2024 The V Spot Retail and eCommerce Weekly News Friday Week 1

Welcome to the VSpot again, your home of the nearly news for all things e-commerce and retail. In a week where layoffs dominated most of the headlines, it was heartwarming to hear that this honeypot is about to be acquired. The feminine care brand is under the watchful eye of an investor group led by Christopher Robin Winny the Pooh, Tigger, McLachlan, and Eeyore. Citing domain expertise, we're not actually sure that this group knows what they are getting into. We will be watching this story closely and bringing you more as it emerges. It is week 1 of 2024, we're shaking off the NRF hangover, and we're delighted to be bringing you the news once more. Up first, Stitch Fix. A stitch in time does not save 9, it saves 10. 10 full-time stylists in Stitch Fix are to be put to part-time hours in a move that they're going to be providing the same service to a declining customer base in a hope that it's going to transform the company. Hmm. NRF has ended for another year. It was a week full of shop talk. Talk amongst old friends. ShopTalk are considering a rebrand. Story 3: Casper CEO Emily Arell and Brooklyn CEO Billy May were on the stage this week at NRF talking of declining sales, tough times ahead, and both with very frowning faces. Things were not very positive. So that's it, sleepless nights delivered to you from two sleep giants. Next story, next story. December trading numbers were down in the UK over 3%. This is the largest decrease seen since COVID times. Both credit card companies and buy now pay later organizations are up in arms at the lack of consumer uptake on their products. One source said to us, "All this rainy day talk is nonsense. It rains pretty much every day here. What the fuck are people waiting for?" Story 5 or 6, who cares. Fraser's Group upped their stake in troubled retailers ASOS and Boohoo this month. Talks of a mega merger are rife. Seems two wrongs do make a right. Next story. In a report commissioned by Gopher, it claims that over 50% of online shoppers now want next-day delivery as an option. In other news, the sky is blue. Final story this week. It would be remiss if we ran the news report without the mention of AI. Victoria's Secret this week announced that they're going to be using Google's Vertex AI to deliver personalized recommendations. My recommendation to you before you use it is to clear your cache, your browsing history, and just make it a clean break as you go and navigate the site. Who knows what you could end up with. There it is, folks, we're back, just like that. Thanks for watching the VSpot. There's 6 minutes you're not getting back this week.