Good afternoon. We have a belated Earth Day gift for you all: On May 6, we’re hosting the second episode of our virtual event series The Checkout. This time, we’ll talk all things retail x sustainability with Saskia van Gendt, head of sustainability at Rothy’s, and Karla Gallardo, cofounder and CEO of Cuyana. Register here!

In today’s edition: 

• Pietra and the creator brand boom
• Floyd enters resale
• Walmart unplugs its bots 

— Halie LeSavage, Katishi Maake

E-COMM

From Personal Brands to Consumer Brands

Since the dawn of screen time, influencers and creators have created #sponsored content to push retailers’ products to their social media followers. But only a nail-thin percentage with millions of followers—like Jackie Aina, Arielle Charnas, or the Kardashian-Jenners—have secured the resources to open their own standalone brands, whose products often sell out. 

Enter: Pietra, a technology platform that emerged from its beta period last week. It wants to make the brand creation route accessible for any creator who posts on social—be it through apparel, beauty, or fragrance. No follower minimum required.

• Once a creator signs up for Pietra (for free), they pay à la carte for the infrastructure (manufacturers, samples, even digital storefronts) and to create their product line. 

Why now? “There's been an evolution from direct to consumer, to what I like to call creator to consumer,” Qianna Smith Bruneteau, founder of the American Influencer Council, told Retail Brew. While barriers to entering the creator economy are lower than ever—all you need are a phone and a defined aesthetic—monetization requires extra resources that not all creators have. 

So far, creators are following Pietra back. More than 300 product lines were created on Pietra during its beta period. 

• As of Wednesday, 15,000 creators are “in the pipeline” to launch additional collections. A Pietra spokesperson told us this list is still growing. 
• Materials shared with Retail Brew showed off early successes, like a skincare brand by microinfluencer Ella Rose McFadin (113k Instagram followers), which sold out in two minutes.   

“I hate to do forward projections,” Ronak Trivedi, Pietra CEO and former Uber executive, told Retail Brew, “but I really think this company has a chance at being one of the largest retail companies or the largest business creation platforms that exists.”

Potential check: Experts we spoke with said Pietra can give creators a new monetization channel. But it won’t end the #linkinbio affiliate era for retail marketing...and not every influencer will be able to build a successful brand, even with Pietra’s resources.

“Authenticity is the most overused word in the influencer marketing industry, but it’s also the key word here,” said Jasmine Enberg, senior analyst at Insider Intelligence. “Regardless of their follower count, creators need to make sure the products they create are relevant to their personal brand.”

Click here to read our deeper look at Pietra's implications for retail. — HL 

RESALE

Reduce, Reuse, Resale

Apparel-focused thrifting companies like Poshmark and ThredUp suck up a lot of the attention surrounding the booming resale market, but the heftier furniture segment is very much in on the action too. 

One example: After doubling its sales last year, DTC furniture brand Floyd has overhauled its reverse logistics process to introduce a resale program. 

• Floyd picks up a returned item → it’s sent to a warehouse where it’s inspected and graded → it’s listed on the website at a 15%-50% markdown.
• The program will include returns and products that don’t meet customer expectations, per Modern Retail.

Discounted or resold furniture has had recent success for the simple reason that people moved a lot amid the pandemic. Social network NextDoor said furniture sales were up 28% YoY last August, and reseller AptDeco said furniture listings nearly tripled from May to October 2020, according to Vox. 

Looking ahead: The global secondhand furniture market is expected to reach $47.5 billion by the end of 2028. Players to watch: Etsy, eBay, Amazon, and Ikea, which coordinated its own furniture buy-back program in November.  

Big picture: Most people don’t buy furniture as often as they do clothes. That means furniture resale is more of a threat to the overall industry, as Vox notes. — KM

SPONSORED BY ROUTE

Meet the Modern Shopper

Too many online retailers' strategies seem like they just got off dial-up. Heads up: It's 2021. You can get pizza from a robot and choose the ending of your favorite streaming show.

The ecommerce masters at Route are here to bring you to the future. In their new guide, The Ecommerce Merchant’s Guide to Modern Customer Engagement, you’ll learn how to become a customer relationship expert.

