While many TikTokers are mispronouncing Uncut Gems nonstop or critiquing the new season of Euphoria, Dulma Altan (@iamdulma) has found a less traditional way to go viral: talking business.

With videos discussing everything from raising venture capital to evaluating content strategies through “brand audits,” Altan’s established what she calls a “TikTok B-school for women” covering the ins and outs of DTC CPG brands. She’s amassed 47,000+ followers and 1.3 million likes since her debut last year, gaining notice for analyzing Glossier’s recent missteps (298k views) and why Ariana Grande’s R.E.M. Beauty might “flop” (740k views).

While Altan has gone viral chatting about celeb brands, she says her videos are really a “Trojan horse” to reach founders and consumers alike on TikTok.

• Her own biz, an online natural fragrance store called Potion, is what gave her a “crash course” in running a DTC company, Altan told Retail Brew. After ~2 years, she shut it down in 2020 when she realized it wasn’t scaleable.

“I learned exactly how hard it can be to wear all those hats,” she said. “It was a lesson in the importance of having large gross margins, and all the stuff that you need to take into account when you start a business.”

Here are her top takeaways for CPG entrepreneurs.

Green light: Altan, also a venture partner at Republic (an investing platform for startups), told us that brands should do their due diligence before jumping on the VC bandwagon to determine if that’s the route for them. (The size of the fund, thesis, and whether their values align are a few considerations she’s noted in her vids.)

Plus, entrepreneurs should be wary that raising $$ can be a time-consuming cycle.

“Typically if you raise money, you’re going to start to get on the treadmill of having to raise every 12 to 18 months,” she said. “Some people don’t realize just how much bandwidth that can take up in terms of your attention and your resources.”

• In her TikToks, Altan makes the case that raising capital makes the most sense for brands that can scale quickly—and ultimately aim to be acquired.

One of the best ways to get the scoop on funding and score an intro to the right VC firm is chatting with other founders, she noted: “Often those are going to be the people who want to open doors for you, because somebody opened doors for them.”

Click here to read more—including why CPGs should consider “niching down.”—EC

While some airports no longer bear the hallmarks of luxury malls, they might start to look like your newsfeed. This spring, BuzzFeed is opening its first two stores in LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal C as part of an exclusive agreement with airport retailer Stellar Partners.

The floor will be filled with monitors displaying BuzzFeed news content, and the product selection, based on BuzzFeed’s point-of-sale data, will include travel supplies, snacks, and magazines. (BuzzFeed did not respond to our request for comment.)

Retail refresh: BuzzFeed has been barking up the retail tree for some time now. Back in 2018, the company opened its first Camp experiential toy stores in NYC. The following year, BuzzFeed expected to drive $260 million in BuzzFeed product sales, led by food and Walmart-exclusive cookware under its Tasty subsidiary.

• BuzzFeed even hawked vibrators in 2020.

20/22 vision: Media companies making consumer products is an old story. A digital media company opening a retail storefront, on the other hand, presents more than just another revenue stream. It’s a chance to learn more about its consumers—er, readers—with live first-party point-of-sale data, noted Michael Felice, associate partner in Kearney’s Consumer, Media and Technology practice.

“BuzzFeed doesn’t have a great interest in selling me a Coca-Cola. But they would probably be very interested to see if I read a lot about health and nutrition or family and children, [whether] I shop in similar patterns and what nuance that adds to the type of advertising they can further segment down,” Felice told Retail Brew.—JG

Try this on for size—well, virtually: Walmart rolled out a new tool that lets shoppers check out clothes on a model that matches their body type and skin tone before they check out.

• The feature, called Choose My Model, is the retail giant’s first use of Zeekit, a virtual fitting room startup it acquired last May.
• Currently in beta with 50 models, Walmart plans to more than double that number in the next few months, Cheryl Ainoa, its SVP of new businesses and emerging tech for Walmart Global Tech, told CNBC.

Boosted: “Everything comes back to providing the customer with the confidence to make that purchase,” Denise Incandela, EVP of apparel and private brands for Walmart US, told CNBC. “We want to have a best-in-class shopping experience online and we feel like this is shopping of the future and we wanted to lead the way.”

• It could also help lower return rates, she noted.

It’s not the only retailer with big plans for the tech (see: Gap and Shopify). But consumers have been a bit more hesitant: Only 10% of shoppers had ever used virtual fitting rooms, per a Harris Poll-Retail Brew survey last June.

• Perhaps that’ll change with more availability. Walmart said it’ll later introduce a feature that lets customers upload their own image to virtually try things on.

+1: Check out our virtual fitting room guide for an in-depth breakdown of the tech.—JS

Today’s top retail reads.

Dark thoughts: For some, the proliferation of dark stores on the Upper West Side is dispiriting. “There is this feeling of hollowing,” said one resident, author Thomas Beller. (Curbed)

McFury: The startup that invented a device to help fix the famously inconsistent ice cream machines at McDonald’s says it was “crushed” by the company—and is suing. (Wired)

The tartar they come: Fish sticks, which saw sales soar during the pandemic, have a long (and colorless) history. (Quartz)

The big number you need to know.

Rent prices are rising with inflation, and small businesses are struggling. A report from the SMB network Alignable shows rent delinquencies surging among these companies for the first time in three months after leveling out post(ish)-pandemic.

According to the report, 28% of SMBs couldn’t pay rent in February, up two percentage points from January. Almost half (46%) of minority-owned businesses couldn’t afford February rent, up from 44% in January and 43% in December.

• Hardest-hit industries include animal hospitals (45%), beauty salons (43%), alternative healers (39%) and hotels/travel agencies (34%).

Bright sides: As consumers continue to embrace dining out, 11% fewer restaurants suffered rent-payment problems in February, compared to the previous month. Retailers also rebounded last month, with 5% more of them able to pay rent in full and on time.

• Manufacturers, meanwhile, saw a 15% lift in rent-paying companies in February, a new low for rent issues within the category during the pandemic.—JG

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

• With its atmosphere-cleaning mission, lab-grown diamond startup Aether lands $18 million in funding
• Brands and businesses scramble to respond to war in Ukraine
• Tanger Outlets’ CEO on the off-price consumer