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Google just revamped its fitness app, offering new features to help users better track progress with their health and fitness goals. Google Fit now includes “move minutes,” which track how much movement you are doing throughout the day, and “heart points” where you can assess your overall heart rate through different activities.
According to a company blog post, Google Fit designed its app around these two features as a way to help people move more and sit less. Recent studies have shown that sitting for long periods of time can be more dangerous to a person’s health than smoking, so many are tracking their movements through step counters, watches, and phones to make sure they move more often.
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ModCloth, the vintage-inspired online clothing company, has recently branched out and opened its first physical store in the Washington D.C. area. The opening weekend included two days of festivities, offering customers prizes, gifts with purchase, and live music.
ModCloth gained a huge and dedicated fan base by offering a range of unique and playful vintage-inspired styles designed for all body types. Last year, the online business was acquired by Walmart, which worried longtime customers who thought the inventiveness that first drew them to ModCloth might be discarded for styles with mass market appeal.
According to The Washingtonian, the new store doesn’t stock inventory like a traditional retailer. Instead, it’s a hybrid service. Stylists will be on hand to assist customers in trying on different pieces, and then if shoppers want to purchase, they can do so online at an in-store station, a tactic that has become popular with fashion companies to entice younger customers back to retail stores. All purchased items include free shipping directly to the customer’s home. ModCloth sizes run from XXS to 4X.
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A new study from the U.K. shows that people are buying clothes online to take pictures to post to Instagram and other social media, and then promptly returning them.
According to a feature in UK newspaper The Independent, the study found the biggest offenders are men and women aged 35 to 44, with middle-aged men being the primary culprits. They shop to post for #OOTD, a hashtag where other Instagram users can find photos of people showing off their daily wardrobe picks. One in ten shoppers in the U.K. admitted to buying, taking a picture and returning their outfits once they posted the photo to social media.
The research also found that because men are more “socially self-conscious” than women, men are more inclined to shop and return. Twelve percent of male participants in the study admitted to posting a photo in a new outfit and then returning it. Interestingly, the study also found that men were more embarrassed to be seen in the same outfit twice, even when going out with their friends IRL, compared to only 7 percent of women who felt the same.
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23andMe announced recently that they entered a deal with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline for $300 million to share its database of genetic data gathered from customers.
The DNA testing company is collaborating with the pharma giant to assist them in developing new drugs and conducting research. Genetic data is helpful for scientists because they can learn more about the roots of various conditions and diseases, which can lead to the development potential treatments or cures. 23andMe also has partnerships with drug companies Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Biogen, Pfizer, and Genentech.
"We all have some disease or health issue that we care about. 23andMe has created a research platform to enable interested customers to participate in research — to not wait for solutions to appear, but for people to come together and make discoveries happen," 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki wrote in a letter to customers after the deal with GlaxoSmithKline was announced, according to Business Insider.
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Fabletics announced that it will be expanding its brick and mortar presence by opening 75 new retail stores both in the U.S. and in other countries, expanding its global presence to 100 stores.
The stores will feature a new design that is being debuted in Bellevue, Washington, including a “high-tech payment processing system” plus a leggings bar and photo wall for people to try on clothes and take selfies.
The athleisure-wear company began as an online subscription-based business five years ago, and has since grown rapidly, competing with big-name brands like Lululemon, Nike, and Tory Burch Sport. Fabletics prides itself on fun and inclusive designs for all bodies, and offers a lower price point for customers. The company recently launched a new line of activewear for curvy and larger body types, incorporating fun colors and flattering styles to appeal to more consumers.
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Last week, popular meal kit company Chef’d announced that it was suspending operations effective immediately. Customers were advised that they could no longer order Chef’d meal kits via the company’s website.
This was a surprise move for the company who last month announced that it would sell its kits in Duane Reade and Walgreen’s stores in New York City. But according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, the company laid off about 350 workers and sent an email to vendors announcing it would be halting operations. Most of the employees operated out of the company’s warehouses in Brooklyn, New York and California.
“Due to some unexpected circumstances with the funding and business, I regret to inform that Chef’d has ceased all operations until our investors and lenders decide the final fate of the company,” the company’s chief technology officer wrote in an email to a supplier Tuesday. “Consequently, please cease all work associated with Chef’d.”
