Customer Centric Retailing Podcast

Our special guest, Sylvain Nigra, brings decades of experience at some of the most successful brands in the world to talk about how pre-orders ought to work to create excitement and reward loyal customers for their fidelity to your brand.

• Are pre-orders right for all retailers? What happens when they go south? What is the best way to measure the success of pre-order initiatives?

• We ask these questions and more of our special guest, Sylvain Nigra, founder and co-CEO of Retail Performance 360 and former retail director for top luxury brands including Prada, Ralph Lauren, and Michael Kors. Sylvain brings decades of experience at some of the most successful brands in the world to talk about how pre-orders ought to work to create excitement and reward loyal customers for their fidelity to your brand. He’s seen firsthand that it’s better to stay away from pre-orders altogether than roll out a poorly executed program. He brings his decades of experience to the table to discuss the technology and processes needed to make pre-orders work. 
  
  
  

Our special guest, Sucharita Kodali, joins the podcast to share insights gained over the past decade in the retail industry, with a focus on the online shopping experience.

• What makes for an excellent online shopping experience? How can retailers gain customer loyalty? What were the factors leading up to the highly publicized Toys R Us downfall and what can retailers learn from that bankruptcy?  
• We ask these questions and more of our special guest, Sucharita Kodali, a retail analyst for Forrester Research and former Marketing Director for Saks Fifth Avenue. Sucharita is truly an eCommerce expert, and she joins the podcast to share insights gained over the past decade in the retail industry, with a focus on the online shopping experience. As a former Toys R Us employee, she also provides her opinion on the company’s downturn and the underlying factors that led to the bankruptcy.  

Our special guest, Sandra Duff, shares her experience as the SVP of Strategy Activation and Operations at Jackman Reinvents to tackle hard topics like technological transformation, operational changes, sustainability, and diversity.

• How is the grocery landscape changing? How can both retailers and consumers behave in a sustainable fashion without sacrificing convenience and profit? 
• We ask these questions and more of our special guest, Sandra Duff, SVP of Strategy Activation and Operations at Jackman Reinvents. She is a trusted advisor for C-Suite executives at a number of organizations spanning all areas of retail, from grocery to office supplies.  Sandra believes that most retail sectors are experiencing an exciting transformation and that retailers must first understand what their customers are looking for in order to successfully meet that demand. 
  
  

Our special guest, Nicole Reyhle shares her expertise with our audience, focusing specifically on the elements of the in-person shopping experience that keep the customer engaged and how retailers, big and small, can leverage data to better understand their consumers. 

• What draws people to in-person shopping, even in the midst of a pandemic? How can retailers best win loyal, life-long customers? What does an excellent in-person shopping experience look like? 
• We ask these questions and more of our special guest, Nicole Reyhle, founder and publisher of Retail Minded. Nicole is a frequent guest and contributor to various media outlets that include The Today Show and Forbes and is the author of the book “Retail 101: The Guide to Managing and Marketing Your Retail Business”. She shares her expertise with our audience, focusing specifically on the elements of the in-person shopping experience that keep the customer engaged and how retailers, big and small, can leverage data to better understand their consumers. 

Our special guest, Melissa Gonzalez, joins the podcast to discuss how retailers should rethink their environments and in-store experiences to animate the shopping journey.

•  What should the modern store look like? How should retailers measure the success of omnichannel initiatives such as buy online pick-up in-store? How is the role of the store changing and how can retailers leverage pop-ups to connect with their customers?
• We ask these questions and more of our special guest, Melissa Gonzalez, founder and CEO of the Lionesque Group and MG2 Company, an organization that focuses on building human connection in physical spaces as it has produced over 150 brick & mortar experiences across the United States. Melissa joins the podcast to discuss how retailers should rethink their environments and in-store experiences to animate the shopping journey. 

Our special guest, Sylvain Nigra, brings decades of experience at some of the most successful brands in the world to talk about what it takes from a technology perspective to create the best customer experience possible. 

• What are the main technologies retailers should be adopting in-store to be successful? What should be the first step in the project rollout? What tools do store associates need to best serve customers?
• We ask these questions and more of our special guest, Sylvain Nigra, founder and co-CEO of Retail Performance 360 and former retail director for top luxury brands including Prada, Ralph Lauren, and Michael Kors. Sylvain brings decades of experience at some of the most successful brands in the world to talk about what it takes from a technology perspective to create the best customer experience possible. He is confident that there’s no time to waste, and that the right technology needs to be in place to enable and empower store associates.
  
  
  

Our special guest, George MacDonald, brings decades of experience as executive editor of Retail Week to talk about the latest trends in the industry. 

• What does retail localization mean? Are department stores and malls going out of business? What can retailers do to stand apart from their competitors?
• We ask these questions and more of our special guest, George MacDonald, executive editor of Retail Week. George has interviewed some of the biggest names in retail and has observed the industry from every angle for decades. In this episode, we talk about the trend of retail localization and whether department stores can live to see another day. George strongly believes that retailers need to re-focus on the customer and throw out the old playbook to survive in a hyper-competitive market. 

Our special guest, Alison Hop, joins us to share her experience as Director of Commerce at the Ministry of Supply.  

• How do retailers such as the Ministry of Supply stand apart from their competitors? Why offer a 100 day return period? What has been the most challenging aspect of the pandemic? Does social media marketing really work?
• We ask these questions and more of our special guest, Alison Hop, Director of Commerce at Ministry of Supply. Alison has experience working in the luxury apparel and jewelry businesses, particularly within the eCommerce realm, to elevate brands and better serve customers. She shares with our audience the steps Ministry of Supply has taken to tackle the pandemic head-on and continue delighting customers from afar. One of the keys to the brand’s success without a doubt is their reliance on data and customer feedback when making any decision to ensure it’s really what their customers want.

Our special guest, Jason Goldberg, shares his thoughts on what makes for an excellent shopping experience and where retailers fall short.

• How has shopping fundamentally changed? What makes for an excellent online experience, and how many retailers have actually mastered it? Is social commerce worth the hype?
• We ask these questions and more of our special guest, Jason Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer for Publicis, podcaster, and Retail Geek. Jason is an eCommerce veteran and works with some of the top retailers in the industry to understand what really matters to customers. He’s not a fan of buzzwords, as he thinks they often obscure the real strategy behind them, but at heart, he is an omnichannel super-fan. He strongly believes that the key to success, both online and offline, is removing friction in the buying experience. 

Our special guest, Ted McCaffrey, shares his expertise and experience with RFID retail technology to explain why it’s the future of retail. 

• What is RFID technology and why are retail giants flocking to it? Is it worth the hype? Benefits of RFID? What is RFID used for? and How can retailers, big and small, leverage RFID tags to achieve a more comprehensive and transparent view of their inventory?
• We ask these questions and more of our special guest, Ted McCaffrey, self-proclaimed omnichannel enthusiast, former Sales Director at eBay, and consultant for Sensormatic. Ted is an RFID expert, which he believes is the key to achieving inventory visibility and flexible fulfillment. In this episode, Ted provides examples of how retailers such as lululemon have implemented RFID to satisfy their digital-first customers and efficiently scan all of the inventory in their stores within an hour.