Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.

Retail Brew

Andrew Adam Newman

retailbrew.com

Drugstore clerk removes Tylenol capsules from the shelves of a pharmacy September 30, 1982 in New York City after reports of tampering.

Tylenol’s response is lauded as a masterclass in crisis management, but is it a lesson Tylenol itself forgot?

Total recall: How the Tylenol murders of 1982 ushered in tamper-resistant packaging 

Erin Cabrey

“Frankly, if you’re not launching some products that fail, you’re almost certainly not trying enough,” said its North America CEO. 

How Kind is balancing growth and innovation amid supply-chain woes

Katishi Maake

Partake is in 9,000+ retail storefronts where it hasn’t raised shelf prices. 

How Partake Foods recession-proofs its merchandise  

Gif of retail products populating on store shelves

To respond to President Donald Trump’s 

 tariffs, retailers might be tempted to cover the cost of the import tax by charging higher prices, but even considering doing so could possibly draw the White House’s ire.

 was contemplating displaying how much tariffs contributed to products’ prices, for example, Trump called Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to complain. An Amazon spokesperson subsequently told CNN that the company had never considered the move for its main site and would not be implementing it for any outfits.

Similarly, when Walmart CFO John David Rainey 

 CNBC in May that the retailer might have to raise prices because of tariffs, Trump responded on social media that “Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices” and should “‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING.”

Michael Klein, head of retail, travel, and hospitality product marketing for Talkdesk, disagrees.

“I sometimes shake my head when I hear from the White House that manufacturers and brands are going to ‘eat the tariffs,’ which is bullshit,” Klein told Retail Brew. “If their cost of goods is going to increase for any particular reason, and tariffs in particular, then they are going to have to find ways to” cover increasing costs by “increasing prices” or else finding “a way of making my product at a lower cost.”

There’s a new term gaining traction that may shed light on the practice of covering tariff costs 

.” It refers to companies passing along higher costs but not hiking prices conspicuously, through such 

 as introducing restocking fees when returns had been free, and either raising purchase thresholds to get free shipping or eliminating free shipping altogether.

Internet searches for “sneakflation” 

 in August, according to Google Trends, whose data goes back to 2004.

Sneakflation can apply to raising prices if it’s done incrementally rather than all at once, Klein said.

“We’re not going to see these 5%, 10% increases,” Klein said. “We’re going to see a 2% increase, then a few months later, we’re going to see another 2% increase, and before you know it, that retailer has actually…preserved their margin over the course of time.”

It’s a way some retailers have raised prices without “sticker shock,” Klein said. “They didn’t have that, ‘Oh, last week I paid $4.99 and now I have to pay $5.99.”

 in Retail Brew recently, social media users identifying as store associates at Walmart and Target have for months been tearing from hang tags the perforated portions with prices, allegedly at the behest of the management so higher prices can be affixed more subtly.

Sneakflation is one of a handful of inflation portmanteaus that have gained currency in recent inflationary years.

, the term for manufacturers reducing the size of their products, often imperceptibly, without lowering the price. The word got so much footing that Merriam-Webster 

 it to its dictionary in 2022, the same year Retail Brew 

Another neologism, “tipflation,” refers to tipping becoming not only more generous but more widespread. As we 

 in 2023, the phenomenon was fueled, at least when it comes to the generosity aspect, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, when housebound consumers gave better tips to restaurant and delivery workers who still worked in-person.

Tipflation is becoming more widespread due to the pandemic-related growth of contactless point-of-sale systems, specifically tipscreens, which shoppers are increasingly presented with in non-restaurant settings.

 that like shrinkflation was popularized by consumer advocate 

, refers to when a product stays the same size but is reformulated to be made more cheaply. Such appeared to be the case in 2022, when Smart Balance 

 its buttery spread, which went from having vegetable oils constitute 64% of the product to just 39%, and where water became the first listed (read: most plentiful) ingredient, when it had previously been the second, after vegetable oil.

Following a torrent of online backlash from consumers, Smart Balance returned to the original formulation.

Sneakflation, the relative newcomer on the scene, is a term that does not describe a new phenomenon so much as serve as an umbrella term for those other inflation portmanteaus.

Whether companies are slightly shrinking their products, skimping on ingredients, or encouraging tipping their employees instead of paying higher wages, to beleaguered consumers it can all feel sneaky.

