Tag: AMAZON PRIME

Categories
business Campaigns digital snippets e-commerce Retail social media sustainability technology

ICYMI: Magic Leap revealed, Amazon Prime Day, Kylie Jenner’s $900m beauty fortune

Magic Leap
Magic Leap
Magic Leap
Magic Leap

A round-up of everything you might have missed in relevant fashion, retail and tech industry news over the past week.

TOP STORIES
  • How Amazon turned Prime Day into a dizzying shopping extravaganza [Wired]
  • Believe it or not, Magic Leap says its headset will ship “this summer” [Fast Company]
  • How 20-year-old Kylie Jenner built a $900 million fortune in less than 3 years [Forbes]
  • PrettyLittleThing suspends next-day delivery as it struggles to keep up with demand [TheIndustry]
TECHNOLOGY
  • Stella & Dot is using AI to guide its 30,000 global sellers into apparel business [Glossy]
SUSTAINABILITY
RETAIL & E-COMMERCE
  • US malls haven’t been this empty since 2012 [CNBC]
  • First Nike LIVE store opens with #NikeByMelrose Los Angeles [BrandChannel]
  • How Michael Mente took Revolve from an E-commerce start-up to a global powerhouse [Fashionista]
  • How Zalando is fighting off Amazon and building the Spotify of fashion [BoF]
  • John Lewis about to unveil biggest facelift in its 154-year history [ThisIsMoney]
MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA
  • Social commerce on the rise as more brands adopt shoppable content [RetailDive]
  • Snapchat is working on a feature that can find products you snap on Amazon [TheVerge]
  • Versace hires 54 models for fall ads [WWD]
  • Aerie uses new bra campaign to celebrate women with disabilities [FashionUnited]
  • China’s hottest new social media app [BoF]
BUSINESS
  • Prada is making progress [BoF]
  • UK retailers spend more than £1m on failed and cancelled digital transformation projects [Internet Retailing]
Categories
e-commerce Editor's pick technology

Amazon introduces VR kiosks for Prime Day

Amazon Prime Day
Amazon Prime Day
Amazon Prime Day
Amazon Prime Day

Amazon has opened 10 virtual reality kiosks in India to promote its Prime Day shopping event, taking place for 36 hours over July 16 and 17.

Users stick on an Oculus Rift headset and are transported to a city filled with Prime Day products. They begin from the comfort of a hot air balloon ride, which gently places them down in an animated park. From there, they can walk through different rooms for different sections of a store – from bath and beauty, to technology and then toys.

The move is one of the more creative iterations of VR retail that we’ve seen – a more engaging experience than the typical recreation of a brick and mortar space in computer imagery.

That is particularly the case because users can handle any product in full 3D by using Oculus Touch controllers. Smartphones can be turned around, clothing can be experienced by being placed on holograms to demonstrate fit, while white goods including fridges and washing machines can be explored from every angle, including inside.

“How do you discover 200-plus products that are not in the market yet? Last year, customers told us ‘we loved the stuff when we got it but we were wary while buying it since it was not something we’d ever seen’,” Akshay Sahi, head of Amazon Prime in India, told Quartz.

“So now with VR, people can see the products in their true form factor. They can see how a microwave is going to look on a countertop and how a dress looks on a model. You can see jewellery up close and observe it in great detail.”

The initiative was pioneered by Amazon India and is in shopping malls in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata.

Categories
business data digital snippets e-commerce product Retail social media technology

ICYMI: Mary Meeker’s internet trends, Balenciaga’s t-shirt meme, drones at Walmart

Balenciaga - ICYMI mary meeker internet trends meme
Balenciaga
Balenciaga - ICYMI mary meeker internet trends meme
Balenciaga

A round-up of everything you might have missed in relevant fashion, retail and tech industry news over the past week.

TOP STORIES
  • Mary Meeker’s 2018 internet trends report: All the slides, plus analysis [Recode]
  • Balenciaga heard you like shirts, so they put a shirt on a t-shirt for $1,300 [Mashable]
  • Walmart’s future may include in-store drone assistants and smart shopping carts [CNBC]
  • How Natalie Massenet’s new VC firm sees the future of retail [Pitchbook]
TECHNOLOGY
  • Blockchain can help authenticate ownership of fashion goods [WWD]
  • Blockchain and beauty go together, according to Tev Finger [WWD]
  • AmEx pilots blockchain-based loyalty rewards with Boxed [RetailDive]
  • Google is actually pretty good at identifying what people are wearing [Racked]
RETAIL & E-COMMERCE
  • ‘Need it, text it, get it’: How concierge service Jetblack is aiming to beat Amazon Prime [Glossy]
  • How OPI is hacking Amazon and data algorithms to improve its online site [Glossy]
  • Lululemon hits record high on revamped stores [Reuters]
MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA
  • Snapchat launches its first Lens that reacts to sound [Engadget]
  • How Macy’s is using its store employees and stylists as Instagram influencers to drive sales [Glossy]
PRODUCT
  • ALYX’s Matthew M. Williams reveals data-inspired Nike capsule [HypeBeast]
  • Zac Posen’s new Delta uniforms are the ultimate high-performance outfits [FastCompany]
BUSINESS
  • The Gucci-Gap divide: How luxury is winning the race for millennial spend [BoF]
  • J.Crew will relaunch this fall [Racked]
  • The changing face of fashion PR [BoF]
Categories
business digital snippets e-commerce film social media Startups sustainability technology

What you missed: Robotics in retail, biotech’s luxury nod, Amazon launches Spark

The rise of robotics in retail
The rise of robotics in retail

A round-up of everything you might have missed in relevant fashion business, digital comms and tech industry news over the past week.

