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S1E7 - ShopTalk 2022 Recap – Retail’s Great Reunion Apr 08, 2022

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S1E7 – SPECIAL: ShopTalk 2022 Recap – Retail’s Great ReunionWelcome to Season 1, Episode 7, a special episode of The Retail Razor Show!For episode 7 we’ve changed things up a bit and Ricardo and Casey bring you a recap of the ShopTalk 2022 event in Las Vegas, which has come to be known as Retail’s Great Reunion! Sure, you’ve probably heard plenty of recap shows on this year’s ShopTalk, but this show doesn’t just tell you “what” happened, we also explain “why” it matters and what that means for retail’s future.I’m your host, Ricardo Belmar, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer for 2022 & 2021, RIS News Top Movers and Shakers in Retail for 2021, advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation, and lead partner marketing advisor for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.And I’m your co-host, Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock and slayer of retail frankenstacks!Together, we’re your guides on the retail transformation journey. Whether you're thinking digital and online, mobile, or brick & mortar stores, we’ll help you cut through the clutter!And big news! Our podcast is holding strong on the Feedspot Top 60 Retail podcasts list! We’re sitting strong at #21, so please do give us a 5-star review in Apple Podcasts or Spotify Podcasts if you like the show! With your help, we’ll be on our way to a Top 10 spot! Check it out here: https://blog.feedspot.com/retail_podcasts/The Retail Razor ShowFollow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/TwRRazorConnect with us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/LI-RRazorJoin our club on Clubhouse: http://bit.ly/RRazorClubListen to us on Callin: https://bit.ly/RRCallinSubscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTubeSubscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/RetailRazorShowRetail Razor Show Episode Page: https://bit.ly/RRShowPodHost → Ricardo Belmar,Follow on Twitter - https://bit.ly/twRBelmarConnect on LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/LIRBelmarRead my comments on RetailWire - https://bit.ly/RWRBelmarCo-host → Casey Golden,Follow on Twitter - https://bit.ly/twCaseyConnect on LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/LICaseyRead my comments on RetailWire - https://bit.ly/RWCaseyTRANSCRIPTS1E7 ShopTalk 2022 Recap - Retail's Great Reunion[00:00:00] Show Introduction[00:00:20] Ricardo Belmar: hello Retail Razor show listeners! Welcome to a special season one bonus episode. Our 2 Part Shop Talk 2022 recap episode. I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar a RETHINK Retail, top retail influencer and lead partner marketing advisor for retail and consumer goods at Microsoft. [00:00:38] Casey Golden: And I'm your co-host Casey Golden CEO of Luxlock obsessed with the relationship between a brand and the consumer. I've spent my career on the fashion side of the business and moved over to supply chain technology slaying Frankenstacks![00:00:53] Ricardo Belmar: So once again, we have changed things up a bit and interrupted our regularly scheduled episode to bring you our thoughts on what we saw, what we learned and what surprised us about last week's shop talk event in Las Vegas. [00:01:06] Casey Golden: Everyone is reinvigorated to be working in retail. So let's head to the floor.[00:01:11] Ricardo Belmar: All right. Let's give a listen to part one, which we recorded live about a day and a half into the show. [00:01:22] Live from ShopTalk, Part 1[00:01:22] Ricardo Belmar: Hey everybody welcome to retail razor show live from Shoptalk 2022. This is a special live version on Callin. I'm here with my cohost Casey Golden. [00:01:32] Casey Golden: Hello everyone. [00:01:35] Ricardo Belmar: And it is a pleasure to be coming to you live from the show. This is a new thing for us on the Retail Razor Show. Isn't it? Casey. [00:01:42] Casey Golden: It is. And it's a new thing for the record attendance increase at shop talk as well. It's standing room only at retail's biggest reunion. [00:01:51] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. I've heard everybody calling it that- retail's biggest reunion. I think the, numbers I've heard of, up to 10,000 people maybe. [00:01:58] It's pretty incredible. [00:02:00] Casey Golden: It's pretty incredible. I mean, I think we actually got New York together again.[00:02:03] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly.[00:02:08] It's like I can't go down a hallway. . Every time I take 10 steps down the hallway and suddenly there's somebody looking back at me thinking, Hey wait, do we know each other? We haven't met in the last two years, but it feels like we know each other, [00:02:19] Casey Golden: you know, I have to say , I'm really glad that, we got our LinkedIn pictures that we're just trying to place, but then when everyone started switching their, their Twitter photos to NFTs, I'm like, I don't remember what you look like. [00:02:31] Ricardo Belmar: what do you look like? You don't look at all like your NFT on Twitter. [00:02:35] Casey Golden: No, not at all. I've been like glancing at badges, but - you know, I, this is a first for me. This is my first shop talk.[00:02:41] So I guess I'm starting at the top here[00:02:44] it's, it's really great. So many brands, so many people everybody just really pulling. It's going to be a big year this year. Like everyone's excited. [00:02:55] Ricardo Belmar: There's a huge amount of energy here. It's like everybody has been dying to get back together. See everybody they haven't seen for two years in this industry.[00:03:03] And it shows, it shows that they're, I don't think there's been another show yet for retail. That's been able to do that. [00:03:09] Casey Golden: No, I mean, we started off in day one. The vibe was electric. We literally with electric bands and presentations, and we've got Flo Rida here, which is exciting. [00:03:22] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. [00:03:22] Casey Golden: I know Fabric's doing a big party tonight.[00:03:25] Ricardo Belmar: Yep. There's that too. There's that too, lots of I think every night there's so many things you can't keep track of how many different activities there are? [00:03:31] Casey Golden: No, I mean, I'm, I'm pretty impressed so far. [00:03:34] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. So let's talk about some of the sessions so far. I'm going to call it day one. Maybe we should call it day one and a half. It was like a half day yesterday, I guess. [00:03:42] Casey Golden: Unknowingly. It was a half day. I arrived quite early. [00:03:47] Ricardo Belmar: I arrived late. So I missed part of yesterday. That was kind of unfortunate. [00:03:51] Casey Golden: You missed a lot of waiting.[00:03:56] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. How many people did you say there were two, [00:03:57] Casey Golden: a couple of breakfasts. A couple of lunches. It's like, oh my bad. [00:04:01] Ricardo Belmar: Right? Exactly. [00:04:02] Casey Golden: It starts in what time? [00:04:05] Ricardo Belmar: So I did, I did manage to hit a couple of the keynote sessions yesterday. There was some good, good experiences given out by Kath McLay, the CEO at Sam's Club on their pandemic experience and how they started changing how they think about customers.[00:04:20] Casey Golden: Yeah. I mean, that, that was like, it was nice to see the opening with just like three amazing women opening up that stage for conversation.[00:04:27] I spent my, my morning over at the shark reef, [00:04:32] Ricardo Belmar: of course. [00:04:32] Casey Golden: Yeah. Lot of great startups, you know, it was just, it's so nice to actually just be around a pitch competition where everybody's a retail tech startup. [00:04:42] Ricardo Belmar: Yep. [00:04:42] Casey Golden: It's so exciting. There's so much going on. There's so much innovation happening and.