Welcome to The New Consumer (on Substack)
Hi, I’m Dan Frommer and this is The New Consumer, a publication about how and why people spend their time and money.
I’m a longtime tech and business journalist, and I’m excited to focus my attention on how technology continues to profoundly change how things are created, experienced, bought, and sold. The New Consumer is a newsletter, website, and podcast supported by your membership since 2019.
Substack Edition
This is an experiment, launched in early 2025, to create a Substack version of the membership-based newsletter and website I’ve published since 2019. Substack has continued to launch interesting community features and publishing tools over the years, and I’m curious how they might work for The New Consumer. So let’s find out!
During this experiment, I’ll publish in both places — feel free to subscribe here or there, whichever you prefer.
Membership
Most everything I publish is exclusive to members, with free previews of portions of my work and occasional free posts.
If you join the Substack Edition as a paid member, you’ll receive access to everything I write and publish, plus the ability to leave comments and participate in discussions. I also hold members-only Office Hours throughout the year — stay tuned to the newsletter to book.
If you’re already a paid member at my site, and would like to participate here, you don’t need to pay a second time. Send me an email — dan at newconsumer dot com — and we’ll figure it out.
The New Consumer is currently a one-person operation that’s primarily funded by membership. Please consider your subscription an investment in a small but ambitious independent media startup. I appreciate your support!
What is The New Consumer?
The New Consumer is a publication covering the intersection of technology and consumer brands, founded in 2019 by longtime digital journalist Dan Frommer — that’s me.
For members, I publish regular (~weekly) analysis of what’s going on in the consumer business. Those newsletters include original reporting, commentary, and relevant data from my Consumer Trends research series, which I produce in collaboration with Coefficient Capital.
(You may have seen our surprising charts, slides, and stats about TikTok Shop or YouTube. Or our data about cottage cheese in the Wall Street Journal.)
I also publish deep-dives into innovative consumer brands (see: Row 7 and Foxtrot) and explore business models and strategy (new retail, emotional brands).
And I get into the details with the best consumer founders and investors in longform interviews, such as cookbook author/Ayoh founder Molly Baz, Sweetgreen’s Nic Jammet, Olipop’s Ben Goodwin, Parachute’s Ariel Kaye, Dishoom’s Shamil Thakrar, and New Fare Partners investor Elly Truesdell.
I’m building The New Consumer to be most useful to entrepreneurs, executives, and investors who focus on e-commerce, consumer brands, and marketing, and anyone who wants to know what’s next. If you care about — or compete with — Amazon, Instagram, Warby Parker, or Sweetgreen, you’ll definitely want to read.
I’m also doing this because I believe independent, member-supported publishing is the best and most interesting place to be in the media business. You have plenty of options for robotic, commodity news. I hope The New Consumer offers a unique, useful lens on the world for years to come.
About Dan Frommer
Before starting The New Consumer, I was the Editor in Chief at Recode, Vox Media’s tech and business news publication. Earlier in my career, I helped create Business Insider as its second employee. I’ve also been the technology editor at Quartz and a reporter at Forbes. Originally from Chicago, and now based in Los Angeles, I graduated from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
I’m active on Twitter, Threads, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Publishing Schedule
In addition to the member-exclusive Executive Briefing, which I publish ~weekly, I publish occasional free articles.
Important: This is a one-person operation, and I plan to be doing this for a long time. To keep things sustainable, I take up to four weeks of vacation per year and up to two weeks for professional development, such as research trips. I may also need to take personal or sick days from time to time.
Ethics Statement
In addition to The New Consumer, I operate a small consultancy, Semirelated, focused on strategy and research for investors and founders. I also now offer Advisory services through The New Consumer. (In addition to my writing and research, I’d like to spend more of my time getting closer to the metal — turning ideas into action.)
While most clients are confidential, I will generally not write about them — and, if so, will always disclose any conflicts of interest.
I don’t own stock in individual companies. I do have some retirement and investment accounts, but I don’t directly manage their holdings.
Contact
I’m making this for you! Please send feedback or questions to dan@newconsumer.com.
Get Involved
The New Consumer is a newsletter and website supported primarily by your membership. I am now also offering a limited number of sponsorships — get in touch to learn more.
My long-term goal is to build a vibrant community of professionals in the “new consumer” industries — this is part of it. Thanks in advance for your attention and support.
