Innovations in Retail

What happens when a legacy CPG giant like PepsiCo acquires a fast-growing disruptor like Poppi? It’s a blueprint for the future of FMCG. PepsiCo has spent years evolving its portfolio, shifting toward healthier, functional, and better-for-you options. From acquiring Siete Family Foods to Sabra Dipping Company, and now Poppi, they’re doubling down on what today’s consumers want: ✅ Functional Ingredients: Poppi taps into the gut health boom, projected to reach $72B+ globally by 2032 (Source: Market Research Future® (MRFR)). Consumers aren’t just looking for hydration—they want drinks that boost immunity, digestion, and energy. ✅ Premiumization of Soda: Traditional soda sales have declined by 12% in the last decade, while functional and prebiotic sodas are growing 35% YoY (Source: Beverage Digest). Brands like Poppi prove that consumers will pay a premium for added health benefits. ✅ The Power of Challenger Brands: Nearly 60% of Gen Z & Millennials say they trust emerging brands more than Big CPG (Source: McKinsey & Company). PepsiCo knows the future belongs to brands that feel authentic, mission-driven, and community-led. So, The “Big Food vs. Challenger Brand” battle is over-it’s now about collaboration. Legacy brands need disruptors to stay relevant. Health & wellness aren’t trends-they’re becoming industry standards. If a brand isn’t innovating in functional benefits, it’s already falling behind. The next wave of acquisitions? Expect strategic buys in functional beverages, gut health, and personalized nutrition. This is just the beginning. Are Big CPGs moving fast enough to keep up with evolving consumer demands? #FMCG #PepsiCo #Poppi #GutHealth #ConsumerTrends #MergersAndAcquisitions #FoodAndBeverage

In retail, many chase the next big thing—a new style, a new way to reach consumers—triggering a frantic race to adopt. But most trends fade as fast as they appear. The real game-changers are curated habits that prove they can stand the test of time. I’ve championed social commerce as the future of retail for over a decade. In hindsight, that barely scratches the surface. It’s now a deeply ingrained consumer behavior. The imperative isn’t just to adopt it, but to evolve with it—constantly and intentionally. At HSN, social commerce was core to our strategy. We pioneered the blend of shopping and entertainment. That’s the essence: finding the sweet spot where entertainment, connection, and commerce converge. Soon after, platforms like Twitch began enabling users to both game and shop in real time, blending entertainment with commerce. Fanatics has successfully leaned into this model as well, immersing fans in live experiences while showcasing gear in action, often worn by their favorite athletes and community, turning fandom into a powerful trust signal. More recently, TikTok Shop collapsed the purchase funnel into a single scroll. It's no longer discover, then buy. Now, it’s see it, want it, buy it—seamlessly, in-platform. So, as we look ahead, how do I see this "social commerce habit" evolving? Here's what I expect: 🔹 Creator Integration is Non-Negotiable. For Gen Z, in particular, TikTok Shop has become a primary discovery engine. They trust their favorite creators to genuinely try products and offer honest feedback. The more brands lean into authentic partnerships with creators, the more trust they build in this integrated shopping experience. It’s about relationship-driven commerce. 🔹 Embrace a Zero-Click World. Speed and simplicity are paramount. Consumers need to be able to see, buy, and receive as fast as humanly possible. This means minimal clicks, minimal friction, and no moments for reconsideration. It's about instant gratification and removing all barriers between desire and ownership. 🔹 Elevate Live Shopping. This is a powerful return to the personal connection and real-time interaction that defined the best of traditional retail. Shoppable videos and live sessions transform social media into a personalized shopping aisle. Imagine experts demonstrating products, showing how they fit or can be styled, all in real-time, tailored to your interests. It brings humanity back to digital retail. 🔹 Unlock the Power of Virtual Try-Ons. A longstanding hurdle in e-commerce is "try before you buy." AI-enabled virtual try-on features solves that, making online shopping more immersive and convenient. This translates directly into higher conversion rates, deeper engagement, and customers spending more valuable time interacting with your brand digitally. It’s time to stop treating social commerce like a trend. This is commerce, full stop. It’s a fundamental consumer behavior that belongs at the center of every modern retail strategy.

