In August, brands got physical, with Olipop entering a new stadium, Nordstrom inking a deal with Rihanna, and Walmart growing with nonendemic retail media opportunities. Others took a more digital approach, making shopping more seamless on social media sites and AI-powered search. Here are the moves that made our analysts name eight brands to our unofficial most interesting list in August.
Amazon partnered with TikTok and Pinterest to enable shoppers to buy items from Amazon ads without leaving the platforms. That’s a huge play for Gen Z, which is twice (47%) as likely as the average consumer (20%) to buy holiday gifts via social commerce this year, according to Basis Technologies and GWI.
“Any time a retailer can make the point of discovery and the point of conversion closer, that's a win,” our analyst Arielle Feger said on a recent episode of “Behind the Numbers: Reimagining Retail” podcast.
Mars acquiring Kellanova is a vote of confidence for brand names at a time when many consumers are trading down to private label. It’s a move that makes a lot of sense given Mars’ pet and confectionary-focused portfolio, said our analyst Sarah Marzano.
The soda brand, founded in 2018, announced a deal with the LA Clippers Intuit Dome in California. “This is fascinating because so many stadiums in the US have exclusivity deals with either Coca-Cola or PepsiCo,,” said analyst Sara Lebow.
The beauty brand’s sales increased 50% YoY for the latest quarter. In August, e.l.f. went for the gold, capitalizing on Olympics momentum by working with medal-winning athletes such as gymnast Gabby Douglas and swimmer Anastasia Pagonis.
“It’s so smart for a beauty brand to partner with Olympians, because no one's makeup is staying put better than those Olympians,” said Lebow.
ThredUp rolled out AI-powered image-based search, making it easier to look for secondhand clothing and accessories. To get users thinking, various prompts like “red sweater” or “slouchy brown purse” rotate through the search bar.
“It might not be super innovative, but I think the way they've rolled it out is really clean and a really good template for how other retailers can access this technology,” said our analyst Blake Drosch.
Nordstrom became the first retailer to partner with Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty, a good move to draw shoppers into their website and physical stores.
“It's a pretty big win for Nordstrom,” said Droesch. “I don't think Savage X Fenty was going around knocking on every department store's doors in order to get someone to sell their wares. The fact that Nordstrom was able to create that partnership shows they're clearly making an effort to [attract] more popular brands, which is what all department stores really need to be doing to keep relevant.”
Walmart’s retail media business, Walmart Connect, grew 26% in the last quarter, outpacing Amazon's retail media growth.
“It’s interesting to watch Walmart iterate and grow its ad business,” said Marzano. “They recently announced bringing nonendemic advertising into their stores. Their brick-and-mortar store footprint is a great point of differentiation. We know retail media in stores is still pretty small, but has a lot of potential for growth.”
Abercrombie & Fitch announced a deal with Haddad brands to distribute and develop their children's line. Haddad also does licensing for Nike, among other brands.
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