Wayfair layoffs; Uber's ad partnership

Author

Stephen Babcock
August 22, 2022

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Home-focused marketplace Wayfair is letting go of 870 employees. CEO Niraj Shah became the latest ecommerce leader to talk about how his company's ambitious hiring during the pandemic ecommerce boom crashed into this year's headwinds. “Our team is too large for the environment we are now in, and unfortunately we need to adjust,” Shah said.

For a look at how delivery platforms are evolving, watch the partnerships they form. Last week, DoorDash added a new test with Facebook, while reportedly ended its partnership with Walmart as the retailer acquired the company behind its driver platform. Meanwhile, Bank of America added Grubhub+ membership as a perk in its latest tie-up to boost subscriptions.

Count Gap among the retailers that sees a business opportunity in opening up the logistics network it built up to ship its own goods to others. GPS Platform Services will offer supply chain solutions for DTC and B2B companies, including ecommerce fulfillment, short-term storage and a self-service portal with API integrations to key ecommerce platforms.

Retailers are once again in the spotlight as second quarter earnings season rolls on, with Ulta, Gap, Nordstrom and Williams-Sonoma all set to report. Meanwhile, the latest reading of the Fed’s preferred inflation index arrives just ahead of a Friday speech from Chairman Jerome Powell that will be combed for hints about any future interest rate hikes.

Since launching its first in-app display ads last year and putting more of a focus on delivery, Uber has made growing its advertising business a strategic priority. Using machine learning technology from Rokt, the company will now serve relevant ads for products to users as they are checking out, Ad Age reports.

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