Retail News – Provocative, Opinionated, Unbiased

Deborah Patton

About Deborah Patton

Innovator, Strategic Marketing & Communications
Deborah Patton is an innovator in strategic marketing and, including marketing planning, advertising, brand positioning, event production, creative services and communications. In addition to serving as COO of the of The Robin Report, she is Founder and Executive Director of Applied Brilliance, LLC, a thought leadership advisory consortium that explores and presents emerging trends and cultural paradigm shifts.

The New Retail Paradigm: Resilience, Transformation, Purpose

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World Retail Congress is more than a meeting. It is the incubation ground for collaboration on new ideas, innovating products and services, and inspiring partnerships. Balanced on three pillars – Resilience, Transformation and Purpose – WRC has co-partnered with leading change agents in the retail sector to reimagine and reinvent tired, traditional retail strategies and operations. Resilience Boston Consulting Group partnered with WRC to produce a joint report on what makes an organization resilient facing a series of geopolitical, …

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Postcards from Barcelona

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Attending the World Retail Congress this year in Barcelona can be a heady experience, not the least of which is recognizing that retailers anywhere in the world have the same problems and the multinationals have even greater challenges serving so many different cultural and social norms. The overall vibe at WRC was upbeat among the 750 attendees representing 40 countries. It’s a clubby atmosphere with a congenial group of high-level retailers circulating with high-level consultants, high-level entrepreneurs, and high-level financiers. If you …

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Cautionary Tales of Big Tech and Your Business

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Let’s take a pause. Have you been keeping track of the tech news? We’re entering a new phase of our obsession with technology and its influence. This is not an essay on turning a blind eye to the power of technology nor a rejection of its synergistic role in improving the human condition. But rather, this is a voice for the skeptics that are monitoring our steps and missteps. What does it have to do with retail? It has everything to do with how everyone is navigating a brave new world that has no unified playbook – and that includes leadership, …

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What Is Your North Star?

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Do you know your organization’s North Star? Or maybe a better question is whether your organization even has a North Star. Not to get all astronomical on you, but Dr. E.C. Krupp, Director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and a world-renowned expert in ancient astronomy explains, “The north pole of the sky and whatever stars were close to that point told the ancients there was foundation and structure in their lives. It was an anchor that held the world in place, the stable, motionless hub of the night’s orderly parade of stars. …

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The Power of Story

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We live in a commercial culture increasingly transforming itself into an endless series of stories. Disneyland/World. Universal. Woof Meow. Harry Potter World. Those are the real-world entertainment stories. And then there’s the virtual: Roblox, Minecraft, Mortal Kombat. And the social: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Match.com. Don’t ever underestimate the power of a story to empower, engage, aspire and, unfortunately, enrage. We are wired to tell and listen to stories. We’ve progressed from circling the campfire to startlingly realistic …

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Leadership in an Evolving Pandemic

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Leading in a Time of Ambiguity Living though a pandemic is shadowed by nearly constant uncertainty.  We take three steps forward, two sideways and unfortunately, then three steps backwards.  Innovators have been able to pivot and transform their business models to meet the needs of their stakeholders.  Retail organizations that have calcified cultures with command-and-control management models have been or are being easily eclipsed by agile competitors. So, which category characterizes your own organization: are you innovative or is your …

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La Samaritaine: A Dazzling Makeover

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Here’s one for the century. The reopening of La Samaritaine in Paris redefines the whole concept of a department store. In fact, “department” is immediately antiquated and irrelevant in this new marketplace model. We recently caught up with Kevin Roche who was charged with overseeing the retail planning and design of the massive LVMH project to reimagine and reinvent a centuries-old retail business. Roche explains, “I spent seven years overseeing the store planning, design, and construction of La Samaritiane. This was in addition to …

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Four Startups Reinventing Retail

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The Robin Report Innovators Network introduces you to startups with novel solutions that improve the performance and profitability of retail and brand operations. Our first four Innovators have engineered actionable systems to streamline retail in everything from contract management and fit to employee accountabilities and shared data platforms. With the thousands of startups that have a hope and a dream, our Innovators are providing relevant solutions throughout the industry. Why Start Up? With so many startups in the retail-tech arena, it's …

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