The New Consumer

Excited to launch WHAT'S WORKING, a new partnership with The Malin, the hospitality- and design-forward workspace. If you're in Austin, join us for a special event and housewarming party on Nov. 13 in their stunning new location. RSVP info linked in the comments. Our collaboration is all about highlighting what’s working in creative businesses today, and — also — what is “working” these days? We’ll explore both, at the event and on The New Consumer in the coming months. I'm excited to learn more from Jen Batchelor, founder of Kin Euphorics, and Chip Malt, cofounder of Made In, in conversation in Austin. Join us!

I had a great talk with Michael LaVitola about his plans for rebooting Foxtrot, the modern convenience store chain that unexpectedly went out of business earlier this year. What an opportunity! It won’t be easy. But it’s one of the best retail concepts I’ve experienced, and deserves a second shot.

HOT TEA: Americans can't get enough matcha these days — its popularity among orders at Square merchants has doubled over the past five years. No surprise! It's delicious, stimulating, great hot and cold, and highly Instagrammable. And now increasingly mainstream, from cafés like Starbucks (an early adopter in the US) and Blue Bottle Coffee to the Taika cans at your local Erewhon. I've recently been making tiny iced Rocky Xu Rocky's Matchas, with a splash of almond milk, between AM+PM coffees. Chart via Consumer Trends Highlights, my new monthly trends newsletter at The New Consumer, in collaboration with Coefficient Capital. Link in comments.

Introducing Consumer Trends Highlights, a new monthly newsletter from The New Consumer’s Dan Frommer and Coefficient Capital. Check out the first issue, now live!

Excited to publish our latest Consumer Trends special(!) report — focused on food and wellness — in collaboration with Coefficient Capital. Just in time for Expo West! Research and production by Dan Frommer and Natalie Anna Borowski, with data provided by Instacart, Toluna, and Earnest Analytics.

I'm excited to launch a new series today focused on AI and the future of commerce. Over the coming years, AI could have profound effects on how we shop and interact with brands. And it's exactly the sort of collision of technology and the consumer experience that I set out to explore with The New Consumer. My launch partner for this series is Work & Co, the Brooklyn-based tech and design company. We kicked it off today with an in-depth interview: I spoke with Derek Fridman, a design partner at the firm. Lots of interesting stuff here: Why chat could be a good interface for commerce, why Derek is excited about Apple's forthcoming Vision Pro and spatial computing, and — perhaps most important — how companies of all sizes can start to experiment with #AI. Check it out and please let me know if there's a great AI-commerce company, concept, or person to feature in a future part of the series. (And my thanks again to Work & Co — just acquired this week by Accenture Song — for partnering with me on this project!)

The consumer economy is strong. 2024 is the year of weight loss. TikTok Shop is already huge. And so much more, from #Ozempic to #TheSphere to #AppleVisionPro. Excited to publish our Consumer Trends 2024 report, by Dan Frommer in collaboration with Coefficient Capital. 97 slides, free to view and share: