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Here's everything you need to know today - in under 3 minutes.

Today's big stories

🔥 Adore Beauty announces its first profits post-IPO

🎰 Crown Resorts cops $261m loss as COVID cuts guests

🎶 TikTok privately tests an augmented reality platform

Oh, and get this...

Netflix is testing two Stranger Things-themed mobile games with Android users in Poland, as part of its plan to expand further into the gaming market. And why Poland, Flux fam? Well, apparently the country has a tonne of active gamers. Next up: a video game about The Crown. 

Adore Beauty announces profit in its first year as a public company

Background: Adore Beauty is Australia's #1 beauty e-commerce store, and it's come from humble beginnings. Like started-in-a-Melbourne-garage-now-we-here humble. Since first launching in 2000, they've partnered with major global brands, launched an online editorial called Beauty IQ and a podcast.

What happened: With more hype than Kanye's Donda album - Adore Beauty went public in 2020. The IPO raised a huuuge $270 million, taking their market cap to a whopping $615 million.  

What else: AB's announced its first results as a public company. Their revenue exceeded expectations, and they grew their customer-base to over 818,000. Now, they've announced a loyalty program, mobile app and new private label products to hit the nek level.

So what's the key learning?

💡E-commerce companies are evolving their businesses from transactional relationships, to long-lasting relationships. In other words, they're saying bye-bye to one-night-stands, and 'I do' to marriage.  

💡Take a look at how Adore reports its numbers. Not only did they see active customers rise 39%, they also saw their returning customers increase by a huge 64%. Kaching.

💡 And how are they doing it? Well, it's pretty simple actually:

1. A mobile app, to further embed themselves in the habits of their customer base, and
2. A loyalty program, to incentives customers to come back again and again. 

Crown Resorts cops major losses after COVID cuts guests

Background: Crown Resorts is the hotel, casino and gaming chain that operates across Oz, the UK, the US and the Bahamas. The whole biz is worth a huge $6.3 billion. 

What happened: Crown has been killing it for a long time, but it's had a rocky road over the last 18 months. First, Aussie regulators are threatening to pull its casino license for dodgy gaming practices. Then, COVID forced casinos to shut shop or limit guests. 

What else: As a result, Crown's seen a full-year net loss of $261 million. And its 'theoretical earnings' (dw we'll get to this in a sec) were just $242 million. Yiiikes.

So what's the key learning?

💡Theoretical earnings - aka theoretical wins - are a measure used in the casino industry to represent the profit the casino would make off of each guest who comes in.

💡It's called 'theoretical' because it depends on a few factors, like how long a guest stays and plays, or how often they actually win. The longer the gambling session, the closer the real earnings or win will be to the theoretical one. Because... the odds are stacked against us bettors.

💡 Because Crown's doors have been shut or their capacity limited thanks to COVID, guests are spending less time gambling...Which means their theoretical earnings are taking a hit.

TikTok is building its own augmented reality tools

Background: TikTok needs no introduction. It's responsible for the most addictive platform in the world. Ya know, where you spend hours watching teens lip sync to songs about Jeff Bezos and try out their model face.

What happened: Now, TikTok is luring developers into their TikTok Effect Studio, to help the app build augmented reality tools (think: Pikachu on the Pokemon Go app).‍

What else: It will let users get a lil more creative with their 6-second vids and help it compete with Facebook and Snap, who already have AR tools inbuilt.

So what's the key learning?

 💡 AR is just like reality - with a sneaky twist. Augmented reality is where your real-world environment is enhanced by computer-generated images. Like Snapchat filters let you chuck on a set of puppy ears, or Pokémon Go lets you catch a Pikachu in your backyard. 

💡 Unlike virtual reality, augmented reality doesn't need any tools at all. And, it's completely portal, which means more people can actually experience it. 

💡 More than 93 million people in the US use AR on some kind of device at least once a month, which is why it's so enticing for social media platforms. 

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