When Gavyn Melgar joined hair care brand Not Your Mother’s this year as its VP of marketing, the industry vet, who has worked on premium and mass brands from Kristin Ess to Oiudad, was tasked with harnessing the buying power of the increasingly engaged curly-haired community with its 5-year-old Curl Talk product line.

This community, with wide-ranging hair types from waves to coils, are particularly open to peer-to-peer recommendations, Melgar told Retail Brew. This year, influencer Greta Wilson mobilized these consumers with her step-by-step hair product routine TikToks, which led to a boom 1.2 billion views-strong of “wavy hair routines,” as even straight-haired consumers bought her recommended products to coax out a bit of natural kink, she added.

Seeing this, Melgar said Not Your Mother’s, which had previously put little marketing effort behind Curl Talk, worked quickly to leverage HairTok’s it girl to become the it curl product on the platform. Over the past few months, Not Your Mother’s has worked with Wilson on videos using the Curl Talk line’s curl cream and mousse and introducing users to new additions, with one ad in June amassing over 850K views. Since then, Curl Talk products have filled HairTok as consumers try out the products, most of which are priced under $14.

Now, the line has become so popular that TikTokers are posting videos of empty retail shelves where the products should be, and the 13-year-old brand, sold nationally at retailers like Ulta, Target, Walmart, and Walgreens, is making the most of this viral moment.

Keep reading here.—EC

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Leave it to Trader Joe’s to zig whenever everyone else zags–or in this case, when everyone else bags.

While self-checkout is growing increasingly popular—accounting for 55% of grocery checkout transactions in 2022, according to a VideoMining study cited by Grocery Dive—Trader Joe’s is not getting on the bandwagon.

“We believe in people and we’re not trying to get rid of our crew members for efficiency’s sake or whatever…the reasons are [stores] put self-checkout in,” Jon Basalone, president and vice CEO of Trader Joe’s, told Inside Trader Joe’s, the chain’s podcast.

“Self-checkout is work,” TJ’s CEO Bryan Palbaum added. “I don’t want that.”

Basalone said he was at a store recently and, despite having worked at TJ’s for 33 years, was unable to self-check out his products.

“I couldn’t get the thing to scan…and then the person came over and was trying to explain to me,” Basalone said. “I’m like, ‘I do this for a living, and I can’t get this thing to work.’”

No way, Joe’s say: It is not, to be sure, the first time Trader Joe’s has pushed back against trends sweeping the supermarket industry.

Keep reading here.—AAN

Despite consumer pullback on discretionary spending, beauty sales continue to sparkle for Ulta, whose net sales rose 10.1% YoY to $2.5 billion in the second quarter, prompting the retailer to increase its full-year guidance.

The beauty retailer boasted double-digit traffic growth as well as growth across all major product categories, CEO Dave Kimbell said. Both prestige and mass skin care grew in the double digits, with help from brands like Drunk Elephant, Supergoop!, La Roche-Posay, and CeraVe.

• Haircare secured mid-single-digit growth, while mass cosmetic brands like E.l.f. and NYX drove makeup’s low single-digit growth.
• Prestige makeup was “challenged,” particularly in makeup and hair, Kimbell said. He also noted the retailer is making a push into luxury; it debuted Luxury at Ulta Beauty in 200 stores and online in Q2, and launched Pat McGrath Labs in July.

“Our proprietary insights suggest consumers are becoming less focused on product pricing tiers and are trading around, choosing to engage with brands that offer on-trend newness and compelling social media content,” Kimbell said.

Keep reading here.—EC

Today’s top retail reads.

Not Rite: Rite Aid is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy, as the pharmacy chain struggles under a $3.3 billion debt load and faces a slew of federal and state lawsuits over its alleged role in oversupplying prescription painkillers. (the Wall Street Journal)

Down to Party: Party City, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, is testing out a new strategy—stores within stores—as it significantly shrinks its physical footprint. (The Street)

Hostess takeover: The company behind Twinkies is reportedly putting out feelers for a potential takeover by a fellow snack food maker. Hostess Brands recently raised prices on certain products, known for their affordability, to boost revenue. (Reuters)

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Retail marketing hits and misses from the past week.

Cut-rate content: Amazon is receiving backlash from content creators for offering just $25 per video to promote products on its TikTok-esque video feed Inspire. The rate came to users’ attention after one creator screenshot a message from Amazon promising up to $12,500 for 500 videos, or $25 a piece. (@KyndhalUGC on X, formerly known as Twitter)

Bama Rush in review: This year’s sorority recruitment week at the University of Alabama, known as Bama Rush, got the attention of retailers after would-be sorority girls started posting their ’fits on social media. Now, commentators are trying to figure out what it all means. (For a good example of brands getting on board, here’s Kendra Scott on TikTok)

Too spicy: Heinz is apparently getting tired of America’s infatuation with super-spicy foods—and all those painful, eye-watering reactions posted on social media—and is pitching its lightly spiced ketchups as a less-tearful alternative. (Heinz on YouTube)

Happy anniversary, Pepsi: Pepsi is celebrating its 125th anniversary with a retro rebrand and a media blitz containing callbacks to previous marketing success stories, including the “Pepsi girl” made famous in the brand’s 1990s TV commercials. (Pepsi on Instagram)