Each week, the CPG Guys will riff on the hottest topics in the world of omnichannel commerce.

This week’s topics:

• 7-Eleven's New CEO Is “Stealing With Pride” From Japan
• Mars Maps the Next Decade of Shopping
• How Reckitt Is Thriving With China's Social-Media Shoppers
• DoorDash Names WPP Media Its Global Media Partner

CPG Guys Website: http://CPGguys.com
FMCG Guys Website: http://FMCGguys.com
SheCOMMERCE Website: https://shecommercepodcast.com/
Rhea Raj’s Website: http://rhearaj.com
Lara Raj in Katseye: https://www.katseye.world/

DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent.

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast.

The CPG Guys are joined in this episode by Scott Needham, CEO and Founder at SmartScout, The most extensive Amazon brand and product finder ever made!
A tool built for Amazon sellers, by Amazon sellers. SmartScout is a tool for Amazon sellers to use as their own personal treasure map of Amazon!

This episode is sponsored by SmartScout

Follow Scott on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-needham-a8b39813/

Get a FREE category snapshot at: https://www.smartscout.com/cpgguys

Scott answers these questions:

1. You built and sold real Amazon businesses before you ever built SmartScout. What was the recurring frustration in your own account-level data that made you say, ‘I need to build a tool for this’?
2. For a large, established brand that already has strong retail measurement and thinks it has visibility into Amazon, what's the blind spot they usually don't know they have — around third-party sellers, category share, or where their business has quietly shifted?
3. When you sit down with an enterprise brand for the first time and show them what's actually happening in their category, where does that conversation usually go?
4. You recently launched TikTok Shop analytics. For a senior brand leader, what's the real question they should be asking — not how a video performs on TikTok in isolation, but which trends there actually translate into Amazon category growth, and which are just noise?
5. Can you walk us through an example — a TikTok Shop trend that clearly moved the needle on Amazon versus one that looked exciting but never translated into real growth?
6. Category concentration is one of the more interesting patterns in your data — some categories consolidating around a handful of brands, others fragmenting into hundreds of undifferentiated sellers. What does category concentration tell a brand about where to defend share and where to invest?
7. How does a brand tell the difference between a category that's fragmenting because of real innovation versus one that's fragmenting because of low-quality, undifferentiated competition?
8. What does good, data-led marketplace decision-making actually look like at scale — and what's the most common mistake you see when a brand treats Amazon as just another sales channel?
9. If you're advising a CMO or VP of e-commerce at a mid-size CPG brand, what's the first strategic question they should be asking about their category before they touch a single tactic?
10. You've offered to pull real numbers on a specific category ahead of a conversation like this one. Tell our audience about that offer — and looking ahead, where do you see the biggest opportunity for brands as AI-driven discovery and TikTok Shop-style commerce keep reshaping where purchases actually happen?

CPG Guys Website: http://CPGguys.com
FMCG Guys Website: http://FMCGguys.com
SheCOMMERCE Website: https://shecommercepodcast.com/
Rhea Raj’s Website: http://rhearaj.com
Lara Raj in Katseye: https://www.katseye.world/

DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent.

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast.

The CPG Guys are joined in this episode by Benoit Vatere, Chief Media & Digital Commerce Officer at Liquid Death, one of the fastest growing non-alcoholic beverage brands, Liquid Death uses comedy and entertainment to make health and sustainability 50 times more fun.

This episode was recorded in Las Vegas at the 2026 Groceryshop conference.

Follow Benoit on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benoitvatere/

Follow Liquid Death online at: https://liquiddeath.com/

Benoit answers these questions:

1. What's actually changed for Liquid Death's retail media approach in the months since, and what hasn't?
2. As a brand that guards its identity fiercely, how do you decide which of these networks are actually worth Liquid Death's money versus which are just more standardized inventory to say no to?
3. Now that you're negotiating Joint Business Plans with grocers specifically — not just retail broadly — has that fandom leverage translated the way you expected?
4. AI shopping agents are showing up inside the grocery experience itself now — in-app assistants, list builders, reorder predictors. If one of those intercepts a shopper before they ever see your brand page, how is Liquid Death optimizing to stay “machine-preferred” in a grocery app specifically, versus the broader retail context we discussed at Cannes?
5. How do you run a Liquid Death-style disruptive activation inside a delivery experience that's built for speed, not spectacle?
6. Has grocery media gotten any better at supporting the kind of involved, culturally loud activations Liquid Death is known for, or is it still an uphill fight?
7. How tightly are your media optimization loops tied to actual shelf and delivery-dark-store inventory data today?
8. Is grocery retail media a defensive tool to protect your space on that shelf, or still purely offensive for you?
9. What's the biggest gap you see between how grocery retail media talks about innovation and what it's actually able to deliver for a brand like Liquid Death?
10. For a CPG media leader walking the floor here at Groceryshop trying to modernize their grocery retail media strategy, what's the single biggest reality check you'd give them to stop playing it safe?

CPG Guys Website: http://CPGguys.com
FMCG Guys Website: http://FMCGguys.com
SheCOMMERCE Website: https://shecommercepodcast.com/
Rhea Raj’s Website: http://rhearaj.com
Lara Raj in Katseye: https://www.katseye.world/

DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent.

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast.

Each week, the CPG Guys will riff on the hottest topics in the world of omnichannel commerce.

