Hello hello!
If it seems like pumpkin spice season gets earlier every year... just imagine what’s happening to Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping. ~80% of shoppers start BFCM shopping before Thanksgiving week. So if you’re not building your BFCM plan yet, you’re missing out on a LOT of potential business.
Tapcart’s FREE 2026 BFCM report surveyed 1,200+ shoppers to tell you how shoppers are actually behaving this year, answering the most critical questions like:
How are shoppers using AI to determine purchases?
Which cohorts plan to spend more (and which ones aren’t worth discounting for)?
What’s the biggest reason ready-to-buy shoppers abandon their carts at the last second?
Every answer includes a specific plan you can implement to make this your best BFCM yet, featuring in-depth insights from the top ecommerce experts. It’s so chock full of fantastic insights, we actually cannot believe it’s free.
Now, let’s get into our picks of the week →
Nate’s Pickups:
Dairy and dairy-free protein shakes. (David and Grounded)
This week, I wanted to offer you a two-for-one deal. David just released their protein shakes, and I’ll talk a lot about them because they’re absolutely delicious and wildly impressive. These are David’s best product by far! But I didn’t want to leave my dairy-free friends out to pasture, so I’m also including one of my favorite dairy-free protein shakes from Grounded.
The protein shake space, while not as crowded as the protein bar space, still has a lot of players right now. Standing out isn’t always about macros. Taste and texture are what win, if anything. And both of these brands nail everything. They nail macros, they nail taste, and they definitely nail texture.
David protein milkshakes
Quick Facts: David’s first ready-to-drink product, launched in Vanilla and Chocolate. Each 12 oz bottle is made with ultra-filtered skim milk and, of course, EPG, and delivers 30g of protein with ~1150 calories and less than 1g of sugar.
Reasons to love:
It’s a milkshake. It says “milkshake” on the front of the bottle, and it definitely tastes and feels like a milkshake too. The texture is not too thick nor is it too thin despite being a skim milk base. This is where the infamous EPG comes into play in particular. EPG, for those that somehow don’t know, is the modified plant-based fat alternative that gives David products the same taste and texture of conventional fat but with over 90% fewer calories. So when you put it all together, you get the texture you want from a drink like this with the incredible macros as well. And these drinks are a really drinkable texture.
You may be asking, “Doesn’t Fairlife have the same macros?” They do, but the biggest difference here is EPG, which enables them to achieve such an amazing texture that you can’t get with ultra-filtered low-fat milk. Definitely read my friend Eli Mack’s post on this.
Zero aftertaste. This is the one product from Medici and the David family of products that I don’t think really has any aftertaste whatsoever. Usually, with these lower-calorie sugar-alternative types of products, there’s always some aftertaste. There’s some trade-off in some way. These really just taste like a vanilla and chocolate milkshakes. I’m very, very impressed with this product, which is why, above, I said this is my favorite product from David. If you don’t like the bars or the frozen pints or even the Hall Pass candy, you will like these shakes. This is probably their most mass-market palate-compliant product that they make right now.
Where to buy: Online and select retailers
Grounded protein shakes
Quick Facts: Grounded makes dairy-free, vegan protein shakes with no artificial sweeteners, in Chocolate and Mint Chocolate. The full-size 16.6 oz bottle has 20g of plant protein, and the new 8.5 oz mini has 10g.
Reasons to Love:
Smooth as silk. When I think plant-based protein shake, I normally don’t think smooth and never silky smooth! I think grainy and pain. This? Perfection 🤌. I remember the first time I tried this product, and I actually didn’t realize it was plant-based for a long time. That’s how good it is and how well-formulated it is as a product.
Bold af. I try a lot of protein shakes, both because of my job and because I’m interested in finding the best protein shake. These are some of the boldest-flavored protein shakes I’ve had. Especially the mint one. I love love love chocolate mint, and this just scratches that itch.
The bottle. I love the original bottle they launched with; its short, stout, slightly triangular shape makes it stand out and feel very different from everything else on the shelf right now. I also like their new product. They just launched an 8.5 oz bottle with 10g of protein (instead of the regular 20g). It feels fun and nice, and almost like an adult version of the milk boxes I had as a kid!
Where to buy. Online, Whole Foods, and select retailers
Jenna’s Pickup:
OHME! Strawberry Yogurt Crunch
New snack alert!!!!
These days, it can be hard to impress me with a new snack. I’ve tried a lot of snacks, and honestly, innovation has been somewhat lacking in the sweet snack department. But these really surprised me. OHME! took a concept that I thought was reserved for kiddos (yogurt bites), stripped down the ingredients and added probiotics, matured the packaging and presentation, and offered something so texturally unique and craveable, I now seek it out daily.
Quick Facts: Freeze-dried bites of yogurt + real fruit + probiotics. I love the strawberry flavor, but the brand also offers mango and blueberry SKUs!
Reasons to love:
The CRONCH. I am all for a product with a satisfying crunch, and these do not disappoint. If you’ve had freeze-dried products before, you’ll be familiar with the texture. But the combo of the creaminess of the yogurt paired with that foamy freeze-dried crunch is especially satisfying. I also really enjoy the cube shape—its thick and dense enough to offer a real bite to it.
Note: They can get a stuck to your teeth, especially if you’re downing the bag as quickly as I do. 🙃 It’s my only critique of the product, and something I felt the need to flag for my texturally-sensitive friends!
Real ingredients + probiotics. These crunchy bites are made with just yogurt, real strawberry, apple juice, and bacterial culture to load you with probiotics (the brand even lists the added probiotic strains, so you know you’re getting the real deal!). There’s no added sugar (or added artificial sweetener of any kind), but these bites still deliver on fulfilling a sweet craving.
Packaging + convenience. OHME! knows how to make a product worthy of your purse. Its adorable gingham-esque packaging is also functional, with a flat bottom and seal (if you manage to not finish the whole bag in one sitting…). This product is effectively a shelf-stable yogurt with fruit, making a perfect on-the-go option that isn’t another bar.
Where to buy: Online
In case you missed it… 🎧
This week on the pod, we were joined by Adam Terry, CEO and co-founder of Cantrip and On the Brightside—and absolute WEALTH of knowledge on all things THC regulation and functional beverages.
Adam walks us through his journey in the cannabis beverage industry and pivot into a new kind of functional drink. He explains why the low-dose THC hypothesis didn’t pan out, the science behind the new functional ingredient he’s betting on, and the tricky retail landscape of functional beverages.
This is a great follow-up episode to our interview with Jake Bullock, CEO and co-founder of Cann—offering some updates and rare insights into the ever-changing THC regulatory environment!