TOP STORIES
  • ‘We’re at the onset of an industrial revolution’: The rise of robotics in retail [Glossy]
  • Biotech gets the luxury nod with Bolt Threads x Stella McCartney tie-up [Forbes]
  • Amazon launches Spark, a shoppable feed of stories and photos aimed at Prime members [TechCrunch]
BUSINESS
  • Will the death of US retail be the next big short? [FT]
  • 10 major retailers that could go bankrupt in 2017 [RetailDive]
  • Miroslava Duma on the biggest sustainability problems facing the fashion industry [Marie Claire]
SOCIAL MEDIA
  • Instagram encroaches on Snapchat’s turf of social media influencers, winning their hearts, minds and posts [CNBC]
  • Snapchat’s e-commerce boss says World Lenses could transform how brands convert online shoppers [The Drum]
  • Nordstrom hones Snapchat strategy for annual anniversary sale [MarketingDive]
MARKETING
  • Adidas debuts lifestyle app All Day [Fashion United]
  • Pharrell Williams powers Old Navy’s 2017 back to school musical [BrandChannel]
  • Valentino integrates shoppable video for exclusive AW17 pre-launch on Mytheresa [Fashion United]
RETAIL & E-COMMERCE
  • Legacy retailers define strategy in competitive terms. Retail upstarts define it in terms of their customer [LeanLuxe]
  • Everlane to open first flagship store [RetailDive]
  • LLBean rebrands to be more digital, less direct-mail [AdAge]
  • CEO Matt Kaness on the future of ModCloth, post-Walmart [Glossy]
TECHNOLOGY
  • The permanent future of conversational commerce: eBay’s RJ Pittman on AI and chatbots [Forbes]
  • Researchers develop green method for artificial spider silk [Fashion United]
START-UPS
  • Modern Meadow to unveil its creative materials platform at fall exhibition [Modern Meadow]
  • NewStore raises $50 million for mobile commerce [TechCrunch]
  • Meet Shopshops, an interactive, online retail experience for fashion-savvy Chinese consumers [Fashionista]
  • Syte.ai, a visual search startup just for fashion, closes $8M Series A [TechCrunch]
Categories
Comment e-commerce Editor's pick social media

Social media reaction suggests Amazon Prime Day underwhelms in the UK

Amazonprimeday_FM

If early indications on social media are anything to go by, Amazon Prime Day has let consumers down.

The one-day event, Amazon’s answer to Black Friday with major sales across product lines, launched this morning for Prime members only in celebration of the e-commerce site’s 20th anniversary. But instant reaction on Twitter in the UK this morning suggests it’s been a bust.

Tweets from users have included things like: “Well #PrimeDay couldn’t be more of a disappointment. Not even going to waste my time looking any more. Good job I can still cancel for free.” And: “I feel like @amazon really could change eCommerce with #PrimeDay but if you look at their deals… it’s a whole lot of meh.”

The backlash has continued with a series of jokes, a variety of GIFs and a number of sarcastic videos accompanying. “Now whenever something in my life goes wrong or I have a bad day, I’ll say I had a #primeday,” tweeted one user. Another said: “When I die I want whoever’s responsible for #PrimeDay to lower me into my grave so they can let me down one last time.”

amazonprimeday_bust

The majority of consumers seem to largely have access to Tupperware over anything else. “Congrats @Amazon – you win the ‘Biggest Internet Troll of 2015’ award. In other news, I’m good on Tupperware now. #PrimeDay #PrimeBust.”

It continues: “The refresh button isn’t making the Tupperware disappear. #PrimeDay” And: “Now printing: t-shirts that read ‘I stayed up late for @Amazon #PrimeDay and all I got was Tupperware’.”

We’re with this user: “I’m having more fun looking at #PrimeDay tweets than I am looking at the actual deals.”

New reduced-price products are being updated every 10 minutes. Operating like a flash sales site, Amazon UK shows a countdown for how long each item has left, as well as a percentage of how much of the “lightning deal” has been claimed. Social media backlash might be valid, though could also suggest some users aren’t aware of the concept to keep checking back in, meaning the issue is a communications one. Amazon’s aim is to keep Prime users engaged throughout the day, building excitement and energy around savings that can be made at different times much like Alibaba does with Singles Day in November. We’ll report back on what Amazon says about resulting sales.

This story first appeared on WGSN.com/blogs