On this week’s Modern Retail Podcast, co-hosts Gabi Barkho and Melissa Daniels delve into the vast world of product LTOs, also known as limited-time offers. In the CPG space, these are usually limited-edition flavors or scents that brands drop to create consistent newness. 

Spring tends to be a big season for LTOs as brands refresh their assortment. And the trend is only getting bigger. Even legacy brands like Peeps are releasing more unique flavors this year, like Rita's-Italian-Ice- and Pop-Tarts-flavored marshmallows. This episode looks at why these limited releases have become a big part of brands’ marketing strategy, as they are now a major sales driver. 

Joining the show this week is Ryan Meegan, co-founder of Dude Wipes, to talk about the ways the brand has grown its customer base through limited-edition and seasonal scents. And the proof is in the numbers. The 2025 seasonal assortment included the fall-themed take on pumpkin spice, Dumpkin Spice, and the winter holiday scent Dingle. About 69% of households that bought these Dude Wipes products were new to the brand, totaling about 150,000 new households.

In this week's episode, Meegan discusses:

• The importance of developing seasonal SKUs that stand out in the stale wipes aisle.
• How Dude Wipes is now planning annual inventory around these products.
• How scents that began as seasonal test runs became important revenue drivers for Dude Wipes.

This week on the Modern Retail Podcast, special projects editor Melissa Daniels sits down with David's Bridal CEO Kelly Cook to go behind the scenes of the company's post-bankruptcy turnaround plan.

The roughly 76-year-old U.S. retailer is known for its wedding gowns and formalwear. But it’s had a challenging time staying solvent in recent years and filed for Chapter 11 in November 2018, and again in April 2023. The company's retail footprint has gone from more than 300 stores to around 150 today.

Cook took on the CEO role about one year ago and has shepherded changes under the "Aisle to Algorithm" transformation plan to help reposition the company as a digitally driven brand that offers more than just gown sales, including wedding planning assistance through its Pearl Planner service.

Their conversation gets into:

• How AI is helping David's reposition itself, establish internal efficiencies to acquire customers
• The in-store upgrades it's making to provide a more omnichannel experience
• The morale and culture challenges a business faces after filing for bankruptcy

On this week’s Modern Retail Podcast, senior reporter Gabi Barkho delves into the growing phenomenon of AI-generated review summaries.
It’s one of the many ways generative AI is already impacting the way people discover products and shop online. These summaries are not only changing the way chatbots talk about products, they’re also pushing brands and marketers to navigate customer reviews differently.
In this episode, Barkho is joined by Dawn Hilarczyk, chief operating officer at Borghese, and Nick Lafferty, who leads growth marketing at Profound. Hilarczyk and Lafferty break down the following:

• How AI-generated customer reviews are condensed and spread by AI search engines like Gemini, ChatGPT and Rufus.
•  Why bot-written summaries decontextualize product descriptions and features.
•  What brands can do to better control the way their customer reviews show up in summaries.

In this episode of the Modern Retail Podcast, special projects editor Melissa Daniels and senior reporter Gabriela Barkho discuss their favorite food and beverage trends of 2026. Fresh off of Expo West, the episode’s discussion revolves around what is considered “in” and what’s “out” across categories. Protein sod and functional coffee remain hot items. Meanwhile, the noise against seed oils continues to grow in the better-for-you space, with brands boasting products made with alternatives like beef tallow and avocado oil.

The emerging trends in 2026 include:

• High-protein and “fibermaxxing” across nearly all food and drink categories.
•  An all-in-one approach to routines, such as combining daily creatine dose with the morning coffee, often in portable packaging.
•  The MAHA movement’s growing influence on trends in food, beverage and wellness is only growing in 2026.

This week on the Modern Retail Podcast, special projects editor Melissa Daniels speaks with Kris Malkoski, the president of learning and development at Newell Brands who oversees operations for household brands including Graco and Sharpie. They go behind-the-scenes into how the 100-year-old baby gear brand Graco, known for its affordability against higher-priced start-ups, is approaching pricing strategies in an increasingly volatile retail environment thanks to AI, tariffs and cost-conscious shoppers.

