The Modern Retail Podcast Digiday

Violife is trying to become the Oatly of plant-based cheese.
The brand, which launched in 2013, is part of the Greek plant-based food company Arivia. But it didn't hit U.S. shelves until 2015. Since then, Violife has taken off. It is now the number one plant-based cheese in the world -- and it continues to roll out new products to continue its growth streak.
According to Violife's global president and chief brand officer Olga Osminkina-Jones, the current strategy is to make plant-based cheese into a mainstream product.
"The category itself is truly nascent," she said.
Osminkina-Jones is a consumer brand veteran. Before joining Violife, she held vp-level roles at companies like PepsiCo, Danone and Heineken. The reason she decided to go to a plant-based food startup, she said, was "to take on a challenge like the reinvention and acceleration of a category."
And indeed that's the project ahead. So far, things seem to be working. Violife is in most major grocers and continues to launch new products. Most recently, it unveiled a new cream cheese product that could be used in baked products.
But the real hurdle isn't about shelf space, but in getting more people to try the product. In many ways, what plant-based cheese needs is an Oatly moment.
"As you look at the trajectories of such categories as plant-based milk, you can clearly see that the scale of adoption was equally propelled by the collaborations and partnerships with the right channels and customers," Osminkina-Jones said.
With that, the focus is on getting more people familiar with the product so that the overall category can continue to grow. While Violife is in a good position as the category leader, Osminkina knows there's still a lot of work ahead.
"The key here is not to run before we can walk," she said.

On this week’s Modern Retail Rundown: PepsiCo-owned Gatorade is adding more hydration SKUs that resemble Liquid I.V. and Prime. Meanwhile, department store retailers face yet another hurdle: A new law that limits payment late fees can hurt credit card revenue for retailers like Macy's and Kohl's. Lastly, Bark just announced Bark Air, a new airline program that offers pets and their owners a more comfortable flying experience.

Every beauty startup these days describes itself as a clean beauty brand, but skin-care brand Kopari was ahead of the curve.
"It's definitely table stakes now," said CEO Susan Kim.
But, it wasn't always that way. "The way I think about clean is that back in 2015, it was a differentiator," Kim said. And that's what helped Kopari -- which makes products including cleansers, moisturizers, sunscreen and deodorant -- grow into the profitable brand it is today, with revenue growing 45% in 2023.
Kim joined this week's Modern Retail Podcast and spoke about the company's rise, as well as how the company has evolved since she took on the role of CEO in 2020.
Before she joined the brand, she said, "I remember thinking: I have to keep tabs on this brand."
Cut to today and Kopari has launched into new areas like sunscreen, and has diversified its marketing to keep customer acquisition costs low. The company invests in performance media, earned media as well as other higher-funnel brand campaigns. "It's the harmony of all of those elements [coming] together that makes for a very efficient CAC," she said.
Another important differentiator for Kopari has been speaking directly to its customers. The company has a Slack channel, for example, where it frequently talks with its people who use the products every day. "That's instantaneous feedback that's consumer-centric," she said.
But beyond the feedback, Kim said these types of initiatives help the brand seem more human. "It allows us to have a community," she said. "That's really what it's about."

On this week's Modern Retail Rundown: Ulta's latest performance shows that beauty sales may finally be decelerating. Retailers like Express, Peloton and Saks have reportedly been late on paying their vendors -- indicating cash flow issues. Finally, there was drama in the food startup space as Momofuku gets litigious with competitors.

It's been a tough few years for roll-up companies, but Pattern Brands seems to have bucked the trend.
The company -- which began as design agency Gin Lane and evolved into a portfolio of DTC brands including Open Spaces, Onsen and Gir -- raised a $25 million Series B in 2022 -- and has been slowly building out its portfolio ever since.
While other roll-up players like Thrasio and Win Brands Group have faced major headwinds, Pattern has continued chugging along. Its co-founder and chief business officer Suze Dowling, who joined the Modern Retail Podcast this week, attributes this to the company's focus on its core consumer.
"If you're working across seven brands in a portfolio, it is helpful to try and find what is the grounding force," Dowling said.
This shopper is internally dubbed "Mia," and all of Pattern's brands -- including towel company Onsen and kitchen accessory maker Gir -- target "those micro-moments of [Mia's] day, and how can we make them just a little bit more special," Dowling said.
By having that focus on one type of shopper, Dowling said that Pattern has been able to remain grounded and focused. "I would challenge [the idea that] for some of the Amazon aggregators -- that also had 50 brands, 100 brands -- that they were able to find those same synergies in how they operated," she said.
For now, Pattern has been focused on finding the right brands to buy -- as well as finding the best modes for growth. "I'm very excited and kind of gung-ho on trying to make sure we build some mass retail partnerships over the next 12 to 18 months," Dowling said.

This week: H&M inches toward profitability under its new CEO, with the company planning to focus on cost-cutting and competing for price-conscious fast-fashion customers. Next, we also look at a Bloomberg story analyzing why being picked as Wirecutter's top wok ended up overwhelming the small shop that carries the product. Lastly, Dollar Tree announced plans to raise prices on select items to lure its growing high-income customer base.