But this guide doesn’t stop there. You’ll also find out about:

• The engagement modern consumers crave.
• What impact to expect with evolved engagement.
• The importance of engaging in meaningful ways.

So even if your entire customer relationship happens online, Route can help you make it feel personal, engaging, and most importantly, long-lasting. 

Step into the future and immerse yourself in Route’s ecommerce guide here.

AUTOMATION

Robot Revolution

The prospects of a real life Skynet could be diminishing before our very eyes, as Walmart continues to divest from robot technology in its stores, the WSJ reports. 

Over the past year, Walmart has unplugged automated pickup towers that were used to fulfill online orders in 1,500+ stores. And in November, the company stopped using roving robots that kept track of inventory. 

Why the change? Walmart ended a contract with Bossa Nova Robotics to focus on “simpler solutions” like human-powered curbside pickup and home delivery. 

The reverse seems counterintuitive, as other companies invest in robotics (Kroger, Gap, Domino’s, Alibaba, Amazon—the list goes on). But aside from the potential for cyborgian world dominance, the proliferation of robots has its downsides. 

• Walmart found humans could walk the aisles and collect products as effectively as the roving bots. 
• Automated systems require expensive upkeep, so the tech must have a high ROI.  

The takeaway: Robots aren’t going anywhere. Walmart is still testing new technologies, like AI-powered video cameras. And 64% of retailers believe it’s important to have a robotics automation strategy, per a Retail Wire/Brain Corp survey this month. — KM

FROM THE CREW

How businesses approach everything from climate change to environmentalism affects the one home we all share. Yet sustainability can often feel more like a buzzword than a concrete principle. 

Next month, we'll talk with two brands about greenwashing vs. positive environmental impact.

On Thursday, May 6, at 1:30pm ET, we'll chat with two sustainability leaders about their definitions of green business practices, and which sustainability methods will shape the future of retail in a post-Covid world. Hear from...

• Saskia van Gendt, head of sustainability at Rothy’s 
• Karla Gallardo, cofounder and CEO of Cuyana

Ready to RSVP? Click here to register and share your questions with our panelists. We hope to see you there. 

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Victoria’s Secret restarted talks with potential buyers. Asking price: upwards of $2 billion.
• Away named Jen Rubio its permanent CEO.
• Athleta is partnering with Simone Biles on performance wear and athletic activism.
• Mattel said parents are spending their stimulus checks on children’s toys.

SPONSORED BY ROUTE

17 pages stuffed to the brim with engagement intel on the modern shopper. That’s what Route’s guide, The Ecommerce Merchant’s Guide to Modern Customer Engagement, has in store for a savvy retailer like you. So if you’re wondering how to create better customer connections, why meaningful engagement is so important, and a bunch of other helpful things that we can’t fit in this ad, give Route’s guide a read. 

SWAPPING SKUS

A roundup of today's top retail longreads.

Big freeze: McDonald’s ice cream machines are nearly always broken. But coders’ efforts to intervene for the good of McFlurries McBackfired. (Wired) 

In the fridge: A near-comprehensive guide to the foods retailers are transforming into apparel and accessories. (NYT)

On demand: Fashion brands are taking a page from Telfar’s book and moving to a preorder model. But do early orders equal less waste? (Glossy)

FRIEND OR FAUX?

Admittedly, this week’s stories aren’t that crazy, so we had to get creative with the faux. Can you spot the fake story below?

1. Free Soles, a sustainably focused shoe company, gave customers a complimentary bag of soil with Earth Day purchases. 
2. Adidas and Star Wars collabed on a Baby Yoda-inspired Stan Smith shoe. 
3. Italy is considering outlawing bad gelato that uses extra air. 
4. Departing GameStop CEO George Sherman got a $179 million farewell gift. 

Keep reading for the answer. 

ICYMI

Work in retail marketing? If you didn’t already know, we also have a newsletter that goes deep on marketing. Sign up here. 

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

• Parade, Andie, Harper Wilde Get Comfortable in the Intimates Category
• Fulfillment Service ShipHero Tripled Revenue in 2020
• Amazon Offers New Beauty and Home Services

FRIEND OR FAUX? ANSWER

Nope, Free Soles doesn’t exist (but it should).