We already know that the tricky economic environment has led many consumers to shift their shopping habits—but when it comes to grocery, these changes can be tough to track.

At Groceryshop, Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen noted that consumers have begun to fall into two buckets of premium and budget-conscious shoppers as more consumers experience economic stress, but their behavior is changing quickly, even within the month.

This “increases the need to leverage data and make data-driven decisions,” according to Barbara Connors, VP of strategy and acceleration at 84.51˚, the retail data science company owned by Kroger, which provides shopper insights to the grocery giant along with other CPG companies and agencies.

“Not only do you see differences across customer groups, but given the frequency in which macroeconomic factors are hitting us, behavior can change pretty quickly, and preferences can change and constraints can change,” she told Retail Brew. “What was true a year ago may not be true anymore today.”

Connors broke down how consumers’ tighter grocery budgets are impacting brand loyalty and channels where consumers shop, and how brands and retailers can adjust to these evolving preferences.

Keep reading here.—EC

Investigating new ways to sell? All clues point to TikTok Shop. It’s a one-stop, entertainment-based shopping platform built to help your brand grow.

Powered by TikTok’s unique discovery engine, TikTok Shop connects you with top-notch qualified traffic. It puts your shoppable content in front of customers on their For You feed, where they’re already discovering new content and products tailored to their interests.

And speaking of content, TikTok Shop seamlessly lets customers discover your products and shop straight in the app through shoppable videos, livestream shopping, a search-based shop tab, and creator partnerships.

Plus, you can engage with your audience in real time with LIVE shopping. Just think of the content possibilities: answer customer questions, pack an order, demo your products live…

The app is your oyster. Start selling on TikTok Shop.

It’s never easy to determine the value a brand gets from sponsoring an event. Who’s to say for certain that a particular purchase was driven by your brand’s logo being on a lanyard or banner at an outdoor concert or half-marathon?

But it would be hard to overstate the value that Get Joy, a Connecticut dog wellness company, is getting from sponsoring this year’s Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade, a pet costume contest that draws national and international press attention and took place last weekend.

The event, after all, nearly didn’t happen.

Keep reading here.—AAN

In an unusual move for a major retailer in 2023, HomeGoods last week stopped selling online to focus exclusively on its traditional business.

“We’ve made the decision to focus our resources on our more than 900 brick-and-mortar stores across the United States, where we invite our passionate HomeGoods.com customers to continue shopping for home fashion and décor,” the company said in a statement.

The off-price furniture and home retailer launched its online store just two years ago, with top executives expressing excitement at being able to offer customers more ways to shop.

Keep reading here.—AV