Making Marketing

This week's podcast starts with senior reporters Gabriela Barkho and Melissa Daniels getting into the news of the week. First they look at the changes unfolding at Nike, which is returning to Amazon after six years off the marketplace. It's part of the brand's larger strategy to get back into more wholesale channels, while it is also rolling out price hikes on some of its higher-end items. Then they look at E.l.f which also is raising some prices and announced plans to acquire Hailey Bieber's skincare and cosmetics brand Rhode, a deal reportedly worth $1 billion. Later in this episode, Barkho and Daniels are joined by executive editor Anna Hensel for a roundtable discussion about the memes and myths around retail recession indicators. They unpack the Lipstick Index and the Men's Underwear Index and whether these informal indexes have any basis in reality as recession indicators. Then they get into some sectors and trends to watch as economic challenges continue to change consumer behavior.

This week's podcast kicks off with senior reporters Gabriela Barkho and Melissa Daniels discussing Klarna's latest earnings, which showed that a growing number of the BNPL service's users defaulting on their loans. In other news, Dockers and The Vitamin Shoppe were both acquired by respective companies. Levi Strauss announced the sale of khakis maker Dockers to Authentic Brands Group for $311 million. The Vitamin Shoppe was bought out by Kingswood Capital Management and Performance Investment Partners for an undisclosed amount. Both sales are examples of struggling retailers trying to find their footing with modern customers. Later in the episode (22:18), Daniels speaks with Liran Golan, the chief supply chain officer at Bansk Beauty that holds hair care brands Amika, Eva NYC and Ethique. They discuss how tariff policy changes can impact brands beyond the duties themselves, with a ripple effect on how brands make, manage and move their product.

On this week's Modern Retail Podcast, senior reporters Melissa Daniels and Gabriela Barkho discuss the acquisition of sanitizer brand Touchland. The startup was bought by Church & Dwight, the personal care group that owns Nair and Arm & Hammer, in an $880 million deal. The staff also discusses the rise and fall of Target in the past couple of years, with the retailer marred by pullback in consumer spending and boycotts. In this episode, Daniels and Barkho also welcome Michelle Gabe (18:40), the director of marketing and partnerships at IFG, the parent company of King's Hawaiian, Grillo's Pickles, and Killer Brownie. Gabe joins the show to discuss what goes into brands' collaborations with entertainment franchises and other pop culture moments, especially in film and television. The trend was kicked into high gear during 2023's summer of “Barbie,” when brands of all sizes went pink. Last year, a similar wave was brought on by the “Wicked” movie. Even prestige TV series are getting in on product tie-ins through brand collaborations, as this past season of “White Lotus” showed. During her previous role at truffle sauce startup Truff, Gabe helped bring these types of partnerships to life, such as a collectibles collaboration with the “Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which garnered a waitlist of 20,000. Here is what she had to say about the best way to approach major IP tie-ins.

On this week's Modern Retail podcast, senior reporters Gabriela Barkho and Melissa Daniels discuss the rising challenges toy companies are facing in planning for inventory under Trump's China tariffs. As Mattel executives said in the company's quarterly earnings this week, the Barbie maker is trying to future-proof its supply chain to minimize potential price increases. In M&A news, DoorDash announced it acquired reservation platform Seven Rooms and delivery service Deliveroo, for $1.2 billion and $3.86 billion, respectively. In other acquisition news, Skechers was taken private by 3G Capital in a $9.42 billion deal, which is said to be the biggest footwear buyout to date. In this episode, Daniels also speaks with John Tabis (19:30), co-founder and chairman of flower delivery company Bouqs on how the floral industry is dealing with tariffs, with Mother's Day right around the corner. They get into the source of florals, and how Bouqs uses its internal technology to navigate high-demand times. Tabis, who is also a venture partner with M13, also got into best practices for companies with global supply chains at a moment of uncertainty.

On this week's episode, senior reporters Gabriela Barkho and Melissa Daniels get into the shakeup hitting telehealth platforms following the FDA's crackdown on compounded GLP-1 medications — and what new deals between pharmaceutical companies and platforms like Hims & Hers mean for the future of weight-loss prescriptions. Plus, we unpack how Beyonce's Cowboy Carter tour is driving a spike in Western fashion and fueling brand tie-ins with Queen Bey's Cécred. Then the team dives into a discussion on how the avian flu outbreak is scrambling the retail landscape. While egg prices are hitting record highs, some shoppers are rethinking their breakfast habits. And companies like Tractor Supply Company and Wayfair are also getting a boost thanks to an influx of interest in backyard chicken coops. Then, Barkho interviews Russell Breuer, co-founder of pet food brand Spot & Tango about how "eggflation" is impacting its supply chain and operations.

This week on the Modern Retail Podcast, senior reporters Gabriela Barkho and Melissa Daniels kick things off with a discussion about how mergers and acquisitions in the retail space are going on pause amid widespread uncertainty. Industry watchers are closely monitoring the situation, and some consumer brand investors tell Modern Retail they're “taking a beat” before pulling the trigger on new deals. The pair also analyzes Walmart's announcement that it's testing out beauty bars in some stores as part of its spring beauty sales event. While a bid to compete with the likes Target and Ulta, it's also a continuation of a strategy to up its a beauty game. It's added more than 40 premium brands in the past year, expanded assortment in our core business, and launched a beauty accelerator program. Then (17:03), in honor of Earth Month, sees Daniels sits down with Rachel Kibbe, the founder and CEO of Circular Services Group (CSG) and American Circular Textiles (ACT) for this week's featured segment. Tariff policy changes are throwing sourcing and supply chain into the spotlight, souring conversations about American manufacturing and near shoring. Advocates for circular manufacturing, or systems that can help material be reused, recycled or remade, see the potential shift to more U.S. factories as an opportunity to stand up this infrastructure. Daniels and Kibbe discuss the promise and pitfalls of circular manufacturing and what it would take to get more infrastructure and industry in place here in the U.S. And Kibbe discusses the advocacy efforts ACT is undertaking in Washington, D.C. They also lay of land of domestic manufacturing, and the challenges that businesses face if they're looking to nearshore their supply chain in an effort to avoid tariffs.

