How Thrive Market's moves to attract health-focused and trendy members while being ahead of the curve has led to an active community and a product offering that leans toward the health-conscious alternative goods...Sunil Kaki, SVP of Marketing for Thrive Market, joins Rob Sanchez, Marc Raco, and guest host Joe Yakuel (Agency Within).To hear more from speakers like Sunil and Joe, check out CommerceNext on July 31st & August 1st in NYC.

In this episode:

• Thrive Market’s conceptual evolution from a groupon-style model to a membership model more in line with Costco where membership unlocks low cost, non-GMO food goods delivered to members’ homes
• The way Thrive utilizes social media groups, surveys, and internal purchase data to refine the catalog to make sure that the decisions to make certain products private label are going to be top sellers 
• How Thrive’s moves to attract health-focused and trendy members while being ahead of the curve has led to an active community and a product offering that leans toward the health-conscious alternative goods such as coconut oils/milks/etc. and charcoal toothpaste
• The downsides of trying to be ahead of the trend, and how that can backfire either in a product not selling or selling too well and affecting the availability of raw goods
• Thrive’s value for customers who are looking for foods that adhere to specific dietary lifestyles (keto, vegan, etc.) and how utilizing social media metrics and influencers has focused Thrive’s marketing focus to bring in people who are engaged in specific diets
• How Thrive has innovated its fulfillment and distribution to help profit margins as the brand’s scale has grown over time
• Thrive’s giveback pledge to various charitable causes, how this slice of the profit margins factors into the company’s finances, and why this is a central aspect of the company’s DNA
• The savings guarantee, where Thrive will refund membership fees if customers aren’t using or seeing value in their membership and refund them the difference from their membership fees, and the goodwill that Thrive builds through its brand identity
• How Thrive’s focus on being fair and sharing data with vendors and partner brands has established a healthy and positive community on the business side where other brands have failed by focusing just on ensuring the lowest prices for the customer
• What Sunil thinks is the future for the grocery industry, and why there should be more a focus on storytelling and direct marketing with consumers
• Plus, Sunil talks about some causes he believed in in his youth back in India and how his early experiences in the US prepped him to Thrive’s core values, his favorite products from Thrive, as well as his best and worst experiences as a consumer

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.