Today in the Connected Economy: Peloton Teams With Dick's to Find New Members

Today in the connected economy, Peloton partners with Dick’s Sporting Goods in an effort to fuel new sales and memberships ahead of the holidays. Plus, Amazon expands its small business lending collaboration with Lendistry, while Meta makes it easier to share non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on its platforms.

Peloton Seeks New Members via in-Store Retail Partnership With Dick’s

In a pre-holiday push to drive sales, membership and subscribers, Peloton is launching 100 branded store-in-store locations in what it said is an exclusive retail and online partnership with Dick’s Sporting Goods. Although a launch date hasn’t been set, the struggling connected fitness firm said the new physical retail presence could arrive “early in the holiday season,” calling the partnership the latest attempt to put its hardware in front of new audiences.

Amazon, Lendistry, Expand SMB Lending Program

One year after debuting the pilot, Amazon is expanding its Community Lending program to reach more sellers. Launched in conjunction with minority-led community development financial institution Lendistry, the program supports “urban and rural small businesses in socially and economically distressed communities through short-term loans at competitive and affordable rates,” the retail giant.

Meta Makes It Easier to Share NFTs on Facebook, Instagram

Meta has announced another update to its policy for sharing digital collectibles, letting anyone that uses its Facebook and Instagram platforms connect their wallets to share NFTs. The update comes exactly one month after the social media giant said it would let users post their NFTs on Facebook as well as Instagram.

Amazon Nudges Voice Commerce Evolution With Updated Echo Smart Screen

In a move designed to connect voice-powered shopping, entertainment and information systems through a larger touch screen, Amazon’s latest wall-mounted version of its Echo device not only marks a technological leap forward for the company, but an incremental advance for the fledgling voice commerce category too. Named for the size of its screen, the new Echo Show 15 represents the marriage of multiple categories into a single platform.