On this week's Modern Retail podcast, senior reporters Gabriela Barkho and Melissa Daniels dive into the ins and outs of LVMH's earnings that showed first-quarter sales in the U.S. dropped by 3%. And they discuss how brands and consumers are responding to the rash of videos from alleged Chinese manufacturing hubs that have taken over TikTok feeds. Then, the pair are joined by executive editor Anna Hensel for a roundtable discussion about how tariffs are affecting some unexpected and disparate categories (18:50). They chat about what they're been hearing from business leaders about how their costs, sourcing and operations are changing -- and so far, it seems no one is spared.

On this week's episode of the Modern Retail Podcast, the staff is going deep into modern marketing strategies. First up, executive editor Anna Hensel and senior reporter Gabriela Barkho talk about what was top of mind for executives at the Modern Retail Marketing Summit. Tariffs -- and how to respond to them -- were a hot topic of discussion. Marketers batted around ideas like adding a tariff surcharge to orders, pressing pause on some collaborations to save resources and taking a surgical approach to cutting SKUs. In some cases, they are still pushing forward on marketing spend while competitors pull back. Speakers from brands like Oura, Chobani and Bark also talked about their approach to growing their retail businesses, as they use insights from their DTC business to inform their pitch to retailers, and use their wholesale businesses to introduce themselves to new types of customers. Then, in this week's featured segment (19:42), Hanna Andersson's chief customer officer, Lisa Perlmutter, talks about how the premium children's apparel brand built its first-ever loyalty program.

On this week's episode of the Modern Retail Rundown, the staff gives an overview of what tariffs were announced on April 2, which President Donald Trump called "Liberation Day," and how the retail industry reacted accordingly. Then, a look which companies are trying to throw their hats into the ring to acquire TikTok. And lastly, an M&A streak in the better-for-you space continues as Hershey announced it will acquire popcorn brand LesserEvil in a $750 million deal.

Bea Dixon, founder and CEO of plant-derived feminine care brand The Honey Pot, got the idea for her startup in 2012 when she was suffering from bacterial vaginosis. Inspired by a visionary dream that centered around her grandmother sharing a list of ingredients, Dixon went on to start the Honey Pot, which now consists of washes, wipes, tampons pads and more, all containing straightforward, plant-derived ingredients. “I actually think the [vaginal wellness] space is changing for the better….better-for-you is the new conventional,” Dixon said, sharing how she thinks things like clean cotton have become table stakes for companies that sell tampons and pads. In turn, it's been an exciting time for companies like The Honey Pot. Last year, the Honey Pot sold a majority stake to Compass Diversified for $380 million. And Dixon joined the Modern Retail Podcast to talk about what's been going on at The Honey Pot since then. Dixon admitted that initially, talking about the sale was hard because “we have never been one to talk about how much money we raise, or how much money we make.” But now, she says “I feel great, I feel ucky to have a partner. I feel lucky that we were able to make whole the investors that had been with us since the very beginning.” And, being part of a bigger company like Compass Diversified has allowed The Honey Pot to spend more time and resources on bigger projects, like new packaging, which is rolling out in April. “We put several, it felt like hundreds of iterations in front of people so that we could really dial down to what would be the best version of said new packaging,” Dixon said. In the process, the Honey Pot learned how to more specifically call attention to certain attributes like the types of herbs that go into each product and what the benefit is of each. It points to a bigger evolution that Dixon is seeing in the space; namely that more brands are “leading with function.”

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, the staff discusses Dollar Tree's decision to offload its struggling Family Dollar segment for $1 billion. Meanwhile, GameStop plans to close a "significant number" of stores as it ponders investments in cryptocurrency. Finally, H&M reported weaker-than-expected earnings this week, pointing to high markdowns and inflation woes.

When Perelel launched its first prenatal vitamin products in September 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic had upended the startup's fundraising plan. Co-founder Victoria Thain Gioia said that rather than launch with splashy campaigns or a big retail entry, Perelel decided to use organic social media posts to help spread the word. For the first year, Gioia answered every customer service ticket personally. "The roadmap that we originally had for the first year to 18 months was very different than what we encountered, in terms of the world and how we had to pivot," she said. But the company gained momentum in the direct-to-consumer subscription world and has grown an average of 600% year over year since its inception. Sales have more than doubled in the last three years, with Perelel currently selling around 182,000 vitamins a day.  Behind the scenes, Perelel has invested in its growth by getting into new product categories. It has 21 SKUs, including a men's supplement and products catered toward other wellness needs like hydration or sleep support.  Gioia joined the Modern Retail podcast this week to discuss the company's growth journey and its latest product launch, a protein powder with creatine and fiber. Though creatine may read as a masculine product, Perelel's research has tapped into a growing recognition of its benefits for women, too. It can be to help with brain fog, fatigue and muscle retention, for instance, during postpartum, menopause and perimenopause. The product has been in development for about two years as the team looked to perfect the formula, Gioia said.

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, the staff starts off discussing various news from buy-now, pay-later startup Klarna, including the deals with DoorDash and Walmart it struck as it prepares to go public. Meanwhile, Edible Arrangements' parent company, Edible Brands, launched a marketplace for THC-infused products called Edibles.com. Finally, Nike gave an update on its turnaround plan in its earnings this week, with the company expecting weaker sales in the short term as it adjusts operations.

