no. 28: retail is the word of the day.

i went to nrf.

hi all! i recently attended the national retail federation (nrf) conference, one of the largest retail conferences in the world. i was fortunate to sit in on sessions featuring discussions on topics like ai personalization strategies and the evolution of retail beyond omnichannel. i did want to highlight one of the sessions with the ceos of shopify, ag1, and favorite daughter. (how these three companies merged into a ted talk, don’t ask me). before that, here is my mini-news roundup this week:

mini-news roundup 🗞️

• ‘red note,’ a chinese app is dominating downloads thanks to tiktok users - i am seeing this everywhere and it’s absurd that americans have already stormed the app with the looming tiktok ban. reportedly, over half a million tiktok users joined the app to show how little they care about tikok’s ties to beijing. xiaohongshu was the most downloaded free app in the u.s. apple store on tuesday.

• meta announces 5% cuts in preparation for ‘intense year’ - zuckerberg informed employees about the decision to “move out low performers faster” in a memo posted on the company’s internal workplace forum on tuesday. this is eerily similar to layoffs by intuit a few months back, when they essentially laid off the low performers then hired more employees shortly after.

• what will happen to your industry in 2025? - i guess this prediction in

  Feed Me
  (if you know, you know) for “what’s in” for the tech industry is spot on already: “more people will be cut in 2025. in tech, the cost of building ai models, the infrastructure (chips, energy costs, data centers) will continue to skyrocket and the only way to make wall street happy and not let your competitors win is to keep spending like drunken sailors while cutting people”

• starbucks cracks down: no latte, no lounging - visitors have to now purchase something at starbucks in order to stay there. i guess a cup of water doesn’t count anymore…

• walmart’s new logo is making people mad, and rightfully so - i personally did not realize that the blue before was so dull. i like the brighter blue with a crispier logo, but i do understand that people are enraged they reportedly spent 1.2m on this. the internet does not do well when brands make the tiniest of changes these days, reminds me of the recent jaguar rebrand, which was far more of a change than this is.

  

  “dull blue to not-dull blue”

• 6 food trends fashion needs to know about in 2025 - the importance of food in culture and fashion is evident now more than ever, in this great article by vogue business: “gen z, who’ve been swapping high-ticket purchases for daily $20 erewhon smoothies and $4 liquid death canned water, as they aim to elevate the everyday in a challenging socioeconomic environment.” are we really swapping high-ticket purchases or are we just adding to the list of them?

trends to watch 👀

favorite daughter was founded by sisters erin and sara foster - wwd reported that favorite daughter was on track to make $50 million in revenue for the year. beyond running this fashion line, the foster sisters also produce content like the netflix show nobody wants this, are prolific angel investors, and host a podcast. i simply didn’t recognize this, although it explains why kristen bell was wearing the outfits she was wearing... foster joked about the uphill battle of getting netflix to let kristen bell wear favorite daughter, but it was worth the fight:

kristen bell in head-to-toe favorite daughter

“today’s customer is too smart and has too many options,” foster said, and she’s right. favorite daughter seems to be thriving by creating an ecosystem that feels intentional and connected by sara foster. from her heavy hand in the brand process and partnerships like nuuly, sara’s strategy focuses on showing up in the right places. i think the reason this feels authentic is because of their natural product placements. i also recently joined nuuly and am noticing that i really like their brand’s products. a very smart move because if you like something you rent on nuuly for only 89 a month, you can choose to buy it and make it a part of your full-time wardrobe. for more on nuuly, check out this piece by

Brand Baby

.

new balance on staying both new and balanced - under joe preston’s leadership, new balance has managed to stay culturally relevant while remaining true to its roots as a premium athletic footwear company.

the brand balances heritage with innovation through two main strategies:

1. defining what “new” means for the consumer - for new balance, “new” can take many forms—collaborations, running styles, or cushioning technologies. the definition essentially evolves and is personalized to the consumer.

2. selective distribution - new balance carefully chooses premium retail environments that align with its elevated pricing strategy. collaborations with designers and choosing the right athletes, like coco gauff, to be the face of the brand keep its offerings fresh, while storytelling around these innovations ensures the brand stays relevant in a rapidly changing market.

fire.

my takeaways💡

we can consider today to be the “post-omnichannel” era of retail. rather than selling through all channels (omnichannel), successful brands have started to focus on selling in the right locations. both favorite daughter and new balance highlighted this shift, emphasizing the need to meet consumers where they are and more strategically rather than showing up everywhere. for foster, that meant finding ways to connect her brand into her other projects and making sure that it made sense for everywhere favorite daughter shows up.

a quick overview of omnichannel retail.

today’s customers are “too savvy for anything less,” and the brands that succeed are the ones that stay true to their values and convey their stories consistently across all touchpoints. that was a lot of information this week, so if you didn’t get to read all of it i am not offended. also, i went back to my old format. let me know if you like the readability and flow more.

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