The Modern Retail Podcast

On this Modern Retail Rundown, we have an overview of how retailers fared during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales period. Next is a look at Shein's reported IPO filing. Finally, rival Temu is continuing on an ad spend spree by reportedly planning another Super Bowl ad.

Apparel brand Madhappy has built a culture brand around happiness. It launched in 2017 with a small assortment of hoodies and hats. Madhappy's style was meant to reflect the city it was born in: Los Angeles. "It was like a couple of products, very locally focused, in LA," said co-founder and CEO Peiman Raf. "At a time where everyone was like retail's dead, we'll never open up retail stores, we did...

This week on the Modern Retail Rundown: E-commerce aggregator Thrasio is reported to be preparing for a bankruptcy, per the Wall Street Journal. Amazon announced it’s going to start selling cars, with its first automaker partner being Hyundai. And this holiday season, retailers like Walmart and Target are setting expectations for slower sales.

Not all candles need to smell like a vague pastoral landscape intended to bring up abstract emotions -- some just smell like roasted nuts. That's the idea behind Literie, a candle company behind very specific scents. Its first batch of candles were intended to encapsulate New York City. They included one that smells like the hot roasted nut carts littering Manhattan's streetscape and another that...

This week on the Modern Retail Rundown: Rapid delivery app Getir acquired New York-based Fresh Direct to expand its grocery delivery business. Meanwhile, TikTok has officially shut down its infamous Creator Fund, which is being replaced by the Creativity Program. And, Amazon reportedly struck a deal with Meta to integrate in-app shopping features on Facebook and Instagram.

R+Co has established itself as one of the premier players in salon haircare -- and over the years it's been slowly expanding. At the same time, the brand takes great pains to stay true to its roots -- and won't be straying far from its salon partners. For example, the brand, which is owned by Luxury Brand Partners, recently launched a hair color line. According to R+Co president Dan Langer, this l...

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, two Amazon Style stores are closing after the company tested selling apparel physically. Meanwhile, Walmart is revamping hundreds of its stores as part of an ongoing $9 billion investment. Last, we look at the new MakerPlace by Michaels -- which the company is positioning as a more seller-friendly competitor to Etsy.

Home goods brand Coyuchi has been around for 30 years and has seen the industry transform. Its core focus is on providing organic cotton products. It's perhaps most well known for its bedsheets, but has expanded into other areas like loungewear and napkins. But the focus has always been to grow keeping its promise of organic products that speak to its target consumer in mind -- which it considers...

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown, the team discusses UPS's acquisition of reverse logistics startup Happy Returns from PayPal. Then, we go into Unilever offloading Dollar Shave Club, which it bought for $1 billion in 2016. Finally, It looks like Sears may be trying to revive its store count by reopening a location that closed last year.

Forty-seven-year-old Rudi’s Bakery is on a quest to reinvent itself -- and it's bringing in a CPG veteran to lead this charge. The Denver-based company is known best for its gluten-free breads. And while it is well-known in this space -- with national distribution in major grocers like Whole Foods and Kroger -- Rudi's is now expanding into new categories like frozen items like breakfast sandwiches...

This week on the Modern Retail Rundown, the staff discuss TJX announcing plans to shut down the e-commerce site of HomeGoods -- just two years after launching it. Meanwhile, Walmart is aiming to add more sellers to its third-party marketplace in time for the holiday season rush. And after years of cultivating a luxury image, Goop will sell a line of clean skincare on Amazon and in Target.

August is using its social media prowess to talk about period care. Over the past two years, August -- which sells organic period care products -- has grown from an idea into a national brand selling at stores like Target. It has been able to grow that quickly in part because of its TikTok following. Co-founder Nadya Okamoto decided early on that she would grow August via TikTok and while she didn...

Digiday Media and WorkLife is proud to present season two of The Return, a podcast about what it’s like for Gen Z to enter the workforce for the first time in a post-pandemic world. In season one, The Return followed an Atlanta-based advertising agency as the company returned to the office after a two-year pandemic hiatus. There were clear challenges among this population of workers who knew what...

