Need to Know   24 : 11 : 17

Need to Know
24 : 11 : 17

In today’s Black Friday special: REI continues to encourage exploration, ModCloth gives back to the community and consumers suffer discount fatigue.

1. REI continues its stand against the Black Friday frenzy 2. ModCloth focuses on the local community over profits 3. Pinterest Secret Santa helps users locate the ideal gift 4. A store interior 3D-printed from upcycled plastic 5. Number of Black Friday shoppers plummets 6. Thought-starter: Is time up for cut-price sales?

1. REI continues its stand against the Black Friday frenzy

#OptOutside by REI, Canada

Canada – The outdoor retailer REI is continuing its tradition of closing its 154 stores on Black Friday, and instead encouraging customers to head outside and enjoy nature.

It is the third consecutive year that the brand has adopted this Righteous Retail strategy, which also provides staff with an extra day of paid holiday to explore outdoors. This year REI has created a user-generated Instagram campaign with the hashtag #OptOutside, which lets people click on a post and see real-time information about the location and experience, as well as using the content to create a series of 20 branded videos to create a greater sense of community and connection to the outdoors.

2. ModCloth focuses on the local community over profits

#BlackFridayBreakUp by ModCloth, US #BlackFridayBreakUp by ModCloth, US

US – In line with a growing sense of disillusionment with Black Friday, online retailer ModCloth has this year launched its #BlackFridayBreakUp campaign. The brand’s site will be out of action today, with ModCloth instead choosing to give back to the community with a donation of clothing worth more than £3.7m ($5m, €4.2m) to non-profit-making Dress for Success, which helps women re-enter the workplace.

Like REI, ModCloth is giving its staff an extra day off and will be running a social media contest throughout the day that highlights the charitable deeds of ordinary people.

This is the first time in ModCloth’s 15-year history that it will close for Black Friday, demonstrating a shift in thinking away from a purely profit-driven strategy towards a desire to play a more active role in the community.

3. Pinterest Secret Santa helps users locate the ideal gift

Global – This Christmas, image-led retail and inspiration app Pinterest is launching its Secret Santa feature, which creates a Pinboard of items designed to help users identify gifts that best reflect their friends’ and family members’ tastes. Using Pinterest’s API, the application uses the recipients’ pinned boards to collate a new board of gift ideas, helping to eliminate the guesswork involved in present-buying by providing a more streamlined search experience.

In addition, Pinterest is also collaborating with brands such as Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond and CVS Pharmacy, all of which will provide their own curated gift inspiration through the platform.

Secret Santa by Pinterest Secret Santa by Pinterest

4. A store interior 3D-printed from upcycled plastic

Bottletop by Krause Architects and Ai Build, London Bottletop by Krause Architects and Ai Build, London

London – Luxury handbag and accessories brand Bottletop is opening a new store in Regent Street where the interior will be entirely 3D-printed from waste plastic. Created in partnership with Krause Architects and 3D printing technology company Ai Build, the space will be constructed over a two-month period by industrial robots.

During this time customers can visit the space and interact with the iiwa robot, which has been programmed to print personalised Bottletop bag charms from upcycled plastic filament to be taken home as a memento. As awareness increases of the damage that plastic waste does to the environment, forward-thinking brands are using technology to help move towards a circular economy.

5. Number of Black Friday shoppers plummets

New market research suggests that Black Friday, once one of the most important shopping opportunities in the year, is becoming less popular as deals become more ubiquitous all year round.

6. Thought-starter: Is time up for cut-price sales?

With consumer interest in seasonal sales already waning, Irregular Labs co-founder Claire Hobson asks whether adaptive pricing might be the final nail in Black Friday’s coffin.

Black Friday is here once again. It’s savage and occasionally fatal, but hordes of consumers think nothing of risking death and dignity for double-digit discounts and bundle buys. But what would happen if retailers removed specific events that spiked your motivation to shop?

That’s the concept that greets you when you enter the half high-tech, half industrial, thrown-together Calvin Klein and Amazon store in the middle of New York’s SoHo. The crux of the experience is that the garments have no prices or tags. Prices can be vary on different days as they’re driven by the market. You merely scan the shelf ticket using your Amazon app, and the best price on Amazon.com will appear and that’s what you pay.

Such everyday adaptive pricing partnerships could fundamentally change the promotional retail calendar and dilute the Black Friday circus to modernise sales models for 21st-century shoppers. But will these daily price shifts enamour or alienate the next generation of consumers?

Read the full Opinion piece here.

Calvin Klein and Amazon Fashion pop-up, New York. Photography by Griffin Lipson Calvin Klein and Amazon Fashion pop-up, New York. Photography by Griffin Lipson
Discover More News
Pattern Beauty brings authenticity and curl culture to tv with first-ever commercial

News

Pattern Beauty brings authenticity and curl culture to tv with first-ever commercial

Tracee Ellis Ross has launched Pattern Beauty’s first ever tv commercial, a 60-second spot that blends humour, nostalgia and a celebration of textu...
Haircare : Pattern Beauty : Beauty
The Messenger bot quietly transforming women’s safety in Jordan

News

The Messenger bot quietly transforming women’s safety in Jordan

A discreet digital tool is offering life-saving support to vulnerable women in Jordan.
Artifical Intelligence : Technology : Women's Safety
Stat: Study finds TikTok is reshaping luxury discovery

News

Stat: Study finds TikTok is reshaping luxury discovery

A new study in the US, the UK, France and Italy, commissioned by TikTok, reveals a structural shift in how consumers discover luxury, inc...
Statistic : TikTok : Luxury
BMW rebrands motorcycling as digital detox

News

BMW rebrands motorcycling as digital detox

BMW Motorrad and its UAE dealership AGMC have launched Throttle Therapy, a series of 10-second videos positioning motorcycling as a form of digital...
Health & Wellness : Advertising : Digital Detox
Chanel launches its first dedicated Arts & Culture magazine

News

Chanel launches its first dedicated Arts & Culture magazine

Marking 100 years in the UK, Chanel has unveiled Arts & Culture magazine Vol 1, a print publication spotlighting its recent collaborations with...
Chanel : Magazine : Print Media
Stat: Global support for corporate LGBTQ+ Pride faces new challenges

News

Stat: Global support for corporate LGBTQ+ Pride faces new challenges

Global support for brands actively promoting LGBTQ+ equality is weakening, according to Ipsos’ 2025 LGBT+ Pride Report.   
Dei : Pride : Identities
Louis Vuitton unveils new super-sized ship-shaped Shanghai store

News

Louis Vuitton unveils new super-sized ship-shaped Shanghai store

Louis Vuitton has opened The Louis, a striking flagship store in central Shanghai.
Luxury : Retail : China
Queen Mary University of London powers campus with waste heat from data centre

News

Queen Mary University of London powers campus with waste heat from data centre

Queen Mary University of London is cutting emissions and energy bills by using waste heat from its data centre to power campus heating.
Data Centre : Sustainability
Stat: Social media overtakes tv as leading news source for Americans

News

Stat: Social media overtakes tv as leading news source for Americans

For the first time, social media and video apps have surpassed television as Americans’ most-used source for news, according to the Reuters Institu...
Stat : Statistic : Media
Cashify flips Indian wedding tradition to promote smartphone resale

News

Cashify flips Indian wedding tradition to promote smartphone resale

Smartphone reselling platform Cashify is challenging outdated attitudes to second-hand tech by reimagining a long-standing wedding ritual as a cele...
Technology : Sustainability : Circularity
You have 1 free News articles remaining. Sign up to LS:N Global to get unlimited access to all articles.
BECOME A MEMBER
SIGN IN