If you couldn’t make it to our first annual Retail Brew summit, we’re here to give you the TL;DR.

Retail executives, founders, and industry experts joined us in New York for discussions about everything from sustainable growth to sustainability.

We talked cupcake-scented deodorant, OnlyFans (yes, really!), and the magic of the Dyson Airwrap.

Here are our top takeaways from the day’s discussions:

Everyone is thinking about staying relevant and increasing engagement.

Social media strategies, successes, and failures were among the most discussed topics at the summit. We heard from founders and marketing executives alike about their attempts to increase engagement and stay relevant with younger consumers.

• Jing Gao, founder of condiment brand Fly By Jing, got creative by starting an OnlyFans account. “We were like, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if we send people ‘noods,’ like recipes of noodles?’” she explained. “I created that OnlyFans, and did ASMR where people slurp noodles, and exclusive Jing content. It’s really just a fun thing that we did that created a lot of buzz.”

Customer loyalty is king. It can also be tricky to achieve.

Closely connected to customer engagement is customer loyalty. Executives from Sam’s Club and Athletic Greens weighed in on their businesses’ membership models, while JCPenney’s chief marketing officer John Aylward taught us the alphabet.

Just kidding. But he did make the distinction between Loyalty (capital L) and loyalty (lowercase l).

Brick and mortar isn’t dead.

We took our newsletter offline and made it in person for this week’s event, but we certainly aren’t the only ones with physical locations on the brain.

Hill House Home founder Nell Diamond said that for her brand, the future is “all brick and mortar.” She said her popup store in Nantucket earlier this year received 1,000 visitors each day, and offered her customers a new shopping experience.

Keep reading here.—MA

If anyone appreciates a bit of cushioning, it’s a company that makes protective packaging materials, which is why Cruz Foam, an environmentally friendly alternative to Styrofoam, is celebrating landing $18 million in Series A Funding.

Sea foam: Cruz Foam, which draws its name from its headquarters in Santa Cruz, California, was founded in 2017 by John Felts, its CEO, and Marco Rolandi, its chief science officer.

Felts, a surfer, is disgusted not just by floating plastic waste, but also by drilling rigs near Santa Barbara.

“When I used to come home from surfing, I used to literally have to scrape black tar off of my feet with a knife because it was so prevalent in the ocean,” he told us.

Expanded polystyrene—often generically referred to as the DuPont brand Styrofoam—is petroleum-based and famously slow at biodegrading.

And it’s increasingly falling out of favor with lawmakers.

• Maryland, Maine, Vermont, New York, and New Jersey have banned polystyrene, with a ban in Colorado to come in 2024.
• A California law requires a 25% reduction across all plastic packaging, and mandates packaging be recyclable, reusable, refillable, or compostable by 2032.

Retail companies are particularly interested in reducing their carbon footprints.

• 71% of retail executives are making ESG a priority, compared to 64% of executives across all industries, according to a Harris Poll.

Shell yeah: Cruz Foam is made primarily from chitin, a component in the shells of shrimp and other crustaceans, a fishery waste product in abundance throughout the country since the shellfish are harvested off of many US coasts, Felts said. The material’s ubiquity means that it can be made regionally near where it’s being used, rather than incurring the environmental impact of long-distance shipping.

Keep reading here.—AAN

“There was a time not too long ago when in-store shopping—let alone sampling—was unthinkable. Even online brands seem to be thinking in IRL terms now,” writes Marketing Brew’s Katie Hicks:

In addition to opening permanent locations, DTC pop-ups and partnerships with larger retailers are also emerging. Take Glossier, which will soon be in Sephora after years of being sold strictly on its own site. By 2024, market-research company Forrester predicts that 72% of US retail sales will occur in brick-and-mortar stores. The main reason? Customers want to test products IRL.

That’s why, experts told us, DTC brands seem to be embracing the power of the product sample.

Read about some of them, including Pop Up Grocer, Gorillas, and Three Ships Beauty, here on Marketing Brew.

Today’s top retail reads.

Alternative solutions: As energy bills rise, consumers turn to buying air fryers, slow cookers, microwaves, and electric blankets to curb their power use. (The Guardian)

Parting ways: Breaking up with a celebrity is tougher for a brand than it looks, as bureaucracy and contract language can hamper the decision-making process. (the Wall Street Journal)

Fresh perspectives: At Lagos Fashion Week, young designers from across the African continent make a case for sustainability. (Vogue Business)

Three of the stories below are real...and one is most definitely not. Can you spot the fake?

1. Two Californians are suing Barilla for misleading customers into believing all of its pasta is made in Italy.
2. A casket company is using Taylor Swift’s latest song to promote its product and is even offering fans a discount on its coffins.
3. A Napa-based winery will pay people $325 a day to tour and do tastings at every vineyard in the country.
4. Suspects have been arrested for allegedly stealing $9 million worth of frozen meat.

Keep reading for the answer.

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• Van Leeuwen slapped with significant fines for not accepting cash
• Petco’s new COO helps usher in a new era
• How two convenience stores are optimizing their delivery