Investor interest in the streetwear space is growing rapidly. After Supreme joined forces with The Carlye Group, highly influential streetwear and youth culture title Highsnobiety has raised an USD 8.5 million Series A round led by London-based venture firm Felix Capital, with additional details on the deal remaining undisclosed. Highsnobiety plans to use the new funding to help scale its branded content, e-commerce and events businesses.
Read MoreIn 2005 Petrus Palmér co-founded the studio Form Us With Love straight out of design school in Sweden. By 2012, FUWL’s clients already included Ikea, Cappellini, and Muuto. It was hard to imagine how things could go better, but Palmér felt a nagging discontent in what he was doing. He was stuck between designing for the biggest mass market imaginable or for the 1% who could afford a USD 10.000 couch.
Read MoreAn Instagrammer with over 1,000 followers can get paid upwards of GBP 130 for a single promotional post. Big social media stars with hundreds of thousands of followers can make thousands from one post. Being an Insta influencer is now a bona fide career. More so, as Instagram has started to allow its user to shop-as-you-scroll by adding a new level tools and nurture the Instagram’s billion-dollar influencer economy.
Read MoreWhat exactly is digital M&A and how does it compare with garden-variety deal making? The buzz in the world of mergers and acquisitions these days around technology and digital businesses. BCG latest report conculded that one out of every five transactions has a clear link to some form of technology.
Read MoreWhat most people do not see in TBH, an app sold for around USD 100m to Facebook, only nine weeks after its launch are that it requires hard work and overcoming failure before successful deploying an app. Whilst the time to exit was short for TBH, it was most certainly not an overnight success for the makers behind the app.
Read MoreSpeaking of the death of retail and the end of physical shopping experiences, in late November Alibaba was investing announced that it invested nearly $3 billion for a 36% stake in China hypermart operator Sun Art Retail. It looked like the Chinese e-commerce titan was copying a page from Amazon’s strategy plan, after Jeff Bezos’ company stunned U.S. supermarket operators by acquiring high-end grocer Whole Foods for more than $13 billion.
Read MoreTo understand Amazon’s role, let’s take a closer look at how WyzeCam leveraged the power of Amazon. Wyze’s device sells for $20 plus shipping if you buy directly from the company’s website or $30 on Amazon, where members of the company’s Prime service can get it delivered within two days. Nest’s and Netgear’s comparable indoor cameras sell for around $200 each. Similar to its branded competitors, Wyze Labs' gadget is a small, internet-connected video camera, which one might use for security or to keep an eye on your dog or your baby. The single biggest difference is that it is being sold for an unbelievably low price of $20.
Read MoreAs 2017 was heralded to see the death of retail, as boutiques and department stores were closing its doors driven by changing consumer habits, price wars and the threat of Amazon, high-end e-commerce remains a bright spot in the shopping landscape. Online luxury sales jumped by 24 percent this year, according to a recent study by the consulting firm Bain & Co. and the online sales of personal luxury goods are expected to make up 25 percent of the market by 2025.
Read MoreTechnology-savvy Millennials are seen by many in the travel and tourism industry as the new key segment to generate much of the targeted growth in the coming years. And, those 1.8 billion people worldwide do display particular characteristics that will heavily influence the future. According to recent data, Millennials are more optimistic and plan to travel more frequently and spend more on travel than boomers in the next five years. This global generation seeks authenticity and is very adaptable yet also has come of age with a built-in expectation of having control of their activities. They want to experience new cultures, blend experiences across different types of trips, encounter and engage with local people and have authentic experiences.
Read MoreWhat customers want and what businesses think they want are often two different things, which is why personalization can be a huge advantage for businesses and consumers alike. Targeted communications that are relevant and useful can create long-lasting positive customer experiences and impact the business revenue growth of up to 30 percent. Customers see value as a function of how relevant and timely a message is in relation to how much it costs. In other words, how much personal information has to be shared and how much personal effort does it take to receive useful content.
