Brick & Data

Amazon is your new stalker | Kidbox | Can Algorithms Dictate Taste? | Weird News of the Week

When you think of Detroit, do you think of fashion? You may not, and that's ok - but not for long. Jeffry Aronsson, retail turnaround and transformation specialist, is hell bent on changing that.

3 Things We Learned at Shoptalk | A Shoptalk session reaction | Wonder twin powers, activate! | Weird News of the Week

Economist’s jobs are hard. There’s really no other way to put it. In this episode, we spend 20 minutes to take a look back at 2017, a better than expected holiday season, and what’s to come for 2018, with National Retail Federation’s Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz at NRF BIG Show 2018.

Where did those discounts go??? | Sit down, Microsoft. | Store No 8 Gobbles Up Another. | Weird News of the Week

It didn't fit, so she did something about it. Not just for her, but for all women. We got to spend a very interesting 20 minutes with Cricket Lee from FitLogic at NRF 2018.  ---- About Cricket Lee While shopping for clothing and struggling to find clothes that fit, Cricket Lee realized there was a fit problem across the fashion industry. She set out to solve that problem, and improve the shopping experience for all women. Cricket is a veteran of the retail industry who has invented a revolutionary sizing technology called Fitlogic. Fitlogic is a universal sizing standard for women's clothing. It's currently being evaluated by top retailers interested in adopting it to their clothing lines. Cricket is a marketing expert with over 70 awards for advertising excellence, and learned how to solve problems from her father who designed missiles for NASA. FitLogic  Fitlogic is a world patented commercial clothes fitting standard that includes size and shape applications. The technology was developed with more than 60,000 women's measurements, then refined through brick and mortar tests with retailers (Nordstrom, QVC, Macys), online and in designer boutiques. Consumer direct programs, customer service and global applications were studied, and a proof of concept was completed through direct to consumer house brand LittleBlackPant after a year of testing. Fitlogic has garnered over 750 media exposures including Wall Street Journal cover story, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, ABC News and segments on The Today Show. Find out more about FitLogic on Twitter and at http://www.fitlogic.com/

José and Todd got a few minutes at NRF 2018 with Michelle Bacharach from FINDMINE. It's a little noise in the background because there were just a few thousand people in the area. Michelle tells us all about FINDMINE and why their "complete the look" tech is changing the way we pair our outfits and the way retailers represent their brand. Michelle Bacharach is CEO and Co-Founder of FINDMINE. As a product and strategy expert, she’s experienced in growing startups and large media companies by launching apps and websites to millions of people, putting together joint ventures, and conceiving of new products. Michelle has shared her expertise with thousands of leaders in retail and technology as a speaker at SXSW and NRF Retail’s Big Show. She has an MBA from NYU Stern and a BA from UC Berkeley, where she wrote her honors thesis on managing innovation in multinational organizations. FINDMINE  FINDMINE scales outfitting across a fashion retailer's enterprise. Their automated "Complete the Look" technology creates complete outfits around each product. Blending the art of styling with the ease of automation to faithfully represent your brand at scale and help you answer, how do I wear this? Find out more about FINDMINE on Twitter and over at their internet home.

Great story behind this hot custom clothing company out of Boston! Fan Bi is the Founder and CEO of Blank Label, a custom men's clothing brand based in Boston. He dropped out of Babson in 2009, with one semester left, to start the company. He's a recipient of the BusinessWeek 25 Under 25 and INC 30 Under 30 awards. Blank Label Overview Blank Label is a men's clothing brand with stores in Boston, Chicago, D.C., Atlanta, Denver and online. Through their own custom clothing line, their mission is to help men feel comfortable and confident in the clothes they wear. The company's vision is to build a long-standing national clothing brand. Founded in 2010, they raised $1 million in 2013 to expand into brick-and-mortar. Four years later, they have six stores and are expanding their retail presence.

It's a Game of Pac-Man for Amazon. | Bot or Not? | Do I Hear an Echo? | Weird News of the Week!

Nike moving out. Whole foods has some rotten apples. Honeymoon is over for Gap. Wait, what honeymoon?. Weird news of the week ---- Nike Moving Out Donald Trump’s private real estate empire officially lost one of its most important tenants on Monday, when Nike announced that it is closing its store at the president’s 6 East 57th Street property in New York City next spring in favor of a new location just a few blocks away. The announcement comes a year after commercial landlord SL Green disclosed that it had signed a 15-year lease with Nike at 650 Fifth Avenue. Whole Foods Has Some Rotten Apples Whole Foods shoppers complained about finding bruised, discolored, tasteless, and rotten produce in stores across the US. Shoppers also cited persistent out-of-stock issues. Many customers are blaming the problems on Amazon, which acquired Whole Foods in a $13.7 billion deal in August. "Price reductions are appreciated but not at the expense of reliable quality," one customer said. Whole Foods told Business Insider that it has made no recent changes that would affect the quality or availability of its produce. Not much has changed, so they say Honeymoon is Over for Gap. Wait, What Honeymoon? Gap Inc.'s Banana Republic and Gap brands are swiftly losing customers to other brands, according to a report from data management and analytics firm 1010data emailed to Retail Dive. From October 2016 to September 2017, Banana Republic lost 58% of shoppers who had shopped at least once between October 2015 to September 2016, 45% more than in the trailing year, according to the report. Weird News of the Week Nordstrom is selling Marie Antoinette inspires sock loafers. SOCK LOAFERS. According to Nordstrom's product description, the shoe was, "Inspired by the idea of what Marie Antoinette might wear in 2017, a cutout loafer in glossy patent leather is inset with a quirky striped sport-sock shaft embroidered with flowers, giving it a striking, avant-garde look." Despite the fact that the product looks like it was made from your mom's Mary Janes and your 12-year-old cousin's socks, Nordstrom claims you'll feel just like a modern Marie Antoinette — and they've got the price tag to prove it. Originally priced at $1,400, the shoes are now on sale for a precise $839.98, because spending that much on shoes you could probably construct at the Goodwill is exactly what defines members of the modern aristocracy.