Why Rent the Runway is courting Gen Z

Hello there! It’s me, Cale Guthrie Weissman, Modern Retail’s editor in chief.?

In this week’s Modern Retail Download, we have three hand-picked stories about how major retail companies are modernizing their businesses. First, Rent the Runway has a revamped strategy to bring in younger shoppers. This includes going to colleges and refreshing its assortment. Then, Shopify aggregator OpenStore has launched a new product to bring in more customers. Lastly, we speak with Walmart about its data platform and its ambitions to grow the program.

You can find all of these stories below. Thanks for reading!

College tours & curated merch: How Rent the Runway is hoping to capture the Gen Z market

Rent the Runway is trying to appeal to a new customer: younger people. The clothing rental service is going to college campuses and trying to woo in more Gen Z shoppers. While Rent the Runway has been known for millennials dressing up for events, it’s now setting its sights on different types of use cases.

Co-founder Jenifer Hyman spoke with Modern Retail about the company’s plans and expansion. It has had a tough few years but is now trying to get back to growth.?

You can read all about it here.

After layoffs, Shopify aggregator OpenStore launches an AI customer service tool for brands

When OpenStore first launched, it had big plans to be a leader in the e-commerce aggregator space. It touted a proprietary algorithm to suss out the best brands to acquire and, at one point, said it had scooped up over 40 startups.

But now the company is offering a new service. Earlier this week, OpenStore unveiled a new AI-powered customer service tool. It said it built this with its suite of brands but now wants to sell it to any e-commerce company.

You can learn more about it here.

How Walmart is evolving its data analytics platform to reflect an AI-driven focus

Every major retailer is trying to monetize their data in new ways. That’s especially true for Walmart, which is rebranding its Luminate data platform as Scintilla. With this new branding, Walmart wants to expand work with global brands to help them use Walmart’s data to solve business problems.

The retailer spoke with Modern Retail about the evolution of its data platform. While most data platforms are intended to drive advertising sales, Scintilla is hoping that more brands will use it to gain insights into consumer behavior.

You can read our dive into Walmart’s data program here.

That’s it for this week. Thanks for subscribing.

?— Cale