PopSockets is the leader of what its CEO, Jiayu Lin, likes to call the phone grip category. The company is known for small, retractable circles that come in a  wide variety of prints and colors and attach to the back of someone's phone, making it easier to grip. But, the company really wants to be known as a lifestyle brand. It's an inflection point that many accessories brands reach at one point or another, as they want consumers to know them for more than just a single widget. And, Lin is thinking day in and day out about how to position PopSockets as a lifestyle brand through events, collaborations, new product launches and more. “I want to take [PopSockets] to the next level by transitioning the company from a tech accessory to a mobile lifestyle brand,” she said.  Lin joined The Modern Retail Podcast to talk about her vision for PopSockets. She's been with the company since 2022, starting out as its gm of APAC and becoming the company's CEO in September.  PopSockets has been focused on product expansion for the past few years, and it now sells phone cases, wallets and more, in addition to its ubiquitous grips.   One concept Lin is particularly interested in is the idea of the mobile lifestyle — that is, as people carry their phones everywhere, phones are increasingly becoming an extension of people's identity. So, PopSockets is focused on launching a greater variety of products that speak to people's interests and hobbies — for example, a music festival survival kit.  “This idea of a mobile lifestyle – we want to be part of you, and an extension of you, to help you express yourself — whether it's at work, at home or at play,” Lin said.  Creating exclusives for different retailers like Walmart, Best Buy, Apple and more is also a big part of this. In addition, PopSockets is looking at more pop-up opportunities and events this year, Lin said.  “It's very important for us that we find the right channels for the different products we carry,” she said. 

This week's Modern Retail Rundown kicks off with news of CVS opening mini pharmacies, as part of an overall plan to scale back its large footprint. Elsewhere, the beauty and skin-care segment is showing signs of slowing sales as brands like Futurewise shut down and Ulta reports weak growth, reflecting softness among U.S. beauty sales. Similarly, apparel retailers like American Eagle are forecasting a drop in sales during Q1, a potential harbinger of things to come.

Hair-care startup Crown Affair has had a big couple of years. After launching in January 2020, Crown Affair entered Sephora in 2022. The brand's profile has grown as Crown Affair's products have made the rounds on social media, most notably with Doja Cat donning the brand's hair towel on the 2024 Met Gala red carpet.  This year, the brand aims to do around $30 million in revenue, up from $20 million last year.  And one of the people who has been instrumental in helping Crown Affair hit bigger and bigger milestones is Elaine Choi, who joined the company shortly before its launch as its founding president and COO. Recently, Choi was elevated to CEO, and she joined the Modern Retail Podcast to talk about her vision for Crown Affair this year.  Dianna Cohen is the founder of Crown Affair. The company's goal is to help people redefine their relationship with their hair and build new hair rituals with high-quality basics, like “the oil” and “the dry shampoo.” Many of the Crown Affair's customers were introduced to the brand through Cohen's videos on TikTok and Instagram, where she has amassed tens of thousands of followers, and shares everything from hair-care tips to behind-the-scenes looks at product development.  "[Cohen is the] creative, visionary founder, and she needed an operator to come in and work with her and launch the brand," Choi said. "So we got connected through a mutual friend. … It was just, like, an instant kismet connection.” Choi ended up joining the brand four months prior to launch, moving from her hometown of Los Angeles to New York to work on Crown Affair.  In the more than five years that she's been with Crown Affair, Choi has been responsible for the operations side and, overall, making sure the brand is moving where it needs to go. Choi, a former cross-country athlete, likened the process to preparing for a race.   “You know where the finish line is, but how are you setting those milestone markers to keep you going?” she said. “I remember I would practice for a race, and there was always, like, a tree at the one-mile mark. And I was like, 'OK, cool. So I just have to get to that tree in this amount of time, and then I'm on track.' And that was kind of like the beginning stages [of building Crown Affair].” Now, as CEO, Choi said she's focused on a few key markers: helping the brand grow through increased distribution as Crown Affair launches in more Sephora stores, honing in on what marketing tactics are working, and keeping Crown Affair's employees happy and focused as the business continues to evolve.

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, the staff discusses the drama surrounding a planned Neiman Marcus store closure in downtown Dallas. Elsewhere, reports swirl that Forever 21 is preparing for a possible bankruptcy, its second in six years. Lastly, Modern Retail looks at the battle that's brewing in the convenience store space as 7-Eleven's parent company tries to fight off a takeover bid by Circle K's owners.

Cleaning company Dropps hit shelves in Target this week, hoping to capture market share in the competitive category by offering a "greener" alternative. And one of the first ways it's hoping to catch shoppers' eyes is with its paperboard, trapezoid-shaped container next to the plastic tubs of laundry and dish pods. "It is paperboard within a sea of plastic," said CEO Alastair Dorward, "and the unique form and the shape really presents an excellent billboard on shelf." Dorward joined the Modern Retail Podcast to talk about the company's expansion plans as Dropps made its Target debut online and in stores. The over-30-year-old company makes pods for dish and laundry that are USDA-Certified Biobased, Leaping Bunny Certified and wrapped in a biodegradable film. The launch also includes a new 4-in-1 Plus Oxi Biobased Power Laundry Detergent Pod that's exclusive to Target and Dropps.com, as the company looks to compete with legacy brands that offer "tiered" pods for different uses. Dorward said Dropps is looking to find a mass audience after nearly two decades of direct-to-consumer operations. The former CEO of Method, Dorward took the helm at Dropps about two years ago and worked to take the product from its DTC origins to mass retail. The so-called "green cleaning" category is expected to grow as customers look for more non-toxic ingredients in product purchases. Nielsen IQ found that 45% of consumers want to buy products that have antibacterial properties, non-toxic ingredients and disinfectant abilities, for example.