Read More“You never find a place that is total silence,” Mr. Kagge said. “I’ve been looking, and I have not found it.” Erling Kagge is a 54-year-old Norwegian explorer, author and publisher. The closest he came was trekking to the South Pole, which he reached in early 1993. He was alone in frozen isolation for 50 nights and days. Given a radio to make emergency calls, he’d tossed the batteries on Day 1. “When you start, you have all the noise in your head,” Mr. Kagge said, but by the end “you feel your brain is wider than the sky. You’re a guy being part of this bigness, this greatness. To be alone and experience the silence feels very safe, very meaningful.”
Read MoreTech is not just for tech companies anymore. Nearly every industry has been affected by digital and mobile technologies disrupting their market and no company can afford to ignore the impact of technology, starting with supply chains to customer engagement, and continuous with even more advanced technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things. The question is, how do companies rapidly access the technologies that can advance their businesses and integrate them successfully with their current operations?
Read MoreContent personalization is all about making the customer journey smoother, helping customers to be informed to make the best choice, which leads to better and quicker sales and service outcomes. In today’s world of short attention spans and rising expectations for a great user experience, content personalisation is inevitable. If applied correctly, it will lead to fewer abandonments, greater conversion rates, better quality sales, but above all happier customers!
Read MoreSearch is changing. If you are a long time user of the Internet and, more specifically, search engines like Google or Bing, you can see how the way we look for information has changed over the past few years. There is no doubt that the search landscape is changing towards a more natural and spontaneous language. Currently, the most accurate way to deliver best-matching results can be achieved through semantic search, i.e. the ability to put typed searches into context. At Palenio we use semantic fingerprinting to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Read MoreIf you want to win the hearts, minds and wallet share of consumers, a report by Think with Google suggests that companies need to do more than just show up in those I-want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I-want- to-do, and I-want-to-buy moments, They are required to be useful and meet the customer’s needs in those exact moments. This means connecting people to relevant information, if required, in real-time and based on location. Micro-moments are critical touchpoints within today’s consumer journey, and when added together, they ultimately determine the customer experience.
Read MoreAfter decades of selling products and collecting data about what people are buying, and when they are buying it, Amazon has started cutting out the middle-man by selling self-produced items. Through its AmazonBasics house brand, it sells various types of small items, from iPhone chargers to batteries, and foam rollers to washcloths. It is the sort of stuff that customers might not be too brand loyal over. Whilst Amazon-branded products are obviously recognisable, the company has started to sell products, using a different sub-brands that do not make it clear that they are Amazon-made products.
Read MoreIn collaboration with Volvo, The Telegraph has launched Telegraph Connect, which is a network of communities dedicated to helping professionals grow their businesses and develop their careers. In their latest article, the focus lied on “design thinking”. Although rooted in design and creativity, it is a technique that businesses use to solve particular problems. John Oswald, the former business design director at Fjord, and now global principal of the advisory team at digital innovation consultancy, Futurice, describes design thinking as a cross-section of design, business and technology, brought together to solve human problems.
Read MoreSpeedfactory is the beginning in Adidas’ vision to offer consumers a holistic high-tech experience using revolutionary manufacturing technologies, in-store customisation and interactive digital experiences. Starting with Speedfactory, the company will roll out ground-breaking initiatives in stores and via cutting-edge digital consumer experiences.
Read MoreMillennials enjoy sports just as much as members of other generations. It’s the way they consume sports that matters. In a world with so many sports options across so many screens, sports fans of all ages are clicking away from unexciting, low-stakes or lopsided games. In addition, Brian Hughes of Magna Global says that the increased need for instant gratification and entertainment, like immediate stats and quick highlights, has funneled some young viewers away from TV.
Read MoreWith its own dedicated fromagerie, microbrewery and Michelin-calibre restaurant, it might be easy to forget you have come to watch the football when you are reclining in one of the premium lounges of Tottenham Hotspur’s new £750m stadium. The 61,000-seat behemoth will feature the longest bar in the country, heated seats with built-in USB ports, a glass-walled tunnel so you can see the players before the game and even a “sky walk” allowing fans to clamber over the roof of the arena.
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