The Modern Retail Podcast

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, the staff dives into all the hurdles retailers and platforms face. Target, for example, announced plans to lower many of its prices ahead of lackluster earnings. Amazon, meanwhile, is reportedly updating Alexa with new generative AI features -- and allegedly planning to sell it as its own subscription. Lastly, Macy's reported its earnings and said it's beginni...

Resale has proven difficult for many players in the apparel space, but KEH has made it work for the camera industry. KEH has been around for 40 years, beginning first as a used camera business. It's grown into the leading platform for pre-owned camera gear. Today, the company continues to see year-over-year growth and is profitable. CEO Noah Treshnell joined the Modern Retail Podcast and spoke abo...

This week's Modern Retail Rundown kicks off with an abridged history of Under Armour’s plans to overhaul its business, which dates back as far as 2017. Meanwhile, Shein has reportedly attempted and failed to get into the National Retail Federation multiple times as it prepares to go public. Last, Costco and Uber Eats are teaming up to bring grocery delivery to people without a Costco membership.

Workwear has become high fashion, and Cargo Crew has spent the last two decades riding this wave. The Australia-based company, which first launched in 2002, makes items like cooking aprons and boiler suits. Over the years, the company has expanded and grown -- Cargo Crew now works with 45,000 teams in over 80 countries and projects sales will grow 186% this year. This growth is partly thanks to hi...

On this week’s Modern Retail Rundown: The Information reported that Gopuff lost $400 million last year in its quest to grow revenue. Equinox launched a new health and wellness program that costs $40,000 a year and promises members lifelong health. Meanwhile, Sweetgreen has upset fans by getting rid of arugula the same week it introduced steak to its menu.

"Everyone said that millennials were never going to buy watches," said Margot Grinberg, president of the Movado Brand and svp of e-commerce at its parent company Movado Group. The going theory was: "They don't need them to tell time, they had a phone; watches were dead after the cell phone came out." But that didn't happen. In fact, timepieces have never been more popular. According to a recent su...

 On this week's Modern Retail Rundown: The show kicks off with a recap of Starbucks' latest earnings. The coffee shop chain cited bad weather, out-of-stock products and long wait times on app purchases as factors for a slight sales decline. Meanwhile, this week Walmart rolled out a new in-house brand called Bettergoods which features products like plant-based cheese, pistachio nut butter and trend...

John Foley may be best known as the founder and former CEO of Peloton, but it turns out interior design is his real passion. "I've been passionate about rugs for decades," he said on the Modern Retail Podcast. "I love design, I love spaces." This was all said to explain why he launched a rug company. Ernesta is a direct-to-consumer brand selling higher-end rugs. It launched in September of last ye...

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown: President Biden signed a bill that requires TikTok to either sell itself or face a U.S. ban. Next, the team discusses Saks' newly announced retail media network — and why it's a growing trend among retailers. Lastly, we dive into a new Amazon grocery subscription service that caters to low-income families.

Every brand talks about paths to profitability, but few actually reach it. Customizable beauty brand Prose is one company that has bucked the trend and reached meaningful profitability. The company has made nearly $500 million since launching in 2018 and estimates it will bring in $160 million this year. What's more, this year the company is on track to be profitable, after hitting profitability l...

Digiday Media's WorkLife is proud to present season three of The Return, a podcast about the modern workforce, with this season focused on middle management. Last season, we heard what it’s like for Gen Z to enter the workforce for the first time in a post-pandemic world. We highlighted themes like why values are so important to Gen Zers, whether or not they are loyal to their employers, how they...

This week on the Modern Retail Rundown: After less than a year of relaunching its virtual workout app, Peloton quietly got rid of the free membership tier because it wasn't converting users into paying customers. Meanwhile, Lego's adult customer base continues to grow as adults buy up its newer intricate and more expensive sets. Finally, after doing away with its Just Walk Out technology at its ow...

Violife is trying to become the Oatly of plant-based cheese. The brand, which launched in 2013, is part of the Greek plant-based food company Arivia. But it didn't hit U.S. shelves until 2015. Since then, Violife has taken off. It is now the number one plant-based cheese in the world -- and it continues to roll out new products to continue its growth streak. According to Violife's global president...

