Bernice Merlini

If you work for a brand expanding into retail or have retail expansion on your roadmap, give this podcast episode a listen! Greg Shuey asked fantastic questions about DYPER's journey, and I think our discussion can better prepare D2C brands for future growth. #retail #D2C #brandgrowth #CPG

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Fellow Sephora fans! Who else listened to Zena Arnold, CMO of Sephora US, while restocking skincare supplies lately? Treat yourself to both (key points below). 🌟 Brand and performance are interconnected. Brand is who you are, what you stand for, and why you exist. Performance is how you drive sales, conversions, and the biz. The best marketing is when they work together (plus, you won't know how to drive performance until you confirm your consumer and brand). 🌟 Omnichannel is big and getting bigger. Blurring channel lines is only the beginning. Today you can "click and collect" (buy online and pickup). Tomorrow, I can't wait for more virtual try-ons, recos, in-store VR, and more. 🌟 Understanding your consumer is everything. Get to know them in traditional ways (insights reports, brand studies). And less traditional ways (social, reviews, favorite influencers). Get out into the wild, observe and learn. Keep the customer voice at the core of all you do. 🌟 Current customers are gold. Your current customers are your best brand ambassadors. While some brands are making fancy ads to woo new guests, Sephora nurtures the current. Zena says, "Your current customers telling friends about the great experience of your product or brand is stronger than any ad you can make." 🌟 Remember what it's all for... A healthy level of stress is helpful to light a fire, especially if you haven't figured it all out YET (you will). Our loves ones (especially little ones) are the best experience and can inspire exciting, new growth. https://lnkd.in/g_4AS_JW

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🚀 Want to know the secret ingredient in our success sauce? I’m proud to be part of this exciting change every day, pushing the limits of what we can do. Check out this Digiday article on generative AI to see how we’re shaking things up!!! Big shoutout to our amazing boss Massimiliano Tirocchi for steering this ship. 🌟 #Innovation #AI #GenerativeAI #Leadership #Tech #Trafilea

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Yesterday marked the 159th anniversary of Juneteenth and the third year since becoming a national holiday. Here are some big takeaways on where we stand today: ▪ There is consensus that brands/businesses/corporations are doing “just okay” in supporting Black communities. ▪ We can do more than just a social media post. In fact, this was ranked the least helpful activity brands can do to support Juneteenth. ▪ Since Juneteenth was recognized as a national holiday, way more Black Americans have started participating in cultural celebrations for Juneteenth—more proof that representation and acknowledgment matters. If you're looking for ways you and your teams can support, these insights really show where your actions, empathy, and energy can make a big difference. Happy Freedom Day 🎉

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Love this NSQ by Rachel Brown in Beauty Independent. While one size never fits all, there is an emerging trend with more nascent brands looking to bring in executive teams and a founder empowering the team to run the day-to-day while the founder exploits their superpower. At True Beauty Ventures, we are firm believers in identifying and enhancing a founder’s superpowers. It is one of the first things we try to assess when getting to know a brand. Part of this exercise requires understanding a founder’s strengths and weaknesses and where their strengths can most positively impact the brand and business while aligning with their interests and passions. In the article, Cristina Nuñez, co-founder and partner at True Beauty Ventures, emphasizes that appointing C-suite executives early can greatly benefit emerging beauty brands. She highlights that early leadership helps to establish a clear strategic direction, operational efficiency, and strong investor relations. Nunez notes that experienced executives can drive growth and navigate the complexities of the beauty industry effectively, which is crucial for startups aiming for long-term success and market differentiation.

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Curious about the luxury market's response to the economy? 📈✨ Forbes features insights from the Zeta Economic Index (ZEI) and the "lipstick effect." The ZEI reveals an 'active' U.S. economy with strong consumer behavior, but a shift towards value as consumers seek the best prices. Dive into more insights from this Forbes article. #ZetaEconomicIndex #ZEI #EconomicInsights

