Weekly News Update // Week of June 28, 2021

Here's TRAUB's roundup of recent consumer and retail news. Allure Magazine's new store set to be an extension of the magazine, Richemont acquires Delvaux, and more. 

 M&A and INVESTMENTS

• APM Monaco Files for Hong Kong IPO BoF
• Report: Spanx Taps Goldman Sachs To Explore Options Including Sale BoF
• Richemont Acquires Delvaux BoF
• Etsy will buy the 'Etsy of Brazil' for $217M Retail Dive 
• Beach House Group Raises Series A Funding WWD 
• Goat Is Valued at $3.7 Billion After Latest Funding Round BoF 
• Outerwear Brand OROS Raises $14.5 Million BoF
• Virtual Shopping Platform Obsess Secures $10M Funding Round BoF 
• Sexual Wellness Brand Maude Closes $5.8 Million Funding Round BoF 

INDUSTRY NEWS

The Rebirth Of The Department Store: 5 Game-Changing Trends We Can See In Luxury Retail

You don't have to shop in a store anymore, the surge of online shopping and ongoing evolution of the efficiency in the channel has put pay to that - you have to want to shop in a physical store. And when it comes to luxury goods, that desire has to come from being more than just a product or a service purchase. We have heard this before, and seen a heavy roll-out of food eateries and nail bars squeezed into every possible retail location - from the Primark concept store nestled on the edge of the Bullring in Birmingham, to Soho House bringing their premium spa concept The Cowshed to Selfridges in London. But surely we can't just expect another era of the space-filling, which has all been done before, particularly in beauty halls. At the new La Samaritine there is a raison d’ etre to this ideal: “It was important to make a store that would be differentiating, given the competitive environment in Paris, so we conceived it as a place for living and strolling,” says Eléonore de Boysson, president of DFS, Europe and the Middle East. Forbes

Amazon Demands One More Thing From Some Vendors: A Piece of Their Company

Suppliers that want to land Amazon.com Inc. as a client for their goods and services can find that its business comes with a catch: the right for Amazon to buy big stakes in their companies at potentially steep discounts to market value. The technology-and-retail giant has struck at least a dozen deals with publicly traded companies in which it gets rights, called warrants, to buy the vendors’ stock in the future at what could be below-market prices, according to corporate filings and interviews with people involved with the deals. Amazon over the past decade also has done more than 75 such deals with privately held companies, according to a person familiar with the matter. In all, the tech titan’s stakes and potential stakes amount to billions of dollars across companies that provide everything from call-center services to natural gas, and in some cases position Amazon among the top shareholders in those businesses. WSJ

Not Being Amazon Is a Selling Point for These E-Commerce Players

On a Wednesday afternoon earlier this year, workers at an industrial center raced back and forth grabbing items such as paper towels, children’s toys, and liquor, then sorted them into packages destined for customers expecting delivery just hours after placing their orders. The scene was playing out not at one of Amazon.com Inc.’s myriad fulfillment centers, but at a warehouse run by ShopIN.nyc, a New York-based company that is part of a growing group of businesses and organizations positioning themselves as anti-Amazons. They’re working to unite small businesses that have lost sales and margins to the e-commerce giant and tap into concern about its growing clout and competitive practices. ShopIN.nyc pools inventories from local businesses to create a local version of the “everything store” that Amazon is known for, thanks to the vast selection and lightning-speed delivery that founder Jeff Bezos made central pillars of the Seattle company’s strategy. ShopIN.nyc’s marketing is unsubtle: social-media campaigns carry slogans such as “Shop Boroughs, Not Bezo$” and “An ‘everything store’ that delivers faster than Amazon.” WSJ 

Weddings Are Now A Big Opportunity For Smart, Adaptable Retailers And A Challenge For Everyone Else

