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  How well do you feel your own brand’s claims of eco-friendliness stack up against industry competition, or indeed customer expectation? More and more fashion firms will soon be asking themselves intently as the UK’s competition regulator gears up to take a strong grip on high-street clothing companies.  As reported by The Guardian, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has expressed concern over sellers perhaps convincing buyers to pay a premium for environmentally-friendly fashion goods that may not indeed live up to this billing.  How Sustainable and Eco-friendly is British Fashion?  The CMA has suggested that entire clothing ranges have such adjectives applied to them, without the brand necessarily being able to show proof that the whole process – encompassing manufacture, delivery, packaging, and sale – actually is gentle on the environment. The Guardian informs that the regulator was looking into claims that the British fashion sector has made...

What do customer loyalty programmes look like for 2022's luxury e-tail?  It would be easy to imagine that the principles of effective loyalty schemes for online-based brands – whether or not they target the highest end of the market – are always broadly the same.  Much recent conversation, however, has centred on whether the loyalty programmes of today are truly fit for purpose. And if not, what implications may this have for today’s luxury brands seeking to optimise their customer retention efforts?  Do luxury retailers truly ‘do’ loyalty schemes?  Ask many well-placed industry observers, and their answer to this question would be: no, they do not. After all, so the traditional reading goes, the notion of points-based tiers or product discounts for repeat buyers does not tally well with the aspirational values that even the least experienced luxury retailers seek to associate themselves with.  Instead of pushy ‘pile them high and sell them cheap’ prom...

  Shopify numbers see a boost in the fourth quarter of 2021  At the beginning of the holiday season of 2021, many businesses faced the fear of an unremarkable Christmas. But not Shopify, as our own Shopify agency for high-end brands notes with interest.  Shopify saw a huge increase in sales  On the weekend of Black Friday through to Cyber Monday in December 2021, Shopify’s sales amounted to $6.3 billion. This is according to Shopify’s official quarterly and annual report, which came out on 16th February. This is a huge $1.2 billion increase on the same period in 2020, which totalled $5.1 billion.  The same can be said for the overall takings during the three-month period of Q4, of which the revenue totalled $1.38 billion, increasing by 41% on Q4 in 2020. During this period, merchant solutions revenue increased annually by 47% to $1,028.8 billion, and monthly recurring revenue increased 23% to $102 million – the first time it has ever passed $100 millio...