Weekly News Update // October 4, 2022

Here's TRAUB's weekly roundup of recent consumer and retail news. This week, Macy's launches a digital marketplace, Shopbop introduces Beauty, Hilton and Peloton team up,  and more.

 M&A and INVESTMENTS

• Shiseido to Acquire Gallinée WWD
  
• Chalhoub Group Acquires Chat-Based E-Tailer Threads Styling BoF
• Diageo Acquires Mr Black Coffee Liqueur The Spirits Business
• Liquid Death Raises $70 Million at $700 million valuation Bloomberg
• South Korea’s Naver Acquires Poshmark for $1.6 Billion BoF
• Fendi Acquires Majority Stake in Knitwear Specialist Maglificio Matisse WWD

INDUSTRY NEWS

Macy's Marketplace Play: What It Means
Macy’s has launched its digital marketplace platform, significantly expanding its offering of categories and brands available on macys.com and providing sellers with a wider audience of potential shoppers. This fall, via its marketplace, macys.com will make available 400 brands not previously sold at Macy’s, across 20 categories. Of the 20, eight categories are new to Macy’s: electronics, video games, floral gifts, gift tissue/wrapping paper, vitamins, sports nutrition, computers and peripherals, and wellness. The marketplace is geared to grow Macy’s volume and profitability and meet the demand for products that the retailer’s shoppers requested but couldn’t find on its website or in Macy’s stores in the past. The online offering will grow over time. WWD

Lululemon Launches Digital Platform Lululemon Studio for Mirror Users
Lululemon is raising the bar on its at-home Sweatlife. The Canadian activewear firm unveiled Lululemon Studio on Wednesday at a presentation in New York. The digital platform launches to consumers on Oct. 5 and can be accessed by way of Lululemon’s at-home fitness system Mirror, the Lululemon app or real life Lululemon experiences, in stores and partner studios.It will connect Lululemon lovers and fitness fans in cyberspace, allowing them to browse Mirror’s more than 10,000 on-demand and livestream workout classes, as well as wellness content from fitness and health experts across North America, details on the company’s in-person events and a 10 percent discount on Lululemon products. WWD

Emergency Contraceptives Get a Gen-Z Rebrand with Julie
After successfully diminishing the stigma around acne and breakouts with their first co-created company, Starface, former beauty editor Julie Schott and entrepreneur Brian Bordainick are at it again. This time, they have teamed up with Amanda E.J. Morrison of Mented Cosmetics to break an even bigger stigma: emergency contraception. Together, they’ve launched Julie, a Walmart-exclusive emergency contraceptive pill, re-branded for millennial and Gen Z women. With Julie’s debut on the market, the founders hope it gives Gen Z a better experience should they need to purchase emergency contraceptives — starting with its name and packaging. The boxes are bright blue with pink lettering. Julie will sit in 4,500 Walmart doors and on Walmart.com, priced at $42.44. “It’s available without an ID, without a prescription [and] no age restriction."  Glossy

Kim Kardashian Is Officially Launching a Home Accessories Collection

Less than four  months after the launch of her skin-care products, Kim Kardashian is set to release yet another collection perfer for her fellow greige disciples: monochromatic bathroom accessories that launch on October 6. The line includes five concrete products -- a vanity tray, a round container, a canister, a tissue box, and a waste basket -- that will fit right in alongside a collection of Skkn by Kim skin-care products. The businesswoman and entertainment personality designed the Skkn by Kim home accessories collection to be artfully crafted from hand-poured concrete -- each item has its own unique texture and stone effect with an ornate patina occurring over time, so no two pieces are exactly the same. Architectural Digest

Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty Is the Met Costume Institute’s 2023 Exhibition

Next year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art will celebrate the work of the late Karl Lagerfeld, Anna Wintour announced Friday at a press conference during Paris Fashion Week, paying tribute to the creative polymath and former Chanel creative director who died in February 2019. The exhibition, titled “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” will feature works from throughout his illustrious six-decade career. About 150 of his creations from his time at Chanel, Fendi, Chloé, as well as Balmain and Patou, will be displayed alongside sketches by the designer. The exhibition will run from May 5 to July 16, 2023. The annual Met Gala celebration will take place on May 1, 2023. BoF

