Boston – Speaking at a retail conference here recently, Casper CEO Emilie Arel said the direct-to-consumer mattress and sleep accessories brand is focused on becoming profitable.
According to a story by Retail Dive, Arel told the group at eTail’s annual conference in Boston that the company is no longer “in the business of not making money anymore.”
During the event, Arel highlighted a number of cost-cutting initiatives, including the company’s decision to pull back on its planned store opening. She said the company is focused on controlling costs, cutting its marketing spend and zeroing in on its core product – mattresses – and slowing its store expansion plan. Last year, the company had said it would have 200 company-owned stores in North America.
Arel told the conference that the 73 stores currently in operation would be enough for at least a year as the company embarks on a “culture of frugality.”
The company, which filed its initial public offering in 2020, struggled to turn a profit. In 2021, Arel was named CEO of the company, and with its third quarter earnings report, Casper announced it would be taken private by Durational Capital Management.
The deal was sparked by challenges, including supply chain woes that arose during the pandemic, a miscalculation on its marketing budget and ongoing struggles to become profitable.
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]]>Tampa, Fla. — According to Littledata, home furnishings retailers need help when it comes to consumers adding products to their online shopping carts.
The e-commerce tracking resource surveyed 2,305 stores in March 2022 and found the average add-to-cart (ATC) rate was at 5%. It noted that anything more than 8.3% would be among the best 20% of stores it benchmarks for ATC rate, while more than 10.4% would be in the elite tier, the top 10%. Its survey revealed that the average ATC rate for furniture and homewares was just 3.46% in May 2022.
Because, a two-year-old digital brand, believes it has the potential to help retailers overcome the add-to-cart obstacle. Since it started in the summer of 2020, it has already helped more than 1,000 small to mid-sized e-commerce merchants boost their conversion rates.
Ashland Stansbury
“We help site visitors move through the buying journey on the site to conversion,” Ashland Stansbury, Because’s founder and CEO told Furniture Today. “The way we help is by placing targeted messaging that tells what consumers need throughout the process.”
Stansbury said when a consumer shops Amazon, even if she doesn’t buy the product she clicks on, Amazon serves her information about that product including cost, availability, shipping dates, specifications and more, as well as similar “you might also like” products. Because integrates onto the Shopify platform and serves consumers similar information.
“Amazon’s secret sauce is: If you’re not going to buy that product, they’re going to move you to another product to buy,” Stansbury said. “We’re serving retailers who sell tons of products. In that move-to-cart process, we serve up messaging like Amazon does that’s relevant to that product and that site visitor.
“We’re pairing product data with site visitor data and bringing those together to give the visitor what they need to make a decision on that product or to move onto another product and make a purchase there.”
She said, by giving consumers information, Because helps answer nearly every “no” that might arise. “The top 10 reasons why (consumers) are not purchasing are all related to missing, inaccurate or confusing information,” Stansbury said.
Because integrates with a Shopify site’s back end to automatically update all available product information as vendors add revisions. That’s one less worry for the retailer, which can focus instead on sales.
“From a customer perspective, the software is scalable for a store as they’re growing the catalog, growing sales and growing visitors,” she said. “We’re not an agency; we’re software. They’re using it themselves without code. They don’t need a developer to make updates. The updates come via back-end data. We have access to back-end data through all their SKUs.”
Stansbury said Because is a great fit for home furnishings retailers due to the high volume of available products they offer from a variety of vendors.
“The thing about the furniture industry is (these retailers) typically sell hundreds or thousands of products on their site,” she said. “That’s our sweet spot: the high volume of products that needs to be updated.”
Sam Marlow, director of British home furnishings retailer Lime Lace Interiors, said the company has had great success using Because to power its shoppable site.
“We use Because Intelligence app to create bespoke banners to highlight certain products in our portfolio. Not only for flash discount codes, but also to highlight certain products which have recently been seen in national publications to give our customers confidence in the products we sell,” Marlow said. “We love the simple and easy to use functionality that means we can update or create new banners without the need for developers and be responsive to the ever-developing world of home interiors.”
And as retailers learn more about Because and see how it works, Stansbury says she sees opportunities on additional platforms as well as new ways to tie into most-used retail applications.
“Our goal is to expand to all the other major e-commerce platforms so we serve more retailers. We’re focused on Shopify now because it’s such a big market. I see us expanding to BluCommerce, Magento, Salesforce, etc., allowing us to serve more merchants,” she said.
