Express Checkout #106

Hello hello! Welcome to the last issue of 2024!!

Holiday spending continues to demonstrate its resilience, with overall growth reported between 4-5% YoY—pretty strong despite economic uncertainties.

This year, physical retail made a notable comeback. In-store shopping accounted for 77% of total payment volume and saw growth of ~4% YoY, a notable improvement from the nearly 2% growth recorded last year.

• Physical retail will continue to be a big player going into 2025. After years of supposed decline of brick-and-mortar—and years of shopping behind a screen—retailers are becoming more strategic, focusing on quality over quantity.

• Meanwhile, online shopping grew 7% YoY—a slight deceleration from the 10% growth seen last year, reflecting the normalization of eComm after its explosive pandemic-era gains.

• Many consumers now frequent both channels, purchasing online when it’s more convenient but returning to stores for experiences that screens just can’t deliver.

So what does this mean? Retailers who blend the tactile experience of physical stores with the convenience and personalization of online shopping will be best positioned to thrive in this hybrid future. It’s clear that the days of “either-or” are behind us—consumers want is the best of both worlds.

News From the Week

Legacy brands are in their wild child era. 🤪 

This week was the Pop-Tarts Bowl—and it was chaotic to say the least. This college football bowl game has been around since 1990, but entered its CPG era in 2020 when Kellogg's Cheez-It brand became the title sponsor. Last year, the sponsorship shifted to Pop-Tarts, marking the beginning of a whole new era of CPG insanity.

This year's Bowl took social media by storm with over-the-top antics and some unforgettable moments (who needs Gatorade when you have mini Pop-Tarts?).

The game featured three mascots—Hot Fudge Sundae, Wild Berry, and Cinnamon Roll—competing for fans’ attention throughout the night. The winning team’s quarterback got a special honor: choosing which mascot would be “sacrificed” in a giant toaster and, yes, eaten.

I think this is part of a larger trend of legacy brands embracing chaos and irreverence in their marketing strategies. This is definitely a response to modern disruptor brands like Liquid Death, which thrive on attention-grabbing, offbeat marketing.

Take Nutter Butter, for instance. Their TikTok account is hilariously bizarre, mixing cookie sales with conspiracy theories and creating content that’s equally unsettling and entertaining.

This approach has garnered millions of views and sparked conversations across social media, proving that even a nostalgic cookie brand can find new life by embracing absurdity.

Legacy brands are recognizing that younger audiences value authenticity and humor—and going viral often means embracing chaos and unpredictability. Where brands of all sizes used to focus on aspirational lifestyles, they now prioritize cultural relevance. It’s no longer enough to just be a staple in someone’s pantry; brands want to live rent-free in consumers’ minds.

The Pop-Tarts toaster stunt is absurd, memorable, and slightly dark. It’s exactly the kind of moment designed to spark conversations and cement cultural relevance.

TL;DR? Maybe we’re all overthinking things a little and CPG should just be fun.

• Don’t think I’ll be slapping this bag. Proxies, a non-alc wine brand, has launched what they claim to be the worlds first NA boxed wine. Price is a bit high compared to regular boxed wine, but the packaging is gorgeous. Overall the NA wine market is still so new—it’s too soon to predict consumer adoption.

  

• Meet David IRL. The David Protein Bar, co-founded by RXBar's Peter Rahal, launched at its first major, national brick-and-mortar retailer: The Vitamin Shoppe. It’s priced at a cool $39.99 for a 12-pack of two flavors, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Cake Batter.

• Haircare mogul expanding empire. Jaimee Lupton, founder of Monday Haircare, is launching two new brands: Laura Polko Los Angeles and Daise, under the Zuru Edge beauty umbrella.

  • Laura Polko, created in partnership with the eponymous celebrity hairstylist, focuses on hair care for Millennials and will launch in Target.

  • Daise targets Gen Z and Gen Alpha with affordable body care and fragrance products—starting in Ulta and expanding into Target in 2025.

• The weight loss supplements keep coming. Kourtney Kardashian’s Lemme supplement brand is launching its 16th gummy SKU—this time, exclusively in Target. Lemme Tone is aimed at enhancing metabolism and reducing cravings (not to be confused with Lemme GLP-1 Daily, the brand’s GLP-1 support gummy).

• Is Poppi the newest lifestyle brand? Poppi and Target collaborated to launch a limited-edition apparel collection featuring over 20 unique pieces including sweatshirts and hats.

