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 online payments provider said it will buy Ecwid, an e-commerce platform for small businesses, for about $500 million, and digital wholesale platform Nuorder for about $425 million.
Lightspeed, which specialises in point of sale and financial services for merchants, said it plans to integrate Ecwid and Nuorder’s services to broaden its offering for customers. Ecwid allows small enterprises to set up and market their businesses online, while Nuorder connects fashion brands with prospective buyers as a digital alternative to traditional showrooms and B2B events such as trade shows.
Both deals are expected to close during the quarter ended September 30 this year, but are not contingent on each other.
This move from Lightspeed comes amid a sustained e-commerce boom driven by the pandemic, as well as an uptick in interest in digital platforms such as Nuorder, which earlier this year closed a $45 million funding round and added Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet to its board. Nuorder generated revenues of over $20 million for the 12 months ended March 31, a 30 percent year-on-year growth, and facilitated over $11.5 billion in orders between some 3,000 brands and 100,000 retailers. Ecwid, which has similar revenue figures, has a reach of 130,000 customers in over 100 countries.
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.
Social networks are being blamed for the worrying decline in young people’s mental health. Brands may not think about the matter much, but they’re part of the content stream that keeps them hooked.
After the bag initially proved popular with Gen-Z consumers, the brand used a mix of hard numbers and qualitative data – including “shopalongs” with young customers – to make the most of its accessory’s viral moment.