“Sneakflation is multifaceted,” Klein said.

After both Amazon and Walmart enraged Trump for even raising the specter of linking price hikes to tariffs—not to mention wanting to avoid causing sticker shock among consumers—Klein predicts retailers will step carefully when it comes to offsetting tariffs.

“Retailers are going to be cautious,” Klein said. “They’re going to do what they can to maintain loyalty while not pissing off their customers.”

How tariffs spurred ‘sneakflation’

Loathe to raise prices, retailers pass costs along in other ways.

CPGs may have some commitment issues, because it’s suddenly splitsville for a number of food and bev giants.

 its 10-year relationship is dunzo, splitting up barbecue sweethearts Heinz ketchup and Oscar Mayer, among others, into two separate companies.

The conscious uncoupling is the latest in a string of recently announced spinoffs across major CPGs that includes Keurig Dr Pepper and Unilever, and follows the Kellogg Company’s separation in 2023. The spinoff strategy isn’t necessarily new—if you look through Kraft Heinz’s family tree, you’ll see it was created through a previous spinoff that ultimately created Mondelez—but it’s one that’s recently been picking up steam.

The volume of spin-offs might be making your head spin, so we’re breaking down the breakups—what’s going on, why they’re happening, and if we can expect even more CPGs to part ways next.

Over the past few years, many CPGs have broken up on largely similar grounds (no, not irreconcilable differences).

Earlier this month, Kraft Heinz said it’s splitting into one company focusing on sauces, spread, seasonings, and shelf-stable meals like Heinz ketchup and Kraft Mac & Cheese, and another on grocery staples like Kraft Singles and Oscar Mayer. The move, the company said, will help “more effectively deploy resources” between the more high-growth sauces and slower-growth grocery categories.

The recently announced split comes a decade after Kraft Heinz was created through a merger between H.J. Heinz Company and Kraft Foods Group (the latter of which was formed after Kraft Foods 

 its snack unit in 2011 to become Mondelez when its growth was being hampered by its grocery biz). The 2015 merger’s goals were essentially the exact opposite of its recent breakup—promoting “synergies” and “increased scale” by combining, the company said in a statement at the time—but that move “didn’t turn out to be a brilliant idea,” investor Warren Buffett 

The Kraft Heinz split is the latest in a series of CPG divorces. Last month, beverage giant Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) shared its plans to buy Maxwell House owner JDE Peet’s for ~$18 billion and subsequently split itself in two, with one centered around North American beverages and one on global coffee. Similar to Kraft Heinz, KDP said the move will help its portfolio brands “win in their respective markets by leveraging operating models optimized to unique category dynamics” and is also set to untangle a recently formed tie-up, as Dr Pepper Snapple and Keurig Green Mountain merged to create KDP in 2018.

And last year, Unilever said it’ll spin off its ice cream business to become The Magnum Ice Cream Company, stating that the category has a “a very different operating model” than others in its portfolio, like Hellmann’s to Dove. (Unilever-owned Ben and Jerry’s, meanwhile, has been 

Then, of course, there’s Kellogg Company. In 2023, it broke into Kellanova, encompassing snacking, international cereal, and frozen foods (bought by Mars last year), and WK Kellogg Co, a cereal company that Ferrero said this summer it plans to acquire. CEO Steve Cahillane 

 at the time the split was intended to keep categories like its “high-growth” snack biz from competing for resources with its cereal biz, much like KDP and Kraft Heinz.

 According to Stephen Zagor, a Columbia University business school professor with a focus on food businesses and restaurants, the spinoff strategy is “accelerating” as CPGs face a flurry of headwinds. Consumers are becoming more judicious. As inflation soars, the grocery store is a “battleground of pricing,” he said. At the same time, younger shoppers are turning away from processed foods offered by many big CPGs, opting for healthier options and interesting flavors.

All these shifts have required CPGs to do something a bit more “drastic” than divesting a brand here or adding a new product there, Zagor said. Now, a “new strategy of appearing small but being big” has emerged, he added, as major CPGs are stepping back to take a look at their portfolios and realizing the potential of breaking down into smaller parts (smaller, in this context, still means multi-billions in net sales, of course).

