This content was created by Vinny O Brien. This content was uploaded by Vinny O Brien. This is a YouTube video titled "The V Spot Retail and eCommerce Weekly News Friday Week 21" (published June 10, 2023). It features a single host delivering a weekly retail and e-commerce news roundup and commentary — covering ASOS's repositioning and refinancing, M&S online sales and Sparks loyalty, critical analysis of Shopify, Boohoo's CEO bonus, luxury bag rental service Cocoon, and a large EU privacy fine against Meta/Ireland — delivered in an informal, humorous tone as part of an ongoing weekly series.
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And welcome to Week 21. Again, last week we said it was Week 21 when it was in fact Week 20. Yet another mistake from this famed reporter. But yes, it's Week 21. We're getting closer to the half year now. For all of you in the world of SaaS, that means you'll be winding down from the road, from all the travels and roadshows that you've been on for the last 6 months. And now you can start slimming down from all the eating and drinking that you've done for the last 6 months in time for awards season, which will start in 3 months. So to all of you, I'm sure you're going to be glad of the downtime, but now is the time to take it easy. And first up this week, we got ASOS again. They started out the week by telling us that they're going to be repositioning the brand by introducing its low-end fashion into high-end luxury rentals. They finish up the week by telling us that they're going to be refinancing their £275 million debt package. Upon realizing they got it agreed, they didn't really know how they're going to pay for it, so they reached out to their shareholders and said, can you give us £75 million in investment to pay for our interest? We think by the time this brand goes for sale in Q3 or Q4, they will have rebranded from ASOS to SOS. Next up, our positive story for the week. It takes us from the S&M world of ASOS to the M&S world of, well, M&S. The well-known and much-loved British retailer has reported a 5% increase in online sales to £1.2 billion for the 52 weeks in the year just gone. This has been driven largely through a loyalty program called Sparks and has an impressive 4.3 million active users in their app. Well done to the team at M&S. And this week on LinkedIn, analyst and media personality Rick Watson put together a cold dish of reality for the management team at Shopify. In this 11-minute read, he put together a strategic analysis so succinct that in true Shopify fashion, they've decided not to have a meeting about it. Boohoo for bad boss. Next up, Boohoo CEO has pocketed a reported £650,000 bonus in a year where he saw the company deliver a £90 million loss. Sometimes you just read a story and you think, this is worth the people knowing. Also in the news this week was Cocoon, a high-end luxury bag subscription service. Try saying that fast many times. Try just saying it once, it's really difficult. They're in the news this week. In the news a few times this week was Cocoon, a luxury high-end bag rental subscription service. Try saying that 5 times after having a drink or 2, or just once like me. Though we're not really sure why they're in the news. Luxury bag rental is not new. Though their methodology for doing it and business model is kind of different. They own the stock, so it means that one has to rent a bag over and over again, loads of people to rent it before there is any payback period at all. We think that Cocoon is going to go the way of the movie from the '80s, though that did get a sequel. When is it lucky to get a $1 billion fine? And the Irish government's involved. This week Meta got a fine of over $1 billion for privacy rulings against them in the EU led by the Irish government. The Irish government though just want the moral victory, they don't really want your money. That makes it over $14 billion that are due to Ireland's taxpayer across two companies, both Apple and Meta. The Irish government though doesn't want to take the money. This coming from a country which currently has over 12,000 children each day an emergency accommodation. And there it is, folks, a wrap for week 21. In a week where Paul in my office got confused, he said, did you get a haircut or did your ears just drop? Yeah, it's pretty stark. It's tight, tighter than we would like in the industry. But there you go. Something had to be done for the warm weather that was breaking in. And don't let the shirt fool you. We do loads of work. This is a party time shirt, but it's a party time mood. But we're not going to indulge in cocktails on this sunny evening. This reporter likes his beer strong, from Belgium, and usually served in the bottle, not the glass. So that's where we're off to. We'll talk to you in week 22 when we have the next happy hour coming up, so stay tuned.