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Walmart getting into TikTok trends, culture, & the creator curation business? The new virtual platform Realm features 3 shopping environments that are driven by social trends and curated by social media influencers The online shopping ‘realms’ include collections by @Maiphammy, @makenzieandmalia & @the.navarose Here’s the real time data to back up why it's a hard no for me: @Maiphammy’s most engaged post was a year and a half ago It performed 51X better than any other post – that one post skews her overall “influence" massively Her next best 25 posts were from 2-4 years ago She has no relevance NOW Want to know how I know that? B/c her 100 worst performing posts are ALL (not some) from the last 4 months Oh and also her worst performing content in her online HISTORY (you really can’t make this stuff up) was for her collab w/Walmart Worse for @MakenzieandMalia – their influence on TikTok peaked FOUR YEARS AGO and again her Walmart collab is her 4th worst posts EVER And for the trifecta – @the.navarose Her Walmart collab earned her the 2nd worst engagement of ALL time… Her best performing content was also 3-4 years (not days) ago All of them have repped hundreds of brands = not very credible... P.S. Walmart also put paid advertising behind all 3 & it didn't help to move the cultural needle at all The 1st 2 creators have NEVER converted a sale on TikTok Navarose has sold EXACTLY $6.39 Even though she advertised 57 items lol The point of influence is to take action, the point of business is sales So this is just a flat out NO If you want to get into the business of culture – you need the right tools to find real time creators driving the trends in conversations, products, entertainment If you are a day late, your content is irrelevant, or it smells like an ad the algorithm will not serve as it did not here You also can’t pay for relevance – it comes from the crowd-up not corporate down The reason TikTok Shop works is b/c it comes from the advocacy of real users of the product connected to the real time trends people are talking about now #paidinfluencers aren’t organically wearing Walmart anywhere – in fact not once in their online history have they EVER EVER NOT EVER mentioned Walmart And yet I know a top fashion creator w/173M CONSISTENT superfans who organically posts Target hauls Imagine if she built a TikTok series around the real time stories, trends, & Target products her community needs That's how I would get into the culture and trends business because social commerce is an $11.1 TRILLION market by 2030 The industry can no longer rely on vanity metrics let alone outdated ones from 4 years ago to select their influencers... New data tools are needed to navigate an era of commerce powered by people who have never been sponsored by a brand b/c their follower count is too low & their content is too niche #thegreatfashionreset #creatoreconomy #C2M #communitycommerce #contentistheproduct #tiktokisthestore

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Had the great opportunity to feature on the Shajwani's Notions podcast to talk about the power of personal branding! If you’re interested in my thoughts, you can listen here - https://lnkd.in/epV6gc7k Thank you Aditya for the invite and a great discussion - really admire the conversations you have on the podcast and happy to alongside some great guests! #personalbrand #personalbranding #personalbrandpodcast #podcast

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I love everything about this Laura Mena! In-store is making its round again, awesome to see it explained through pop-culture 🙌 Would love to see you explain all the acronyms! #retailmedia #Commerce #traditionalinstore KINESSO KINESSO Commerce IPG Commerce

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I've been lately asked about more advanced Shopify POS analytics. Our Ellis by Woolman is currently powering dozens of Shopify Plus retailers and brands. Whether you manage a few locations or over 50, we're equipped to support your needs. What do we offer? - Advanced Analytics: We provide exclusive, sophisticated live analytics developed directly based on Shopify POS data, integrating vital datapoints from popular sources like Recharge, Yotpo, Gorgias, and more. - Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Easily monitor and compare essential KPIs across various physical locations to understand business performance at a glance such as average order value, average basket size, retention and omnichannel success. - Sales Performance Insights: By popular demand, we offer accessible analytics on your sales staff's performance, enabling targeted sales training and informed education for your new salesforce using precise real-time data. - Omnichannel Overview: Compare online sales with Shopify POS transactions, map omnichannel user behavior, and gain insights into Yotpo Loyalty and LoyaltyLion programs. - Custom Reports: Tailor your analytics with custom Shopify POS reports designed to meet your unique business needs. Our data team is happy to help you out. Don't miss out! Learn more and schedule a demo today. #shopifypos #shopify #shopifyplus #shopifypartners #woolman #pos #omnichannel #retail #ecommerce #commerce #recharge #yotpo #loyaltylion #gorgias