“It’s hard when you’ve got 200 products to treat each product like a total entrepreneurial business and have all of the resources, the financial and all the things required to make it work well together under a large culture,” Zagor said. Now, they can separate the trendy or profitable segments from ones that might be harder to grow, and even open themselves up to more noteworthy acquisitions.

 “I definitely think every major CPG company is looking at Kraft Heinz,” Zagor said. “If they haven’t already thought about breaking or divesting or we’re getting rid of, I’m sure they are [now].”

It’s breakup season for CPGs

From Kraft Heinz to Keurig Dr Pepper, food and bev giants are seeing splitting up as their path to success. 

 spotlight Retail Brew’s readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click 

Katie Diasti is founder and CEO of period care brand Viv for Your V.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? 

Viv is a sustainable and toxin-free period care brand with a line of biodegradable and reusable products. We sell online as well as in retail stores. Our brand is providing a truly safe, clean alternative in a category that has lacked a lot of innovation and life on shelf. Viv is spicing up the once very sterile and boring period care aisle with an education-first strategy that makes period care more approachable.

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile?

 ​​When you reach out to customer support, oftentimes you’re talking to me! I like to stay close to every element of our consumer experience from doing in-store demos myself sometimes, keeping track of customer support, and using reviews to help understand iterations our products need.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on?

 Launching Viv in Whole Foods nationwide! We’re lucky to have built an amazing community online through our education-first approach on socials. Ninety percent of consumers shop in physical retail for their period products, so this expansion has the opportunity to transform behavior towards sustainable care. Our partnership with Whole Foods allows us to make a positive difference in an industry that creates more than 200,000 tons of waste by reaching customers where they are in their shopping journey with approachable, sustainable options.

Which emerging retail trend are you most excited about right now, and why? 

 feeling like they are a part of the brand—and we love pulling them in behind the scenes. It’s been exciting to see the feedback from our audience who have wanted to hear about the journeys of how brands get to where they are today, and even more inspiring to see the brands who pull back the curtain and show them how it’s done! Additionally, consumers are turning to brands for education. At Viv, we’ve taught over 5 million people how to insert a tampon on TikTok, and now when those consumers go to the aisle they think of the brand that taught them about their period. It’s an exciting time to be in retail, as brands have the power to stand for more than the product they create, but drive a real mission forward.

Worst piece of advice you’ve received? 

The worst piece of advice I ever received was to delay launching until I felt completely “ready” and had done “enough” market research. Had I listened, Viv would still be just an idea. When I was getting started, someone told me I wasn’t ready to launch my brand and that I needed more market research first. But the truth is, you’re never going to feel 100% ready, and your product is never going to be perfect right away. The best research doesn’t happen before you launch—it happens when you get your product into customers’ hands and receive real feedback from your community. Starting Viv taught me that you learn by doing. Some of our most successful products, like our cup and disc starter kits, came directly from listening to what our customers needed after we launched. If you wait until everything feels perfect, you’ll be waiting forever.

What was your favorite retail product when you were 15, and what’s your favorite retail product now? 

At 15, Clinique moisturizer or my pink zebra print hair straightener. Now, a cold Cherry Limeade Poppi and Youth to the People moisturizer.

Coworking with Katie Diasti

She’s founder and CEO of Viv for Your V.

President Trump’s impending tariffs on many foreign-made goods has 

 consumers’ interest in products made stateside, which could spur more companies to center marketing around “Made in USA” claims. This could be a smart move—if companies don’t take liberties with it.

When they do, or at least a company’s competitors think they do, it’s often the job of Phyllis Marcus, VP of the National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs, along with her team of attorneys, to vet these “Made in USA” claims. BBB National Programs is an independent, nonprofit entity formed in 2019, when the Council of Better Business Bureaus restructured, and now oversees advertising industry self-regulation programs.

Outside of those applying to automobiles, textile, wool, and fur products, there are no laws requiring consumer goods companies to report US content of their products. However, if they do, “they have to do so carefully,” because there are plenty of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) 

 around what they can say, Marcus told Retail Brew.

While it currently has a “robust body of cases,” NAD has yet to see an influx of cases related to Trump’s tariffs, but they could be coming, Marcus said. “We do predict based on the current economic climate that making these claims may become more important to companies, advertising programs, and campaigns,” she added.

