All Access

Retail Deals

Standard

Retail Deals Alerts

Alert

Retail Deals Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble

mustard

BFD Expert Voices - Retail Deals

BFD Expert Voices

topics

politics-policy

epstein-files

donald-trump

2026-midterm-elections

immigration

behind-the-curtain

race-and-equity

technology

privacy-tech-regulation

automation-and-ai

tiktok-news

big-tech

social-media

cybersecurity

economy

social-security

inflation

tariffs

federal-reserve

jobs

transportation

business

stock-market-news

retail-news

crypto

media

elon-musk

dealmaking

health

rfk-jr

drug-prices

axios-explains-abortion

public-health

world

israel

axios-explains-ukraine

iran

russia

china

energy-climate

nuclear-energy

climate-energy-policy

climate-change

extreme-weather

alternative-energy

electric-vehicles

science

emerging-tech

biomedicine

newsletters

pittsburgh

atlanta

san-diego

charlotte

boulder

washington-dc

kansas-city

dallas

denver

detroit

des-moines

austin

boston

chicago

cleveland

columbus

houston

indianapolis

miami

nashville

new-orleans

nw-arkansas

philadelphia

phoenix

portland

richmond

salt-lake-city

san-antonio

san-francisco

seattle

tampa-bay

twin-cities

raleigh

huntsville

colorado-springs

axios-local

axios-pro

axios-live

the-axios-show

Apparel retailers will be overstuffed this holiday season, as many placed large inventory orders to avoid a repeat of last year's out-of-stock issues, Kimberly writes.

Why it matters: This could lead to heavy promotional activity that will crimp margins as apparel retailers contend with this excess inventory.

The big picture: “The persistent volatility in the global macroeconomic environment caused many businesses to prepare for a disrupted supply chain this holiday season,” Coresight Research says.

But lower freight prices and easing international shipping congestion helped allay some of these issues.

Of note: A DataWeave analysis of inflation and discounting finds that consumers aren’t forgoing discounts in other categories, leaving apparel and home as the exceptions.

In some cases, consumers are paying more than last year, DataWeave finds.

1 big thing: Apparel retailers face inventory glut

Illustration of a pair of jeans with a price tag surrounded by shapes and zoomed in section of $100 bill.

TAGS Commerce, an instant checkout company, raised $3.5 million in a pre-seed round to help it scale its technology so that it can work with large brands, CEO Daniel Abas tells Kimberly exclusively.

Why it's the BFD: Online shoppers abandon shopping carts on retailers’ websites at a 75.7% rate, according to a Coresight Research survey.

What's happening: The fundraise brings TAGS Commerce out of stealth mode.

Investors were XRC Labs, Gaingels, Not Boring and Tiny Capital.

TAGS' customers include the L.A. Lakers, Foot Locker, Parade and Young & Reckless.

How it works: The company enables consumers to instantly check out online or off through a buy button that can be placed anywhere.

When a buyer activates a Tag, a pre-loaded shopping cart appears offering one-click functionality.

The process eliminates several purchasing steps and isn’t found only at the tail end of an online shopping experience.

These tags can also be used at physical locations as well, such as on magazines or brochures.

They can even be linked on social media, podcasts and other types of conversational commerce. 

“TAGS sees the world as the store instead of trying to get the world to your store,” Abas says.

Of note: The functionality allows retailers to generate organic traffic and conversions without the need to spend on advertising.

The company sees an average 64% order conversions at its checkout, reducing abandonment trends.

What’s next: TAGS plans to partner with brands to refine its own products and focus on more e-commerce integrations, such as with big commerce and commerce cloud. 

Already integrated with Shopify, it is working on doing so with Magento, the open-source e-commerce platform, Abas says.

He also hopes to introduce new activation methods and support various media formats.

Eventually, it will introduce a "speak to buy" functionality in its road map ahead, Abas says.

2. The BFD: Instant checkout company bags $3.5M

Illustration of a shopping cart icon full of money. 

Shopify bought Remix, a startup developing an open-source web framework. Financial terms weren't disclosed. 

Remix most recently raised $70 million in a Series B round this March. Its investors included Surveyor Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, Arch Venture Partners, Atlas Venture, Casdin Capital, Foresight Capital and The Column Group, per PitchBook. 

Made.com, the U.K.-based online seller of furniture and home accessories, said it will appoint administrators after it failed to find a buyer.

Also, it has suspended trading. This comes a little more than a year after the company went public on the London Stock Exchange.

The company has said it was actively talking to buyers, but the company stopped taking new orders and processing refund and return requests last week.

Made.com said it was mulling job cuts and a potential sale back in September, as the company grappled with the economic downturn and supply chain disruptions.

Apple is losing two operations executives, Bloomberg reports. 

Anna Matthiasson, the vice president of online retail, is leaving her position and chief information officer Mary Demby will retire.

These two come after the departures of Evans Hankey, Apple’s vice president in charge of industrial design, and chief privacy officer Jane Horvath earlier this year. 

3. Retail therapy

Illustration of a therapy couch with a pillow made of money.

• TouchBistro, a Toronto-based restaurant management platform, raised C$150m from Francisco Partners. www.touchbistro.com

• Givingli, a Beverly Hills, Calif.-based online gifting service, raised $10m in Series A funding led by Seven Seven Six. https://axios.link/3Wjgd4C

• Littlejohn & Co. acquired a majority stake in Lipari Foods, a Warren, Mich.-based specialty food distributor, from H.I.G. Capital (which retains a minority stake). www.liparifoods.com

• Ocado, the British online supermarket and technology group, has partnered with Lotte Shopping, entering the South Korean market. https://axios.link/3Dq9rBI 

• L Catterton has launched an impact investing strategy to be co-led by Tehmina Haider (ex-chief growth officer at Harry’s) and Michael O'Leary (former managing director at Engine No. 1). Separately, the Connecticut-based firm is seeking to raise around 2b yuan ($275m) for its first yuan-denominated fund. www.lcatterton.com

4. Retail transactions

• Stand Out For Good tapped Sean Connelly as chief operating officer and Mark Dvorak as chief design officer for the new home concept.

5. It's Personnel

🎧 Situational awareness: Join Axios Pro's Health Tech deals reporter Erin Brodwin tomorrow at 3pm ET for an exclusive, live conversation with ACME Capital’s Aike Ho to discuss health tech investing in 2023 and beyond. RSVP. 

👀 Worthy of your time: Axios' Emily Peck dives into the state of DEI at private equity firms. 

📺 What we're watching: After becoming devoted listeners of "SmartLess," our editor George and his wife have started "Arrested Development." #betterlatethannever

🙏 Big thanks to editor George Moriarty and copy editor Mickey Meece for today's edits.

November 01, 2022

1 big thing: Apparel retailers face inventory glut