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, the staff discusses news from Target, which announced new partnerships with sportswear brand Champion and eyewear startup Warby Parker. Elsewhere, Starbucks' latest turnaround move is to pare down its menu by 30% and get rid of complicated drinks. Lastly, we take a look at why one in five Americans are "doom spending" as worry over the economy and trade wars loom.

When smoothie brand Bumpin' Blends made its mass retail debut, it landed in the frozen food aisles of more than 3,100 Walmart, Target and Sprouts stores within a few weeks.  “We went from doing five figures a month to doing six figures a month and seven figures a quarter,” said co-founder and CEO Lisa Mastela. “It was very huge immediately, which was very cool, but also a huge learning curve.”  Mastela joined this week's Modern Retail Podcast to chat about the changes Bumpin' Blends has made to its packaging, messaging and ad strategies to gain a foothold in the competitive frozen CPG category. She also shared how the company has been able to grow by carefully watching ad spending and by being selective about what it puts in curating mass retail. In addition, she discussed the serendipitous meeting with a Mattel executive that landed her a licensing deal. Bumpin' Blends sells frozen smoothie cubes that can be popped into a blender with milk for easy, quick prep. But it took some trial to error to figure out how to communicate that value proposition. The company's first retail partner was Costco, with the product sold in large bags of cubes that had a photo of a smoothie bowl on the front. Mastela recalls hearing from Costco shoppers that they thought the bags held some sort of free coffee. “There's nothing on the bag that says coffee. There's no picture of coffee. So we tweaked some of the photography on the bag to really push that, like, this is not coffee,” she said. “We switched it to a front-facing cup with a smoothie with a straw.”

This week's Modern Retail Rundown kicks off with big news from Nike and Skims. The two companies are creating a new women's activewear brand called NikeSkims. Next, the staff delves into why energy drinks maker Celsius is acquiring competitor Alani Nu. And Crocs is the latest retailer to address how its 2025 outlook could be impacted by President Donald Trump's tariff policy.

Detroit-based luxury design brand Shinola sells everything from jewelry to bikes to journals. In 2019, it even opened a hotel in downtown Detroit. But the is currently laser-focused on refining the answer to the question, “What's the first thing you think of when you think of Shinola?” And it wants that to be watches.  “We lost that [focus on watches] for a little while,” said Kevin Wertz, CMO at Bedrock, the platform company that owns Shinola. Bedrock also owns the outerwear brand Filson.  Shinola, founded in 2011, quickly gained a following because it was bringing manufacturing jobs back to Detroit. In 2012, the brand opened a 12,000-square-foot watch factory in the city. Over the next few years, it used its expertise in design and craftsmanship to expand into new categories.  But in 2016, Shinola ran into a hurdle when the FTC ruled that the company could not use the tagline “Built in Detroit.” Even though Shinola has a watch factory in the U.S., its watches — like all watch brands — largely rely on imported parts. Now, Shinola's watches say “Built in Detroit with Swiss and imported parts.”   "We're going back to the idea that we are designing and assembling watches in downtown Detroit,” Wertz said.  Despite this, Shinola has found that the best way to tell its story is to do more showing, rather than telling. Wertz said the content that has performed the best for Shinola is raw photos and videos from its factories showing how its watches are made. "People say, 'I don't know what watches being made actually looks like,'” he said, regarding the interest. Wertz joined the Modern Retail podcast this week to talk about how Shinola is refining its brand story. 

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, the staff kicks off the episode by discussing Olipop's new $50 million funding round, valuing the brand at $1.85 billion. In other better-for-you soda news, a look at Poppi's Super Bowl controversial marketing campaign, which caused a backlash after the brand sent creators Poppi vending machines. Finally, retail layoffs spiked in January due to store closures and other cost-cutting measures.

It's been a great year for brands that sell shoes and other gear to runners.  Brooks Running, which is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, disclosed earlier this month that it ended 2024 with record global revenue, up 9% year-over-year. The company did not disclose exact revenue numbers. “We're now in our 25th year of growth. Over that 25 years, we've grown approximately 15% compounded,” said Dan Sheridan, CEO of Brooks. “I think it's an outcome of this incredible, sharp focus we have on the category of run that has mass appeal to anybody that really moves.” Sheridan joined this week's Modern Retail Podcast and spoke about Brooks's 2024 performance and how the brand is setting itself up for growth in the years to come. There have been different types of running booms over the years, Sheridan said. “In the early 2000s, the running boom was centered on a broader approach and invited walkers and people that just wanted to be active.” Right now, Sheridan said, Brooks is benefitting from the post-pandemic running boom, which is being led by Gen Z.  This generation, Sheridan said, is getting into running earlier. They are also trying to balance the mental, physical and social aspects of their life differently.  “Run clubs are the new dating app. It's where you're finding your mate. And people are choosing run clubs over going to the bar. And we see that in Gen Z. They're they're drinking less; alcohol sales are down. … So we think this next generation is a running boom for our industry.”  International sales, too, are fueling Brooks's growth. Sales in China, in particular, grew 228% year-over-year. 

On this episode of the Modern Retail Rundown, the staff looks at the impact of rising ingredient costs. For instance, this week Waffle House announced it's implementing a $0.50 surcharge per egg as costs rise due to bird the bird flu. Meanwhile, Chipotle executives told investors that looming tariffs on Mexican imports will not hurt the fast casual chain's supply of avocados. as it only sources half its avocados from Mexico. Lastly, Gap announced a new series called GapVintage that will feature curated Gap selections from the 1980s through the 2000s.