Hermès Banks on Luxury Retailing With New Madison Avenue Flagship

Hermès is making a major statement about the future of brick-and-mortar retail with the long-awaited opening of its massive new Madison Avenue flagship. After more than eight years of planning, the French fashion house is finally opening the doors to a seven-story, 45,000-square-foot monument to luxury that will undoubtedly change the face of retail on the street. From the outdoor gardens and the cavalier on horseback on the roof to the expansive assortment that includes everything from saddles and dog beds to leather goods, diamond watches, rolling suitcases and ready-to-wear and accessories for men and women, the store joins the Ginza in Tokyo as the largest in the company’s 300-plus-unit fleet. WWD

Shopbop Launches Beauty Offering 

Shopbop is the latest marketplace to enter beauty. The Amazon-owned site will launch Shopbop Beauty Monday, offering a curated assortment of both established and emerging beauty brands. Brands will include Ouai, Costa Brazil, Briogeo, Dr. Barbara Sturm, Joanna Vargas, Olaplex, Augustinus Bader and Uoma Beauty. For the launch, Shopbop made a campaign celebrating individuality, inclusivity and self-expression, while emphasizing beauty as a finishing touch for every look. It spotlights Shopbop’s key beauty categories, including skin care; makeup; hair care; beauty tools and brushes; and bath and body. WWD

Hilton and Peloton Team Up to Enhance the Travel Wellness Experience

Hilton and Peloton Interactive, Inc. announced an industry-first partnership, making Hilton the first hospitality brand to feature Peloton Bikes across its entire U.S. hotel portfolio of 18 award-winning brands. By the end of the year, nearly all 5,400 U.S. Hilton-branded hotels – from Hampton by Hilton to Waldorf Astoria – will feature at least one Peloton Bike in every fitness center, providing guests with a more holistic wellness experience, including access to Peloton’s world-class instructors and expansive connected fitness content. A recent Hilton survey of U.S. travelers indicated an overwhelming 98 percent of respondents are prioritizing wellness activities while on the road, and within the Peloton community, 90 percent of Members report that they are more likely to stay at hotels with Peloton Bikes. Through this partnership, Hilton guests will now have a seamless way to incorporate wellness into their future travel plans - whether for business or pleasure. CNBC

Dampening Expectations for Holiday 2022

Red flags for holiday 2022 are being raised. Consumer spending slowed sharply in July; fears that the U.S. will enter into a recession are mounting; Nike and VF Corp. are citing big inventory buildups meaning massive promotions in the near-term, and Macy’s, Nordstrom and Kohl’s in their second-quarter reports reduced forecasts for the year. Further guidance cuts through the industry could be seen in third-quarter reports. On Monday, Cowen & Co. gave a dim assessment of the state of retailing and the upcoming holiday season. “Holiday 2022 is shaping up to be a very different dynamic than 2021 given a multitude of macro pressures that are likely to negatively impact the level of holiday consumer spending versus prior years along with heightened inventory levels across the sector which have begun to trigger a ramp in promotional markdowns.” WWD

Goodwill Launches Resale Site Featuring Luxury Brands Like Gucci and Prada

Goodwill is making its first big push online with GoodwillFinds, a curated marketplace of donated goods that seeks to compete with Poshmark and The RealReal, secondhand sites where resale has become sport to shoppers hunting luxury brands to flip for profit. Launching with more than 100,000 items that typically fill the racks and shelves of brick-and-mortar Goodwill stores including clothes, toys and housewares, the site is also chock full of unique high-end finds like a retro red patent leather Gucci bag selling for $499.99, black suede Prada shoes priced at $220.00 and a Burberry sapphire crystal Swiss watch up for grabs at $230.85. Although the amount of merchandise from big luxury labels has yet to be determined, the site is expected to have over a quarter million items by the beginning of next year. BoF

COMINGS & GOINGS

• Burberry Names Daniel Lee Chief Creative Officer BoF 
• Gucci Names Robert Triefus New CEO of its Vault and Metaverse Ventures BoF
• PR & Communications Director Domenico Galluccio Exits Ermenegildo Zegna Group WWD
• Spanx Appoints Kim Jones CEO, Misha Nonoo Chief Brand Officer WWD
• Qurate Retail Recruits Scott Barnhart as Chief Operating Officer WWD
• Supergoop Names Ryan Crowley as CFO & COO Retail Dive

GOOD READS

• Why Some Luxury Brands Are Learning to Love Resale BoF
• Newer Digital Native Brands Want to Take Over the Mall Retail Brew
• Fashion’s Green Debt Tinged With Greenwash BoF