Quince launches caviar
+ Three years of Express Checkout, Aldi's takeover, and more...
Hello hello!
We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and, if you run an eCommerce brand, a successful (and only mildly exhausting) Black Friday and Cyber Monday!
As you’re celebrating those amazing revenue numbers from orders across the US, there’s just one more thing to keep in mind… that could be the difference between staying compliant and paying massive penalties: Sales tax.
Pro tip for post-BFCM: Audit your order data by state to identify any states where you crossed the economic nexus threshold, but didn’t collect tax. Correct the shortfall, register if needed, and remit back any taxes before those pesky penalties grow.
There are over 13,000 tax jurisdictions in the US, each with its own extremely counterintuitive rules. If you’re running an ecomm/CPG brand, it’s nearly impossible to keep up with all of the nuances, not to mention all the operational nightmares.
That’s why top brands like Graza, Eight Sleep, Ridge, immi and Grüns use Numeral to handle end-to-end sales tax compliance. Numeral is the AI-native sales tax solution built for ecommerce—automating nexus monitoring, filing, and remittance.
News From the Week
It’s officially been 3 years of Express Checkout! On November 27, 2022, I sent out my first newsletter to an audience of 136 subscribers. Today, we’re over 8,500 strong here on Substack.
What started as a solo part-time passion project has grown into something I never imagined. We’re now a team of two full-time people—and I have to give a massive shoutout to Jenna, whose dedication, creativity, and partnership has been absolutely instrumental in taking every aspect of Express Checkout to the next level.
We now produce three weekly sends, including our podcast The Curious Consumer (go subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts!), we’ve built an Instagram community of close to 20,000 followers, and we’ve connected with an incredible real-life network of amazing people across the industry.
But this wouldn’t be anything without our amazing audience. So, thank you. Truly. To my friends, my family, my former colleagues, and to everyone in this industry who reads, shares, and engages with what we create. Never in a million years did I think I would find my passion and be able to express it to so many people who feel the same way. It’s a dream come true!
Over the next year, you’ll see much more from us: more IRL events (if you’re looking to sponsor or partner, please reach out!), more from The Curious Consumer including exclusive interviews, and a revamp of the newsletter itself.
So please, keep following along. The best is yet to come! - Nate
We also just wrapped (pun intended) our 2025 series of highly-specific, actually-giftable gift guides! We had SO much fun sourcing items for these guides. We hope you found something you’d love to gift within these guides—or at least found a new brand that will now forever haunt you with ads for a product you didn’t actually end up buying.
Please let us know if you have any thoughts or feedback for next year’s guides (or just future editorial from us) at hello@expresscheckout.co :) - Jenna
CPG & Consumer Goods
Quince becomes a true one-stop luxury shop. Quince, the luxury-at-cost retailer, just launched its Gourmet Food & Wines marketplace, featuring just three items: Alba truffles at $250 per ounce, Dom Pérignon for $259.99, and Quince’s own caviar (under the subbrand OneQuince) for $125… which somehow already has 500+ five-star reviews 👀 (riddle us confused).
If you haven’t seen or heard of Quince… well, we’d be pretty shocked. Even our mothers have heard of (and are obsessed with) Quince. Quince is a direct-to-consumer retailer and brand that sells a wide range of “luxury quality” apparel (including cashmere sweaters, silk dresses, and leather goods), home goods (bedding, furniture, rugs, and kitchen items), and accessories, all at more accessible prices. It’s become a bit of a shtick that the company keeps expanding into new categories—and now, we can add gourmet food and wine to that list. They operate on a manufacturer-to-consumer model to offer lower prices, but that also leads to longer ship times.
The company has been making headlines recently due to some legal battles. Williams-Sonoma sued Quince, accusing the brand of false advertising by creating the impression that Quince products are comparable in quality to Williams-Sonoma’s premium homeware while fabricating comparison prices. The lawsuit claims Quince uses “Beyond Compare” charts and messaging like “Like Williams-Sonoma, but half the price” to mislead consumers. Quince has faced similar challenges from Coach’s parent company, Tapestry, over trademark infringement related to handbags, and from Deckers Brands over alleged design theft of the UGG product.
