Express Checkout #93 - the latest in CPG, Retail, and eComm

Hello hello!

One of my favorite conferences is coming up: Nosh Live! It’s a two-day event for the packaged food industry, taking place on December 5 + 6 in Marina del Rey, CA.

Nosh Live is an opportunity for founders and operators to meet with retailers, distributors, investors, and industry partners in an intimate environment. You get to learn from experts and innovators, and walk away with actionable steps to grow your packaged food business.

Plus you can meet one-to-one with retail buyers from the likes of Kroger and Whole Foods.

Want to attend? Here’s a discount to save $500 per ticket. I hope to see you there!!

This week brought to you by….

🚨 Quick note from my friends at Brij! 🚨 – AB 899 (the Baby Food Safety Act) is a law requiring baby food brands to have a QR code on products to display monthly lab test results by Jan 2025.

Brij already works with Once Upon a Farm, Serenity Kids, & Clean Label Project. Here’s a quick one-pager on Brij's AB 899 functionality.

🗞️ News from the week (9/23/24 - 9/29/24)

Athletic Greens…ahem…AG1 is making some moves!

In a crossover that nobody saw coming, a TikTok creator spilled the beans (or should I say, the greens? 🙃 ) about her local Starbucks testing an AG1-based iced drink…and it’s now been confirmed by AG1’s CEO, Kat Cole.

AG1, founded in 2010, was born out of founder Chris Ashenden's personal health quest. The gist? Take every single supplement you need in a day, and turn it into an all-in-one powder. The perfect concoction for a cult following.

Since its inception, the brand has notoriously always been focused on DTC. No Amazon, no retail channels. Just AG1’s DTC site—and an absolute boatload of influencer marketing and podcast ads (no seriously, try to listen to a wellness podcast without hearing about AG1).

In 2022, AG1 reached a significant milestone when it secured $115 million in outside capital, propelling the company to a $1.2 billion valuation: unicorn status, baby! And two years later, it’s taking its success IRL with this Starbucks collab (because shaking a bottle is hard, and we’d all rather dish out the $6.25 for someone else to do it).

My take? This is more than just a “AG1 hits the mainstream” moment. AG1's about to pull a Bloom Nutrition and take over not just foodservice, but also retail—and though the market is crowded, if anyone can cut through it…it’s AG1.

🛒 CPG & Consumer Goods

• When the dupes get too close to home. American Eagle Outfitters is suing Amazon for trademark infringement, claiming that the e-comm giant misused Aerie’s branding to get shoppers to bite on inferior knock-off products.

• Pre-loved is the new black. Fjällräven launched a peer-to-peer resale marketplace using the Archive Resale platform.

  • They join a slew of brands exploring resale, many of whom participate through Archive: Zara, IKEA, Carhartt, Container Store, Sam Edelman, and H&M.

  • And it’s looking like time to hop on the bandwagon. Resale is expected to grow 6.4 times faster than the broader retail clothing sector, reaching $350 billion by 2028. And branded resale, is a major piece of the puzzle here, seeing 31% YoY growth in 2023, per ThreadUp’s 2024 Resale report.

• Taking on Poppi AND Olipop, in this economy? Jones Soda is launching Pop Jones, a new prebiotic drink available in five “Jones-original” flavors and containing less sugar and calories than similar products. It may seem a little late to the game, but the functional beverage market is still expected to grow significantly—I think it could still do well.

• The Nespresso brand is expanding…to the fridge. Nestlé's Nespresso has launched its first ready-to-drink coffee. It’s a limited-edition beverage, but we’ll see if it has staying power!

• A hit and a miss. Tilray Brands is launching a new line of hemp-derived Delta-9 THC beverages, including mocktails and seltzers, in key U.S. markets starting October 2024.

  

  These are not brands, these are random products. This is some chatGPT BS. It feels inauthentic.

  • My take. This lacks everything that makes a brand good. Brands have a unique chance to define what the industry represents to consumers. Tilray had an opportunity here to really be a leader in this space, but they missed the mark. Right now there are few recreational brands with significant brand recognition—Cann and Camino come to mind for me.

  • An experts take? I spoke to Brett Fink who also saw it as a massive miss, especially with all the well known craft beer brands Tilray recently scooped. They have local distribution and all these big names like Montauk and Blue Point to play with…and this is where they landed.

💻 eCommerce

• Direct-to-ads. GoPuff launched new shoppable ad features, allowing users to add products directly to their carts from ads across the internet through a partnership with AdAdapted.

• eBay 🤝 sellers. eBay has partnered with Liberis to launch Flexible Cash Advance, allowing U.S. sellers to access funding between $5,000 and $2 million quickly and easily.

• An absolute holiday blowout. Adobe forecasts that U.S. online sales will reach $240.8 billion during the 2024 holiday season, reflecting an 8.4% year-over-year growth.

🛍 Retail

• Is 52 the magic number? Amazon Fresh recently opened a few new stores, bringing its total to 52 locations across eight states.

  • We’ll see how this goes for them. Despite them also opening more Whole Foods locations, people have been disappointed in the brand.

🏭 Supply Chain

• Supporting eComm, one package at a time. FedEx officially launched its e-commerce platform, fdx, with services for demand growth, fulfillment optimization, and order returns. The platform integrates with major providers like Shopify and UPS.

💸 Funding news

• Grove Collaborative received a $15 million investment from Volition Capital to pay off debts.

• Spicewell, a company specializing in nutrient-enhanced salts and peppers, raised over $1 million in a pre-seed funding round. Yes, that is salt and pepper with vitamins.

• SEEN, a haircare brand developed by dermatologists, closed a $9 million Series A funding round to enhance its growth in the science-backed beauty market.

• Diageo North America acquired Ritual Zero Proof, the leading non-alcoholic spirit brand in the U.S., to strengthen its position in the growing NA category.

  • Ritual is definitely one of the market leaders in the space. I constantly see it at bars all over NYC.

🧐 Interesting reads + data

• I sat down with the great Grace Clarke exploring her journey, from working at major brands to founding her own consulting firm. Grace shared valuable insights into consumer behavior trends, the importance of community, and innovative uses of AI in marketing and product creation—she’s a total genius!!

• Ibotta’s 2024 State of Spend report examines the economic challenges faced by consumers and marketers:

😋 Brands and things I’ve tried this week

Belgian Boys, my favorite breakfast brand, launched five new grab-and-go refrigerated breakfast options exclusively at 1,800 Walmart stores nationwide. And they are my ideal snack! Look at these puppies!

Call me Glenn Powell cause I just got some Sweet Loren’s biscuits and one of their newest flavors!

Shana Tova! Just in time for the Jewish high holidays, Manischewitz released some new products, all part of their incredible rebrand:

• Ready-to-Eat Frozen Matzo Balls

• Frozen Potato Knishes

• Frozen Ready-to-Eat Blintzes (IYKYK)

• Frozen Bakery items – Challah, Chocolate Babka, Chocolate Rugelach, and Apricot and Raspberry Hamantaschen

See ya next week,

Nate :)

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