“We’re expanding from a partner perspective where we will be integrating into apps that merchants are using on a daily basis. If they’re using an inventory platform or shipping platform or email platform, those become additional touchpoints for us to integrate into their stack.”
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]]>Lhi, Utah – Digital native bedding brand Purple Innovation attributed its second quarter net sales slide to five key things: pull-forward consumer demand and the economic stimulus in the prior-year quarter during COVID; shifting consumer demand, inflationary impact on consumer spending and the company’s reduced advertising spend.
The company’s net revenue for the second quarter ended June 30 dropped 21.1% to $144.1 million, compared with net revenue $182.3 million in the second quarter of 2021. The company’s wholesale revenue decreased 5.9% compared with the same quarter last year, while second quarter direct-to-consumer revenue dropped 29.8% when compared with the same period last year.
For the second quarter, the company reported a net loss of $8.3 million in the second quarter ended June 30, compared with net income of $2.6 million in the same period last year.
“We continue to make important progress improving Purple’s operational health despite increasing macro headwinds,” said CEO Rob DeMartini, who joined the company in December. “The meaningful improvement in second quarter adjusted EBITDA compared with the first quarter on similar revenue underscores the work we’ve done since the start of this year right sizing our cost structure.
“While the continued shift in demand away from home-related categories and the impact of inflation on consumer discretionary spending is delaying our top-line recovery, we remain confident that our four strategic initiatives – operational excellence, brand elevation, channel development and accelerating innovation – are the right building blocks for delivering long-term profitable growth. We are moving forward focused on executing our plans and preparing the company to emerge from the current macroeconomic environment well positioned to accelerate growth and expand market share.”
Purple’s operating expenses were 42.3% of net revenue for the second quarter of 2022 compared with 46.1% in the year-ago period. The company said the decrease in operating expenses as a percent of net revenue compared with the prior year period was driven primarily by its intentional reduction in advertising spend to improve marketing efficiency and stabilize profitability and the restructuring of the marketing organization that occurred in the second quarter of this year. Advertising spend for the quarter was reduced $24.1 million, or 56% year-over-year and $4.9 million, or 20.6% from the first quarter of 2022.
Based on second quarter results and “the current macroeconomic environment”, the company is revising its 2022 outlook. Now, the company said it expects full year 2022 net revenue to be between $570 million and $590 million, compared with its prior range of $650 million to $690 million.
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]]>Boston – He’s dressed the Duchess of Cambridge (aka Kate Middleton), her sister-in-law Megan and, most famously in the U.S., Michelle Obama when she was First Lady. Now, designer Jason Wu is bringing his perspective to a new collection for AllModern.
AllModern x Jason Wu launched today as a limited edition collection designed by Wu. The capsule assortment includes rugs, throws and pillows available exclusively online at AllModern.com and at the AllModern retail store in Lynnfield, Mass.
Designer Jason Wu’s collection for AllModern includes hand-tufted rugs and complementary pillows and throws.
Wu is known for merging classic American sportswear elements with a refined couture sensibility. Much of Wu’s apparel is manufactured in New York using custom-developed fabrics from mills in France and Italy.
“At AllModern, we believe good design should be the standard for all, not a luxury for the few. Jason Wu exudes this shared belief in everything he designs, and it made for such a natural, dynamic collaboration to bring this collection to the AllModern customer,” said Reena Person, head of the AllModern brand.
The home furnishings collection is inspired by architecture, mid-century design simplicity and modern artists Josef Albers and Mark Rothko. Rugs are hand-tufted from 100% wool and offered in a range of sizes. Complementary pillows and throws feature a variety of colorways for easy mixing and matching.
“I went in with a very specific point of view: something elevated and textural, that can fit in many different types of homes. I really believe good design is all about intention and how well the details are considered,” said Wu.
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Charlotte, N.C. – DTC home and bath textiles company Delilah Home is giving back during Back-to-School.
The brand has pledges to donate 20% of all profits to Operation Warm during the season. Over the last 22 years, the national nonprofit and its partners have provided new coats and shoes charitable organizations that support children and families in need. Recipients include Head Start programs, Title 1 schools – where 40%+ of students’ families are at or below 150% of the federally prescribed poverty level – and other urgent need human service organizations such as homeless shelters, community libraries, foster care agencies and more.
