The Modern Retail Podcast

Steve Dool, Depop’s Senior Director of Brand and Creative, explains how music became central to the resale platform’s marketing. He discusses artist wardrobe drops with Zara Larsson, Olivia Rodrigo and Kacey Musgraves, the fashion-meets-fandom appeal of secondhand style, and Depop’s interactive presence at live music events, including Daisy Chain Fields Festival.

Joe O’Connor, senior director of innovation and growth at Tinuiti, explores how Amazon’s fall deals have transformed October into a major holiday shopping moment. He discusses inflation-fueled deal hunting, apparel’s strong performance, AI’s impact on product discovery, smarter ad targeting, Amazon Marketing Cloud, price transparency, and ways brands can sustain momentum through Black Friday.

Hew Loyd, CMO of Whisker, shares how the maker of Litter-Robot entered TikTok Shop with a $699 product and no race to the bottom. They explore visually irresistible demos, TikTok’s halo effect across DTC and Amazon, first-party data, fulfillment demands, and a niche-first affiliate strategy built around trusted pet creators.

Increasingly, people are asking ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini for product recommendations, and it's changing how brands position themselves online.Brands are used to optimizing their products for physical shelves and digital storefronts. But now, they also increasingly have to think about the AI shelf, a concept recently outlined by tech writer Deana Burke in the newsletter Boys Club. Burke decided to test AI bots by creating a completely fictional natural deodorant brand to see if she could get it recommended on the AI shelf. And the experiment actually worked.As product discovery evolves from the physical shelf to the digital shelf, and now to the AI shelf, there are a few question marks. How do these algorithms decide which products to surface? And if you're an emerging brand, how do you ensure your products take space on that AI shelf?Joining the Modern Retail Podcast this week to unpack the AI shelf revolution is Jessica Wright, senior vp of product at Spins Foundry.This week’s podcast episode digs into: How personalized AI shelves are shaping CPG trends. How brands can get their products machine-readable for AI agents. Why this data is fundamentally changing organic and paid marketing.

Footwear brand Rothy's, which crossed $211 million in sales last year, is an example of a company that has managed to successfully navigate the volatile direct-to-consumer shoe category, even as competitors like Allbirds have failed. Brands that began as strictly DTC are increasingly looking at what they can do to survive and grow beyond just putting out digital ads. But doing so without burning money is a challenge and requires discipline.  So how has Rothy’s not only survived but stayed profitable at a time when many of its DTC-era peers have gone under? By growing its operations intentionally, according to Rothy’s CEO & president Dayna Quanbeck, who joined the Modern Retail Podcast this week. Quanbeck said the company’s current challenge is to “not be distracted” by all the growth and to practice patience to avoid expanding too soon. It’s a trap that other DTC footwear brands have fallen into over the past decade. As such, Rothy’s is testing physical retail concepts while balancing them with a sustainable footprint.  This week’s podcast episode digs into: The evolving challenges of the direct-to-consumer footwear category. Transitioning from DTC-first to wholesale and physical distribution. Knowing when and where to expand next.

Kristen Deyco, chief creative officer at premium bedding brand Boll & Branch, reveals how her team uses generative AI without sacrificing taste or trust. They explore surreal campaign worlds, authentic people, accurate products and imaginative environments. Deyco also discusses AI across marketing channels, disclosure, creative reviews and where the brand draws the line on “AI slop.”

Fragrance continues to dominate the beauty sector in 2026, but it's increasingly showing up as a differentiator in other sectors like personal care and household essentials.This week on the Modern Retail Podcast, special projects editor Melissa Daniels speaks with Diana Melencio, general partner at XRC Brand Capital Fund, about the ways companies are using fragrance to set themselves apart.“On the shelves of Target and Walmart in the traditional laundry and household cleaning aisles, you're going to start seeing more premium products that have that differentiated scent architecture," Melencio said.Melencio, who is actively looking to invest in the space, has looked at the growth of fragrance and highlights how companies like genderless fragrance company DedCool and sanitizer brand Touchland are commanding elevated prices and prime retail spots in places like Sephora. At the same time, legacy companies like Unilever are ramping up their fragrance opportunities while trying to ensure that they're not alienating price-conscious consumers.XRC's research shows that fragrance grew 15% in mass and 5% in prestige in 2025, which outpaces every other beauty segment. Melencio and Daniels discuss the ins and outs of why fragrance has become so popular and how brands across categories are looking to capitalize on the trend.Their conversation gets into: Why price-conscious consumers are willing to pay a premium for elevated fragrances The challenges that conglomerates have in innovating around scent-based products compared to startups What some of the trendiest scents are in 2026 and how perfumers suss out what's the next big hit

Sam Gauchier, a crisis PR consultant who advises consumer brands on reputation management, joins to unpack the modern life cycle of brand backlash. They explore how to tell fleeting social noise from lasting harm. They discuss why repeated missteps deepen distrust, how scale affects vulnerability, and what accountable, human responses look like.

Karen Booker, Head of Merchandising for Non‑Apparel at Urban Outfitters, leads the brand’s home and furnishings strategy. She discusses why dorm decor exploded, Gen Z’s focus on self-expression and small-space solutions, bedding as the hero product, new SKUs like storage and charging headboards, trend forecasting tactics, and college partnerships and localized activations.

Andrea Faulkner Williams, co-founder and president of Tubby Todd, who built the baby-care brand via a DTC, community-driven approach and sold a majority stake to private equity. She discusses the choice to partner with private equity, how that shaped profitability and retail strategy, the move into Target and mass retail, and plans to expand beyond the baby aisle.