Pumpkin spice started as a US seasonal habit. Now the demand shows up in the UK, Australia, and the Gulf. The appetite crosses borders quickly, but the infrastructure to serve it profitably rarely keeps up.

Most brands expanding internationally get pricing wrong in the same way: they take their US price, run it through a live currency conversion, and call it localized. The number that lands in front of a shopper in Germany or Australia is technically in the right currency — but it ...