E-commerce marketing and insights platform MikMak has raised $10 million in Series A funding, which it plans to use to expand the company across the U.S. and beyond. It has sights set on international territory as it looks to capitalize on the exponential growth it has seen during the coronavirus pandemic, Rachel Tipograph, founder and CEO, told Cheddar.
"COVID has accelerated e-commerce demand by five years. So, where we all thought the industry was going to be in the year 2025, it arrived on the week of March 9th," she said.
MikMak works with brands like Nestle and L'Oreal to create captivating digital ad campaigns and links them to retailers with major online presences, including Target, Walmart, and Sephora.
While many businesses have failed to keep their online operations up to speed, Tipograph said it is necessary in order to run a thriving business today.
"E-commerce has become the way these Fortune 1000 consumer brands have to go to market. Brick-and-mortar is now secondary," she noted.
The retail industry has suffered tremendously amid the coronavirus pandemic, but for MikMak and Tipograph, selling essentials has allowed shops to keep their doors open.
"We don't focus on apparel and footwear. Our clients are personal care, home care, beauty, food, beverage, alcohol. They're actually the pantry staple items," she explained.
While traditionally major brands tended to target everyday Americans on a broad scale, hoping to reach a large group and find a few potential customers within it, Tipograph said success in online sales is due to carefully curated marketing for a specific target consumer.
"You actually have to go really narrow and really niche," she said. "Let's find people online who suffer from acne or rosacea and live in the Chicago metro area."
With research, according to Tipograph, companies may find that target groups they least expect to consume their products, particularly amid the pandemic, are actually driving sales.
"Brands want more data and we've got it," she said. "The fastest growing demographic in terms of shift during COVID has actually been people that are over 60 years old," noting that older people turned to online shopping during the pandemic and speculating that they will continue to use it once the health crisis has subsided.
Tipograph provided a nugget of advice for companies currently figuring out their marketing strategies, saying a "shift in mindset" and abandoning old approaches to selling an item is how they will see success in their businesses.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
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