Most founders are loath to compare their businesses to other companies. Not the veterinary care startup Modern Animal. "We were definitely inspired by One Medical early on," said Steven Eidelman, founder and CEO of Modern Animal. "I think Tom Lee, the founder, was really a trailblazer for: How do we bring technology into health care?" The idea behind both companies was to add a technological element to health care to make the customer experience more seamless. Eidelman described the core problem with veterinary clinics thus: "As a pet owner, you and I both know the experience we have going into a veterinary clinic. And it's a little bit underwhelming -- to put it nicely, the experience is not really customer-forward." Eidelman joined this week's Modern Retail Podcast and spoke about his company's recent growth and future plans. Modern Animal, which first launched in 2020, tries to make the experience better by building its own clinics, hiring its own veterinary and technical staff, and using technology to make the entire process smoother. For an annual fee, members can get unlimited access to exam visits as well as Modern Animal's telehealth platform. It's currently available in major California and Texas cities, and will be opening new locations in both Colorado and Arizona later this year. "We offer primary preventative care," Eidelman said. "We offer urgent care, and we offer our care digitally. We do dentistry, we do surgery. What we don't do is we don't do after hours," Eidelman said. While the business is health care, Eidelman believes the key to success is thinking about it from a retail perspective. At the end of the day, the core underlying business model that we are building has not really ever been built in the veterinary industry," he said. "And that is: we are building a retail footprint, a sort of box-driven business."

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, the staff checks in on the latest tariff and import tax policy changes that are impacting U.S.-based brands. Meanwhile, layoffs across the industry continue as companies like Amazon, Shopify and Kohl's cut costs this month. Finally, Chili's parent company, Brinker International, reported positive sales as the casual restaurant chain underwent a turnaround strategy.

During the weekend when TikTok was briefly offline, Whatnot -- a platform that lets online brands and merchants sell products via livestreams on its app and website -- saw its user numbers surge. "It was our biggest weekend for new sellers -- both in terms of news sign-ups and also sellers who went live for the first time," said Armand Wilson, vp of categories and expansion at Whatnot. "Over that Saturday, Sunday, Monday, we saw a huge spike -- and we continued to see those numbers since then." It points to the uncertainty permeating the social media landscape right now. While TikTok is back up and running, it's unclear what its future is in the U.S. And more brands are testing out other startup social commerce platforms. On this week's Modern Retail Podcast, Wilson spoke about the rise of Whatnot as well as what he's witnessed during the last six months when TikTok's future became unclear. "Particularly [at] the tail end of last year, we are hitting this kind of inflection point," he said. Still, Wilson was clear that even though TikTok, a major competitor, has been constantly in the news, he and his team tried to remain focused. "We really, truly tried to not spend a ton of time thinking about competition," he said. At the same time, the constant changes likely had an impact on overall adoption of social commerce, which still remains nascent in the U.S. "We've definitely seen a big growth in live shopping as a whole," he said. "And I'm sure some of that can be attributed to some of our competitors pushing and getting more vocal."

In this week's Modern Retail Rundown, the staff discusses the latest retail news headlines. First, we dive into the latest developments about a retail theft ring that cost companies millions of dollars. Then, we check in on TikTok and what its future looks like. We end with reports of layoffs at VF Corp and what that means for the company.

Renais has lofty ambitions to be the leading global ultra-premium gin brand. The company, which launched in 2023 in Europe and expanded to the U.S. last year, just raised a fresh round of capital and is working on expanding even further. It was founded by CEO Alex Watson and his sister, actress Emma Watson. Renais Gin isn't cheap -- it retails for around $60 a bottle. But it offers a product that reuses pressed wine grapes from the Watson family's vineyard in France, ultimately making a more sustainable and higher-level gin offering. According to Alex Watson, who joined this week's Modern Retail Podcast, Renais' growth comes at a fortuitous time. "Martinis are having a moment right now," he said. And while people are drinking less -- especially this month -- they are seeking better options. "People generally are consuming less alcohol these days, but they're trading up," Watson said, "so the volume and the share is all shifting into higher value products." That gives Renais a clear path to growth. Still, Watson admitted, there are some big competitors in the space. "Some of the headwinds that we face [are] both going up against the likes of the big boys and hundreds-of-years-old brands," he said. However, he thinks gin may be the best place to introduce a new higher-end product. "Although there's been a lot of innovation in gin -- and there are a lot of gins out there -- there are very few in what we would call the ultra-premium segment of the category," Watson said.

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, the staff gives an update on Joann's latest bankruptcy filing, the second in 10 months for the craft retailer. Meanwhile, Walgreens CEO Timothy Wentworth said that locking products in cases is hurting the retailer's sales, and Walgreens is looking for other creative solutions to reduce store theft. Furthermore, days after banning artificial dye Red 3, the FDA is proposing food companies label their products with more transparent health claims.

With New Year's resolutions in full force, brands are trying to cash in on Dry January. Cannabis-infused beverage brand Cann, in fact, usually sees its sales jump every January due to more people teetotaling. "I just got these numbers earlier today," co-founder and CEO Jake Bullock said on this week's Modern Retail Podcast. "So online -- where we get the data the fastest -- this first week of January is up 75% from where it was this week last year." That's because the six-year-old company is investing in content related to Dry January -- or what the company likes to call Cannuary. But Cann has also been on a big growth streak. The company is now selling its beverages in liquor stores in about 20 states. A year ago, it was only in around three states with this channel. Bullock explained that the reason for this growth is changing legislation and more people testing out THC-infused beverages. He also spoke more broadly about the state of cannabis products in the U.S. Cann, he said, has expanded to states "that we would have never imagined we would be selling -- Cann in North Carolina or Tennessee. And not only are we selling there, it's selling really well, and consumers love these products," he said. Getting more people to try it out is another hurdle. While people who smoke marijuana may be comfortable with trying to drink, others might not be. That's why expanding to liquor stores has been so crucial to Cann's success. "We've always said we sit at this intersection of sober curiosity and cannabis curiosity," Bullock said. "And that curious customer maybe isn't as comfortable going into a dispensary."

