MARKETING

E.l.f. Beauty

If there’s one thing to know about E.l.f., it’s that its team is staying busy. And this year, the company is seeing just how far it can stretch itself.

When it comes to marketing, the beauty brand has become known for its penchant to move quickly, but it’s recently accelerated its category expansion, too, expanding beyond color cosmetics and skin to debut three new beauty categories across two new product lines in just six months.

That growth has been supported by one of its newest C-suite members, Oshiya Savur, CMO of E.l.f. Beauty, who joined the company in April. She’s a beauty industry veteran with stints at Unilever, Revlon, and Charlotte Tilbury, and most recently served as chief brand and marketing officer at mass beauty incubator Maesa.

With this rapid expansion, Savur’s role is a “constant state of juggling,” she told Retail Brew, especially as each launch has its own distinct retail strategy. Savur broke down how the company determines where to go next.

Keep reading here.—EC

      

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E-COMMERCE

Google

Google is coming for holiday shopping with an AI-powered Universal Cart and a shopping guide.

Google’s AI-powered Universal Cart, which lets shoppers put products from multiple brands and retailers in one cart and buy using a single checkout, rolled out in the US last weekon Google Search and Gemini, Google’s AI assistant, ahead of the busiest shopping season of the year.

The cart builds on Google’s launch of its Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) for agentic commerce. The Universal Cart is built on the Google Wallet so it can compare credit card perks and enable users to choose between payment methods, the company said. Plus, it can notify users about price drops and out-of-stock items.

Google said the new cart also saves a user’s shoppingactivity across Google surfaces. The cart can check out with Google Pay or directly from a merchant’s site. Items from brands like Nike, Sephora, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walmart, Wayfair, and some Shopify sellers can be purchased via this new tool.

Keep reading here.—VC

      

STORES

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

A week after announcing it would lay off 3,000 corporate employees over the next three years, Kroger unveiled its plan to become “America’s favorite grocer.”

The grocer has lost share with shoppers amid increasing competition from superstores and discounters, and at its investor day last week, CEO Greg Foran and other Kroger execs outlined ways it intends to gain favor with US consumers and ultimately grow its comparable sales by 3% by 2029.

Bricks and clicks: Kroger is debuting a new “Fresh” store format with a “food-first experience,” Mary Ellen Adcock, its EVP and chief merchant and marketing officer, said. This format will be seen across 110 new stores through 2029, along with remodeled locations.

Keep reading here.—EC

      

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swapping skus

Today’s top retail reads.

Short ’n sweet: US Halloween candy sales are down 6.7% YoY for the four weeks that ended October 17. (the Associated Press)

Missing in auction: Ebay announced it’s reducing its workforce by 9%, or about 1,000 jobs, after eliminating roughly 800 in February. (Reuters)

The kids in the haul: Teens reported spending 6% more annually than they did a year ago. (Retail Dive)

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