Bloomberg

The two companies announced an “enhanced” partnership focused on product innovation, elevated experiences, and deeper consumer connectivity.

Consumer goods companies — especially food brands — are woefully behind the times when it comes to marketing insights, smart analytics and an ability to flex with changing behaviors. And at the root of this is an outdated, disconnected technology stack that is limiting agility and proactive decision-making.

While it’s unclear how much of the pandemic-prompted digital disruption has staying power, it’s safe to say consumers have gotten a taste of the potential of tech-enabled convenience, and they like what they see. We chatted with ChannelAdvisor's Mike Shapaker about the brands giving third-party marketplaces a second look, the e-comm metrics that should live on their dashboards, and the technologies we should all have on our radars.

Coty is weighing the sale of the unit, which owns brands including Wella, as part of the CEO’s plan to turn around the wider business by boosting margins and reducing leverage.

General Mills discontinued its Nibblr subscription snack offering after about a year and a half, while Kellogg has assembled a team to create the direct-to-consumer food business.

Many small, organic food companies start with a homegrown story that appeals to its consumer base, however, major consumer goods powerhouses have been recently vacuuming up these niche players. Giants like Coke, General Mills and Kellogg have recently expanded their organic portfolios through acquisition with rumors of more to come. With the risk of being called a sell out, is teaming up with bigger companies better for growth, or is it a death sentence for these smaller players?

The insights gained are expected to benefit Walmart and consumer products manufacturers and further contributes to the firm's mission to simplify and improve the way analytics is conducted within the industry.

Big data combined with current analytical capabilities puts us in control of backhoes relative to the shovels we dug with not long ago. The power we could and should have through these tools is great, but in many cases we fail to grasp the tools that are readily available to us.