“Sustainability, impact, and community are the three fundamental pillars that drive our efforts to tithe back to the community we serve. Having served with Mecklenburg South Rotary for the last two years, I have witnessed firsthand the power of Operation Warm with elementary children. We are looking forward to the impact our emerging brand can do for Operation Warm” said Michael Twer CEO and founder of Delilah Home.
Founded in 2019, Delilah Home other charitable partnerships include 1% for the Planet and Rotary International, and Operation Warm.
“We are proud to partner with Delilah Home in their commitment to make an impact on their community – especially this year, when more families than ever are in need,” said Grace Sica, Executive Director, Operation Warm “Like us, they understand the value of warmth; both physically and emotionally.”
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Seattle – Amazon’s bottom line took a shellacking in the second quarter, but the e-comm giant said revenues are revving up.
While Amazon CEO Andy Jassy acknowledged the very difficult macroeconomic state, he pointed out that the recent record sales results from Prime Day will be reflected favorably in the third quarter earnings.
Amazon is the 3rd largest seller of home textiles in the U.S., with 2021 soft home sales of more than $2.8 billion, according to HTT’s Top 50 Retail Giants report.
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The company expects Q3 net sales to come in between $125 billion and $130 billion, or to grow between 13% and 17% compared with third quarter 2021. The company’s operating income is expected to be between $0 and $3.5 billion, compared with $4.9 billion in the third quarter of 2021.
“Despite continued inflationary pressures in fuel, energy and transportation costs, we’re making progress on the more controllable costs we referenced last quarter, particularly improving the productivity of our fulfillment network,” said Jassy. “We’re also seeing revenue accelerate as we continue to make Prime even better for members.”
On the quarterly earnings call with investors, CFO Brian Olsavsky said ongoing issues include inflationary pressures, which remained elevated, along with higher fuel, trucking, air and ocean rates.
“One new thing is the additional pressure on energy electricity rates because of the ramp up in natural gas prices,” he added.
“Regarding the Prime fee increase earlier in the year, we are happy with the results we are seeing in the Prime program,” Olsavsky added on the call. “Prime member membership and retention is still strong. That change has been above our expectations positively. I think the benefits of the program continue to get better and better, in-stock has never been higher, (and) delivery speed is increasing.”
Amazon lost $2 billion in the quarter ended June 30, compared with a net income of $7.8 billion in last year’s Q2.
Net sales increased 7% to $121.2 billion, compared with $113.1 billion in second quarter 2021. Earnings per share came in at a loss of 20 cents per diluted share this quarter compared with a gain of 76 cents per diluted share in the first quarter of last year.
Amazon’s investment in electric automaker Rivian Automotive, whose shares have declined about 68% to date, also contributed to the income loss.
Amazon added 14,000 workers in the first quarter, due to the omicron variant, Olsavsky said to investors on the call. “We were left with a higher head count position, and it has come down to adjusting hiring levels and with normal attrition, the issue was resolved by the end of April,” he said.
“That is dominating the quarter-over-quarter reduction in head count. I would note that we are still up 188,000 year-over-year and nearly double of what we had heading into the pandemic in the early part of 2020. Right now, we see a stabilization in the workforce and good hiring rates.”
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Salt Lake City – Revenue for e-commerce retailer Overstock decreased 34% year-over-year, coming in at $528.1 million for the second quarter ending June 30 compared with $794.5 million in last year’s second quarter.
“While the retail environment was challenging throughout the second quarter and sales results were below my expectations, we continued to deliver smart value to our customers, make progress on our strategic initiatives and provide our partners with an efficient and effective channel to increase their unit sales,” said Jonathan Johnson Overstock CEO. “Our continued profitability and strong balance sheet support that our business model is a winning one, able to withstand jolts in the market.”
Among the metrics for Q2:
| • | Active customers were 6.5 million, down 29% year over year |
| • | Last twelve months (LTM) net revenue per active customer was $365, up 18% year over year |
| • | Orders delivered were 2.1 million, a decrease of 43% year over year |
| • | Average order value was $247, up 16% year over year |
The company posted a gross profit of $121 million or 22.9% of total net revenue compared with $174 million in last year’s second quarter. Diluted EPS for continuing operations came in at 12 cents for this year’s second quarter vs. $1.73 in in Q2 2021. Diluted EPS for total operations was 12 cents this quarter vs. $6.47 for the year-ago period.
On the earnings call with investors, Johnson said the company posted the second largest Memorial Day sales in company history, and he believes special selling days in the second half of the year will be just as successful.
