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Don’t waste another dime on bloated channel reporting and vanity metrics.
Don’t waste another dime on bloated channel reporting and vanity metrics.
Rent the Runway will offer resale and limited-edition designer merchandise through Amazon Fashion.
Rent the Runway and Amazon have long represented distinct ecommerce marketplace models. The former started as an on-demand service with fashion merchandise consumers could rent for a particular occasion, while the latter offers merchandise to buy in an array of categories. Now, they are joining forces.
The news: Rent the Runway will start selling merchandise through Amazon Fashion. The storefront will feature new and resale items that Rent the Runway sells on its website alongside its rental service.
What will be available? The Amazon storefront will have two categories of items from Rent the Runway:
What does it mean for the two partners?
For Rent the Runway, it extends the company's foray into direct sales beyond its own site, and gives it tastemaker credibility in the meantime. Rent the Runway launched resale in 2021, offering a way for people to shop its site without subscribing to the core rental business. That has become a way to offer its merchandise beyond its website, as shown in a resale partnership last year with Saks Off 5th. CEO Jennifer Hyman said working with the largest ecommerce platform brings “incredible brand awareness.” Such partnerships can bring a new form of growth. “They also showcase demand for our products beyond our community and allow more customers to experience exclusive data-driven fashion from our top design partners,” Hyman said, in a statement.
For Amazon: This partnership welcomes a recognizable fashion brand and fellow digital commerce innovator onto the platform in Rent the Runway. With Design Collective, it is also a way for Amazon Fashion to showcase work from top designers, and get access to items that aren’t available widely. These pieces are among the most popular at Rent the Runway, and effectively turn the fashion rental service into a discovery platform for new designers and looks. Now, Amazon will reap those benefits, as well.
Key quote: “At Amazon Fashion, we continually expand our assortment through strategic relationships with brands to inspire and delight our customers,” said Muge Erdirik Dogan, president of Amazon Fashion.
Rent the Runway's bottom line: The focus in retail is on profitability this year, as executives seek to preserve margins despite an expected consumer pullback. Rent the Runway made progress in this area in Q3 as it lifted its gross margin by 7%, while shrinking its net loss down to $36.1 million from $87.8 million the year before. This came after it laid off 24% of its staff to reduce costs in Q2. Selling on the largest ecommerce platform can help reach the kind of new audience that boosts sales, and the company said the costs of the partnership were already baked into the previously reported numbers.
Open to Amazon: The splashy collaboration is the latest for Amazon in a year that also saw Peloton and Gap open storefronts with the ecommerce giant. For years, digitally native and established mall brands alike were reluctant to collaborate with Amazon. It meant giving up control over the ecommerce experience, and there were concerns about how Amazon would use data. But a shift is taking place in a tougher environment for direct-to-consumer businesses, and retail in general. Amazon has a marketplace with lots of traffic, and it's a place where many consumers already search for their items. Brands are finding a way in. By turn, Amazon may also be more open to collaborations that generate new interest in the platform, and add trending merchandise that gives consumers a reason to keep returning. It's also worth noting that Amazon has been increasing fashion resale offerings, as What Goes Around Comes Around also signed on for a storefront in 2022.
It offers an important reminder: Things change, and that’s especially true when the environment gets tougher. What once seemed like a hard and fast rule may now be bendable, and even the most known quantities may be changing their approach, just like you. Revisit assumptions and practices, and new opportunities may emerge, even with old acquaintances.
The partnership brings together subscriptions and shoppable content.
A Wendy's ad on Roku. (Courtesy photo)
Roku and DoorDash are teaming up to connect TV and food delivery in one experience.
The news: Roku and DoorDash announced a new partnership that will allow people to order food delivery from a shoppable ad on their TV. Along with the capabilities being put in place by the tech platforms, Wendy’s is also adding shoppable content that will provide a discount on ordering at launch.
How does it work? For Roku account holders, there are three parts to the partnership:
DashPass: DoorDash is providing a complementary six-month DoorDash subscription. Called DashPass, this provides $0 delivery fees on orders from restaurants, grocery and retail stores on DoorDash’s marketplace.
Shoppable ads: Roku viewers will be able to click from their remote to order straight from ads on Roku via offers provided through DoorDash. For the first year, DoorDash will be the exclusive ad solution provider for restaurants on its marketplace to buy shoppable ads on Roku. With this, restaurant advertisers will also be able to work with DoorDash to attribute, target and measure TV streaming ads.
Wendy’s: The companies said Wendy’s also upped its digital capabilities as part of this partnership. The chain will make offers available through the shoppable ads. At launch, it will provide $5 off any Wendy’s purchase of $15 or more.
Key quote from Rob Edell, GM and head of consumer engagement at DoorDash: “While this offer unlocks DashPass benefits and perks for Roku users everywhere, it also provides our merchant partners with an opportunity to promote DoorDash offers through TV streaming. Consumers can conveniently and affordably get the best of their neighborhood delivered to their door, while brands can reach diners at the right time and drive instant conversion from the comfort of the living room.”
The partnership is a sign that several different strategies being employed in digital media and commerce are converging:
Streaming and delivery: Watching TV and ordering food is a common behavior. In fact, Roku research indicates that one in three users order takeout or food delivery weekly. The partnership shows how there is room for the platforms that provide each of these distinct services to work together. It's a reminder not just to monitor how customers use your product, but what other products and services they use with it.
Shoppable ads and subscriptions: As digital commerce grows, there’s interest in reducing the steps between when a user thinks about making a purchase, and when they actually click “Buy.” This partnership does that in a couple of ways. With shoppable ads, Roku viewers can order directly from their TV, and even within the show they are watching. Switching devices may be a barrier, however small, to a sale. On DoorDash’s side, putting a subscription in place means users don’t have to think about logging in or consider delivery fees. This shows how introducing more interactive capabilities to streaming can open up new opportunities for commerce. Roku data shows that 36% of its users are interested in receiving interactive offers, such as a scannable QR code or text message. Such capabilities allow users to take action without switching screens.
Retail media and CTV: On the advertising side, the partnership is connecting DoorDash’s ad network with Roku’s content capabilities. DoorDash operates as a marketplace, while Roku serves ads during streaming content. Both have powerful customer data. DoorDash has purchase-level, or first-party, data. Roku has data on millions of customers, and the ability to reach them while they are doing the common activity of watching TV. The platforms also both have the ability to target users and measurement capabilities that can make this whole system even more powerful. While this partnership sets out one way the companies will work together immediately, it’s a safe bet that the partners will find other areas of mutual benefit to explore.
Further reading: It’s just the latest move by Roku to bring shoppable content to the platform. Last year, the streamer partnered with Walmart to pilot direct ordering straight from shoppable ads.
Is Amazon next? Break down the individual parts of this partnership: Subscription, delivery network, marketplace, streaming platform, advertising capabilities. Amazon owns each of these, and it even has a restaurant delivery partnership with Grubhub. Will it put these parts to work in a similar way? The better question may be, how long until it does so?