Issue 105: The Consumer Pulse

We are well into August now. Things tend to slow down during this time. Partly due to the heat and humidity, and partly due to people clinging to the last grasps of summer. Once Labor Day hits, the great lock-in sprint begins. Most people will be ill-prepared for that time, and will need to catch up on what the consumers are saying. I thought, let’s make it easy for everyone to prepare, and dive into five recent interesting statistics around consumer commerce.

This stat is from 2025, but still piqued my interest when it made the rounds again. Once a week for Gen Z in-store may seem low, but then contrast that with only 65% of Baby Boomers responding similarly. Gen Z has higher in-store shopping rates than Boomers? When you think about what drives people to stores today, it comes together. Stores are preferred for their experiences, in-store discounts, the ability to get the items faster, and the convenience of having a location nearby. For retailers, the lesson here is you need to give people a reason to come in, treat them well, and then you will get higher spending. The survey also found higher spending in-store than online.

As crazy as it sounds, yes, we are already getting ready to prepare for the holidays. Which leads us to the big question: how people will shop, and in-person is the dominant method. ~36% of customers plan on going to physical stores to purchase gifts, 31% are likely to head online to shop, and 19% said they foresee “an even mix” of online and in-store shopping. However, the biggest challenge retailers and brands will have to face during the holiday period is limited budgets, with 38% saying a limited budget will be the biggest factor influencing their spending decisions. It is not too early to start thinking about the holiday season.

Below the surface, the US grocery industry is struggling more than it would seem. Most of last year’s growth was due to price increases, not volume growth. Grocery stores are adapting or will be left behind. Customers are shopping more frequently, but those trips look very different. The basket sizes are smaller and more focused on promotions or private label brands. They are certainly comparing prices across retailers. Consumers are getting smarter, plus there is way more technology available to assist in decision-making. Finally, consumers are trading up and down pack sizes of favorite items to get the best value per size. Hence why you see many club stores doing so well.

In 2024, Gallup, which publishes a survey panel on health and wellness regularly, started asking about GLP-1 usage. Here is how it looks:

The growth of usage is fascinating, but what stands out to me is how the inactive users have been pretty steady across the years. Once people are using this medicine, they tend to stay on it. It’s clear GLP-1s are having an impact.

According to Gallup, “After peaking at a record high of 39.9% in 2022, the U.S. adult obesity rate has gradually dropped to 36.4% thus far in 2026, a statistically meaningful decline that continues to inversely track with increased usage of GLP-1 medicine nationally.“

Move over Instagram and TikTok, there is a new influencer in town. Younger users are seeing purchases driven by AI chat. Compared to the weekly active AI users Gen X and older, only 38% have purchased products influenced by AI chatbots. That rate is only going to continue to increase as these chatbots become more commerce and advertising-focused, so they can grow revenue to cover their skyrocketing costs.

Last year in Q2, McDonald’s had a super popular Minecraft collaboration that really supercharged the business. This year, the promotions overlapped with some menu changes and weak marketing that led to customer confusion, which saw the promotion miss expectations. Advan, a traffic measurement research group, saw signals that suggested longer waiting times and discouraged potential customers from leaving before ordering. Stack that on top of everything going on in the macro environment you have a tough quarter. And that’s before everything going on with Burger King that is turning the company around from exemplary customer service. McDonald’s saw the issues and acted immediately. Joe Erlinger, the current President of the US business, is retiring, and in his place, Skye Anderson was promoted as the new President. Erlinger was in the role for six years. Anderson has been at the company for 26 years, rising from an entry-level finance role to this position. It will be interesting to see what changes happen.

Over the past 40 years, Thorne has scaled from a small brand to be acquired by the giant Procter & Gamble for $3.8B. Thorne produces supplements featuring creatine, electrolytes, and more. The recent financial history of Thorne is fascinating. Thorne went public in 2021 at a valuation of $525M. Then, in 2023, private equity firm L Catterton took it private for $680M. Last year, it reported revenue of over $500M, and now it is being acquired at an almost 8x revenue multiple. For P&G, the reason they are overpaying so much is the gaps in their portfolio fills. First, while P&G has supplements, it doesn’t have creatine or other newer supplement categories, which are exploding in popularity. Second, it has a large D2C business, whereas P&G traditionally focuses on retail. Finally, the majority of Thornes customers are under 40, a prized demographic.

In March 2025, Pepsi announced it would acquire Poppi for ~$2B. The deal closed shortly thereafter in May 2025. However, an additional chunk of that deal was a $300M payment based on performance by Q3 2026. Even though the milestones to get the deal are not disclosed, Pepsi has to essentially report a likelihood of paying it out. Initially, the Pepsi finance team thought it was an over 90% chance of giving that payout; then, this past earnings call, it was reduced again to a 40% likelihood, a sharp decline. Pepsi leadership on earnings calls, despite talking about the acquisitions a lot up front, has been pretty quiet recently. In Q1, they mentioned some distribution challenges as Poppi converted to the Pepsi system. Additionally, it doesn’t seem that the founding team really stuck around for very long, which is arguably the biggest challenge. In March, they teased that they were already working on a new company. Long term, I still am bullish on this acquisition for Pepsi, but I think Siete will quietly end up delivering more LTV and ROI.

Book more client interviews without adding researchers or coordinators. PodPitch finds relevant shows, personalizes outreach from your team’s inbox, and follows up until interviews land. Give clients more visible momentum, stronger authority, and another reason to renew.

Appear on 3,853,234 Podcasts

Was this forwarded to you? Sign up here.

Have an idea or want to chat? Respond to this email.

Is the email not reaching your inbox? Try this trick.