DTC is Dead.
And a really good time to be a gas station.
Gift guides have been launched by The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Oprah and Goop. I really want someone to do something different with a shopping gift guide. Make it feel like I’m walking through a store with AR. Launch an Instagram advent calendar. Make it a podcast. It’s only November 4th so there’s still time, reallllllllly banking on brands getting creative about convincing people to take out their wallets.
Some news.
Walmart is going to offer pop-up spaces. “Walmart has tapped Popable, an online pop-up shop marketplace, to rent space within its retail stores to small businesses on short-term leases, the retailer announced on Monday.” Walmart and Target have become increasingly of supportive of small businesses and DTC businesses over the past few years (Walmart now carries brands like Cake, Starface and Harry’s). Walmart also recently launched a creator program (similar to Amazon’s), positioning themselves as an innovator in the retail space.
Which brings me Folgers, a throwback coffee brand in a time of nitro lattes, wants to be cool. I for one would be so relived to live in a world without frozen coffee and beanless coffee and canned coffee and nitro lattes. I’ve been a loyal Folgers coffee since I moved out of my parents house for college.
Gas station glasses are cool. The New York Times and New York Magazine both wrote about this. I have a pair of Smith and Wesson glasses (don’t know how they ended up in my apartment) that I’ve been wearing all the time so I’m into this trend. I also love gas stations and the coffee button machines they have that make lattes. Trend forecaster Mandy Lee told the Times, “Sunglasses are a category I think many people see as disposable because the trends are constantly changing and price points are all over the place. If someone wants to play with trends, sunglasses are a pretty low-risk and easy starting point.”