Morning Brew - ☕ Beans on the blockchain

The utility of NFTs in retail.
November 18, 2022

Retail Brew

Wunderkind

Happy Friday. Q4 and the holidays are here for retail, and it promises to be as crazy as ever. When the dust settles, take The Brew’s Analytics Accelerator. It rolls out in January and will teach you how to make sense of the Q4 numbers and make you a key part of your business (even during hard times). Click here to lock in your seat.

In today’s edition:

—Maeve Allsup, Andrew Adam Newman, Max Knoblauch

TECH

Don’t you forget about NFTs

One of Bored Breakfast Club's NFTs Bored Breakfast Club

The non-fungible token frenzy of 2021 may be behind us, but apparently nobody’s told the retail world. From Nike and Adidas, to Starbucks and Lacoste, brands are betting big on NFTs.

Many of today’s projects are going further than pricey digital images, as brands experiment with connecting products or experiences to their tokens in the hopes of reaching beyond crypto enthusiasts and art collectors to bring their most engaged consumers into the fold.

Achille Traore, CEO of loyalty platform White Label Loyalty, said NFTs are an excellent way to bridge the gap between a brand’s products and its online engagement with consumers. “That’s probably the best use case…so you can actually take a physical product and have an experience online as well,” he told Retail Brew.

And Traore believes retail’s love affair with NFTs is here to stay. “From a business perspective, it’s almost like a new revenue stream and a new way to get closer to customers,” he said.

Getting real with Web3: One such foray into the physical side of NFTs is the Bored Breakfast Club, a subscription project delivering Los Angeles-roasted coffee to token holders. A collaboration between digital design firm Kley and Yes Plz Coffee, Bored Breakfast Club is a collection of 5,000 NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain.

  • The digital images are available on NFT marketplace OpenSea, and each time an NFT is sold, Bored Breakfast Club receives royalties from the transaction. That income is used to fill a “community coffee wallet”—as Kley founder Brad Klemmer calls it—a pool of funds that pays for packaging, roasting, and shipping coffee to token holders. Each time the wallet fills up, a new batch of coffee is shipped out.

Klemmer said the project is essentially a proof of concept for loyalty and subscription models.

Keep reading here.—MA

        

TOGETHER WITH WUNDERKIND

Black Friday approacheth

Wunderkind

As Black Friday and Cyber Monday loom in the not-so-distant distance, you need insight into shoppers’ buying behaviors. Wunderkind’s 2022 Consumer Insights Report explores how recent, uh, events have affected the way consumers interact with brands. Hint: It’s complicated.

The 2022 Consumer Insights Report takes a deep dive into what consumers value heading into the biggest shopping days of the year. Here’s what matters most:

  • Flexible payment plans such as buy now, pay later are popular with nearly half of US consumers, especially in times of economic uncertainty.
  • Online shopping is still huge this holiday season, with 71% of consumers planning to shop Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals online.
  • Brand values like sustainability, fair wages, and diversity are more important than ever in consumer buying decisions.

Be prepared for this season’s highs and lows. Get the report here.

RETAIL

Package Deal: Show me the honey

A photograph of a honey bear dsi Joseph Devenney/Getty Images

A package protects, promotes, and sets a product apart. This new feature looks at how iconic packages took shape.

Honey bear

  • Introduced: 1957
  • Design concept: Luella and Ralph Gamber
  • Material: Plastic

Honey, I’m home: It all began in 1946, when Ralph Gamber, an Armour meat salesman in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, returned home with three beehives he bought for $27 at an auction. Not an ideal scenario, perhaps, for his wife, Luella, who was allergic to bee stings and bee pollen, but she still signed on with their plan to start a modest side business: Dutch Gold Honey.

By 1957, the honey business was ticking along, although not so well that Ralph didn’t keep working as a meat salesman. One evening they had another couple over to dinner, Rita and Woodrow Miller, also beekeepers, who were visiting from California. The conversation turned to the topic of whether there was a honey package that might get more—what else?—buzz.

