CPG

Yum Brands uses AI to drive marketing for KFC, Taco Bell: The technology helps target audiences and write copy.

Tensions between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever reach a boiling point: The ice cream brand sued its parent company for breaking its promise to allow the subsidiary to set its own social mission.

Wonder buys Grubhub for $650 million: The Marc Lore-owned company snapped up the delivery service at a steep discount, seeking to develop a meal-time super app.

Cava’s brand positioning resonates with consumers: It stands in stark contrast with Sweetgreen, which is adding new proteins and testing fries to broaden its appeal.

Home Depot’s sales rose 6.6% in Q3: Those better-than-expected results stemmed from severe weather and warm temperatures in many parts of the US boosting demand.

US beauty demand is normalizing as price sensitivities creep into purchasing behavior: That’s good news for e.l.f. Beauty but an added struggle for Coty and Estée Lauder, for which China remains a hurdle.

84% of US adults believe private label foods are more affordable, according to an August 2024 survey from Ipsos. Nearly as many say private label quality is just as good as, or better than, name brands.

The phrase “retail apocalypse” once dominated industry conversation, Ethan Chernofsky, senior vice president of marketing at Placer.ai said during the EMARKETER Summit on November 1. “We were convinced [that] the store was dying,” Chernofsky said. “It was a thing of the past, and we were going to move to this fully online environment.”

Yum China bucks difficult retail environment thanks to more promotions, rapid store expansion, and durian pizza: The KFC and Pizza Hut operator’s efforts to offer more value and reach consumers in lower-tier cities drove sales and transaction growth in Q3.

For October’s Unofficial Most Interesting Retailers list, we’re looking at eight retailers hoping to escape the ghastly realm of spooky deserted shopping centers and zombie malls. Gap, Amazon Fresh, and Victoria’s Secret lead our trick-or-treat bag of comeback brands.

Grocers experiment with new formats and products to target Asian, Hispanic consumers: Kroger, Walmart, and Save A Lot are among the retailers looking to attract a more diverse audience.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss why mega-pharmacies are struggling, why 7-Eleven is closing and opening a lot of stores, and what the new model of convenience will look like. Tune in to the discussion with Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson and Senior Analysts Blake Droesch and Rajiv Leventhal.

DoorDash partners with Lyft: The combination should make the delivery service a stronger competitor to Uber, which offers members of its Uber One service free food delivery and discounted rides.

Chinese consumers aren’t buying as much beer as they used to: Anheuser-Busch InBev and Carlsberg both reported bigger-than-expected volume declines in Q3.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss a special edition of the unofficial list of the retailers who have made a comeback (from the dead). This month, our analysts Arielle Feger, Becky Schilling, and Sara Lebow (aka The Committee) put together a very unofficial list of the top eight retailers who have most impressively come back from the brink, and how they did it. In this month's episode, Committee members Senior Analyst Sara Lebow and Senior Director of Content Becky Schilling will defend their list against Senior Analyst Sky Canaves and Principal Analyst Sarah Marzano, who will dispute the power rankings by attempting to move retailers up, down, on, or off the list.

Kraft Heinz expects US consumers’ trade-down behaviors to linger into 2025: The CPG company hopes to offset private labels’ rise with pop-culture partnerships, new products, and increased distribution in dollar and club stores.

Prestige fragrance sales soar as Gen Zers embrace scent wardrobes: That trend helped Spanish beauty company Puig deliver double-digit growth in its perfume division in Q3.

New Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol has his work cut out for him: One can look to his former employer, Chipotle, to see how he can sharpen the coffee chain’s focus.

McDonald’s value focus paid off in Q3: But challenges remain as the company needs to dig out from the recent E. coli outbreak.

Grocery prices remain front of mind for many consumers: That presents an opportunity for value-oriented merchants such as Aldi, Target, and Walmart to steal share by offering low prices for Thanksgiving staples.