Healthy and functional sodas are having a big moment, and Liquid Death is putting its own spin on it.

Liquid Death started out with one product: canned water. But over the last two years, Liquid Death has started to venture more into other categories, first with iced tea and, most recently, with better-for-you soda.

The company says it wants to differentiate its iced tea and soda lines through packaging, clean ingredients, classic flavors and names that adhere to the brand’s “murder your thirst” motto. The new soda line, which was first announced in January, consists of products like Killer Cola, Severed Lime and Doctor Death. To differentiate itself in a crowded category, Liquid Death is marrying the health benefits of its new product lines with the off-the-wall marketing it’s become known for.

Last week, DoorDash announced that it would partner with financial services firm Klarna to bring buy-now, pay-later capabilities to the delivery app. The news fueled heated commentary on social media and news outlets, wondering what it said about how debt-burdened Americans were that they would pay for a burrito in installments.

But at Shoptalk, DoorDash’s vp of ads, A. Toby Espinosa, told Modern Retail that the partnership instead was designed less for food and more for the 25% of its customers —around 10 million of its 42 million monthly active users — who order from non-restaurant retailers. That could include deliveries of AirPods, flowers or other larger ticket items. And in fact, the financing offers — which allow customers to pay in four installments — are limited to products over $35.

Amazon sellers are bracing for another financial hit as the e-commerce giant revises how it charges fees for deals and promotions. On March 20, Amazon announced it will begin shifting to a performance-based fee structure for its deals and coupons, a change that takes effect June 2.

Companies including eBay and Wayfair are using tech-driven personalization to help customers find what they're looking for more quickly. They're relying on a mix of user data, product details and AI-powered tools.

When Perelel launched its first prenatal vitamin products in September 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic had upended the startup’s fundraising plan. Co-founder Victoria Thain Gioia said that rather than launch with splashy campaigns or a big retail entry, Perelel decided to use organic social media posts to help spread the word. For the first year, Gioia answered every customer service ticket personally.

“The roadmap that we originally had for the first year to 18 months was very different than what we encountered, in terms of the world and how we had to pivot,” she said.

Gioia joined the Modern Retail podcast this week to discuss the company’s growth journey and its latest product launch, a protein powder with creatine and fiber. Though creatine may read as a masculine product, Perelel’s research has tapped into a growing recognition of its benefits for women, too. It can be to help with brain fog, fatigue and muscle retention, for instance, during postpartum, menopause and perimenopause. The product has been in development for about two years as the team looked to perfect the formula, Gioia said.