Marcus—who previously spent more than 17 years at the FTC, including as its chief of staff in the division of advertising practices—broke down NAD’s process of regulating these claims, and recent cases it’s taken on.

The FTC’s regulations extend beyond packaging; marketing materials like websites, seals, tags, and stamps are all fair game, Marcus noted. For a product to truly be deemed “Made in USA,” she added, the FTC says “all or virtually all” parts of it must be US-sourced and manufactured. Otherwise, a company can use a qualified (i.e., more descriptive) claim, something like “Assembled in the USA” or “Designed in the USA.”

The FTC has its own process to determine whether to take on cases like these, but NAD takes on all cases brought by competitors that are national and advertising-related where it must weigh in on whether “Made in USA” claims are backed up, she said.

When a company comes to NAD with one of these cases, the organization opens an inquiry to examine those claims, asking the company in question to back them up with materials (information like sourcing agreements, ingredients, processing and manufacturing locations). It’ll then determine whether those “Made in USA” claims are or aren’t substantiated, and publish a decision. If they’re not substantiated, NAD will suggest they either change or stop using those claims. Companies either can comply, appeal the decision if they don’t agree with it, or refuse to follow the recommendations (which isn’t frequent, but “happens sometimes,” Marcus said), and NAD will then refer this refusal to the FTC.

While NAD doesn’t have the power to issue monetary penalties (the FTC does, starting in 2021, and it’s 

 more than $15 million worth of penalties since then), it’s a fairly transparent system, so it issues press releases and states whether a case is being referred to the FTC, Marcus said. The FTC has a section on its website of BBB National Programs referral cases.

Last year, SC Johnson & Son, owner of personal care product brand Method, brought a challenge to NAD against competitor Proctor & Gamble’s personal care brand Native regarding several of its advertising claims, including Native’s claims its products were “Born in the USA,” because the brand was founded in San Francisco. NAD determined that claim is synonymous with Made in USA, and since P&G did not provide evidence to NAD to support this, NAD recommended Native stop use of this phrase. P&G said at the time it “respectfully disagrees” with the decision but removed those claims during NAD’s proceedings.

Sometimes, a more descriptive tweak does the trick: Last year, oral care brand GuruNanda challenged competitor Oral Essentials’s use of Made in USA on advertising because some of its ingredients are sourced outside of the US. Oral Essentials agreed to modify its claims to “Made in USA with US and globally sourced ingredients.” Similarly, in 2023, Bath & Body Works brought a challenge against competitor Goose Creek Candles, which was making a Made in USA claim, and NAD ultimately recommended the company modify the claim to “poured in the USA with the highest ingredients from around the world,” which Goose Creek agreed to.

Ultimately, these efforts are centered on the “important tenets” of avoiding deception and ensuring consumer trust, Marcus said.

“Companies advertise for a reason, and they seek competitive advantage for a reason, and these claims can be very powerful when they’re made on a package or in advertising,” she said.

More companies could start leaning into Made in USA claims

The National Advertising Division of BBB National Programs helps regulate these “powerful” claims across the consumer products industry.

More companies could start leaning into Made in USA claims—but they have to do it right

Rising prices and looming tariffs are pushing consumer loyalty to 

 as many shoppers opt for the brands and products that offer the best deal, not necessarily the most recognizable name.

Within the consumer healthcare space, look at any big-box or pharmacy store display of toothpastes, antacids, or pain relievers, and you’ll quite often find private label equivalents next to brand names like Tums and Advil. But Haleon, the maker of those brands and many others, has a few strategies to keep consumers picking up its products instead, its US CMO Katie Williams told Retail Brew.

Haleon was created in 2022, spun off as an independent consumer health company from pharmaceutical giant GSK’s Consumer Healthcare business, which itself was formed through a joint venture with Pfizer’s consumer healthcare business in 2019. Its portfolio also includes brands like Sensodyne, Centrum, and Emergen-C.

 strong Q1 earnings earlier this month, with 1% organic revenue growth in North America, where the “consumer and customer environment is cautious and uncertain,” Haleon’s CFO Dawn Allen noted.

