Glossy

With a passion for collecting, teen boys have been driving the fragrance market all year. For the holiday shopping season, expect them to fill their carts and wishlists with the powerful scents they've been gravitating to throughout the year.

For many businesses, the holiday season is a vital time to hit end-of-year sales goals. But a brand’s final marketing push can get drowned out by the noise and competition from other brands in a similar position. Therefore, marketers prioritize meeting consumers where they are and maintaining their attention once they gain it.?

The holidays are an?important time?for any retail business, and for Etsy, it’s an especially fruitful period. The company’s emphasis on unique products, either handmade or handpicked, is a major selling point around the holidays as shoppers seek out personal or personalized gifts. Etsy is leaning on this advantage this holiday season, starting with its first-ever holiday pop-up experience in New York. Running from October 25-27, the pop-up features dozens of Etsy sellers, who will be making and customizing products for sale on-site. According to Etsy COO and CMO Raina Moskowitz, that’s just one part of Etsy’s overall holiday strategy.

Since launching nine years ago in Byron Bay, Australia, NAGNATA has been evolving from a local “movement wear” brand, focused on premium-knit activewear styles, to a global lifestyle brand selling categories including ready-to-wear, swimwear and menswear. More categories are coming next year, as are the brand’s first international stores. According to founder Laura May Gibbs, who joined the Glossy Podcast this week, Nagnata has its sights set on a New York store, following a successful experience hosting a Soho pop-up in September. The U.S. is Nagnata’s second-largest market, following Australia, thanks in part to the brand’s retail partners which have worked wonders for awareness. They currently include Bergdorf Goodman, SSENSE and Louisaviaroma, plus NET-A-PORTER’s support gave the brand legs early on. It’s not bad for a brand that has been completely self-funded. On the podcast episode, Gibbs discusses Nagnata’s values-driven processes, which have earned it a dedicated fan following. She also discusses its growth plans and its Patagonia-like holiday strategy.?

In November, California voters?passed Proposition 36, which increases punishment for petty crimes including shoplifting. At Glossy’s November Beauty and Wellness Summit in Napa, many?attendees pointed to shrink?as an increasingly challenging problem at the retail level. In October, the National Retail Federation announced it would?not publish its annual shrink report?in 2024 and would instead release a report focused on retail theft and violence. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eswpGUZ2

Two years into his role as creative chair at John Hardy, Reed Krakoff is proving he still has the magic touch. After transformative runs at Coach and Tiffany & Co. — where he greatly expanded the category mix and introduced a less stuffy side, respectively —?Krakoff is breathing new life into 50-year-old John Hardy, the fine jewelry brand majority-owned by L Catterton since 2014. Five of Krakoff’s first John Hardy collections have already become the brand’s best-ever sellers, winning over existing and new customers alike. And the semi-disruptive zhoosh he’s given the brand’s marketing and retail presence has opened the door to new possibilities. “Casual,” “sexy,” “cool” and “confident” are words he’s using to describe John Hardy’s new direction.?? Story by Jill Manoff

With the biggest shopping days of the year around the corner, concern around shrink — and, in particular, consumer theft — is growing among retailers. But shrink does not refer only to consumer theft; it encompasses inventory lost due to reasons other than sales, including shoplifting, internal theft and processing and logistical errors. According to the National Retail Federation's 2022 shrink report, external theft is the largest shrink driver, at 36%, while internal theft and processing errors make up 29% and 27%, respectively. In this piece by Emily Jensen, we speak to Paula Floyd of Headkount, and Sujeet Naik of Coresight Research. ?

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Last year, holiday sales across the U.S. retail industry hit?a record?of $964 billion, which may be the source of brands’ optimism. Some studies, like a report released this month by Mastercard Economics Institute, suggest that holiday sales this year will see a slight boost from last year’s record numbers.

“A lot of brands are buying a lot of components up front right now to avoid some of those tariffs that could come in,” Liza Amlani, founder of consultancy firm Retail Strategy Group and former off-price buyer, said. “So we’re seeing a lot of activity which will drive excess inventory.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/eDTyNSZp