🎡 Disney… Prime?

(Yoda voice) “Sell more stuff, you will”… A new force is awakening in the Disney-verse. Yesterday The Wall Street Journal reported that the House of Mouse is exploring an Amazon Prime-style membership (a Disney adult’s dream). It could give fans perks and discounts — and give Disney a new way to promote its offerings and boost loyalty.

• Expanding (biz) empire: A membership program could tie together Disney’s streaming content (think: the new “Obi-Wan Kenobi” series), products (think: toy lightsabers), and experiences (think: “Star Wars” rides at Disneyworld).
• Integrated experience: Disney+ is said to be building tech that lets viewers order products using in-show QR codes. So in the future subscribers could book a Disneyworld trip and buy members-only merch without peeling their eyes off Yoda bae.

Membership mania… Disney isn’t the only one taking a page from the Prime playbook: titans like Apple and Walmart have launched subscription bundles in recent years to boost loyalty and sales. Memberships give companies tons of customer data, which helps them to strategically upsell.

• Powerful perks: Earlier this month Walmart said it would add Paramount+ streaming to sweeten the deal for its $98/year Walmart+ membership program.
• Subs for all: Disney already has a membership for superfans ($100-$130/year). But the new program would target more casual customers.

Kroger canned peas for your uncle... grass-fed lamb and organic sweet-potato kibble for Fluffy. Americans love pampering their pets, but we thought inflation would take that down a notch. While consumers have started trading down from name-brand groceries to generic labels for themselves (think: Kroger bread vs. Nature’s Own), they're still feeding their pets premium chow:

• Petco and Chewy said pet owners aren't trading down from fancy foods for their furry friends. Owners continue to pamper pets with increasingly human-ified foods.
• Fancy Fido: Petco recently teamed up with Clif to make a version of its power bar for pets and launched a line of frozen human-grade meals for dogs.
• It’s the paws for me… Petco’s CEO said that Gen Z and millennial consumers are leading the growing demand for pet health and wellness products.

Safeway frozen pizza for Paul… seared salmon for Princess. Petco’s CEO said consumers are increasingly seeking out “fresh, human-grade food for all members of the family” (we’d hope the human ones, at least). Still, both Petco and Chewy saw slowing demand for lucrative goodies like chew toys and leashes and bigger-ticket items like crates and beds.

• Chewy stock fell Monday after it reported 13% year-over-year sales growth (lower than expected). It cut its sales outlook as consumers spent less on discretionary items.
• Petco also lowered its annual forecast as #flation curbed spending on non-food goodies.

• Editter: Yesterday Twitter said it’s testing an edit button that will be released first to Blue subscribers ($5/month) and later to all users. The blue bird’s trying to diversify revenue with subscriber perks.
• Snag: Chinese EV makers Nio, Li Auto, and Xpeng saw their stock plunge yesterday. Li's and Xpeng's August deliveries were way down from July after China’s Covid's crackdown hurt supply. Nio reports next.
• Twitchy: Gatorade's releasing a caffeinated energy drink dubbed Fast Twitch. Last month parent company Pepsi invested $550M in rival bev Celsius as the “functional beverage” market blasts off.
• Adflix: Netflix said it plans to charge brands top $ for space on its cheaper ad tier. The streamer's recently struggled to maintain paying customers, losing 1M subscribers in the second quarter.
• Thaw: Yesterday crypto lender Celsius filed to begin returning some customer funds. The company, which at one point held $20B in user assets, froze withdrawals in June and filed for bankruptcy in July.

• August employment numbers release

Authors of this Snacks own: shares of Disney, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Twitter, and Walmart

ID: 2408378