“Memorial Day was very good, better than President’s Day,” Johnson said on the call. “June was worse than May, but July is a little better than June. It’s tough to know how the summer will play out or what will happen in the fall when people get back to shopping.
“The holidays are important days for us, and we are getting better at it. With Labor Day, our customer day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming up, we will capitalize on all of these.”
Johnson said that due to the volatility of the past two years, when this year’s second quarter performance is compared to Q2 2019, the company shows gains in both market share and profitability. “In fact, Overstock has grown 44% compared with 2019,” he said on the investor call.
The company is increasing the breadth and depth of its assortment, according to Johnson, and has now completely exited all non-home categories as of the end of June.
“Now that we are 100% home, expect to see different branding campaigns rolling out that show that we are home,” Johnson said on the investor call. “They will be exciting and catchy, and consumers will understand them. The Overstock name recognition is very high, but the association with home needs to grow. This will change over the coming quarters with more focused branding.”
Overstock is looking to special selling events in the back half of the year to drive sales.
For the rest of 2022, the company is focused on growing its business in Canada to 10% of its U.S. revenue and is enhancing the customer experience in Canada with more locally sourced product.
“Our disciplined execution and differentiated asset-light operating model allowed us to remain profitable for the ninth consecutive quarter,” Johnson said. “(That’s) even with weak consumer sentiment, ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility, higher inflation, and significant competitive pressures.”
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Seattle – Amazon said home was hit on Prime Day 2022. Now new third-party data reveals which product categories nabbed the biggest share of the business.
Overall, Amazon’s home category surpassed electronics in capturing the largest share of sales during the two-day promotion from July 12-13, according to market research firm YipitData Insights. During the event, share of U.S. sales from home were more than 20% of total, surpassing both the sector’s performance in 2021 and 2020.
More than a third of Amazon’s home GMV (gross merchandise value) on Prime Day ’22 was generated by sales from the kitchen & dining category. Vacuums & floor care saw the largest boost in sales (5.8% share of sales on non-Prime Days to 21% this Prime Day). GMV for bedding and bath were lower during Prime Days than on a typical day.
Within the home category, Amazon’s private-label brand share has decreased year-over-year on Prime Days. Private label bedding claimed only 3.4% in share of sales this year, almost half o
f its share of sales from last year’s Prime Day.
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Home goods a hit for Amazon’s biggest-ever Prime Day event
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Nick Daniel
Brooklyn, N.Y. – Etsy has promoted from within to fill the role of chief product officer.
The position is going to Nick Daniel, currently VP of product management. He succeeds Kruti Patel Goyal, who will become CEO of the company’s Depop subsidiary, a global fashion resale marketplace, effective Sept. 12.
Daniel has been with Etsy for more than eight years and has led highly technical, complex and cross-functional initiatives. He championed the expansion and optimization of Etsy Ads and oversaw efforts to create a more personalized shopping experience, improve the selling platform and scale Etsy’s marketing technology capabilities.
Since joining Etsy in 2014, he has held multiple roles of increasing responsibilities, including overseeing the development of Etsy’s selling platform, advertising products, marketing technology, data enablement, product enablement and personalization products. Prior to joining Etsy, he worked in sales engineering at Google and, earlier in his career, held various consulting and software development roles. 
“Nick is an Etsy veteran who has led some of our most impactful product initiatives that have enabled sellers to grow their businesses and drive more sales,” said Etsy Inc. CEO Josh Silverman.
Said Daniel: “Etsy’s product development culture enables us to rapidly test new features, respond to evolving customer needs and harness the power of technology to foster human connections. I look forward to working with the teams as we continue to create a differentiated shopping experience for buyers while bringing new opportunities to millions of creative entrepreneurs around the world.”
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]]>Summit, N.J. – Boll & Branch is looking to unravel one of the most enduring consumer misconceptions about sheet quality.
The digitally native bedding brand is launching a program that incentivizes consumers to replace their high thread count sheets with Boll & Branch organic fiber sheets.
The campaign also supports textile sustainability. Now through Aug. 18, consumers can email an image or a receipt proving they have recycled or donated old sheets (except Boll & Branch sheets) to [email protected]. In exchange they will receive a 20% off discount for new sheets from Boll & Branch.
Boll & Branch sheet constructions include 100% organic cotton and organic flax linen with prices starting at $278 for a queen set.
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