Lululemon partners with Peloton / Sycamore acquires Chico's for $1B / Global app spending recovers

Plus, GameStop appoints Ryan Cohen as CEO

Inside Ecommerce For September 29, 2023

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Happy Friday, Insiders! Today, we cover some big news, including: Lululemon's plans to partner with Peloton and wind down its Mirror business Sycamore Partner's $1B acquisition of Chico's GameStop's appointment of Ryan Cohen as CEO And much more! If you find this newsletter helpful, please share it with your friends and colleagues. Thank you! Gregory p/Gregory_Bridgman

1 Lululemon entered a five-year partnership with Peloton. The deal will see Lululemon discontinue sales of Mirror hardware as it works to wind down the business. More: Lululemon will bring Peloton's content to Mirror devices and to the Lululemon Studio app. In exchange, Lululemon will become Peloton's primary athletic apparel partner. From Oct. 11, customers will be able to buy co-branded Lululemon apparel from Peloton's website and at stores in select countries. Lululemon's Q4 earnings report listed $442.7M in impairment charges related to its 2020 acquisition of Mirror. Was Lululemon's acquisition of Mirror a mistake? Join the conversation here.

2 Sycamore Partners agreed to acquire Chico's for $1B. The private equity firm has made several previous attempts to acquire the women's apparel retailer. More: Sycamore will take Chico's private after agreeing to acquire the company for $7.60 per share in cash. The deal is free from financing conditions. The deal is set to close by the end of Q1 2024, subject to shareholder approval. Sycamore's current brand portfolio includes Belk, Staples, Talbots, and The Limited. Chico's brands may be sold at Belk stores once Sycamore takes ownership.

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3 What the numbers say: Global consumer spending on the iOS and Google Play app stores reached $33.6B in Q3, up from $32.4B at the same time last year.  Relevance: 2023 is the first year that global spending on the world's two largest app stores reached $100B by the third quarter. It took until October at the earliest for $100B in mobile app spending to be reached in previous years. Notably, iOS retained its position as the world's largest app store, capturing $21.2B of worldwide consumer spending in Q3. Consumers spent $12.4B on Google Play during the quarter. What's next: The mobile app market encountered an unprecedented decline in 2022. Solid YoY spending growth in Q3 2023 suggests that the market may finally be stabilizing.

4 GameStop appointed Ryan Cohen as its new CEO. Cohen is an activist investor who also manages GameStop's largest stockholder, RC Ventures. More: Cohen replaces Matt Furlong, who GameStop fired as CEO without cause in June. GameStop simultaneously elected Cohen as executive chairman. Cohen acquired a stake in GameStop in 2020 and was elected as board chairman in 2021. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating Cohen for making positive statements about Bed Bath & Beyond days before selling his stake in the company. Cohen previously founded online pet food retailer Chewy.

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5 Indonesia banned e-commerce transactions on social media platforms. The move negatively impacts TikTok, which operates a social commerce platform in the country. More: Indonesia's government said the ban aims to protect small businesses. Government minister Teten Masduki said local sellers were losing over 50% of their profits because they could not compete with cheap online goods. Masduki singled out TikTok Shop and accused it of "predatory pricing." TikTok said it regretted the decision, which it claimed would impact "6 million sellers" on TikTok Shop.

6 Kohl's named Fred Hand executive vice president and director of stores. Hand will focus on increasing store sales and productivity. More: Hand most recently served as CEO of Tuesday Morning. Hand's previous positions included leadership roles at Macy's and Filene's. Hand will oversee Kohl's fleet of over 1,100 stores. Kohl's plans to continue developing its omnichannel capabilities despite declining digital sales.

7 QUICK HITS No-code development is here to stay, according to industry experts. Gartner predicts 80% of technology products will be built by those who are not IT professionals by 2024.* Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched the general availability of its fully managed AI application service, Amazon Bedrock. U.K.-based FinTech Apron raised $14M to launch new small business products on its platform. Mercari announced a reduction in the cost of acquiring UPS SurePost labels for transactions on its online shopping platform. UPS announced that 57% of its packages are currently processed through automated robotic facilities.  NEXT WEEK in LA, redefine development at DockerCon! Use DCHALF for 50% off in-person registration, or participate online for free. Come learn with us.* *This is a sponsored post.

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Knowledge Hub Term of the Day Minimum viable product (MVP): A minimum viable product (MVP) is an early functioning model of a new product that can be presented to early adopters and investors. Read More Question of the Week Do you share details about your salary with your coworkers? Join the conversation

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Gregory Bridgman Writer / Editor Gregory Bridgman is an e-commerce researcher with a PhD. from the University of Cambridge. He also holds a Master of Science from University College London and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Cape Town.  Please follow me on Twitter or email me at gregory@inside.com. This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield

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