Food & Bev: A New Approach

The next Beyond Meat or RxBar may not gain a following by selling through traditional grocery. Instead, it's more likely than ever to go direct-to-consumers, via its own website.

Newer/smaller brands will start shifting more efforts to alternative ways of getting in front of new customers; samples bundled into food delivery boxes, “Spend $50 and get a free sample of [whatever new product]!” partnership type stuff.

However, there’s another side to this. The pickup and delivery apps (Instacart and the like) are likely to outperform as they capture the high-margin consumer brand marketing dollars, but without the physical retail infrastructure. Building your own distribution via DTC marketing and relationships also gets more important, with Facebook and Shopify... See more

For a long time, retail survived on taste and real estate — curation and distribution. The internet made it possible for regional clothing stores like Need Supply to sell to a global audience and build larger businesses. But then it also made it easier for consumers to find everything, anywhere — at the lowest price — challenging any sense of loyal... See more

Across food, across fashion and accessories, legal cannabis products, beverages, athleisure, skin care, supplements, and other permutations of consumer packaged goods and apparel, every manufacturing and last-mile strategy has become possible, from dropshipping to just-in-time, from small-batch to make-on-demand. Products begin their life as an unb

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