STORES

Caraway

Any home cooks worth their kosher salt will tell you they often don’t know exactly what they’re cooking up when they start chopping onions and reaching for pans. And that willingness to improvise and adapt is essential for the companies that make those pans, too.

Just ask Jordan Nathan. In November 2019, Nathan launched Caraway, a DTC cookware brand that promoted its ceramic nonstick products as free of PTFE and other PFAS and embraced on-trend colors. What he couldn’t have predicted was that just a few months later, consumers would be largely confined to their homes, cooking up a storm, and more likely than ever to shop online.

The height of the Covid-19 pandemic “brought the whole category forward,” Nathan told Retail Brew. “I don’t know any brands in the space who didn’t do really well, but being digital-first positioned us versus some legacy brands to capture all the online demand when customers couldn’t go into stores.”

While it started as a DTC brand and enjoyed success in the channel, Nathan knew even in its planning stages that he wanted retail distribution as well.

“We actually intentionally chose to be an omnichannel brand from an early start,” Nathan said, adding that a major reason for this decision was “a lot of purchases in the category are made in the registry process.”

According to wedding registry site Zola, the kitchen and cookware category—pots, pans, knives—is its most popular, added by 78% of registry users.

Since Crate & Barrel is a retailer Nathan said is “strong on registry,” the brand was in discussions with the retailer even before Caraway launched in Crate & Barrel stores in February 2021.

Today, its retail partners also include Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, The Container Store, and Target, and retail accounts for the “low double digits” of Caraway’s overall sales, Nathan said.

That ratio could increase soon, since Caraway just got cooking with the biggest retailer in the world.

Keep reading here.—AAN

      

Sponsored By impact.com

You might think optimizing for algorithms is the only way to get more eyes on your brand in AI search.

Think again. impact.com dug into how brands can improve their visibility in AI search—and what they found might surprise you. Read their full article for key insights like:

• AI search now accounts for roughly 22% of all searches, which means that brands can no longer rely solely on traditional SEO to remain visible.
• Brand visibility now depends on being mentioned across the broader digital ecosystem—not just in search engine results.
• AI is shifting partnerships from a conversion channel to a discovery channel.

The biggest change with AI search? You now have to build trust and authority to be surfaced in AI search, instead of focusing on the algorithm.

Get your brand seen on AI search.

E-COMMERCE

Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty Image

Back-to-school was written all over Shopify’s sales data for July. Customers stocked up on bento boxes, lunch boxes, and jeans and cardigans for their kids, according to Shopify’s July sales data shared first with Retail Brew.

People shelled out money for bento boxes (up 225%) and lunch bags (up 203%) for the new school year. Orders for kids’ jeans popped at 382%, while demand for cardigans for children also spiked 205% in July. Orders for track jackets (up 55%), and pen and pencil sets (up 48%) also jumped.

When it comes to college kids, setting up the perfect dorm room vibe is essential to make a good first impression. Not surprisingly, orders for posters soared 202%. Things like laptop sleeves (up 102%), wall chargers (up 75%), mattress encasements (up 49%), and earbud headphone carrying cases (up 47%) were all high up on the back-to-college checklist. Orders for flat sheets (up 46%), tablet computer accessories (up 43%), and laptop stands (up 26%), all rose.

Keep reading here.—VC

      

MARKETING

Morning Brew Inc., Photos: Adobe Stock, CBS

When John Peyton took over as CEO of Dine Brands in January 2021, former Applebee’s CMO Joel Yashinsky brought him up to speed on one of the brand’s existing marketing partnerships: Survivor.

“Big idea: We’re going to be on Survivor. It’s in the South Pacific somewhere, and the winning team is going to have an Applebee’s-catered meal on the island,” Peyton recalled Yashinsky telling him.

The partnership debuted during Survivor: Island of the Idols in 2019, making Applebee’s a signature reward—an idea Peyton initially thought missed the mark.

“I said, ‘That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,’” Peyton told us.

That “dumb” thing would go on to become one of Applebee’s longest-running brand integrations with a television franchise, generating viral moments over the course of multiple seasons and teaching Peyton an important leadership lesson: Sometimes the best thing a CEO can do is trust the experts.

Keep reading here on Marketing Brew.—JH

      

Tariffs, freight, fuel, suppliers—the costs are stacking up faster than the inventory. Join Retail Brew on Aug. 13 for a look at how retailers are pricing, sourcing, and protecting margin without guessing their way through it. Save your spot.

swapping skus

Today’s top retail reads.

Polishing the golden arches: As guest counts fall, McDonald’s is bringing in a new head of US operations to improve the quality of service at the fast food chain. (the Wall Street Journal)

Getting creative: A Brooklyn store is reselling old art supplies at a fraction of the cost, as it tries to divert harmful microplastics from landfills. (the Associated Press)

Fresh bid: Private equity firm Onyx Properties is making another bid for JCPenney’s portfolio, offering $934 million for the bankrupt department store’s assets. (NBC Boston)

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