There are many ways to measure a retail brand’s health, from customer acquisition to foot traffic to the inventory turnover ratio. But here’s one underappreciated indicator: Can your brand take a joke?

That’s the test that a certain purveyor of fruit arrangements faced recently, when one of the most popular shows on Netflix, The Fall of the House of Usher, made it a punch line.

In episode 3 of its inaugural season, Camille L’Espanaye (Kate Siegel) confuses an assistant when she orders him to send an Edible Arrangement to an adversary.

“Toby, damn it,” Camille says. “Everybody knows that Edible Arrangements are what you send to people you hate.”

So the company sent Siegal an arrangement.

“Hey Kate!...just wanted to say no hard feelings ;)” the note began. “Sending this to you because we love you.”

Siegal posted the note on Instagram, commenting, “Low-key brilliant @ediblearrangements.”

“People are not familiar with us like the previous generation was,” Kevin Keith, CMO of Edible Brands, told Retail Brew. “They think it’s like an old person’s kind of a gift from your grandma.”

There’s a way to be in on the joke rather than just the brunt of it, he continued.

“Brands that have a quirky and sometimes kind of a little bit of [a] punch line to them, I say, ‘Lean in on that; go with the grain as opposed to trying to fight it,’” Keith said. “But while you’re going with the grain you’re also resetting, you’re kind of surreptitiously changing people’s perceptions by leaning in on that joke.”

Changing perceptions, it turns out, is what the 24-year-old company is all about these days.

Keep reading here.—AAN

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Although holiday spending is expected to still be somewhat strong this year despite rising costs, younger consumers are likely going to be cautious about their spending.

We’re talking, of course, about Gen Z and millennial shoppers in the US who say they’ll be carefully planning their spending this year, according to a new consumer behavior survey led by Qualtrics on behalf of Intuit Credit Karma.

In fact, because of the cost, about a quarter of American consumers would prefer it if the holidays were canceled this year, and 59% said they’ll likely take on debt this season, the survey found.

Keep reading here.—JS

Welcome back, everyone. Yep, it’s that time of year when it gets dark at like 4pm, but we hope you enjoyed your extra hour of sleep on Sunday. You’ll need it, because there’s a lot going on this week.

In sales: If it wasn’t already clear, the holiday shopping period now starts months before December 25. Walmart cemented that last week when it revealed it’s having a “Black Friday” sales event that starts…this Wednesday?

In earnings: Also on Wednesday, Instacart will issue its first earnings report since going public in September. Shares are trading lower than their initial $30 IPO price, at $27.30 as of Monday morning’s opening.

Keep reading here.—KM

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