If more of your store sales start on TikTok lately, you might wanna read this. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦. The checkout happens in-store. But the sale happens everywhere else. Here's the reality: This year 60%+, and in 2027, 70% of retail sales will be digitally influenced. I can't emphasize this enough; here's what most brands miss—digital influence isn't just about online sales. It's about shaping every moment before the customer even walks into your store. L'Oréal cracked this code: 100M+ AR try-on sessions driving real conversions. 31 brands orchestrating seamless experiences across 72 countries. No.1 in beauty influencer marketing (29% market share), 20-80% higher conversion rates through enhanced digital experiences. The new customer journey isn't linear—it's layered: - They discover you on social - Research you through reviews and UGC - Try your product virtually through AR - Get retargeted with personalized content - Finally purchase in-store (feeling confident they're making the right choice) Every touchpoint matters, and every interaction influences the final decision. The brands winning today aren't just selling products—they're orchestrating experiences across owned, paid, and earned media that guide customers from curiosity to checkout. Digital discovery is increasingly pay-to-play and shoppers are paying attention. ++ Tactical Recommendations for CPG / FMCG Brands ++ 1. Beyond just having perfect, high SOV product pages, create discovery ecosystems. - Optimize for "zero-moment-of-truth" searches. - Activate shoppable content at scale. - Leverage user-generated content as social proof. Brands that do these see a 35% higher conversion rate from digital touchpoints to in-store purchases. 2. Connect digital engagement directly to retail execution. - Geo-target digital campaigns to drive foot traffic - Create "store-specific" digital content CPG brands using geo-targeted social ads see a 23% higher in-store sales lift in targeted markets. 3. Most important one; stop flying blind—measure digital influence on offline sales. - Implement unique promo codes for each digital touchpoint to track conversion paths. - Use customer surveys at point of purchase. - Partner with retailers on shared data insights Brands with proper attribution see 15-25% improvement in marketing ROI within 12 months. 𝗧𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 ecommert® 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝟭𝟰,𝟲𝟬𝟬+ 𝗖𝗣𝗚, 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘁® : 𝗖𝗣𝗚 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿. #CPG #FMCG #AI #ecommerce Procter & Gamble PepsiCo Unilever The Coca-Cola Company Nestlé Mondelēz International Kraft Heinz Ferrero Mars Colgate-Palmolive Henkel Bayer Haleon Kenvue The HEINEKEN Company Carlsberg Group Philips Samsung Electronics Panasonic North America

In the 1990s, buying secondhand was embarrassing. In 2025, it’s a flex. A Depop seller with a curated page isn’t a broke student - they’re a micro-merchant running a business off their bedroom floor. Gen Z has turned flipping clothes into TikTok-era theater - part eBay hustle, part Tupperware hype, part FaceTime hangout - where the product is just the pretext for entertainment, identity, and arbitrage. What changed? Three forces: ▪️ Cultural Reframe: Sustainability + nostalgia turned “used” into “vintage.” A thrifted leather jacket signals taste, not thrift. ▪️ Platforms as Market Makers:  Depop, Poshmark, and Vinted created aesthetic markets. Algorithms surface not just items, but vibes. ▪️ Gen Z Entrepreneurialism: Selling clothes is a side hustle, yes. But also an identity: being a “Depop girl” or “thrift flipper” is a cultural role. Takeaways from seeing this up close: (1) The Arbitrage of Identity. The real business model is identity arbitrage. Say, Zara sells a blazer for $79.95. A Gen Z reseller finds a near-identical version at Goodwill for $12. They photograph it in perfect lighting, tag it as “Y2K office siren,” and sell it for $65. The fabric is unchanged, but the identity is transformed. That spread - the $53 margin - is really the difference between ‘worn-out blazer’ and ‘vintage aesthetic’. The profit lies in the framing: “coquette,” “cottagecore,” “Y2K”. Turning commodity apparel into aesthetic currency is why resale is growing 3–4x faster than fast fashion. (2) Platform Economics: 0 COGS, Just Culture. - Zero COGS: Sellers source inventory cheaply. - Pure Take Rates: Platforms skim ~10–20% with SaaS-like margins. - Infinite Liquidity: Every viewer is a potential buyer, seller, or performer. The dopamine loop: scroll → laugh → bid → flex → flip → repeat. (3) Fast Fashion’s Shadow Market. Resale, dressed up as sustainable, may actually be fast fashion’s best friend. A Shein top is worn once, then resold as “rare vintage.” Zara and H&M unintentionally become wholesalers to the secondary market. (4) Livestream Shopping as Resale Theater. On livestream shopping apps like Whatnot and Tilt, resellers don’t just post - they perform, blending auction dynamics with the intimacy of a video call. A 22-year-old in her bedroom sells thrifted DKNY dresses with lo-fi intimacy that outperforms polish.  The audience isn’t just shopping; they’re hanging out. The value isn’t in the garment but in the parasocial relationship with the host. We’ve moved from “What do I want to buy?” → “Who do I want to shop with?” The thrift-flip + livestream boom isn’t a sideshow. It’s a preview: Retail becomes media. Identity becomes currency. Community is the moat. The resale boom isn’t about secondhand clothes. It’s about the collapse of the wall between shopping, media, and identity. The future of shopping looks less like Amazon's endless scroll and more like Twitch: real-time, interactive, personality-driven.

I watched a robot deliver food from a restaurant two blocks away. It was ridiculous and SO F**KING COOL! Who is shaping the future of autonomous food delivery? Coco: The new OpenAI partnership and fresh $122M in Series B funding for enhanced path planning lays the foundation for market dominance Manna Air Delivery: 3-minute drone deliveries are proving the speed advantage Wing: Multi-modal partnerships (see: Serve Robotics collab) are expanding their addressable market Nuro: Licensing pivot + deepening relationships with Uber highlights strategic focus to become the foundational autonomous vehicle technology provider Starship Technologies: With 8M+ deliveries; scaling from 50 campuses to 150 cities globally shows sustainable execution Zipline: Remains the drone delivery heavyweight with restaurant partnerships pushing beyond traditional medical deliveries Several key categories define the autonomous food delivery market: → Sidewalk Delivery Robots: Small autonomous robots designed for short-distance deliveries in pedestrian areas → Road-Based Autonomous Vehicles: Larger autonomous delivery vehicles capable of operating on public roads → Hybrid Remote-Operated Systems: Robotics solutions combining autonomous navigation with remote human oversight → Multi-Modal Delivery Platforms: Integrated systems combining various autonomous delivery methods with traditional logistics → Indoor/Controlled Environment Robots: Specialized robots for deliveries within buildings, hospitals, and controlled facilities → Drone Delivery Integration: Aerial autonomous delivery systems for rapid food delivery Market leaders in each category are emerging. But, while the market leaders are gaining commercial traction, winning key partnerships, and attracting funding, several players, including once-promising names are struggling to deliver (pun intended). In a market that once was betting on promise, execution is now table stakes. What recent highlights tell us about the evolution of the market: ↳Market leaders are now making millions of deliveries with 99% autonomy; proving scalability ↳Major platforms (Uber, DoorDash) are all-in with partnerships, driving adoption and revenue to fuel the next wave of innovation ↳Tech advancements and maturation are enabling the market shift from confined, controlled pilots to complex urban deployments ↳Investors are willing to write (big) checks to companies that are proving commercial traction with Nuro, Coco, Manna, and Neolix all raising fresh rounds this year We're witnessing the transition from “oh, look a robot” to "scalable last-mile infrastructure." 2025 is shaping up to be the year your Uber Eats or DoorDash driver isn’t a driver at all. P.S. Want more insights on the companies building the future of food delivery? Comment "insights delivered" below for *free* access to CB Insights' data and insights on the autonomous food delivery markets.

A Quick Commerce Revolution in India: A Glimpse into the Future of Retail My recent trip to India left a lasting impression, not just for its rich culture and breathtaking landscapes, but also for the groundbreaking developments happening in the retail space. One such development that caught my eye was the rapid emergence of quick commerce. The concept isn't entirely new—I recall my friend Seth A. Mindel working for a company called Kozmo back in 2000, which offered 30-minute delivery of DVDs and snacks. However, the scale and speed at which quick commerce is unfolding in India is truly remarkable. In the United States today, quick commerce typically involves delivery within a day or a couple of hours, in India, it's a matter of minutes. I was amazed to witness firsthand how consumers could order shampoo or a bag of chips and have them delivered to their doorstep within 8-10 minutes! This development has potential implications for the FMCG and CPG industries, especially those who want to expand into India. As consumers increasingly expect convenience and speed, quick commerce offers a compelling solution. It's akin to the fast fashion revolution, but applied to a broader range of products. So, how does it work? Let’s say you don’t have a printer. You can "blinkit" to upload your doc, have it printed and then delivered to your door. This is a great service as many of us constantly have to deal with a printer that has dried ink or no paper. Let’s say you run out of dog food, "blinki" and you'll have it before you pup even knows you forgot about them. The potential impact of quick commerce is significant. It could disrupt traditional supply chains, forcing competitors to adapt to faster delivery times. It could also lead to the rise of new business models, such as dark stores (dedicated warehouses for quick commerce) and hyperlocal delivery networks. Blinkit has become so popular it’s not used as a verb, similar to how say “google it”. I'm interested to see how quick commerce will evolve and shape the future of retail, both in India and globally. It's a great reminder the each region is unique and what may work in one region may or may not work in another. As marketers, we can look to global trends and see what we can learn. Who knows, maybe someone will spot a trend or start a new one. Remember, what I discovered is nothing more than an adaptation of what was tried in the past.

Google is no longer the first stop for product discovery. New data from PartnerCentric confirms what many of us in e-commerce already feel happening: TikTok, Pinterest, Reddit, Inc., and Discord are reshaping how people discover, evaluate, and buy products—especially among Gen Z and millennials. Here are the shifts worth paying attention to: 1. 1 in 10 Gen Z shoppers prefer TikTok over Google for finding products 2. 50% of Gen Z use Discord for shopping—often in private, loyalty-driven communities 3. 2/3 of U.S. consumers use Reddit in some form, with younger shoppers turning to it for trusted reviews 4. TikTok Shop users now spend ~$40/month—$50 for millennials And while Google still plays a role, it’s being edged out during the most influential parts of the funnel: discovery and validation. This is the rise of social-first commerce. For brands and marketers, it’s not just about ads—it’s about being part of the conversation where it starts. Your future customers aren’t searching. They’re scrolling, watching, and asking strangers on Reddit.

I had the chance to join our Whole Foods Market team during a Nourishing Our Neighborhoods donation collection, and it was a great afternoon! One meaningful action had two important outcomes: helping neighbors in need while reducing food waste. Last year, Amazon donated the equivalent of 81 million meals globally, and it just makes sense to give away food that would otherwise be composted or discarded. That’s just one of the many ways we’re thoughtfully minimizing waste across all of our diverse businesses. We take a step-by-step approach to innovate solutions: trying to prevent waste before it happens, working to reduce it, looking for options for reuse, and finding ways to recycle or compost. We analyze data from our various waste streams to identify where we need to target our attention for the biggest impact, work with over 350 service providers worldwide, and invest in new materials and ways to optimize sortation. Some of the results: 1) We realized the mixed material backing from adhesive labels used throughout our operations was difficult to recycle, so we found a specialized recycler who transforms them into things like building insulation and coffee cups. Small change, big impact—recycling of this material jumped 16% in just one year! 2) Amazon MGM Studios launched the Reusable Asset Hub to house production items that can be reused on our sets, and nearly 15 productions have already benefited. 3) We sourced reusable durable carts in fulfillment centers, replacing the use of 85 million wood pallets last year. 4) Our investment in Glacier is allowing us to explore the use of #AI robotic sortation technology, to reduce contamination in waste streams and optimize #recycling processes. We’re committed to driving waste down because, as the food collection showed, it’s good for our business, people and the planet. Learn more here about how we’re minimizing waste: ♻️ https://lnkd.in/gyn9kdww Justine Mahler Priscilla Osei Okyere, PE, CHMM Caitlin Leibert Spencer Taylor, JD Jason Buechel Rebecca Hu-Thrams #foodwaste #wastediversion #circularity #circulareconomy

Ralph Lauren just redefined what it means to tell a brand story—this time, 50 miles outside of NYC in the Hamptons. Fashion Week came alive at Khalily Stables, a 19-acre equestrian estate, where Ralph Lauren didn’t just host a runway show—he created a living, breathing world that embodied the essence of his brand. This wasn’t just about fashion; it was about experience. From the meticulously recreated Polo Bar to the VIP treatment with helicopters and private cars, Ralph made sure every guest didn’t just attend—they lived the Ralph Lauren lifestyle. What does this mean for us in business and branding? It’s a masterclass in storytelling. Ralph showed us that it’s not just about the product, but how we immerse people into a world they want to be part of. His SS25 collection wasn’t just about clothes—it was about transporting us into a Hamptons dream. When we think about our own brands, how are we showing up? Are we creating experiences that invite people into our world, or are we simply selling? Ralph Lauren’s approach reminds us that every detail matters and that luxury is built on more than products—it’s built on moments. So, how are you elevating your brand’s story? What experience are you crafting that will leave a lasting impact? Let’s take a note from Ralph: the future of branding isn’t about standing out—it’s about drawing people in. #ralphlauren #fashionweek #brandstorytelling #luxurybranding #marketinginsights #hamptons #fashionmarketing #SS25

Are returns the new battleground for customer #loyalty? In an increasingly digital retail world, the return experience is becoming a critical touchpoint for customer engagement. As highlighted in this Chain Store Age article (see comments), return policies and experiences are pivotal in driving loyalty. In my latest video, I discuss why retailers must go beyond offering convenient return options and invest in seamless, personalized return experiences. Imagine #AI-driven solutions that predict return reasons or in-store interactions that turn returns into upsell opportunities. Returns are no longer just a cost center—they’re an opportunity to win customers for life. What’s your take—how are you rethinking the return experience? #Retail #CustomerExperience #Ecommerce #Innovation Invisible Technologies