Retail & E-commerce
The Alix Earle Effect: How Influencers Became CPG’s Most Powerful Shelf
For decades, winning in CPG followed a familiar formula. Build a strong product, secure placement with a retail buyer, and fight for visibility in stores like Target or Whole Foods. Layer in paid media to drive awareness and, if everything worked, velocity would follow. It was a system built around access: to shelves, to distribution, and to the consumer’s attention. That system still matters, but it’s no longer the primary driver of discovery. Increasingly, demand is created before a consumer ever sets foot in a store or opens an app to shop.