This is the weekly snapshot of top trends from the Consumer Goods industry in the past week (3rd October-7th October). We have covered different categories, including:
Direct-to-Consumer: GrubMarket, an e-commerce platform connecting farmers and other food suppliers with customers, raised $120 million in equity with new investors including 301 Inc., the venture arm of General Mills.
AI and Robotics: Chipotle Mexican Grill has begun testing several new technologies including PreciTaste’s new kitchen management system, cook-to-needs kitchen management system and contextual restaurant initiative using Radius Networks’ Flybuy.
Sustainability: In conjunction with packaging company Berry, Mars has introduced candy jars manufactured of 15% recycled plastic for M&M’s, Starburst, and Skittles bulk products.
Consumer Trends: Unilever collaborated with the Center for Appearance Research to have game creators produce a broader range of avatars and prevent the hypersexualisation of female characters.
Supply Chain: Adrian Poretti has joined Hostess Brands as chief supply chain officer, where he will be responsible for all Hostess operations and supply chain.
Metaverse: For the second year in a row, Sephora’s annual Sephoria event was hosted virtually. The virtual “home party” style was expanded this year with an NFT giveaway and additional interactive activities.