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It’s fun when you see your hypothesis of Gen Z girls driving commerce playing out every day in real time Milkmaid dresses are the #1 fashion SEARCH + #1 for SALES on TikTok Shop today (it doesn't matter it's labeled incorrectly, the algo knows a milkmaid dress when it sees one) oooh and for fun - go check out Google Trends, you'll see what I'm talking about it's literally a hockey stick this week hahahaha :) I may or may not be working with a top 25 creator who loves milkmaid dresses This 1 sku sold almost $1M in the last 90 days You know who’s crushing it? The supplier... B/c the same dress is also selling out on on SHEIN/Temu/Amazon It's a C2M world now, we're all just living in it It brings me to an interesting point The demand for #milkmaid dress video views is much higher than the supply of video content This means there is a significant unmet demand A golden opportunity for creators to produce more video content featuring milkmaid dresses With the extremely high interest (intent to purchase) & real time validation of high sales numbers, creating relatable, entertaining, on trend content showcasing this dress has a better chance of leading to success Enabling creators to better capitalize on the trend The scarcity of supply vs the ravenous demand indicates creators who fill the content gap could earn substantial monetization opportunities The demand for products is also higher than the supply of products This means that people are buying more products than there are new products available On April 19th, for example, there were 15,000 product sales, but only 1,500 new products available It’s not enough to know that social commerce is entertainment made shoppable It's not enough to say all the buzzwords of community, creator monetization, C2M, or content-driven commerce Brands need to DEEPLY & consistently understand the content trends driving product demand and be able to find the white space opportunities to rapidly test & launch new merchandise to meet the real time appetite Capitalizing on these opportunities requires a fundamentally different mindset And an utterly different supply chain and go-to-market model It's not about Shein as a supply chain service loool Nor is it going to help Nordstrom to go private if they don't understand how this consumer behaves and can react Their outdated wholesale model lacks the agility to swiftly capitalize on fast-moving conversations Survival requires embedding into cultural conversations, working w/the new breed of influencers that set & convert the trends (not ridiculous kpis of reach / views), and building capabilities to rapidly concept, produce and market products at speed Without this community and content-driven realignment, they'll be sideline spectators as nimbler disruptors dominate social commerce What an exhilarating time!!! #thegreatfashionreset #creatoreconomy #C2M #communitycommerce #contentistheproduct #tiktokisthestore

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Day 1 from #AmazonPrimeDay2024 is underway. Here’s what the Pacvue team has noticed so far: #1. Brands started spending before Prime Day officially kicked off: Our data showed ~+15%SP & ~+23%SB increase in brand average daily spend in the leading 10 days #2. Apple 🍎 takes over the main Prime Day landing page on mobile: On Day 1, the full above the fold page on mobile and 50% of the second scroll was dominated by Apple products, showing an aggressive approach to get Apple products front and center #3.  Amazon brands are stealing the spotlight: Amazon Basics seem to be prominent in cross-category searches, making the space even more competitive for brands #4. Amazon tests AI in a big way for Prime Day: This Prime Day marks the debut of #Rufus, Amazon’s AI shopping assistant - a new way for shoppers to get personalized recommendations just by having a conversation. Big implications here for how brands should prepare their product pages!  #5. Target Plays 4D Chess: Whether it was on purpose or not, Target didn’t list products as discounted during Circle Week - which made Amazon’s algorithm give away the buy box to other sellers. This shows the risk of counting on the algorithm - and why it’s important to keep monitoring your sales and product pages in real-time during the week!  Adobe forecast a new record of $14 billion in sales this Prime Day… what do you think? Are records getting broken? How’s everyone’s Prime Day 2024 going so far? ⁉

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📢 Calling omnichannel brand leaders selling on Amazon/marketplaces! 📢 If, like me, you’re grappling with this question: ⁉️ How do we navigate the enormous opportunity and challenge of growing an #omnichannel brand on #Amazon and #onlineretail ⁉️ Tune in. I’ve long wished for a #community who are tackling this big question. And I know other folks who want the same. For brands that have presence in Retail, #DTC, and on Amazon, growing incremental online retail revenue is much more complex than listings and shuffling around PPC spend. It’s about brand-building, profitability, incrementality, and channel synergy. And sure, PPC and merchandising, too. Today, there’s no meeting place for people at scaling B2C omni brands to chat AMZ. This week I had a fire lit under my butt from a LI connection, and decided: IT’S TIME. 👉We’re starting a community for: - Leaders and operators of Amazon/marketplace/online retail channels - At scaling B2C omnichannel brands - Who are looking to shoot ideas, share recommendations, and give support If this is you, and you want to be a part of curated group of engaged leaders and operators: 💥Reply with “INTERESTED” below. Or DM me for details. Depending on interest, we'll decide what type of group to create. Free, private, no spam, no sales. 🙏 PLEASE like, comment and reshare so this can reach the right people!

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Thrilled to have attended the panelist conference at Uplink Expo NYC on June 20th! Here are some crucial insights from beauty brand founders that are reshaping my approach in the industry: Exit Strategies: Learned that most beauty brand acquisitions happen without active pursuit from founders – truly organic growth can lead to organic acquisition opportunities. 🌱 Product Development Insights: Retailers' push for frequent product launches is intense, but it's vital to focus on quality over quantity – too many launches can overwhelm your brand and oversaturate the market. 🚫📈 Marketing Mastery: As a veteran in advertising, I understand the gravity of budgeting for CPG brands. The conference reiterated the importance of clever cash flow management for emerging brands to sustain and grow market presence. 💸📊 Capital and Retail Synergy: The financial bar to enter large retailers is high. Raising capital early is key, and a significant purchase order can be a powerful tool to fuel your funding round. 💡🔑 This conference has not only provided me with critical knowledge but also reaffirmed the importance of strategic thinking in the journey of a beauty brand. Let's connect and discuss the future of beauty! #UplinkExpo #BeautyIndustry #ProductDevelopment #MarketingStrategy #Retail #CapitalRaising