[00:04:48] All of the pitches were really well. [00:04:49] Ricardo Belmar: Very cool. And then I think just finishing now, by the time we're recording, I think there was a whole series of metaverse related keynotes going on, right? [00:04:59] Casey Golden: Yeah. I mean, I think maybe everybody will know what an NFT is and what the metaverse might do by the end, by what?[00:05:06] Tomorrow by the end of the week. [00:05:07] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. [00:05:07] Casey Golden: I think brands and techies might just have been able to cross the chasm here. [00:05:12] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, definitely. [00:05:13] Casey Golden: The Superbowl, ahh QR code was not lost. He's alive and well here. [00:05:19] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, no kidding. No kidding. Yeah.[00:05:22] Casey Golden: So some of the tracks we've got, developing tomorrow's retail, innovating growth opportunities, global shopping experiences, love hearing that global shopping experience. And the shark reef startup pitch. So, I mean, these are the way that they're kind of running the day based off the theme and then going down with new speakers, I think it's really great.[00:05:42] Just being able to really dive into these themes because all the brands seem to be aligned on key initiatives. [00:05:48] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. [00:05:49] Casey Golden: You know, [00:05:49] Ricardo Belmar: everybody seems really focused. [00:05:50] Casey Golden: It's really focused. And. Just all about the technologies and customer experience, and everybody's really just ready to go outside of their box and learn.[00:06:01] I think that's the biggest thing is so many meetings about, tell me about what you do, how do you want [00:06:07] to do it? Right. It's a, [00:06:10] Ricardo Belmar: everybody's genuinely interested and there's a lot of focus. Everybody wants to learn more. And everyone's just so excited to see each other. It's just, [00:06:19] I know that's right. That's right.[00:06:21] Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's a good, if you're at this show, then you're coming away thinking it's a good time to be in retail tech[00:06:30] Casey Golden: by golly. It took long enough Katia Walsh from Levi's they had a great talk yesterday. On attracting and developing and retaining top digital talent. Where's Ron, when you need him. [00:06:40] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. Shout out to Ron. [00:06:42] Casey Golden: Yeah. There was a lot of people that were coming out of that just feeling really invigorated and excited.[00:06:47] Ricardo Belmar: yeah. What else, what other cool sessions have you been to so far?[00:06:49] Casey Golden: You know what I've gotten pulled out of a lot of sessions for meetings. Today is really gonna be focused on sessions and tomorrow the first day I was just so excited to leave my apartment. [00:07:01] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. I've been hearing that a lot from everybody, everyone I run into. It's so good to be away. [00:07:06] Casey Golden: Yeah. I wanted to meet as many people as I could.[00:07:09] I made so many new friends on Twitter over the last two years from clubhouse where these conversations started. Yeah. I've got a whole crew of like new BFFs [00:07:22] Ricardo Belmar: and they're all here. [00:07:23] Everybody's here. That's amazing. [00:07:24] Casey Golden: Being able to spend time to actually talk to people and socialize rather than I got 30 minutes for zoom.[00:07:35] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. [00:07:35] Casey Golden: There's nothing like real life. [00:07:37] Ricardo Belmar: And it's like standing and it's like standing room only. Like you want to meet with someone around here. There's no space. So you gotta find like where where's the empty space that you can kind of huddle around to meet with whoever you want to meet. Yeah. In the next minute.[00:07:49] Casey Golden: Yes. [00:07:49] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. [00:07:50] Casey Golden: It's like, I'll meet you in the corner of here and there. We'll just sit on the floor. It's good. [00:07:56] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. And then I got to say about half the people that I've met with, every conversation starts with , I feel like I don't remember how to do a conference any more and , I'm so lost.[00:08:07] I had a dozen people say to me, I forgot how far away everything is in Las Vegas. You think it's right across the street and that's not a five minute walk. I was like, oh, we want to meet in which room? In the convention center. Oh, that's just down the hall, except that the hall is, you know, a thousand feet long.[00:08:22] Casey Golden: Yeah. oh, I'll be right there. And it's like 10, 15 minutes. It's my bad. [00:08:26] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, exactly. So let's see [00:08:28] Casey Golden: oxygen this way.[00:08:33] Ricardo Belmar: Let's see what other, what other trends I'm hearing people talk about sustainability again, I'm hearing more and more talk on retail media, which was one of our predictions for the year, understand there's that there was Instacart session. They talked a lot about retail media advertising on their platform, and that makes sense. You'd expect that [00:08:50] Casey Golden: Yeah, getting much more targeted. A lot of people want to diversify from the Facebook, Instagram ad models and find some new channels to really reach their customers and build on a lot is getting lost in those customer acquisition costs and really being able to actually acquire those customers.[00:09:08] Ricardo Belmar: Right. [00:09:09] Casey Golden: Everybody's on the same platform. So people are getting really creative. Super creative.[00:09:13] I am super impressed too, to see there's a lot of Silicon valley here. [00:09:17] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. [00:09:18] Casey Golden: I was, I was blown away. I'm walking by, I'm like, wait, what Andresseen Horiwitz just took the whole sec. Okay. They're there on almost every panel. There's somebody almost on every panel from Silicon valley, which is, we're just pretty easily.[00:09:34] That means, you know, everybody knows that this is going to be the next 24 months in retail is going to be a big deal. Yeah. And we'll get to see how all of this kind of shakes out what the customers think right in what, 2024.[00:09:51] So this is all for 2025 right now. It's all for 2025.[00:09:56] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. And then as usual for a shoptalk, right. A lot of big brands on stage , besides Sam's club and the opening, I think there was Macy's and Target today. A lot of big names talking about what their vision of the future of commerce. I haven't walked the show floor yet [00:10:11] Casey Golden: across the gamut. I mean, going from Ralph Lauren to Albertsons. [00:10:15] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. And everything in between.[00:10:16] And if there's one phrase that almost every single session repeats, it has to be meeting our customer where they are being able to let them transact any way they want anywhere they want that. That's, there's like one theme that's hitting every single session.[00:10:31] Everybody's got [00:10:31] that talk, track that enablement. [00:10:34] Casey Golden: A lot more about enablement rather than necessarily building the solution. It's all about how you connect with other solutions. [00:10:39] Ricardo Belmar: Right. Right. [00:10:40] Casey Golden: So a lot of API builds here coming up, [00:10:43] and just a really big rise and a headless. I mean, you can't really walk through here with, without the entire, all the walls talking about headless commerce, but I think there's going to be a lot of interesting changes here going in with.[00:10:55] Some, some replatforming to be able to have that flexibility to connect to all of these new emerging technologies.[00:11:01] Ricardo Belmar: Yep, absolutely. That is a big, big theme. And I've just even, yeah, I can looking forward to walkin…

