#120 The Least boring Weekend Newsletter

September 03, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 12 minutes

Good Morning Readers!

We’re Happy To Be Here To Make Your Day A Little Brighter. ☀️

Finally, Labor Day is here just 2 more days to go! Do you know, It originated as an event to commemorate the contributions of American workers and has evolved into somewhat of a celebration for summer's end and the upcoming fall season.

So what are you doing this Labor Day🛠?

We are grateful for the many sacrifices made by American laborers over the years—especially this week during National Labor Day. It may be hard to believe once you take a trip down the bustling aisles of IKEA, Home Depot, and every other store in between, but Labor Day is one of those holidays that has its roots in labor movements. 

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

Alright, so let’s get right to it!

This newsletter is going to dive into:

🛒Hermès' Virtual Reality Experience Sets New Bar For Luxury

🖇Benefits Of Picking Up Collaboration Instead Of Competitive Prices

🥇 Brand Of The Week - Tango Apple

📌Conversational Commerce: The Future Of Shopping Is Here!

🎁 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!

Grow Your Startup With SUNSAMA

Hermès' Virtual Reality Experience Sets New Bar For Luxury

In the past few years, more and more luxury goods brands have been venturing into the virtual world. The reason is quite straightforward:  the virtual world has been growing at a rapid pace, with traffic increasing over 200% in the past four years alone. Metaverse is an open and decentralized platform of virtual assets. Hermes, one of the world's leading fashion brands, believes in the future, which is why they are working hard today to keep everything running smoothly. They are about to start a campaign to change their product forever and reach new heights of popularity. 

Hermes is implementing blockchain and digital assets as part of an effort to expand its physical fashion offerings. They have joined the crowd excitedly awaiting further public use of Web3 technologies by filing a trademark application covering NFTs, cryptocurrencies, and the metaverse. Following filing a lawsuit against Mason Rothschild, the founder of Metabirkins, in January for allegedly utilizing the name of the brand, Birkin, to profit from sales and resales for his NFT Metabirkins line, a fresh trademark application has been made.

The premium brands' explorations into the metaverse are neither the first nor, most likely, the last. Earlier this year, Dolce & Gabbana, Etro, Tommy Hilfiger, Estée Lauder, and Elie Saab all made appearances at Decentraland's Metaverse Fashion Week, a four-day digital fashion event featuring wearables on virtual runways. According to data from Dune Analytics, leading companies, including Nike, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Adidas, and Tiffany & Co., generated a combined $260 million in sales via NFTs last month.

Benefits Of Picking Up Collaboration Instead Of Competitive Prices

The brands collaborate with artists, designers, and other influencers to create new products that can be sold through their channels. These collaborations help the brand stand out from its competition in a crowded marketplace. The recent trend that can be seen in the clothing and beauty industry is to partner with other companies rather than compete on price. This is a departure from the current trend in retail, which is usually focused on offering lower prices than competitors.

This shift is because customers enjoy buying directly from the companies where they get their favorite products. They also like feeling like they're part of a community with other customers who love those same brands as much as they do. This sense of belonging has been proven to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, which means that these companies can charge higher prices without suffering any loss in sales volume or profits; they see an increase in both!

Here are three reasons why picking up collaboration over competitive prices will help you grow your business:

  • The Collaboration Will Increase Sales: You can't just rely on price as a way to attract customers—you have to offer them something else too. Collaboration makes your products more appealing by making them more personalized and unique than anything else on the market. Collaboration helps you stand out from other retailers who are just offering products with generic designs at lower costs.

  • Collaboration Is More Transparent Than The Competition: Collaboration is all about working together instead of against each other—it's the opposite of competition. With collaboration, you can ensure that both parties benefit from the deal and that everyone involved knows what they're getting into before they start. Competition often leaves one side feeling like they're being taken advantage of or cheated out of something important. That can lead to resentment and bad blood between your business partners (if not outright betrayal).

