Thrive Market has added a COO role for the first time and tapped Amazon vet Scott Lescher to fill it, rounding out a C-suite full of execs hailing from the e-commerce giant as the online grocer gears up for continued growth.

Lescher is the second Amazon vet Thrive has added to its C-suite in the last year, following the hire of chief merchandising officer April Lane in 2024, who spent 12 years at Amazon and worked on its Amazon Fresh business. Thrive CFO Hetu Patel, who joined in 2023 and brought on Lane, also spent over a decade at Amazon. Lescher previously worked with Lane at Amazon.

Lescher spent 15 years across two stints in a number of operations roles at Amazon, most recently director of surface transportation support and fleet. He also served as Uniqlo USA’s director of logistics and supply chain for two years. In an interview with Retail Brew, Lescher described himself as a “builder at heart,” who started at Amazon in 2007 leading hourly associate fulfillment centers, establishing standards for running those early fulfillment centers, through the launch of ultra-fast delivery and integration of those operations into Amazon Fresh, and finally overseeing middle-mile transportation.

Thrive Market has amassed more than $700 million in sales and ended 2024 with 1.6 million paid members, according to the company, with membership seeing a double-digit percentage increase year over year in the first quarter. Lescher said his joining Thrive will help ensure “the operation space is ready for sustained high growth moving forward.”

Keep reading here.—EC

Sports marketing has long been flooded with beverages. Sports drinks, alcohol brands, and Big Soda are historically dominant in the space, and with prebiotic-soda brands claiming their piece of the pie, it’s only getting more competitive.

Liquid Death is one such brand that’s recently started throwing its hat—or should we say can—in the ring.

The canned-beverage brand became a Nascar sponsor last spring, kicking off a string of sports partnerships that today include pro football, baseball, and soccer teams. This year, there was a Super Bowl ad, and last month, the brand inked a wide-ranging deal with the Madison Square Garden family of entertainment venue companies, landing Liquid Death iced teas and sparkling waters at MSG, Radio City Music Hall, and the Beacon Theater in New York, as well as at Sphere in Las Vegas.

It’s all aimed at helping Liquid Death build its reputation beyond water, Ryan Heuser, SVP of experiential marketing, said.

Keep reading here on Marketing Brew.—AM

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Caitlin Allen is SVP of market at retail automation company Simbe.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? We’ve all had the experience of going to the store for that one thing we need, where only one brand will do—that specific almond butter, bottle of wine, toy, electronic device, pair of socks, whatever—only to find that it’s not on the shelf or that the price tag doesn’t match the promotion we’d seen. My company solves that problem by putting our robots and other sensors in stores to scan inventory levels and price tags. Up until now, retailers have tried to solve this challenge by having store associates walk up and down the aisles manually scanning products. My job is to help retailers see there’s a more efficient, effective way to collect data from their stores—one that benefits both their top and bottom lines, and offers an even better experience to their shoppers and store associates. The best part is that I get to do this by telling stories about the industry’s innovators who have already made this transition, detailing what they’ve done to set a new standard for their companies, partners, shoppers, and teams.

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile? How incredible our customers are. We have the privilege of working with some of the biggest names in retail, like Carrefour, Albertsons, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Country Supplier, Giant Eagle, SpartanNash, Schnucks, Bristol Farms, and many others—operating in their stores across three continents. Our customers are leading the way in embracing retail innovation and transforming the in-store experience. It’s incredibly rewarding to be part of their journey as they pioneer the future of the industry.

Keep reading here.—EC

Rising costs and “doom spending” are reshaping the retail landscape. Learn how tariffs are driving pricing shifts, impacting supply chains, and making it harder to predict future trends.