The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
The buy-now, pay-later service is acquiring e-commerce returns platform Returnly for $300 million in cash and equity, the company announced Wednesday, April 21.
Returnly works with more than 1,800 brands and retailers, enabling their shoppers to receive instant store credit upon beginning the return process instead of waiting for the return to be processed. Returnly takes on the risk of that credit.
“Over the last few years, alongside the rapid growth of online shopping, consumers’ expectations of accommodations for returns and exchanges have increased significantly,” Max Levchin, chief executive and founder of Affirm, said in a statement.
Affirm initially invested in Returnly in 2019. The financial services company, which works with a number of retailers offering their shoppers the ability to pay off a purchase in several instalments, went public in January. Its market capitalisation is about $17 billion.
Zero10 offers digital solutions through AR mirrors, leveraged in-store and in window displays, to brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Coach. Co-founder and CEO George Yashin discusses the latest advancements in AR and how fashion companies can leverage the technology to boost consumer experiences via retail touchpoints and brand experiences.
Four years ago, when the Trump administration threatened to ban TikTok in the US, its Chinese parent company ByteDance Ltd. worked out a preliminary deal to sell the short video app’s business. Not this time.
Brands are using them for design tasks, in their marketing, on their e-commerce sites and in augmented-reality experiences such as virtual try-on, with more applications still emerging.
Brands including LVMH’s Fred, TAG Heuer and Prada, whose lab-grown diamond supplier Snow speaks for the first time, have all unveiled products with man-made stones as they look to technology for new creative possibilities.