This week’s topics:

• Costco reports higher fourth-quarter profit on resilient consumer spending
• Grocery inflation is primed to rise
• Kroger details its AI strategy at Groceryshop 2026
• GLP-1 drug use keeps reshaping the grocery basket

CPG Guys Website: http://CPGguys.com
FMCG Guys Website: http://FMCGguys.com
SheCOMMERCE Website: https://shecommercepodcast.com/
Rhea Raj’s Website: http://rhearaj.com
Lara Raj in Katseye: https://www.katseye.world/

DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent.

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast.

Each week, the CPG Guys will riff on the hottest topics in the world of omnichannel commerce.

This week’s topics:

• Costco reports higher fourth-quarter profit on resilient consumer spending
• Grocery inflation is primed to rise
• Kroger details its AI strategy at Groceryshop 2026
• GLP-1 drug use keeps reshaping the grocery basket

CPG Guys Website: http://CPGguys.com
FMCG Guys Website: http://FMCGguys.com
SheCOMMERCE Website: https://shecommercepodcast.com/
Rhea Raj’s Website: http://rhearaj.com
Lara Raj in Katseye: https://www.katseye.world/

DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent.

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast.

The CPG Guys are joined in today's episode by Mark Hardy, SVP and head of Data Ventures at Walmart.

Follow Mark on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-a-hardy/

Follow Walmart Data Ventures online at: https://www.walmartdataventures.com/

Mark answers these Questions:

1. We’re back at Inspire for another year. For those who may not be familiar, Mark, what is Inspire — and what’s been different about the event this year?
2. We were here last year, and one of the things that stuck with us was your introduction of the Scintilla Insights Model. Remind us what that is — and how are you thinking about that?
3. Why was Scintilla such a game-changer in helping Kao introduce new life into their 125 year old Jergens brand.
4. Yesterday, you laid out a much bigger vision for where Scintilla is headed — evolving from the insights platform you’ve built into what you’re calling a commerce intelligence platform. What does that mean?
5. Let’s unpack that. Starting with “integrated” — suppliers already have access to an enormous amount of data. What still needs to be connected?
6. You also shared some exciting new AI capabilities yesterday. It sounds like Scintilla is getting a lot smarter in how it helps suppliers make sense of all this information. What does that experience start to look like?
7. Then you get to the third piece: actionable. If Scintilla can tell me what’s happening and help me understand why, how do you get me closer to actually doing something about it?
8. And one of the places where that becomes very tangible is Scintilla In-Store. What changes when you bring this intelligence all the way onto the sales floor?
9. Two years ago the story was "how did I do," last year it was "what should I do." If that arc continues, what' does this look like in 2027?

CPG Guys Website: http://CPGguys.com
FMCG Guys Website: http://FMCGguys.com
SheCOMMERCE Website: https://shecommercepodcast.com/
Rhea Raj’s Website: http://rhearaj.com
Lara Raj in Katseye: https://www.katseye.world/

DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent.

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast.

The CPG Guys are joined in today's episode by Sarp Tuncay, a retail media and e-commerce strategy leader in the CPG/Retail industry.

Follow Sarp on LinekdIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarptuncay/

Sarp answers these Questions:

1. You open with a bedtime story about your son Kai — and it perfectly frames the human-AI collaboration dynamic. How did that moment crystallize your thinking about what’s actually changing in retail media?
2. You say the central risk isn’t job loss, it’s that work becomes less important as platforms automate. That’s a more unsettling thesis than “your job disappears.” How are practitioners actually reacting when you frame it that way?
3. You describe AI as already embedded in bidding, budget pacing, targeting, and reporting — not a future state. Which retail media network do you think has gone furthest in automating execution, and what does that mean for the practitioners using it?
4. If automation creates an “illusion of control” — your phrase — what does that actually look like on the ground for a brand team that thinks they’re managing a campaign?
5. You draw a sharp line between Operator and Orchestrator. What’s the hardest part of that identity shift for practitioners who built their career on execution excellence?
6. You argue AI optimizes locally while humans must optimize globally across retailers and business goals. Can you give us a real-world scenario where that distinction made or broke a brand’s retail media outcome?
7. Your framework identifies two practitioner paths — platform specialist versus growth partner. Are brands and agencies hiring and promoting differently based on that split yet?
8. You say success metrics need to shift from ROI charts to business impact — growth, penetration, profitability. Who in the organization needs to change first: the practitioner, their manager, or the client?
9. “The real risk is irrelevance” — being seen as a reporter rather than a decision support partner. How do you help someone audit whether they’ve already drifted into that reporter role without realizing it?
10. You recommend mastering margin calculations, supply constraints, and leadership’s definition of incrementality. How much of that business fluency exists today across the retail media practitioner community, honestly?
11. We’re headed into Cannes Lions, where AI and commerce are dominating the agenda. What’s the conversation you most want to have there that you think isn’t happening loudly enough yet?
12. You close with “Let AI write the draft. You own the story.” How would you advise a brand to apply this philosophy?

CPG Guys Website: http://CPGguys.com
FMCG Guys Website: http://FMCGguys.com
SheCOMMERCE Website: https://shecommercepodcast.com/
Rhea Raj’s Website: http://rhearaj.com
Lara Raj in Katseye: https://www.katseye.world/

DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent.

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast.