The FGB Digest brings you the latest news on the world’s fastest growing direct-to-consumer and challenger brands. In today’s edition: Shopify reclaims title as Canada's most valuable public company; Beautycounter teams up with Sephora for its "Clean at Sephora" campaign; and Stitch Fix sees success with its Direct Buy offering.

Shopify’s share price rises, boosting it back into poll position in Canada

E-commerce company Shopify has seen the price of its stock soar to its highest ever levels. The Ottawa-based firm saw its shares climb almost 25% higher than their CAD $975.75 (£579.53) value from less than a fortnight ago, reaching $1,204.74 (£715.53) at the Toronto Stock Exchange by the end of last week (Friday 19^th June).

Shopify’s current stock price is almost $15 (£8.91) higher than its last record value of $1,187.98 (£705.48), which it achieved late last month. The firm has seen significant success throughout the global pandemic, with its stock more than doubling in value as sellers flocked to its platform to capitalise off of growing demand for e-commerce services.

The result, which came just a day after RBC raised its share price target from $825 (£489) to $1,000 (£593.88), has seen the company’s market capitalisation soar to $141b (£83.7b). These figures place Shopify ahead of RBC, seeing it resume its place as Canada’s most valuable public company.

According to multiple sources, RBC analyst Mark Mahaney has raised his prediction for Shopify’s revenues by $2b (£1.19b) to $25b (£14.8b) by 2028. The achievement is not the only recent good news for Shopify, which entered into a deal with US retail giant Walmart earlier this week.

Beautycounter prepares for collaboration with Sephora

US beauty products provider Beautycounter is set to team up with cosmetic retailer Sephora next month. The collaboration will see the clean beauty brand open a pop-up shop on Sephora’s website, with some of Beautycounter’s most popular products set to be made available in the retailers stores from 7^th August.

The partnership forms part of Sephora’s “Clean at Sephora” initiative, in which a further 50 brands are participating. The initiative involves the cosmetic giant granting a seal of approval to products that it certifies are safe, and do not contain any harmful ingredients.

The move is a smart one for Sephora, with consumer spend on natural personal care products increasing amid growing scrutiny over ingredients lists. Beautycounter has long been considered a leader in the move towards natural make up, publishing a list of 1,800 chemicals that it considers harmful and lobbying for consumer safety.

The brand has also seen endorsement from some celebrities, with some, such as Michelle Pfeiffer, launching their owns product lines through the company.

Stitch Fix sees its Direct Buy offering ignite

Fashion brand Stitch Fix has said that its recently launched Direct Buy offering has helping to stimulate sales amidst the COVID-19 downturn. The direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand, which is based in San Francisco, has said that allowing customers to purchase items individually as opposed to as part of a curated collection, or fix, has resulted in a much-needed boost.

The firm stated that it has seen active clients increase by 9% to 3.4 million compared to the same fiscal period last year. Net revenue per client has also seen an uptick, growing 6% to USD $398 (£318). However, despite this positive growth, Stitch Fix reported a decline of $371.7m (£297.7m) to its overall revenues, and raked up a loss of $33.9m (£27.2m) against a net income of $7m (£5.6m).

Nonetheless, CEO and founder Katrina Lake asserted that the firm has fared well considering that most similar retailers have seen sales drop by as much as 80%. Some observers share her optimism, with Baird analyst Mark R. Altschwager pointing to the 8% increase of women trying Direct Buy since February as a reason to be confident.