Podcasts about modern retail

On this week's episode, Modern Retail's senior reporters Gabriela Barkho and Melissa Daniels discuss two major topics shaking up the retail world. First, they dive into Labubu dolls, which suddenly seem to be everywhere. They explore how the viral phenomenon started and why it is driving big-ticket resale purchases. Then, they dive into recent news around the state of employment in the retail industry, as almost 11,500 retail jobs were cut in May, per Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Then (13:30), this week's featured segment brings together three expert furniture executives to discuss how a historic housing slump is affecting the sector. Daniels leads a discussion featuring Nicole Chaloux-Pinette, head of category management and business development at Perigold; Jiake Liu, co-founder of direct-to-consumer outdoor furniture brand Outer; and Lee Mayer, co-founder and CEO of Havenly Brands. Mortgage rates are at 6.89%, and the National Association of Retailers says April saw month-over-month transaction losses in all U.S. regions. This is a major headwind for furniture companies that typically rely on new home sales to help drive business. While the panelists all run very different businesses, they shared similar strategies around how to serve existing customers, create acquisition opportunities, and invest in opportunities that will lead to growth.

On this week's episode, Modern Retail reporters Gabriela Barkho and Julia Waldow discuss several retail headlines from the past week. First up is the steep drop in Temu's U.S. user base, prompted by the end of the de minimis loophole. Meanwhile, this year supply chain challenges are plaguing Spirit Halloween, which have caused it to cancel its annual grand opening event for the spooky season. Last, we look at how the viral dessert Dubai chocolate has infiltrated retailers, brands, and restaurant chains. Later in the episode (18:30), Modern Retail executive editor Anna Hensel speaks with Graham Nearn and Kate Ridley, who respectively are the chief product and sustainability officer and chief brand officer at PMI Worldwide Brands, the parent company of Stanley 1913. Known for its huge insulated Stanley tumblers, Stanley 1913 has appealed to many different types of people throughout its 112-year-history: construction workers, hikers, new moms and more.

On this week's episode of the Glossy Beauty podcast, Sara Spruch-Feiner, senior reporter at Glossy Pop, and Emily Jensen, Glossy senior beauty reporter, are joined by Gabi Barko, senior reporter at Glossy's sister publication Modern Retail, and Brit Starr, CMO at influencer marketing platform Creator IQ. Kicking off the episode, Jensen and Spruch-Feiner chat what's happening on TikTok in beauty this week, why Pride Month will look a little different this year, and why Huda Kattan is taking back full ownership of Huda Beauty. Later (16:18), Spruch-Feiner, Barkho and Starr discuss the biggest beauty news of the year, announced last Wednesday: E.l.f. Beauty is acquiring Rhode, the 3-year-old brand launched by Hailey Bieber. The acquisition was notable for numerous reasons, but some of the bold headlines include the fact that, though a Sephora launch is coming soon, it hasn't happened yet. Plus, the brand currently sells under ten SKUs, including its viral phone case. E.l.f., for its part, has had 25 quarters of consecutive net-sales and market-share growth. In addition to her roles as Chief Creative Officer and head of innovation at Rhode, Bieber will also serve as a strategic advisor to E.l.f. Beauty, across its portfolio, which includes E.l.f. Cosmetics and E.l.f. Skin, W3ll People, Keys Soulcare, and Naturium, the last of which it acquired in 2023.

Shoot us a Text.Episode #1061: China's rare earth restrictions are causing real pain for Europe's automakers, Costco's gas game and checkout tech are stepping up, and American shoppers are oddly calm about rising tariffs—at least for now.Show Notes with links:China's tightened grip on rare earth exports is starting to squeeze Europe's auto manufacturing sector. With critical materials stuck in red tape and only a quarter of export licenses approved, major OEMs and suppliers are bracing for broader production halts in the coming weeks.CLEPA, the European Association of Automotive Suppliers, says hundreds of export license requests were submitted, but only 25% approved since April.Parts plant shutdowns are already affecting suppliers to VW, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Bosch.The slowdown stems from China's April decision to suspend exports of rare earths and magnets amid a trade standoff with the U.S.Delays in customs clearance and license processing are compounding the issue, say VDA (the German Automotive Industry Association) and CLEPA.China may ease restrictions for certain European semiconductor firms, but auto remains at risk.“Production delays and even production outages can no longer be ruled out,” said VDA President Hildegard Mueller.America's third-largest retailer is leaning into its members-first model. Costco is expanding hours at gas stations, testing scan-and-go checkout tech, and adding flexible payment options to stay competitive in a tightening retail race.Gas stations now open nationwide until 10 p.m., with select sites opening earlier too.CEO Rob Vachris says the goal is to drive more foot—and fuel—traffic by boosting convenience.Gas accounted for 12% of Costco's total sales in 2024, thanks to exclusive member access and competitive prices.“Scan & Pay” via smartphone is being piloted to streamline checkout, competing with Sam's Club's tech-forward edge.Costco has also teamed with Affirm for monthly payment plans as shoppers look beyond credit cards.A new survey by Modern Retail highlights that while many Americans are concerned about rising costs and tariffs, their spending behavior has yet to shift significantly.76% of surveyed consumers said they were familiar with recent tariffs; over half believe tariffs increase prices for everyday goods.Despite that concern, 40% reported no notable changes in their purchasing habits.A majority of respondents said they were either delaying planned purchases due to higher prices or had already bought items early to avoid anticipated tariff-related cost increases.Electronics and clothing were identified as the most likely categories to see reduced spending.Over half of respondents expressed optimism about their financial outlook for the next six months.Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/ JOIN the conversation on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/

Despite a new, 90-day pause on President Trump's sky-high tariffs on goods imported from China, near-shoring and multi-shoring are leading topics on the minds of business insiders now.  But the idea of near-shoring, or moving a supply chain closer to the brand's home country, as well as multi-shoring, or diversifying your supply chain to additional regions, comes with many pros and cons.  On today's episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, host Lexy Lebsack is joined by Melissa Daniels, senior reporter at Glossy's sister publication Modern Retail and co-host of the Modern Retail Podcast, to unpack the nuances in supply chain pivots today (23:24).  “I'm hearing a lot of brands talk about this supply chain risk assessment that they're trying to make now,” Daniels said. “Even if it's not tariffs [prompting this], it might be something else: There was Covid that messed up supply chains, [and] certain weather events can have a huge impact on shipping and delivery, so if you are a company that has the resources to re-shore, you are looking into that much more seriously than you were a year ago.”  The two hosts share their latest reporting, including insights from brands actively looking to move their supply chains to places like Mexico, foreign manufacturers looking for U.S.-based brands to work with and the companies connecting them.  “If you're insulated by having products in multiple places, that prevents that really scary situation where you have no inventory [because of an unexpected global event],” Daniels said.  As previously reported by Glossy, many experts believe that “every purchase order is up for grabs” right now as brands rethink their suppliers. However, a future-proofed supply chain can take decades to build, so it's important to think through changes.  “This is such a relational business,” Daniels said. “Brands have a really close relationship with their suppliers and their manufacturers; they've worked together for a very long time, in some cases, and there's trust there.” What's more, there is a question over whether or not big supply chain shifts can be investigated fast enough, let alone implemented, to avoid tariffs this year. Ahead, Lebsack and Daniels discuss expected timelines, which can range from weeks to years, as well as the unexpected environmental and marketing benefits of near-shoring. But first, Lebsack is joined by co-host Sara Spruch-Feiner to unpack this week's industry news.  This includes one of the biggest brand exits of the year: Announced Monday, consumer goods company Church & Dwight is set to acquire hand sanitizer company Touchland for $700 million in cash and stock, plus a potential 2025 earnout of over $100 million. The team also dives into a new study out of the U.K. from watchdog group Advertising Standards Authority that found around a third of influencers fail to disclose their ties to brands.  And finally, a look at Drunk Elephant's sales tumble. Japanese beauty conglomerate Shiseido, which owns brands like Nars and Drunk Elephant, reported an 8.5% decline in sales on Monday. This is partially due to a 65% year-over-year drop in Drunk Elephant sales, the once golden child of the beauty industry. 

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.

Today on The Casey Adams Show, I sit down with Chris Riccobono — Founder of UNTUCKit, the menswear brand that redefined how millions of men wear shirts. What started as a frustration with fit became a nationwide movement, turning a side hustle into a retail empire with over 80 stores and millions of loyal customers. In this episode, Chris shares how he transformed a single problem into a scalable solution, why differentiation and storytelling built brand loyalty, and what it really takes to thrive in today's fast-moving retail world. We also dive into balancing fatherhood and entrepreneurship, navigating e-commerce shifts, and the mindset behind long-term success.Connect with Chris Riccobono: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-riccobono-25b8821b/Learn more about UNTUCKit: https://www.untuckit.com/Chapters:00:00 The Birth of UNTUCKit02:59 Navigating E-Commerce and Retail Evolution05:57 Launching Greatness Wins: A New Venture09:02 Balancing Fatherhood and Entrepreneurship12:02 The Journey of an Entrepreneur14:56 The Passion Behind the Wine Video Blog23:50 The Journey of Growth and Consistency25:11 Navigating Challenges During COVID-1929:36 Building Customer Loyalty in a Competitive Market33:56 The Importance of Differentiation and Marketing Strategies37:40 The Evolving Landscape of Influencer Marketing42:00 Advice for Young Entrepreneurs and Founders

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.

