Squid Game is everywhere—yes, in this newsletter too. (But no spoilers, we promise.)

Since it dropped on September 17, the South Korean show has become Netflix’s most popular program ever, and everyone wants a piece of the action.

• That includes the streaming platform itself: Netflix is teaming up with Walmart to create a digital store that will sell merch from the hit show, among other original series.

Green light: Third-party sellers on platforms like Etsy got in even faster. Husband-and-wife duo Vanessa Valbuena and Simon Cabrita, for example, binged the show the weekend it debuted and decided to start selling Front Man masks as soon as they processed the final episode.

“We realized they would be in demand for Halloween this year, so we decided to allocate some resources and invest some money on our small 3D-printer farm,” Valbuena told Retail Brew. While this season is typically busy, she noted that “this year, the traffic has increased exponentially.”

• Squid Game topped Halloween costume searches last week, per Google.
• Vans has seen a 7,800% increase in sales for its white slip-ons since the show’s premiere, as people race to complete their costumes.

The pair cofounded Cube It, a 3D-printing shop, in 2020 and typically sell baking supplies alongside custom cookie cutters and cake toppers. But given the technology at their disposal, they felt a foray into Halloween masks was an undertaking worth pursuing.

• The company’s Front Man masks sell for about $50 to $60; in the week beginning September 27, Cube It said it sold 100.

Game on

Colt Shobe, another Etsy seller, has been selling 3D-printed products for about five years now—mostly parts like light-switch covers and antenna boxes via his shop, 3DPrintedSolution. He’d never jumped on a trend until Squid Game, seeing an immediate opportunity.

“When I did some initial research to see what the market had for Front Man masks, there was only one other listing,” Shobe told us.

But while he sensed an opening early, one hiccup has been meeting demand, given that Shobe only operates seven printers.

Press play: “Many people think you can just hit go on the printer and have a part,” he said. “While this is somewhat true, in order to produce quality parts, there is a lot of time that goes into this manufacturing process.”

• Shobe hopes to soon have a physical store and website where he’ll offer prototyping and a print-on-demand service to make it easier to capitalize on the next fad.

“I’ll definitely be on the lookout for these types of opportunities in the future but the main focus will be on building relationships and rapport with the surrounding community and other manufacturers,” Shobe told us.—KM

Everyone’s buying online, and there’s no going back. The e-comm bug has also given way to surges in the social commerce space, and more jobs on both fronts.

According to GlobalData, the number of e-comm job openings climbed to 80,890 last month, up from 28,933 last September, a whopping 180% increase. Still a growing field, social commerce positions jumped to 240, from 39, over the same period.

“Social commerce channels and networking websites are fast becoming an integral part of companies’ direct-to-consumer strategies,” Ajay Thalluri, business fundamentals analyst at GlobalData, said in a statement.

Go big: Major companies like Adidas, Flipkart, and Walmart are hiring for social-savvy titles, per GlobalData’s Job Analytics database. Visa, for example, is recruiting a “Senior Manager - Digital Strategic Partnerships” to secure partnerships with social commerce platforms like TikTok and Snap.

• This year, Walmart added 32 roles to work on its strategy across social media.
• Adidas is focusing on social commerce in the company’s most profitable market, China.

The description for Amazon’s “Head of Product, Inspirational Shopping” position reads, “You are excited about the convergence of commerce and entertainment.” This employee will create product recommendation content, or, “photo and video-first experiences that make shoppers feel acknowledged, entertained and inspired.” (Can’t say we’ve ever truly felt inspired by an online purchase, but go off!)

+1: On the flip side, a record-breaking 4.3 million workers quit their jobs in August—with food service and retail being the most abandoned industries.—JG

In a sea of jeans, how do you find *the* pair? Levi’s thinks visual search and computer vision could help.

The denim giant plans to introduce the technology to its website in November, WWD first reported. Part of the company’s effort to amplify curation and discovery for online shoppers, the new features have been in development for two years, Louis DiCesari, the company’s global commercial head of data, analytics and artificial intelligence, told WWD.

Wait, what? Levi’s calls it “Grid Sort.” DiCesari explained it further: “The computer vision allows us to learn from pictures, and better link our family of products and how they relate to each other,” he explained to the pub. “Behind this is a neural network that figures out which products look like other products visually and shows them to the consumer, in the order we predict will be most interesting to them.”

• With visual search, customers can upload product pics and then personalize results.

Zoom out: Levi’s isn't the only one pushing ahead with this new tech. Google gave its search a visual-first makeover last month, while Amazon also offers visual search so shoppers can match similar pieces of clothing.

It’s still too early to know if something like visual search will be adopted, but retailers continue to experiment to stay ahead of the competition, Clark Kleinman, an e-comm search expert at Pattern, told Retail Brew. “Ultimately, consumers will go where they can find the exact product they want as quickly as possible,” he said.—JS

Today’s top retail reads.

Behind the scenes: Inside American Made, a new book that investigates what happens when factories move out of America, and the human costs of declining industries. (The New York Times)

Roller-coaster ride: Small Black-owned businesses saw a boost in sales following last summer’s BLM protests. Many said it didn’t last, but brands are still hopeful that progress is being made. (Vogue Business)

No laughing matter: “I feel like my team is down by five points with 10 seconds left on the clock...We’re just running out of time.” Meet the man trying to solve the logistics puzzle for MGA Entertainment Inc., the company that makes L.O.L. Surprise dolls, Little Tikes cars, and more. (The Wall Street Journal)

Perfect timing: Shopify’s Commerce+ event is here, and you won’t want to miss unfiltered conversations with Jimmy Butler, Mel Marsden, and Jon Wexler, plus more for insights into the future of commerce. Get in on the action.*

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On Wednesdays, we wear pink spotlight Retail Brew’s readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Tala Akhavan is COO of the startup Pietra, which gives creators the tools to start their own brands. And when she’s not running Pietra, she’s using it. Each member of the team gets a budget to create a retail business using the platform, and she’s working on something in the baby space.

How would you describe your role to someone who doesn’t work in retail? My job is to build and manage a team of talented problem-solvers to bring Pietra’s vision to life through every step of the retail supply chain, from product ideation all the way to package delivery.

Something we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile: My day probably doesn’t look like that of a typical startup COO. On any given workday, I try to carve out an hour to spend quality time with my daughter between meetings, either by taking her to one of her classes or eating lunch with her.

One retail trend you’re most excited about this year: The explosion of micro brands coming out of the pandemic, particularly BIPOC- and female-owned. We’ve seen a massive emergence of value-driven consumerism over the past few years, where shoppers want to put their money where their mouth is. Supporting small businesses built on ethical practices rather than large, public corporations has become a priority for more and more consumers.

’Tis the season for all things holiday. And here at Retail Brew, we’ll be in the spirit all month long, looking at how retailers strategize for the season. We’ve kicked things off with what everyone needs to know about Black Friday 2021 (hint: think early).

More is to come, including stories on e-comm fulfillment and holiday sales predictions, so stay tuned.

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

• The Instagram outage should be a wake-up call for DTC brands
• Food banks exacerbated by the supply-chain crisis
• Best Buy expands its new membership program nationwide