“​​Particularly when we’re in an environment where there’s so much economic concern or volatility, you definitely see that consumers are being really choiceful about what they’re buying, where they’re buying it, how much they’re buying, and how much they trust it,” Williams said. Williams, a CPG vet who spent 20+ years at Kraft Foods and eventually Mondelez before joining GSK in 2020, shared the recent efforts Haleon has made to be a leader in the consumer health space and keep customers loyal.

Many of Haleon’s core products are prone to low-priced private label dupes. A 160-count of Ultra Strength Tums are priced around $9.99, while counterparts from Target’s Up & Up and Walmart’s Equate are $4.99, for example. At Walgreens, a 100-count of Advil is $12.49, while the Walgreens private label equivalent sells for $8.99.

 has been crucial to maintain brand loyalty, Williams said. One measurement of success Haleon uses is the brand power metric—which measures a brand’s meaningfulness, difference, and salience—and that innovation has often been its point of difference, she said.

While there are many private label options within ibuprofen, Williams said Advil prides itself on “leading the category” with new solutions, like its recently released Advil Dual Action, which combines acetaminophen and ibuprofen and took several years of research and regulatory work. Other new innovations include Sensodyne Clinical White toothpaste, offering a less abrasive whitening toothpaste. The latter has helped “attract a younger demographic to the brand and has amongst the strongest repeat rates in the sector,” Allen said this month.

Developing claims for its products through clinical studies, particularly in its oral health and pain relief businesses, is also key, giving consumers confidence the products deliver a “meaningful benefit,” Williams said. And while relationships with health experts—like dentists—are still a huge driver of new buyers to Haleon’s brands, the company is also turning more and more to creator-led content, partnering with, say, a creator that’s 

“We really focus on being where consumers are and being relevant to them in the spaces where they want to find their healthcare information, but ensuring that we’re providing that from trusted and relevant sources,” she said.

Williams said another core focus of the company is “health inclusivity,” which the company says is “the process of removing the personal, social, cultural, and political barriers that prevent individuals and communities from experiencing good physical, mental, and social health and a life fully realized,” per a definition from Economist Impact.

These include the Theraflu Rest & Recover Fund, now in its fourth year, which offers microgrants for those who don’t have access to paid sick leave. Williams noted Haleon has also increased work with state governments to push for paid sick leave policies. And this year, Sensodyne partnered with Vox Media to 

 a documentary called “Sensory Overload” centered around individuals who are neurodiverse or have sensory issues in dental offices, and is collaborating with the American Dental Association to create a dental student class centered around making dental offices more sensory inclusive.

“We want to make healthcare more accessible, more inclusive, and more affordable and so we really look to not only build our brands, but connect with consumers on shared values in the healthcare space,” Williams said. “That definitely has shown to, over time, improve our brand equity [and] improve the affinity and connection that consumers have with our brands.”

Haleon Sensodyne clinical white toothpaste

Innovation, inclusivity key to brand loyalty for Tums-maker Haleon

US CMO Katie Williams shares the consumer healthcare CPG efforts that’ve kept shoppers coming back. 

To give you a sense of the sheer size of the US consumer packaged goods industry, the number of jobs it supports (22.3 million) is almost three times the population of New York City, while its GDP contribution ($2.5 trillion) is bigger than the total GDP of Canada in 2023.

So says the Consumer Brands Association (CBA), the trade association representing 75 CPG companies from Procter & Gamble to the Coca-Cola Company, last year adding five new members like Kraft Heinz, Kimberly-Clark, and J&J Snack Foods, and so far this year, three new members, including Tyson Foods.

Newly at the helm of the CBA is Melissa Hockstad, leading as president and CEO since January after the departure of 

 last year. Hockstad knows her way around a trade group; she was previously president and CEO of the American Cleaning Institute—which has a few overlapping members with the CBA—and her résumé also includes exec roles at the Plastics Industry Association and American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers.

Hockstad told Retail Brew she was eager to join the CBA to tackle the “broader issues impacting the collective CPG industry,” of which there are many, especially as she grabbed the reins just weeks before the start of the second Trump administration and the flurry of changes that have been imposed since. So to jump into the role, she’s been attending events like 

 and CBA’s CPG Legal Forum and speaking with member companies to understand their challenges, while also meeting with new members of Trump’s cabinet to discuss policy priorities.

“The wonderful thing about a trade association is that what we can achieve as a collective is so much stronger than any one company,” she said.

