TikTok Shop may be all the rage with marketers, but it’s also inciting rage among some users whose feeds are filled with influencers hyping Shein hauls. Backlash to TikTok’s shopping tsunami spurred buy-less preaching deinfluencers in 2023, and a related trend has emerged recently: “underconsumption core.”

Antithetical to haul videos, underconsumption videos highlight not new purchases but rather long-owned possessions. Videos also show Spartan collections of personal care and beauty products in uncluttered medicine cabinets and shower caddies.

“While having a heavily adorned Stanley cup, Lululemon leggings, and the newest iPhone makes you cooler, it makes our planet warmer,” Kasturi Tale, a sophomore at Arizona State University, wrote about underconsumption in student newspaper The State Press.

Rather than “feed you to FOMO for not buying a mass-produced product that will last just as long as the TikTok trend,” Tale continued, underconsumption core “encourages buyers to…use what they already own to its full potential and buy things that are made to last.”

Keep reading here.—AAN

Slurpee Day, when 7-Eleven inflicts great swaths of the population with brain freeze when it gives away free small cups of the concoction, comes only once a year on—when else?—July 11. But it’s not the only day consumers are flocking to convenience stores.

Foot traffic at convenience stores across the US increased year over year for seven straight months from February through August, according to Placer.ai data. The biggest increase was in February, up 2.5% YoY, followed by May and August, both up 2.2%.

7-Eleven’s competitors saw the most dramatic growth.

Keep reading here.—AAN

On Wednesdays, we wear pink spotlight Retail Brew’s readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Lindsey Wiefels is SVP of merchandising at health and wellness online retailer iHerb.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? My team and I source, curate, and negotiate terms and pricing to ensure iHerb has the best value and assortment of supplements, sports nutrition, beauty, bath, personal care, and grocery items for our customers in 180+ countries. Our goal is to be the No. 1 destination globally for health and wellness and as such, we work hard to provide our international customers access to reputable, trusted brands, many of which are made in the US.

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile? While I’m a Californian by way of Virginia, you may be surprised to know that iHerb is a truly global company. Through e-commerce, my team and I aim to break down borders and barriers to ensure our customers can easily access the health and wellness products they need no matter where they live.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? In my current role, I would have to say the onboarding of the K-beauty skin care category—it was just plain fun!

Keep reading here.—EC