Weekly Consumer News Update // December 20, 2022

Here's our weekly roundup of recent consumer and retail news. This week, Givenchy partners with Disney, Barnes & Noble plans store expansion, Walmart and CVS limit sales of children's meds, and more. 

 M&A and INVESTMENTS

• Lanvin Group Raises $150 Million in Public Debut BoF
• Beiersdorf Acquires Skin Microbiome Specialist S-Biomedic WWD
• Dropbox buys form management platform FormSwift for $95M in cash TechCrunch
• L Catterton Invests in BloomChic, a One-year-old Plus-size Play WWD
• JPMorgan Buys $800M Stake in Viva Wallet PYMNTS
• Mike Ashley's Frasers buys JD Sports' premium fashion brands for $58M Reuters
• Binance.US to Acquire Bankrupt Voyager's Assets for $1 Billion Yahoo
• VF Corp. Is Mulling JanSport Sale Barron's

INDUSTRY NEWS

Olaplex’s ‘Broke My Hair’ Problem Is a TikTok Cautionary Tale

The hair care brand pitched investors on social media buzz, but it’s now being plagued by online complaints. The company says its products are safe and effective. BoF

Supermarkets Offer More Store Brands to Lure Cost-Conscious Shoppers

Sales of private-label products, which are typically cheaper than brand-name equivalents, have surged in recent months as shoppers look for ways to economize amid soaring inflation. WSJ

Sports Betting Faces Shakeout, Cooling Investor Enthusiasm

Smaller sportsbooks like MaximBet and Fubo Gaming have shut down amid mounting industry challenges. Bloomberg

Web3 has a branding problem. It’s not just semantics

As predictions of a metaverse cooldown and bad press around crypto increase, brands are rethinking how NFTs are positioned to ensure they outlive the hype cycle. Vogue Business

Why retail keeps turning to Los Angeles

The City of Angels — with its various neighborhoods and shopping streets — has risen to the top for many of today’s direct-to-consumer brands. Retail Dive

Givenchy Offers New Capsule Collection Recognizing Walt Disney Co.’s 100th Anniversary

Givenchy and Disney have teamed for a new capsule collection that features Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, recognizing the Lunar New Year and 100 years of Disney. WWD

Verizon Teams Up With Netflix in Push to Become Streaming Middleman

Verizon’s +play streaming marketplace allows customers to manage their subscriptions in one place. WSJ

World Cup's other winner? Adidas

Adidas, the team's longtime sponsor, has now sold out of Argentina jerseys worldwide, with demand especially hot for Lionel Messi shirts. LinkedIn News

Walmart Rolls Out New Text-to-Shop Service

Walmart customers have a new way to shop — by text message. The retailer’s new Text to Shop capability launched Dec. 14, 2022, and is available for free on iOS and Android devices. Retail Touchpoints

Margaritaville Becomes Major League Pickleball's First-Ever Title Sponsor

The hotel and resort chain's sponsorship follows Major League Pickleball’s release of a new league format and expanded roster of teams. AdAge

Uber Eats will use sidewalk robots to make food deliveries in Miami

The robots will deliver items offered by a slate of businesses in Miami-Dade County, with plans to expand into larger areas of the city and some additional markets in 2023. The Verge

Adults are buying toys for themselves, and it’s the biggest source of growth for the industry

There are two things keeping the toy industry afloat right now: inflation and a consumer group known as “kidults", who are responsible for one-fourth of all toy sales annually, around $9 billion worth. CNBC

Retailers Rethink In-Store Tech as Shoppers Return

After focusing on e-commerce during the pandemic, CIOs are looking to bring a similar seamless payments experience to physical stores. WSJ

Fortnite maker Epic Games to pay $520 million in fines in FTC settlement

The developer settled violations of child privacy laws with the FTC for $520 million dollars after the FTC alleged children were exposed to “dangerous” content, including sexual harassment and bullying. CNBC

Streaming’s Golden Age Is Suddenly Dimming

The never-ending supply of new programming that helped define the streaming era — spawning shows at a breakneck pace but also overwhelming viewers with too many choices — appears to finally be slowing. NYT

Chatbot's doomsday scenario for truth

The world's response to the oracular artificial intelligence program called ChatGPT started with chuckles but has quickly moved on to shivers. Axios

Primark Brings Its Bargains to Downtown Brooklyn

It's a high-profile step forward in the Dublin-based retailer's bid to operate 60 stores in the U.S. by 2026. WWD

NYX launches new makeup collection on Roblox

The Roblox activation continues a tradition of NYX Professional Makeup surprising its customers with an interactive experience for its spring collection. Retail Dive

Twitter deletes controversial new policy banning links to other social platforms

Twitter deleted its controversial new policy that had banned links to certain other social media platforms, less than 24 hours after the policy’s initial introduction, shortly after company owner Elon Musk launched a Twitter poll asking users whether he should step down as head of the platform. CNN

Walgreens, CVS limit sales of children's medications amid 'tripledemic'

Walgreens attributed the cap to demand and supplier challenges. NBC

Barnes & Noble Store Expansion Leads Big-Box Real-Estate Revival in 2023

Barnes & Noble plans to grow its fleet by 30 stores next year, the latest sign that big-box retailers are expanding again after years of shrinking their real-estate footprints. WSJ

How TikTok Became a Diplomatic Crisis

A Chinese app conquered the planet — and now the U.S. is threatening to shut it down. Can the world's biggest virality machine survive? NYT

COMINGS & GOINGS

• Eva Serrano Named Calvin Klein Global Brand President WWD
• Prabal Gurung and Aurora James Elected Vice Chairs of the CFDA WWD
• Raina Falcon Named Senior Vice President of Communications of HBO and HBO Max Content Variety
• Meta Loses Crucial Metaverse Pioneer Over Creative Disagreement With Mark Zuckerberg Yahoo
• Divya Mathur Resigns as Chief Merchant at Intermix WWD
• Yuga Labs names Activision Blizzard exec Daniel Alegre as new CEO Yahoo
• Valentino Taps Daniel Paltridge as CEO for the Americas WWD
• Sotheby’s Ramps Up Digital Offer, Hiring Gareth Jones as CMO WWD
• Christine Centenera Appointed Editor-In-Chief of Vogue Australia BoF

GOOD READS

• The Metaverse Crash Is Exactly the Moment to Take the Metaverse Seriously BoF
• Amazon Is Ubiquitous. But It Isn't Invincible Anymore Bloomberg

INSPIRATION