Shopping Shifts
Plus: Beli + the gamification of hobbies, pre-holiday consumer trends, and more 🛒
Hello and welcome back to Brandscape!
It’s been a while. My apologies for the unintended break. September has been a busy month so far, but I’m glad to be back!
Today, I’ll be diving into:
The future of SSENSE
A new brand on my radar
McKinsey’s new report ahead of the holiday season
J. Crew took over 190 Bowery in Nolita at the end of last week. Everything from the teasers to the execution of the pop-up was on point.
SSENSE can continue to operate independently, according to The Superior Court of Québec. In case you missed it, at the end of August, the creditors of the Montreal-based e-commerce company submitted an application to force the sale of the company. SSENSE then filed for bankruptcy protection. Now, with $40 million in interim financing and the help of their lenders, SSENSE is working on a restructuring plan.
A new brand on my radar: Copper Home. Their hero product, Charlie, is a battery-powered range that comes in three different finishes. It features an induction cooktop and an oven that heats to desired temperatures 4x faster than a gas oven. It “charges intelligently” when renewable energy is available (I’d like to learn more about this process). They’ve succeeded in creating a cohesive look and voice for an innovative product in the home appliances category, which is often dominated by the same players.
Beli is the first-choice restaurant app for Gen Z foodies. Restaurants on the app have more than 75 million ratings as of September, according to The New York Times. This is compared the 52 million restaurant reviews that have been posted on Yelp throughout its history. I think Beli’s success comes from the fact that it plays into Gen Z’s tendency to “gamify” their hobbies (think: BookTok + Goodreads, Strava, etc.). After all, did you even eat at that restaurant / go on that run / finish that book if you didn’t update your friends?
46% of U.S. consumers plan to spend as much on holiday shopping as they did last year. McKinsey’s new pre-holiday consumer trends survey reveals that U.S. consumers are taking a cautious approach to holiday shopping with many starting their shopping early and pulling back on discretionary spending. Roughly half of U.S. consumers plan to shop both in-person and online, underscoring the importance of a unified omnichannel retail strategy in the current landscape.
Thank you for reading!
— Henry
Brandscape is a weekly newsletter covering marketing, brand, consumer insights, and design — all through the lens of a college student.