As an editor of Retail Dive, it’s my job to keep tabs on every piece of retail-related news—the good, the bad, and the silly. From consumers' "early onset nostalgia" to a new robo-worker, below are some of the most interesting reads from the past week.
Cool boy Bonobos
"Sipping from a novelty mug that looks like a camera lens, he leans against a wooden coffee table topped with a stack of the most recent Bonobos catalog, copies of The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, and a pocket edition of the Tao Te Ching."
So is that the most apropos description of Andy Dunn, Bonobos co-founder in a Racked profile of the company? Given the casual yet sophisticated branding of the company, we really didn't expect anything less.
The Golden ‘90s?
"Nostalgia" wouldn’t be the first emotion I would associate with a group of people who largely still have most of their hair and a good back. But, according to Digiday, brands are dabbling in "nostalgia marketing" to appeal to millennials – leading to campaigns for Mad Libs, Doc Martens, and (in a failed example) RadioShack.
Welcome to the ‘family’
Alibaba has teamed up with SoftBank to produce and sell the robot Pepper in Japan starting June 20, the Wall Street Journal reports. The robot has been engendered for a variety of purposes, including assisting in retail shops.
"I think no matter you like it or you don’t, robots are going to be as popular as cars, as machines, as airplanes," said Alibaba founder Jack Ma at a news conference. "Robots will be a part of the family."
Here's, a video from Bloomberg on Pepper:
Ikea’s older sister
Complimentary coffee, cooking demonstrations, and (before or after-hours) showers: such is the experience of shopping at Pirch, an appliance retailer that’s the focus of a recent CNBC feature.
How much is too much?
As observed by the Washington Post’s Sarah Halzack, Restoration Hardware’s CEO Gary Friedman has a ton of "lofty" ideas about his company, all captured on Restoration Hardware’s YouTube channel.
In case you don’t want to watch the average 20 minute-videos (one example found below), Halzack graciously did it for us, calling out some choice quotes:
Restoration Hardware’s new stores are "spaces that would make Marcus Vitruvius, one of the authors of the original 10 books of architecture, and Leonardo da Vinci — who made Vitruvius's 'The Vitruvian Man' the most famous study of design in history — proud."
"The heart is said to be 10,000 times more powerful than the mind. You can’t give yourself goosebumps, because it needs to come from the heart."
"Plants die in typical retail stores."
And did Iggy Azalea just become the voice of the millennial consumer?
im cheating on target with amazon prime.
— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) June 17, 2015