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, the staff begins by discussing the latest retail merger. Struggling department store J.C. Penney is merging with Sparc Group to form a new fashion retail entity called Catalyst Brands. At CES this week, Amazon announced a new program called Amazon Retail Ad Service that allows other retailers to use the company's tech to create their own ad networks. Lastly, this week, Target announced it's releasing 2,000 new products this week geared toward wellness at a lower cost.

Where Starbucks zigs, Gregory's Coffee zags. That's at least been the unofficial strategy for the cafe chain over the last few years. Gregory's, which initially launched in 2006 in New York but has expanded to more than 50 locations throughout the U.S., sits at the intersection of craft coffee and convenience. It first launched during the early years of the third-wave coffee boom. Gregory's early days "sort of dovetailed with the third wave of coffee, as they called it -- people focusing more on things like latte art, pour-overs, single origin coffees," said Gregory Zomfotis, the company's founder and CEO. "So, as we are seeing all these new and interesting and innovative things happening in the coffee space, I was able to weave them into the operation almost immediately." Zamfotis joined this week's Modern Retail Podcast and discussed the growth of his chain and the direction of the coffee world in the coming year.

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown episode, the staff discusses several updates coming off of 2024. First up, a new report from Appriss shows that fraudulent returns totaled $103 billion last year out of a total of $685 billion in retail returns. Nordstrom announced it will go private through a buyout by the Nordstrom family in partnership with Mexican retailer El Puerto de Liverpool. And just days after Big Lots began liquidating its stores, the retailer received a lifeline from investment firm Gordon Brothers Retail Partners to help keep between 200 and 400 of its stores open.

On this week's Modern Retail Podcast, three members of the editorial team dive into what's to come in 2025. Senior reporter Gabriela Barko, managing editor Anna Hensel and senior reporter Melissa Daniels had a round table discussion about the major issues facing the retail industry. Hensel, for example, has been keeping a close eye on the M&A landscape. “My prediction is that we will see more IPOs next year, more M& A in certain areas, like CPG, but that, by and large, smaller, mid-market direct-to-consumer brands won't benefit from it,” Hensel said. Another major topic for the new year is tariffs -- and how brands and retailers are going to handle them. "For companies that are importing goods, [tariffs are] something that they're now turning over every stone to understand and see how it's going to affect them," said Daniels. "The brands I've talked to about this, they're doing a lot of math," Daniels said. "Because that suddenly becomes a few different numbers that you have to calculate: How it's going to impact your bottom line. What is the tariff increase? What are the logistics changes? What are the supply chain cost changes? If I am changing my suppliers? I think there are also going to be some people who are just doing a ton of negotiation with their existing suppliers… I think those are going to be a lot of the conversations that people are having right now and into the beginning of Q1." The future of online commerce was also discussed. For example, TikTok Shop continues to grow -- but its future remains unknown. Meanwhile, other platforms like Temu and Amazon Haul have launched offering cheap goods to customers. One prediction is that this space is going to continue to grow, even with a potential TikTok shutdown. "No matter what happens to TikTok in the next few months, it sounds like just the overall space the social commerce will end up benefiting," said Barkho, "Maybe some of these other platforms may end up taking market share away from TikTok."

On this week's Modern Retail Podcast, we're looking back at some of the best episodes from the last year. Host Cale Guthrie Weissman walks us through some of the most interesting conversations he's had with the most exciting retail executives. They include executives from Walmart, Tecovas, Celsius, Violife and more. Walmart's chief product officer, Jon Alferness, for example, spoke about the retailer's approach to AI. Similarly, buzzy startups also explained their growth playbooks. Olga Osminkina-Jones, chief brand officer of the plant-based cheese brand Violife, spoke about how the company approaches marketing like other big names in the space like Oatly. Below are the full episodes we feature in this episode: Tecovas CEO David Lafitte Celsius CEO John Fieldly Violife Chief Brand Officer Olga Osminkina-Jones Walmart Chief Product Officer Jon Alferness Babylist Chief Growth Officer Lee Anne Grant

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown: November saw the U.S.'s monthly retail revenue grow by 0.7%, with solid holiday sales expected to come. Meanwhile, Big Lots said it is planning to close all its remaining stores in 2025 after the company failed to strike a sale deal. Lastly, DTC athleisure brand Vuori now has a $5.5 billion valuation coming off of a major fundraising round. The latest update has Wall Street once again predicting the startup to go public sometime soon.

