Over the summer, as brands and retailers geared up for the back-to-school season, JanSport focused on TikTok to reach young shoppers. The backpack company partnered with Gen Z consulting firm JUV to recruit a “chief mood officer,” a (crucially, paid) Zoomer to spearhead weekly TikTok content during the 2021–’22 school year.

“Nativity is so important on TikTok,” JUV’s 22-year-old CEO Ziad Ahmed told Retail Brew. “In marketing...when a bunch of people [create something] who look nothing like the community they’re trying to serve, [it’s] going to feel forced, because it is forced.”

TikTok’s meteoric rise has led to an emerging job category and qualification: TikTok experts. Companies big and small see the platform as a new channel for new consumers, and an increasingly important part of their overall social media strategy.

“In terms of brand hiring, we’re in the early stages,” Kearney’s Katherine Black said. “But the job is on the rise...and we’re about to see a ton of growth. If you don’t have that capacity or capability in house, acquiring a specialist makes a ton of sense.”

• A LinkedIn search shows openings for TikTok–related jobs and internships at companies like Urban Outfitters, Grove Collaborative, and Briogeo.

It’s a moment

Once Chipotle saw success with its “lid flip challenge” on TikTok back in 2019, where users would flip and catch the top of their burrito bowls, the company went all in.

“Our social team started to create content right away...We built the team over time and have invested more into TikTok,” said Tressie Lieberman, the company’s VP of digital and off-premise. (She couldn’t share how much $$ Chipotle has put toward TikTok.)

There’s *technically* one person who oversees Chipotle’s “owned content” on TikTok, but ideas “can come from anywhere,” Lieberman said.

• Last month, for example, the company introduced its “creator class,” a group of young consultants who help inform Chipotle’s TikTok strategy.

In the know: Tula Skincare is looking to strengthen its TikTok operation, currently hiring for a “TikTok specialist.” While 60% of its customers are millennials, according to the company, popularity among Gen Z consumers is growing.

“We are a digitally native and social-first brand,” Tula CEO Savannah Sachs explained. “Ultimately, it’s about meeting our target customers where they are.”

Zoom out: With a Shopify partnership and its new TikTok Shopping features, the platform has transformed into a bona fide social-commerce destination. Coresight’s Erin Schmidt called this development a “game changer” that’ll create the need for more specialists. “There will be even more focus on TikTok for brands and retailers as another sales channel.”

Click here to read more about the industry’s job on the rise and how Tula is hiring for TikTok.—JG

Things are going to get weird this holiday season. That’s not according to our own experiences at the dinner table, but Adobe’s new holiday shopping forecast.

“It is probably one of the most unusual holiday seasons we’ve seen, especially after a year where consumers had no choice but to go online,” Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, told Retail Brew.

To that end, US online holiday sales are set to surpass the $200 billion benchmark this year and reach a record high of $207 billion between November 1 to December 31, a 10% bump from 2020, per Adobe.

• US consumers will spend an average of 12 hours doing their online holiday shopping.

What are the odds...? That shoppers will find exactly what they’re looking for? Well, given the supply-chain crisis *waves hands* everywhere, Adobe noted out-of-stock messages have already increased by 172% heading into the holidays, compared to January 2020.

• Apparel is the hardest-hit category, followed by sporting goods, baby products, and electronics.

Plus, with consumers wary of shipping delays, curbside pick-up will again take center stage this year. Pandya told us shoppers will rely on the service the closer we get to the holidays; Adobe expects curbside pick-up to account for 40% of all online orders and to peak just before Christmas Eve.

Save the date: Despite discounts and deals moving up the retail calendar, Adobe said November 25—aka Thanksgiving Day—will kick off the best time to shop. Cyber Monday will remain the biggest day for online sales, projected to hit $11.3 billion, though there is a caveat, Pandya warned.

“We have Black Friday, we have Thanksgiving, we have these major days that drive up sales, but [their] growth is slowing down pretty significantly, especially in 2021.”—JS

Instagram and TikTok to Pinterest: “Get in, loser. We’re going shopping.” Yes, you guessed it, Pinterest is hopping on the revamped shopping train with new features. Creators will now be able to tag shoppable Pins and receive recs. Pinterest is also incorporating a “Watch” tab, where users can engage with a creator-driven content feed.

• Plus, the platform created a $20 million monetization program for its influencers, called “Creator Rewards.” (Read more on Marketing Brew.)
• These new features are in addition to Pinterest’s existing AR try-on beauty tools and retailer partnerships. The company rolled out new merchant tools just a few weeks ago.

Pinterest’s shopping strategy aims to take advantage of its already “high intent” user base. Over the last year, the platform said it has seen a 20x increase in searches for products. (Home, beauty, fashion, and food are its stickiest categories.)

I want it now: The company wants to differentiate itself from the competition with a focus on “intentful shopping” versus “impulse shopping,” Jeremy King, SVP head of engineering, told Retail Brew. “People use Pinterest when they’re ready to buy.”

“You don’t come [to Pinterest] with a very specific type of item. You come and say, ‘I need red pumps for a wedding,’ or living room ideas or Thai dinner,” King explained. “This gives an opportunity for merchants and advertisers of all types to show off their product for the first time.”

No new friends: Pinterest also wants to steer away from social networking, concentrating on discovery and “not necessarily sharing that externally.” Rather, it’s building something like a shoppable search engine.

The vision, King said, is “billions of pins...two-thirds of those have [shoppable] products...[and] you’ll be able to find anything.”

+1: In other news, PayPal is reportedly putting out feelers to acquire Pinterest.—JG

Today’s top retail reads.

Boxed in: “I’ve had clients say, ‘Why the heck would I want to choose from eight blazers?’” Some stylists say Stitch Fix’s new preview function, which relies partly on the company’s algorithm, isn’t getting it right. (Insider)

Not so fleeting: Amazon and Inditex, among seven other retailers, have committed to zero-emission ocean shipping by 2040. Here’s a glimpse at how those vessels might shape up. (Quartz)

Turn around? The possibility of Saks’s spun-off e-comm operation going public could spur copycats—or kill the movement altogether. (WWD)

On Wednesdays, we wear pink spotlight Retail Brew’s readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Heather Eaton is the cofounder and CEO of Frankly Apparel, which specializes in “bra-less clothing.” As such, she wears many hats instead, even acting as the brand’s fit model and creating its “boob box” packaging (she’s a former graphic designer).

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? I do pretty much everything except sew the clothes. I run our social media, design our ads, choose fabrics, approve new styles, oversee our supply chain, interact with customers, and so much more.

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile: How much time I spend talking to myself in social media comments to help the algorithm.

What’s the emerging retail trend that you’re most excited about? Livestream shopping. It’s not huge in the US yet, but I think the TikTok boom (which has been huge for our brand as an early mover in that space) is the indicator that it is coming.

As a newer brand with limited funds for IRL expansion, livestream shopping is an awesome opportunity to get in front of more customers outside of competing on the treadmill that is paid social and search.

Your favorite retail accounts to follow are...@diet_prada, @woahdudedesigns, @traderjoeslist (technically a stan account, but such good content!).

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• Exclusive: Rothy’s pilots an in-store takeback program for worn shoes
• How the e-comm craze is shaping the holiday season
• Retailers battle a trucker shortage ahead of the holidays