The Nebulab Newsletter - Issue #6

We hope you're having a wonderful Tuesday!

This is issue no. 6 of the Nebulab newsletter, your bi-weekly collection of curated content about retail, DTC, and eCommerce technology.

We're somewhat obsessed with the power of platforms, defined as the terminal destination for running certain aspects of our lives. Great platforms live at the intersection of community and technology: they provide both transactional convenience—through assortment, experience, or both—and a sense of identity, making for uncrossable competitive moats.

You can make a platform out of virtually any brand, if you try hard enough, but platformization often leads to brand dilution—or, at the very least, to a radical transformation of how the brand engages with its audience. Still, it's often the right move for established brands looking to command a greater share of customer attention, or smaller brands competing in a crowded space.

That's why today's reads are about brands that have managed to build successful platforms. As you read about them, consider whether this might be a path worth exploring.

🔒 Peloton’s Next Move: Become a Platform. Peloton's CEO Barry McCarthy seems to be (mostly) making the right moves to get the company back on track, and is laser-focused on the revenue generated by the Peloton app. Opening up Peloton's technology and ecosystem could be just the wedge Peloton needs, assuming they can make the unit economics work.

Nike's membership program is the 'engine' of its DTC strategy. Speaking of wedges! For years now, Nike has been building experiences across web and mobile that go way beyond shopping, and using the data they collect to fuel their retail operations. Honestly, we can't wait to see what's next.

How Care/of uses its app to retain customers. On a smaller scale, Care/of is not only using their mobile app to engage and help existing customers, but they've opened it up to a wider audience. By doing this, they're putting the Care/of brand in front of thousands of potential customers and collecting invaluable zero-party and first-party data. Lots of useful takeaways here.

Amazon Is Now a 'Para-State' Governing Global Commerce, Researcher Says. Or: when platforms go a tad bit too far. Amazon acting like a monopoly is not exactly breaking news. Amazon being a state, on the other hand, is an interesting perspective. The question is how much of this is company strategy vs. the result of trying to tame the beast that is Amazon.com, but that's for another time and place.

For a long time, brands that wanted to build a headless storefront with Shopify were mostly on their own: they could either do it from scratch, or use a community-provided template, with all the risks that involves.

With Shopify Hydrogen, you can finally build your headless storefront with an officially maintained solution that's packed with useful tools and designed to streamline the development experience.

We recently took Hydrogen for a spin on a new launch and decided to collect our considerations in a blog post. Dive in to learn about the state of Hydrogen, its pros and cons, and whether it's an option worth considering for your brand.

Retailers like Forever 21, Fanatics, Casper and Revolve use Bolt’s lightning-fast, one-click checkout to convert, retain and delight shoppers, and see 47% higher completion rates on Bolt checkout versus guest checkout.

Join us for an informational webinar with the Bolt team: we'll talk about how Bolt can help you convert more customers and collect more data, all while offering a superior user experience.

See you on Tuesday, March 8 @ 11am-12pm ET!

That's it for today!

If you have any questions, comments, or promising platforms you've built, don't be shy and email [email protected].

See you in two weeks! 👋

Psst! If you know someone who might be a good fit for our strategy, design or engineering services, you can now refer them. You get a $250 gift card, and both you (if you're a customer) and your referral get 20% off your next invoice when they sign.

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