no. 36: i am back!

chinese shopping apps, the boy smells rebrand, and more.

hi all! i am back from a trip to japan and seoul which was absolutely out of this world. (see pictures below if you are so inclined). i am, of course, jet lagged, so please excuse any extra typos.

mini news round-up 🗞️

• chinese shopping apps soar - chinese shopping apps are getting a free boost thanks to the tariffs. not to mention, dhgate is now the second top downloaded free app.

• ltk got social - the shopping affiliate app now allows you to connect with your friends on the app. surprised this hasn’t been done before by either ltk or by shopmy, given where the future is headed (hint: social).

  

• similarly, is this the end of impulse shopping? - it’s not, but the chief executive of qvc, says that in 10 years, social shopping is going to be massive and that it’s “going to have thoroughly disrupted the retail ecosystem at scale”

• glossier might lose its unicorn status - with an endless abundance of beauty brands, it will be really interesting to see if glossier keeps its stronghold in the market.

• netflix reported a 13% rise in quarterly revenue - netflix is on the up. up to $10.5 billion. i guess you don’t have to make quality television to do well anymore.

• boy smells’ rebrand killed their brand - i am not sure why boy smells decided this was a good idea. talk about killing an iconic brand look. “the design [the] gen z version of cringy millennial pink is”

  

• why is everything in fashion suddenly a recession indicator? - fashion is, perhaps even inadvertently, preparing itself for its effects on consumer habits.

• how are brands are responding to the tariffs - this piece by

  Caroline Albro
  keenly breaks down how some brands are already reacting and emailing about tariffs. case and point that emails are a brand’s underutilized best friend.

brand-storming 🧃

• touchland (cpg 🛍️) - touchland is killing it both in their revenue and in their branding, given that they only sell fancy hand sanitizer. i almost fell victim over the weekend but held out strong.

• suno (tech 📲)- i found this startup that is making music via generative ai. check it out.

that’s all i have this week! see you all soon!

— zoya