The Modern Retail Podcast

Klarna is making waves as it prepares for an IPO, with key partnerships like those with DoorDash and Walmart enhancing its buy-now, pay-later services. Meanwhile, Edible Brands is jumping into the cannabis market with the launch of Edibles.com for THC-infused products. On the other hand, Nike is grappling with weaker sales and is implementing a strategic turnaround plan, including leadership changes and a focus on direct-to-consumer sales, as it seeks to navigate a challenging retail environment.

PopSockets is the leader of what its CEO, Jiayu Lin, likes to call the phone grip category. The company is known for small, retractable circles that come in a  wide variety of prints and colors and attach to the back of someone’s phone, making it easier to grip.But, the company really wants to be known as a lifestyle brand. It’s an inflection point that many accessories brands reach at one point or another, as they want consumers to know them for more than just a single widget. And, Lin is thinking day in and day out about how to position PopSockets as a lifestyle brand through events, collaborations, new product launches and more.“I want to take [PopSockets] to the next level by transitioning the company from a tech accessory to a mobile lifestyle brand,” she said. Lin joined The Modern Retail Podcast to talk about her vision for PopSockets. She’s been with the company since 2022, starting out as its gm of APAC and becoming the company’s CEO in September. PopSockets has been focused on product expansion for the past few years, and it now sells phone cases, wallets and more, in addition to its ubiquitous grips.  One concept Lin is particularly interested in is the idea of the mobile lifestyle — that is, as people carry their phones everywhere, phones are increasingly becoming an extension of people’s identity. So, PopSockets is focused on launching a greater variety of products that speak to people’s interests and hobbies — for example, a music festival survival kit. “This idea of a mobile lifestyle – we want to be part of you, and an extension of you, to help you express yourself — whether it's at work, at home or at play,” Lin said. Creating exclusives for different retailers like Walmart, Best Buy, Apple and more is also a big part of this. In addition, PopSockets is looking at more pop-up opportunities and events this year, Lin said. “It’s very important for us that we find the right channels for the different products we carry,” she said. 

This week's Modern Retail Rundown kicks off with news of CVS opening mini pharmacies, as part of an overall plan to scale back its large footprint. Elsewhere, the beauty and skin-care segment is showing signs of slowing sales as brands like Futurewise shut down and Ulta reports weak growth, reflecting softness among U.S. beauty sales. Similarly, apparel retailers like American Eagle are forecasting a drop in sales during Q1, a potential harbinger of things to come.

Elaine Choi, CEO of Crown Affair, shares her journey from founding president to leading the hair care brand that made waves by entering Sephora. She discusses the company’s explosive growth fueled by social media visibility, including Doja Cat's viral Met Gala moment. Choi highlights the challenges of rapid scaling, the importance of authentic community engagement, and the strategic pivots made during the pandemic. She also emphasizes the value of micro-influencers and effective team management in driving brand success in a competitive market.

On this week’s Modern Retail Rundown, the staff discusses the drama surrounding a planned Neiman Marcus store closure in downtown Dallas. Elsewhere, reports swirl that Forever 21 is preparing for a possible bankruptcy, its second in six years. Lastly, Modern Retail looks at the battle that's brewing in the convenience store space as 7-Eleven’s parent company tries to fight off a takeover bid by Circle K’s owners.

Cleaning company Dropps hit shelves in Target this week, hoping to capture market share in the competitive category by offering a "greener" alternative. And one of the first ways it's hoping to catch shoppers' eyes is with its paperboard, trapezoid-shaped container next to the plastic tubs of laundry and dish pods."It is paperboard within a sea of plastic," said CEO Alastair Dorward, "and the unique form and the shape really presents an excellent billboard on shelf."Dorward joined the Modern Retail Podcast to talk about the company's expansion plans as Dropps made its Target debut online and in stores. The over-30-year-old company makes pods for dish and laundry that are USDA-Certified Biobased, Leaping Bunny Certified and wrapped in a biodegradable film. The launch also includes a new 4-in-1 Plus Oxi Biobased Power Laundry Detergent Pod that's exclusive to Target and Dropps.com, as the company looks to compete with legacy brands that offer "tiered" pods for different uses.Dorward said Dropps is looking to find a mass audience after nearly two decades of direct-to-consumer operations. The former CEO of Method, Dorward took the helm at Dropps about two years ago and worked to take the product from its DTC origins to mass retail.The so-called "green cleaning" category is expected to grow as customers look for more non-toxic ingredients in product purchases. Nielsen IQ found that 45% of consumers want to buy products that have antibacterial properties, non-toxic ingredients and disinfectant abilities, for example.