“We just figured a bear likes honey, why not a bear of honey?” Ralph Gamber told the Associated Press in 1997. The ursine-honey association was particularly resonant because the legacy of A.A. Milne, who’d written four popular books featuring Winnie the Pooh, had been celebrated when he died the previous year, in 1956, at age 74.

The Gambers acknowledged that Winnie the Pooh was an inspiration, but as they began designs on the container, they didn’t want to replicate the character.

“We made it look as different as possible,” Ralph told AP. “We thought we’d be sued.” (Not that it would have been a defense in court, but the original honey bear, inexplicably, had six toes.)

Keep reading here.—AAN

        

LABOR

Seeing red

Starbucks union strike ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

“More than 2,000 unionized Starbucks employees staged a one-day strike on Red Cup Day yesterday. The walkout—which the union says was meant to get the company to bargain with workers in good faith—was nationwide, with more than 100 stores in 25 states participating,” writes Morning Brew’s Max Knoblauch:

Since last year, 264 Starbucks stores have voted in favor of unionizing under the Starbucks Workers Union, but the company has not agreed to a contract with any of them.
The “Red Cup Rebellion,” as striking workers referred to the walkout, was the first nationwide action taken by unionized Sbux workers to disrupt the company’s operations.

Read the whole story here on Morning Brew.

        

TOGETHER WITH AMPLA

Ampla

Capitalize this! Did you know up to 82% of small businesses fail due to poor cash-flow management? Accessing growth-boosting capital can be tricky. Ampla is here to help. They provide capital that scales as you grow through a Growth Line of Credit with no hidden fees. Get capital in as little as 24 hours here.

SWAPPING SKUS

Today’s top retail reads.

Good deal: Consumer spending continues to rise despite inflation, but retailers will have to go beyond a good product to keep the customer happy. (the New York Times)

Tipping point: A new survey suggests consumers are tipping less than usual and others would like to do away with it altogether as costs rise. (Barron’s)

Fresh targets: Jonathan Akeroyd, the newly minted CEO at Burberry, plots a £5 billion growth strategy. (Vogue Business)

Ruff year? At Retail Brew’s The SKU, Bolt’s vice president of Customer Experience sat down with PuppySpot’s chief information officer to discuss e-commerce elevation and what retailers need on their radar for 2023. Read all about it here.*

*This is sponsored advertising content.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

  • Alibaba said 15% of its delivery areas experienced disruptions as a result of Covid.
  • Farfetch’s Q3 earnings were hurt by lockdowns in China and the closure of its Russian operations.
  • Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said layoffs will carry on in 2023.
  • Gap’s Q3 earnings beat Wall Street estimates amid increased consumer demand for formal wear.
  • Macy’s and Kohl’s Q3 sales declined as consumers postponed holiday shopping.
  • Impossible Foods founder Pat Brown is taking a leave of absence, according to an internal staff email.

FRIEND OR FAUX?

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

  1. Burger King in France sent its customers mean texts as part of a campaign to raise awareness against bullying.
  2. Oatly has launched a Thanksgiving emotional-support hotline for plant-based eaters.
  3. Coors Light has introduced a new nail polish that changes color if your beer is sufficiently cold.
  4. Beyond Meat is selling an all-in-one plant-based turkey that comes with mashed potatoes, mulled wine, and pumpkin pie all blended together.

Keep reading for the answer.

FRIEND OR FAUX? ANSWER

We wouldn’t really call a mishmash of turkey, pumpkin pie, and wine altogether a real Thanksgiving meal, would you?

SHARE THE BREW

Share Retail Brew with your coworkers, acquire free Brew swag, and then make new friends as a result of your fresh Brew swag.

We’re saying we’ll give you free stuff and more friends if you share a link. One link.

Your referral count: 2

Click to Share

Or copy & paste your referral link to others:
morningbrew.com/retail/r/?kid=303a04a9

 

Written by Maeve Allsup, Andrew Adam Newman, and Max Knoblauch

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.

WANT MORE BREW?

Industry news, with a sense of humor →

  • CFO Brew: your go-to source for global finance insights
  • Future Social: the Brew's take on the world of social media
  • Healthcare Brew: the comprehensive industry guide for administrators, medical professionals, and more
  • HR Brew: analysis of the employee-employer relationship
  • IT Brew: moving business forward; innovation analysis for the CTO, CIO & every IT pro in-between

Tips for smarter living →

Podcasts → Business Casual, Founder's Journal, Imposters, and The Money with Katie Show

YouTube

Accelerate Your Career with our Courses →

ADVERTISE // CAREERS // SHOP 10% OFF // FAQ

Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here.
View our privacy policy here.

Copyright © 2022 Morning Brew. All rights reserved.
22 W 19th St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10011

Key phrases

Older messages

☕️ Digital depths

Friday, November 18, 2022

Plus: How a 150+ year-old company thinks about the future. November 18, 2022 Emerging Tech Brew TOGETHER WITH Miso It's Friday, and if you're a remote worker who misses wasting time chatting

☕ Be our guest

Friday, November 18, 2022

Takeaways from The Brief. November 18, 2022 Marketing Brew TOGETHER WITH Attest You made it to Friday. And Cheetos has a new addition to your Thanksgiving table: Feel free to place the cheese-dust

☕ Worse than Enron

Friday, November 18, 2022

Is lab-grown meat the future? November 18, 2022 View Online | Sign Up | Shop 10% Off Morning Brew TOGETHER WITH Electric Good morning. It takes a particularly heinous act of Mother Nature to impact a

🫵 You need a mentor

Thursday, November 17, 2022

How a retired exec spends his time giving back. November 17, 2022 | View Online | Sign Up Sidekick Logo TOGETHER WITH Bombas Hey, Sidekickers. New work paradigm, meet the new watercooler. The hottest

☕ Tough times

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Amazon's belt tightening. November 17, 2022 Retail Brew TOGETHER WITH Impact.com Happy Thursday. This week, the world's population hit a milestone—8 billion people! For some reason, that number

You Might Also Like

AI hallucinates software packages and devs download them – even if potentially poisoned with malware [Fri Mar 29 2024]

Friday, March 29, 2024

Hi The Register Subscriber | Log in The Register {* Daily Headlines *} 29 March 2024 Illustration of someone in a hoodie looking at a bench with a cloud over it AI hallucinates software packages and

What A Day: Clown by law

Friday, March 29, 2024

Trump's lawyers are having another rough one. And the mainstream media could learn a lesson from the legal world about handling corruption. Thursday, March 28, 2024 BY CROOKED MEDIA —Steve Bannon,

🌶️ Is it getting hot in here?

Friday, March 29, 2024

Introducing our theme for April plus fun stuff to read, watch, and click on. March 28, 2024 Open in new tab Did a friend forward this? Subscribe today! April's Theme is SPICY It was chosen by our

What 58 Famous People Smell Like

Friday, March 29, 2024

Here's what you missed on the Strategist. The Strategist Every product is independently selected by editors. If you buy something through our links, New York may earn an affiliate commission. What

Trump Would Need New Tactics to Steal the 2024 Election

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Columns and commentary on news, politics, business, and technology from the Intelligencer team. Intelligencer early and often Trump Would Need New Tactics to Steal the 2024 Election Many avenues Trump

Let’s go fast

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Plus: The worst cleaning tool we've ever tried ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

Friday Briefing: Sam Bankman-Fried gets 25 years

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Plus, three video game adventures for the weekend. View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story Ad Morning Briefing: Asia Pacific Edition March 29, 2024 Author Headshot By Justin Porter

Elevate Your Events: Exclusive Discount Inside!

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Explore the future of events at #NWES2024, April 3-4 in Seattle! GeekWire is pleased to present this message to our Pacific NW readers. Explore the future of events at #NWES2024, April 3-4 in Seattle!

Framing a Pitch

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Opening Day Edition ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

☕ We’ll be watching you

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Tag Heuer's watchmaking apprenticeship program. March 28, 2024 Retail Brew PRESENTED BY Listrak Hey hey, everyone. It seems people are unsure whether 7-Eleven's hot dog-flavored sparkling water