Amazon released an outstanding Q4 with strong growth in sales and profitability driving a huge uptick in their share price.  In this episode Bryan and Andrea break down the drivers of that performance as well as key attributes of the call that highlight Amazon's future prospects and growth: 1) Faster and Cheaper - how increased delivery speed and lower cost to serve are transforming Amazon's ability to solve for consumer products retail 2) International's quest to balance growth and profitability and the increasing role retail media is playing in their global profit picture 3) Rufus and h ..read more

In this episode Bryan Gildenberg  does a guest stint on High Impact's "The Retail Journey" podcast (link to audio and YouTube to subscribe below) In this podcast, Bryan, James and Charles discuss why a digital-first approach to retail media in the US is crucial and how it contrasts with other markets. They also share insights about Walmart Luminate and the escalating importance of first-party data. You’ll gain a fresh perspective on the evolution of product discovery and how data is reshaping the retail industry. We'll also navigate through Walmart’s category management and its influence ..read more

In this episode Bryan Gildenberg and Andrea Leigh tackle a few key issues that Amazon's Q3 results highlighted after a quick review of their actual performance.  In particular they focus the conversation on 4 key changes for Amazon's  evolution - the current direction of travel for their business: 1) Amazon's results in cloud put into context - though "disappointing" they continue to by all appearances be growing scale and share 2) Amazon's international experience and why they aren't more profitable internationally yet - highlighted by a brief conversation on their evolution in Indi ..read more

This episode celebrates the holiday season in style with a conversation about the evolution of digital commerce in a notoriously tricky environment - the alcoholic beverage category!  We discuss the following areas: 1) Swiftly's innovative solution for allowing retailers to take advantage of retail media successfully even without money passing from manufacturer to retailer 2) The digital innovations from Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits - one of the most sophisticated companies in the CPG space many people have never heard of and the role they play as an essential part of the alcohol ..read more

Bryan & PVSB are joined in the October monthly recap by John carroll, President of Digital Commerce & Advanced Analytics at Acosta Group. Follow John on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnccarrolljr/ We discuss the following topics: Instacart - Trade Desk partnership GLP1’s impact to the food and beverage industry  Amazon unBoxed Key Announcements Increase in promotional activity post-pandemic Rite Aid files for bankruptcy AI use cases Wegmans takes Manhattan Changing Retail Media budgets Hy-Vee partners with Samsung for in-store media CPG Guys Website: http://CPGguy ..read more

The CPG Guys in Partnership with Brave Commerce feature Commerce Cares, an effort to provide humanitarian relief to Israel. This one hour LinkedIn Live event featured a number of industry luminaries along with people dedicated to enabling the efficient delivery of humanitarian relief to those affected by the recent horrible atrocities that took place in Israel. To donate money to Commerce cares: http://tinyurl.com/commerce-cares To purchase humanitarian goods via Amazon: http://bit.ly/46NEvZ3 ..read more

Bryan & PVSB are joined in the September monthly recap by Scott Benedict, Affiliate Partner at McMillanDolittle. Follow Scott on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottrbenedict/ We discuss the following topics: Amazon launches generative AI to help sellers write product descriptions Instacart stock erodes after IPO Jelly giant J.M. Smucker agrees to buy Twinkie maker Hostess Brands for $5.6 billion Kroger and Albertsons Companies Announce Sale of 413 stores to C&S Amazon and Shopify Bring ‘Buy with Prime’ to Merchants with New App As Advertisers Shift Budgets into Retail Med ..read more

Allume Group Founder & CEO Andrea K. Leigh & PVSB recap their impressions of the 2023 Amazon Accelerate sellers conference ..read more

Bryan, Sri & PVSB recently conduct a LinkedIn Live session recapping key themes from August '23. We have converted this into a podcast episode. Topics include: Instacart Announces IPO  PepsiCo invests in Instacart  Rite Aid prepping for Chapter 11  ALDI acquires Winn-Dixie from Southeastern Grocers  Global ad spending to top $1 Trillion in 2023  Walmart Sellers Conference in Las Vegas  Amazon resets Fresh format, readies to resume expansion  Barbie sponsors reap big returns  Dollar General reports ID store sales declines & lowers expectations&nb ..read more

In this episode Bryan Gildenberg and Andrea K. (Andrea Minnie) Leigh tackle a few key issues that Amazon's Q2 results highlighted after a quick review of their actual performance.  In particular they focus the conversation on 5 key changes for Amazon's "footprint" - the basic shape of their business: 1) Amazon's new economic footprint - advertiser vs. infrastructure vs. retail 2) Amazon's new growth footprint - AWS and it's somewhat "cloud"y outlook for growth 3) Amazon's retooled logistics footrprint - the changes in Amazon's distribution model as their business becomes more consumables ..read more