Jill Manoff, Editor-in-Chief at Glossy and Modern Retail, joins Amanda Ma, CEO & Founder of Innovate Marketing Group in covering the future of fashion media, and elevating brand voices through editorial power. Tune in and get inspired!About the guest:Jill Manoff is the editor-in-chief of Digiday Media's Glossy and Modern Retail, which explores the transformation of the fashion, beauty and retail industries through the lens of digital and technology. She oversees the editorial content and growth strategy of the media brands, launched in 2016 and 2019, respectively. Manoff joined Digiday Media from Mode Media, where she was the editor of Glam.com starting in July 2015. Prior, she was the editor of searsStyle and head copywriter in Sears' apparel division. She spent the start of her career in St. Louis as the fashion editor of Alive magazine, the fashion director and co-founder of Saint Louis Fashion Week, and a freelance fashion stylist, working for brands including Anheuser-Busch and Caleres.Follow Jill Manoff on LinkedIn!EventUp is brought to you by Innovate Marketing Group. An award-winning Corporate Event and Experiential Marketing Agency based in Los Angeles, California. Creating Nationwide Immersive Event Experiences to help brands connect with people. To learn more, click here⁠⁠.Follow us!Find us on ⁠⁠LinkedIn, ⁠⁠⁠⁠EventUp Podcast LinkedIn⁠⁠ , and ⁠⁠Instagram

What does it really take to modernize a retail company's approach to data?In this episode of The Marketing Intelligence Show, we sit down with Sophie Buresi, Global Data and CRM Factory Director at ETAM Group. Sophie shares how the team moved from legacy systems and disconnected tools to a modern, cloud-based setup that supports smarter segmentation, marketing measurement, and decision-making. You'll learn:How ETAM built their retail data strategy from the ground upWhat it takes to turn business goals into practical data projectsHow the team redesigned customer segmentation for real-world useThe steps they took to bring marketing mix modeling in-houseWhy data quality and team alignment were key to long-term successWhether you're in retail or just navigating data transformation, this episode offers an honest look at the real work behind building a strategy that sticks.

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.

In today's After the Show segment, we're getting real about what it takes to thrive in modern retail. Spoiler alert: being dull won't cut it anymore.From navigating setbacks to elevating your customer experience, this episode breaks down the mindset and strategy shifts you need to build a resilient and future-ready business. If you're ready to level up and lead with energy, this one's for you.[0:57] Building a resilient business and becoming a modern retailer  [2:07] Industries have normalized dull—why you can't afford to  [4:35] How your worst moments can become your biggest growth points  [6:15] Why paying attention to your numbers and your customers matters  [8:02] Adopting a “bring it on” mentality in business  [11:02] Delivering next-level experiences that keep customers coming back  Join the Rooted in Retail Facebook Group to continue the conversation Get your ticket to EVOLVE 2025 - $200 off when you use the code rooted Join our newsletter for all the latest marketing news for retailers Show off your super fandom by getting your Rooted in Retail Merch!

“There's no secret formula—we just refused to stop.” In this episode, the founders of Ivy City Co—Natasha Thomas, Whitney Smith, and Madeline Hamilton—sit down with Jeremy Brockbank and Bri Ray to unpack the real story behind one of the fastest-growing fashion brands in the country. They talk about launching without industry connections, growing a team from scratch, and how staying relentlessly focused on the customer has shaped every decision—from design to operations to scale. It's not about perfection—it's about persistence, learning as you go, and never losing sight of your why. If you're building something meaningful and ambitious, this conversation is a blueprint worth hearing. #VolcanicRetail #RetailCollective #IvyCityCo #ModernRetail #BrandGrowth #FounderJourney #BuiltDifferent #NextGenRetail

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.

VCommerce experts Matt Hodlofski & Nicolas Bailliache every Friday at 11am ET for a lively discussion on the latest developments shaping the #videocommerce and #liveshopping landscape. #vcommerceReceive weekly live shopping industry updates and tips in our newsletter: https://try.estreamly.com/newsletterSeason 3: EP11Tariff & EcommerceOura tapping in New Audience on QVCThe difficult balance between brands and influencers expectationNinja Kitchen Video & influencer strategy decodedWith special guest Melissa Daniels from Modern Retail! About eStreamly: eStreamly enables shoppable livestreams & videos across platforms, including your website, social media, SMS, emails... Video become a direct ecommerce extension with in-video checkout, boasting a 10-15% conversion rate. Fast and reliable, it's your payment, your inventory, your ecommerce. https://hubs.ly/Q02qJNmM0About Matt: He has over 25 years of vcommerce experience within product marketing and sales. He currently is a partner at e6 marketing, a firm that help brands to go on QVC/ HSN#curated #videocommerce news of the week #ecommerce #retail

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.

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.

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.

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.

Episode At A Glance:  This week on The SavvyCast, Katerina Mountanos joins me to share about her company Kosterina! Kosterina is a brand of high quality olive oils, vinegars, and more. I have been a long-time fan of their products, so it was a treat to sit down with the founder and CEO herself! In this episode, Katerina shares about her company, leading research on the health and beauty benefits of high quality olive oil, her favorite recipes, and more!  Questions Answered In This Episode:  What is Kosterina? How can high quality olive oil help me reach my health and beauty goals? Does the smoking point of olive oil make it a less healthy oil for cooking?  How does olive oil benefit glucose levels? What are Jamie's favorite Kosterina products? Resources Mentioned In This Episode:  Click here to shop Kosterina products! (Use this link for 15% off your first Kosterina order.) Kosterina Kitchen recipe rolodex  Kosterina Kitchen cookbook  Glucose Goddess  Dr. Casey Means Good Energy Tucker Carlson episode  ACTA 2018 study on the smoke point  Who Is Katerina Mountanos?  Katerina (Katina) Mountanos is a wellness expert and the founder and CEO of Kosterina. Kosterina is a wellness brand centered around high antioxidant extra virgin olive oil and more broadly, the modern Mediterranean diet. Her mission at Kosterina is to help people live longer, more delicious lives and through Kosterina's line of flavorful olive oils, velvety vinegars, high probiotic olives, and more. As a serial entrepreneur, olive oil sommelier and first generation Greek, Katina's story and knowledge is intriguing, relevant, and sought after. She has been a guest on numerous podcasts such as Be Well with Kelly Leveque and Purely Elizabeth. Katina has appeared on the TODAY Show, KTLA and her opinion is often quoted in Modern Retail, Food & Wine and the Tasting Table. The Kosterina products she's developed have won awards from SELF, Better Homes & Gardens, Men's Health, Tasting Table and the New York International Olive Oil Competition.    Katina's journey in building Kosterina started in 2020 with a single bottle of EVOO and has expanded to a large assortment of award-winning products that have been featured in the New York Times, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, Bon Appetit, SELF, Eater, Men's Health and more. Kosterina is available online, at Whole Food Market nationwide, Target, Crate & Barrel, and other select retailers.   If you enjoyed this episode, check out the ones below: Shop Here, Not There: A Grocery Insider Reveals the Best and Worst Stores Zane's Three Month A1C and Blood Sugar Update  

Kris Bjorson leads retail e-commerce distribution at JLL. He recaps a recent tour of two high-tech retail distribution centers in the Indianapolis area and explains how they represent current industry trends. The discussion covers warehouse automation, inventory management, and labor dynamics, as well as the broader shifts in retail supply chains in response to changing consumer habits and advancements in technology. Chris also touches on the importance of creating attractive work environments in modern warehouses. Naveen Jaggi is President of Retail Advisory Services at JLL. James Cook is the Director of Retail Research at JLL.  Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify  Listen: WhereWeBuy.show  Email: jamesd.cook@jll.com  Watch our video show, Everything We Know About Retail: http://everythingweknow.show/ Leave a message on the Where We Buy hotline. We may use it on an upcoming show. Call (602) 633-4061  Read more retail research here:  http://www.us.jll.com/retail Theme music is Run in the Night by The Good Lawdz, under Creative Commons license.  

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."

S4:E9 Department Stores 2.0: Building Experiences for TomorrowIn this episode, hosts Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden bring back the original Retail Avengers team for a highly anticipated reunion. What discussion could bring the team back together again? The current struggles and future opportunity for department stores! Welcome back Jeff Roster, Shish Shridhar, and Brandon Rael to explore why these once-iconic shopping destinations have lost their appeal and what innovations can bring them back into relevance. Key themes include the use of AI, retail media, and enhancing the human connection in shopping. The team covers detailed insights such as the need for improved customer data usage, creating engaging in-store experiences, and leveraging technology to empower store staff. The conversation also touches on successful strategies from other retailers like Target and the importance of loyalty and community in retaining customers. If you're wondering how (or if) department stores can return to relevance with consumers, this is a can't miss discussion full of insights and recommendations!Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTube00:00 Show Introduction 04:28 Retail Avengers Reunion - The Future of Department Stores 06:36 The Decline of Department Stores 14:01 Challenges and Opportunities 18:23 Future Strategies and Innovations 32:39 The Decline of Department Stores 33:52 The Marketplace Model for Department Stores 38:10 The Role of Technology in Retail 43:14 Creating Human Connections in Retail 46:38 The Future of Retail Experiences 55:37 Leveraging Technology for Better Retail 01:01:42 The Role of Department Stores in Modern Retail 01:03:57 The Balance Between Technology and Human Interaction 01:07:01 Show CloseMeet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:Ricardo Belmar is an NRF Top Retail Voices for 2025 and a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2021 – 2024. Thinkers 360has named him a Top 10 Retail Thought Leader, Top 50 Management Thought Leader, Top 100 Digital Transformation Thought Leader, and a Top Digital Voice for 2024. He is an advisory council member at George Mason University's Center for Retail Transformation, and is the director partner marketing for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.Casey Golden, is the CEO of Luxlock, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert for 2023 and 2024, and Retail Cloud Alliance advisory council member. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Overclocked, and E-Motive from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.