There is pent-up demand for a lot of consumer experiences right now and probably none more so than weddings. For the last 30 years, there have been over two million weddings per year in the U.S. but in 2020, there were fewer than 1.3 million. Even more than the quantity of weddings, the pandemic has transformed how brides and grooms think about their wedding and the way they plan and shop for it. The weddings that were postponed in 2020 is creating a huge backlog of weddings in 2021 and the number this year is likely to be the highest ever. In addition, couples who had very small, intimate celebrations in the last year because of the pandemic are adding to the list of wedding events by creating “second celebrations” for all their friends and relatives who couldn’t attend their more intimate, mid-pandemic wedding. New ways of selling products to brides and grooms, like buying rings and gowns online, have gotten traction and are indicative of the changing attitudes that brides and grooms have both towards shopping and towards their big day. Combined with the backlog in weddings that will take place this year, weddings offer a big opportunity for brands and retailers who get it right with the right product and the right way of selling and a huge challenge for those that don’t. Forbes

How Allure’s New Store Is an Extension of the Magazine

Condé Nast’s Allure magazine is opening its first store on Thursday, but the publisher isn’t aiming to compete with the likes of Sephora and Ulta. “We really think of the Allure store as media on the ground,” said outgoing editor-in-chief Michelle Lee in a conversation with Condé Nast’s global head of eCommerce merchandise and branded property, Tricia Ruane, during the BoF Professional Summit about the future of post-pandemic retail held on Wednesday. For the publisher, that means the store will be successful if: it introduces new readers to the Allure universe, which includes monthly print issues, its website, podcasts and videos; it attracts an audience to in-store events like masterclasses and panels; and if visitors discuss the store on social media. The store will also bolster the publication’s relationship with beauty brands that advertise through its platforms by offering them data on how shoppers interact with their products, both physically and through smart mirrors and scannable codes on tables that lead to more information and reviews about the brands and products featured in the space. Located on the corner of Broome and Lafayette in Soho, the Allure store will open with 270 products from 170 brands Including Bobbi Brown, Neutrogena, Live Tinted, La Roche-Posay and Dermalogica across skin care, hair products and body care. The space will feature the winning products from the magazine’s annual Best of Beauty Awards and Reader’s Choice Awards, as well as a wall of products curated by its editors. Other product displays will be themed around stories Allure has published about different trends and categories. BoF

Farfetch Partners With ThredUp on US Resale Service

The online luxury marketplace said Thursday it is partnering with the US-based resale platform to help customers thrift their old clothes for charity and store credit. The company will offer branded “clean out kits” customers can fill with unwanted clothes and accessories that are then sent for sale on ThredUp. Sellers donate at least 50 percent of what they make to their choice out of a selection of charities and receive the rest in Farfetch credit. The move expands on Farfetch’s existing resale initiatives. The company already has a version of the programme, known as Farfetch Donate, running in the UK and an option for customers to sell pre-loved handbags through its site.  Other circular initiatives include a repair service in partnership with The Restory that launched in February. Browns, the retailer Farfetch acquired in 2015, launched a partnership with the London-based aftercare service this week. Browns said it has also launched a tailoring service this month in partnership with Zegna, and is working with six jewellery brands on a customisation service. BoF

The Rise of DTC Holding Companies

Over the years, as the direct-to-consumer space has heated up, a number of brands have entered the scene, from DTC darlings like Warby Parker and Bonobos to newer, emerging brands. In most cases, these brands have largely operated and scaled independently. More recently, however, DTC holding companies are emerging and growing multiple brands under one umbrella. By doing so, companies can more effectively and efficiently scale these brands by providing the resources and knowledge needed to grow. Harry's Inc., for example, houses its namesake brand, as well as Flamingo, Headquarters and Cat Person. In April, the company announced it raised $155 million in Series E funding, valuing it at $1.7 billion. Harry's said it will primarily use the funds to add more brands to its portfolio as well as expand into additional product categories. Retail Dive 

COMINGS & GOINGS

• Estée Lauder Companies Announces Global Brand President Promotions BoF
• Pandora Hires Tiffany Executive to Head North America BoF
• Gucci Americas Appoints Selena Kalvaria to Lead Brand Engagement BoF 

GOOD READS

• Beauty’s Big E-Sports Opportunity BoF