2PM - Performance ⚡️Marketing

Apple and Performance Marketing / 2PM Original: The above report relays four relevant stories published recently, three (A-C) are included below. It covers the comments by the Skims CEO who was quoted by Business of Fashion: "Sales-driven marketing has never built brands." It goes on to cite the intent for Savage x Fenty to IPO in the coming 18 months, the Robin "Rihanna" Fenty-led brand is another the benefits from the reach and the earned media of a global icon. But this report also covers the frustrations of the brand owners who don't have the access to celebrity super stardom. To them, the Apple privacy changes impacting Facebook and others is nothing short of betrayal. The industry will need a fix for a number of DTC brands to survive. 

2PM Data: This is but a snapshot of the companies that have seen a drop in performance on their performance marketing investments since 2021. 

Skims plots its next moves

A. Performance Marketing in Focus / Business of Fashion: Its hopes are that the cash infusion will allow the brand to continue growing in new categories, like swim, and new geographies while remaining profitable. Unrelenting demand is as much a boon as it is a problem, especially as the global supply chain crisis continues. Skims stores and a potential IPO are likely in its future, if it can rise above pressure from investors, customers and the market.

Rihanna is getting a Wall Street education with IPO prep

B. Performance Marketing Reference / WWD: The multihyphenate entertainer and entrepreneur is exploring the idea of an initial public offering for her booming Savage x Fenty lingerie business, learning about the process through talks to Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. It's said to be early days still with the company in the "information gathering" phase.

Inside Apple's decision to blow up the digital ads business

C. Performance Marketing Reference / The Information: For many companies in digital advertising, the impact of Apple’s changes — which the company began to enforce last April — has been seismic. That’s especially true for Facebook’s parent company, Meta Platforms, which expects the changes to shave $10 billion off its revenues this year because of their impact on the company’s prodigious data collection practices.

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Here is the week's top 20 which features a few first: two projects funded by The Chernin Group are in the top five for the first time (Food52 and Barstool Sports) and Shopify, despite its recent market performance, shows that it has enterprise staying power. The platform reached 50% of the top 20 for the first time in the database's existence. 

Hodinkee hires Farfetch's Jeffery Fowler as CEO

Linear Commerce / Business of Fashion: Perhaps Hodinkee will become the next TCG investment to break the Power List's top five spots (joining Food52 and Barstool Sports) if this new hire pans out. Hodinkee, the online hub for watch aficionados with big eCommerce ambitions, has hired Farfetch's Jeffery Fowler as its new chief executive. The site in December 2020 raised $40 million in a funding round led by TCG that valued the business at $100 million, with an eye toward expanding its fast-growing business selling new and vintage watches.

BigCommerce embeds Bolt's 'one-click checkout'

eCommerce / WWD: We've covered this at length but it seems that Ryan Breslow's three-pronged strategy has come full circle. Bolt has lobbied to unseat Fast as the one-click partner of choice at BigCommerce, according to the WWD report. In the process, Bolt gets to say that the teamed with a rival after Shopify spited them. More here: "Bolt is now BigCommerce’s “de-facto” one-click checkout, and gives BigCommerce merchants “access to flip on Bolt One-Click Checkout in a self-serve manner within minutes, with no code or lengthy implementation necessary,” a spokeswoman said. The terms of the partnership were not disclosed. But the move comes as online shopping continues to grow in unit volume and sales and as shoppers seek greater personalization, ease of use and smoother transactions."

China canceled H&M. Every other brand needs to understand why

Retail Politics / Bloomberg: In our recent take on operating retail in China, we cited this market risk. "The Chinese government has set a target to increase national online retail sales by around 44% between 2021 and 2025. JD, Alibaba, and now Shopify will be a key part of that push. There are risks. Even with the support of Shopify and JD.com, business in China needs to be closely managed to tailor marketing, messaging, and even inventory selection to appeal to the region." Here's more: "A major company with an established presence in China can suddenly find itself on the wrong side of Beijing without doing very much at all. Burned by the trade war and fallout over the coronavirus, the nation has turned inward in recent years, meaning businesses that still want to tap the world’s biggest consumer market must thoroughly reassess how they operate there."

How retail and industrial may adapt in the coming years

Retail Real Estate / Commercial Observer: At a high level, this report reflect's a second-order effect of DTC-fication of the retail industry. This retail real estate report is a good read for brand owners navigating the decision to invest in physical retail or even native shipping and returns. Here's more: "Industrial is thriving and has risen to become an especially important sector in commercial real estate. On the other hand, retail had already experienced a few challenging years before the pandemic hit, particularly Class A and B malls with large retail anchors. Partner Insights spoke to Judy Guarino, managing director for commercial mortgage lending at JPMorgan Chase, to learn more about where both sectors stand today."

Dior imagines the next step in retail

Experiential Retail / The Cut: In addition to remastering the boutique — with more natural light, more open space, and a winter garden on the ground floor designed by the project’s principal architect, Peter Marino, and the Belgian landscape designer Peter Wirtz — 30 Avenue Montaigne now includes three places to dine, a museum, and an overnight guest suite.

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