Business & Culture:

Who is the TikTok Shopper? (business of fashion)

Nine percent of US households made purchases on TikTok Shop in 2023 (I thought that this number would be lower, but TikTok continues to surprise me). By February 2024, TikTok Shop had the same number of active users as Shein — and even began taking wallet share from them, according to Earnest Analytics’ analysis of credit card data. Although the first people to come to mind when we think of TikTok are Gen Zers, it turns out that it’s sales among Millennials and Gen-X, who have more spending power than younger shoppers, that are growing the fastest on TikTok Shop.

After a Seven-Year Absence, J. Crew Brings Back Physical Catalogs (wall street journal)

Mall fashion is having a major comeback moment. Abercrombie seemingly started this resurgence, and now J. Crew is making a comeback. Later this month, the J. Crew catalog will make its return. The J. Crew catalog was iconic, and I hope that this year will mark the return of the print magazine (for brands that can afford to invest in such a “luxury”). J.Crew, which filed for bankruptcy in 2020, is banking on the surge in nostalgia to help it keep growing, which led to the company’s decision to bring back the catalog.

RIP OOO, Hello PTO (vanity fair)

This Vanity Fair piece is all about the perception of how people communicate their time off to their colleagues. Now, more people than ever seem to be noting their time away from work as “PTO” vs. “OOO”. This may seem like a small change, but it does suggest that workers are mentally categorizing their time off differently. One line from the article rang especially true: “the “office” is less a place and more a state of being, so how could you really be “out” of it? Simply stating that one is taking paid time off and leaving it at that has become more prevalent.”

Why Nordstrom’s Founding Family Wants to Take the Company Private (business of fashion)

It’s a hard time for all department stores, but it’s been an especially hard last decade for Nordstrom. For nearly a decade, the Nordstrom family has been vying to escape the scrutiny of the public market and take their namesake company private. In 2017, an $8.4 billion offer was rejected by Nordstrom’s board as too low. The family just submitted another offer on Wednesday, their proposal was to take the company private at $23 a share, or $3.8 billion, with the backing of Mexican retailer El Puerto de Liverpool.

Instagram Adds Broadcast Channel Replies (social media today)

Instagram is finally rolling out a feature in which people with broadcast channels (usually “influencers” of some degree) can now have their followers reply back to them. However, these replies won’t be visible within the main channel feed; it’s more of a discussion area for fans based on each announcement/post in the channel, while the main channel itself remains broadcast-focused. I think this makes a ton of sense as a feature rollout, since I honestly thought it was odd that creators just “broadcasted” out their thoughts without any real interaction from followers (other than likes). It seemed as if they were leaving a ton of potential engagement on the table, so this is a positive change.

Selena Gomez is Now a Billionaire (bloomberg)

Selena’s in the B-club per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. In breaking down her wealth, the vast majority is tied to Rare Beauty. I often need to remind myself that Rare Beauty only started five years ago (!!!) given how much of a power player they are. I’ve also heard that they may be on track to become the #1 best-selling brand at Sephora, overtaking Charlotte Tilbury. In a world of over-subscribed celebrity makeup and skincare brands, Rare Beauty has had incredible execution and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were acquired within the next 1-3 years.

Canva Increases Their Subscription Prices by 300% (the verge)

The price of some Canva subscriptions are set to skyrocket next year following the company’s aggressive rollout of generative AI features. Canva Teams is their business-orientated subscription that supports adding multiple users, and this offering will see prices increase by just over 300% in some instances. Canva says the increase is justified due to the value of generative AI that has been added to the platform.

Founder Mode

If you haven’t read this Founder Mode essay from Paul Graham, you should (it’s a short read). Paul Graham is the founder of YCombinator, which is objectively the most famous startup incubator in the world. He’s also known for his essays, covering many topics across the startup, founder and workplace ecosystems.

The Founder Mode essay describes the difference between two different startup management philosophies: 1) founder mode and 2) management mode. Founder mode is when a founder is very involved throughout the entire organization and they’re not afraid to micromanage, work with skip level reports, or get involved on the minute details of their company. Management mode, on the other hand, happens when a founder relies more heavily on delegation and acts within the guidelines of a more standard organizational/reporting structure.

People have had many reactions to the essay all over the internet, ranging from agreement, to annoyance, to rage. It’s funny how something like “founder mode” can incite such strong emotions, when it’s clearly just describing something that is already happening in real time at startups anyway.

When I was reading the many opinions about this Founder Mode concept, I was struck with a familiar feeling. We are in an era where society at large loves to come up with catchy terms for behaviors that describe our habits, attitudes and management styles. There’s something so satisfying to us about coming up with a novel name for a collective, understood behavior. I think this Founder Mode debate is just another iteration of this. Remember the “quiet quitting” and “lazy girl job” terms and conversations from earlier this year? Neither of those terms were identifying anything remarkably new about the way that we worked, but instead, the media found a buzzy new term to cling onto.

Due to the never-ending trend cycles that are fueled by social media, this work “buzzword-ification” will continue to thrive.

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xx Sammi