STORES

Cole Haan

After being in business for about a 100 years, Cole Haan is looking to more than heritage to stay relevant with consumers today.The footwear brand is focused on refreshing everything from its branding to its product assortment, while expanding beyond shoes into apparel and lifestyle categories.

“We’ve been hard at work just looking at what the roadmap looks like leading up toward our 100 years,” Jeanine Farucci, VP of global brand marketing at Cole Haan, told Retail Brew. “When we look back on what we’ve built over the last 100 years, that’s very important. But it’s really the look forward that’s keeping us in the game.”

The strategy comes as footwear retailers are faced with a consumer that has become increasingly value conscious amid years of inflation and economic uncertainty.

Per Circana, while US footwear sales have largely stabilized following the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, shoppers remain selective, prioritizing quality, versatility, and products that can serve multiple purposes over trend-driven purchases.

Keep reading here.—JS

      

Sponsored By Audiense

We hear you; it’s still only August. But it never hurts to be overprepared. Especially since Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) makes for such a significant annual revenue opportunity.

Audiense notes that there are six distinct BFCM buyer patterns. And not every Black Friday purchase is driven by a discount. Their playbook explores how to prioritize high-value shoppers (repeat buyers, research-led buyers, gift-buyers, subscribers) instead of the one-time deal-seekers.

For example: Swap flat percentage-off messaging for bundles, early access, curated gift sets, or explicit cancellation terms to increase retention and lifetime value.

Get the guide to learn more about conversion optimization, session enrichment, timely event tracking, and more.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR & TRENDS

Stefania Pelfini La Waziya/Getty Images

Consumers are buying more food and beverages colored with natural dyes, but a green light from shoppers doesn’t mean brands and retailers won’t face a few red flags.

In 2025, products with artificial dyes made up 4% of food and beverage products and 7% of dollar sales (and a whopping 42.2% of candy sales), according to a recent report from the National Confectioners Association (NCA) and RTI International.

Food and beverage products advertising “natural colors” grew dollar sales by 24.4% last year, with notable growth across categories like prepared food (52.5%), diet and nutrition (40.6%), baking, seasoning, and toppings (27.1%), and dairy (21.7%). In contrast, products marketing “artificial colors” in their ingredients grew less than 0.1%.

Amid pressure from the FDA and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., many retailers and CPG giants have been making strides to eliminate synthetic food dyes from their products over the past year.

Keep reading here.—EC

      

E-COMMERCE

Amber Venz Box

Most e-commerce companies dream of building a subscription model that generates meaningful recurring revenue. Fewer are willing to walk away from it once they do.

That’s the bet Amber Venz Box is making.

As co-founder of LikeToKnow.it or LTK, she built an online affiliate and commerce marketing company to monetize her work as a personal shopper and early online influencer on her own website and on social networks like Instagram. Now, as LTK focuses on its own social shopping platform featuring individual creators, her plan is to pivot away from charging brands and instead openly share the data her platform has collected about creators and product sales with them.

Keep reading here on Founder Brew.—JH

      

Quiz

Amelia Kinsinger

The week’s biggest Retail Brew stories, now in quiz form. Test yourself on the latest headlines in e-commerce, shopping trends, retail marketing, and more in a quick, competitive challenge built for retail pros. Challenge your coworkers and see how your score stacks up!

swapping skus

Today’s top retail reads.

No, thanks: Why Papa John’s is turning away potential buyers. (the Wall Street Journal)

A shoe-in: How Malta is becoming the hottest new tax haven for retailers like Crocs. (the New York Times)

Aftermath: After migrant workers were driven out, some clothing factories in South Africa are out of workers. (Reuters)

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Jobs

Tired of one-size-fits-all job boards? CollabWORK highlights roles that reflect your interests and goals—delivered through communities like Retail Brew. Click here to explore the full job board.

• Account Executive National Retail Sales at Securitas Technology Corporation
• Sales Director, Retail & CPG at LiveRamp
• Senior Retail Media Account Executive - Orange Apron Media at Home Depot
• Senior Category Manager - Pleasanton, CA at Calyxo
• Director, Supply Chain at Southland Industries