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S1E6 – The Retail Avengers vs The Trials of Digital Transformation & Innovation, Part 1 Mar 03, 2022

Show notes

S1E6 – The Retail Avengers vs The Trials of Digital Transformation & Innovation, Part 1Welcome to Season 1, Episode 6, the sixth episode of The Retail Razor Show!I’m your host, Ricardo Belmar, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer for 2022 & 2021, RIS News Top Movers and Shakers in Retail for 2021, advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation, and lead partner marketing advisor for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.And I’m your co-host, Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock and slayer of retail frankenstacks!Together, we’re your guides on the retail transformation journey. Whether you're thinking digital and online, mobile, or brick & mortar stores, we’ll help you cut through the clutter!For episode 6 we’re letting the Retail Avengers fly solo, sans guests, and dive into understanding the tailwinds of digital transformation and innovation in retail. Why is this so important for retailers, and how can retailers best develop a culture that supports digital transformation and innovation? Plus, we dig into how retailers can introduce outside ideas into that culture in a positive manner. This is the first of a two-part series on digital transformation and innovation!And big news! Our podcast is holding strong on the Feedspot Top 60 Retail podcasts list! We’re sitting strong at #21, so please do give us a 5-star review in Apple Podcasts or Spotify Podcasts if you like the show! With your help, we’ll be on our way to a Top 10 spot! Check it out here: https://blog.feedspot.com/retail_podcasts/The Retail Razor ShowFollow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/TwRRazorConnect with us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/LI-RRazorJoin our club on Clubhouse: http://bit.ly/RRazorClubListen to us on Callin: https://bit.ly/RRCallinSubscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTubeSubscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/RetailRazorShowRetail Razor Show Episode Page: https://bit.ly/RRShowPodHost → Ricardo Belmar,Follow on Twitter - https://bit.ly/twRBelmarConnect on LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/LIRBelmarRead my comments on RetailWire - https://bit.ly/RWRBelmarCo-host → Casey Golden,Follow on Twitter - https://bit.ly/twCaseyConnect on LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/LICaseyRead my comments on RetailWire - https://bit.ly/RWCaseyTRANSCRIPTS1E6 The Retail Avengers vs The Trials of Digital Transformation & Innovation, Part 1[00:00:20] Show Introduction[00:00:20] Ricardo Belmar: Hello. Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. No matter what time of day you're listening , welcome, welcome to season one episode six of the Retail Razor Show. your host, Ricardo Belmar a RETHINK Retail, top retail influencer partner marketing advisor for retail and consumer goods at Microsoft.[00:00:36] Casey Golden: And I'm your co-host Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock, obsessed with the relationship between a brand and a consumer. I've spent my career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business slaying franken-stacks. [00:00:49] Ricardo Belmar: So for this week, we're changing the pace a bit. This episode and the Retail Avengers fly solo, so to speak, sans guests, and specifically Jeff Roster joined me for the first part of the discussion. And then you can joined us Casey, talk about the future of digital transformation and innovation in retail.[00:01:05] is part one of a two-part discussion. And for this week we focused on understanding the challenges in corporate culture for retailers.[00:01:13] Casey Golden: The pandemic really changed the situation for retailers around innovation and digital transformation, Ricardo. Corporate cultures have changed down to the DNA of their organization. [00:01:23] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, that's so true. Casey, and one area that's really introduced a massive change in that DNA and culture is in the IT budget. And we're not talking. How much retailers spend on infrastructure or the lights on with all their legacy systems. Now we're talking about the amount of budget spend on just pure innovation and transformation.[00:01:41] Successful retailers have really turned the corner on how much they spend on this . [00:01:45] Casey Golden: And even more importantly, they've overcome their fear t o experiment And you and Jeff really get into that a bit more. [00:01:52] Ricardo Belmar: Definitely. Definitely. So let's jump into the Clubhouse discussion and then we'll come back here and recap a bit. Plus talk about what really stands out to us from the whole discussion[00:02:00] Casey Golden: Sounds good. So before we get caught up in one of my favorite conversations, money, let's listen to the Retail Avengers versus the Trials of Digital Transformation and Innovation. [00:02:15] Clubhouse Session[00:02:15] Ricardo Belmar: welcome everybody into the retail razor room. I'm here with my fellow Retail Avenger, Jeff Roster. Jeff, why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself. [00:02:23] Jeff Roster: So Jeff Roster former Gartner and IHL retail sector analyst now on a bunch of advisory boards and doing a podcast, this week in innovation, and rolling with Ricardo at retail tech predictions, 2025. [00:02:36] Ricardo Belmar: All right, thanks Jeff. And for anybody that doesn't know in the audience, I'm Ricardo Belmar. [00:02:40] I've been a long time retail tech guy at different technology providers and service providers to the retail industry. Now currently with Microsoft as a Partner Marketing Advisor in the U S so let's get rolling into our topic for today. We are going to talk about the future of digital transformation and innovation in retail and retail tech out towards 2025.[00:03:04] And if you're wondering why we picked this topic well, for one as you might guess from the title of Jeff's podcast This Week In Innovation, it's a topic near and dear to our hearts that we often find ourselves in conversations. If you've been to our rooms in the past, and you've heard from the other members of our team, you know, we all have a relationship with retail tech in some way.[00:03:23] And we're always interested in the future of innovation in this industry, which it's probably safe to say doesn't have the greatest history of being innovative in the past, but I would argue that in recent years that's been dramatically changing. [00:03:37] Would you agree, Jeff?, [00:03:38] Jeff Roster: Well, given, I started in 2000 when I'm literally, little to talk about. I mean, every, every day now there's something new. If you look at what's happened with, with artificial intelligence blockchain, all that edge every single day that, you know, there's 5, 6, 10, 15 articles to go through. Just an amazing, amazing amount of uptake.[00:03:56] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, I agree. I forget where I seen this, but and I'm sure if you've seen it too, , if you just look at the sheer number of retail tech startups that are popping up now, this is a really hot market. There are retail tech startups, and just about every conceivable space of technology that's relevant to a retailer, including ones that maybe weren't thought of as little as a year or two ago I'll just give one example that I find myself talking about a lot lately and that's in the whole area of returns management.[00:04:20] And in some cases, even what I'll call return prevention analysis you could say that the rise of e-commerce has perhaps inflated the whole returns processing challenge for retailers. But I think that's an really interesting area now where there's a lot of new technology coming up in a lot of new retail tech startups, trying to address this problem and make it easier and therefore lower cost to handle returns.[00:04:42] Jeff Roster: You know, my podcast partner, Brian, and I think there's probably well over multiple thousands of retail sector startups. We're counting them in the thousands. [00:04:51] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. In the thousands. I'm actually not surprised by that number. [00:04:54] Jeff Roster: I am a lot. That's a lot of money. That's a lot of people, but you know, if you just look at anybody that touches AI and they, and they put retail in their title, I mean, that sort of explains it.[00:05:06] How many are really hardcore will be successful. [00:05:09] Ricardo Belmar: That's a different question, right? Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's a different question. You, you know, an interesting aspect to that, that I'd like to look at is where all of these new tech startups regardless of what aspect of retail technology they're addressing, there's a difference in who they're targeting, right.[00:05:26] Are we looking at thousands of startups that are targeting tier one retailers, or are we looking at thousands of startups that are distributed across targeting tier one retailers down to, you know, small business retail owners? [00:05:40] Jeff Roster: So typically. I don't know that I, I mean, no one's ever really asked that question or surveyed that group.[00:05:46] It's a pretty hard group to even survey since we're not even sure how many there are in just, you know, it's going to be a great question. I'm going to ask that going forward, but in the conversations I'm having more and more. It's usually when I ask what's segmentation, it's usually they say retail and you know, of course being an analyst, it drives me insane.[00:06:01] So tier one, tier two, tier three, tier four is not a whole lot of startups just saying, I want to go up during out tier four, tier five, it's all almost exclusively tier one, tier two. Right. And depending on your definition, I don't know Ricardo, if you have a different definition than I, but tier one's greater than a billion tier twos, nine 99 million to two 50 million in tier three, it's two 50 to 50.[00:06:21] And that's, that's the segmentation I've used for 20 years. So you could probably make the case. I need to bump up tier one to like a super tier one whatever, but it's, it's still a massive number. And literally, I can't think of a startup that's really going after tier four tier five. That would be a pretty tough.[00:06:35] For a startup, they're all, they're all trying to fill out, trying to go for the sweet [00:06:38] Ricardo Belmar: spot. Yeah. It, it, it's a scaling issue, right. For, for a startup is you want to maximize the size of my first few customers, right. To keep the business going and scaling to that was the small business set. Right. Where you're talking about, you know, you're going to spend just as much time working to sell that two store retailer as you are that tier one retailer.[00:06:59] Jeff Roster: Yeah. And so what you see with startups, just getting started as you see founders really being elite salespeople. Right. And if you're trying to establish a business and try to be your lead sales person, that is a really tough call to call on, you know, hundreds of tier two and three far, far better to work with tier one, tier two.[00:07:17] You're seeing retailers that are, are investing in startups, so you can look what Ulta cosmetics is doing. It's just, obviously Walmart's been, it's been doing that forever and Amazon and Target, so you're seeing, you can see probably, five or six. Yeah, probably probably 20 retailers that are aggressively investing in, start the start up community, let alone just, just find service, but literally investment now. And that trend we expect to see really continue and probably accelerate.[00:07:41] Ricardo Belmar: And that's, that's an interesting one to me because one of the things I hear most often from retail tech startups I've talked to is, the difficulty in finding that early investment and the right amount of investment for them to really fulfill the vision they have for the technology and the solution that they're developing. So I find it fascinating to see these larger retailers, like, the Ulta example you gave , for example, because sure Walmart, Amazon, those guys have been doing this for awhile. But we're branching down now into other retailers who are realizing, my best bet may be to invest in these retail tech startups, rather than looking for that clean, polished solution that's been in market for five years, that I'm going to hope that I can talk to at least three other retailer friends of mine who have already implemented this. I'm going to take the chance and invest in this one because I think their vision matches and aligns with what we need. And we'll be the ones to help them bring that solution forward.[00:08:32] Jeff Roster: Well, there's several incubators that are, that clearly that's their strategy. And I fall in love with the idea. I think, literally don't care. what some of my friends at some of the larger software providers, but it would probably argue with me, but I am telling you, there is a lot of innovation happening and we're seeing more and more and more with retailers letting somebody startups get in.[00:08:52] And, and they're literally building tech to spec. So I, you know, I think it's, I think it's really interesting. And then I think we'll see more and more retailers actually acquiring, a startup bringing that tech inside. [00:09:03] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. Yeah. [00:09:03] We've seen that happen too. Yeah, I agree. . So here's what I think is really interesting and kind of going back to when I asked earlier about the segmenting of this and the targeting of this, because I often see many of these technology solutions as sort of an equalizer in a sense that if I'm that small retailer.[00:09:21] If I have the resources to adopt some of these solution, it may have the effect of putting me on more equal footing to my bigger retail competitors, because it's going to give me capabilities that by virtue of my being small, I can probably get them up and running faster than some of my larger counterparts that have too big an organization to move quickly enough.[00:09:41] And that might give me an advantage. At least even if I'm a local retailer, for example, it gives me an advantage in my local community competing to those big national brands, because I can deploy these things faster and get moving on them faster and reap the benefits of those technologies at a much quicker pace.[00:09:56] Jeff Roster: Yeah. So I wouldn't disagree with that, but you also have the right DNA in the retailer. You have to have a senior leadership team that says I'm okay with this experimentation and the ones that are successful, Walmart certainly, Target absolutely, Ulta absolutely, probably Sephora. I don't know them quite as well.[00:10:14] There there's just a different. They, they are very senior leadership now, not the technology people, but senior leadership are very, very acceptable of our accepting of experimentation risk. Let's throw the dice to a certain degree. We think we can get a big bang for it. And that's what I've been screaming about for 20 years, that we're an industry that needs to embrace that. It's completely unacceptable to say, every technology project has to be successful, you cannot do it.[00:10:40] And I think we're finally getting to that point and we're seeing, clear examples of retailers that are aggressive with tech are winning at the cash register and that's only going to accelerate. And I do think we're going to see a massive split off of retailers that are trying to play too safe and too comfortable.[00:10:57] I'm not going to use the the, a word I'm going to use the apocalypse word, but I…

