Uncrowd boss hits out at Netflix.shop launch

Last week, Netflix set tongues wagging with an e-commerce move.

The streaming giant already has licensing deals for hundreds of products based on its original programming, sold by the likes of Target, Walmart, Amazon, H&M, and Sephora.

And it has now unveiled Netflix.shop, initially in the United States, with a view to rolling it out to international markets in the coming months.

Much of the media response has been overwhelmingly positive, with various pundits predicting big things for Netflix in the e-commerce space.

Not everyone is impressed however. For instance, Richard Hammond, CEO at retail analytics startup Uncrowd, has stated on LinkedIn: “File this one under, Hey guys! Retail looks a piece of piss, let’s also be a shop!”

“It's one of the crosses we retailers have to bear, that every person and their dog thinks that what we do is easy. You open a shop with some things in and people buy those things. Simple, no? No!” he adds.

Retail, Hammond argues, is both art and science, rarely one or the other. It's logistics, hunches, gambles and it's behavioural economics. engagement, surprise, standards and metronomic dependable delivery.

“It is sociology and geography and technology. It's relevance and it's human. It's warm and it's functional. It's people and their inability to explain to another person what they really, REALLY want. It is digital while being 100% analogue. It is beating hearts and bleeping servers,” he writes.

He concludes: “I love retail. F**k you Netflix for taking my world about as seriously as Colgate took the world of ready meals seriously in the early '80s. Colgate Beef Lasagne. I mean, wow.”

“A uniquely Netflix shopping experience”

Developed with Shopify, Netflix.shop will sell limited edition products on a regular basis, in addition to products available at retail stores through its partners.

Josh Simon, Netflix’s VP of Consumer Products, says that the site is “an exciting new destination combining curated products and rich storytelling in a uniquely Netflix shopping experience.”

“We’re thrilled to give fans a new way to connect with their favourite stories, and to introduce them to the next wave of artists and designers who embrace the power of storytelling in all its forms.”

Exclusive merchandise based on The Witcher and Stranger Things is coming soon, as well as new Netflix logo-wear from Japanese fashion house BEAMS.

Products debuting this month are streetwear and action figures based on anime series Yasuke and Eden, as well as limited edition apparel and decorative items inspired by French thriller series Lupin in collaboration with the Musée du Louvre.

For the launch, Netflix.shop is introducing a collection of anime inspired collectibles from designers Nathalie Nguyen, Kristopher Kites and Jordan Bentley.