Puma may be a legacy brand, but it's not scared to test out new technologies. Indeed, if there's a buzzy update, it's likely the company has launched some sort of beta with it. Puma launched a Roblox experience in 2022, it's tested out NFTs and other Web3 programs and has dabbled in augmented reality. Most recently, the sports apparel brand launched a generative AI tool that allows anyone to design a kit for Manchester City. According to the person leading the charge of these emerging technologies, the hope is to make sure the brand stays on the cutting edge. "A big part of this is just making sure that we are innovating," said Ivan Dashkov, Puma's head of emerging marketing tech. "And, as these technologies become a larger part of everybody's day-to-day life, that we're not straggling behind." Dashkov joined this week's Modern Retail Podcast and dove into the company's approach to new types of technology, as well as the way it analyzes the success of nascent campaigns. Dashkov knows a thing or two about testing out new programs. His background was in social media before it was ubiquitous. "I was there for the early days of social at the NBA, and I kind of feel like it's a very similar place now with these new emerging technologies," he said. Now, social media is a dominant force -- and Dashkov believes that's going to happen with some of these programs. The challenge for him is figuring out where to invest time and resources, as well as sussing out what the next big thing is. Some of that involves keeping an ear to the ground. "A crazy thing that was happening with a lot of the executives at the company [was]: they were asking their kids what they wanted for Christmas, and instead of saying like a toy or video game, they were actually asking for Robux to spend in Roblox," he said. This is what led Puma to test out the Roblox platform. Similarly, with generative AI, the company has seen people wanting to design their own kits for their beloved teams, but Puma has been unable to make a program at scale. "With AI, you can really scale that," he said. "Like, anybody can kind of go in and use this tool."

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, the staff discusses a new lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission of Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits, which alleges the alcohol distributor has favored large chains over independent retailers in its pricing practice. Also this week, a new report from the Wall Street Journal claims that Walgreens is in talks with PE firm Sycamore Partners to take the struggling drugstore chain private. Lastly, we discuss a Bloomberg report about Amazon actively cracking down on paid product reviews by reaching out to their creators on social media.

Better-for-you snack brand Chomps has big plans to take the convenience store space by storm. But it's being choosy about which stores it expands into. Chomps, which is best known for its high-protein meat sticks, has been around since 2012 and has been slowly expanding. Its first major retail deal was with Trader Joe's in 2016. The company was small and, at the time, most sold online. But it knew that a major wholesale partnership could take it to the next level. "That was a game changer for us," co-founder and co-CEO Pete Maldonado said on the Modern Retail Podcast. "I mean, literally overnight, you've got millions of new customers and people trying the product for the first time -- and it really just snowballed from there." Maldonado spoke about Chomps' growth over the years as well as its new approach to convenience stores. It recently launched in both Wawa and Sheetz and is figuring out how best to showcase its products to those shoppers. Currently, its products are available in over 20,000 retail doors. "We just want to make sure that when customers see it -- especially in a new channel -- they can see it and, within two seconds, they understand what it is," he said. A lot of that requires smart packaging as well as in-store displays that explain Chomps' products. While C-stores are now a big focus, Maldonado said that product isn't perfect for every type of store. "We're a premium product," he said. "It's got to be an area where people actually understand the value proposition and are willing to pay for it."

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, the staff discusses the state of mall traffic, including Simon's big marketing-fueled boost on Black Friday weekend. Additionally, we dive into a Wall Street Journal report that PE firm Gryphon Investors is eyeing an acquisition of sparkling water brand Spindrift worth $650 million. Moreover, Foot Locker lowered its holiday quarter guidance as it struggles, some of which the retailer blamed on slowing Nike sales.

E-bikes are becoming more popular in the U.S. and Upway is trying to capitalize on this demand. The secondhand e-bike platform launched at the end of 2021 and has expanded beyond its Europe home into the United States in early 2023. The France-based company's model controls the entire supply chain -- buying used bikes directly from the source, inspecting them in its warehouses and then shipping to customers. In Europe, Upway is available in France, Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands, but the U.S. is a major focus, said Toussaint Wattinne, the company's co-founder and CEO. "Clearly, the e-bike market is not at the same maturity level in the U.S. versus Europe," he said on the Modern Retail Podcast. "As a European company, it was super important for us to actually make sure we were looking at the U.S. as a standalone and from a blank sheet of paper approach, rather than try to copy/paste what has worked in Europe." This approach meant that Upway had to understand the needs of the U.S. e-bike shopper -- which differed from state to state. Some geographies buy e-bikes for more leisurely rides, others use them for urban commutes. And while delivery people on e-bikes may be widespread in major cities like New York, "in the U.S. today, couriers actually represent probably sub-15% if not sub-10% of that total volume," Wattinne said. As a result, Upway has been focused on figuring out a unique marketing strategy that speaks to the U.S. market. The first task was gaining bottom-of-funnel awareness via channels like Google. Now, the company is looking at other ways to grow its U.S. presence. This includes a new warehouse in Los Angeles. It also means the company can begin thinking about other types of brand marketing. "As we grew and as we grew confident about understanding our audience," Wattinne said, "we were able to start going a little closer to the middle of the funnel."

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, the staff discusses big box retailers' outlook on their end-of-year quarter, including Walmart's upbeat forecast and Target's less optimistic expectations. Moreover, Shein and Temu pose an additional threat to U.S. retailers this year, with more shoppers planning to buy from these China-based marketplaces. Finally, Modern Retail's research team highlights data from brands and their holiday revenue forecast.

Holiday shopping is in full swing and that means there are endless retail topics to discuss. That's why this week on the Modern Retail Podcast, we brought on our colleagues at the Glossy Beauty Podcast to talk about the major retail narratives we're observing. Modern Retail's editor-in-chief Cale Guthrie Weissman joined Glossy's West Coast correspondant Lexy Lebsack and senior reporter Sara Spruch-Feiner and dove into the major shopping trends dominating this holiday season. They discussed holiday sales forecasts and what that means for brands. "People will be spending a little bit more than last year," said Lebsack. 'We're set to spend almost a trillion dollars in the last two months of the year." Other topics include the rise of chaos shopping alongside new plaforms like Temu and Amazon's Haul. "I think there's a lot of high-income people spending in a very chaotic way on Tiktok Shop, and potentially that might be what Amazon is going for [with Haul]," said Spruch-Feiner. They also talked about brands marketing their products for self-gifting. "I do think that there are a lot of brands that are doing specific marketing for self-gifting," said Weissman. "And I do think that it is fitting with where we are culturally right now in the United States."