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S1E5 - The Retail Avengers & The Sea of Academia Feb 10, 2022

Show notes

S1E5 – The Retail Avengers & The Sea of AcademiaWelcome to Season 1, Episode 5, the fifth ever episode of The Retail Razor Show!I’m your host, Ricardo Belmar, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer for 2022 & 2021, RIS News Top Movers and Shakers in Retail for 2021, advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation, and lead partner marketing advisor for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.And I’m your co-host, Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock and slayer of retail frankenstacks!Together, we’re your guides on the retail transformation journey. Whether you're thinking digital and online, mobile, or brick & mortar stores, we’ll help you cut through the clutter!For episode 5 we’re tackling an issue that doesn’t get as much attention as it should – the role of academics and universities in the retail industry!We have two special guests joining us. Gautham Vadakkepatt, director of the Center for Retail Transformation at George Mason University’s School for Business. Plus fan favorite, Ron Thurston, author of the book, Retail Pride – The Guide to Celebrating Your Accidental Career.Listen to our Clubhouse session with Gautham and Ron where we discuss how academia can change the perception of retail for students - our up-and-coming next generation of retailers! We also consider what contributions university centers can make to retail tech, particularly in the startup community as well as how research plays a role in furthering the spread of knowledge in the retail ecosystem.You can learn more about the Center for Retail Transformation on their website. For more information about Ron’s book and his upcoming Retail in America tour, visit his website.And big news! Our podcast has made it to the Feedspot Top 50 Retail podcasts list! We recently hit #20, so please do give us a 5-star review in Apple Podcasts or Spotify Podcasts if you like the show to help us grow! With your help, we’ll be a Top 10 podcast soon enough! Check it out here: https://blog.feedspot.com/retail_podcasts/The Retail Razor ShowFollow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/TwRRazorConnect with us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/LI-RRazorJoin our club on Clubhouse: http://bit.ly/RRazorClubListen to us on Callin: https://bit.ly/RRCallinSubscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTubeSubscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/RetailRazorShowRetail Razor Show Episode Page: https://bit.ly/RRShowPodHost → Ricardo Belmar,Follow on Twitter - ****https://bit.ly/twRBelmarConnect on LinkedIn - ****https://bit.ly/LIRBelmarRead my comments on RetailWire - ****https://bit.ly/RWRBelmarCo-host → Casey Golden,Follow on Twitter - ****https://bit.ly/twCaseyConnect on LinkedIn - ****https://bit.ly/LICaseyRead my comments on RetailWire - https://bit.ly/RWCaseyTRANSCRIPTS1E5 The Retail Avengers & The Sea of Academia[00:00:20] Introduction[00:00:20] Ricardo Belmar: Hello. Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. No matter what time of day you're listening. Welcome. Welcome to the retail razor show. I'm your host Ricardo Belmar a RETHINK Retail top 100 retail influencer and lead partner marketing advisor for retail and consumer goods at Microsoft.[00:00:35] Casey Golden: And I'm your co-host Casey Golden CEO of Luxe lock and been obsessed with the customer relationship between a brand and a consumer and slaying, Frankenstacks [00:00:44] Ricardo Belmar: I love hearing how many Frankenstacks you've slain every time, Casey, how many since the last episode?[00:00:49] Casey Golden: Well, we're still working on three. It does take a minute.[00:00:52] Ricardo Belmar: Well, yeah, I guess it does take a minute. That's not bad. Considering we had a holiday break in there too. Right? So not too bad, not too bad. I wonder how many listeners would have guessed. I keep waiting to see if there are any tweets they're going to start flying out to us with everybody guessing before the next episode, how many Franken stacks get slain?[00:01:11] So do I, or do I, anybody listening or watching on YouTube will look out for the tweet storm of guesses and we'll give you a shout out if anybody comes close to the right number.[00:01:19] Casey Golden: So last week, Ricardo, we had a special guest dedicated to celebrating retail ROI, probably one of the most moving podcast episodes in 2021. [00:01:29] Ricardo Belmar: . Without a doubt, anyone that missed that one definitely go back, give it a listen. I'm sure you'll be as moved and inspired as we were. [00:01:35] Casey Golden: Well at this time, we've got another hot topic.[00:01:38] Don't we? And not one, but two special guests joined us on clubhouse to talk about our super cool, but often underrated subject, how academics support retail. [00:01:48] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. This session was a long time in the making, for our listeners out there, who aren't aware I'm on the advisory council to George Mason University's Center for Retail Transformation, along with a couple of our retail Avengers team members, Jeff Roster, and Shish Shridhar.[00:02:03] And we invited the center's director, Gautham Vadakkepatt to join the show. So we could deep dive into how academics and university programs help the retail industry and not just retailers, but the whole ecosystem.. [00:02:15] Casey Golden: And back with us again. Fan favorite, Ron Thurston, author of retail pride. The guide to celebrating your accidental career also joined us because this iOS is a topic near and dear to our hearts too.[00:02:29] Ricardo Belmar: So we zeroed in on three main topics for the discussion, preparing the next generation of retailers, also known as students supporting an environment for startups now, also near and dear to our hearts and for creating, a neutral ground for industry research. [00:02:42] Casey Golden: There's so much ground to cover in these areas.[00:02:45] And I can't wait to share what Gautham and Ron had to say, let's get to it. [00:02:49] Ricardo Belmar: Absolutely. So without further delay, let's listen to the retail Avengers and the sea of academia.The Retail Avengers and the Sea of Academia on Clubhouse[00:03:02] Ricardo Belmar: Welcome everybody to the Retail Razor room. We're talking today about what we call the sea of academia, and we're going to be taking a deep dive into the role that universities and academics play in the future of retail.[00:03:20] We're going to focus on three areas and we'll get to that in a moment, but we have a couple of guest speakers with us this week, who I want to first let them introduce themselves. And then we'll do quick intros for the usual team and jump right in. Gautham why don't you introduce yourself first. [00:03:34] Gautham Vadakkepatt: Thank you Ricardo for having me.[00:03:36] My name is Gautham Vadakkepatt. I'm the associate professor in the school of business at George Mason University and the director for the Center for Retail Transformation at George Mason. [00:03:46] Ricardo Belmar: Great, thank you. And then we also have a returning special guest to our room here, Ron Thurston. Ron?[00:03:51] Ron Thurston: Sure. Thanks Ricardo.. Really happy to be here and always love any of these conversations. My name is Ron Thurston. I'm the author of retail pride and a long time retail leader. And most recently as the vice president of stores of Intermix and head of stores for several brands prior.[00:04:08] And I spend much of my time now consulting and speaking, and really celebrating the millions of people who do the hard work and stories every day. And in education may play a part in that, which is why I was so interested in joining this conversation. [00:04:23] So thanks, Ricardo. [00:04:25] Ricardo Belmar: Great. Thanks, Ron. And moving on to our regular Retail Avengers team, I'll start with what's on my screen at least is our ghost speaker. Jeff, because I can't see you on my screen for some reason. [00:04:37] Jeff Roster: Hi, jeff roster. Co-host of This Week In Innovation and serve on several advisory boards. Most, most proudly the center for retail transformation with George Mason University. And I'm so happy to have my boss there, here tonight.[00:04:49] Looking forward to hearing what he has got to say. [00:04:51] Ricardo Belmar: Excellent and Casey. [00:04:53] Casey Golden: Hi, I'm Casey Golden. I'm the founder of Luxlock retail experience platform, a former fashion exec and supply chain management tech.[00:05:03] Ricardo Belmar: Maybe Shish is having a little bit of an issue. We'll come back to him in a minute. And I'm Ricardo Belmar, the host of the room. I created the Retail Razor Club here on Clubhouse. I'm a lead partner marketing advisor for retail at Microsoft, and also proud to be on the advisory council at George Mason University's Center for Retail Transformation as is Jeff, and also equally happy to have Gautham here to talk to us about what I think is a tremendously interesting topic that probably doesn't get as much attention as it should.[00:05:33] I think in this industry particularly around what I'm going to introduce as our first topic for discussion here and that's how we introduce fresh talent and skills into the retail workforce and what role universities have in that. So it's not a new concept, of course, that universities have had retail programs and curriculums in the past, there are number of universities that do.Preparing the next-gen of retailers - students![00:05:55] Ricardo Belmar: I claim that there's a bit of a misperception in what those programs are meant to do and that many people believe that they're really there just to produce more merchandisers and more buyers who are ultimately going to get hired perhaps by a department store brand and take on one of those roles, which at the end of the day, I think is really not what the industry is looking for from an academic environment.[00:06:17] And I would argue that that's more a perception than it is a reality, but I'm going to, I'm going to stop there and ask Gautham to tell us about what you really think the reality of this situation is and why there is this perception.[00:06:30] Gautham Vadakkepatt: Well, thank you, Ricardo, for giving me the chance to kick things off. Let me just quickly start by saying that, you know, the role of the university is to get students excited about a career in retail, B to kind of highlight the career opportunities that they have and C is to probably provide them with the skill sets that is most needed to manage the retail landscape as it is right now.[00:06:58] To that extent, The job of academia is to address all three aspects, not just the last aspect of trying to create talent in a specific area and to bring them and give them skillsets. And generally, my perception to answer your question, Ricardo, is that where we have perhaps fumbled the ball slightly is that many of the students who work in retail really don't and in my class about 40% of them work in retail, don't understand what's the upward trajectory once they start working in retail, what the career paths that they have and what skills they have, and they don't have mentors to be blunt and honest, we are a minority-majority school, and I'm very proud of that fact. Many of them are first-generation students. And so they don't have people to guide them through that.[00:07:51] Like, Hey, look, retail is a good paying job. What they see is just a store associate. Many of them start off a store associates, but they don't see that thing forward. And they don't know what skills that they need to kind of get to that next level. So I'll talk about the skills needed in a later time, but I'll pause here too.[00:08:10] I'm sure Ron has, and others have things to add to this conversation.[00:08:14] Ron Thurston: I would love to, to jump in, thank you, Gautham.And I had the pleasure of being a panelist on on a session that Gautham led with students. And I could not agree more with, with his statement because, when you think about the industry and whether it's you're coming to an education platform like George Mason or you are[00:08:35] I'm coming into this from a, from a different angle or with no education at all. The opportunity that all of us have then in leadership roles is to provide that insight, to speak as loudly as possible to mentor, to find those chances, to, to share the unlimited opportunities there are available within the retail industry.[00:08:59] And by unlimited, it's from all the different brands that you could potentially work for, the opportunities both in store from a career trajectory and to multi-store heads of stores into other corporate roles, marketing, finance, social, design, buying, the, the jobs are unlimited, but often the best candidates that come are ones that come from the store that really understand the customer and understand that the product category demand have really have a deep understanding of what's needed in the industry and have such expertise when you come from the field. And I just think we don't speak about that enough or give the language to retail teams to be able to say, this is, you know, I'm a store manager of a, of a million dollar business, and here are all the things that I do even on a small team today to run this million multimillion dollar business and the list of competencies and how that moves you forward and, and how the industry works.[00:10:07] It's part of why we're in this situation today from a hiring perspective is because the industry doesn't see itself as one where careers are plentiful. And I know I personally love to change that in every way that we can.[00:10:21] Ricardo Belmar: Thanks, Ron. Thanks Gautham. I think these are some good points about this. So let me ask then the question, how do we introduce the right, you know, whether it's particular courses or particular skill sets and training for that at a university level, and what's the right approach for that? Gautham you hinted at having a few thoughts around this as well.[00:10:42] So maybe I'll turn this back to you for a moment and let you give us your thoughts on how you think that should be approached. [00:10:49] Gautham Vadakkepatt: Yeah. I'll just give you a case study of what I experienced at my university. Right? So I, I teach a introductory class to retail management. We have 22 students out of which about 40% of them actually work in retail.[00:11:01] When I started the course, none of them wanted to have a carer on retail. I'm not joking, not a single one of them wanted to work in retail. And what we did and I kind of went in anticipating this problem and what I did was to get various speakers. Ron was one of them. Jeff was another, we had several , speakers come and talk about their careers in retail, showcasing what they did, how you made progress up retail, what opportunities and skills that they have.[00:11:32] And as of last week, when I asked the same students, Hey, how many of you are going to work? You still think you don't want to work in retail. All six of them who said that, Hey, I did not want to work in retail said, I would like to pursue careers in retail. I just don't know how to get there. So at least we addressed the first problem that, okay, now we know that there is interest.[00:11:54] It's just about providing them with information and it's thanks to people, leaders in the space who come and present their viewpoint to classrooms and give them real world experiences of what retailers that addresses the talent, the first step of the talent going into retail. And then of course, providing them with the skills to succeed in retail today that that…

