Brands and retailers are adopting a marketplace strategy and leveraging data to improve merchandising and product assortment, uncovering new business opportunities. Faisal Masud, CEO of fabric, and Jana Schuster, VP of Digital Innovation and Ecommerce at The Honest Company, discussed how fabric’s marketplace technology has enabled the baby and beauty brand to be more agile and efficient when curating product assortment. The partnership also reflects how technology can assist retailers in being “expansive” and pursuing new business channels. Jana also talked about how The Honest Company is looking to build more experiential retail in metaverse.

Joe Cicman, Senior Analyst, Forrester said, “Holiday sales didn’t match what the rosy headlines led you to believe. Order volumes were down across the globe, revenue gains were all inflation, and the consumer is slowing. Marketers will tell you that cookiepocalypse is worse than anyone could have predicted. These factors compound to make acquisition more expensive. Brands are beginning to pivot budget toward loyalty, but it’s not palatable (enjoy the pun) to do so by making huge inventory investments. Instead, they’re embracing assortment expansion strategies using 3rd party sellers. They’re investing in customer experience (CX) – to understand customers and build great digital experiences for them. They’re also organizing digital teams into product teams (not project teams).”