The Beyond Burgers brand reflects a sea change of a whole new generation of environmental and animal friendly consumers. New products and new business models are emerging at an accelerated pace, driven by consumers and envisioned by savvy, progressive thinking CEOs. So, it strikes me that Walmart CEO Doug McMillon's investor day announcement that they would use their physical and digital platforms to drive businesses beyond retail -- from advertising to health care (and more) -- is the beginning of a new tech era portfolio business model, made …
Caruso: Community Creator
I had a "history brought forward" moment last week. It was a discussion with Rick Caruso, CEO of Caruso, one of the largest and most admired private real estate developers in the U.S. In fact, "most admired" would be an understatement from my point of view. In addition to being an innovator, civic leader on several fronts in LA and a generous philanthropist, he's also a giant visionary in the retail world who began successfully implementing his vision in the early 90s. Theory to Practice Caruso has an uncanny ability to see what's coming …
Supreme: Hot and Cool with VF
We didn't honor VF Corporation as a Robin Report 2020 Retail Radical of The Year for nothing. You can read all about it here. Radical is not a hyperbolic description, because what VF and their brands do in reality, with year-over-year regularity, is…well…supreme. Supreme's Next Chapter I'm not trying to be cute. I just couldn't pass the prescience of VF's supreme move of acquiring the Supreme brand, which indeed has had a supreme position since its inception in 1994 within the streetwear culture (AKA gorpcore as of a minute ago). For $2.1 …
Did Marc Lore Get the Walmart Boot? Or Mission Accomplished?
Marc Lore announced his departure from his role as President and CEO of Walmart's ecommerce business (which included Jet.com prior to its being shut down in June of 2020 and absorbed into walmart.com) at the end of January. Was it a "mission accomplished," moment or was he given the boot? If it's the latter, it was nine months ahead of his five-year agreement to remain as a Walmart employee until September of 2021, at which time he would have received his full payout, (including a stock valuation of roughly $150 million, according to …
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That Was the Year That Was…and Wasn’t
The genesis of the state of the retail industry today in the U.S. began about a quarter century ago as a slowly rolling transformation resulting from the launch of the smartphone. And you could add Amazon into the mix as an accelerant. The slow roll was catapulted forward at warp speed with the onset of Covid-19 early this year. It propelled both the demise of those retailers who were pivoting too slowly or not at all, and the success of those who were strategically shifting their business models to align with tech-armed next-gen consumers. The …
Warby and the Natives
Tons have been written about DTC native brands, the startups, viral unicorns still trying to make a buck, and those new brands who are making lots of bucks. Most of them were created by young tech geeks, business school grads and kids with a lot of common sense and empathy for what people want. Digital-native retail brands address the pain points that people do not want to experience to acquire their wants and desires. And most of these young entrepreneurs have a technology bandwidth that was growing exponentially in their brains when they were …
A Radical Visionary Envisions Nike’s Dominant Future
When you see the image of a swoosh and hear or read the words “there is no finish line” or “just do it,” what brand immediately comes to mind? If your answer is “I don’t know,” then you have been living on another planet. Nike has been just doing it, over and over again, as if there were no finish line. Doing what? Continuously innovating new products to maximize performance; advances in technology that elevate the efficiency and productivity of operations and inventory optimization and distribution to over-deliver to their insanely loyal …
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Levi Builds Community for Over 165 Years
If you go to Levi site, you will read in big, bold type, "Been innovating since the birth of the blue jean in 1873." In fact, 1873 was the year that Levi Strauss & Co. and Jacob Davis received a U.S. patent for an "Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings." By adding metal rivets to work pants, which would be known as blue jeans, they created stronger pants for working men. And over the last 147 years, Levi Strauss & Company has indeed fundamentally innovated across their business model, its products and every operation throughout their …