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- [00:00]
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Foreign It's April 7, 2026 and this is the Commerce Riff brought to you by the CPG guys. 10 minutes of the news stories that matter most in commerce this week. I'm your co host pbsb. I'm joined by Paparaj, the father of pop stars, co founder of Think Blue Consulting. Sree, what's coming up for the CPG guys?
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Exciting stuff, Peter. I'll be in New York. We'll be at the 2BTV office recording studio with them. You know. Then we are hosting a dinner up in Stamford, Connecticut. So if you're from the area, let us know. If you're from CPG or retail and you want to join us, we'd be happy to have you. That's upcoming up in two weeks. Got big programs at Cannes. As we've said, Cornell curriculum is back on track for late July up in Ithaca. Busy, busy, busy bees. Peter, what about you? What's up?
- [00:48]
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Well, I'm going to take a little personal time. I'm heading up to Halifax to go visit my mom. Haven't seen her in a couple months and Nadia's got school so she's stay back here with her mom. I'm going to do this solo but fear not. Going to have a little Easter dinner on the shore in Madison, Connecticut tomorrow. That's what's on my schedule. Sree. All right, let's get to it. Amazon will soon levy a 3.5% fuel and logistics related surcharge on fulfillment services for three piece sellers as the E commerce giant battles elevated operating costs, according to an announcement this past Thursday. Starting April 17, the surcharge will be applied to fulfillment fees for the company's fulfillment by Amazon service in the US And Canada in addition to remote fulfillment with FBA shipping from the US to Canada, Mexico and Brazil on May 2. The surcharge will also begin applying to buy with prime in the US And Multi channel Fulfillment services in the US And Canada. Surcharge, which Amazon did not provide an end date for, is calculated based on seller fulfillment fees rather than the sale price of the items. According to Amazon, the 3.5% levy equates to an additional 17 cents per unit for US fulfillment by Amazon Services, although it varies based on item size and dimension. Amazon is thus joining the list of major logistics providers that are hitting shippers with price hikes and elevated surcharges as fuel costs rise amid the war in Iran, UPS and FedEx's fuel surcharge rates continue to climb and the United States Postal Service plans to launch an 8% temporary price hike wow. On packaged shipping services beginning April 26th Quote we have absorbed these increases so far, unquote, Amazon said in its announcement. However, similar to other major carriers, when costs remain elevated, we implement temporary surcharges on our fulfillment fees to recover a portion of the actual cost increases we are experiencing, unquote. Amazon added that a 3.5% price pump is meaningfully lower than other major carriers due to work it has already done to lower costs. In recent years, the company has overhauled its inbound fulfillment processes, pushed for order consolidation into fewer boxes and shifted from a national to a regional network in the US Some E Commerce experts are skeptical that the surcharge will be a short term increase. Noah Wickham, VP of Sales and Marketing, Amazon Seller agency my Amazon guy said in a LinkedIn post that he expects the company will keep it regardless even if fuel prices fall and stabilize. It's not the first time Amazon has levied a surcharge to account for rising fuel costs. In 2022, the company implemented a 5% fuel and inflation surcharge on FBA services this year. Amazon increased fees on FBA in January, averaging an additional 8 cents per unit sold Sree over to you.
- [03:52]
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I got an old favorite Peter Bed Bath and Beyond, which is agreed to acquire the Container store for about $150 million in stock and convertible notes, according to the financial filings Thursday. I'm shocked that the Container Stores only worth that much. You know store of our times frequently visited repeatedly, especially when you bought that new home, got a new apartment, whatever it was. The transaction will include the Container Store, Sweden based Alpha and Chicago based Closet Works businesses and is expected to close in July. Container Store Chief Financial Officer Brian Larose will replace Adrian Lee as CFO at Bed Bathroom Beyond Chief Executive Officer Marcus Lemonish said in a letter to shareholders that was published Thursday. These two are finally getting together. Beyond has contemplated investing the Container Store for a while in late 2024, considering a $40 billion outlay for a 40% stake and strategic partnership. What was ultimately shoved the Containers to head into bankruptcy court to shore up its finances. Now, with the addition of the Container Storage home orientated conglomerate, Bed Bath and Beyond is taking what lemo has called a critical step at the beginning of the next phase of our growth. This transaction opened critical gaps in both our retail and home services strategy, said as we build our company platform, any additional assets, including talent, must serve a clear purpose to a company's long term strategy. I smell layoffs coming. That strategy is based on three elements an Omnichannel retail pillar. Finally, that was one of the main Achilles yields of Bed Bath and Beyond and why that they went into bankruptcy themselves years ago. Products and services pillar and a home services pillar which I think will be amazing. Home services pillar the Container Store will join Bed bath and beyond, overstock.com Bye Bye Baby and Kirklands in Omnichannel Retail, while Alpha and Closet Work will anchor home services, Lemon is said. In addition to bringing on LaRose, Amy Sullivan will be Beyond President responsible for the performance and integration of the entire enterprise and oversee the retail brands including Overstock.com, bed Bath and Beyond in the Container Store, Kirkland's and Bye Bye Baby. For the letter to shareholders, Lisa Foley, now cmo, will be Chief Operating Officer and Anders Vaughan, who has been Alpha present for a decade, will be Alpha's new CEO. The Container Store exited bankruptcy a little over a year ago and spent 20 making major changes. In addition to bringing on top new leadership, the company's chief merchant left and about 70 people. 2% of its workforce were let go and all capital projects were paused. The retailer also took steps to overlord's assortment, implying that many vendors had been ripping it off. Brave bold statement, a crackdown that left many longtime suppliers scratching their heads. Indeed. And I guess you're going to talk about one of our former guest now.
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Indeed. Sri a guest from back in 2023, Kristen Wolfe has been promoted by Ulta Beauty to Chief Strategy and Growth Officer. In this new position, Wolff will continue to lead corporate strategy, development and new growth initiatives at the US Beauty retailer. In addition, Wolff will drive value creation and partner across the organization in support of Ulta Beauty's ongoing integration of artificial intelligence. Wolff moves into this newly elevated role from her previous role as Ulta Beauty's SVP Enterprise and new growth. The promotion comes as a retailer continues to scale its growth strategy and innovation roadmap with a focus on global expansion following the acquisition of British beauty retailer Space NK in 2025. Quote I am incredibly excited to step into this new role as such a defining moment for Ulta Beauty. Unquote, said Wolf. We have an unmatched opportunity to reimagine beauty and wellness retail, expand our global footprint and position Ulta Beauty for long term sustainable growth. I am energized to build on our strong foundation and help shape our next chapter. Kesia Stillman, CEO and President of Ulta Beauty added Quote we have been incredibly fortunate to have Kristin on the Ulta Beauty team. Since 2019. She's been instrumental in establishing our Ulta Beauty Unleash strategy and spearheading new growth initiatives including the launch of our Wellness category and international expansion efforts. As we look to the future, we are confident that Kristen's strategic leadership will be integral to unleashing even more possibilities and achieving our vision of being the most loved beauty destinations. Joining the company in 2019, Wolff has spearheaded a number of initiatives for the retailer. This has included the launch of Prisma Ventures, a corporate venture capital fund investing in technologies, redefining retail as well as developing and introducing conscious beauty at Ulta Beauty, spotlighting clean ingredients, cruelty free, vegan and sustainable packaging brands and products and establishing the company's sustainability vision and first science based targets. Sree, what do you got for us to close this out?
- [08:46]
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I got more hardware Peter the Home Depot announced that its next CTO will arrive with executive experience from none other than Ford Motor Co. Franziska Bell will take on CTO duties of April 6, which is next week, the company announced on April 1. The Home Depot ranks number four in the top 2000 database. The Digital Commerce 360 database ranks north America's largest online retailers by the annual e commerce sales and more. Additionally, Home Depot is the top rank retail in the top 2000s hardware and home improvement category, which is of course no surprise. As Executive VP and CPO at Home Depot, Bell will lead efforts to further integrate agentic AI and that's why we're carrying this news and machine learning across the company, the retailer noted in an announcement about her appointment. She'll pursue that mission with the goal of creating what Home Depot describes as a seamless, interconnected and data driven experience for the Home Depot's associates, DIYers and Pro customers. Quote the Home Depot is a project retailer and customers engage with us across multiple touch points, whether that's online, in our aisles or increasingly with AI. Close quotes at Ted Decker, Chair Presidency of the Home Depot, in a release statement. Tran is a respected leader in data science and AI and she understands the power of technology to improve the customer experience deck called expertise quote unquote invaluable. In addition to a previous role as chief Data and Analytics Officer for the Ford Motor Company, Bell also serves as the executive level at bp, Uber and Toyota. I've always believed that the most powerful technology of the kind you don't notice because it's a busy behind the scenes making your life easier, bell said. Joining a customer first brand like the Home Depot is an incredible opportunity to put technology and AI to work where it matters most, helping homeowners confidently take on their first renovations or giving pro contractors the digital tools they need to grow their businesses. She comes to Home Depot at a time when the company has been deploying new AI powered features for pro customers, building out its platform for them. In addition, Home Depot has been using AI across a range of context to drive outcomes of fulfillment and its suite of generative AI tools, which it refers to as Magic Apron, quote unquote. She says, I look forward to working with this incredible team to build even smarter ways to get the job done. And Peter, it looks and appears across the board. In corporate America, AI has become such a priority, but it still is sitting with the CIO cdo. It needs to sit with the business.
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Couldn't agree more. Sree as we wrap up, a reminder to catch up with our recently released episode featuring Doug Baker from FMI all about their event Grocery Lab 26 and why you need to be a part of it. CPG Guys will be providing coverage of this event in Detroit. We also have Kim Lefkoe, Chief Marketing Officer of Ace Hardware. That is a fantastic conversation. That's a wrap on this week's Commerce riff. If any of this sparked a thought, drop it in the comments. We love to read them. And if you're not already following us on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube, well, now's the time. We'll see you next week. 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 CPG Guys, 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 CPGuys 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. The views expressed by CPTGuys LLC do not represent the views of their employers or the entity they represent. CPT Guys 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 present in this podcast.