Insider Retail: The Outdoor Voices comeback story and why retailers cutting MyPillow ties now threatens CEO Mike Lindell's multimillion-dollar empire
In a week dominated by more coronavirus vaccine updates and GameStop's insanely soaring share price, retail once again finds its way into the mainstream news cycle.
That's right! You might've seen that Starbucks COO Rosalind Brewer is set to become the CEO of Walgreens, a company that hopes to lead the way with the vaccine rollout.
And speaking of companies led by women, this week we take a look at Ashley Merrill's efforts towards turning around DTC athleisure brand Outdoor Voices. Also, we check in on why MyPillow CEO's support of Trump has proven to be a double-edged sword.
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Outdoor Voices chairwoman Ashley Merrill lays out how she turned around the once-buzzy athleisure brand after its valuation dropped 64%
Ashley Merrill has been doubling as the CEO of the women's sleepwear brand, Lunya and chairwoman and acting CEO of Outdoor Voices since June.
Prior to her arrival, the athleisure brand was facing inner turmoil, including financial woes, prompting then-CEO Ty Haney to step down amid disagreements with the company's board.
A little over six months in, Merrill's strategic overhaul has already translated into results, with Outdoor Voices turning a monthly profit for the first time last summer and increasing its customer base by 50%.
Here's how she did it.
The MyPillow guy says God helped him beat a crack addiction to build a multimillion-dollar empire. Now his religious devotion to Trump threatens to bring it all crashing down.
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is quite the character. In part, because he doesn't care what anyone - including his customers or business partners - thinks of him.
Insiders say he has striking similarities to former President Trump as a brash CEO obsessed with his own brand.
Still, supporting Trump drove "off-the-charts" sales for his business, Lindell told Insider. That success may now be in danger, however, as retailers like Kohl's and Bed Bath & Beyond continue to cut ties with the brand - a trend Lindell credits to "cancel culture."
In other MyPillow news:
- Fintech startup Affirm cuts ties with MyPillow
- MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has been permanently barred from Twitter
Elsewhere in retail:
- Walmart is doubling down on robots to fill online orders with these 3 startups
- Planet Fitness CEO Chris Rondeau is bracing for a brick-and-mortar fitness boom
- Article CEO shares how the millennial furniture company grew revenue 70% during the pandemic
- Hershey's also increased profits by 13% thanks to two new approaches to selling chocolate and mints.
- SoleSavy is on the side of sneaker purists and is happily using bots to keep hyped pairs away from resellers
- Talkspace is going public via a $1.4 billion SPAC deal, and predicts the 'second pandemic' will be a mental health crisis
- 7 marketplace platforms, including StockX, Faire, and virtual goods seller Genies, that experts predict could follow Poshmark to IPO