Americans' love for condiments has food brands of all sizes creating products to satisfy their appetite. From mayo and ketchup to dipping sauces, here is why table condiments are seeing a surge.

Analysis

TikTok Shop listings are surfacing on Google Shopping

February 28, 2024  ■  4 min read

As it works to grow TikTok Shop, the company appears to be investing in SEO ads to reach new customers.

Brands like Jolie and Lululemon are fighting off copycats through dupe swapping

February 14, 2024  ■  4 min read

Although imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, the dupe trend has become a headache for premium brands.

Other news to know

  • Outdoor Voices is officially online-only. The activewear brand closed all its stores on Sunday, including those in New York City, Washington D.C. and San Diego.
  • McDonald’s paused operations at stores in countries including Australia, Japan, the U.S. and the U.K. due to an IT failure on Friday. A spokesperson told CNBC that this was “not related to a cybersecurity event.”
  • Apple has agreed to pay $490 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging that it misled investors about ill-performing iPhone sales in China.
15
Outdoor Voices locations
Top Stories Mar 19

Retailers are cutting SKUs to improve margins

March 18, 2024  ■  5 min read

During boom times, the philosophy of many brands has been to offer people the luxury of choice. But having a broad range of assortment, especially without the demand to back it up, can hurt brands’ profitability and complicate their supply chain operations.

‘It’s such a marathon’: The Shoptalk survival guide

March 17, 2024  ■  6 min read

How do you navigate a 10,000-person conference? With a plan, a water bottle and a little serendipity.

Modern Retail Rundown: The Body Shop shuts down U.S. business, Outdoor Voices closes stores & apparel C-suite shakeups

March 16, 2024  ■  1 min read

This week: The Body Shop is winding down in the U.S., Outdoor Voices is closing its stores, and Allbirds and Under Armour get new CEOs.

‘It feels like an absolute mistake’: Brands and agencies are already preparing for a TikTok ban

March 15, 2024  ■  7 min read

Brands, influencers and marketing agencies tell Modern Retail their concerns about the TikTok ban that recently passed the U.S. House.

Limited Series
The Future of Brand Marketing

The lines between brand and performance marketing are blurring. It's no longer enough to spend millions on a TV campaign and hope people find your brand. In this series, Modern Retail looks into how the wild, expensive world of brand marketing has been upended over the last few years.

Podcasts

Technology

What to expect at Shoptalk 2024

March 15, 2024  ■  4 min read

This year, Shoptalk is expected to draw about 10,000 attendees to Las Vegas for a deep dive into the latest tech trends in retail.

amazon treasure chest

Amazon Briefing: After a disastrous two years, here’s how aggregators are valuing brands now

March 14, 2024  ■  5 min read

2024 has already been a rough year for e-commerce aggregators. What’s a brand that wants to be acquired to do?

How apparel retailers are increasing shopper confidence and conversions with AI

February 21, 2024  ■  4 min read

Jackson Dorsey, brand and marketing manager, Bold Metrics Every apparel retailer is looking to boost conversions and reduce returns, but fit and sizing are often overlooked tactics that make an impact. Sizing is crucial in the apparel industry’s value chain, influencing each stage, from product creation to the customer experience. A data-backed approach that leverages […]

Marketing

Solo Stove ignites the age-old brand versus performance marketing debate

March 15, 2024  ■  9 min read

Solo Stove’s trajectory is indicative of the challenges brands can run into when they try to make the jump from being a primarily performance-driven company to running big, splashy brand marketing campaigns.

Why Halara is aiming for engagement after viral TikTok-driven sales

March 14, 2024  ■  6 min read

After three years of going viral with UGC, women’s athleisure brand Halara embarked on its first brand campaign this year.

How brands are measuring Super Bowl ad success

March 13, 2024  ■  6 min read

With so many ways for consumers to view and respond to content, brands used a range of KPIs to judge the success of their Super Bowl ads. Here’s what three brands — Vuori, Salomon and Nerds — took into account.

Operations

warehouse

Research Briefing: How retailers are upgrading their fulfillment strategies

March 14, 2024  ■  3 min read

In this edition of the weekly briefing, we share newly released data from Modern Retail+ Research’s yearly index that focuses on how retailers have changed their fulfillment strategies.

'Whack a mole' game with dollar signs popping out

Startups are getting more realistic about exit roadmaps

March 14, 2024  ■  8 min read

With IPOs no longer a realistic prospect for startup brands, new companies are plotting growth in hopes of early M&A exits.

Brands are uncovering holistic consumer insights with transaction data

February 14, 2024  ■  4 min read

Jonathan Chin, Co-founder, Facteus The landscape of consumer insights has been traditionally navigated through customer surveys, detailed web analytics, cookie tracking and first-party data collection. These techniques, foundational to retailers’ and brands’ understanding of consumer behavior, predominantly hinged on self-reported preferences, online engagement metrics and data gathered directly from customer interactions.  While these methods have […]