Walmart makes massive moves

Plus: Criteo x Doordash, retailers' Prime Day response, and more

The other week, Walmart announced that it’s removing synthetic dyes and 30+ other artificial ingredients from all of its private label foods - and it got me SO excited.

The fact that the nation's largest retailer is reformulating what amounts to one of the largest private brand overhauls in retail history? That's not just a fleeting trend - it's a seismic shift.

I remember when better-for-you meant shopping exclusively at Whole Foods (and when WF was better known as Whole Paycheck…). Now? I'm seeing products like Kodiak Cakes in the carts of conventional shoppers who've never set foot in the natural aisle. It’s one thing for better-for-you options to be available to the “organic-everything” families - but it’s another for those products to reach those who are just taking that first step toward cleaner ingredients.

This is exactly why I started Veriti : to make better-for-you products accessible to the masses, not just the privileged few. When Walmart - where 270 million people shop weekly - decides to clean up its labels without upping prices, we're not talking about a niche movement anymore. We're talking about fundamental change in how America eats.

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Now, onto this week in retail media and shopper marketing →

The snacks + sips hitting our grocery carts this week 🛒 

Magnolia Table - Classic Cinnamon Rolls

If you didn’t yet know, the Johanna Gaines just launched a line of frozen baked goods exclusively at Target - and I already snagged the Classic Cinnamon Rolls. I’m SO excited to dig into these! Next on my to-try list is their After School Banana Bread (love this name and idea) and the Jo’s Buttermilk Biscuits!

Slice Soda - Shirley Temple

This past weekend, I tried Slice’s new Shirley Temple (another Target-exclusive product) and am excited to report that it’ll be an obvious repurchase. There are so many great modern sodas these days, but I’m loving this nostalgic flavor - plus Slice’s focus on not just prebiotics, but probiotics and postbiotics too for a well-rounded gut!

Drumroll Snacks - Mini Muffins

I have been WAITING for a better-for-you Little Bites (IYKYK). Finally, Drumroll, known for its delicious, better-for-you mini donuts, just launched its Mini Muffins at Sprouts!! These joyful muffin bites have 10g of protein, 4g of fiber, and only 3g of sugar per three donuts - immediate add-to-cart.

Featured retailer marketing updates, trends, tips, and more!

🤖 OpenAI Partners With Walmart, Instacart, and More

The future of grocery shopping might just be a conversation… with a bot. Over the last two weeks, OpenAI announced partnerships with Walmart, Instacart , and more, bringing shopping capabilities directly into ChatGPT for its 800 million users.

The AI Shopping Revolution:

• Walmart's Instant Checkout: Walmart customers can now fully complete purchases directly within ChatGPT, starting with single items and expanding to full carts.
• Instacart integration: Users can get product recommendations, build shopping lists, and plan meals.
• DoorDash & Uber Eats integration: ChatGPT will detect when users want food delivery and display restaurant options - looks like this is still focused on restaurants rather than grocery delivery, but we expect developments here!
• Target also made the list of future partners. It looks like ChatGPT will be able to access the Target app and explore products within the chat, though users can’t complete a purchase directly through it (yet).

What this means for brands: The convergence of AI and retail creates an entirely new discovery channel. It’s time to start considering how your brand might appear in conversational contexts – when someone asks ChatGPT for "healthy snacks for kids" or "best plant-based milks," which brands will it recommend?

✅ Your to-do: Audit your product data now to ensure rich, detailed attributes that AI can understand - include use cases, dietary information, flavor profiles, and recipe applications so ChatGPT can accurately recommend your products in conversational shopping scenarios.

🚚 Criteo x DoorDash

In another major partnership announcement, Criteo and DoorDash are joining forces in a multi-year deal. This partnership positions Criteo as an extension of DoorDash's advertising sales team.

What this means for you:

• Expanded access: Brands working with Criteo can now reach consumers across DoorDash's grocery, convenience, and CPG delivery network
• Full-funnel advertising: Includes onsite video, display banners, Sponsored Products, and offsite channels across display, video, search, and social
• Defragmented buying: This should simplify your retail media purchasing - connecting traditional brick + mortar efforts with your delivery marketplaces

My take: Between this news and Uber Eats’ x Instacart's Carrot Ads partnership in April, we’re seeing more and more bets on delivery platforms’ retail media. For CPG brands, the message is clear: delivery platforms are no longer just logistics partners - they're becoming essential retail media channels where purchase decisions happen.

🛒 Retailers’ Prime Day Response

This year, Amazon's Fall Prime Big Deal Days (October 7-8) triggered an all-out retail response, with consumers spending $9.1 billion across U.S. retailers - up 7.3% year-over-year. But this isn’t just about Amazon - other retailers responded with their own deal days:

• Walmart Deals: Six-day event (Oct 7-12) open to all shoppers (unlike Amazon, which is restricted to Prime members), with Walmart+ members getting early access
• Target Circle Week: Oct 5-11 featuring 20,000 new items, twice as many as 2024
• While pure-play grocers like Kroger didn't launch specific "Prime competitor" events, Kroger ran its first-ever "Customer Appreciation Week" in late September with deep grocery discounts, signaling that even traditional supermarkets feel the October pressure.

My thoughts: Amazon's October event drove massive e-commerce growth, with brands seeing 10-15% sales increases and some going as deep as 40% discounts. Yet remember this crucial stat: 92% of food and beverage shopping still happens in physical stores.

With two-thirds of consumers now starting holiday shopping before Black Friday and over 15% of total holiday spending happening before November, October has become too big to ignore - but brands need to think beyond just Amazon.

Thanks for reading!

— Eleanor

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