  • Cameron put it best: It’s just another step into cementing Poppi as a lifestyle brand. Following the news that Coke and Pepsi are both entering this category with their own lines of pre/pro-biotic sodas, Poppi and Olipop need to fight to secure brand loyalty. And today? Brand loyalty is demonstrated on hoodies. I don’t make the rules.

    

• TikTok-viral protein brand hits the shelves. SEEQ launched its Clear Protein at Target in three popular flavors: Strawberry Lemonade, Blue Razz Freeze, and Watermelon Wave. The new tub size will be 40% smaller than the original, making it more approachable to drive trial.

  • There are a TON of clear protein products on the market now. Clean Simple Eats, Gramms, Ryse, Protein2o, Pwr Lift (by Vita Coco), Ready Protein Water, Lumen Protein Lemonade, and Pretty Tasty. My favorite one right now is the Clean Simple Eats clear protein drink!

• Will there be any late mover advantage? Hanes is expanding into the activewear category with its new collection, Hanes Moves. With a strong existing customer base, this could be a smart move for Hanes.

• From YouTube feed to your local Target. Blogilates, an activewear company founded by the #1 female fitness YouTuber Cassey Ho, launched a new active collection in partnership with Target. The collection includes a variety of more affordable activewear—something Ho claims her followers have been requesting for years.

  • Some background: Ho started her channel back in 2009, and Blogilates has since achieved over 4.4 billion views and 10 million+ subscribers! I highly recommend Colin & Samir’s video on her channel.

  • Ho successfully launched yoga and pilates equipment into Target in 2020, but this is her first foray into IRL fashion. After going viral for her activewear on multiple occasions (including that time TSwift rocked a Blogilates skort in a music video), Ho fully expects to sell out.

• The best cookie takes Walgreens. One of our favorite cookie brand, Fancypants just launched in Walgreens/Duane Reades in NYC—bringing its total retailers over 2,250!

eCommerce

• Consider it Benched. Popular accounting startup Bench abruptly shut down (but seems to have been acquired), leaving over 35,000 U.S. customers without access to their accounting and tax documents. The company advised customers to file a six-month extension with the IRS and download their data by December 30. If you use Bench, there are solutions:

  • Finaloop already offers a migration plan for Bench customers, and is now offering Bench customers a 75% discount on 2024 books.

  • Bags also shared that they are aiding in CPG brands in migration from Bench. (Bags was our sponsor last week! They’re great)

Retail

• Department stores are having a moment: Nordstrom is going private in a $6.25 billion deal with the Nordstrom family and Mexican retail group El Puerto de Liverpool. Meanwhile, Saks Global acquired Neiman Marcus Group for $2.7 billion.

  • This acquisition reflects a broader trend of traditional department stores struggling to compete in the modern retail landscape: Macy's is closing 150 stores over the next three years, and Saks has been grappling with vendor payment issues, reportedly owing hundreds of thousands of dollars to numerous brands.

• They’re back. Big Lots reached a deal to save up to 400 stores from closing.

Funding news

• Beauty retail platform scooped up. SNR Capital acquired Thirteen Lune, an inclusive beauty retail platform. As part of the deal, Thirteen Lune will be operated by PCA Companies, a global beauty distribution and services company.

  • Prior to the acquisition, Thirteen Lune owed tens of thousands in unpaid invoices to brands stocked on its website and at its brick-and-mortar store.

• A downgrade for Kim K. The one and only Kim Kardashian is no longer managing SKKY Partners, the private equity firm she co-founded in 2022. The firm's ambitions to raise $1 billion have fallen flat, with only $121 million secured and a single deal completed by April 2024.

  • Kardashian’s role has now been downgraded to senior operating advisor. SKKY Partners’ lone investment to date is in the high-profile hot sauce brand Truff, which has yet to signal broader success for the firm.

  • My thoughts? Kim should have partnered with a Tier 1 or Tier 2 fund from the start and leveraged their credibility and infrastructure. This would have allowed her to focus on adding cultural value and identifying consumer trends without taking on the heavy lifting of launching a fund from scratch.

• MLM buys DTC Brand. USANA Health Sciences (the 18th largest MLM by rev) has acquired a 78.8% controlling stake in Hiya Health Products for $205 million. Hiya co-founders will continue to run the brand.

Weekly Pickups

The new Jell-O: Oddball makes sugar-free, natural jelly with no animal byproduct—using agar and locust bean gum as the gelling agents.

See ya next week and HAPPY NEW YEARS 🍾 🥂 !

Nate + Jenna :)

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