Earlier this month, Hockstad, along with executives from CPGs like PepsiCo and General Mills, 

 with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to discuss his Make America Healthy Again agenda. At the headline-grabbing meeting, Kennedy shared his intention to 

 of artificial food dyes during his term, a move that would impact many of CBA’s member companies. “Decision time is imminent,” Hockstad wrote in a letter to member companies, according to the New York Times. She told Retail Brew the CBA aims to ensure “ingredients meet rigorous evidence-based safety standards that are set by the federal government as well as state regulators.”

“What’s important for us with HHS is continuing to work with them; we know there are areas they’re focused in on, around enhancing transparency, ensuring ingredient evaluations continue to be grounded in science, and identifying healthier options for consumers,” Hockstad said. “And we really see this as a partnership, working together with HHS, specifically in this realm as we look ahead to the year.”

In these and other policy meetings with government agencies, like the FDA, EPA, or USDA, Hockstad said her role is to offer a “high-level overview” of the CPG industry, and make sure the agencies’ moves “continue to be grounded in science.” Depending on the meeting, they’ll discuss specific policy issues and garner feedback that “helps shape our thinking and where we might want to head next,” she said.

 Tariffs also remain a top issue on the minds of CBA’s members (along with the minds of most other 

), Hockstad said, and the group is pushing the administration to take a “more strategic approach” to tariff implementation. President Trump is preparing to announce a more narrow tariff strategy on April 2, 

“We think about that ripple effect: If costs for inputs go up, that can impact manufacturing costs, which then impact consumer costs, which could reduce demand, which could then potentially impact job losses here in the United States,” she said.

Hockstad named oats and coffee as examples of global imports that can’t be sourced in the US, while the CBA has previously pointed to meat, grain, oilseeds, and processed cocoa in Canada, and fruits and vegetables from Mexico during the winter months in a blog post outlining the “tariff toll” earlier this month.

 has happened in her first two and a half months, and a major challenge Hockstad is anticipating in her role going forward is the fact that “the world is moving at a faster pace than anything that we’ve seen ever before,” requiring CBA to potentially “pivot and be agile” as challenges or opportunities arise.

“We’re walking into an environment where things will be moving quickly, we’ll have to assess quickly, make decisions quickly, which really important, in my mind, is always being really clear on what are our priorities, being very clear on what success looks like, because that helps give us that roadmap,” she said.

New Consumer Brands Association CEO shares CPG’s top priorities

Melissa Hockstad has met with CBA members and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. since joining in January.  

Entrance interview: New Consumer Brands Association CEO shares big CPG’s top priorities

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.2% in February, and 2.8% year over year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week—a lower-than-expected increase. The index, which covers the first full month of the Trump administration, does not reflect the looming impact of tariffs beyond the 10% tax on Chinese imports.

The index for food inched up 0.2%, while food away from home jumped 0.4% and food at home stayed flat monthly, up 1.9% YoY. Four of the six major grocery categories saw declines, as CPI decreased for fruits and vegetables (0.5%), nonalcoholic beverages (0.5%), dairy and related products (1.0%), and other food at home (0.5%).

After a 0.4% drop in January, cereals and bakery products increased 0.4%. Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs rose 1.6%, thanks to a 10.4% rise in egg prices, up 58.8% YoY, which follows the 

 monthly egg-price increase in January. (While egg prices remain high, a demand drop has given producers a chance to gain ground on the egg deficit, leading to declining prices, the USDA said last week.)

Across other retail categories: The index for apparel was up 0.6%, while personal care products increased 0.9%.

In a statement, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt touted a low core CPI, which excludes food and energy and rose 3.1%. However, a poll published this week by the Groundwork Collaborative and Data for Progress in tandem with the CPI found that among voters, food prices were the top concern across all consumer prices, followed by utilities like energy.

 the imposition of tariffs for Mexico and Canada that threaten to raise prices for consumer goods like groceries and apparel, they’re set to go into effect on April 2. On Wednesday, Trump 

 a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports, which was met with swift retaliatory tariffs from the European Union and Canada and will likely 

 for a number of industries, including beverage makers.

 Retail sales for the Trump administration’s first full month are set to be released on Monday. According to the CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor, retail sales excluding automobiles, gasoline, and restaurants, dipped in February by 0.22%.

CPG