July 30.2021 Tech innovations reveal insights about your customers that you may not see in plain sight. In-person analytics should be as common for each retailer as online analytics are for their websites. How do retailers measure and leverage the shifts in consumer behavior as cities and businesses reopen? Join special guests George Shaw, CEO of Pathr, Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s chief strategist as they explore how algorithm-based spatial intelligence provides meaningful insights to help understand live customer interactions in real time, increase sales, decrease losses and manage your workforce. To watch the Vodcast of this presentation, go here >>
For more information on Pathr and their Real-time Spatial Intelligence visit them here >>
July 23, 2021 Clothing prices are edging up and quality is edging down. Pragmatic consumers are headed toward rental, reuse and borrowing from friends for a small fee. Rent the Runway is preparing for an IPO. Collaborative consumption is on the rise. Listen in as Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s chief strategist weigh in on how the sharing economy is reshaping retail and how the consumer is claiming power in shifting the supply chain.
July 16, 2021 Mike Gould, former CEO of Bloomingdale’s, speaks out! Has retail lost its way? We talk about purpose-driven business models, but have we lost sight of the real purpose of-business? Mike has a lot to say about the state of retail, it’s culture and how it has been derailed by a bottom-line mentality. He ought to know: Mike has the strategic brilliance of Peter Drucker melded with pragmatic operational leadership. He joins Robin Lewis, and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s chief strategist, to talk about the industry and how it can improve. Listen in for a lively, wide-ranging conversation.
July 9, 2021 You know the drill: Designed in America, made and/or assembled somewhere else. U.S. consumers are so price sensitive that even patriotic Made in America movements have historically failed. The renaissance of Made in America could become a reality if technology can help keep the prices down. Listen in to Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s chief strategist as they debate the future of offshore, nearshore and onshore American manufacturing.
7/2/21 Everyone is talking about Agile Stores, but is it all hype? What’s the benefit of agility and how can you implement agile strategies to ensure high-performance? Data can be a powerful tool or irrelevant if it’s not translated into action and connected to results. Join Phil Thorne, Managing Director of Quorso, with Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s chief strategist, as they dig into how to implement the right tech systems to turn rich data into focused efforts, measurable impact and scalable success. Listen and learn how to think and act smart so that you too can adapt rapidly to the volatile retail landscape.
TIMESTAMPS
3:40 Quorso surfaces unique actions that individual stores can execute
5:09 Retailers and brands are literally choking on data
10:34 Business strategy in context
13:30 Integration and scalability are key
16:30 The agile store
June 25, 2021 Digital marketplaces, even with competing sellers on the same platform, are the future of retail. Word of caution: An overabundance of brands offered through one platform is devaluing the customer experience, plus the near-infinite level of choice stacked up in endless online aisles with too much of the same thing competing for attention is ultimately not going to win customer loyalty. Join Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s chief strategist, as they dig deeply into the current state of marketplaces. Ultimately, online marketplaces will only work if the vendors and products being offered align with the target customer. Random partners across categories that are not in sync with the brand and its customers are doomed to fail.
June 18, 2021 The future of retail requires an ecosystem overhaul. Today, CEOs are faced by the rigorous challenge of retaining customers who are elastic – meaning fluid in their ever-changing expectations and behaviors. Join Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s chief strategist, with guest Dan Binder, Partner at Columbus Consulting as they debate four foundational issues reshaping retail: investment in new inventory systems, automation of smart supply chains, enhanced data, analytics and marketing skills, and streamlined technological efficiencies. Listen in to find out how to ramp up your retail game to stay profitable and relevant to customers who demand meaningful engagement.
June 11, 2021 D2C is the new darling of retail consultants. But it’s tricky and risky for traditional retailers with multiple vendors to play in this popular sandbox. It takes time, resources, and money to build out a sustainable D2C model. Key point: D2C is no panacea for struggling retailers. Listen in to Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s chief strategist, as they delve into the opportunities and complexities of going direct.
TIMESTAMPS:
1:17 Clarifying DTC, D2C and the shifting direction.
19:21 Retailers need technology investments to support a direct-to-consumer or dropship model.
