Join Ethan Chernovsky from Placer.ai and Robin Lewis for the next installment of their predictions and perspectives on the current state of retail. Always with a lucid and insightful presentation, Ethan analyzes the wider retail industry and dives into the sectors, brands, and formats that have shown unique strength in Q1. Be part of this webinar to learn about the biggest trends driving retail performance thus far. Ethan and Robin distill the latest shifts and examine what they might indicate about retail performance moving forward.
What’s Next for Retail in 2023
Ethan and Robin are at it again! Register now for the next installment of our conversation with Robin Lewis and Ethan Chernofsky, chief marketer of Placer.ai. They will discuss how to leverage the latest location analytics to understand what’s ahead for retail in 2023. They’ll dive into the key lessons from the holiday season, the brands and segments best positioned, the strategies impacting brick-and-mortar performance, and the biggest trends that will define the year to come.
Smart: The intelligent Store




Microplastic Pollution: A Constant Threat
A Thought Leadership Forum
Sponsored by Cotton Incorporated
In Partnership with FIT
Microplastic pollution is one of the single most critical threats to climate change…and among the least understood by the general public. Microplastic pollution from synthetic textiles can be found all over the world — from Mount Everest, the highest point on the planet, to the Mariana Trench, the deepest oceanic trench on Earth. The dangers of microplastics are cannot be understated — synthetic textiles are now responsible for 35% of the microplastics found in the oceans, and If plastic pollution continues unchecked, there may be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050. Even worse, in a study this year, microplastics were found in human blood.
This thought leadership forum takes a broad look at the intersection of microplastics and biodegradation research as well as how consumer demand is impacting how science and sourcing play roles in the future of sustainability.
Watch and learn from our experts who will deconstruct the problems, recommend solutions and present action plans for the retail industry as well as consumers to reverse the microplastic pollution tide.
You Know Something’s Happening, But Do You Know What It Is?
It started with pandemic and supply chain chaos. Now, inflation, recession, and Inventory overflow. Next? Disruptions and uncertainty — the new normal. So, how do you keep your business agile in a rapidly shifting marketplace? Join First Insight CEO Greg Petro and Robin Lewis in a dynamic discussion on what happened when retail worldwide was caught unprepared, what’s happening now, and a prediction of what’s to come.
Playbook on How to Choose and Use Data
Digital transformation is table stakes. And for the last several years, the retail industry has been touting how AI powered analytics will transform all facets of the business. But exactly how does a retailer go about leveraging their data and introducing analytics in functional disciplines that have relied on gut instinct and intuition to drive results? Drawing from the journeys of several leading retailers, you’ll hear how a data strategy is a key competitive edge in a digital marketplace.
- Which data to leverage and how to monetize customer data.
- Where can AI best be used to impact the customer experience.
- How to approach the change management challenge of introducing AI Powered Analytics into the organization.
Join Robin Lewis, Anjali Burkins, retail strategy advisor at o9 Solutions, Rich Pedott, partner at Columbus Consulting and host, Professor Catherine Geib at FIT as they discuss the power and limitations of AI powered analytics and how this data must be incorporated into a holistic process that maximizes the unique workforce talents that exist in every organization.
An Exclusive Interview with Marc Mastronardi, Chief Stores Officer at Macy’s
Resetting the New Rules of Retail
Welcome to Retail 2022. Four key systemic solutions will unlock retail success in 2022.
- Sustainability: The Shape of the Future
- Strategy: Managing Disruption
- Service: The Customer Experience
- Smart: The Intelligent Store
Robin Lewis and Marc Mastronardi talk straight talk about Service: The Customer Experience. Putting your customers at the center of everything that you do helps you meet the expectations of all stakeholders. It starts by truly understanding your customers, their priorities, and what drives buying behavior — and then building that intelligence into all your planning and executing decisions, every day. Learn from Marc how extraordinary customer service can be mastered through the art and science of retail in an omni-ecosystem designed to meet customers where they are. This wide-ranging conversation focuses on the physical store‘s role in the customer journey built on four pillars: discovery, service, engagement, and convenience. Agile and courageous, Marc plays by new rules and responding to demanding, savvy consumers who have set the pace for an upgraded retail experience.
Presented by Blue Yonder
Predicting the Future: Retail Status Check on How Bad Has It Been, What’s Real, and What’s Fleeting
Ethan and Robin are back with another deep dive into the most contentious topics in retail 2022. They shed some needed insight on what’s real and lasting…and what’s just a temporary result of our current marketplace environment. From the retailers and segments positioned for long-term success to the trends that will define the coming holiday season, our two industry experts break down the most important topics, informed and validated by a data-driven perspective.
Ethan Chernofsky and Robin Lewis are back with a new online conversation about the state of retail.
What’s the update? Retail’s 2022 Kick-Off, New Challenges and Opportunities is a dive into what’s shaping the retail experience. Find out how the triple threat of Covid, inflation, and rising gas prices are going to impact growth across retail. Robin and Ethan will examine the sectors and retailers that have shown strength, those that have seen visits lag, and break down the reasons why. Listen, learn and take advantage of this live, online opportunity to ask the experts after the presentation.
Catch Robin Lewis and Ethan Chernofsky of Placer.ai and their fascinating webcast on how retail shaped up this year and a prediction of things to come. They have a candid conversation about what retailers are doing well, surprising brands that were sleepers over the past year, and the prospect for physical retail (optimistic, by the way).
Robin Lewis and Ethan Chernofsky of Placer.ai Reveal All on the Retail Recovery!
Robin Lewis and Ethan Chernofsky, VP of Marketing at Placer.ai return with the next installment of what’s in store for retail. They take an insightful look at “Retail’s Recovery: The Sectors, Brands and Ideas Leading the Way.” No guesswork here, they break down the latest location data from the retail industry to analyze the top-performing brands and sectors, the trends driving their success, and what it all means moving forward. You’ll have the chance to ask questions, real-time, to dig deeper into the winners and losers emerging from the pandemic.
Pathr and Spatial Intelligence
Do You Know Where Your Customers Are?
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.
Open-Source Collaboration: The Future of Retail
Continuous retail transformation thrives through open collaboration. Partnerships are the acceleration tools retail needs to compete in a dynamic digital marketplace. Going it alone can limit and even repress your ability to lead change, transform and remain competitive. Consider this: You have no shortage of data but lack the insights and intelligence that connect it real-time and make it relevant. You can try to hack through it alone or streamline the process. Join Robin Lewis in a revealing conversation with Nelson Petracek, CTO at TIBCO and Stacey Shulman, Vice President Internet of Things Group at Intel, who share their story on how their collaboration has led to a breakthrough tech innovation for retailers of any size. And learn more about the open-source collaboration between Intel and TIBCO.
What Happened, What’s Coming?
A Deep Dive into Offline Retail
Originally aired December 15, 2020
Trying to figure out evolving consumer trends and how the pandemic has changed brick-and-mortar retail? Join us for an insightful look at what happened this Holiday sales season and how it may influence physical retail going forward. Who are the real winners and losers? We also took a look at what’s going on in the major U.S. malls and predictions about the future of the retail industry. Robin Lewis is in conversation with Ethan Chernofsky, VP of Marketing at Placer.ai. to dissect, deconstruct and make sense of the turbulent world of retail.
Holiday 2020: Fasten Your Seat Belts!
With the retail industry reeling from the converging storm fronts of a global health crisis, massive economic disruption and ongoing civil unrest, Holiday 2020 will be unpredictable, at best. Will consumers have enough discretionary spending power to make the last sprint of the year profitable for retail? Better yet, will customers have the appetite to buy to overcompensate for the past nine months, or will they hold back?
Robin Lewis and his guests, Jennifer Davis, Managing Director, Head of Retail Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs, Dick Johnson, CEO Footlocker and Steve Sadove, former Chairman and CEO of Saks Fifth Avenue and now head of his own consulting firm, Stephen Sadove and Associates, discussed the future of retail through the prism of Holiday 2020. They took a deep dive into the key socio-economic issues that will influence Holiday including the election, pandemic and consumer confidence, along with operational challenges including supply chain, inventory, distribution, fulfillment, staffing and store closures. They deconstructed how inspired leadership and innovation will play a starring role in re-engineering Holiday 2020.