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Foreign It's March 31, 2026 and this is the Commerce Riff brought to you by the CPG guys. 10 minutes of the news stories that matter in commerce this week. I'm your co host PVSB and I'm joined by Paparazz, the father of pop stars, co founder of think Blue Consulting, Sri. How was your trip to Shop Talk 2026?
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We got some fun episodes recorded. You know the episode that's forthcoming with Benwater, the CMO of Liquid. That should be awesome. We had quite a great conversation about the status of just media in general all the way from upper funnel, lower funnel, retail media. The one with Christian Hassell was excellent as well because we talk M and E private equity. You know what the market looks like any what about you Peter? Did you enjoy Shop Talk? We hosted two great dinners.
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Yeah, dinners were great. You know we barely even set foot on the show floor. I think we were there for maybe five minutes. Sree so most of our connections were either up in our suite or at the various dinners we attended. I particularly liked our last dinner. You were there for a little less time than I was, but we stopped by one of our favorite venues Catch at the Aria and we spent some time with the women in commerce media. It was a great gathering of industry luminaries, both women and men who are allies in the cause for advancing women in commerce media. So great times. Sree. Well let's get to our stories if we can. With its revelation this week that it tapped Ajal Delhes, USA's top executive serve as its next CEO, Dollar General did more than just announce it will have a new leader. The giant discounter also telegraphed its intent to catapult itself into an even more prominent position in the US grocery sector, a space where it already has a formidable presence, particularly in underserved areas. In announcing JJ Fleeman's appointment as CEO, which will take effect Sri can you believe this? In January 2027. Wow. There's gotta be a reason behind such a advanced notification.
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Peter his last state at Adusa is at the end of June, so I think that's like six months CEO level.
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I think he's got to take a window of the gardening non involved and yes, what do they call that? A garden leave in Europe. Of course, Dollar General made a point of highlighting its progress as a food retailer under current CEO Todd Vasos. Those accomplishments included launching the DG Fresh Self distribution project and bringing fresh produce to over 7,000 stores so far, an achievement that the company said a recent promotional video gives it quote more points of distribution than any other grocery retailer in the country. The company also credited Vasos with overseeing a disciplined return to retail fundamentals, adding that it expects Fleeman to use his three plus decades of experience running food stores to accelerate Dollar General's performance as the leader of Ajo Delhez usa. Fleeman also navigated the expansion of a self distribution system, and the company's focus on improving stores and enhancing omnichannel shopping under Fleeman signals Dollar General is also looking to boost the shopping experience at its store. Sree let's not also forget JJ Fleeman. Before running olive oil Delhais usa, he came from Peapod. That means he's got serious digital bona fides. Dollar General doesn't run supermarkets and even the largest of its nearly 21,000 locations carries only a fraction of the food that selection available at the stores Fleeman overseas at a whole Delhate USA but with Fleeman coming aboard, there's little doubt the discounter is gearing up to raise its game in the grocery industry. Wow, that's. That's some big news. Sree over to you Francis Pernod Ricard
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and Jack Daniels owner Brown Forman are in discussions about a possible merger, the company said on Thursday, a move that would actually unite the world's second largest spirits maker with the largest producer of American whiskey. Spinach companies are battling a multi year sales from slowing demand tariff pressures, which has triggered a slide in valuation, CEO exits and asset sales to cut costs. Shares of Brown Forman, which has a market capitalization of about 11 billion, ended up nearly 9% on Thursday. That's a whopping billion dollars while those of Pernod, the maker of Absolute Vodka and Chivas Regal Whiskey, fell nearly 6%. Pernod Ricard has a market value of about 16 billion euros and an extensive spirit's portfolio that includes Irish whiskey, Scotch, tequila but little exposure to American whiskey. Both companies racially announced restructuring plans, job cuts at Braun Forman Cash trapped or health conscious drinkers in key markets like the US were already cutting back on drinking before President Donald Trump's administration raised import tariffs, while emerging threats like fast growing cannabis drinks also threaten sales tariffs, of course pit companies to absorb price increases past amount of drinkers hurting sales. A potential merger would result in significant operational synergies, the company said, adding that they will not commit further until a deal is reached or discussions are terminated. Javier Gonzalez, lost to an analyst at Berenberg, said a merger between the two companies would not solve their growth challenges, though he noted there were clear synergies to Peter, more of a savings play. They have clear overlaps in the U.S. there's also some overlap in Europe, he said, adding that a deal could deliver significant cost savings. Well, there you go, lo and behold. He sees this as a defensive move given the industry environment. The potential deal does include a significant stock component, and the families between the two companies would likely retain significant stakes in any deal, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Bloomberg News it first reported in the talks earlier in the day. Over to you, Peter.
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Not surprised we should be seeing more consolidation within the spirits industry. SRI the brands are all taking a hit because of the changing profile in consumer shopping behavior, and that means that you can get some really great prices on these venerable brands. All right? Henkel said it agreed to buy Olaplex holdings for around $1.4 billion, snapping up the US maker of premium shampoo and a deal that adds volume to the German company's hair care portfolio.
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Get that?
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SRI volume. The German maker of consumer goods and chemicals said it would acquire premium hair brand olaplex for about $2.06 a share, a 55% premium to its closing price Wednesday, but a mere fraction of the $13.6 billion, or $21 a share, valuation it went public at five years ago. The transaction for Olaplex was approved by the hair brand's board of directors, and controlling shareholder Advent International agreed to approve the transaction, Henkel said. Henkel, home to brands like Schwarzkopf and Persil, have been on an acquisition spree. This year, it purchased North American hair care and styling consumer brand not yout Mother's Coatings company saw and became a major shareholder of the UK Building manufacturer Weatherby Laroque and collecting a slate of new brands. Henkel is seeking to bolster growth for its adhesive and consumer units. The acquisition makes another important milestone in Henkel's purposeful growth agenda. This further expands hair care as a core category within its consumer brands, business said. Advent will exit its investments in Olaplex once the deal closes, Olaplex said. In a separate lease, the company said it would combine its large direct consumer retail presence in North America with Henkel's international region, continue to operate under the Olaplex name. The deal, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, is set to cap Olaplex's life as a public company, which began in 2021, a year when the IPO boomed during the pandemic. Since then, the company's stock price plummeted as it grappled with declining sales amid mounting compet. Like many other consumer conglomerates trimming portfolios, Henkel is repositioning itself towards premium offerings and scale. Sound familiar? Sri. It completed the merger of its consumer goods business into a consumer brands business unit at the end of 2025 which is focused on high growth and high margin brands. Henkel said its four year results. It also divested its retailer brand business in North America in 2025. Over to you, Sri.
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Wonderful. Thank you Peter. And our fourth topic today is of course AI. Whether you like it or not, AI generated content was inevitable. The benefits of content production efficiency are too great to ignore. For cost conscious brands, the focus should be on more thoughtfully. Especially since as we're discovering in real time, AI generated content also comes with pretty serious downsides. Oh boy. But what if AI becomes a default for everything? Feeds will be more synthetic, mirroring the overly manicured tone and aesthetic that have become AI's hallmark. When too much content feels machine generated, the platforms start to lose texture and social media only works because it feels alive. If it starts to feel automated at scale, people will disengage, shift to smaller private spaces where content actually feels that human in nature. The health of the platforms depends on human energy. If that erodes, the value's gone, but also trust will become more fragile. Users already question what's real. The more AI generated content floods feeds, higher people's level of skepticism becomes. That doesn't mean engagement disappears, but it becomes transactional, less emotional, decreases in loyalty and probably cover time and engagement time overall will go down. Brands should take this seriously. Those brands that protect trust will come up on top every single time. Those that treat AI like a volume machine will burn out their audience. It's that straightforward forward. That's why brands have responsibility disclose when they're using AI generated content in social especially when any content could reasonably mistaken for something real. If you're creating AI, humans, testimonials, environments that look like lived experiences that need context. The more realistic AI gets, the more disclosure matters. So brands need to lead the way in embracing a little radical transparency protecting the trust they work so such hard to build. So we thought we'll give an example. Now not every use of AI needs a huge disclaimer. If AI is being used behind the scenes for editing, brainstorming or production support, that's different. But when AI changes the reality of what's being presented, brands should say so. To most brands this may sound like a risk, but transparency comes with its benefits. H and M'S recent use of AI is noteworthy because they didn't sneak it in hoping audiences wouldn't notice. Instead, the company's been very public about its AI journey, working with models and agencies to build Digital Twins of 30 Real Models for use in social and advertising campaigns. I wonder, Peter, how they'll change how models are compensated. As importantly, they deal with consent and labeling so audiences aren't misled or carried away as well as working out compensation deals like I said, while allowing models to retain ownership of their likenesses. I love that piece, and while that doesn't mean everyone liked it, it was a step towards ethical transparency in the right direction. Different case, Heinz took a more transparent and brash approach. Their campaign tasks AI with generating images are kept up. Most of the outputs ended up looking like Heinz. Instead of hiding the tech, they shared the results and invited people to play along. The point was proving how strong the brand is. It felt like a wink instead of a workaround, one that put use of technology front and center, earning headlines and awards in the process. Of course, not all transparency is well received. We of course remember The Coca Cola 2025 AI created reimagining of its classic Holidays are Coming campaign, which became one of the biggest AI debates of last year. So then, let's put that in our mindset. How can brands avoid the same mistakes using AI transparently with relationship people are placed in them as storytellers or cultural voices. Why did we make it a topic on the Rift? We just had this very conversation at Las Vegas Shopped off with Ben Vawater, Chief Media Officer of Liquid Death. Watch out for that episode shortly. Peter. Take it away, Shree.
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I don't know about you. I'm not terribly worried about our podcast faces being replaced by digital Twins, though perhaps our our velvet voices could be at jeopardy. We'll have to see as we wrap up Reminder, Catch our recently released episode featuring Vasily Samolis, Head of Ad Product at DoorDash. Also, our Q1 wrap up. That one has gotten a lot of Download Sharif. People are really interested in it. That's a wrap on this week's Commerce riff. If any of this sparked a thought, drop it in the comments we 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.
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