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Hate to say it but this seems like a big “nothing burger.” For a number of reasons: 1) Walmart announced something quite similar back in 2020 (https://lnkd.in/gRarmX-C) and we haven’t heard word one about it since. 2) Target already has a full functioning marketplace, so what added value does the Shopify connection really provide? Good merchants should already be finding and sourcing these products. 3) The idea that Shopify vendors can go into stores long-term is also a bridge too far. Again, if the digital marketplace and merchandising teams are functioning and coordinating properly, the infrastructure should already exist to take in new brands based on their marketplace performance and/or these brands should already be on the radar screens of the merchants deciding the stores' assortments. 4) Any new Shopify vendors that aren’t already on the Target marketplace are probably not there for a reason and also likely not ready for the prime time effort it takes to place your products wholesale in actual mass market stores throughout the country, which in Target’s case is approximately 2,000 stores, if this strategy is to have any material impact on revenue. #retail #retailing #grocery #cpg #branding #advertisingandmarketing #onlineshopping #shoppingandtheretailindustry #supplychainmanagement #fashionretail #luxuryretail #beauty https://lnkd.in/gxNf8iGY

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Challenge: Drive product consideration within an expansion audience, while maintaining The North Face's authenticity in the #outdoor space. Solution: ✨Aspiration✨ It's been a career highlight developing The North Face's #brand and #consideration strategies with best-in-class #creative, #brandmarketing, and #paidmedia teams. Let's keep going! 🏔️ #neverstopexploring https://lnkd.in/eenSy_b6

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Vinyl Outsold CDs Two-to-One Last Year -- It's remarkable to see vinyl records not just surviving but thriving with $1.4 billion in sales. In an era where any song is just a click away, the continued growth of vinyl speaks volumes about our evolving desires and perhaps, the direction in which the world is heading. While I've always cherished records, I can't imagine life without the convenience of digital streaming from Spotify and Apple Music, which gives me access to more music than ever. Yet, in this digital age, I find myself increasingly drawn to the tactile allure of vinyl. When I do take the time to play a record, I’m fully immersed in the experience—from handling the album and dropping the needle to flipping the record. It’s an engagement that I value even more nowadays. Last year I interviewed three Gen Z shoppers on an episode of "Let's Talk Resale", including Sophia Richter, who shared her experience thrifting in a JC Penny parking lot. It wasn’t as straightforward as online shopping, but the thrill of the hunt was a big part of the experience. This all highlights a broader point about our complex human desires and potential future trends. The resurgence of vinyl and the popularity of thrifting tell parallel stories in our modern narrative of seeking experiences. They underscore that while we readily embrace digital efficiency, we also crave and value immersive, hands-on experiences. With streaming accounting for 81% of music revenue in 2023, it will remain dominant. Yet, I also anticipate that vinyl sales will continue their 17-year growth trend. There's a time and place for vinyl records, and they seem even more special in an era when I can instantly summon any song on Spotify to match my mood. Adam Werbach David Volta Rachel Barge Daniel Goldfarb #vintage #thrifting #resale #recommerce Trove https://lnkd.in/gJiugHTr

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At the ANA Brand Masters Conference in Carlsbad, California, I had the pleasure of hearing @DougZarkin, author of "Moving Your Brand Out of the Friend Zone," share his insights on building brand love. Doug explained that the formula behind brand love is value = experience/price. This might sound simple, but it's all about the value a brand creates. According to Doug, it’s not just about getting a good deal or a low price. He refers to the entire experience a brand offers. I could resonate with that too, when I am hooked on a brand I talk about them to my friends and recommend them. Bringing this full circle to my work at Quest Global, I believe this is why we should live into being the most trusted thinking partner for our customers. Another key takeaway from Doug’s talk was the importance of nurturing lifelong customer partnerships, making them reach a sweet spot where they are loyal and emotionally invested in the brand’s success. To maintain this lifelong relationship with customers, we need to listen more to them, understand their needs and consistently deliver more than what’s expected. It’s about making customers feel valued and showing them that their trust in us is well-placed. I think this helps move a brand out of the friend zone and step forward into the hearts and minds of our customers forever. What brand do you have loyalty to and why? #BrandLove #CustomerExperience ANABrandMastersConference #DougZarkin

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