazon Launches Athleisure, McKinsey Opens Retail Store, VR Fitness, MSFT Enters Fashion, Vitamin Shoppe Challenges Ritual
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Peloton Deepens IPO Slump With 11% Tumble in Trading Debut
The founder-led company was still able to raise more than $1.16 billion in its IPO, though. Peloton Interactive Inc. fell as much as 15% in its stock market debut Thursday, becoming the latest in a long list of unprofitable tech-oriented start-ups to flop.
Twitch Has the Gamers but Yearns for a Wider Audience (Like YouTube’s?)
The live-streaming platform, owned by Amazon, has more viewers than many cable channels. But a new ad campaign aims to show it’s good for more than video games.
Twitch faces intensifying competition from live-streaming services such as Mixer and Caffeine, a social broadcasting platform that received $100 million from 21st Century Fox last year and was part of the Walt Disney Company’s start-up accelerator program.
Live-streamed sports commentary on Twitch, which allows viewers to interact with the commentator, represents a shift away from traditional game broadcasts, said Anthony Danzi, the company’s senior vice president of sales, during a presentation at the Advertising Week conference in New York on Monday.
Amazon Fashion Teams With Puma on New Athleisure Brand
The accessibly priced collection was created using analysis of shopping habits on Amazon.
In recent years, the platform has launched services like Prime Wardrobe and private-label products in an attempt to bolster its fashion credentials and grow its apparel business.
Earlier this year, the platform launched The Drop, a new line of limited-edition, street style-inspired clothes designed by a rotating roster of social media influencers.
Retailers must turn stores into ‘anything engines’ – RetailWire
Through a special arrangement, what follows is an excerpt of an article from WayfinD, a quarterly e-magazine filled with insights, trends and predictions from the retail and foodservice experts at WD Partners.
Through a special arrangement, what follows is an excerpt of an articl e from WayfinD , a quarterly e-magazine filled with insights, trends and predictions from the retail and foodservice experts at WD Partners.
Their stores are referred to simply as Apple and the entire brand has evolved into a lifestyle: You can buy helmets that communicate with your iPhone and smart controllers for your lawn sprinklers.
McKinsey makes foray into retail by selling underwear at Mall of America
Ace management consulting firm is opening an experimental store at the country's biggest mall — first up: underwear
Rising rents, increasing labor costs and shrinking foot traffic have resulted in thousands of stores around the U.S. closing their doors this year, threatening the future of brick-and-mortar retail as many of us know it.
ThirdLove, a women's underwear company, will be among the brands whose wares McKinsey will showcase for the first phase of its experiment, which aims to collect data about how consumers move through stores and decide what to buy.
Why is ‘halal’ beauty’s latest buzzword?
“Halal is wider than ingredients and not using alcohol, it’s about using minimal packaging, things that are beneficial for your skin and not using any animal derivatives”– Soni Shah, founder and scientist, Halo Skincare
Just like how it’s been know that British Muslim restaurants do not openly advertise the serving of halal food due to being negatively stereotyped or being seen as lesser than, some beauty brands may not want to associate with Islam right now.
MAC Cosmetics targets gamers with TwitchCon sponsorship – Glossy
While MAC Cosmetics is the first beauty brand to exhibit at TwitchCon, it joins a number of brands across fashion and beauty that are finding opportunities to get involved with the gaming community.
In addition it will host meet-and-greets for two top female gamers, Imane Anys (who goes by the username Pokimane) and Kristen Michaela (who goes by KittyPlays), both of whom will also be livestreaming games at the booth.
Large activations like TwitchCon, experimental campaigns like TikTok and the year-round deployment of makeup artists for smaller events constitute roughly 25% of the brand’s marketing budget, he said.
The woman behind Microsoft’s fashion push - Vogue Business Talent
As director of global brand marketing partnerships, Loubser’s job is to help fashion companies take advantage of Microsoft’s products and services, which include mobile-first, cloud-based tools that support mixed reality, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things.
That’s why we took Ashwini Suhas Deshpande to Seattle and San Francisco to work with the engineers on her project Art-Z, which utilises AI and machine learning via Microsoft Azure cloud computing to reduce the fabric wasted at the pattern-cutting stage of garment creation.
Amazon’s Echo Frames are eyeglasses with Alexa
Amazon's Echo Frames is a pair of eyeglasses that can speak with AI assistant Alexa, and made its debut today alongside the Echo Loop smart ring.
Echo Frames come with no display or camera like you may expect from a pair of glasses meant to augment human activity, but includes directional microphones to talk to you, deliver notifications, and carry out actions like create a reminder, play music, or control smart home devices.
Echo Loop is activated when you press a button and comes with haptic vibration to notify you when you receive notifications or incoming calls.
VR Fitness Startup YUR Secures $1.1M Investment, Releases Calorie-counting Software for Quest
YUR, a VR fitness company, today announced it’s secured $1.1 million in pre-seed funding, something the company says will help them to further use VR to address what it considers a ‘worldwide epidemic of sedentary behavior’. The pre-seed investment round was led by The Venture Reality Fund and BoostVC. A San Francisco-based startup, YUR (pronounced “why …
Having launched its pilot program on PC VR earlier this year, YUR is now officially making its software available on Oculus Quest.
The company says that, in the future, not only do they want their software tell how a player is moving in games, but to one day be able to provide specific health and fitness recommendations via an AI assistant—of course, all of it in the name of fun.
What the NBA's influence on fashion says about men's shopping habits – Glossy
Athletes have always been style icons, but in the past year, fashion's hunger for basketball -- both the players and the looks inspired by them -- has blown up. Athletes have become valuable influencers for brands looking to target men at a time when menswear is on a meteoric rise.
“The growth of street style and athleisure have certainly been the most significant drivers behind the rising popularity of the basketball jersey,” said Krista Corrigan, retail analyst at Edited.
Lebron James, Kyrie Irving and Paul George, in addition to a who’s who of basketball’s elite players, all have variations of the shoes they play in developed with limited-edition versions for sale.
Dripping: Why the Water Industry Is Thirsty for Hypebeasts
Brands like Evian and Nalgene are teaming up with your favorite designers and rappers. What does it all mean? Nalgene, the OG purveyors of reusable water receptacles, was rolling out collaborative bottles with Bape , Travis Scott , and nü-hippie brand Online Ceramics. Jaden Smith launched a boxed water brand that recently partnered with the Soylent of shoes, Allbirds, to release a pair of sneakers.
The Rise of China’s Girl Boss — Luxury’s Newest Target
“Sometimes I do spot gender-neutral looks in Shanghai’s startup scene, but it is very rare.” Similarly, GirlUp’s Wu repeatedly pointed to the term “柔美róu měi,” which means “morbidezza” or a delicate, graceful beauty, as a way to describe the ideal appearance of Chinese girl bosses.
Vitamin Shoppe gives customers shot at subscription
The specialty health-and-wellness retailer is the latest chain to seek a boost from a subscription service.
Designed by medical experts, Only Me utilizes a detailed questionnaire about current health status and daily routines to curate a wellness plan for each individual.
Each plan is individually tailored to also include support for brain, mood, energy, sleep, immunity, digestive, aging, gender and maternal need states.