2PM - No. 815: A Gutsy Strategy

Bolt's Gutsy Strategy / 2PM Original: Just two days after, in a sponsored article published on Retail Dive on Monday, Bolt challenged Shopify directly. The headline “Has your online shop outgrown Shopify?” insinuates a new direction taken by Breslow and team. It’s now a rivalry stoked by a chairman of the checkout platform now valued at over $11 billion by investors. A click-through link titled “Tired of Shopify holding you back?” drove the message home.

2PM Data: in addition to Bolt's offensive, here's another point of agitation that the company is working through. Shopify's market cap reflects the impact of post-COVID behavioral changes and Apple's influence on the efficacy of Facebook advertising.

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A new brand of sticker shock hits the car market

Supply Chain / Wall Street Journal: And can you believe that with these prices, Carvana still could not turn a profit? Here was our brief on the dealership going digital. Here's an excerpt on how used car haggling is helping Tesla grow: "Other shoppers are permanently defecting to Tesla, which has no dealerships and instead sells cars through its company-owned stores or its website. While Tesla has raised prices over the past year, some shoppers say they prefer knowing the price upfront, and newer electric car companies are following Tesla’s lead on sales."

Here comes the Amazon Whole Foods

Physical Retail / New York Times: Anyone could see this coming from a mile away, here is a solid refresher on our earlier thoughts on Whole Foods' in-store evolution. Here's an excerpt: "The main evidence of change were the discounts and free home delivery for Amazon Prime members. The technology, known as Just Walk Out, consists of hundreds of cameras with a god’s-eye view of customers. Sensors are placed under each apple, carton of oatmeal and boule of multigrain bread. Behind the scenes, deep-learning software analyzes the shopping activity to detect patterns and increase the accuracy of its charges."

Global consumers’ surprising resiliency is tested anew by war

Sociology / Bloomberg: Six of the top global events that impacted supply chain (over the past 50 years) happened over the past two years. Much of today's logistics innovations have come out of this succession of problems, the growth of air freight is one example. On the macroeconomics of this issue: "Energy and food prices, both key forces behind inflation, may be pushed even higher by the escalating Russia-Ukraine conflict. That will ripple back to households across Europe and the U.S., where shoppers have already faced sticker shock on everything from cars to avocados. In addition, borrowing costs have already begun to rise as central banks pare back emergency pandemic stimulus."

Updated for February 25. The DTC Power List 🔐has a new first. While Peloton fell out of the top five for the first time in months, Allbirds entered the top five for the first time since we've tracked these 700 brands. 

How your brand should use NFTs

Web3 / Harvard Business Review: Brands are building their own digital country clubs. This was a solid one on how retailers should go about it.  An excerpt: "First, recognize that releasing collectables is a good place to start, but it’s also just a first step, like registering a domain name way back in the early days of the internet. Next, look for ways to tie your NFT project to your brand and core product. Finally, experiment, but with authenticity and an eye on the future. There’s little to gain here by trying to mimic what others are doing if it feels obviously out of step."

Walmart's third-party fulfillment business grew 500% last year

Logistics / Retail Dive: The company has been, and plans to continue, building out its fulfillment capacity. The goal for Walmart, along with creating a new revenue source from sellers, is to increase its online assortment. To that end, Biggs said that Walmart expects to have over 200 million items in its eCommerce assortment by the end of the year.

America's biggest feminine pads maker is buying Thinx

Brands / Quartz: Kimberly-Clark, the top feminine products maker in the US and inventor of the pantyliner, has bought a majority stake in sanitary underwear brand Thinx. It’s the first foray into the reusable period and incontinence underwear category for the company, which is behind Kleenex tissues, Huggies diapers, and Kotex feminine products.

Are brand mentions important to Google's algorithm?

Advertising / Search Engine Journal: John Mueller confirmed that brand mentions are not a search engine optimization factor. Given that the foundation of the “brand mentions” idea is built on one paragraph of a patent that’s been taken out of context, I would hope the SEO community will set aside the idea that “brand mentions” are an SEO factor.

Walmart to add Bonobos Fielder line to 250 stores

DTC Brands / WWD: After more than four years of ownership, Walmart is finally adding Bonobos to its merchandise mix. But it's not the core men's product. Instead, 250 stores will carry a new label, Bonobos Fielder, which the company describes as a "streetleisure" collection.

The two sides are seeking omnichannel nirvana.

As Nike focuses on its direct-to-consumer strategy, hurting department and specialty stores in the process, Allbirds is cozying up to wholesale. It’s an interesting paradox in omnichannel strategy that takes brand awareness and unit economics into consideration. The brands with sales velocity and stature to own their distribution can and will move towards an owned-store / DTC model. Brands working to reach profitability and scale are moving towards third-party retail wholesale partnerships.

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