Express Checkout issue #2

Happy Sunday! I'm writing this second edition of my newsletter from a lovely Airbnb in Venice beach.

I'm attending amazing food & beverage conferences put on by the folks at Brewbound, Nosh, and BevNet!

Brewbound and Nosh were incredible. There were some amazing sessions on the state of craft beer, innovating in bev-alc, navigating e-premise, how Kroger is working with emerging brands, creator based CPG, and what's keeping your CFO up at night.

Also congrats to all the Brewbound and Nosh finalists and winners of the pitch slam! I was very impressed by all the great drinks and treats on show 🙌

Now to the news of the week! 👇👇👇

CPG/Consumer News from the week (11/28 - 12/4)

🛍 Retail

• Macy’s really loves reviving classic retail brands. First Toys R Us and now Claire’s! The legacy retailer is opening more than 20 Claire’s stores within Macy’s across the country.

• A new ultrafast grocery delivery service, Food Rocket, backed by c-store Circle K has launched at two of the retailer’s stores in North Carolina. The app will offer up to 7,000 SKUs with a focus on grocery. What I think this has going for it over the Jokr's of the world is that deliveries will be completed out of two micro-fulfillment centers at Circle K stores. Apparently deliveries will be within 10 mins (we’ll see how long that lasts).

• Does everyone really want groceries in 15 mins or less? Walgreens seem to think so. Walgreens has officially launched 24-Hour same day delivery across the country with 400 participating stores.

• CVS is getting into bespoke beauty. A skincare brand that makes personalized formulations, Pure Culture, has launched at 200 locations around the country.

• Intermix changes hands once again. The retailers was just sold to Regent just a year after being sold by Gap to a private equity firm in 2021.

• If you're not following the rise of retail media you're missing out. Club store BJ’s has just joined the trend of retailers starting their own retail media arm! They’ll use Microsoft’s PromoteIQ to manage the initiative, known as BJ’s Media Edge. I highly recommend listening to some recent podcast episodes by Remarkable Retail and CPG Guys on retail media's growth.

• Would you eat food made from robots? They're making pizzas, burgers, coffee, cocktails, and now smoothies! Smoodi just raised a cool $5M to expand and scale it’s smoothie making robot.

• Primark has partnered with U.K.-based Vintage Wholesale Company to roll out WornWell, a resale shop-in-shop concept at select stores.

• Dippin Dots is coming to retail. J&J Snack Foods who bought the frozen treat in May 2022 for $222M is exploring ways to further grow the brand. I for one hope to see this in my local grocery store ASAP.

• Amazon continues to push cashier-less brick and mortar stores and they want others to join the trend too (especially with their tech).

🏭 Supply Chain

• Foot Locker just opened up a $40M Nevada distribution center to support the West Coast

• Ever wonder where cardboard comes from? So did the NYT. This was a very interesting article about where cardboard comes from.

• Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced the launch of a new cloud application aimed at increasing visibility across brands supply chains and helping them respond better adapt to changing conditions. Whole Foods, Lifetime Brands, and Traeger Grills are among the first to use the service.

• Pres. Biden has signed legislation preventing a rail strike which has been looming over the nation for months.

• Stony Creek Colors raises $4.8M in Series B2 funding led by Lewis & Clark AgriFood and Levi Strauss & Co.

🛒 CPG

• May be a little tougher to get wine online. Winc has filed for bankruptcy this past week as DTC continues to struggle.

• Nestlé has updated their policy on marketing to children by banning the direct advertisements of high sugar biscuits, confections, and other snacks to customers under the age of 16. This is an update of a 2017 policy.

• LVMH's Moët Hennessy and Italy's Campari have just bought online wines and spirits company Tannico with plans to expand it further. This comes as other major brands are pushing eCommerce.

• Another large brand is continuing to invest in eCommerce. Italian coffee maker Lavazza is buying French online coffee platform MaxiCoffee to bolster its e-commerce activities and strengthen their position across Europe.

• Deodorant brand Type:A has just been acquired by DCB Lab, a brand holding, investment and advisory company.

• MeliBio has a lot of news as of late. Between raising $2.2M, partnering with Narayan Foods, and being named the SIAL Innovation Selection of 2022, they have a lot going on!

• Perfect Day, known for animal-free whey, is continuing to grow its animal-free product offerings. It recently acquired India’s Sterling Biotech, one of the largest gelatin producers in the world.

• Meal replacement company Huel just closed a $24M round of investment to continue fueling growth.

• Sexual wellness company Lora DiCarlo has quietly ended operations. Retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue are still selling Lora DiCarlo items on their websites.

• Everlane has just secured a $25 Million Loan from Gordon Brothers.

• The Laundress has issued a product recall two weeks after posting safety notice on their own volition.

• New Fare Partners, a new female-led fund co-founded by Elly Truesdell and Hallie Bonnar, has just closed $20M in capital with the focus on investing in early stage food and beverage companies. The fund has some impressive backers including Kathleen King, Gary Hirshberg, and Andrew Abraham.

• Just 2 years after acquiring Freshly for nearly $1B, Nestlé is scaling back on its presence in meal delivery. To reduce exposure and costs they’re forming a partnership with L Catterton’s Kettle Cuisine meal delivery service.

• Louis Dreyfus R&D team out of Brazil has developed an OJ with 30% less sugar with an initial rollout planned for early 2023 in China and the rest of the world to follow shortly.

💻 eCommerce

• Nestlé, along with other retailers, are aggressively pursues online sales. They're predicting a ‘rebound’ in eCommerce over the next year. By 2025 their goal is to capture 25% of sales online and become a more data powered business.

• Instacart has just launched a suite of new advertising solutions for brands to compliment their already existing tools. Instacart Promotions has two components Coupons and Stock Up & Saving. Brands can have savings appear on product item cards prior to checkout. Additionally, brands will be able to beef up brands e-sampling efforts through free gifts and Buy One.

• Etsy sellers say inflation and higher fees are hurting their holiday sales.

• FabFitFun has secured a patent that enables parcel services to serve demographically targeted ads.

• A new online CPG marketplace is born! Here Here Market is a marketplace for Chef-Made packaged goods.

🧐 Interesting reads and research

• Once a ‘sleepy category,’ the pretzel grabs its fill of the $106B snacking space (via FoodDive)

• 2023 outlook for emerging CPG brands (via Nielsen IQ)

• State of Fashion 2023 (via Mckinsey)

• Beverage and alcohol brands leverage online growth for new sales (via NielsenIQ)

• Why California’s $46 Billion Wine Industry Is Better Prepared For Climate Change Than Some Of Its Competitors? (via Forbes)

• C-Stores Step Up Efforts to Gain Share from QSRs (via PYMNTs.com)

• The Big Scoop on Unilever’s DTC Ice Cream Plans (via ADweek)

• How AWS will return more water than it uses by 2030 (via Amazon press release)

I also want to shout out a new brand that's launching in the next few weeks: Sundays. It's a healthy Oreo-like cookie with zero sugar, 7g of protein and zero net carbs!!

Thanks for reading! I'll be back next week with more commerce news straight to your inbox. If you have any suggestions, feedback, or stories I missed, let me know!

Nate :)