Join us on Wednesday August 7th, 2019 for the annual Columbia Business School Retail Forum hosted by Robin Lewis, Richard Jaffe and the W. Edwards Deming Center. We have a terrific program in the works, and want to let you know who we have as confirmed speakers to date!
The Program: Thriving in a Digital Economy
The retail industry is in the throes of a major transition; legacy brands are transforming their models into a tech-infused, digital platform leveraging machine learning and frontier technologies. The digitally-native brands are expanding into physical retail stores designed to enhance the customer experience and accelerate customer acquisition. Both the old world and new world are meeting head-on, and the successful companies will emerge as collaborative innovators blending the two worlds together seamlessly, delivering value and meaning to demanding consumers who have become the POS, wherever they are and at any time of the day.
The 2019 Columbia Annual Retail Forum program takes a deep dive into identifying the strategies, tools, models and innovative vision of the retail radical leaders that are shaping a sustainable future for the retail sales that will hit a record of $3.9+ trillion in 2019, according to the NRF.
The Confirmed Speakers
The UX: Surprise and Delight
Alexander Genov, Head of Customer Research and Web Analytics for Zappos speaks on how this 20-year-old retail innovator keeps its edge. With an experimental social psychology background and passion for research, design, and innovation, he helps solve customer and business problems. by motivating teams to create remarkable products and services which make people\’s lives easier and more enjoyable.
Driving the Digital Marketplace: A Rapid Immersion into Alibaba\’s Fast-Paced World
Matt Shofnos, Business Development Director at Alibaba Group, North America is in conversion with Gwen Morrison, CEO, The Store-WPP, The Americas about how to build a world-class multi-platform digital business.
High Touch Through High Tech
Christine Hunsicker, is Founder and CEO of CaaStle, a revolutionary B2B technology platform empowering retailers and fashion brands to strategically participate in a new sharing economy and CEO of Gwynnie Bee an online clothing subscription service for plus-size women. Christine has a fireside chat with Richard Jaffe on being a radical entrepreneur. and how she has used her experience with startups, algorithms and other data-based methodologies to shape her company\’s operations.
Compassionate Capitalism
Eddie Mullon, Founder, Fashion GPS, an innovator, disruptor and passionate advocate of sustainability as a business model, is in conversation on how NextGen values are shaping retail moderated by Simon Collins, Founder and CEO of WeDesign and Fashion Culture Design.
How to Think Like a Retail Radical
Rachel Shechtman, Director of Customer Experience at Macy’s and Founder at STORY chats with Paul Charron, Former CEO, Liz Claiborne about the intersection of technology, storytelling and imagination.
A Dystopian View
Mark A. Cohen, Director of Retail Studies at Columbia Business School, delivers his popular, annual no holds barred contrarian view on the retail industry.
The In-Store Experience
Kevin Roche, CEO of Roche Design Strategy spent the past nine years overseeing an aggressive LVMH | DFS Group expansion program of stores throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Kevin has been a Radical his entire career, designing retail environments around the world. Often dismissed as a strategic cornerstone to today\’s competitive global corporations, he shares why design matters with examples of how space and place make all the difference in the customer experience.
The Details
Date: Wednesday August 7th
Time: 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM – complimentary lunch included
Place: Uris Hall, Columbia Business School, Columbia University
Fee: The Forum is free on a first-come, first-served basis.
Registration: Go Here >>