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, 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."

According to market research analytics companies and retail industry trade groups, American consumers are forecasted to spend nearly a trillion dollars on holiday shopping this year.  Specifically, shoppers could spend around $1,778 each, up 8% from 2023, according to new data released by Deloitte. Meanwhile, holiday sales could grow an estimated 2.5-3.5% to reach $990 billion in sales from November 1 to December 31, up from $964.4 billion in 2023, according to the National Retail Federation.  However, how consumers will spend this money — and on what — has yet to be seen. In this special Thanksgiving crossover episode with sister publication Modern Retail, Glossy Beauty Podcast co-hosts Lexy Lebsack and Sara Spruch-Feiner are joined by Modern Retail editor-in-chief Cale Guthrie Weissman to discuss BFCM retail trends.  This includes the growing bifurcation between prestige and value shopping. For example, the new luxury experiential brick-and-mortar shops from Chanel, Dior, Laneige and Violet Grey fall in sharp contrast to the “crazy low prices” promised by Amazon's newest site, Haul. The site seeks to compete with low-price shopping on Temu, TikTok Shop and Alibaba.  The discussion also dives into current retail challenges, like abbreviated shipping times and the forthcoming return rush, as well as the concept of “chaos shopping,” all in today's episode.  The Modern Retail Podcast, hosted by Weissman and Gabi Barkho, senior reporter at Modern Retail, airs every Thursday.

Want to know how Esprit is navigating the retail landscape? In this episode of the Rethink Retail Podcast, hosts Harshida Acharya and Ninaad Acharya from Fulfillment IQ sit down with Scott Lux, the Global EVP of E-Commerce Technology and Innovation at Esprit. Discover Esprit's ambitious plans for revitalizing its presence in the U.S. market and gain expert perspectives on defining brand identity in today's competitive landscape. Scott shares how Esprit is enhancing customer experience across digital, physical, and human touchpoints, and tackles the complexities of returns management and regional supply chains. Key Insights: - Building a Distinct Brand Identity: Uncover strategies for standing out and staying relevant in a competitive fashion market. - The Logistics of Online Retail: Understand the financial and logistical aspects of e-commerce amidst a shifting economic landscape. - Revolutionizing Loyalty & Tech: New approaches to loyalty programs and the emerging role of blockchain in retail. Ready to join the GRL community? Nominate yourself or another retail executive to join the community today: http://www.globalretailleaders.com

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, the staff discusses Amazon's next move to compete with cheap marketplaces like Temu and Shein. The Information reported this week that the e-commerce giant is planning to launch a program for sellers to ship cheap goods directly from China. This week, the Fancy Food Show also took place in New York City, and we review some of the buzziest trends from the event. Finally, Walgreens announced plans to close its underperforming stores and focusing on profit-driving locations.

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, the staff discusses what May's slowdown of U.S. retail sales could mean for consumer spending -- and, in turn, the economy. Meanwhile, Amazon aggregator Thrasio lays out its comeback plan after filing for bankruptcy. Lastly, the team talks about updates at the subscription vitamin brand Care/of, which was acquired by Bayer in 2020.

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, the staff discusses how Hoka went mainstream in the last few years and how the company's roadmap will cater to this newfound customer base. Meanwhile, Amazon Prime is facing pressure from memberships like Walmart+, prompting the company to constantly expand its included perks. Lastly, store brands and private labels continue to see growth as Americans trade down from higher-priced national brands.

Kellen Roland, with 18+ years of expertise in the luxury and consumer sectors, has a triple role as a founder, investor, and strategic advisor. He fosters business growth through insightful leadership and AI integration, invests in promising businesses like TRUFF, and offers strategic advice to brands such as Slowtide. With an acute sense of cultural trends and storytelling skills, he establishes authentic links between brands and audiences. Notably, he worked at Agenda Trade Show, Herschel Supply Co., and iamOTHER, founded The NTWRK Agency, and eventually built JOOPITER alongside Pharrell Williams. At present, he shares this extensive learning at his own consulting business, KRMC.In this DTC Pod episode, Kellen Roland gives insights on building strong retailer relationships. He emphasizes the importance of delivering unique value to create lasting partnerships in retail. He also discusses negotiating techniques and the need to maintain a healthy balance of markups and margins, appealing to vendors while preserving brand profitability. Kellen encourages brands to be agile; taking customer feedback seriously and quickly adapting to changing preferences is key for success in the fast-changing DTC landscape. Through his strategic insights, Kellen cements the framework for a successful retail strategy that is as much about captivating storytelling as it is about shrewd business deliberations.Join 15k founders and marketers & get our pod highlights delivered directly to your inbox with the DTC Pod Newsletter!On this episode of DTC Pod, we cover:1. Strategic DTC Brand Launch2. Entrepreneurship and Relationship-Building3. Agility and Adaptability in Retail4. Ethics in CPG and Brand Responsibility5. Traits of Highly Successful People6. Practical Benefits of AI in Business7. The Value of MentorshipTimestamps01:30 Kellen Roland's background, early career and passion06:48 Herschel's success, the importance of clear vision and timing11:45 Creating win-win situations for retailers as a brand13:01 How to pitch new products to retailers17:04 Traditional brand launch versus modern direct-to-consumer approach21:14 The importance of demand planning and brand agility25:23 Brands to watch out for: Graza, Nguyen Coffee, Rocky's Matcha, Goodles32:52 Working with Pharell Williams on JOOPITER35:53 Traits for leveling up to Kobe-level success40:41 Commitment, resilience, and persistence amidst challenges44:17 Using AI to manage schedules, solve problems, and scale operations49:08 Coaching and revenue growth, building a consulting business52:08 Seeking mentors, not copy-pasting success formulasShow notes powered by CastmagicPast guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.  Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands-----Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you.Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter here.Projects the DTC Pod team is working on:DTCetc - all our favorite brands on the internetOlivea - the extra virgin olive oil & hydroxytyrosol supplementCastmagic - AI Workspace for ContentFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTok  Kellen Roland - Founder of KRMCBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of CastmagicRamon Berrios - Co-Founder of Castmagic

How can smart vending machines change the way we shop for food on the go? In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I sit down with Aslak de Silva, CEO of Selfly Store, to explore how his company is leveraging IoT, AI, and intelligent vending machines to transform the grab-and-go food shopping experience. Selfly Store is at the forefront of innovative retail technology, using real-time data and AI to predict demand, optimize operations, and enhance customer convenience. De Silva shares insights into how these smart vending machines provide merchants with invaluable data on inventory, sales, and customer behavior, allowing for dynamic pricing and predictive planning. This technology not only boosts sales but also enables 24/7 service without additional overhead costs. We'll delve into the concept of "half-mile stores," hyperlocal vending solutions that meet consumers' immediate needs based on real-time data, and discuss the critical role of properly categorizing and cleansing data to extract meaningful insights from AI. De Silva's vision for the future includes more automated, data-driven retail solutions that can adapt to consumer demand and streamline operations. Join us as we uncover the benefits and challenges of integrating AI and IoT into retail, and explore how business leaders can harness these technologies to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving landscape. Aslak de Silva provides a unique perspective on the future of intelligent vending and the transformative potential of data-driven retail solutions. Are you ready to see how smart vending machines are shaping the future of grab-and-go shopping? Tune in to this insightful episode and share your thoughts on the potential of AI and IoT in revolutionizing the retail industry.  