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S1E4 - Top Trends & Predictions for 2022 Jan 18, 2022

Show notes

S1E4 – Top 10 Trends & Predictions for 2022Welcome to Season 1, Episode 4, the fourth ever episode of The Retail Razor Show!I’m your host, Ricardo Belmar, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer for 2022 & 2021, RIS News Top Movers and Shakers in Retail for 2021, advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation, and lead partner marketing advisor for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.And I’m your co-host, Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock and slayer of retail frankenstacks!Together, we’re your guides on the retail transformation journey. Whether you're thinking digital and online, mobile, or brick & mortar stores, we’ll help you cut through the clutter!For episode 4 we’ve changed it up a bit and jumped over to the Callin platform to record this special episode where we give you our Top 10 Trends and Predictions for 2022!Hear what we’re thinking matters most for 2022 and what we expect it means for retail and retail tech. If you have any comments on what we’ve said, be sure and hit us up on Twitter or LinkedIn! And be sure and follow us on Callin so you don’t miss future episodes where we’ll be interviewing the people who are transforming retail and retailtech!The Retail Razor ShowFollow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/TwRRazorConnect with us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/LI-RRazorJoin our club on Clubhouse: http://bit.ly/RRazorClubListen to us on Callin: https://bit.ly/RRCallinSubscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTubeSubscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/RetailRazorShowRetail Razor Show Episode Page: https://bit.ly/RRShowPodHost → Ricardo Belmar,Follow on Twitter - ****https://bit.ly/twRBelmarConnect on LinkedIn - ****https://bit.ly/LIRBelmarRead my comments on RetailWire - ****https://bit.ly/RWRBelmarCo-host → Casey Golden,Follow on Twitter - ****https://bit.ly/twCaseyConnect on LinkedIn - ****https://bit.ly/LICaseyRead my comments on RetailWire - https://bit.ly/RWCaseyTRANSCRIPTS1E4 Top 10 Trends & Predictions for 2022[00:00:20] Introduction[00:00:20] Ricardo Belmar: Hello everyone. And welcome to retail razor show our first recording here on the Callin platform. So this is exciting, isn't it? Casey. [00:00:27] Casey Golden: It is. [00:00:28] Ricardo Belmar: I'm looking forward to our future episodes here. We're going to do some really cool interviews with people who are really doing things to transform retail and commerce.[00:00:37] Casey Golden: Anything that makes it easier to have these conversations, I'm in. [00:00:41] Ricardo Belmar: Exactly. Exactly. So today we've got some fun stuff we're doing. We're going to talk about our top 10 trends and predictions for 2022. Because it's the beginning of the year. So of course we have to do that. Right. [00:00:52] Casey Golden: We do. And we have what, nine months to implement ?[00:00:55] Ricardo Belmar: That's right.[00:00:56] So we're hopefully improving our odds of success so that when we can do this next time, everyone can come back and say, Hey, they got that one right.[00:01:03] Casey Golden: Exactly. I will be keeping score!. [00:01:07] Ricardo Belmar: Well, we'll see how we each do here. I think we've each got five to share. So we'll see how we do this time next year.[00:01:13] #1 - Retail Media Networks & Customer Data[00:01:13] Ricardo Belmar: All right. So let's jump into top 10 trends and predictions. I'll kick off. And my first one has [00:01:20] to do with retail media networks which I know people who might be listening to, they're going to say, oh, that's not much of a prediction, but the slight twist I'm putting on this is a, they're kind of two schools of thought on this.[00:01:32] A number of people in the industry are saying that they're starting to see too many of these retail media networks and that they're all competing for the same ad capacity with brands. And how is any individual retailer really going to make a dent when Amazon's commanding over a third of all of this retail media network ad spend.[00:01:51] And my take on that is it, I feel like that's the wrong perspective to take because these networks aren't necessarily competing with each other. What they're really competing against are other forms of media, whether it's print, TV, streaming, video networks, all those kinds of things, or just plain old display ads on Google.[00:02:11] You know, these retail media networks are designed so that knowing that I'm already on the retailers platform and that's, we're assuming that retailer has a [00:02:20] marketplace on their e-commerce. So really what are they trying to do? I think they're trying to do two things here. Yes. There is an added revenue stream they're trying to generate by getting brands to spend money with them and to, buy product placements. And obviously Amazon is the most successful, but there are plenty of others, Kroger's doing well with this, Home Depot is doing well with this. And I think there's lots of room for other retailers to do the same even Target does well although their marketplace is kind of by invitation so it's a closed one. It's not quite the same, but I think there's plenty of room for, for retailers to succeed here. Because again, it's not, you're not really measuring yourself against how much ad market share am I taking from Amazon? It's just how much ad space am I selling on my marketplace site?[00:02:59] That's really the metric that matters. So I think any retailer with a marketplace can make this work and that's why we're going to see so many, even Best Buy announced. I think within the last week that they're doing this, and there's also room to expand just beyond your own marketplace, I think Best Buy's announcement also said that not only can you buy ad placement on the marketplace site [00:03:20] bundled into this would also be promotional ads in the store. So if you're a brick and mortar and online marketplace retailer, you've got both of those available and best buy is also saying we'll do third-party placement on third party networks, as well as part of the bundle.[00:03:33] So they'll get some revenue out of that, even if the brand is saying, yeah, give me some ads on the Best Buy site, but then I also want it on, Google search. And it seems like Best Buy is saying, we'll manage that for you as part of the program. So I think lots of room there, the second really important thing for this, which is the one I, I believe everybody overlooks.[00:03:51] This is another great way for a retailer to generate customer data because as customers interact with the digital ads for this, That's new customer data that's feeding into, hopefully the retailer has a customer data platform. They add this in with all the other first party data they have. And guess what?[00:04:07] They're going to learn a lot more about how their customers are shopping. And I would argue that's even more important than the incremental revenue they're going to get from the retail media networks. So that's my prediction that we're just going to see every retailer that [00:04:20] does a marketplace on their site.[00:04:21] They're going to introduce a retail media network this year. [00:04:23] Casey Golden: I think we've, we've definitely learned over the last two years with the increase of the cost of advertising that a lot of brands and companies need to diversify those channels and, and spread that out because it's been quite concentrated and the prices were driven up extensively while everybody moved their media buys into digital.[00:04:44] Ricardo Belmar: That's true. That's true. [00:04:45] #2 - Brick & Mortar Expansion[00:04:45] Casey Golden: I'm coming in at number two with brick and mortar expansion. Physical retail is not dead. I it's going to change. Amazon's new department store is re-imagining the shopping and buying experience. Really reaching customers in a, in a non-traditional way for them. And we're going to see a lot more pop-ups versus anchor stores changing these physical spaces from stacks of shirts to entertainment and showrooms.[00:05:08] I think we can all agree that Glossier has been the big winner here and pop-ups, and with that model, I think we're going to be seeing a lot more short-term and flexible leases so that more brands can go [00:05:20] into a space, spend three months and have the opportunity to create an extension. Really starting to understand who your customers are, where they live, where your biggest market opportunity is and create moments where brands and consumers can go through that product discovery and experience the brand, circulates a lot more neighborhood freshness. And when brands are trying to increase that LTV you know, we're fighting very low conversion rates online. Having a pop-up store can really increase that LTV over the long run, because it can create that brand affinity that e-commerce just, hasn't been able to capture the same way that brick and mortar has with getting into routine and, and making that meaningful connection to a consumer [00:06:06] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, I like this prediction a lot. I really agree with you on all those points. The big thing that a lot of people miss here with this, even when we're talking about natively digital brands that are just starting to open stores too, I think that's included [00:06:20] in what you're saying here at the end of the day, in some ways, right?[00:06:23] This is just one big experiment for the brand. And, and I think that's a good thing because we don't historically think of opening stores as an experiment. I think maybe Amazon changed everyone's viewpoint on that for the better. And I think that is how everyone should look at it because you can learn a lot from that pop-up experience, just like you described, and then feed that back into even other sales channels.[00:06:42] You have to make you adapt to your customers. And that's really the whole point, isn't it? [00:06:46] Casey Golden: It is. You know, we've got to get in front of customers in general, and sometimes that's just showing up in their neighborhood and saying, we're here to serve you. Come experience our brand. [00:06:57] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. And I'd say, if we really want to go out on a limb, we can kind of call this one, the the end of the retail apocalypse storyline.[00:07:03] Right. Because we're going to see more store openings as a result. [00:07:06] Casey Golden: I have seen a lot of announcements for new stores. [00:07:09] Ricardo Belmar: Exactly. [00:07:10] #3 - Social Commerce & Livestreaming [00:07:10] Ricardo Belmar: All right, let's go to number three. So number three, this may not come as a surprise to a lot of people because I know I, I think we've all talked about this frequently.[00:07:18] We've got some [00:07:20] other podcast episodes coming on it and that's social commerce and live streaming going big. This year across the U S and in north America, it may not get as big as we see it in China and Asia, but that's okay. It's got room to grow. I think this is going to be something we see from both small and large retail.[00:07:35] I think the big twist I'm going to put on this is when we think about particularly the livestreaming piece. And in fact, I'm going to say the live streaming component to this is more important than social commerce as a whole, even though we tend to lump those things together, a lot of people assume that when we say social commerce, we're talking about selling through Instagram and Facebook and all the different social media platforms.[00:07:57] And I think small retailers will keep doing that. I think that's where the growth for them is. But the challenge with that, and we've said this before in our, at our clubhouse sessions is you don't own the platform then, right? You're borrowing the social media platforms access to customers. So you're not owning the relationship there in your sales process.[00:08:15] I think live streaming is going to help retailers change that perspective a couple of different [00:08:20] ways. One is using their frontline store associates as the live streamers versus paid influencers. So rather than going out and spending a lot of money, hiring an Instagram influencers, we're going to see retailers start leveraging frontline staff, who, by the way, if you look at the demographics of who you have, a lot of your I'll assume younger, but not necessarily right.[00:08:39] A lot of your staff, they already know how to do this, they've got their own YouTube channel for other reasons outside of the job. Retailers are going to get smart and say, Hey, we can just use the folks we have. It actually turns into a career incentive to want to work in retail, above and beyond the challenges every retailer is facing in the current labor shortage and trying to figure out how they can pay workers enough. This becomes a new, I don't want to say career perk, but it's certainly a new skillset and something that makes the employee more competitive and retailers are going to want them.[00:09:08] So picture your store associate doing live streams in a one to many format, right from the store, or maybe even from a studio-like space that the store has now carved out of their back room [00:09:20] a front of the store in some way to do this kind of production on a regular basis and hosted from their website.[00:09:25] So they don't have to be dependent on the social media platforms to do this. They're going to build a following that way. Both the retail brand and the individual associates are going to build the following for the associate. It's a great skill. I think it's something they'll enjoy doing. Not every associate is going to do it.[00:09:41] And that's okay. I think this speaks to the our podcast, a couple episodes back with, with Ron Thurston. When we talked about segmentation of skillsets and, and frontline workers, some staff will be better at doing some of the backroom functions. Some are going to be better at fulfilling buy online pickup in store orders, and some are going to be your live streamers.[00:10:00] And I think the analogy for me here is the same way we look at the fitness instructors in the Peloton app. That's what we're going to see happen with frontline staff and retail stores because of live streaming and really go out on a limb and say, if mall operators out there are listening, I would be telling you, you should be thinking about how you can turn this kind of concept into a [00:10:20]service you offer your tenants in the mall, especially the smaller retailers you might land, or even better as an enticement to those digitally native brands that you're trying to get to either set up a pop-up or set up a short-term lease in the mall. This is another incentive you could create by providing the live streamer.[00:10:36] So think of it in terms of what happened in the gaming world on Twitch and YouTube with live streamers. We're going to start to see this happen in the retail world. And I think this is going to really change how we perceive those frontline store associates. You could even see tie-ins to loyalty programs may be a perk.[00:10:52] When you reached the loyalty tiers, you get to participate in one of the live streams with, at your local store, with one of the live streamers that you shop from. And all of that I've just described as kind of in that one to many format. There's also the concept of doing this one-on-one…

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S1E3 - The Retail Avengers & The Celebration of RetailROI Dec 13, 2021

