By Sonal Gandhi
Chief Content Officer at The Lead
Lots of M&A activity this week, most notably – Mars is planning to acquire Pringles maker Kellanova, Unified Commerce Group acquired Greats from Steve Madden and Recurate resale platform was acquired by competitor Trove. Meanwhile, new online-only apparel retailers like Edikted are gaining popularity with back-to-school shoppers (on TikTok) and Nike is giving up its recently adopted softer tone to stand out from competitors once again.
● Students are using TikTok to share the latest outfits and gadgets they’ve acquired before heading back to the classroom. Thousands of videos have been posted under the hashtag “back to school haul”. This year many are turning to newer entrants such as Edikted and Altar’d State for back to school clothing. (Glossy)
● A growing number of Gen-Z and millennial shoppers use the Yuka product scanning app to quickly look up beauty and wellness products’ ingredient safety scores before purchasing, making it the No. 1 health and fitness app in the Apple App Store with 56 million users in 12 countries. However, some industry insiders, including product safety advocates and cosmetic chemists, say it’s misleading consumers with biased information or opaque methodologies. (Glossy)
● Nike’s new campaign – “Winning Isn’t for Everyone” – is a return back to the brash marketing of the brand’s heyday and a significant departure from the softer tone it adopted in recent years. Company veteran who returned as CMO in January is co-piloting the shift after a historic sales slump. (Business of Fashion)
● Reebok debuted its Reebok Fitness app offering access to on-demand workouts, nutritional guidance, wellness content, workout tracking, and GPS. Users can also connect with other fitness enthusiasts and join challenges with other users on the app. The company is charging customers a $99.99 annual subscription fee after a 7-day free trial. (Retail Dive)
● L.L. Bean is expanding its store footprint south and west and will have a total of 60 stores in the US this year. According to the CEO, the stores are all performing well, comping positive year-over-year and new stores are immediately sustainable. (Forbes)
U.S. consumer prices in July’ 24 rose 2.9%, the first time below 3% since 2021.
Core retail sales rose in July (up 0.95% mom in July and 1.69% yoy), as consumers shopped for school supplies.
Mars to buy Pringles maker Kellanova for $36 billion.
Alice Mushrooms (mushroom chocolates) secured an undisclosed raise led by L Catterton with participation from actors Zac Efron, Pedro Pascal, and Kevin Hart.
Unified Commerce Group acquired Greats from Steve Madden and Steve Madden will invest in United Commerce Group.
Deckers sold Sanuk (footwear) to Lole Brands.
Bally (Swiss brand) will be acquired by Regent, from JAB.
RŌZ (hair care brand) raised a seed round from Silas Capital, among others.
PetIQ (pet wellness) will be acquired by Bansk Group for $1.5B.
Acurite (home weather stations) was acquired by Outtech.
Recurate (resale platform) was acquired by competitor Trove.
Cents (garment care software) raised a $40M, and acquired Landroworks (hardware-based laundry management).
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