The Outsights: January 29, 2024
The death and rebirth of digital fashion, yet another brand blending media and commerce, and the opportunities created by gen AI.
Hello, and welcome to The Outsights—Nebulab’s bi-weekly collection of the best reads, listens, and tools from the world of retail, e-commerce, and DTC.
To say the last few weeks have been hectic would be an understatement. We're doing more and more IRL workshops, which means more and more traveling, which means less and less focus. And yet, meeting people in person remains one of the most valuable ways to spend my time.
Some of today's reads are inspired by our travels, so thanks to those who unknowingly contributed, and I hope you enjoy them!
Thought provokers
Digital Fashion in 2023: An Obituary To A False Start. A balanced and pragmatic analysis of the woes undergone by digital fashion—and by the broader web3 ecosystem—in 2023, as interest rates rose and hype declined. In many ways, it reminded me of the ups and downs the DTC space has seen over the last couple of years. Highly recommended.
🔒 How Film Distributor A24 Became the Hottest Name in Merch. I also wrote about these guys in a recent LinkedIn post. A24 is the perfect case study of how the latest generation of brands is blurring the lines between media and commerce—a trend predicted back in 2019 by 2PM. Well worth a read if you're looking to create depth in your brand universe.
Goings-on
Editor’s note: The fact that today’s goings-on are all about AI is a coincidence, albeit one that says a lot about what the industry is thinking about.
How generative AI could solve the cookie deprecation puzzle in 2024. It's been a while since we covered the "impending" death of the cookie. With Chrome recently turning off third-party cookies for 1% of users, e-commerce operators are now searching for alternatives. If you're an e-commerce marketer, this is a space you have to start watching.
🔒 The Technologies the Retail Industry Is Betting On. AI stole the show at NRF. If you didn't have time to attend, here's a nice recap of the solutions on display—from content generation to behavioral advertising. A word of warning: I think—and many agree—we're at the top of the Peak of Inflated Expectations with gen AI. Tread with caution.
Amazon turns to AI to help customers find clothes that fit when shopping online. Amazon rolled out a slew of AI-powered improvements for fashion merchants. Having tackled some of these problems first-hand, we know just how much merchants and consumers will appreciate Amazon's solutions. And if you're not on Amazon, hopefully there's some inspiration for you in here!
Tool of the week
Editor's note: We don't accept sponsorships for this newsletter. All product recommendations come from our consulting team.
Sanity. We've tried most headless CMS solutions under the sun, and Sanity won the race every time. If you have a complex content taxonomy or hate the watered-down UI of most headless CMS editors, Sanity gives you the flexibility to create an editorial workflow that will charm your marketing team.
Does your brand need help with strategy, design or development?
For over a decade, we’ve been shaping, launching, and scaling shopping experiences for category disruptors such as Cometeer, Framework, and Huckberry. No matter where you’re going, we can help you get there.
That’s it for today!
If you’ve come across any interesting articles, podcasts, or tools we should check out, you can email us at [email protected].
See you in two weeks! 👋