1800Hotline 034 // Rhode's $27M day, avocado oil products go viral with questions, and Khloé's chips add collagen
Jupiter proves an embarrassing problem beats a crowded category, Bakeful bets Target shoppers just want a good cookie, and Little Spoon ships eight new products.
Hey DTC fam,
We have a $22M pasta sauce brand proving one of the most commoditized aisle in the whole grocery still has room for a challenger, and a merchandising unlock most baby food brands weren’t thinking to pitch: a cooler. Quick reads on both below.
Also worth your calendar: introducing a new Ops & Logistics Lunch & Learn this month, plus some Newtopia week meetups in Denver we would love to catch up at. More details towards the end.
Let’s get into it.
This edition is presented by Okendo and MNML.
Getting someone to buy once is expensive. Getting them to buy again is where you actually make the moolah.
Funny thing is, most loyalty programs are bad at the second part. Points stack up, nobody redeems. Repeat rate doesn’t budge. See it all the time.
MNML had that problem, so they ended up rebuilding it with Okendo. Now their loyalty members buy again 2.2x more often and spend 42% more per order.
Darren Yuen, Senior Manager of Digital Marketing at MNML, is walking through what his team changed. He’s getting into the nitty gritty.
Thursday, August 13th at 2:00 PM ET / 11:00 AM PT, covering:
The changes that moved their repeat purchase rate
How they got rewards simple enough that people actually use them
Which rewards their best customers care about (and which they ignore)
Live Q&A right after. About 45 mins. Bring your program and put him to work.
👕 Register below and you’re in the draw for one of five $100 MNML gift cards.
Can’t make it? Okendo will send the recording your way if you register.
The Perfect Fit: MNML’s Blueprint for Customer Loyalty
Revenue Leak Report: Fill a 20x Revenue Gap
For most brands, after a customer spends a bunch a money there’s just an order confirmation. Bad move.
There should be another offer, a confirmation page built to monetize and a layering in of additional revenue streams on top of that same purchase. At least, according to the data…
17M Sessions analyzed
50K+ Shopify brands
Created in collab. with Aftersell, KNO, Stay AI, and Triple Whale, with special contributions from MoonBrew and Grüns, there’s a new report on how ecommerce brands monetize intent at checkout. Across millions of sessions and thousands of ecommerce brands, the largest differences in performance do not only come from how well brands convert traffic; they also come from how effectively they monetize the moments that follow.
How adding a Thank You Page can double post-purchase revenue
How to drive 35% AOV increase with a single post purchase offer
And more. Hit below to find those revenue leaks.
Loved this one and we’re not just saying that because they advertised this report with luxury cookies (though, the cookies were delicious).
Cookies…courtesy of Rokt Aftersell.
Brand Feature: Little Spoon
Little Spoon dropped eight new products, and the lineup nails the combo most kids’ food usually misses: fun to eat, and good to eat.
Courtesy of Little Spoon
Some rolling out direct, then Target shelves. There’s Peanut Puffs, an early allergen introduction snack built on pediatric guidance; Fruit Puzzlers, a Target-exclusive puzzle-shaped take on their best-selling Fruit Rippers; and Pancake Spoonies, a 9g-protein microwave pancake cup ready quick. Bunch more. Each one designed to get kids playing with their food while parents actually feel good about what’s inside. It’s all part of Little Spoon’s approach: building real solutions across the entire childhood feeding journey.
"Innovation in kids' food isn't just about adding or removing another ingredient. It's about designing products that kids genuinely want to eat while giving parents confidence in what's inside."
Angela Vranich, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer.
Already America’s #1 online baby and kids food company, the brand now runs one of the fastest innovation pipelines in the category, spanning well over 100 SKUs.