Daniels interviews Malkoski about how Graco mitigated tariff-related price increases, how the brand is increasingly using AI to help dial in what prices a customer is comfortable paying, and how brands and retailers work together to align on pricing and assortments. Their conversation also gets into:

• The product development teams that play a role in keeping pricing competitive and affordable
•  How AI is changing the way Graco approaches customer personas
•  The ways Newell Brands works with retailers to help inform pricing and layout strategies that move units

On this week’s episode of the Modern Retail Podcast, co-hosts Gabriela Barkho and Melissa Daniels are joined by executive editor Anna Hensel to unpack how AI is reshaping marketing workflows and creative output.

As customer acquisition costs rise and shoppers grow more discerning, brands are using AI to sharpen targeting and streamline production. But many remain cautious about replacing human talent or handing over mission-critical work to fast-evolving technology.

In a blow for President Donald Trump's tariff agenda, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Feb. 20 that the Trump administration exceeded its authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in a 6-3 decision. In other words, they deemed that the sweeping tariffs he issued on Liberation Day against nearly every U.S. trading partner were unlawful. Now, many people in the retail industry, whose companies have been impacted by these tariffs, are left wondering what will happen next in the days and weeks to come.

In this emergency episode of the Modern Retail Podcast, executive editor Anna Hensel, special projects editor Melissa Daniels and senior reporter Gabriela Barkho break down what the Supreme Court ruling means for brands and retailers. They get into:

• Their initial reactions to the news that the Supreme Court struck down President Trump's tariffs.
•  Whether or not brands and retailers will be able to get refunds for the tariffs they paid over the past year.
•  What this could mean in the push for more domestic manufacturing.
•  What they'll be watching next as President Trump vows to impose his tariffs agenda through other means.

In 2026, the term direct-to-consumer, or DTC, has become somewhat of a pejorative within the retail startups ecosystem.

Enter: “DTC 3.0,” or what’s dubbed as the most sustainable and profitable version of the model to date. The term was popularized last year after an X post by Cody Plofker, the CEO of Jones Road Beauty, though a debate has emerged on what the phrase entails.

On this week's episode of the Modern Retail Podcast, senior reporter Gabriela Barkho is joined by two veterans of the DTC landscape who started their brands in the 2010s. Nate Checketts, co-founder and CEO of Rhone, and Melissa Mash, co-founder and CEO of Dagne Dover, argue that the term DTC, in and of itself, is antiquated. The two also weigh the pros and cons of being an early player in the "DTC boom," and their approaches to raising venture capital and building more sustainable brands.

This week's episode discusses:

• How do founders characterize the different phases of DTC?
• A look back at being part of the DTC 1.0 wave, then navigating the next two phases amid increased challenges. 
• How events like the Covid-19 pandemic and tariffs helped shape the DTC channel.
• Building an enduring brand through a slower, more sustainable growth model. 

This week on the Modern Retail Podcast, special projects editor Melissa Daniels is joined by senior reporter Julia Waldow to dive deep into the world of brand activations happening around Super Bowl LX. Many brands don't have the $8 million to drop on a Super Bowl ad. In turn, they're tapping pop-ups, concerts and other IRL experiences to drive awareness before millions of eyeballs in the Bay Area, where the Super Bowl will be held at Levi's Stadium.

On this week’s Modern Retail Podcast, the staff discusses how the growing presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in cities like Minneapolis is impacting retail. Senior reporter Gabriela Barkho and special projects editor Melissa Daniels are joined by Modern Retail executive editor Anna Hensel to discuss topics like executives' reactions, shoppers’ protests and how brands are expressing solidarity with people on the ground.
In this episode, the three discuss:

• How local and national retail brands with a Minneapolis presence are addressing their employees and customers.
•  Recent ICE killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti pushed corporate CEOs from Target and Best Buy to finally respond.
•  What some brands are doing to express solidarity with immigrants and locals, including participating in strikes and donating sales proceeds to organizations.

On this week's episode, special projects editor Melissa Daniels takes a deep dive into how brands are shaking up their returns playbook. As many as 72% of brands are charging for returns these days, according to the National Retail Federation, but that's a major customer pain point. In turn, it's an area of business that brands are constantly evaluating to make sure their return policies make logistical and financial sense while still providing a good customer experience.

Daniels speaks with Samantha Gold, founder of sleepwear brand Motette, and Arin Schultz, chief growth officer at mattress brand Naturepedic, about the changes they're making to their return policies to make them more customer-friendly without taking a hit on the costs associated with processing returns. They get into:

• The invisible costs of free returns, like shipping rates and warehouse restocking fees
• Why Motette is planning to roll out free returns following a customer poll
• The ways Naturepedic got its return rate to less than half of the industry average