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S1E3 – The Retail Avengers & The Celebration of RetailROIWelcome to Season 1, Episode 3, the third ever episode of The Retail Razor Show!I’m your host, Ricardo Belmar, a RETHINK Retail Top 100 Retail Influencer, RIS News Top Movers and Shakers in Retail for 2021, advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation, and lead partner marketing advisor for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.And I’m your co-host, Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock and slayer of retail frankenstacks!Together, we’re your guides on the retail transformation journey. Whether you're thinking digital and online, mobile, or brick & mortar stores, there'll be something for you!For episode 3 we have a truly special treat in what may be the most important episode we do this season, and it’s only episode 3! We’re celebrating the history and accomplishments of industry charity organization, RetailROI, with two special guests:· Greg Buzek, President & Secretary of RetailROI, Inc., and Founder & President of IHL Group.· Vicki Cantrell, Vice President of RetailROI, Inc., and co-founder of Vendors in Partnership Awards.These two retail legends and many more you’ll hear about in the Clubhouse recording lead one of the most important organizations in the retail ecosystem today. RetailROI’s purpose is to raise awareness and provide real solutions for the more than 400 million vulnerable children worldwide by working with other charities serving those children, such as orphans, foster kids, building schools, bringing clean water to communities, and more. Give a listen to this episode to learn what RetailROI has accomplished in its history over the past decade, what the future holds, and most importantly, what you can do to support them. You’ll hear about RetailROI’s most important fundraiser – Super Saturday, happening at NRF 2022 on January 15th. For more information about RetailROI, the important work this group does for vulnerable children everywhere through all the charities they work with, to register for Super Saturday if you’re a retailer, or to learn how you can sponsor Super Saturday if you’re a solution provider, visit https://www.retailroi.orgThe Retail Razor ShowFollow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/TwRRazorConnect with us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/LI-RRazorJoin our club on Clubhouse: http://bit.ly/RRazorClubListen to us on Callin: https://bit.ly/RRCallinSubscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTubeSubscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/RetailRazorShowRetail Razor Show Episode Page: https://bit.ly/RRShowPodHost → Ricardo Belmar,Follow on Twitter - ****https://bit.ly/twRBelmarConnect on LinkedIn - ****https://bit.ly/LIRBelmarRead my comments on RetailWire - ****https://bit.ly/RWRBelmarCo-host → Casey Golden,Follow on Twitter - ****https://bit.ly/twCaseyConnect on LinkedIn - ****https://bit.ly/LICaseyRead my comments on RetailWire - https://bit.ly/RWCaseyTRANSCRIPTS1E3 Retail Avengers & The Celebration of RetailROI[00:00:22] Ricardo Belmar: Hello. Good morning, good afternoon. Or good evening, whatever time of day you're listening. Welcome. Welcome. This is season one, episode three, the third ever episode of the retail razor show. I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar, RETHINK Retail top 100 influencer and one of RIS News, top 10 movers and shakers in retail for 2021. And lead partner marketing advisor for retail and consumer goods at Microsoft [00:00:46] Casey Golden: And I'm your co-host Casey Golden CEO of Luxlock, where I'm obsessed with the relationship between a brand and a consumer determined to slay retail, Frank enstacks [00:00:57] Ricardo Belmar: All right, Casey. So how many Franken stacks have you slain since last episode? Inquiring listeners want to know? [00:01:03] Casey Golden: Well, now that I'm counting, we've got three in the works.[00:01:06] Ricardo Belmar: That's incredible. Can't wait to hear how many more it is next time. Let's see if our listeners start tweeting out their guesses for next time on how many that might be. [00:01:13] Casey Golden: I love a good tweet storm.[00:01:15] Ricardo Belmar: Absolutely me too. Me too. So Casey, this episode is a really special one for me and a topic that I think carries [00:01:22] so much meaning for so many people in retail, I'm talking of course, about the retail ROI charity organization. That's run by Greg Buzek and supported by some incredibly thoughtful and giving people, including our second special guest this week, Vicki Cantrell. Someone with an incredibly rich history in retail.[00:01:39] And for those that don't know, retail ROI, it's an organization that helps vulnerable children around the world, whether it might be orphans, foster kids adoptions, or just helping schools that lack running water or electricity or need just a better chance at education and bringing food to their table.[00:01:56] Retail ROI works with a number of other charities to bring these missions to life. And they've helped hundreds of thousands of kids around the world over the last decade. I first became involved with them about five or six years ago in a project they supported in Liberia during the Ebola crisis and even a webinar to school kids in Honduras about career paths.[00:02:15] But I'll save that story for after we listen to the session [00:02:18] Casey Golden: And this was an emotional clubhouse sesh, listening to [00:02:22] Greg and Vicki's stories. You just, you can't help but celebrate their massive accomplishments. [00:02:27] Ricardo Belmar: That is so true. Absolutely true. And actually, one of our retail avengers team, Jeff Roster, he's also had an incredibly huge role in their activities over the years.[00:02:37] In fact, he's the one that introduced me to retail ROI all those years ago. [00:02:40] Casey Golden: This is such an important topic. One with such rich accomplishments. And Greg is just one of the nicest people in retail and in Vicki, she's just literally amazing. It's such a treat to have conversations like this and share the impact retail ROI is making with vulnerable communities and supporting our youth. Let's get started![00:03:01] Ricardo Belmar: I'm totally with you. This might just be one of the most powerful, both heartwarming and heart wrenching podcast episodes we're going to do this season . We'll let Greg and Vicky and Jeff tell us the real story behind retail ROI, all of their past accomplishments and where they're going in the future.[00:03:17] So let's give a listen to the Retail Avengers and the Celebration of RetailROI.[00:03:22]Clubhouse Session[00:03:30] Ricardo Belmar: Welcome everybody to another session in the Retail Razor Club room. We've got a special one today where we're doing a celebration of one of what I feel is one of the most important organizations in retail today and that's Retail ROI. And some of you in the audience are very familiar with retail ROI and what it's accomplished and what it's done in the past.[00:03:56] And maybe others in the audience might not be quite as familiar. You'll get to learn quite a bit about it through the course of today's session. We've got a couple of special guests with us today, Greg Buzek and Vicki Cantrell, who I probably can't think of anyone else who can do a better job of telling us everything there is to know about RetailROI[00:04:15] and and as I say that, I'm sure Jeff is ready to, to jump in and, and raise his hand as well. Being the person that introduced me to retail ROI many years ago. So with that, why don't I ask Greg and Vicki, to give a brief introduction to yourselves. Vickie, why don't you go first?