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- 🛍 DTC Daily - Monday, Feb 20
🛍 DTC Daily - Monday, Feb 20
Today's DTC news, tips, & tools you need to know
👛 1 - 230 employees let go at The RealReal
📰 TL;DR - Luxury resale brand The RealReal has laid off 230 employees and announced plans to close some retail locations, consignment drop-off locations, and reduce office space. It's a big blow for what's been a very buzzy brand in the resale space — both for its impressive expansion and its ability to offer authentic second-hand luxury in an area otherwise riddled with knock-offs. The reason? Profitability.
💡 Insight - There are two things to note here. First, this backs up everything we've heard about the financial future of e-commerce: profitability will reign. Brands are cutting back where they can to satisfy investors and reach profitable status in 2023. Second, this also highlights the difficult nature of the resale market. Despite being very popular, it's logistically trickier than traditional e-commerce because items have to be brought in, authenticated, and prepped for resale. That's probably why many brands opening their own resale channels are partnering with third-party companies that specialize in the process.
📦 2 - How to automate your dropshipping business
📰 TL;DR - The Oberlo blog has some tips for how to automate dropshipping — making an already somewhat hands-off operation even more efficient. This is specifically written for dropshippers using Shopify, including some app recommendations. It takes a little technical know-how to pull it off, but the benefits include the potential to reduce costs and free up more time to actually grow your business.
💡 Insight - People get into e-comm for different reasons. For some, it's about perfecting and branding a product. For others, it's the thrill of the game. If you're more in the latter half, then automating a dropshipping business is a no-brainer. It's like the end game of dropshipping — a site that runs itself as much as possible.
🤔 3 - What you need to know about Temu
📰 TL;DR - The Super Bowl left a lot of people asking: what the hell is Temu? Well, here's an explanation. It's owned by a giant e-comm company out of China and it's making a play for the North American market. It's also poised to be one of the most downloaded apps of 2023. It's all about selling ultra-cheap goods — like Shein, but for everything.
💡 Insight - Temu's future in the US will be interesting to watch. On the one hand, shoppers are cutting back on expenses so super cheap products will definitely be a draw. On the other hand, there's a push-back against fast fashion and unsustainably discounted goods. Also worth watching is how Temu incorporates the social features that have made the Chinese version so popular.
👾 4 - Pacsun launches Roblox game
📰 TL;DR - Pacsun has a new digital experience in Roblox called "Pacsun Los Angeles Tycoon." Players can build a virtual LA environment, try on clothes inspired by Pacsun's spring line, and drive around in a Delorean. This isn't the first time Pacsun has tried something on Roblox — back in 2021 they built a virtual mall. They've also had a store in ComplexLand 3.0 and auctioned off NFTs.
💡 Insight - I've rolled my eyes at a few other branded experiences in the metaverse. It seems some brands think slapping their logo on something and calling it a day is enough. It's worth paying attention to Pacsun's approach because they're not new at this — they've had some experience and are now perfecting their offerings. Also: don't underestimate Roblox. It has tens of millions of daily active users and, anecdotally, every kid I know is playing it.
🤖 5 - How ChatGPT will change retail
📰 TL;DR - Depending on who you ask, ChatGPT is predicted to change just about everything. For retail in particular, there are three key areas this article thinks will be affected: customer service, marketing, and HR. People don't actually like talking to robots — 77% prefer a human — but this next generation of chatbots is getting harder to tell apart from humans.
💡 Insight - You're probably already familiar with chatbots for customer service, but the marketing and HR applications are also very intriguing. So many e-comm brand owners write their own marketing copy, even if they don't have any particular marketing expertise since hiring a dedicated employee can be pricy. Imagine a world where you could feed detailed customer information to a robot and it creates customized and high-quality marketing copy. Well, the future is here.
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