🛍 DTC Daily - Friday, Jan 27

🦈 1 - Layoffs at Gymshark

📰 TL;DR - Gymshark is a huge success story in the DTC world but it's now making cuts to its large workforce. Sixty-five employees have been laid off from the brand's Denver office. For context, Gymshark has around 900 employees across five regions.

💡 Insight - It's rare these days to open a new site and not hear about mass layoffs at a tech or retail company. Everlane, Wayfair, StitchFix and others have been hit, too. E-comm is simply not safe from the economic downturn or from the pressure to prioritize profit. So a reminder that if you answer to investors, they're looking for returns this year.

➡️You can read the article here...

💎 2 - Luxury is in trouble, at least in the U.S.

📰 TL;DR - Is anyone not feeling the pinch lately? According to Vogue Business, the outlook for the luxury sector isn't looking so shiny, at least in the U.S. Like everyone else, luxury retailers are shedding jobs and sales have declined for brands like Burberry and Richemont's. A good chunk of this is that mid-tier spenders (people who can't afford luxury on a regular basis but splurge sometimes) don't have the extra cash they used to.

💡 Insight - With everything we've heard about a recession this and recession that, it shouldn't be surprising that luxury purchases aren't a priority for a lot of people. What's interesting though is that LVMH — owners of Louis Vuitton, Dior, Pucci, and others — is feeling optimistic about sales in China. So two takeaways: remember that shoppers are looking for deals and maybe look overseas if you really want a luxury shopper.

➡️You can read the article here...

👰🏾‍♀️ 3 - David's Bridal launches marketplace

📰 TL;DR - Yet another retailer is launching an online marketplace to capture complementary products. Now, it's David's Bridal. Pearl by David's is a one-stop website to find vendors like wedding planners or a venue. Of interest to e-commerce brands is that there are also listings for categories like jewelry, stationery, florals, favors, and more. As well, David's owns Blueprint, a place for engaged couples to build wedding registries.

💡 Insight - It seems like everyone is trying to reach beyond their core products to offer marketplaces. And who wouldn't want to be the Amazon of weddings? If you sell anything wedding-adjacent, it's definitely worth exploring how to get yourself listed on Pearl.

➡️You can read the article here...

💸 4 - Merchants are calling Shopify's price hike greedy

📰 TL;DR - As we reported the other day, Shopify is significantly hiking its pricing. The basic plan is going from $29 to $39 USD per month, for example. Perhaps predictably, some people are rather upset, with one person telling the Daily Hive it's simply "greed" from Shopify. Others pointed out that e-comm is getting more expensive everywhere, with even Etsy having hiked fees.

💡 Insight - It makes a great headline to call a major tech company greedy, but in all fairness, I've also seen plenty of tweets from the e-comm world of people saying the fee hike is long overdue. I've even seen people say the fees should be raised more. But hey, I've been a struggling small business and even a small hike really can have a huge effect if you're just a little guy. Your reaction to the fees will really depend on where you are in your e-comm journey.

➡️You can read the article here...

🧻 5 - This DTC brand really gives a crap

📰 TL;DR - An Australian brand selling eco-friendly toilet paper is making its retail debut. Who Gives a Crap (what a name!) makes toilet paper from bamboo and recycled materials and has cute packaging to boot. They've made more than £40 million in sales in the UK over the last year and have added other products like kitchen roll and facial tissues.

💡 Insight - This product launched in 2017 is only now getting into retail after steady growth. I wanted to include this because what a smart product. They took recycled toilet paper — a notedly unsexy product — and made it aesthetic. It also fits into the trend of sustainability being a key purchasing factor for younger consumers. There's still room out there to reinvent home staples if you can make it better than the original.

➡️You can read the article here...

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