🚘 Turo’s mobility revolution

Wednesday, January 12, 2022 by Snacks
But where are the cheddar-jalapeño Goldfish? [Ragnar Schmuck via Getty Images]

But where are the cheddar-jalapeño Goldfish? [Ragnar Schmuck via Getty Images]

Yesterday’s Market Moves
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4,713 (+0.92%)
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15,153 (+1.41%)
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$42,730 (+2.17%)

Hey Snackers,

Cats are breaking the internet again — literally. Chilly kitties have been curling up on Space X's Starlink satellite dishes to stay warm thanks to the “snow melt mode.”

Stocks rose yesterday despite a troubling inflation report. Inflation spiked 7% last month, its biggest jump since 1982. To get kids back into classrooms, President Biden plans to distribute an additional 500M free rapid tests to US schools starting this month.

Whips

1. Car-sharing star Turo files for an IPO, with plans to accelerate a $230B mobility revolution

Airbnb on wheels… When your weekend getaway is the red Mustang. Turo, which bills itself as the world’s largest car-sharing platform, has filed to go public. Unlike Avis-owned Zipcar and competitors that own shared cars, Turo lets private car owners rent out their Porsches and pickups — and then takes a cut from both owners and renters.

  • The #s: Turo has 85K hosts, 160K cars, and 1.3M monthly users in the US, UK, and Canada. It plans to allocate 5% of its shares to owners and renters.
  • Turo-charged: Its revenue tripled in the first three quarters of last year from 2020 — but it still hasn’t turned a profit.

Car ownership = soo last century… according to Turo, at least. US households spend, on average, $11K on getting around, mostly with personal cars. But it’s twice as pricey to own a midsize car as it is to rent one. As auto prices soared on pandemic supply shortages, most younger drivers say they’d prefer not to own. Cue: booming interest in car sharing.

  • Millennial marketing: In October, Turo teamed up with rapper 2 Chainz for a promotion to win over younger drivers.
  • Traditional automakers are launching subscriptions for commitment-phobic drivers: Volvo, Nissan, Porsche, and Volkswagen all offer short-term car subscriptions.
THE TAKEAWAY

Mobility companies are counting on a revolution… Turo’s betting on a “new world of mobility,” which it’s estimating has a total addressable market of $230B — almost 200X as large as the car-sharing industry’s projected annual revenue. Uber, Lyft, and Getaround also have plans to build a future on shared mobility. Think: scooters, rentals, and ride-hail. But Turo’s vision will become reality only if car-sharing overtakes car-owning — a big if. US car ownership has risen in the past decade, with consumers spending 70X more buying cars in 2021 than sharing ’em.

Ziploc

2. Campbell launches adult-targeted Goldfish as millennials revive its snack sales

Pairs perfectly with a buttery chardonnay... cheddar-jalapeño Goldfish? The classic field-trip snack is getting an adult twist: Campbell Soup's Pepperidge Farms released a line of supersized Goldfish “Mega Bites” in sharp cheddar and jalapeño flavors. Goldfish said it's the first snack it’s created for grown-up tastes.

  • Millennial-friendly: Campbell is tapping into nostalgia and pandemic comfort cravings by giving its 60-year-old crackers an adult makeover.
  • It's even suggesting "adult beverage" pairings for the smiling fish and their 20+ flavors. See: Goldfish vanilla-cupcake grahams + espresso martini.
  • Why: Nearly half of all Goldfish buyers don't have kids. In 2020, Campbell's snack sales jumped 5% (impressive for a 153-year-old company) thanks partly to Goldfish.

The snack that smiles back... If you hear the ’90s jingle in your head, Campbell is succeeding. The soup legend thrived early in the pandemic as homebound Americans stocked up on its pantry staples, like Snyder's pretzels, SpaghettiOs, and... Campbell’s soup. There was a Goldfish shortage in April 2020, and millennials even started buying canned soup — "a trend that many believed was not possible," Campbell's CEO said.

  • As we returned to restaurants and stopped hoarding tomato bisque, Campbell’s sales fell 4% last quarter from 2020. But sales of snacks like Goldfish and Milano cookies kept growing.
  • Campbell is trying to keep up the momentum with millennial-targeted treats. Think: cauliflower-rice soups and hot-sauce-flavored Goldfish.
THE TAKEAWAY

Let the customer choose your market(ing)... In the ’60s, Goldfish were marketed as bar snacks (Julia Child paired ’em with martinis). In the ’90s, Goldfish began marketing to kids by adding smiles to the fish faces. Goldfish chose kids as a target market, but adults chose Goldfish. Now that grown-ups are driving snack growth, Goldfish is pivoting to become “a beloved brand for adults.”

What else we’re Snackin’

  • Euro: Goldman Sachs predicts the eurozone’s economy will grow faster than the US’s in the next two years. While Europe plans to invest billions in its nations this year, President Biden's $1.8T Build Back Better Act is on ice.
  • IOU: US household debt fell early in the pandemic thanks to stimulus and stay-at-home measures — but last year it spiked 6% to $156K. Families are taking out loans as living costs rise and incomes fall.
  • Rapid: CVS raised its annual profit outlook after higher-than-expected vaccinations and over-the-counter Covid test sales. Last week Walgreens also bumped its forecast.
  • Work: 300K+ women joined the labor force in December, making up nearly a quarter of new US jobs. Women have been disproportionately affected by pandemic job loss (see: she-cession), and Omicron could further stall the rebound.
  • Lift: Planet Fitness is buying one of its largest franchisee owners, Sunshine Fitness, for $800M. Last quarter, sales and memberships at PF hit a record as Americans prioritized physical and mental health.

Snack Fact of the Day

US greenhouse-gas emissions rose 6% last year, after falling 10% in 2020, as coal consumption and truck traffic picked back up

Wednesday

  • Federal budget
  • Earnings expected from: Infosys, IHS Markit, and KB Home

Authors of this Snacks own shares of: CVS, Walmart, and Uber

ID: 1985944

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