• HOME
  • ARTICLES
  • COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS
  • INNOVATORS NETWORK
  • TRR ANNUAL FORUM
  • WEBINARS
  • PODCASTS
  • ABOUT
  • RETAIL RADICALS
  • SPEAKING
  • CONTACT US
  • PRIVACY

Mobile Menu

  • ABOUT
  • SIGN UP FOR THE ROBIN REPORT
  • Menu
  • Skip to left header navigation
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation

The Robin Report

Courage

  • ABOUT
  • SIGN UP FOR THE ROBIN REPORT
  • ARTICLES
  • PARTNERS
    • Collaborative Partners
    • Innovators Network
    • Become a Partner of The Robin Report
  • WATCH + LISTEN
    • The Robin Report Podcasts
    • The Robin Report Webcasts
    • 2022 FIT Forum – Mastering the Customer Experience
    • The Robin Report 2022 CEO Forum
    • TRR/Fashion Institute of Technology Series – Pillars of Change
    • TRR/University of Wisconsin Series – The Next Wave of Retail
    • The Robin Report/Syracuse University 2021 CEO Series
    • The Robin Report Annual Forum
    • The Annual Columbia Business School Retail Forum
  • linkedin
  • twitter
  • facebook
  • youtube
  • spotify

Chris Walton

The Store of The Future Is Like Pornography. You’ll Know It When You See It.

By Chris Walton   |   March 18, 2019

The Store of the Future Should Never Be About Buzzwords Take, for example, this introduction to a piece I came across regarding the future of store design in one of my favorite daily retail roundups, Retail Dive: What does experiential retail even mean these days? For some it's sprinkles, others it's meditation pods. What really matters is localization, service and shareability. Say what? Come again? Retail buzzwords are useless. They are meaningless semantic throwaways that bring us neither closer to understanding what the long-term …

The Store of The Future Is Like Pornography. You’ll Know It When You See It.Read More

Is Walmart Losing Touch with America?

By Chris Walton   |   January 13, 2019

Nowhere was the confusion more confusing this year than in the case of Walmart. Every week Walmart appeared to be doing its damnedest to stay in the headlines. From one week to the next Walmart was buying Flipkart in India to holding VR galas in Beverly Hills. The 2018 Walmart press release schedule could have been drawn up by Tommy Smothers - it yo-yoed that much. Amid all the fanfare though, one has to wonder if Walmart has not fallen prey to one of the deadliest diseases that plague many a retailer right now - what I call Keeping Up with …

Is Walmart Losing Touch with America?Read More

Four Gender-Parity Wishes for the 2019 Trade Show Circuit

By Chris Walton   |   November 13, 2018

The 2018 trade show circuit has all but come to a close. Gone are the Shoptalks, IRCEs, eTail Wests, Shop.orgs, and so many other acronyms. The industry saw high-highs (Shoptalk) and low-lows (NRF), with much in between. It is only fitting that we start to plan ahead because quite soon, NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay will ring in the New Year again at the Big Show in January with his penchant for unbridled optimism. So, before NRF kicks off, I have one major issue to get off my chest: There is still more to be done in terms of advancing …

Four Gender-Parity Wishes for the 2019 Trade Show CircuitRead More

Brandless – A Fad Like Shake Weight® or the Next Big Thing?

By Chris Walton   |   September 4, 2018

With just a single year under its belt, Brandless, which prices all its roughly 300 products at $3, is reportedly valued at nearly $500 million, which is more than what Walmart paid for Bonobos. Some pundits have even touted Brandless as the most significant “Retail Disruptor” of the past year. The whole thing is mind-blowing. Perplexing. Is Brandless a retailer? Is it a consumer product goods company? Is it something else? Or, is there a reason I feel like Macbeth, seeing not a dagger before me, but the Pets.com sock puppet circa 1999 …

Brandless – A Fad Like Shake Weight® or the Next Big Thing?Read More

Walton - The Robin Report - Retail apocalypse

Five Tools to Survive the Retail Apocalypse

By Chris Walton   |   July 31, 2018

Zombie apocalypses are not so good. But many would argue that retail is right in the middle of one – Patient Zero has been infected and a nasty zombie virus is about to spread at an exponential rate. This zombie virus has a name: Amazon. Amazon is about to leave years of legacy retail hubris undead and wandering aimlessly down an old dusty road in mind-numbing purgatory. So, we need to be ready. We need to prep our safety shelters quickly with the tools necessary for survival. Here’s hope: There are five essential tools every company …

Five Tools to Survive the Retail ApocalypseRead More

Retail’s Mid-Year Physical Exam

By Chris Walton   |   June 19, 2018

2018 has lived up to its billing. The year promised zaniness amid the industry-wide “crack-up,” and it has not disappointed. The last six months have raised as many questions as answers. It is appropriate that we now pause and pull our heads above water to take a closer look at the industry’s mid-year report card. Required Annual Exam Now that I am in my forties, an annual physical exam has become a rite of passage. Everything that can be checked is checked, everything that can be drawn is drawn and everything that can be brought up to scare …

Retail’s Mid-Year Physical ExamRead More

Matthew Shay, President and CEO of NRF, Needs a Wake-Up Call

By Chris Walton   |   May 9, 2018

NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay recently published an article on LinkedIn entitled, The 3 Worst Articles on the Retail Apocalypse – And Why They’re Wrong. While I run the risk of biblical-sized smiting from the gods of the retail establishment, I cannot hold my tongue on this one. Shay’s post could not be more tone-deaf. His article strikes the exact wrong tone at the exact time we need him most. Consider this your wake-up call, Matthew Shay and NRF. That sound you hear? It’s your iPhone ringing at the side of your bed telling you it is time …

Matthew Shay, President and CEO of NRF, Needs a Wake-Up CallRead More

Retail’s Q4 Sales Results

By Chris Walton   |   February 7, 2018

Do we have amnesia? A mere six months ago at Shop.org in Los Angeles, I remember sitting amidst heated debates, akin to the Miller Lite “Taste Great, Less Filling” ads from the 1980s. The sticking point was about whether the industry was in the middle of an apocalypse. Today, the state of the industry is Book of Revelation type stuff on one hand, and Matthew Shay’s persistently shiny NRF optimism on the other. How has everything reversed course so quickly? Why the memory loss? The only refrain I know that changes this fast is Wheels on the …

Retail’s Q4 Sales ResultsRead More

« Previous Page
Next Page »

CONNECT WITH TRR

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • BROADCASTS
  • CONTACT US
  • SPEAKING
  • RETAIL RADICALS
  • PRIVACY
  • Account

Copyright © 2023 · Robin Lewis, Inc. All rights reserved. Copying or reproducing, by any means whatsoever, of The Robin Report, or any distribution hereof, in whole or in part, without the express written consent of Robin Lewis, Inc. is strictly prohibited. The Robin Report is published for senior executives in the retail, fashion, beauty, consumer products and related industries. The opinions expressed herein are not, and should not be construed as investment or other advice. All expressions of opinion are subject to change without notice.