21:20 Inventory visibility, vendor collaborated supply chains and systems integration are critical.
25:45 Retailers that want to play in the D2C market really have three choices.
June 4, 2021 All dressed up and nowhere to go? That sentiment will become a dim memory of the past pandemic. When it’s safe people want to #1 see family and friends, #2 go on vacation #3 go out to dinners/bars. These are great indicators for the apparel segment. Join Robin Lewis, Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s chief strategist and special guest Kim Kitchings, Senior Vice President, Consumer Marketing for Cotton Inc. as they delve into recent consumer research that reveals good news for the retail sector. For additional information, visit Cotton Inc. and check out this Covid-19 Consumer Concerns at-a-glance.
May 28, 2021 Your social network is expanding to personal shopping: social commerce will exceed $62B by 2024. The biggest players are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and Snapchat, but don’t count out brands developing their own platforms – just look at what Nike and Sephora are doing. And retailers, you’re on notice: social commerce is a more engaging, personalized, and immediate online shopping experience. Listen to Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan as they look into social commerce and its challenge to the online retail status quo.
TIMESTAMPS
3:10 – Social Commerce growth
5:50 – Top S-Com platforms
9:55 – Nike’s own s-com platform
12:53 – Sephora’s partnership with Facebook Live Shopping
May 21, 2021 Customers don’t want a flat journey that shows the same products in the same order to everyone. They want an inspirational, personalized experience that is completely relevant to them. How do retailers deliver a valuable, emotional online experience? Listen in as Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR chief strategist, have a wide-ranging conversation with entrepreneur Sarah McVittie, co-founder of Dressipi, as they discuss how innovative tech solutions fused with empathy are changing the customer experience and retailers’ bottom lines.
May 14, 2021 Is Walmart Amazon’s headache? Or the opposite? Time is our currency in a digital marketplace, and the race is on for Amazon to become dominant in the physical space or Walmart to dominate the online space. If you play by the numbers, Amazon’s total revenue is projected to hit $660 billion by 2024 and Walmart will clock in at $630 billion. Listen in as Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s chief strategist, debate the battle of the titans as both Amazon and Walmart build out their portfolios with third-party brands and a cascade of services as they face off dominating the future of retail.
May 7, 2021 It’s almost opening night for America, a tangible signal that happy days are here again with economic growth for nonessential retail finally in sight. But if New York City is the standard-bearer for post-pandemic optimism, we might be jumping the gun. Listen in as Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s chief strategist, go in-depth on how in-store retail is going to move forward. A few of the issues: languishing customer Covid anxiety; pent-up demand for self-reward; the return-to-work need for updated wardrobes, from the waist down; consumer expectations for in-store experiences that matter – all complicated by inventory and supply chain chaos after 14 months of various stages of lockdown. Listen and learn!
April 29, 2021 It only took 10 years to rewrite retail history. In the past decade, retailing has been in full-scale deconstruction propelled by technology, consumer behaviors and the new rules of a digital marketplace. What will the next decade reveal? Retail engineers will run the business in tandem with chief experience experts who fuse the art and science of commerce transforming the transaction into a personal relationship. Listen in to Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s chief strategist, as they discuss how the last ten years has reset the past 200 years of retail.
April 22, 2021 How do you redefine the retail store for a post-pandemic marketplace? How about a shared services platform that raises the bar on one-stop shopping? Add to that a membership program with a host of rewards, and you’ve built a loyalty model that customers can’t resist. Listen in as Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR chief strategist, explore the next generation of retail services and why they are more important than ever to serve customers who demand convenience and curation
April 15, 2021 Welcome to the Roaring Twenties. Pent-up demand for self-reward, stimulus checks, pumped-up savings and rock-bottom interest rates will feed a spending frenzy. Are pricing power and inflation lurking? Not a chance! What we really need to pay attention to is the evolving devaluation of retail as we race to the bottom with endless promotions to get rid of senseless oversupply, perpetuated for over half a century, and now dumped into an incredible proliferation of off-price and dollar stores. Listen and learn from Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR chief strategist.