Rethink Retail

Welcome to the Retail Rundown, your go-to weekly podcast where RETHINK Retail teams up with industry experts to discuss the news and trends defining the world of retail. In this episode, you'll hear from Mailchimp's Vice President of Retail, Sara Hicks, and Christine Russo, a RETHINK Retail advisor and the founder of the Retail Creative and Consulting Agency, as we discuss the evolution of retail over the last year and how the move to digital has led to the democratization of commerce.  You'll also hear about the work Mailchimp is doing to help small and medium-sized businesses get back on track after a year of disruption.  If you enjoyed this episode, please let us know by subscribing to our channel and giving us a 5 star rating us on Apple Podcasts.  - - - - - - Hosted by Julia Raymond Hare Written and produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller Social media by Madison Freeland

Today we’re kicking off another episode of RETHINK Retail with guest Matt Alexander. Matt is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Neighborhood Goods. Bursting onto the retail scene in 2018, Neighborhood Goods made it abundantly clear that it was not your grandmother’s department store. Neighborhood Goods is the store of the future, mixing a traditional store environment with the ease of technology and the vibrancy and community of an international bazaar. Join us as Matt shares his journey to co-founding Neighborhood Goods, his insights for DTC brands and what Neighborhood Goods is doing to help brands hard-hit by COVID-19. - - - - - - Hosted by Julia Raymond Hare Produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller Social Media by Madison Freeland

Just in time for summer, the United States is beginning to return to a state of normalcy after a rigorous six months of vaccinations. In this episode, you'll hear from João Diogo Falcão and Jeff Roster as we discuss our outlook for summer + news on stores dropping mask mandates, sports venues opening back up and how AiFi is bringing autonomous stores to the Indy 500. João Diogo Falcãois the Chief Technology Officer at AiFi, a retail tech company that helps retail stores of all sizes become fully autonomous. Also returning to the show this week is Jeff Roster. Jeff is the chairman of the Retail Advisory Board at Apptricity and the former vice president of strategy at IHL group. Jeff is also the co-host of, This Week in Innovation Podcast. Be sure to give him a listen on Spotify, Apple podcasts, or wherever you download your shows. We've got the scoop—and more—on today's episode. - - - - - - Hosted by Julia Raymond Hare Written and Produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller Social Media by Madi

At the close of 2020, women held just 7.8% of S&P 500 CEO positions. We were in attendance at the Shoptalk Meetup for Women event last week, where we spoke with dozens of women who are keeping the retail industry progress forward. In this episode, we share some of our key takeaways from the event, including a survey we conducted with 30 women in business. Joining the show today are RETHINK Retail's Natalie Arana, Gabriella Bock and Paula Macaggi. We've got the scoop—and more—on today's episode. - - - - - - Hosted by Julia Raymond Hare Written and Produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller

In this episode, we spoke with guests Faisal Masud, chief executive officer of Fabric, a headless e-commerce startup, and Jeff Roster, chairman of the Retail Advisory Board at Apptricity and the former vice president of strategy at IHL Group.  We spoke about Amazon's revenue growth during the pandemic as well as the rise of headless commerce and how it can help retailers level the playing field with Amazon.  Before Fabric, Faisal was the CTO of Staples, COO of Alphabet's drone division Wing, and helped create AmazonBasics. Jeff is also the co-host of the This Week in Innovation Podcast. We've got the scoop—and more—on today's episode. - - - - - - Hosted by Julia Raymond Hare Produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller Social Media by Madison Freeland

In this episode we spoke with Christopher Breen, head of partnerships at Public Goods, a membership-based online home goods store offering consumers healthy everyday essentials straight to their door. Chris currently leads the B2B team at Public Goods, where he is focused on making simple, sustainable, and design-forward products accessible in the retail and hospitality industry. We spoke about the value proposition of a DTC brand in retail, why merchandising is so important and how it helps brands like Public Goods own their narrative. You'll also hear about Public Goods' new wholesale store and what it's trying to accomplish by working directly with retail and hospitality buyers. We've got the scoop—and more—on today's episode. - - - - - - Hosted by Julia Raymond Hare Produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller Social Media by Madison Freeland