Joining us for our final episode recorded in the Bambuser remote podcast studio/beach cabana at Mandalay Bay during Shoptalk is deeply experienced retail executive and current CEO of Brooklinen, Billy May. In a wide-ranging discussion of the evolution of DTC, e-commerce and harmonized retail, Billy lays out the essentials to building and growing remarkable retail brands gleaned from his decades long career in senior roles at J. Crew, Abercrombie & Fitch, Sur la Table, and more. It's a master class on the keys to modern retail.As usual we open by dissecting the most important news of the week including the expected bankruptcy of Express and the surprising collapse of Foxtrot. We also challenge the bold (some might say "insane") prediction by UBS that 45,000 stores will close in the next five years due to the growth of e-commerce. Mixed news on luxury continues as Hermes wows and most other high-end brands disappoint. We also consider whether the FTC stepping in to challenge the Tapestry and Capri merger make sense before wrapping up with an increasingly murky economic outlook. Check out the podcast version and video recording of the Leaders Leap virtual book launch event.Steve's new book is available at book sellers just about everywhere, from Audible, and on Kindle for only $9.99.Recent episodes featuring World Retail Congress speakers:Remarkably Iconic Retail with Michael Ward, Managing Director, HarrodsRetailing in a Time of Mass Distraction with Andrea Dorigo, Adidas Head of Global RetailRemarkably Creative Commerce with Beth Ann Kaminkow, Global CEO, VMLY&R About UsSteve Dennis is a strategic advisor, board member, and keynote speaker focused on strategic growth and transformation and the impact of digital disruption. He is the author of the bestselling book Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption and the all new Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption , now available for purchase in the U.S. and available for pre-order at book retailers elsewhere. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior contributor and on social media..Don't forget to join Steve's new Linked Group for his new book.Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. He has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Secure conference with leaders from The Gap and Kroger talking about violence in retail stores, keynotes on the state & future of retail in Orlando and Halifax, and at the 2023 Canadian GroceryConnex conference, hosting the CEOs of Walmart Canada, Longo's and Save-On-Foods Canada. Michael brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice. Michael also produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in North America, Remarkable Retail,Canada's top retail industry podcast; the Voice of Retail; Canada's top food industry and the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor, with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail influencers for the fourth year in a row, Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer, and you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok. Available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state of the retail industry in Canada and the U.S., and the future of retail.

n. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week. How YouTube Shopping is upping its social commerce competition with TikTok https://www.modernretail.co/technology/how-youtube-shopping-is-upping-its-social-commerce-competition-with-tiktok/ Online Shoppers Are Starting to See Amazon as a Fashion Destination https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2024/online-shoppers-are-starting-to-see-amazon-as-a-fashion-destination/ TikTok won't dial back on TikTok Shop content, but it may not matter for time spent https://www.emarketer.com/content/tiktok-won-t-dial-back-on-tiktok-shop-content-may-not-matter-time-spent Amazon ends California drone deliveries https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/22/amazon-ends-california-drone-deliveries/ Strap in for a gear shift with Helium 10's groundbreaking new features aimed at elevating your Amazon selling game. Bradley talked about the Inventory Management overhaul that's set to streamline your operations, whether you're balancing SKUs or toggling between FBA and FBM. Unravel the mysteries of Amazon marketplace SEO with the latest in keyword ranking analytics, and plunge into the Customer Behavior Dashboard that's a lot of actionable insights. Plus, for the data-driven dynamos, Black Box Brand Analytics is now within arm's reach for Platinum members. And, because knowledge is power, I'll guide you through Black Box's freshest training videos that are sure to sharpen your competitive edge in Amazon product research in 2024. Lastly, in our Pro Training Tip of this week, Bradley discusses the feature inside Helium 10 that is most slept on. Listen/watch now to learn what it is and transform your approach with these cutting-edge tools and strategies! Thanks for tuning into this episode of the Helium 10 Weekly Buzz. In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers: 00:45 - Youtube Shopping 02:26 - Amazon Grocery 04:26 - Amazon Clothing Gains 05:51 - TikTok Shop Usage 07:02 - Amazon Brazil 07:40 - Drone Deliveries 08:23 - Helium 10 Elite Workshop In Madrid, Spain 08:54 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts 15:18 - Pro Training Tip: The Most Slept-On Helium 10 Feature Transcript Bradley Sutton: YouTube shopping updates. Amazon launches new grocery delivery service. Amazon fashion is on the rise. This and more stories on today's Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the goings on in the Amazon, Walmart, e-commerce world. We give you training tips of the week and we also let you know what new Helium 10 features are available. That'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. Bradley Sutton: Just like a few articles, a handful of articles today, but wanted to bring out what I thought might be interesting to you. Our first one is actually from Modern Retail and it's entitled how YouTube Shopping is Upping Its Social Commerce Competition with TikTok. Now YouTube Shopping. You might not have heard of this article it's actually a couple weeks old already, but just wanted to highlight it because we didn't highlight it last week. There wasn't enough room but it's talking about updates to the YouTube shopping feature, especially in regards to what's going on with influencers, content creators and the ability to monetize their channels. You know, I think Amazon and other platforms are definitely seeing how successful TikTok shop has been in. And now in YouTube shopping there's an affiliate hub that gives creators access to more than 300 of YouTube's partner brands, like Target, Alta and Adidas. So this is not some TikTok shop killer. The fact that it's only available at 300 partner brands means, you know, obviously this is not something that would affect third-party sellers yet, but it's just interesting to see where the space is going when it comes to social commerce and influencer marketing. I think this is definitely going to increase and your success, or your sales on Amazon, is going to partly be tied to how well can you get affiliates, influencers, to promote your product effectively. And, of course, obviously the perennial question is all this costs money. Cost percentage here, percentage there you know they want, you know affiliates want to make money. Where are you going to find these percentages in order to stay profitable? But interesting to see YouTube now kind of I don't want to say jumping on the TikTok bandwagon, but maybe moving towards that direction. Bradley Sutton: Another Amazon update is from Amazon itself. It says Amazon's new grocery delivery subscription offers big savings to Prime members and EBT customers. So what is this Basically? Now, hey, prime members, or if you have an EBT card, you can get a monthly subscription with unlimited grocery delivery if you get orders from over $35. And this is from Whole Foods, amazon Fresh, other local grocery specialty retailers, and it says this is a benefit that pays for itself with one delivery order per month. I'm not sure what that's based off of. Maybe based on the old fees that Amazon would charge for delivery. Bradley Sutton: I don't know, I don't use Amazon delivery, but you know, honestly, maybe I will. You know I've used like Instacart and stuff for things, but I might check this out. This is why I'm bringing it up. Anything that increases value to Amazon Prime members and gets more people on the app, I think is something that should be interest to sellers. Now this charge is going to be $9.99 for Prime members to subscription and this actually includes, says one hour delivery windows at no extra cost in some locations and 30 minute pickup orders. There's there's recurring reservations for a weekly grocery order we mentioned before, unlimited delivery on $35 orders and plus from local grocery and retailers such as Cardenas Markets, save Marts, Bartell Drugs, rite Aid. Rite Aid Wait a minute. Does that mean I get Thrifty's ice cream with my Amazon Prime? Okay, all right, say less Amazon Thrifty's ice cream in 30 minutes. I will take that, but anyways, it's going to be available in 3,500 cities, and so it might be something to look at. I don't think a lot of us are selling products that are in grocery stores, so that's not the advantage here. But again, the advantage is does this make Amazon Prime members more sticky? Does it add more Amazon Prime members? I see like there's this battle going on between Walmart and Amazon as far as grocery deliveries, right? Bradley Sutton: Next article is from payments.com. It's entitled online shoppers are starting to see Amazon as a fashion destination. I thought this was interesting, because if you weren't looking at the numbers and somebody were just to ask you hey, what do you think's going on with Amazon's market share in the clothing industry, maybe you might think it's going down because of, you know, last year, sheen and teaming with all these low cost alternatives, right, you know, I've been saying for a while I don't yet see those websites as huge threats to Amazon, but, interestingly enough, you know, amazon's market share in clothing for online sales is increasing All right. For the first time ever it actually rose to over 50%. It rose up from 47.9% the previous quarter. So it's interesting. This website shows a chart going back all these quarters, the last few years, about Amazon's market share of e-commerce spending. And you know the low one would be health and personal care. I was kind of surprised. You know only 6.6% but it's still up. You see here the clothing and apparel 51%. Last year it was 47%. Sporting goods, hobby, music and book 85%. Amazon has a market share there. But pretty much all of these main categories Amazon is increasing quarter over quarter, year over year as far as what its market share percentage is. Bradley Sutton: The next article is from emarketer.com and it's entitled TikTok won't dial back on TikTok shop content. But it may not matter for time spent. You know we've been hearing these comments and articles about TikTok users regular TikTok users upset with all the TikTok shop content. But this is interesting. They did this survey here and it says yes, nearly two-thirds 62% of US TikTok users notice a change in shopping-related content in the six months. However, almost all 91% of respondents who noticed that change said their TikTok usage either rose or remained unchanged, with 70% reporting an increase. So you know some people might have been scared that. Oh, maybe you know. Or the ones that are like really successful in TikTok shop is oh, I see all these articles about TikTok users being upset with all the shopping stuff. Maybe they're going to dial back how much they promote TikTok shopping. But if this survey matches what TikTok has seen, I would say no, because there is no sign that people are kind of like dialing back their TikTok uses because they're getting frustrated with the TikTok shop stuff. Bradley Sutton: Next article from Amazon Seller Central itself. Just another reminder. This came out a couple of days ago. It says eligible North American unified accounts can now expand to Brazil. All right, so if you've got a North American Brazil unified account, you can switch back and forth between Amazon Canada, Mexico, us and Brazil. Now to list products there. Don't forget Helium 10 fully supports Amazon Brazil, all the main tools, chrome extension, Black Box, Cerebro, et cetera. So it would definitely be something to look into if you have not optimized your listing for Amazon Brazil. Bradley Sutton: Next article is from TechCrunch. It says Amazon ends California drone deliveries. All right, this wasn't some massive, massive thing. It was one city in California. They were doing testing in addition to their one city in Texas that they were doing testing for deliveries of products, of drones. It was in this Leckford California. I live in California. I've never heard of Leckford California, but anyways, they're not doing it there anymore, it's going to be in Texas and now they're going to open it up in a city in Arizona. What this means I don't know, but we've literally been reporting about drone delivery for like four years and the fact that it's only in one city in California now zero cities doesn't look like drone delivery is going to be some massive thing anytime soon. All right, that's it for the news this week. Don't forget, if you have not signed up yet and you're living in Europe or want to go to Europe for a couple days, hang out with me, hang out with Kerry, hang out with amazing speakers and about 100 other Amazon sellers. Make sure to join our Helium 10, first ever event in Spain. It's going to be in Madrid May 28th. Going to be an amazing lineup of speakers, h10.me/elitespain. If you want to get tickets, h10.me/elitespain. Don't miss it. Bradley Sutton: Let's get into the Helium 10 New Feature Alerts. All right, we had four last week. I thought that was a lot. We got five this week, all right. So, as usual, helium 10 cranking out the new features. The very first one is an inventory management. So an inventory management had kind of like a big refresh as far as the interface. But a couple things I want to call out is you can now see things at the ASIN level and at the SKU level. Now this is important for those of you who especially those of you doing furniture or other larger products, where maybe you have two SKUs per ASIN. Right, you've got an FBM SKU and FBA SKU, or maybe, for whatever reason, you had two of the same or two of the same ASIN, but two different SKUs of the same match type, just because maybe you updated some packaging or something like that and you would want your inventory velocity to be based at the ASIN level, not necessarily the SKU level, because that's what you order on. So now you're going to be able to do that. You can just toggle back and forth between ASIN and SKU. Again, for those of you who do FBM and FBA, use this filter and then toggle between if something is FBA and something is Fm. As far as what you're at the skew level is going on. We can now toggle based on the selling type that it is. So take a look at inventory management guys. It has a completely new UI here. Don't forget, last month we had uh features such as EU. You know inventory management now works for EU as well as multi-warehouse, like if you use multiple third-party warehouses. Uh, inventory management can take that into consideration. Uh, next update here is in listing builder really a quick and easy one, uh. If you go into listing builder now on the main page, if you're using the new listing builder scoring system, you are going to be able to see your keyword rank All right, your keyword ranking for based on the scoring, and your keyword performance score All right. So your keyword performance score is right here, so you can see when it's updated and also see if maybe you've lost some ground as far as SEO goes on your listings. Bradley Sutton: Next Helium 10 update is for supercharged customers and in your customer intelligence tool all right. In your customer intelligence tool, which is right here on your main dashboard Now, you're going to be able to see purchase behavior. You're going to have a purchase behavior dashboard so you're going to be able to see from your own brands and products. What sequence are people ordering your products in? All, right, like, hey, they're first ordering the pink coffin shelf and then they order more pink coffin shelves. Or maybe they first order a bat shaped shelf and then they order a coffin shelf. Right, you're going to see the sequential things. Like, for example, my number one multiple in Project X, my number one multiple order is how people order one of my stackable egg racks right, the top one and then they order the bottom rack. You know, makes sense, they can stack ones up higher. I see some customers ordering the black coffin shelf and they order another black coffin shelf and then the third one is a purple coffin shelf. So I might just have some like interesting insights, and I can see how many times this has happened as well. So, again, this is only for supercharged customers in your customer intelligence tool. Bradley Sutton: Next update is in the Chrome extension, review insights. All right, so review insights has been a popular tool so that if you want to go, you know, take a look at what are the common words that are being brought up in your or your competitors reviews. You can see it. Well, let me just show you how that looks now, if you are on Amazon, like here's a, here's a collagen peptides listing. And if I were to go ahead and run review insights, I can do it right here on the sidebar. I hit review insights and all of the reviews come up. Now if I look at reviews grouped by keywords, it's going to show me the, by default, the most common phrases that are showing up in the most recent reviews. But now we have this really cool thing where I can edit it by how many words, like maybe I don't want to see the individual words, but hey, what are the two word phrases that people are saying much? And like here in this collagen peptides, I see the number one two word phrase that people keep bringing up is morning coffee, all right. I see a lot of people saying joint pain All right. Protein shake All right. So now I'm just getting insights into how people are using this product. I can now even go for three word and up phrases if I want to see what things people are saying. I could see here that there's a number of people saying does not mix well, all right. So that's something that you know if this is my product I definitely want to take a look at. Bradley Sutton: Next update is for platinum members. You now have 10 lifetime usages of Black Box Brand Analytics, all right. So where you can get to that tool is into just going to Helium 10 Back Box and then hit the tool ABA top search terms. This shows all of Amazon's brand analytics If you've got brand registry right. But it just gives tons of other information such as showing you the search volume and the history of the click share et cetera, and then gives you tons and tons and tons of filtering capabilities. Like hey, show me all the keywords where, if you add up the top three clicked products, it had less than 20% of the overall clicks. I mean, you can go deep in filtering. That you just can't do if you you're looking at a brand analytics in seller central, just downloading the reports, tons of extra information on here that ties in helium 10 data. Bradley Sutton: Now, if you want to see how to use this tool, make sure to hit the learn button. The learn buttons are, uh, are being updated here in black box. So if you don't see the two videos for the learn button here, just go to black box keywords, black box. And, by the way, I want everybody to do this because these just got updated. So if you want to know. If you want to, in like 20 minutes, understand all the tools here in black box. We just updated all the training videos. Go to black box keywords, hit the learn button and you are going to have 10 videos, really short, three, four minutes long each, on how to do different things for product research and other things like how to find competitors for any Amazon product, how to find product opportunity using Amazon brand analytics. That's the one that you know you would need to look at to know how to use brand analytics, and there's a lot more strategies here that can definitely help you in your Amazon journey. Bradley Sutton: All right, now let's get into the training tip of the week, and people ask me sometimes what is the most slept on feature of Helium 10? And it's an easy one. For me, it's this feature called Amazon Recommended. Let me just show you how powerful it is, and you know we've had this feature for almost five years now and it's funny, even five years ago. I'm like, oh yeah, you're like you know we're the first to have this feature, but I'm sure other people are going to copy us and have it soon because it's so powerful. Five years later, we're still the only people to show this. This is directly from Amazon, guys. So how would you use this? Bradley Sutton: Have you ever had a product where you're just not getting the impressions that you think you should be getting in PPC, even though you think your listing is optimized for a certain keyword? Or maybe you're not getting any impressions at all, or maybe you have a keyword, like man. I'm getting sales for this keyword, but my organic rank just doesn't seem to be increasing so much. You know what is going on. Well, what it could be is that Amazon doesn't think you're that relevant, for whatever reason. According to Amazon's own algorithm and Helium 10, it's the only tool that gives you insight into what Amazon thinks you're relevant for, and it's in a live data feed. This is not something that Helium 10 is calculating or put some algorithm in. This is a live feed. Every time you run Cerebro, it shows it, and where you can get this is in Cerebro, like here. I ran on Coffin Shelf. I'm like man my Coffin Shelf listing is not getting the impressions I want it to in PPC and I can't get past Amazon rank five. So what does Amazon think my product is? Well, you sort it by Amazon recommended rank right here in Cerebro. All right, platinum members, diamond members, doesn't matter what level of Helium 10, you have access to this super valuable tool. And now I can see well, at least Amazon is not fully confused what my product is Like. Bradley Sutton: I can see the number one Amazon recommended rank is coffin shelf wall, I can see. But then I see a lot of like, uh, you know, random stuff here, like Halloween decor, indoor home is the number. What is this Number five keyword here? Number six keyword? But then the word coffin shelf, which is my main keyword, is all the way here at 27. So now it's like oh, I have a relevancy problem, for whatever reason, with this product. How can I fix this relevancy problem? Well, that's another story about trying to optimize your listing for the Amazon algorithm. But let's just take another example of coffin shelf. The number one overall pick of coffin shelf, all right, and it's the number one seller right now. It's not me anymore If I look at that product and run my competitors. Cerebro, look at his Amazon recommended rank. He's organically ranked number one. But look at the Amazon recommended rank for the same keyword that I was 27th for, which is coffin shelf, and he is number two. Bradley Sutton: What does that mean? Any interactions with his keyword for coffin shelf. He's going to get more bang for his buck because Amazon thinks he's super, super hyper relevant for the keyword coffin shelf, so all right. So, guys, run your own product through Cerebro and sort by Amazon recommended rank. This is the number one most slept on feature, I think, in all of Helium 10 that every literally every paying customer of Helium 10 has access to. So give that a try. Let me know in the comments below, if you're watching this on YouTube, what you see there in the results. All right, guys, that's it for the Weekly Buzz this week. Don't forget to tune in next week to see what's buzzing.

Sunday wants to be the DTC brand that powers everyone's backyard. The company first launched in 2019 with lawn care products, but has since expanded to pest control and garden products. While it's available in major retailers like Costco, Walmart, Lowe's and Target, Sunday's business is still 75% direct-to-consumer. "To be the outdoor home platform that we want to be, we really need to be able to be across these categories," founder and CEO Coulter Lewis said on the Modern Retail Podcast. He joined and spoke about how the company has grown over the last five years -- as well as what its plans are for the future. One way Sunday is able to keep such a large DTC base is by tailoring its online experience. For example, it has people send in soil samples, which then creates a report on the types of products they need for their outdoor spaces. "We actually now have the largest soil database ever created," Lewis said. And that type of program can't be replicated in a store like Walmart. And even the store experience itself isn't ideal -- especially the garden sections filled with 15-pound sacks of dirt and fertilizer where Sunday is usually sold. "When you walk in that part of the store, you smell it from 20 feet away -- it is legacy brands, legacy branding and incredibly confusing and intimidating." With this, Sunday is trying to have its customers opt for a newer brand that looks different than the previous industry leaders. And, have them purchase differently than before. While the company has been growing every year, it still has ambitions to reach new heights. "We're still brand new," Lewis said. "Our category, there's been nothing new in half a century -- fifty years of the same. And so, we're growing every year, expanding quickly." Get more from Modern Retail with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit modernretail.co/newsletters to sign up. 

Rocco is a DTC mini-fridge company that wants to make people care about the big hunks of steel electronics they have in their homes. "Appliance brands don't actually have a brand," said Alyse Borkan, co-founder of Rocco. "I really saw an opportunity to do things differently than [what] the rest of the category was doing." Borkan joined this week's Modern Retail Podcast and spoke about her new brand and how she's hoping to compete with the big players like Frigidaire. Rocco launched last November with one product: a colorful fridge meant to showcase beverages. It works for both wine bottles and cans, and Borkan said the intention is to have an appliance that could complement a home's aesthetic. "People really kind of think about it as a little bar in their living room," she said. It's still early days, but the product does seem to be resonating. Rocco sold out of inventory two weeks after launching. Ever since, the company has been playing catch up with fulfilling orders, but plans to be fully stocked and ready for more expansion in the next few months. But Rocco isn't only direct-to-consumer. The brand launched in Nordstrom shortly after going live. "We really think this is something that people are going to want to experience in real life before they purchase," Borkan said. Rather than being one of hundreds in an appliance store, Rocco opted to be the only fridge in Nordstrom's furniture section. The plan now is to continue growing -- ideally adding more wholesale partners over the next year. That could mean launching in an appliance store, but it could also mean partnerships with other brands -- especially drinks brands. "We're hoping to grow pretty quickly just based on the initial interest," she said. Get more from Modern Retail with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit modernretail.co/newsletters to sign up. 

This week's Modern Retail Rundown show kicks off with a breakdown of Harry's long road to IPO, with the company reportedly filing to go public years after previous acquisition plans fell through. Meanwhile, furniture retailer Ashley announced it's acquiring Resident Home, a mattress group whose brands include DTC companies Nectar, DreamCloud, Awara and Siena. Abercrombie & Fitch, on the other hand, is projected to bring in $5 billion in annual revenue by growing its young customer base internationally. Get more from Modern Retail with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit modernretail.co/newsletters to sign up. 

Sustainability has become such a big buzzword in retail, but Époque Evolution co-founder Nancy Taylor thinks there's a better word for the work that needs to be done. "I was truly passionate about trying to do things in the responsible way," she said. "So we took the word sustainable out of it and we used the word responsible." That word has guided the Époque Evolution business since it launched in 2018 as a direct-to-consumer fashion brand. Her company was acquired by the Montreal-based Lolë, best known for its athleisure products. Now, Taylor is the vp of design over the entire umbrella company Lolë brands, which involves having all the various lines -- Lolë, Époque as well as Lolë's mass-market apparel line -- work together. Taylor joined this week's Modern Retail Podcast and spoke about the transition from DTC startup to living under a bigger brand, as well as the perks of working with more resources. Get more from Modern Retail with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit modernretail.co/newsletters to sign up. 

We're back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10's Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week. TikTok Shop listings are surfacing on Google Shopping https://www.modernretail.co/technology/tiktok-shop-listings-are-surfacing-on-google-shopping/ New Feature: Now advertisers can convert high-performing Posts into Sponsored Brand Ads. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7166461642057142272/ Chinese TikTok experts are teaching Americans how to sell https://restofworld.org/2024/china-livestream-studios-train-tiktok-influencers-in-us/ Top Amazon aggregator Thrasio files for bankruptcy https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/28/top-amazon-aggregator-thrasio-files-for-bankruptcy.html Monthly Fees May Be Coming to Etsy https://www.ecommercebytes.com/2024/02/25/monthly-fees-may-be-coming-to-etsy/ The episode continues to buzz with discussions around the benefits of the Helium 10 Elite program, including expert training and exclusive networking events. Plus, don't miss out on the insider scoop about Helium 10's new feature enabling price adjustments directly from the Insights Dashboard. We also encourage our community of Spanish and German speakers to connect through upcoming networking calls, ensuring a global touch to our Amazon selling conversation. Tune in for these fascinating updates and more, as we provide sellers with the tools and knowledge to thrive in the ever-evolving world of online commerce. In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers: 01:10 - TikTok Shop On Google 02:47 - Amazon Posts > SB Ads 03:50 - TikTok Live Streaming 07:46 - Thrasio Bankrupt 09:23 - New Etsy Seller Fee? 10:10 - Join Helium 10 Elite 11:06 - Spanish Networking Calls 11:47 - German Networking Calls 12:00 - New Feature Alerts 15:04 - Pro Training Tip: Reverse-Engineer Your Competitor's PPC Strategy ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: TikTok shop listings showing up in Google results. Amazon posts can be now made into sponsor brand ads. The most famous Amazon aggregator has filed for bankruptcy. These stories and more on this week's Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown on all the news stories and goings on in the Amazon, Walmart, e-commerce world and we also let you know what new tools that Helium 10 has released. And we also give you a training tip of the week that'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing For two weeks in a row now. Not too many articles, couple of big ones out there, a couple of interesting ones for sure. We're gonna hop right into it, but make sure to stay to the end. We got a really cool training tip from Shivali and we also have a pretty cool new feature update from Helium 10.   Bradley Sutton: So let's go ahead and go into the first article here, and this is from Modern Retail and it's entitled TikTok Shop Listings are surfacing on Google Shopping, right? Have you seen that in Google? This article talks about how listings from TikTok Shop have begun to pop up in Google Shopping, especially results for beauty and skincare products. So, through Google searches for trendy beauty products like Nail Art or Dior Lip Oil, dup results now feature links that go directly to smaller sellers on TikTok Shop, and the actual TikTok team did confirm that this is something that TikTok is dabbling in. Now this, to me, was a little bit interesting because you know, like traditional keyword research tools, you know, like Helium 10 for Amazon, don't necessarily like, don't have as much oomph. Right For TikTok Shop because it relies on so much virality, right, TikTok? You know kind of like influencers are the ones who have like these viral posts and that's what sends tons of traffic to videos. You know it's not like oh, let me get to page one for a certain hashtag on TikTok, right For TikTok Shop. But this could be interesting Depending on how Google is indexing some of these products and how TikTok Shop is integrating. Now, all of a sudden, it could open up a new thing for keyword research on TikTok Shop so you can get some maybe outside traffic that don't come from another TikTok videos directly to your TikTok Shop. So pretty interesting stuff. It'll be definitely worth taking a look at in the future.   Bradley Sutton: Next article is actually not an article, but it was a post from our buddy, Jeff Cohen, from Amazon, and this was from his LinkedIn last week. Just in case you guys missed, it was from a few days ago, but I missed it the first couple of days that it came out. But you can now have high-performing Amazon Post which are free, as you guys know. You can now convert them into sponsored brand ads. All right. So right in the ads console in Post Manager, you can just take an Amazon post that's doing really well and make it a sponsored brand ad. Now, this hasn't been rolled out to everybody yet, so go ahead and check. Go into the Post Manager in your Seller Central ad console, click on the boost button if you see it, and then you're gonna be directed to the sponsored brand campaign builder to review the creative setting. So in his LinkedIn post that we'll link to below, you'll be able to see kind of like some graphics of how it might look. But that is gonna be interesting If you can turn your Amazon post into sponsored brand ads.   Bradley Sutton: Next article is from restofworld.org I should say. Again about TikTok, and seems like I've been beating a dead horse for almost two years now about how US consumers haven't really adopted live shopping. Well, this article says Chinese TikTok experts are teaching Americans how to sell and it says, convinced, a live stream shopping boom in the West is inevitable. Entrepreneurs are sharing Chinese playbooks with aspiring US influencers. And there is just one kind of like tidbit here, guys, that blew me away. Listen to this quote right here In China, 25% of online sales in 2023 took place through live streams. Let that sink in, guys. 25% I mean, if you think about all of online sales in America, like the minor ones, you know, like Walmart and others is not even 25%, a lot, lot less. But out of every single thing that was sold online in China in 2023, again, let it sink in 25% were from live streams. Now, I don't think America will ever, ever get to that number absolutely not right. But I mean it would be kind of crazy if it even got up to like 5%. 10% might be asking for too much. If it gets up to 5%, that's gonna be, you know something, that's going to be pretty, I think, big, and that's what these people are making on.   Bradley Sutton: So this article talks about how they've got these agencies that are training influencers on how to do like TikTok shop lives, perhaps some Amazon lives, et cetera. Here's one agency that has more than 10 streamers in the US. So these are kind of like streamer factories that they're pumping out and they're giving them the literal Chinese playbook. Like the documents they get is in Chinese and then it has English translation. Now one of these agencies said hey, on a regular day there's about 100 people watching simultaneous sales. This is even the agency. Just shows you how much it hasn't really taken off in America. The professionals can only get like 100 people watching a live stream live, but it says that some days the streams can attract over a thousand viewers at the same time.   Bradley Sutton: Now, thinking about the cultural differences, of how different things work, you know one influencer said hey, I saw many Chinese live stream sellers screaming at the top of their lungs, counting down until a product is live to encourage rush buying. And this person said I don't think that's gonna work in the US. You know American customers don't like to be told what to do or just because somebody's yelling at them, right, but this influencer who has been doing lives here in America on TikTok shop. She says that she closed over 200 orders on her third day on the job, worth more than a hour with $11,000 worth of products in one afternoon. So again, it's not like completely, completely dead. It's just nothing compared to what's going on in China. But everybody keeps saying, hey, we expect this thing to take off in America sometime. So it's something that I think you know Amazon sellers, e-commerce sellers should be kind of paying attention to what's going on. You know, if we're selling on Amazon, amazon already has Amazon live. Walmart probably will come out with something if it kind of takes off, and then obviously it's a big part of TikTok shop. So do you have a plan ready to go for if live shopping starts taking off? I think it would be great because it's kind of something that's going to be net new. I think it's going to have a lot of impulse buying if it starts taking off and it's not like it's just going to take away from your sales that you already get during search. It's going to be like net new sales for Amazon sellers if this ever takes off.   Bradley Sutton: Speaking of Amazon, you know some more sad news Going to. CNBC says top Amazon Aggregator Thrasio files for bankruptcy. Now, there wasn't too much information in this article. I don't understand the whole, you know bankruptcy thing. I know it's not good, but basically what it says here is that the company agreed with lenders to shave off about 495 million off of its debt loan. Doesn't take a bankruptcy specialist to understand. Half a billion dollars is a lot of money, and some creditors committed to provide it with up to 90 million dollars in fresh capital, which it said will go towards ongoing operations and enable to keep running brands as portfolio, so all the brands that it bought. You know it's not like, oh my goodness, they're all going to just run out of stock and go out of business. It still looks like it's going to keep going. But this is, like you know, for those of us who have been in the Amazon game for a few years. You know might be kind of. You know, for some of us maybe not a shock because we could see some things coming. But if somebody were to tell us three years ago or whenever Thrasio was at their peak, you know, hey, they're going to be bankrupt in a couple of years, like we, probably like no way. It seems like they've growing money on trees over there, right, but just the state of the world that we're in ice. There's still a lot of people who are buying and selling Amazon businesses. All right, the that model of buying and selling Amazon business is absolutely not dead. Make sure to check out a recent Kevin King podcast, amp and podcast, which talked about this this model still going strong.   Bradley Sutton: Last article of the day is coming from e-commerce bites and for those of you, if you're like me and sell on Etsy Something real small it says monthly fees may be coming for Etsy sellers. I didn't realize there was no monthly fees, you know like. So I don't really think this is big. I mean, we're all used to it. You know we pay Walmart, right, we pay Amazon a monthly fee. I don't even know how much I pay Amazon right now. It's like what 30 bucks, 40 bucks, 50 bucks don't really care, because it Etsy sellers are kind of like scared that this is a fee might come. But if you're scared about $20 a month fee or $10 a month fee, you know you probably Shouldn't be selling on the platform, but still, hey, money is money. We got to count all our money. So this is something to watch out for. If you are an Etsy seller.   Bradley Sutton: All right, a couple of things before we get into a really cool feature update I wanted to remind you of is. You know, a couple weeks ago, for the first time in over a year, helium 10 elite is open. So remember, with helium 10 elite, you can have one-on-one calls with me, one-on-one calls with Carrie and Shivali. Hop on private trains with Kevin King twice a month. You know one where he gives you the seven ninja hacks and brings on expert guests, and another would just him where you can literally Face-to-face, ask Kevin King anything. You want. A lot more perks, you know private networking, big events that we we do around the world. We just did one in Germany, we're gonna do one in Madrid, Spain, in a couple of months. So all of this for only $99 extra a month.   Bradley Sutton: So if you're interested in more information about the helium 10 elite program, go to h10.me forward slash elite, h10.me forward slash elite, and Once you sign up for elite, make sure the first thing you do is go ahead and book a one-on-one call with me. I'd love to help you out with what you need. Now, if you speak other languages, we have some other networking calls coming up that are completely free, open to anybody. If you speak Spanish, we have our monthly networking zoom call coming up with Adriana, so make sure to sign up at h10.me/llamadaconadriana, and that's the link to go to that call, which is just gonna be in a couple of days. And if you speak in Deutsch, if you speak German, the one that you want to sign up for our monthly call happening this weekend is h10.me/elite-de.   Bradley Sutton: All right, next up we have a new feature alert from Helium 10, pretty cool feature that a lot of people have been asking for. So you're in your Helium 10 account. You might see some insights from Insights Dashboard about your competitor has lowered their price, they've raised their price, competitors out of stock, competitors running a coupon. Your sales are going up, your inventory is going up, your inventory is going up. All these different things you can see inside of Helium 10's dashboard right, well, on some of these things, the action that you might want to take is you might wanna raise your price or lower your price that is appearing on Amazon, and sometimes you might want to go ahead and do that to a big group of products, like maybe you're selling leggings, like my buddy Yizhak in Israel. I mean, he's got hundreds and hundreds of SKUs. You know, some product lines have 100 SKUs with all the different colors and all the different sizes. When he wants to go change his price. It's like a very tedious task to do inside of Seller Central. Well, that's why I'm happy to introduce that on your Insights dashboard.   Bradley Sutton: Now you can go ahead and change the price directly from your dashboard. So what you do is you go down to your product table, make sure that you're on the SKU view and then you can go to like listing and you will see this column that says price. So first of all, you click this button and you'll be able to see the history of the price. But right directly here in Helium 10, you can go ahead and, one by one, enter a price. So if you watch Carrie's training last week, maybe you saw how to do tags in your dashboard, where maybe you give all of your coffin shelves a tag. That's what I did here. So I can click on coffin shelf. All of my coffin shelves appear automatically here. I can select everything and then I can hit this button edit price and then go ahead and put the price that I want, to put all of them at once and it's going to go ahead and update in Seller Central.   Bradley Sutton: There's a lot of use cases for this. I would think that the bulk one is especially appealing, because that really is not easy to do inside of Seller Central and especially for those of you who've got a lot of variations. You just wanna say, hey, all 60 of these variations. I want the new price to be $12.97 or whatever. Instead of going one by one, do it with just a couple clicks of the button. Let us know what you think of this product. Would you like to see some other feature? Me personally, when I saw it, I was like, hey, I wanna be able to see, or be able to maybe make a sale price. I don't wanna lower my price too much, but I would like to be able to make a sale price with a beginning and end date. Other people have asked for coupons. I'm not sure if that's even available for helium tend to do, but if that's something that you want us to try and investigate, make sure to reach out to customer support and let them know what you think of this new tool, but give it a try.   Bradley Sutton: Next time you wanna change your price for one product or multi-products, go ahead and do it directly inside of helium tend without even having to go to Seller Central. So pretty cool update there, all right. Last up, we have got a really quick hitting tip from Shivali. So maybe you're examining some of your competitors and you wanna know what is their PPC strategy. How are they allocating their spend? Now, you might not be able to just hack into their account and see their seller central advertising console, right, but using Helium 10, there's a cool way that within seconds, you can pretty much see all of their strategy. Check it out in this video.   Shivali Patel: Hi there, let's talk about how you can analyze your competitor's PPC strategy so you can figure out which keywords and phrases you want to go after. Theoretically, let's say, you found a good seller in your niche that's generating decent volume. What you could do is run a single search on Cerebro, as we've done here with this product, which is the Goer gift Woodcuff and Tray and then you could slide over to check out the keyword distribution. The keyword distribution tells us we have 646 paid terms for this ascent, of which, by hovering over the eye icon, we can see that 287 are for sponsored product placements, 41 are in highly rated spots and 318 are sponsored brand video. What's cool is we can filter for those match types. Let's say I wanted to check out which keywords or phrases is this ascent running sponsored brand videos on. I could go ahead and select that, tap out, click apply filters and you'll see that we have 318 filtered keywords right here. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Or let's say that instead of sponsored brand video, you are interested in just the regular PPC keywords and phrases. I could change out my match type to sponsored product, click apply and all of a sudden, the 287 placements for sponsored product are now visible. You could always further refine this search by inputting in something like a minimum of 200 for search volume and a sponsored filter of one to five. This is going to show us which keywords they seem to be concentrating their PPC spend on Applying just a couple more filters takes us from 287 filtered keywords down to a more feasible 22.   Shivali Patel: Of course, as sellers, we wouldn't be bidding top of search unless those keywords are actually profitable. So now you can use this information to your own advantage. This contrasts to this other ascent we have here, where you can instantly see they're not running any paid ads. We have zero for all of these placements across the board. Now compare that to this last ascent, where we have 22 for paid search and, guys, anytime you see such few keywords underneath paid, then you're probably looking at an ascent that's not running any auto phrase or broad match campaigns and you can leverage this information. Especially if that ascent is in similar standing to your product, you can figure out whether that's something you want to duplicate or completely stay away from all this to say there is so much you can do with Cerebro. We have so many filters and I just showed you match type. Make sure that you go in and do this for your own products to figure out maybe how you want to change up your strategy or what are some new keywords and phrases you want to add. I'll see you next time.   Bradley Sutton: All right, Thank you, Shivali, for that. That's actually pretty cool. Did you guys know that you can pretty much reverse engineer some of your Competitors Exact Strategy, especially those who aren't doing broad or phrase or auto campaigns? So make sure you guys are utilizing that. A lot of those features are available to any level of Helium 10. Well, that's it for this week's Weekly Buzz guys. We'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

In Shannon Nash's opinion, 2024 is the "year of the drone." Nash may be biased, as she's the CFO of Wing, the Alphabet-owned drone delivery company that's currently being trialed by companies like Walmart and DoorDash. But there is some data to back this up. For one, Wing announced an expanded partnership with Walmart in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. What's more, recent changes to FAA regulations will likely make it easier for the company to test out other areas. Nash joined this week's Modern Retail Podcast and spoke about the current state of drone delivery and where she thinks it's going. Drone delivery isn't a new concept, but it seems to be taking flight (pun intended) this year. In Australia, currently Wing's biggest market, one site has approached 1,000 drone deliveries a day. In Texas, where Wing is working with Walmart, the platform has already made 5,000 deliveries over the course of a few months. "We have some customers that order roughly two times a week," Nash said. Wing's most ardent customers, however, "are ordering three times a week." In her eyes, it points to consumers having "very favorable views of drone delivery." Still, the only way to really reach mainstream is to expand to more areas and get more people used to the concept. With that, Nash said, "nothing does advertising and marketing [better] than seeing the drones in the parking lot and [people] going, what the heck is this?" Similarly, with regulations beginning to change to allow for larger delivery areas, the platform has plans to expand at rapid pace. What will that rapid expansion look like? Currently, Wing customers buy the products in its own app, rather than through the retailers. But there could be a future where it becomes an extension of these businesses. Nash wouldn't get prescriptive about what the future of drone delivery ordering looks like. "I think the market is going to determine how that happens," she said. Get more from Modern Retail with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit modernretail.co/newsletters to sign up. 

Every week on the Modern Retail Rundown, we cover the latest headlines from the retail world. This week, the team discusses Reddit's S-1 drop, meaning the social platform -- which launched in 2005 -- is finally going public after years of speculation. Also, a look at Beyond Meat's new game plan to turn around weak sales, which includes launching lower fat, higher protein products faux meat burgers and scaling back China operations. Lastly, an update on Macy's proxy fight by activist investor Arkhouse Management. Get more from Modern Retail with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit modernretail.co/newsletters to sign up. 

True, Taylor Swift made friendship bracelets popular thanks to her song "You're on your own, kid." But the brand Little Words Project has been making friendship bracelets long before Swifties adopted them in full force. Little Words Project launched in 2013 as a quasi-side hustle of founder Adriana Carrig. But the project soon turned into a standalone business. Fast forward to today, Little Words Project has 12 stores around the U.S., is profitable and has hit a revenue run rate of over $20 million. Carrig joined this week's Modern Retail Podcast and spoke about the brand's journey and what it's focused on in the year to come. As Carrig sees it, community is what has helped Little Words Project be so successful thus far. In its early days, Carrig would post on Instagram -- before it became crowded with preened photos and airbrushed influencers -- about what the business was and how she was growing it. "[It was] really just bringing our community on along for the ride," she said. "It definitely was the foundation for what the community ultimately became, which was this group of friends that just want to support one another, help one another, when they're down." It's easy to start an online community, but harder to keep it at the forefront when a business grows. For example, in 2022, Little Words Project expanded beyond its direct-to-consumer roots into large stores like Target. "When it comes to the big-box story and how we keep that community build, it's really just about making decisions with the concept of the community first," she said. That meant making sure she was able to market Little Words Project in the same ways she had been doing online for years, as well as keeping the products at the same price point. And while Carrig has considered fading into the background and not being the brand's figurehead, she now realizes, "I do want to be at the forefront." This remains true even when the products go viral, as was the case with the Taylor Swift song. The friendship bracelet became one of the summer's hottest accessories, after Swift's fans started gifting them to each other during her Eras tour concerts. But, according to Carrig, while other brands tried to ride the wave of Swift fandom -- making new products to try and go viral -- Little Words Project changed nothing. But, the company was still able to be part of the fervor in bigger ways compared to brands that were only just now jumping on the trend. Musician Lance Bass gifted Taylor Swift a stack of friendship bracelets from Little Words Project on stage at the VMAs last year. But even with the help of Swift, Carrig said the business has been so good that the Swift bump was only negligible. "We saw a less than 1% sales lift from that collection, which is immaterial when you think about the overall brand presence," Carrig said. "And I think it just goes to show that the brand had its own legs before Taylor. And while the rest of the world who jumped on Taylor-adjacent things -- that maybe didn't make sense to their regular product assortment -- they might have seen a more significant lift because they really did grift." Get more from Modern Retail with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit modernretail.co/newsletters to sign up. 

Every week on the Modern Retail Rundown, we cover the latest headlines from the retail world. On this week's show, we take a look at Express' financial status in light of mounting debt and potential bankruptcy reports. Next, online returns rate continue growing among retailers – as highlighted by a story in The Cut this week -- and it's leading some brands to ban shoppers with a penchant for returning products. Finally, Walmart is reportedly interested in buying Vizio -- which could mean more competition with Amazon. Get more from Modern Retail with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit modernretail.co/newsletters to sign up. 

Every week on the Modern Retail Rundown, we cover the latest headlines from the retail world. This week Gap Inc. announced it's bringing on designer Zac Posen as creative director to help revamp its brands, with a big focus on Old Navy. Next, a look at why Target is currently weighing a new Walmart+-like membership program to attract more loyalty, according to a Bloomberg report. Finally, Tapestry, the owner of Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman, posted some positive results in its most recent quarter, aided by its growing Gen Z and millennial customer base. Get more from Modern Retail with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit modernretail.co/newsletters to sign up. 

In this episode of Coffee with a Journalist, our host Beck Bamberger chats with Melissa Daniels, the senior reporter at Modern Retail. Melissa shares insights on her process for handling the hundreds of pitches she receives daily and offers tips for effective pitching. She discusses her passion for covering retail, e-commerce, fintech, and home design, and provides valuable advice for publicists looking to build successful relationships with journalists. From inbox management to the kind of subject lines she prefers, Melissa provides a unique glimpse into a reporter's perspective. Plus, she's got some interesting preferences when it comes to follow-ups, pitch length, media kits, and more. Tune in as Melissa opens up about her work and her life in the Mojave desert, offering a fascinating look into the mind of a senior reporter.

Every week on the Modern Retail Rundown, we cover the latest headlines from the retail world. First is a look at the sudden departure of H&M's chief executive officer, who cited the demanding nature of the job. Next, TikTok is reportedly testing a video feature that shows users similar products sold in TikTok Shop -- hinting at an increased focus on growing e-commerce. Finally, why Amazon's advertising business continued to grow during the fourth quarter -- surging 27% year-over-year, to $14.7 billion. Get more from Modern Retail with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit modernretail.co/newsletters to sign up.

This week on the Modern Retail Rundown, the editorial staff looks into big retail changes afoot. First, we analyze why Macy's ultimately rejected a $5.1 billion takeover bid from Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital Management. Then, a discussion about Solo Stove's flashy advertising campaign with Snoop Dogg, and why the marketing world is debating its merits. Finally, we discuss Etsy's proposed plans to allegedly advertise during the Super Bowl and what it means for sellers and shoppers alike. Get more from Modern Retail with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit modernretail.co/newsletters to sign up. 

SharkNinja -- the company behind the Shark and Ninja household product brands -- sees TikTok as the late-night infomercial. The company has been around since the '90s, but has spent the last two decades specifically growing out its product catalog and finding new channels for marketing. Leading this charge is CEO Mark Barrocas, who joined the company in 2008 as president. Back then, SharkNinja -- then called Euro-Pro -- had fewer products and was mostly known as the brand behind items sold via long-form late-night infomercials. Then, it was mostly known for its Shark vacuums. "In 2009, we created the Ninja brand -- and really, from there, we started to kind of reframe the business around identifying either known or unknown consumer problems, and then building a technology and innovation company that was able to solve those problems," Barrocas said on the Modern Retail Podcast. Now, SharkNinja is in 31 different product categories, sold in 26 markets around the world. According to Barrocas, the key to SharkNinja's growth has been its focus on constantly innovating home products. "We take a very maniacal approach to product development," he said. Additionally, the company has been able to keep up with the times, marketing-wise. While SharkNinja still does produce late-night commercials -- those likely will never go away as long as linear TV continues to exist -- the brand has found a new channel with TikTok. "We built our social media team up tremendously over the last few years. We have products like the Ninja Creamy that have a billion impressions on TikTok," he said. This focus on new channels to find new eyeballs likely won't stop soon. "I continue to think that we'll invest more and more in social media, we'll invest more in partnerships, we'll invest more in events," Barrocas said. Get more from Modern Retail with the daily newsletter, sent out each weekday morning. Visit modernretail.co/newsletters to sign up.