Why Walgreens is launching an in-house delivery program

After testing out same-day delivery with third party services -- including Instacart, DoorDash and Postmates -- Walgreens has designed and launched its own delivery program. To compete with large retailers, the pharmacy chain will use its store associates pick and pack orders for third party messengers to drop off at customers' homes.

What Instagram's new monetization tools could mean for retail

Two proposed new Instagram features are especially significant for the retail world: Instagram’s planned branded content marketplace and its new affiliate program. Both tools, depending on their ultimate scope and rollout, could potentially shift how brands recruit and interact with influencers, and they could also precipitate changes in where -- and how -- customers discover products.

How brands are putting personalization at the center of e-commerce

DTC Briefing: How growth marketer became the new much-coveted jack-of-all-trades

For direct-to-consumer brands, one of the most important roles has long been the role of growth marketer. For a venture-backed direct-to-consumer brand, who might be expected to driver 20%-30% of revenue growth month-over-month it's vitally important to have someone like a head of growth who knows what levers to pull to increase sales. But as the digital marketing landscape has changed, what brands are looking for in growth marketers has also changed.

How SnackMagic went from delivery lunch provider to gift box service

When office lunches were put on pause at the beginning of the pandemic, delivery services that cater to the rush had to pivot quickly. This included New York City-based Stadium, which aggregated orders from different restaurants for corporate teams. When orders dried up, the founders repurposed the existing tech to build SnackMagic, a CPG-focused gifting service.

With Gay Burger, the pop-up model got an influencer twist

Ephemeral ghost kitchens are on the rise -- as evidenced by the rise of a burger pop-up named Gay Burger. For now, these programs -- which have the spontaneity and sense of humor of an internet meme -- are rare. But Gay Burger’s brief rise points to a future in which meme-able virtual restaurants might surface on third-party delivery apps: designed to go viral, then disappear, like a delivery-only pop-up restaurant.

As other channels become unpredictable, DTC brands embrace streaming and connected TV

Streaming and CTV have taken on new importance over the past year, both as people are watching more TV during the pandemic, and amidst an upheaval in digital marketing. As a result, DTC brands are speeding up their efforts to test out TV advertising, to break up their reliance on Facebook and Google.

Brand guide: The Amazon expert’s playbook for Prime Day 2021

To engineer virality, brands are making their own mystery boxes

Bundling together products into packs, while leaving some uncertainty about what is inside, is not new. Playing cards have been using the same concept for decades. But the rise of YouTube and TikTok has brought the phenomenon into newer sectors of the retail world -- including toy, grocery and fashion brands.