On this week’s Modern Retail Rundown: PepsiCo-owned Gatorade is adding more hydration SKUs that resemble Liquid I.V. and Prime. Meanwhile, department store retailers face yet another hurdle: A new law that limits payment late fees can hurt credit card revenue for retailers like Macy's and Kohl's. Lastly, Bark just announced Bark Air, a new airline program that offers pets and their owners a more c...

Every beauty startup these days describes itself as a clean beauty brand, but skin-care brand Kopari was ahead of the curve. "It's definitely table stakes now," said CEO Susan Kim. But, it wasn't always that way. "The way I think about clean is that back in 2015, it was a differentiator," Kim said. And that's what helped Kopari -- which makes products including cleansers, moisturizers, sunscreen a...

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown: Ulta's latest performance shows that beauty sales may finally be decelerating. Retailers like Express, Peloton and Saks have reportedly been late on paying their vendors -- indicating cash flow issues. Finally, there was drama in the food startup space as Momofuku gets litigious with competitors.

It's been a tough few years for roll-up companies, but Pattern Brands seems to have bucked the trend. The company -- which began as design agency Gin Lane and evolved into a portfolio of DTC brands including Open Spaces, Onsen and Gir -- raised a $25 million Series B in 2022 -- and has been slowly building out its portfolio ever since. While other roll-up players like Thrasio and Win Brands Group...

This week: H&M inches toward profitability under its new CEO, with the company planning to focus on cost-cutting and competing for price-conscious fast-fashion customers. Next, we also look at a Bloomberg story analyzing why being picked as Wirecutter's top wok ended up overwhelming the small shop that carries the product. Lastly, Dollar Tree announced plans to raise prices on select items to lure...

Sunday wants to be the DTC brand that powers everyone's backyard. The company first launched in 2019 with lawn care products, but has since expanded to pest control and garden products. While it's available in major retailers like Costco, Walmart, Lowe's and Target, Sunday's business is still 75% direct-to-consumer. "To be the outdoor home platform that we want to be, we really need to be able to...

This week’s Modern Retail Rundown includes a check-in on Nordstrom, with news of the founding family allegedly looking to take the department store private. We also delve into Unilever's ice cream division -- which includes the Ben & Jerry's and Magnum brands -- which may be spun off into a separate company. Lastly, we discuss reports of Shein pivoting into supply chain services.

Accessory brand Ridge, best known for its wallets, is getting closer and closer to a $1 billion exit. CEO Sean Frank has been saying this for years but thinks the option may come sooner rather than later. "If I want to sell for $1 billion, you need $100 million in adjusted EBITA, or we need roughly $50 million in net income," he said. "I think next year, we'll probably get to $50 million in net in...

This week on the Modern Retail Rundown: The Body Shop filed for bankruptcy and announced it's closing down all U.S. operations. In a surprise move, Outdoor Voices is also closing all its stores -- with plans to remain an online-only DTC brand. This week also saw a number of C-suite shakeups across apparel and footwear, including Allbirds and Under Armour announcing new CEOs.

Rocco is a DTC mini-fridge company that wants to make people care about the big hunks of steel electronics they have in their homes. "Appliance brands don't actually have a brand," said Alyse Borkan, co-founder of Rocco. "I really saw an opportunity to do things differently than [what] the rest of the category was doing." Borkan joined this week's Modern Retail Podcast and spoke about her new bran...

This week's Modern Retail Rundown show kicks off with a breakdown of Harry's long road to IPO, with the company reportedly filing to go public years after previous acquisition plans fell through. Meanwhile, furniture retailer Ashley announced it's acquiring Resident Home, a mattress group whose brands include DTC companies Nectar, DreamCloud, Awara and Siena. Abercrombie & Fitch, on the other hand...

Sustainability has become such a big buzzword in retail, but Époque Evolution co-founder Nancy Taylor thinks there's a better word for the work that needs to be done. "I was truly passionate about trying to do things in the responsible way," she said. "So we took the word sustainable out of it and we used the word responsible." That word has guided the Époque Evolution business since it launched i...