  • More Resource Access: Retailers who choose to collaborate with competitors instead of competing will also have access to resources that would otherwise be unavailable if they were not collaborating. These resources include information about new developments in technology that could benefit their business as well as access to other businesses that provide services such as marketing or advertising for free or at discounted rates when working together with other companies instead of competing against them.

Brand Of The Week - Tango Apple

The drink industry has been shifting toward sugar-free products in response to growing demand. This trend is fueled by health concerns and increasing awareness of the negative environmental impact of sugary drinks. As the demand for sugar-free products continues to grow, brand owners are looking for new ways to meet this demand. The answer? Sugar-free drinks! Sugar-free drinks have been around for decades, but as consumer preferences change, so do the types of sugar-free products available on the market. As a result, brand owners are constantly looking for ways to innovate their offerings and keep up with consumer demands.

With the introduction of its well-liked apple flavor in a sugar-free style, Tango is continuing to beat the nation's tastes. The newest product to the well-liked line, Tango Apple Sugar-Free, capitalizes on the rising demand for sugar-free goods. With no added sugar, it preserves the same fantastic Apple Original flavor. Over the past five years, the Tango brand's size has increased by half.

And while there is still plenty of room for growth in this category—a recent report showed that only about 12% of Americans consume sugar-free beverages, compared with about 40% who drink regular soda or sugary fruit juices—there is no doubt that this segment will continue to expand as consumers' tastes continue to shift away from traditional sugar-filled drinks.

Conversational Commerce: The Future Of Shopping Is Here!

The advent of conversational commerce has changed the way consumers interact with brands. Today, it's no longer enough for brands to have a website and a social media account; now they must also be able to communicate with their customers in real-time. So why is conversational commerce such a hot topic? Because it makes life easier for everyone involved. The consumer gets exactly what they want when they want it—no more waiting in line at the store or waiting on hold with customer service. And for businesses? Conversational commerce means increased engagement and higher conversion rates.

But how do you build a conversational commerce experience that stands out? How can you make sure customers are satisfied with every interaction? Let's take a look at different ways you can build your own conversational commerce experience on Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp:

  • Focus on the customer journey: First and foremost, it's important to understand the customer journey in order to build a successful conversational commerce experience. Think about the steps they take when they're interacting with your brand on these platforms: what do they need to know? How do they want to be able to interact with your brand? How can you provide them with helpful information or answers at every point along the way?

  • Use a bot for simple transactions: If you're selling a product that can be easily bought via Messenger, like food or apparel, you can use a bot to handle the transaction. The bot will allow customers to place an order, and then complete payment through PayPal or Venmo.

  • Use a bot for customer service: If your business is more complex than just selling one product at a time, consider using bots for customer service instead of just transactions. 

For example, if you're selling art supplies, you could use a bot to help customers find the right products based on their needs and preferences.

  • Use augmented reality: This method is great if you have an offline business and want to continue interacting with customers after they've left your store or office. You could use augmented reality to show them how different outfits look on them without having them come in person!

So, what's the verdict? If you have a very large customer base on one of these networks, it might be worth considering a dedicated channel. Having more control over the experience can be a major benefit. On the other hand, if your business is ready to engage customers any time and anywhere, there's no better choice than a cross-channel solution that encompasses all three of these major social messaging apps. This way, you'll reach users in the way they prefer, on all three major platforms.

Brand Deals Of The Week

Samsung is offering the exclusive Labour Day deal that no one can deny!

Black Friday’s startling deals by Lululemon on women’s wear. 

Madewell offering amazing deals this Black Friday with lovely discounts.  

Last chance to grab some beauty deals before this Cyber Monday Sale ends, Clinique.  

Shop some top deals on this Labor Day Sale by Wayfair.

Top Reads Of The Week

Nestlé launches Food Service Subsidiary with Freshly. 

OffLimits is scaling its retail footprint with Fresh Thyme.

Walmart added a ‘smart garage’ company to expand the retailer’s in-home delivery service. 

Lululemon posted a strong earnings beat after its boosted outlook. 

CTO is appointed as Build-A-Bear vet by Francesca’s. 

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

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CHOOSE SUCCESS below and have a great weekend! Get that D2C business runnin’.