TECH

Pinterest Earns More AR Points

One year after bringing digital lipstick swatches to the masses via augmented reality (AR), Pinterest is back with a second shoppable testing tool for eyeshadow. 

Same purpose: For shoppers, it’s providing a safe space to relearn that fuchsia glitter belongs on Euphoria. For beauty brands, it’s building an interactive online shopping experience to secure more sales. 

• Pinterest users can test more than 4,000 eyeshadow shades from brands including Thrive Causemetics, Urban Decay, and bareMinerals. They can also coordinate eyeshadows with lipsticks from Pinterest’s catalog of 10,000 lip shades.
• If shoppers like what they test, they can directly purchase the item within the Pinterest app. 

Different reality: Last January, AR was an at-home complement to an in-store experience. Now, beauty counters are covered in plastic wrap. 

That altered how Pinterest approached its AR evolution, Jeremy King, SVP of Engineering at Pinterest, told Retail Brew. “As more retailers were bringing their products online and shoppers were in need of easily browsable shopping experiences that mirrored the discovery they could find in-store, we made improvements to catalog ingestion and product discovery,” King said.

• Pinterest also worked on the tech’s ability to recommend products for multiple skin tones and to detect faces wearing a mask.  

Results so far? Pinterest users try an average of six lipstick shades once they’re in AR mode—and they’re 5x more likely to show purchase intent after using the tools. Between March and September, Pinterest users interacting with shopping tools had increased more than 85%.

Swatches to watch 

Tech companies want to make AR shopping happen more than they want to clone TikTok. L’Oréal has released digital try-on tools across Snapchat and Instagram, and Google launched an AR search function for beauty products.  

But there’s a discovery delay: According to an October Bizrates Insights and eMarketer study, only 1% of US adults tap AR to help them make a purchase. 

Unrealized potential: The pandemic provided the use-case, but it hasn’t determined whether shiny AR tech will have a lasting impact on online shopping—yet. 

“[I]t’s likely shoppers will never try makeup on in a store again,” King told Retail Brew. “Brands are experimenting with ways to reimagine online shopping while people can’t go in store, and those learnings and advancements will carry on even after quarantine ends.” 

APPAREL

Bike Shorts for Everyone

On a quest to reach $2 billion in sales, Athleta’s expanding its activewear assortment to more customers. 

• 70% of Athleta’s spring collection will be offered in extended sizing (1X–3X), a range that’ll increase from 350+ products now to 500+ by March.
• All product categories will include extended sizes by 2022. 

The context: Athleta’s keeping up with the competition as much as it’s earning Instagram likes. Even brands that historically shunned body differences—aka Lululemon—have expanded their size ranges in the past year. 

The difference: Athleta’s inclusivity plans are incorporated in the store experience, allowing it to avoid the controversies other brands have faced when extended sizes are online only. 

• All 200 Athleta stores are incorporating mannequins that represent different body types. 
• Products in the expanded size range won’t be merchandised in a separate “plus” section.
• Store employees will receive special training to serve customers of all sizes. 

My takeaway: Now that inclusive sizing is table stakes for activewear’s most popular brands, discerning customers are searching for services and merchandising that match retailers’ inclusive marketing. 

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GROCERY

Subway, Eat Franchises

Subway’s sandwich artists are hard at work on an initiative that should go down better than a pile of cold cuts: partnering with Broad Street Licensing Group to bring branded Subway items to grocery stores.

The details: Potential Subway licensing deals could span “food and lifestyle items,” the companies said. Whether food items will legally qualify as bread will depend on the retailers involved.

Why it matters: Most grocers’ deli sections already have DIY $5 footlong stations. But Subway, like other chain restaurants low on drive-thrus, is trying new menu items to endure the pandemic.

• When foot traffic dipped last year, Subway began selling sandwich ingredients through a grocery service. The program’s expanded to 1,500 locations from 250 since April. 
• Panera also added a grocery service to make up for lost traffic.

Pre-made sandwiches in busy grocery stores, or gimmicky brand merch, could assist a Subway rebound. Reports surfaced last week that 2,400 Subway restaurants, or 10% of its fleet, closed in 2020. 

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Target will spend $200 million on a new round of bonuses for store workers.
• Boohoo acquired Debenhams, a struggling UK department store chain. 
• Asos is the frontrunner to acquire Topshop from Arcadia Group.
• Levi’s is aggressively expanding its wholesale presence. 
• Costco had its biggest sales year ever in 2020.
• Nike is testing a new small format store concept in Oregon.

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HOT TOPIC

At the mall, it’s where band tees are the only tees. At Retail Brew, it’s where we ask readers to weigh in on a trending topic. 

In the time since we last wrote about retailers’ vaccination efforts, even more companies have gotten involved in the inoculation effort. A sample:

• Chobani will compensate workers who receive a Covid-19 vaccine.
• Amazon offered the Biden administration its logistics network for distribution. 

The fine print: No retailer has yet required its employees to get vaccinated (to our knowledge). Do you think more brands should join the incentivization effort? Cast your vote here.

SWAPPING SKUS

Be it a one-shelf merchandising play or a larger store-in-store concept, partnerships can be crucial to a brand’s growth. Here are the latest reads on retailers helping other retailers help themselves.

• This tactical conversation between Brightland founder Aishwarya Iyer and Whole Foods CEO John Mackey is essential for any CPG brand jonesing for shelf space in a national retailer. (Inc.)
• We won’t really know what the Kohl’s x Sephora experience is like until the first 200 stores-in-stores open later this year. But Kohl’s CEO Michelle Gass unpacked some of the strategy behind the partnership in a new interview. (Businessweek)

ICYMI

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• The Most Overlooked and Overhyped Retail Trends of 2020
• Aerie’s President Explains How the Brand Will Hit $2 Billion in Sales
• DTC Categories Are Getting Crowded. Can The Fascination Help Brands Stand Out?