On this week's episode of the Modern Retail Rundown, we start with news about Netflix taking a stab at physical retail -- announcing it will open real-life immersive experiences as tie-ins to its library of content. The second Prime Day event of the year also took place this week, with some positioning it as the official start of the holiday shopping period. Additionally, food makers and retailers...

At first glance, children's apparel brand Monica + Andy looks like many other digitally-native businesses. It launched during the DTC heyday, in 2014, most of its sales are online and it's been growing and expanding sales channels every year. But the company has had an interesting trajectory that bucks many of the trends. For one, while it is a digital brand, one of the first things it did was ope...

First up on the Modern Retail Rundown show is a look at Rite Aid potentially getting delisted from the New York Stock Exchange due to a low stock price. Next is the $200 million lawsuit that fridge screen technology vendor Cooler Screens filed against Walgreens, alleging the drugstore chain mishandled the technology's rollout. And, a group of former Etsy sellers called the Artisans Cooperative has...

Greek skin and body care brand Korres is using its decades-long knowledge to continue its expansion. The brand was first launched in 1996 and has expanded over the years into most of Europe, as well as the U.S. While the U.S. is one of Korres's biggest markets (its second largest to be exact), Greece is still No. 1. Co-founder Lena Philippou Korres joined the Modern Retail Podcast and spoke about...

This week on the Modern Retail Rundown, in which the editorial team talks about the biggest industry news, we dive into the FTC's antitrust lawsuit against Amazon. Then, we discuss Target's announcement that it plans to close nine stores due to increased theft. Last, we look into recent shakeups at Peloton and what it means about its business.

People are stressed, and Neurosonic is trying to help them relax. The company, which develops a technology that emits a low-frequency vibration that is then put into products like mattresses and chairs, is based in Finland and is now expanding globally. Neurosonic's first device launched in 2011, and it unveiled its latest generation of products earlier this year at CES. Over the past year, the br...

This week on the Modern Retail Rundown, in which the Modern Retail editorial team break down the biggest industry headlines, we discuss the latest announcements from Amazon and Target regarding seasonal hiring plans. Then, we analyze Instacart's Wall Street debut. Finally, we learn about the state of fast-fashion returns on the heels of a new policy from H&M.

Vienna-based Waterdrop, best known for its pressed tablets that make flavored water, has ambitions to become a global beverage giant. The brand launched seven years ago in Austria and slowly expanded into other European markets like Germany and France. Now, the company has expanded in the U.S. and is working to become more of a household name. In 2021, Waterdrop said it brought in over $100 millio...

On this week’s episode of the Modern Retail Rundown, the staff reviews headlines from the retail industry. First up is TikTok Shop, the platform’s e-commerce play, which has officially rolled out in the U.S. This week also saw 249-year-old Birkenstock filing to go public following major growth over the last few years. Meanwhile, Target looks to boost its assortment by striking a deal with jewelry...

Kristin Hars is trying to start a yoga apparel empire from Gothenburg, Sweden. Hars has worked in retail for decades, rising the ranks at brands like All Saints and Jack Wills -- ultimately becoming the CCO of Nordic fashion retailer Bubbleroom. But she left her position in 2020 to start her own brand, Sisterly Tribe, which makes yoga apparel and focuses on fostering a tight-knit community. "I was...

The economy continues to have an impact on businesses of all sizes and types. This week's Modern Retail Rundown sheds light on a few recent examples. On this week's show, the Modern Retail editorial staff discuss the surprise departure of Flexport CEO Dave Clark. Then, we learn about the recent acquisition of Reese Witherspoon-founded apparel brand Draper James by a private equity firm. Lastly, th...

Skandinavisk is trying to sell the experience of Scandinavia in a scent. The brand launched in 2012 with a line of candles that tried to embody different aspects of Scandinavian life. Current scents include "Skog" ("calm of the boreal forest"), "Fjord" ("carved from glaciers") and "Regn" ("after the rainfall"), among others. Some of these scents showcase literal things, like local trees, others tr...