[00:04:29] Vicki Cantrell: Hi, [00:04:30] everybody. Great to be here on a Friday afternoon at five o'clock. I will give Ricardo any grief cause everybody does, but this is a topic that's worth a Friday at five o'clock. And I've been involved with retail ROI since the beginning and, and pleased to be working alongside Greg and Randy to figure out how we increase our shop and how we make a great experience and, and divide the money and make the biggest impact.[00:05:00] So I started 10, 11, 12. Are we 12, 11 years and have many great experiences not only traveling myself to various countries, but also taking both my children there, and the impact has been on our life and our hearts pretty impactful and happy to tell you more about it. I've been in retail for ever and ever and all sides of retail.[00:05:28] So [00:05:30] I guess that's how I got involved because it's my fellow cohorts in retail that brought this to bear[00:05:36] Greg?[00:05:37] How RetailROI Began[00:05:37] Greg Buzek: And I'm Greg Buzek I guess my day job or my first day job is being president of IHL group we're a retail analyst firm Gosh, this started because I had started a orphan care ministry at our church and we were at Oracle open world.[00:05:53] And it was the day that Lehman brothers went under September 15th, 2008. And Paul Singer of SuperValu and previously with target was there. And I knew he was an adoption advocate. So we had a meeting and said, you know, Hey, maybe we can do something in the industry. And we could call it, you know, at that time there was a lot of mergers and acquisitions and everything was focused on efficiency.[00:06:17] And then we just call it, we'll call it ROI, a play on words which ends up being the world's geekiest name for a charity retail ROI. And we just said, we call it the retail orphan initiative and that's how we get our acronym there. [00:06:30] And that day with the help of Rose Spicer from Oracle Paul Singer basically did his OpenWorld presentation about 10 minutes on target and the rest on adoption , and we were all astounded and we came out of that meeting and said, Let's let's do something together.[00:06:49] And I know Jeff was there Rose was there Cathy Hotka, Mark Milstein, and I think Cathy Marder were there and we said, yeah, let's do something together. Instead of just competing with each other, we all know each other. We see each other all the time. It'd be fun to do something together in the industry.[00:07:06] So that's the start of retail ROI . And we had everybody assumed that Paul would be the guy to lead it. Paul had been the guy that took over for Dave Thomas, at Wendy's lobbying Congress for funds, for foster kids and adoption. In fact, he has started a group called the congressional coalition on adoption Institute , that he helped fund.[00:07:25] Initially that is the only thing in Washington that has over [00:07:30] 350 members of Congress, I think in total that are on the caucus together and agree on something. Paul, was a giant for that. So we all assumed he would run it. There were three of us, myself, Paul and Mark that put up the initial seed money to get started.[00:07:44] And we signed the paperwork. And three days after we signed the paperwork, Paul called me and said Greg, I just got a call from the neurosurgeon. I have a tumor and I have to have surgery next Monday. And unfortunately Paul, when he had surgery never regained the ability to speak clearly and, and reason and stuff.[00:08:07] So it kind of fell, fell to me to take the leadership role for retail ROI. So that's how we started in 2008, [00:08:15] Ricardo Belmar: Thanks for the quick description for that, Greg. Jeff, you've got a pretty long history with retail ROI as well. why don't you give a quick introduction, [00:08:21] Jeff Roster: hi, Jeff roster. Let's see, what am I a co-host of a, I guess this week in innovation, on some advisory boards and try [00:08:30] to keep Ricardo out of trouble at the center for retail transformation, which we're both doing a very poor job at so lots of trouble down the road.[00:08:40] Ricardo Belmar: We're working on that.[00:08:41][00:08:41] How RetailROI Works[00:08:41] Ricardo Belmar: So Greg Vicki, let me ask maybe a couple of questions. So with that history that Greg just gave , on how things started with RetailROI. Give us a quick overview on how retail ROI works. I always describe this to everyone as a charity group, that's basically built by the retail industry, run by people in the retail industry and that it works with other charities to do a lot of great work around the world, helping children in need, whether it's orphan children's foster care.[00:09:09] Greg Buzek: Sure. Yeah, just to begin with, the first step we had to make is we needed to raise, Hey, we had a charity, we got to raise money.[00:09:17] So we said how do we, how do we raise money? And we looked around the room and said, gosh, we know events. We know who all the best speakers are. And let's put on an event aligned with the timing of the NRF [00:09:30] show. We'll call it Super Saturday and we'll invite all the retailers to come for free.[00:09:35] And we'll charge vendors that want to sell to retailers a fee, a sponsorship fee to get access. So we just basically said ladies night at a bar, so to speak was the approach. And that became our fundraiser in terms of the initial charities that we did. The first initial charities were people that I had already started working with through some other experience.[00:09:57] And then after that, it started to blossom as other people got involved in. So we have really three criteria when it comes to working with charities. Obviously it's gotta be a 5 0 1 C3 based in the United States. They're involved with vulnerable children, orphan foster care clean water, something to do with vulnerable children in some, in some manner.[00:10:19] Number two, it can't be a church or a synagogue or a faith. It's gotta be a separate entity altogether. So it can have a faith-based component to it. [00:10:30] But it's not something that's part of a community of faith in and of itself. And then the third piece of it is somebody in the industry has to be personally involved in the charity themselves and vouch for the integrity of that charity.[00:10:44] And then we start really small with grants as low as $5,000. And we go up from there, we present that back to the board with the results, and then, then we grow from there. So in total, I think we've, we've teamed up with over 55 charities to date with different variety of grants and they work in 27 different countries.[00:11:04] Ricardo Belmar: Thanks for that overview, Greg. I want to read some stats that you've given me before, just for, to kind of set the stage a bit for everyone here on what some of the accomplishments are. And to let everyone know, we recently at Microsoft had a, special giving event held to try to raise some funds for retail ROI, and Greg and Vicki were kind enough to join that session.[00:11:22] And Greg presented , a little bit of background for the employees that were attending that event. And I just want to read some of those and see if anybody on the stage [00:11:30] has some reactions and wants to share some other info from that. So the one that kind of grabbed me a lot that you mentioned, Greg was, if orphans were a country, they would be the eighth largest country in the world.[00:11:40] And for other one was that for foster kids that age out of the U S system within 18 months, 85% of the boys are homeless or in prison. And over 70% of the girls are pregnant, homeless, or in prison. Those stats are just astounding to me. And I'd never had thought about just how significant,, this really is.[00:12:01] Greg Buzek: Yeah, it's a, it's a huge issue. And that's, that's part of our, our role. We see our role as three parts. One's the knowledge of this problem that you just outlined.…

