Sam Blumenthal

In December, a fashion startup called Scarce started selling used luxury clothing in the form of mystery boxes, following in the footsteps of a British startup, Heat, which launched with the same concept in late 2019. Both companies claim they have managed to avoid a high return rate — one of the biggest potential pitfalls of a mystery box sales... See more

Not all ad dollars are equal. While an Amazon seller’s advertising success will obviously vary based on the product they sell and their ad budget, some ads and ad strategies do reveal higher return on ad spend: sponsored brands, close and loose match ad targeting, pricing within the $21-30 range, and implementing a fixed bidding strategy (depending... See more

Inflation, Interest Rates, The War in Ukraine & Commodity Prices, Labor Markets and The Great Repricing

In the span of just two years, Whatnot became the first U.S. livestream shopping unicorn with a valuation of $1.5 billion. Its app is home to thousands of sellers that deal in sports and Pokemon trading cards, action figures and comic books. Some have created multi-million dollar businesses on the back of its marketplace. Lafontaine says it’s these... See more

Retailers respond to Swaypay because by offering discounts in exchange for social sharing, they can increase conversion at checkout, acquire new shoppers while generating margin on the first sale, and drive stickiness by working with shoppers. The shopper wins, the retailer wins, Google and Facebook lose (a little).  Currently, Swaypay works with... See more