2PM - No. 813: Special Edition 💡

47 Page Presentation / 2PM: We rarely focus on our own work to lead the newsletter but this 47 page presentation will leave you with insight and inspiration. At the very least, it will begin a conversation. Please enjoy. Intro: New macroeconomic trends and market forces are influencing the DTC industry and the DTC industry is influencing the old world. 2PM’s coverage and analysis follows these trends closely in real time; it’s worth stepping back to assess the overall outlook for the future retail, Web3, supply chain, privacy, real estate, and the idea of ownership inside the metaverse. In a presentation for Deloitte Digital, 2PM outlined eight forward-thinking ideas.

Editor's Note: if you would like .pdf version, just reply to the letter and I will personally send it your way. 

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Macy's Inc. soars in Q4, no spinoff of dot-com

Legacy Brands / WWD:  Well, I suppose this settles this speculation. Macy's will not follow Saks in spinning off its eCommerce business. Here is an excerpt: "Macy's Inc., beating expectations across several fronts, saw big fourth-quarter gains on the top and bottom lines, and increased its dividend. The retailer also said Tuesday that it decided not to spin off its digital business, after a review of its operations.

Fanatics is buying Mitchell & Ness

Brands / New York Times: Fanatics is an ecosystem for fandoms, and that’s not limited to sports. It’s redefining how an eCommerce marketplace can grow by tapping directly into passion points first, rather than products. An excerpt: "Mitchell & Ness, founded in Philadelphia in 1904, is known for its throwback jerseys, which sell for $100 to $400. It already has licensing deals with the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer and several N.C.A.A. universities."

Editor's Note: Sports apparel, online gaming, gambling, ticketing, digital goods – Fanatics has realized something that other marketplaces have not. For the psychographic of digital fandom, there are few limits to the products that can't be marketed. Long underestimated as an eCommerce pioneer, CEO Michael Rubin has set off to build the company worthy of its name. 

Inside Peloton's epic run of bungled calls and bad luck

DTC Fitness / Financial Times:  This is the most comprehensive piece I've ever seen on Peloton's struggles. It's certainly worth your time. An excerpt: "We now know that even as the company was soaring to a peak valuation of nearly $50bn in late 2020, it was about to endure a series of tribulations that would culminate in Foley ceding the chief executive position and laying off three in 10 employees."

Athletic Greens and the battle of the powdered nutrition brands

DTC Brands / Thingtesting: Why would anyone give up the experience of eating real foods — one of life’s great pleasures — in favor of a functional slurry? It’s a question that’s been asked time and time again as powdered nutrition and meal replacement brands have launched on the market. 

Editor's Note: I loved this one by ThingTesting. As a follow up, here is what new President Kat Cole had to say about AG's path to continued growth. 

Why Brand.eth is the new brand.com

Trends / Vogue Business: Twenty years ago, brands clamoured to claim their website domain names. Ten years ago, the social media handle was the hot pursuit. Now, with the arrival of Web 3.0, "brand.eth" is the latest must-have property.

Consumer intelligence a game changer for eCommerce

Consumer Data / Tech Wire Asia: This is mostly a throwaway article but there was one interesting point that most brand managers should consider. “Brands need to learn to distinguish between micro, macro, and megatrends, because the patterns that you see today may not be here to stay. Then, to build a close understanding of their customers, brands will need to decide what mix of data to draw from, and how much of existing customer behavior they expect to see in their prospects,” said Soubies.

OpenSea named in lawsuit after a Bored Ape NFT was stolen

A. Metaverse Law / The Fashion Law: The idea that Coinbase will compete with OpenSea for the top spot in the NFT trade just became more interesting. Here's an excerpt: "According to the complaint that he filed in a federal court in Texas on February 18, Timothy McKimmy claims that his Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT – Bored Ape #3475 – was stolen when OpenSea was hacked this month, and then listed on the NFT marketplace and sold to another party for 0.01 ETH ($2.66), “a literal fraction” of what it was worth."

Brands from McDonald's to Walmart are gobbling up metaverse trademarks

B. Metaverse Law / Decrypt: It was only a matter of time before big retail followed Nike's lead. Welcome to the metaverse, where real matter becomes digital property and lawsuits may prove as such. An excerpt: "As the NFT marketplace becomes a billion-dollar industry, some brands already are taking legal action, such as Nike suing StockX for allegedly selling unauthorized images of its sneakers, while more and more are filing for trademarks to protect digital assets. Even retail giant Walmart is getting in on the action, having filed 27 NFT-related trademark requests in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico since December.

Shopify beat expectations in its latest earnings but its share prices sank 15% on Wednesday. Wall Street is worried that the Shopify boom, and by extension the eCommerce boom, is ending with the pandemic. Moiz Ali believes it’s a sign that Shopify has done a poor job of preparing its enterprise clientele for success. The Native deodorant founder (and prolific investor and advisor) notes Away, MVMT, Ritual, and Manscaped as DTC brands that have parted ways with Shopify. 

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