Does your brand need a Chief TikTok Officer? Many retailers have been catching on to the TikTok craze, with some brands even hiring special teams to whip out viral campaigns. Late last month, toymaker Nerf announced that it would be hiring a Chief TikTok Officer to create new ways to connect with the TikTok community On today's episode, we spoke with Brandon Brown, CEO of GRIN, an influencer marketing platform that helps DTC brands build and manage influencer relationships on social platforms including TikTok. You'll hear what Brandon thinks of Nerf's new "CTO" role and his key tips for running viral influencer campaigns. We've got the scoop—and more—on today's episode. - - - - - - Hosted by Julia Raymond Hare Produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller

We’re kicking off another episode of RETHINK Retail with guest Charlie Chanaratsopon. Charlie is most known for building Charming Charlie to 5,000 employees, 350 stores globally, and $500M in revenue. Charlie recently launched Boosted Commerce, a leading consumer products platform that acquires, launches, and grows third-party sellers on Shopify and Amazon. Join us as Charlie shares his journey as an entrepreneur, his insights for e-commerce merchants, and his key predictions for the future of digital real estate.

Gen Z, the portion of the U.S. population born around 1996 through roughly 2010, makes up for 40 percent of U.S. consumers and by 2026, Generation Z will surpass millennials as the largest consumer base in the U.S. In this episode, host Brandon Rael sat down with Andy Austin, president of The Industrious, a global design agency that specializes in creating unique in-store experiences. Together they discuss how a well-designed, innovative customer experience can be transformative for retailers and the ways in which aligning the customer’s personal brand with the retailer’s brand can engage shoppers and build lasting relationships with the next generation of consumers. We've got the scoop—and more—on today's episode. Read the Industrious’ whitepaper: Gen Z and The Retail Middle Class – A Path Forward: https://wearetheindustrious.com/white-paper-genz/ - - - - - - Hosted by Brandon Rael Produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller

Here's a staggering statistic to kick off your Monday morning: 77% of consumers say they have tried new brands since the beginning of 2020 In this episode, we sat down with Mark Smith, President of Kitewheel, a leading solution provider for customer journey orchestration and analytics, to discuss what's driving consumers’ willingness to try new brands. Kitewheel recently released a report titled “How to Survive The Latest Retail Apocalypse”, which explores key industry trends and offers recommendations on how brands can make the most of an evolving retail landscape. We've got the scoop—and more—on today's episode. - - - - - - Hosted by Julia Raymond Hare Produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller

In this episode, RETHINK Retail advisor Ricardo Belmar sits down with guests Gautham Vadakkepatt and Jeff Roster to discuss the role of academics in retail and how they are helping to create "new knowledge" for the next generation of retail innovators. Gautham Vadakkepatt is the Assistant Professor in Marketing and the Director of the Center for Retail Transformation at the School of Business at George Mason University. Jeff Roster is the Chairman of the Retail Advisory Board at Apptricity Corporation and the former VP of Strategy at IHL Group. - - - - - - Hosted by Ricardo Belmar Produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller

Nearly four months into 2021 and retailers in the United States are on track to open more stores than they close this year. In this episode, guests David Wilkinson and Britt Mills join host Julia Raymond Hare as they examine the state of physical retail and opportunities for emerging DTC brands. David Wilkinson is the President and GM of NCR Retail Solutions, a leader in enterprise retail technology and the number one global POS software provider for retail and hospitality. Britt Mills is the Senior Director of Customer Experience at Mobiquity, a global digital consultancy that helps the world's leading brands understand, apply, and engage with technology in meaningful ways. - - - - - - Hosted by Julia Raymond Hare Written and produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller

Now a year into the COVID-19 crisis, the world has watched as the grocery industry continues to prove its resilience, most notably through the rollout and adoption of same-day pickup and delivery services. In this special episode of the Retail Rundown Podcast, we'll take a deeper look at the state of the grocery industry as we hear insights from Tony D'Onofrio, Marc Babin, Carl Boutet, Oliver Banks, and Ashley Dudarenok. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rethink-industries Twitter: @RETHINK_Retail - - - - - - Hosted by Julia Raymond Written and produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller

On today's episode, we are joined by The Economist's Schumpeter columnist Henry Tricks to explore The Economist's special report “The Retail Renaissance: The Future of Shopping.” You'll hear insights on the new relationship between mass production and mass consumption; the use of data to bring producers and consumers directly together; customer choice and the ability to decide where and how to shop; and finally, the shift to Asia. Read the report: https://www.economist.com/futureofshoppingsr - - - - - - Hosted by Julia Raymond Written and produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller

In this episode, we caught up with Reality Interactive's Creative Director Jeremy Brazeal to learn how in-store touch technology thrived during a global pandemic. We also spoke about the ways consumers are changing, what retailers can do now to prepare them for the next 3-5 years, and what he thinks the ideal post-pandemic retailer will look like.  Episode 132 of the RETHINK Retail Podcast was recorded on March 02, 2021.  Hosted by Julia Raymond Researched, written and produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller

Is Target aiming to reinvent the mall? Target announced it would be launching Apple mini shops in 17 of its stores in 2021 with more to come in the near future. Target's sales also grew by more than $15 billion in 2020, which was greater than the company's total sales growth over the last 11 years. So, what can small and mid-size retailers glean from Target's success? Guests Justin Abrams and Raymond Riley explore this topic and more in today's episode. Justin is the CEO of FlagshipRTL, a brick-and-mortar retail services platform that has launched stores for major powerhouse luxury brands like Moncler, Bogner, and Bonpoint. Ray is the Co-CEO of Progress Retail, a retail operations and employee experience platform providing dynamic learning, task management, and company communications. St. Catrick's Day T-Shirt with Fanny: https://www.target.com/p/men-s-st-catrick-s-day-with-fanny-short-sleeve-graphic-t-shirt-white-green/-/A-81316252 - - - - - - Hosted by Julia Raymond Written and produced by Gabriell

In this episode, Forrester Research's Sucharita Kodali sits down with Mina Fader, Managing Director of the Baker Retailing Center at the University of Pennsylvania. They discuss recent allegations that Amazon favored big sellers on its India platform, as well as Standard Cognition’s recent round of funding and, finally, Facebook’s current news debacle in Australia. - - - - - - Hosted by Sucharita Kodali Written and produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller

Are you ready for the Roaring Twenties? On today's episode, we discuss Best Buy's digital transformation, retail's new physical estate and the post-pandemic retail landscape. Featuring guests Peter Cohan and Andrew Smith. Peter Cohan is the president of Peter S. Cohan and Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He is also a Forbes contributor and columnist at Inc. Magazine. You can find his new book, "Goliath Strikes Back" on Amazon.  Andrew Smith is the co-founder of Think Uncommon, a retail consultancy helping retailers innovate. He is the co-author of the book, "Retail Innovation Reframed," a how-to guide to implementing innovative capability in a retail business.  - - - - - - Hosted by Julia Raymond Written and produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller

Did you know 73% of Gen Z consumers have increased the time they spend shopping online? In this episode, we explore this digitally native generation as we take a deeper look at their purchases, preferences, and the retail campaigns making waves on TikTok. Joining us today are Dara Busch, president of 5WPR’s consumer practice, and Trinity Wiles, co-founder and director of product development at Where & Share.

Today’s episode is hosted by the incredible Carol Spieckerman. Carol expert on global retail trajectories and transmedia brand platforms. Carol is also an author and contributor to leading media outlets, such as NPR, Reuters, and Forbes, as well as our very own RETHINK Retail advisor and the host of the Spieckerman Speaks Retail Podcast. In this episode, Carol sat down with Simbe Robotics CEO Brad Bogolea, to discuss what’s ahead for retail robotics. - - - - - - Hosted by Carol Spieckerman Written and produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller