2021: Week 13 | The Hudson’s Bay, YouTube, and supply chain madness float our boat this week

A new Canadian online shopping destination

The Bay Launches online Marketplace 

With the goal of building a well curated one-stop shop for Canadians and an opportunity for brands to break into the Canadian Market, Hudson’s Bay says it will bring more than 500 new sellers to the website by the end of 2021. There is no mention of a media offer but the company’s CEO hinted at “an emailable database of 5.7 million loyalty customers.

Will it change anything?

It depends how Hudson’s Bay executes, but it feels like a smart move. On one hand, it’s a good to breathe new life into their business, which from a consumer perspective was getting stale. On the other hand, it’s a path to monetization that can prove profitable in the future and pose interesting competition to Shopify and Amazon.

Shipping vs Shopping

When “Global” goes wrong

Today, 90% of all goods are shipped and The Suez Canal carries roughly 10 percent of worldwide shipping traffic. So naturally, we all became a little more aware of logistics this week as a boat the size of the Empire State building blocked the Suez Canal. The resulting delays on products getting to consumers piled on shipping delays trending since the pandemic hit.  Brands are having to compensate by either air-shipping (and passing dollar costs to consumers + environmental costs to future generations) or being ultra transparent and counting on consumer patience.

Will it change anything?

If you were looking for another reason to shop locally and shop more responsibly, this is a good one. Last year we all shifted focus toward supporting local communities, local shops, and local service providers. The ripple effects of the Suez Canal blockage may lead us to thinking more local further down the supply chain, to products made and sourced here. For Global brands, this feels like a last call to audit their operations and lean into their local connections.