Full show notes at the publisher

S1E2 - The Retail Avengers & The Future of Frontline Staff, Part 2 Dec 09, 2021

Show notes

S1E2 – The Retail Avengers & The Future of Frontline Staff, Part 2

Welcome to Season 1, Episode 2, the second ever episode of The Retail Razor Show!

I’m your host, Ricardo Belmar, a RETHINK Retail Top 100 Retail Influencer, RIS News Top Movers and Shakers in Retail for 2021, advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation, and lead partner marketing advisor for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.

And I’m your co-host, Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock and slayer of retail frankenstacks!

Together, we’re your guides on the retail transformation journey. Whether you're thinking digital and online, mobile, or brick & mortar stores, there'll be something for you!

In episode 2 we dive into the future of retail frontline workers, with none other than Ron Thurston, author of Retail Pride, The Guide to Celebrating Your Accidental Career. Ron joins our Retail Avengers team on Clubhouse to talk about the impact of AI and automation on store teams and how retailers can, and should, equip their frontline staff with technology. Plus, Ron gives us a preview of his latest project, kicking off in 2022 – Retail In America!

For more information about Ron, and how you can Take Pride Today in your retail career, visit Ron’s website: https://www.retailpride.com

The Retail Razor Show

Follow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/TwRRazor

Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/LI-RRazor

Join our club on Clubhouse: http://bit.ly/RRazorClub

Listen to us on Callin: https://bit.ly/RRCallin

Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTube

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/RetailRazorShow

Retail Razor Show Podcast Network: https://retailrazor.com

Host → Ricardo Belmar,

Follow on Twitter - https://bit.ly/twRBelmar

Connect on LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/LIRBelmar

Co-host → Casey Golden,

Follow on Twitter - https://bit.ly/twCasey

Connect on LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/LICasey

S1E1 - The Retail Avengers & The Future of Frontline Staff, Part 1 Nov 22, 2021

Show notes

S1E1 – The Retail Avengers & The Future of Frontline Staff, Part 1

Welcome to Season 1, Episode 1, the first-ever episode of The Retail Razor Show!

I’m your host, Ricardo Belmar, a RETHINK Retail Top 100 Retail Influencer, RIS News Top Movers and Shakers in Retail for 2021, advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation, and lead partner marketing advisor for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.

And I’m your co-host, Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock and slayer of retail frankenstacks!

Together, we’re your guides on the retail transformation journey. Whether you're thinking digital and online, mobile, or brick & mortar stores, there'll be something for you!

In episode 1 we dive into the future of retail frontline workers, with none other than Ron Thurston, author of Retail Pride, The Guide to Celebrating Your Accidental Career. Ron joins our Retail Avengers team on Clubhouse to talk about what retailers need to do to foster the right environment for their store teams.

For more information about Ron, and how you can Take Pride Today in your retail career, visit Ron’s website: https://www.retailpride.com

The Retail Razor Show

Follow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/TwRRazor

Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/LI-RRazor

Join our club on Clubhouse: http://bit.ly/RRazorClub

Listen to us on Callin: https://bit.ly/RRCallin

Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTube

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/RetailRazorShow

Retail Razor Show Podcast Network: https://retailrazor.com

Host → Ricardo Belmar,

Follow on Twitter - https://bit.ly/twRBelmar

Connect on LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/LIRBelmar

Co-host → Casey Golden,

Follow on Twitter - https://bit.ly/twCasey

Connect on LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/LICasey

The Retail Razor Show Trailer #2 Nov 01, 2021

Show notes

The Retail Razor Show podcast is almost here!

Springing out of Clubhouse and into your favorite podcast player and YouTube! Meet your host, Ricardo Belmar, and co-host, Casey Golden in this trailer and hear a few spoilers about upcoming topics and guests.

We're here to cut through the clutter and talk about what #retailers, and #retailtech providers, need to know about how digital is transforming #retail to fuel growth, deliver amazing customer & employee experiences, and create resilient and intelligent supply chains. We'll be your guides through this journey!

Subscribe now so you don't miss a single minute!

Remember, this is the best time to be in retail - IF you can cut through the clutter...Until next time, THIS is the Retail Razor Show!

#retail #supplychain #customerexperience #CX #frontlineworkers #retailtechnology #retailstrategy #digitaltransformation #retailtrends #retailstrategy #socialcommerce #livestreaming #innovation

The Retail Razor Show Trailer #1 Oct 21, 2021

Show notes

The Retail Razor Show podcast is launching soon! Springing out of Clubhouse and into your favorite podcast player and YouTube!

Stay tuned to learn more about our upcoming topics, guests, and meet the co-hosts that will help guide this adventure!

Subscribe now so you don't miss a single minute!

#retail #supplychain #customerexperience #CX #frontlineworkers #retailtechnology #retailstrategy #digitaltransformation #retailtrends #retailstrategy #socialcommerce #livestreaming #innovation