That avocado oil chip you’re eating may not be made with pure avocado oil. That’s the headline UC Davis published in mid-July that went viral on X over the weekend with a big conversation on CPG and truth in labeling. Close to a million views on the top post on it right now. Founder of Primal Kitchen, Mark Sisson, responded just last night. 93% of chips, 71% of mayos and 100% of salad dressings researches found from the products tested labeled as authentic avocado oil reportedly contained other oils. Not done. Following the legs here. → Full Story
Jupiter enters Ulta Beauty as the retailer targets dandruff, solution-based hair care. Jupiter is landing in 500 Ulta Beauty stores this week. While most scalp-care brands chase shine, volume, and wellness claims. Jupiter has built the whole company around a targeting the specific problem people are embarrassed to talk about head-on. Ulta is betting on that wedge as it pushes deeper into clinical, solution-based hair care. Seemingly owning the problem can be a way to compete in a crowded category. → Full Story
Bakeful Tops 4,000 Doors as Target Backs Clean Label Baked Goods. While every category leader is stacking grams of protein and functional claims, founder and CEO Tony Davis built Bakeful on clean label and plain indulgence, no added benefits attached. Protein-maxxing has a ceiling, and Davis is wagering that shoppers from the masses who just want a better cookie (simple ingredients, less sugar) on the occasional treat is the bigger bite.→ Full Story
Big Story: The ceiling for celebrity beauty is still rising
On Wednesday, E.l.f. Beauty reported a 36% increase in net sales to $479.4 million, driven by strong performance in both its retail and e-commerce channels, both in the US and internationally. This result, for the three months ended June 30, 2026, compared to the same period in 2025, marks the company’s 30th consecutive quarter of net sales growth. While impressive in itself, Rhode is the brand that dominated the investor meeting and the headlines that followed.
$27 million in DTC sales in a single day, 90,000 customers acquired in a single day, and now mapping an expansion into 19 countries.
“Rhode is just a phenomenal brand; I’ve been in the consumer space [for] 35 years, and it’s probably one of the most special brands I’ve ever seen.”
E.l.f. Beauty CEO, Tarang Amin
Hailey Bieber’s brand keeps outperforming the rest of beauty, and the numbers explain why. Celebrity lines typically lean on retail distribution and hope the name carries the shelf. On the flip, Rhode built the direct channel first and is scaling from that base.
There’s a chance Rhode hits a billion in net sales annually at some point in the very near future.
→ More
Khloud introduces Khloud Plus: Protein Chips with Collagen, expanding their functional snack line. The fast-growing protein snack brand co-founded by Khloé Kardashian, is building upon the success of the brand’s protein chips with another launch. This one’s debuting at Walmart in the OG Chip flavors (Sweet Heat, Nacho, and Buffalo), alongside an all-new Walmart-exclusive Jalapeño. Tripling down after popcorn, and the initial protein chips, more of targeting familiarity with the people already enjoying Khloud with a bit more on the offer.→ More
How Sauz built a $22M pasta sauce disruptor. Sauz built a $22M pasta sauce brand in a $10B category most operators write off as unwinnable because of legacy shelf giants. Co-founder Troy Bonde broke down how they did it on Express Checkout. Proof there’s always room for a challenger, especially if you aim bold. → More
How Once Upon a Farm is shaking up the baby aisle with coolers. Once Upon a Farm CMO Katie Marston went on the Modern Retail Podcast to explain how the brand put refrigerated coolers in the baby aisle. Convincing retailers to adopt a whole new merchandising format is its own sale and that strategy started way back in 2010. Interesting tidbits on brand-loyalty too. → More
Totally new format for us. If you touch ops or logistics, this will be working backwards from the financials: landed cost, inventory planning, when to actually switch your 3PL, freight, and the reporting that can catch a broken problem before the PO ships. FlowFi’s on for the finance side. DOSS for ops and inventory. Capped at 50 so we can have a real convo. Lunch on us with an Uber Eats gift card.
Newtopia Week in Denver | Tue, Wed, Aug 18-19
NYC Commerce Club Mixer | Wednesday, Aug 12 | New York, NY
Brand owners, marketers, and operators talking ecommerce, Shopify, and retail over some pizza and drinks. Organized by Henry Johnson with Arda Bulak from Create Wellness speaking on his AI use. The exact venue goes out to approved RSVPs.
That is Signals for Issue 034.
Rhode proves DTC-first-then-retail works yet again. Anyone really surprised? But, if you had to bet on a sequencing play for your own brand tomorrow, are you keeping direct first or trying to hit those shelves? Tomorrow isn’t today. Hit reply and let us know.
Plus, come find us in Denver if you’re heading to Newtopia next week!
— Zach and the 1800Hotline Team
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