Is your checkout page holiday-ready?
With Black Friday just around the corner, retail businesses are gearing up for one of the busiest shopping seasons of the year. Plus, we feature an exclusive Q&A with Meghan Asha, CEO of FounderMade, who shares her expertise on retail trends, the power of storytelling, and strategies for SMBs to overcome today’s biggest challenges. Don’t miss her insider advice!
What’s in store
- Five things your checkout page needs ASAP
- Who is Kris, Target’s new jacked Santa?
- Did Costco founder’s advice help Jeff Bezos turn Amazon around?
- Good news for stores: More holiday shoppers find inspo IRL
- Finally, an AI platform to manage small business’ social feeds
The SKUpe is your go-to weekly newsletter, delivering the latest retail strategies, industry insights and expert advice for SMB retail professionals straight to your inbox.
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Above: Born To Be Kris (Courtesy of Target YouTube)
Meet Kris, Target’s “weirdly hot” Santa
Luxury sales fall 2%, 2024 among weakest years on record
How Costco founder’s coffee chat with Jeff Bezos helped Amazon
Booking it: Barnes & Noble’s big comeback
Tap that: Brands retool sites for mobile-heavy holiday shopping
Exclusive: 5 Questions for FounderMade CEO Meghan Asha
Meghan Asha is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and CEO of FounderMade, a platform and conference series that connects best-in-class consumer brands to retailers, distributors and investors. Over her career, she’s experienced entrepreneurship from every angle: She’s worked as an analyst for a venture capital firm, interviewed technology leaders for a weekly internet talk show and built her own digital media platform. She began bringing together her contacts from those earlier jobs as part of an intimate dinner series, which eventually evolved into FounderMade. The SKUpe's Marcy Medina recently caught up with Asha to chat.
What kinds of retailers do the FounderMade Innovation Shows attract? What are they looking for?
Our Innovation Shows attract a mix of large national retailers and smaller boutique stores. They’re looking for fresh, innovative products that their customers will love — especially from brands that stand out with a great story, unique features, or a focus on trends like sustainability and wellness.
How has retailer feedback shaped how you curate the show?
Retailers have told us they value innovative brands, so we focus on featuring brands that are retail-ready and category-defining for next-gen customers. We also offer panels and workshops to help retailers and brands learn from each other and stay ahead of trends. Their input makes our shows more focused and useful for everyone.
What was the most interesting takeaway from this month’s show?
In one of the best panels, retailers like Target, Whole Foods and Bluemercury talked about what they look for in brands. The biggest takeaway was how important storytelling is — retailers want products that connect with people emotionally. They also shared tips on using data and technology to improve the shopping experience, which was really eye-opening.
What are the biggest challenges for SMB retailers today?
SMB retailers face tough competition, especially from big online platforms. They also have to keep up with changing customer expectations, like wanting more personalized shopping experiences. Balancing in-store and online sales is another big challenge for them.
What’s your best piece of advice for a retail brand founder?
Authenticity and truth are key. Stay genuine in your mission and connect with your audience honestly. At the same time, avoid overcomplicating things — let concrete data guide your decisions. Balancing authenticity with a data-driven approach creates trust and drives success.
Add these 5 components to your checkout page, STAT
Attention, retailers. In order to convert more customers from your checkout page, it should contain the following: testimonials, a trust symbol, a reminder of the product’s benefits, a picture of the product and a picture of you, the retailer.
And if you need a little help coming up with specifics, ChatGPT is here to help. This article includes prompts to cut-and-paste into the AI tool, along with info about your company, that will yield optimal results. For instance, you can’t just use any old testimonial, but rather “Three hard-hitting sentences, accompanied by customer names, that quickly signal that people are happy to have bought my product.” Or “Please suggest 3-4 specific trust symbols and explain why each would resonate with my audience.”
Why this matters: The checkout page presents retailers with a huge opportunity to reinforce purchasing, and it’s often underutilized. AI is advanced enough to know the difference between hard-hitting and softball, compelling and run-of-the-mill. Prompting with specific keywords will help you zero in on the most effective words and images to help seal the deal. (Forbes)
Stores for the win: gift inspiration, human connection, VIP experiences
“In a season that’s particularly tied to nostalgia and tradition, offering shoppers the experience of seeing Santa, of listening to holiday songs as they walk the aisles, or the chance to receive inspiration and advice from a friendly and knowledgeable store associate shouldn't be overlooked.” -Jill Standish, Accenture
Physical stores are sitting on a mountain of opportunity when it comes to holiday gift shoppers, most of whom don’t know what to buy and are desperately seeking inspiration. In her column for Chain Store Age, Jill Standish, global retail lead for Accenture, shares findings from the company’s Annual Holiday Shopping Survey (nearly half of shoppers prefer to visit stores), along with its Life Trends 2025 research showing 42% value face-to-face interactions with retailers. “One way retailers might think about fostering that connection is to empower their store associates to act as ‘inspiration champions,’ displaying their expertise to inspire and advise shoppers,” she writes. Standish details how innovative retailers drive traffic and how department stores are uniquely positioned to curate a mix of merchandise and experiences.
Why this matters: While some studies predict that more consumers will be shopping on mobile this holiday season, the majority are seeking inspiration from real people and tactile experiences. Traditional stores have many advantages, and the best retailers will blend technology and community to create connections that ultimately convert to sales. Read Standish’s column here.
AI wants to manage your social media feed
Audience Genomics, a marketing analytics company, serves Hollywood studios, beauty brands, and small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) by analyzing audience data and providing marketing advice. The company has now launched a new AI-powered platform called Aggie. This platform is designed as a one-stop solution for SMBs, particularly those with limited staff. Aggie allows businesses to effortlessly generate a social media content calendar and schedule posts for publication, streamlining their social media management.
Using previous social media posts and website content from clients and their peers, as well as guidance from users, Aggie can create images and captions about specific products or product-adjacent content like quotes, tips and tricks. This takes under five minutes, usually 60 seconds, according to company execs. The subscription-based product could be a big help for your business.
Why this matters: Aggie can exponentially increase efficiency in smaller companies by freeing up hours previously spent on social media to focus on sales and development. It also enables them to compete with larger players who have full-time, tech-savvy social media staff. Company execs also say the tool will eventually be able to create videos and longer-form content. (Fast Company)
What we’re reading
Big Mall by Kate Black is part memoir, part history and part cultural criticism. The author came of age in North America’s largest and perhaps strangest mall, using it here as a backdrop to explore how malls and shopping shape our lives, whether we like it or not. It’s a thought-provoking and surprising read.
What we’re watching
If you know a teenage girl, you’re probably familiar with the toxic culture surrounding teen retailer Brandy Melville. HBO’s exposé Brandy Hellville & The Cult of Fast Fashion features interviews with employees, experts and activists.
What we’re listening to
Retail expert Brandon Rael shares tips for getting on shoppers' nice lists this season, in this recent episode of the Retail Remix podcast. In it, he breaks down his top holiday trends and predictions and details how retailers can hone their marketing and promotion strategies to optimize sales.
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The SKUpe is curated and written by Marcy Medina and edited by Bianca Prieto
