The Modern Retail Podcast

Three years since the debut of TikTok Shop, brands are still weighing whether it’s worth investing in the social commerce channel.

In the past year, Whisker, the maker of Litter Robot, finally took the plunge, joining TikTok Shop primarily to secure an early adoption advantage on the platform and reach younger demographics like Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

Whisker CMO Hew Loyd joined this week’s Modern Retail Podcast to discuss the pros and cons of DTC brands betting on TikTok Shop.

Despite being a high-consideration item at $699, Litter Robot found early success on TikTok Shop due to its unique, visually-appealing features. The product’s automated self-cleaning process is what the company calls a "thumb stopper” for audiences, which gets curious users to pause and see how it works. This virality and subsequent TikTok Shop sales have created a halo effect for the brand, with Whisker anticipating that its TikTok Shop presence will drive sales across other channels, like its direct-to-consumer website and Amazon.

In this episode Loyd discusses:

Whisker’s firm pricing strategy, with the company opting to stay away from the go-to aggressive discounting strategies many TikTok Shop merchants adopt.

Gaining first-party data by onboarding TikTok Shop customers to the Litter Robot app.

Carefully scaling Whisker’s affiliate program by prioritizing niche content creators over a high-volume posting approach.

Increasingly, people are asking ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini for product recommendations, and it's changing how brands position themselves online.Brands are used to optimizing their products for physical shelves and digital storefronts. But now, they also increasingly have to think about the AI shelf, a concept recently outlined by tech writer Deana Burke in the newsletter Boys Club. Burke decided to test AI bots by creating a completely fictional natural deodorant brand to see if she could get it recommended on the AI shelf. And the experiment actually worked.As product discovery evolves from the physical shelf to the digital shelf, and now to the AI shelf, there are a few question marks. How do these algorithms decide which products to surface? And if you're an emerging brand, how do you ensure your products take space on that AI shelf?Joining the Modern Retail Podcast this week to unpack the AI shelf revolution is Jessica Wright, senior vp of product at Spins Foundry.This week’s podcast episode digs into:

How personalized AI shelves are shaping CPG trends.

How brands can get their products machine-readable for AI agents.

Why this data is fundamentally changing organic and paid marketing.

Footwear brand Rothy's, which crossed $211 million in sales last year, is an example of a company that has managed to successfully navigate the volatile direct-to-consumer shoe category, even as competitors like Allbirds have failed.

Brands that began as strictly DTC are increasingly looking at what they can do to survive and grow beyond just putting out digital ads. But doing so without burning money is a challenge and requires discipline.

So how has Rothy’s not only survived but stayed profitable at a time when many of its DTC-era peers have gone under? By growing its operations intentionally, according to Rothy’s CEO & president Dayna Quanbeck, who joined the Modern Retail Podcast this week.

Quanbeck said the company’s current challenge is to “not be distracted” by all the growth and to practice patience to avoid expanding too soon. It’s a trap that other DTC footwear brands have fallen into over the past decade. As such, Rothy’s is testing physical retail concepts while balancing them with a sustainable footprint.

This week’s podcast episode digs into:

The evolving challenges of the direct-to-consumer footwear category.

Transitioning from DTC-first to wholesale and physical distribution.

Knowing when and where to expand next.

These days, it is borderline expected that brands will use artificial intelligence in at least some capacity as part of their marketing. But they also have to tread carefully; otherwise, consumers may slam them with “AI slop” allegations.

As a result, more companies are creating playbooks for how they approach these tools in consumer-facing campaigns. Some, like Coca-Cola, have doubled down on using AI-generated ads despite initial backlash. On the other end of the spectrum, there’s REI, which pulled an AI-generated Facebook ad after consumer backlash, saying the use of AI does not align with the company’s sustainability mission.

This episode takes a behind-the-scenes look at one brand’s approach to using generative AI in its marketing creatives. Boll & Branch, known for its premium bedding, bath and home essentials, largely sells through its DTC website and stores. The brand has been gradually using AI tools to create imagery and campaign copy for its marketing channels. This week, Kristen Deyko, chief creative officer of Boll & Branch and the person leading the brand’s use of AI tools for marketing, joins the Modern Retail Podcast to discuss the playbook.

This week’s podcast episode digs into:

How Boll & Branch created playbook pillars for integrating generative AI content in campaign images and copy.

The company’s stance on when it does and does not make sense to use AI-generated creative.

The dos and don’ts of using these tools to speed up the creative process.

Fragrance continues to dominate the beauty sector in 2026, but it's increasingly showing up as a differentiator in other sectors like personal care and household essentials.This week on the Modern Retail Podcast, special projects editor Melissa Daniels speaks with Diana Melencio, general partner at XRC Brand Capital Fund, about the ways companies are using fragrance to set themselves apart.“On the shelves of Target and Walmart in the traditional laundry and household cleaning aisles, you're going to start seeing more premium products that have that differentiated scent architecture," Melencio said.Melencio, who is actively looking to invest in the space, has looked at the growth of fragrance and highlights how companies like genderless fragrance company DedCool and sanitizer brand Touchland are commanding elevated prices and prime retail spots in places like Sephora. At the same time, legacy companies like Unilever are ramping up their fragrance opportunities while trying to ensure that they're not alienating price-conscious consumers.XRC's research shows that fragrance grew 15% in mass and 5% in prestige in 2025, which outpaces every other beauty segment. Melencio and Daniels discuss the ins and outs of why fragrance has become so popular and how brands across categories are looking to capitalize on the trend.Their conversation gets into:

Why price-conscious consumers are willing to pay a premium for elevated fragrances

The challenges that conglomerates have in innovating around scent-based products compared to startups

What some of the trendiest scents are in 2026 and how perfumers suss out what's the next big hit