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, the staff discusses major retail strategy shifts. First, Target reported a less-than-stellar third-quarter earnings. Next, REI announced plans to crack down on serial returners. Last up, the team dives into reports that Starbucks is considering selling its Chinese business.

The espresso martini has been having a moment for the last few years. According to NIQ CGA's cocktail tracker, in 2023, orders for espresso martinis doubled in velocity and dethroned the Long Island Iced Tea as the sixth most popular cocktail. Riding this wave is the coffee liqueur Mr. Black, which, since its U.S. launch in 2017, has driven one-third of the total retail sales growth in the coffee liqueur category. Mr. Black launched in Australia but has become an international phenomenon; it was acquired by Diageo in 2022. According to the brand's co-founder and now-creative director, Tom Baker, though the espresso martini wasn't popular when it launched, he had a feeling a well-crafted coffee-based liqueur would be a global hit. "I just had this sense that every bar in the world would one day want to buy this product from us," he said on the Modern Retail Podcast. "And that was all the strategy that went into it." There were a few elements that led to Mr. Black's growth. For one, it became a key ingredient in a popular cocktail. Additionally, Baker knew that the brand's success was predicated on key placements in New York City. "It was sort of the hub of cocktail culture," he said. "All roads kind of lead there, especially in liquor." So, Baker and a friend went door to door to get some of the best bars and liquor stores to sell the product. From there, the company made sure to keep the right celebrities and influencers abreast with its growth. One thing led to another, and Mr. Black was able to reach the big time. "All of a sudden, without you knowing, it's [Stephen] Colbert and [Hugh] Jackman drinking a Mr. Black Espresso Martini," he said. "So it definitely is equal parts an extraordinary amount of hard work and an extraordinary amount of luck."

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, the staff discusses Red Lobster's rebrand plan, which was outlined by its new CEO, Damola Adamolekun. Then, after more than a year of litigations, Tapestry said it is no longer pursuing its $8.5 billion acquisition of Capri. Finally, Amazon's One Medical service announced it will begin offering virtual treatment plans for ailments like hair loss and skin care, among others.

KiwiCo has built a profitable subscription business, but it sees retail expansion as key for this year's holiday sales. "We're really excited about our retail efforts," KiwiCo founder and CEO Sandra Oh Lin said on this week's Modern Retail Podcast. Lin launched the children's education product company in 2011. KiwiCo sells themed packages -- what it calls crates -- to kids every month based on certain subjects. There are science crates, geography crates, art crates and more. It recently launched a revamped version of its subscription service, called Clubs, that is now more on interests. Over the years, the company has expanded its product lines to encompass more ages and topics. In 2014, it expanded beyond preschool-aged crates into three additional age bands. "You can really draw a line to our first month of profitability from that particular set of initiatives that we launched," Lin said. Now, KiwiCo offers products for kids age between the ages of 0 and 16, has sold over 50 million products and is profitable. Lin spoke about why subscription was right for her type of product. "I think the key thing for us is that we have been very thoughtful about what makes sense for those customers," she said. "And the subscription model happens to have worked really well." Now, the company is focused on expanding beyond that. Earlier this year it launched in both Target and Barnes & Noble. "I think there's a lot of different opportunities that are coming up thanks to the partnership with these with these retailers," Lin said. Specifically, she sees these retailers helping grow holiday sales. "it's been really great because we've seen a real willingness from these retailers to work with us and to partner with us during the holidays," she said.

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, an overview of the potential importing tariffs the retail industry faces, as proposed by Trump's incoming administration. Elsewhere, retail bankruptcies continue as companies like The Vitamin Shoppe and Blink Fitness seek bailouts to avoid going out of business. Finally, Shein has brought on another legacy American retailer, The Children's Place, to sell on its marketplace.

"Even the most vanilla celebrity will do something stupid from time to time," admitted Woodie Hillyard. But Hillyard isn't working with the most vanilla celebrity -- he's working with Jake Paul. Paul is an online star with over 20 million subscribers on YouTube alone, known for wild publicity stunts. Most recently, Paul has taken up boxing, with an upcoming scheduled match with Mike Tyson later this month. But Paul, like many other creators, is trying to build consumer-facing brands as well. Hillyard is the CEO of W, Paul's personal care brand, which currently offers products like body wash, deodorant and shampoo. It launched earlier this year with distribution in Walmart. Hillyard knows a thing or two about growing brands alongside influencers. He's the former chief revenue officer of Safely, Kris Jenner's home cleaning startup. He joined this week's Modern Retail Podcast and spoke about the launch strategy of W and how it plans to grow in the coming year. In Hilliard's estimation, it's much harder to launch a new brand now than ever before. That's why he's so bullish on creator-led businesses. "During the heyday of DTC, when Warby Parker and Harry's and Casper were scaling, you could acquire customers for a pretty reasonable clip and drive a lot of traffic to your website," he said. "That arbitrage has gone away now. That new arbitrage, in my mind, is creator, because creators have this massive embedded audience of people who want to associate with them." According to Hillyard, W's launch has been a smashing success. Now, it has plans to go into more stores beyond Walmart. For now, that's probably online platforms like Amazon and GoPuff, but more physical stores are likely on the horizon as well. But, for now, the brand is dependent on the figurehead behind it. Hillyard said W plans to expand beyond Paul's shadow. But for now, he believes that Paul -- despite his headline-worthy shenanigans -- is the right person to launch a brand like W. "There's always a risk there," he said. "But I think the thing about Jake is he's one of the smartest business minds I've ever worked with."