Target's exciting partnerships with Champion and Warby Parker are set to spice up their offerings, making shopping fun again. Meanwhile, Starbucks is simplifying its menu, eliminating complexity to improve customer experience and streamline operations. Amidst economic worries, many Americans are engaging in 'doom spending,' driven by anxiety over finances and trade wars. This trend raises eyebrows as credit card debt rises, revealing how consumer behavior shifts in uncertain times.

When smoothie brand Bumpin’ Blends made its mass retail debut, it landed in the frozen food aisles of more than 3,100 Walmart, Target and Sprouts stores within a few weeks. “We went from doing five figures a month to doing six figures a month and seven figures a quarter,” said co-founder and CEO Lisa Mastela. “It was very huge immediately, which was very cool, but also a huge learning curve.” Mastela joined this week’s Modern Retail Podcast to chat about the changes Bumpin’ Blends has made to its packaging, messaging and ad strategies to gain a foothold in the competitive frozen CPG category. She also shared how the company has been able to grow by carefully watching ad spending and by being selective about what it puts in curating mass retail. In addition, she discussed the serendipitous meeting with a Mattel executive that landed her a licensing deal.Bumpin’ Blends sells frozen smoothie cubes that can be popped into a blender with milk for easy, quick prep. But it took some trial to error to figure out how to communicate that value proposition. The company’s first retail partner was Costco, with the product sold in large bags of cubes that had a photo of a smoothie bowl on the front. Mastela recalls hearing from Costco shoppers that they thought the bags held some sort of free coffee.“There's nothing on the bag that says coffee. There's no picture of coffee. So we tweaked some of the photography on the bag to really push that, like, this is not coffee,” she said. “We switched it to a front-facing cup with a smoothie with a straw.”

This week's Modern Retail Rundown kicks off with big news from Nike and Skims. The two companies are creating a new women's activewear brand called NikeSkims. Next, the staff delves into why energy drinks maker Celsius is acquiring competitor Alani Nu. And Crocs is the latest retailer to address how its 2025 outlook could be impacted by President Donald Trump's tariff policy.

Detroit-based luxury design brand Shinola sells everything from jewelry to bikes to journals. In 2019, it even opened a hotel in downtown Detroit. But the is currently laser-focused on refining the answer to the question, “What’s the first thing you think of when you think of Shinola?” And it wants that to be watches. “We lost that [focus on watches] for a little while,” said Kevin Wertz, CMO at Bedrock, the platform company that owns Shinola. Bedrock also owns the outerwear brand Filson. Shinola, founded in 2011, quickly gained a following because it was bringing manufacturing jobs back to Detroit. In 2012, the brand opened a 12,000-square-foot watch factory in the city. Over the next few years, it used its expertise in design and craftsmanship to expand into new categories. But in 2016, Shinola ran into a hurdle when the FTC ruled that the company could not use the tagline “Built in Detroit.” Even though Shinola has a watch factory in the U.S., its watches — like all watch brands — largely rely on imported parts. Now, Shinola’s watches say “Built in Detroit with Swiss and imported parts.”  "We’re going back to the idea that we are designing and assembling watches in downtown Detroit,” Wertz said. Despite this, Shinola has found that the best way to tell its story is to do more showing, rather than telling. Wertz said the content that has performed the best for Shinola is raw photos and videos from its factories showing how its watches are made. "People say, 'I don't know what watches being made actually looks like,’” he said, regarding the interest.Wertz joined the Modern Retail podcast this week to talk about how Shinola is refining its brand story.