#100 The Least boring Weekend Newsletter

June 25, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Good Morning Readers!

Here’s to wishing for a successful day ahead!

🥳 It’s Our 100th Edition! 🥳

How To E-Commerce has reached its 100th issue and we couldn’t have been any happier! With this special edition of our newsletter, we wish to make an extremely important announcement. 

This fantastic venture of creating an information-packed and opportunity-loaded newsletter twice a week wouldn’t have been possible without the constant engagement of our family of 9k+ readers. We’ve grown an amazing community of DTC enthusiasts here, and we’d like nothing more than to give you an amazing surprise ⬇️

As a gift for helping us reach #100, we’re giving away a free opportunity for you to be one of the 10 guest appearances on our podcast where we talk all about YOU!

1. Just fill out the form.

2. Let us know your agenda behind featuring on How To E-commerce.

3. We’ll get in touch with you with details of our upcoming conversation on the podcast.

That’s it! See you soon.

Almund’s newsletter will give you all kinds of tips for D2C brands and much more.

Alright, so let’s get right to it!

This newsletter is going to dive into:

👥 Apple Sits Out The Metaverse Standards Forum

🪜 Steps To Build A Recession-Proof Business

🥇 Brand Of The Week - Alo Yoga

🎁 Brand Deals Of The Week

📕 Top Reads Of The Week

⚙️ Plenty Of Jobs Await You!

So, scroll down to THE VERY END & read up on what’s yet to come your way!

DTC X Metaverse

The world recently witnessed the creation of a Metaverse Standards Forum. Notable giants came together to become members of the forum, expecting to become major players in the space. But, Apple took the bold decision not to join this elite group and decided to work on a mixed-reality headset. 

What Is The Forum About?

The Forum is a place dedicated to “building a pervasive, open, and inclusive metaverse at a global scale” through the mutual cooperation of international organizations. Now a group containing various multi-disciplinary industry leaders is set to provide help in accelerating the development of practical, actionable projects that will be the key to unleashing the complete potential of the Metaverse.

They are set to be involved in projects such as:

  • Interactive 3D assets and photorealistic rendering

  • Human interface and interaction paradigms, including AR, VR, and XR

  • UGC content

  • IoT

  • Geospatial solutions

  • Finance-related projects

  • Avatars, privacy, and identity management systems

Some of the biggest companies are a part of this venture, namely, Microsoft, Adobe, Sony, Nvidia, Epic Games, and Meta. 

So why did Apple decide to sit this one out?

Apple wishes to build something bigger than a VR experience for users—it is set on building a better experience. Without giving much away, Apple has stated that they wish for people to stay tuned for their upcoming projects. 

With no product to drive their journey through the Metaverse, Apple wishes to create something bigger than what people are expecting to experience by  “sticking goggles on their heads to explore virtual experiences like being a character in ‘The Sims’.” Apple CEO, Tim Cook, has stated that he is very excited about the creative opportunities they wish to explore in this space, and we are too. 

Steps To Build A Recession-Proof Business

The pandemic (yes, we’re still talking about it) sparked a nationwide zeal in people to kickstart their own businesses. But the recent and ongoing hit of inflation paired with disastrous events causing havoc in the economy has caused a great deal of worry in businesses this year, especially small and medium-scale enterprises. At times like this, building a recession-resistant business should be your utmost priority.

But it isn’t possible for a DTC business to be completely immune to the effects of an ongoing recession. Instead, you can take actionable steps to ensure you get affected less than you otherwise would have. Here are 5 strategies you can deploy.

1. Create A Business Emergency Fund

Saving for your business is no different than saving for your personal funds. A separate emergency fund can give your business a cash cushion to fall back on when things get difficult, and you need time to recentre your strategy.  

Ideally, your emergency fund should be created and must continue to grow for as long as possible, containing six months’ worth of essential costs, payroll, cash for inventory and utilities, etc.

2. Flexibility In Products

During challenging times, your audience might still need your products but perhaps, in a different setting, in different combinations, and under different circumstances. Hence, it is essential that your business remains ever-ready to change the way you attract customers with your products. 

Modifications in the products themselves, curated bundles, pricing, or method of delivery—everything should be susceptible to change.

3. Be Ready To Pivot

Pivoting doesn’t involve altering what you sell completely. Instead, pivoting in business involves changing the way you attract customers and/or sell your products; if you’re selling through an eCommerce store, you can continue selling but also consider shifting to selling wholesale. Inversely, if you sell wholesale, consider shifting to an eCommerce platform to reach your customers easily. 

Having an adaptable business plan can help you make the most of the difficult and challenging times too.

4. Invest In Adaptive Technology

With things closing down and things getting difficult for you as a business owner and for your customers alike, it is only fair for you to think about investing in adaptive technology. In such pressing times, your customers are only going to buy from you if they find it convenient. Make things easier for them at every step of the way. 

When you realize that recession is about to hit the market, it might be too late for you to react. That’s why it’s essential to take into consideration potential threats to your business and ensure you take the necessary precautions to recession-proof your business to survive or even thrive in an economic slowdown.

Brand of the Week - Alo Yoga

Alo Yoga, an athleisure brand, is testing out new ways to engage with its audience using the power of Web3. From virtual spaces to cryptocurrency as payments to integrating NFTs into their brand operations, Alo Yoga is gearing up for the future.

Alo Yoga first ventured into the digital space in February by opening a virtual retail store in Roblox called the Alo Sanctuary. Users could walk into the space to attend meditation classes and yoga sessions while shopping from an apparel collection.

They have also given their employees the option to convert their paychecks from dollars to crypto, issuing no transaction fees at all. This calculated exchange is to facilitate easy regular cryptocurrency trades. 

As a part of their recent adventure into the world of Metaverse, Alo Yoga has joined retail giants Gucci, Tag Heuer, Pacsun, and Victoria’s Secret in adopting cryptocurrency as a payment method on their online stores. Alo Yoga acknowledges the potential in blockchain and NFTs and expects a small segment of its audience to be using crypto, making it an ideal payment option for its products.

Brand Deals of the Week

Sophestiplate has launched a new range & it’s calling for you.

MadeMan’s got a special discount running for first-time customers!

NewAge has just introduced rewards and perks for its subscribers. Check it out!

Keurig has got a bunch of deals and offers for you to enjoy. Head over now.

Top Reads of the Week

Glossier raise product prices owing to rising manufacturing & shipping costs.

Netflix enters the ad-supported market to make up for its loss.

Clubhouse tests new features & private rooms to battle other leading social media platforms.

The team behind Alexa tests out a phenomenon called “conversation exploration,” allowing the assistant to mimic empathy, transparency, and your grandmother's voice.

IN NEED OF A JOB?  WE'VE GOT PLENTY AWAITING YOU!

CHOOSE SUCCESS below and have a great weekend! Get that DTC business runnin’.