Beyond legal issues, some consumers have raised concerns about greenwashing and potentially unethical business practices, questioning the brand’s sustainability claims and manufacturing conditions. Check out this great piece from The Cut on the subject. Despite the controversy, Quince has cultivated a loyal customer base who appreciate getting high-quality “dupes” at more affordable prices—mirroring the broader success of private label brands where consumers increasingly prioritize quality at lower prices over traditional brand prestige.
The success of its food + wine category remains to be seen. Right now, these three products seem to be more of a luxury signaler/holiday season add-on as opposed to actual offerings, or any indication that Quince will dive deeper into food or beverage items. At the same time, I’m curious about this OneQuince subbrand—did Quince make it just to launch caviar, or is it intended to become an umbrella brand for more unexpected category extensions? - J
The latest proteinified product: Couscous. Boostcous (iconic name) just launched high-protein, high-fiber, gluten-free couscous with 13g protein and 4g fiber per serving. Made from just three ingredients (lentil, pea, chickpea), it cooks in 5 minutes and is vegan, kosher, non-GMO, and allergen-free.
We know, we know—every brand is proteinifying. And while we have little faith in the brands that simply add protein to junk food, we are excited about brands like this—made with only whole, plant-based ingredients, and intended to be used to make up a meal, not just as a protein-boosted snack.
Another celebrity alcohol brand? Indeed! This time, it’s a bourbon from four-time CMA Award winner and country star Riley Green—Duck Club Bourbon under Morningside Brands based in Memphis, TN.
Retail
Proof that private-label is taking over. Aldi opened 16 stores across eight states in a single day, marking a major expansion milestone. The retailer, known for its affordable prices and private-label brand, aims to operate nearly 3,200 locations by 2028, with over 180 stores opened in the past year alone, including converted Winn-Dixie locations in Florida.
One of the most exciting stores will be Aldi’s massive 25,000-square-foot store on 42nd Street in Times Square in NYC—an enormous grocer for the city, and hopefully one that makes grocery shopping a smidge more affordable in the most expensive city in the country.
eCommerce
Let’s talk Black Friday 2025! While we still await the data from the weekend + Cyber Monday, it seems like this year was solid for merchants. Overall, nearly $12 billion was spent online in the US, according to data from Adobe Analytics. People love a sale, almost as much as they love Christmas. 🤷♀️
Shopify—which had a brutal partial outage today (Cyber Monday)—released its own stats on its merchants: Global sales reach $6.2 billion this Black Friday, up 25% from last year, with LA, NYC, and San Francisco being the top-selling cities (sounds right). Peak sales per minute were reached at 12:01PM ET on Friday ($5.1 million).
Unsurprisingly, shoppers were most interested in appareal (t-shirts, sweatshirts, activewear) and wellness-related items, including vitamins + supplements and skincare.
Top trending products: Ilia Beauty’s Super Serum Skin Tint; Brooklinen’s Super Plush Robe; Béis’s The Weekender; Caraway Home’s Cookware set; ALO’s Crew Neck Pullover; and Cozy Earth’s bamboo sheet set.
Buy-Now-Pay-Later’s total online volume rose 4% from last Black Friday, per Adyen.
We’re still waiting to see how today’s partial outage impacted Shopify merchants. Stay tuned for this week’s episode of The Curious Consumer podcast, where we’ll share the latest!
Funding
Never stop betting on consumer. Monogram Capital Partners closed its oversubscribed $350M Fund III, bringing total assets to $1.75B. Notable portfolio companies include OLIPOP, Archer meat snacks, D.S. & Durga, Chew.com, and just last week they acquired Luckyscent.
Sweetening the deal. Ritter Sport USA, the US subsidiary of the German chocolate company by the same name, acquired Creative Natural Products, makers of the Chocolove brand. Chocolove will continue manufacturing in Boulder, CO.
Check out our recent episode of The Curious Consumer, with new episodes every Wednesday.
How non-alc brands can still win
Welcome back to another episode of The Curious Consumer! This week, we’ve got a great lineup of consumer goods stories—from the beverage brand that’s secretly winning through foodservice, to the new era of medical-grade skincare platforms.
If you haven’t yet, please subscribe, like, leave a comment, and share it! It helps us continue to bring you the most interesting news + nuance in consumer and retail every week.
So amazing, congrats Nate!