RETHINK RETAIL

A new Rethink Retail series going inside the real strategies, real numbers, and real people building retail media from the ground up. In our debut episode, host Drew Cashmore, Chair of the Media in Retail Community, sits down with Austin Leonard, Vice President and General Manager of DG Media Network, to break down what it actually takes to build a retail media network and where this industry stil...

Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup. This is your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce. In this week's episode, Jeremy Goldman sits down with Petr Lízner (Rohlik Group), Aidan Mittra (OrderGrid), and David Polinchock (Unified Brand Experience Lab) to unpack AI's growing safety debate, what it means to own the customer relationship as ag...

$27.6 billion in American goods now enters Canada facing a new tariff, 15%, 25%, or 50% depending on the product, as part of Canada's counter-tariffs on US goods. Dairy, general merchandise, and health and beauty are all caught in it, while Alberta's "Buy Alberta" campaign is pushing grocers to make Canadian products impossible to miss on the shelf For most retailers, that's a scramble. For Calgar...

Retail technology has automated the back office for years, but the store floor has lagged, still running on manual gap scans and disconnected systems that pull associates away from the guest. Jerome Rose, SVP Strategic Sales at Vusion, and Mathew Toussaint, Vice President of Operational Processes & Labor, Guest Experience & Labor at The Fresh Market, join Jeremy Goldman to unpack how connected sto...

Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup. This is your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce. In this week's episode, Jeremy Goldman sits down with Kimberly Morgan (CEO & Founder, The Fashion Tech Exec) and Ricardo Belmar (Founder, Retail Razor) to unpack the trade pressures, AI shifts, and brand loyalty questions reshaping retail this week....

Unichannel isn't the next phase of omnichannel. It proves that omnichannel was never the finish line. In this episode of the Global Lens podcast series, host Lavina Suthenthiran speaks with Michael Zakkour, Founder & Chief Strategist of 5 New Digital, about the unichannel model he pioneered in China, retail's next growth market, and what makes a merger actually work. INSIDE THE EPISODE: - Omnichan...

Scaling a brand and protecting what makes it distinct aren't the same goal, and knowing the difference separates lasting growth from quiet erosion. For 23 years as CEO of Sonic Corp, Clifford Hudson guided the drive-in chain through decades of growth and helped engineer one of the quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry's most successful digital reinventions. Now co-author of Bricks and Clicks: Ho...

Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup. This is your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce. In this week’s episode, Jeremy Goldman sits down with Sky Canaves (Principal Analyst, EMARKETER), James Tenser (Storyteller-in-Chief, CPGMatters), and Lavina Suthenthiran (Senior Retail Analyst, RETHINK Retail) to discuss a shaky IPO, a widening appa...

Global retail leaders are adjusting their strategic playbooks as practical AI integration, localized omnichannel operations, and customer retention redefine competitive growth across worldwide markets. On this special edition of Global Lens, Jill Dvorak (NRF) and Annabelle Serres (NRF Europe) sit down with host and Senior Retail Analyst Lavina Suthenthiran to unpack how overarching industry strate...

Retailers spend fortunes perfecting the store, then hand the whole experience over to 30 seconds at the counter. In our latest episode, Senior Retail Analyst Lavina Suthenthiran sits down with Jessie Cole, Director of Strategic Planning at Effy Jewelry, and Sandra Ishak, Head of Marketing, Americas at Ingenico, to break down why the physical checkout moment carries as much weight as the first impr...

Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup. This is your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce. In this week's episode, Jeremy Goldman sits down with David Polinchock (Brand Experience Lab) and Drew Cashmore (Vantage & Chair of MiR) to mark nine years since Amazon's Whole Foods acquisition, unpack the FTC's new scrutiny of personalised pricing,...

Global retail media expansion hinges on balancing localized AI-generated creative with brand integrity. In this episode of the Global Lens podcast series, host Lavina Suthenthiran speaks with Nishanth Kadiyala (Walmart Connect) about how Walmart built an automated creative generation system handling nearly $1 billion in ad spend and how to scale generative AI across international borders. INSIDE T...

Building a loyal audience takes far more than just posting on social media and relying on fickle algorithms. As creators and brands look for reliable growth, the real challenge is scaling reach without losing the direct, human connections that turn casual followers into long-term subscribers. Jeremy Goldman sits down with Allison Yazdian, CEO of Uscreen, and Briana Christine, Founder of BBM Health...

Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup. This is your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce. In this week’s episode, Jeremy Goldman sits down with industry experts Charisma Glassman (Genpact), Ricardo Belmar (Retail Razor Podcast Network), and David Polinchock (Brand Experience Lab) to examine Prime Day's impact on July sales, the boom in he...

Scaling an international brand isn't about flooding new markets with identical stores. It is about knowing exactly what to protect in your brand's DNA and what to rewrite on the ground. In this week's episode of our Global Lens podcast, Senior Retail Analyst Lavina Suthenthiran sits down with global growth advisor Renee Hartmann (who has advised brands such as Armani, YSL, and Fendi) to explain wh...

In this special mashup episode of the RETHINK Retail Podcast, host Jeremy Goldman sits down with leaders from New York & Company, Elizée, Ross-Simons, and Paradise Naturals USA live from eTail Boston We dig into the exact tactics driving retail performance today: turning product returns into upsells, replacing point systems with paid VIP perks, and adapting product lines for GLP-1 users. INSIDE TH...

Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup. This is your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce. In this week’s episode, Jeremy Goldman sits down with industry experts Zak Stambor (EMARKETER) and Martin Bailie (MWB Advisory Limited) to examine the shifts redefining commerce. Together, they analyze shifting consumer spending, the evolution of ad-...

Scaling globally without losing the core identity and product quality that built early brand loyalty remains one of retail's hardest execution challenges. In this episode of the Global Lens podcast series, host Lavina Suthenthiran speaks with Ashley Kechter, Global President of Vuori, about the mechanics of international expansion and how brands can scale globally while protecting their core DNA....

Standing out in the $2.1T wellness market takes more than running social ads. As people seek real solutions for chronic pain and mobility, growing brands have to figure out how to scale nationally without losing the personal, in-person connection that keeps clients coming back. Jeremy Goldman sits down with Lindsey McFadden, CMO of Stretch Zone, to talk about how the assisted-stretching pioneer ba...

Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup—your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce. In this week’s episode, Jeremy Goldman sits down with industry experts David Polinchock (Co-Founder & President at Unified Brand Experience Lab) and Aidan Mittra (Co-Founder at OrderGrid) to examine the operational and regulatory forces redefining the industr...

The platforms change, but retail’s core rules stay the same. Whether you're entering new international markets or integrating AI into fulfillment, lasting growth comes down to standardizing global foundations while unlearning local habits. On this episode of Global Lens, Senior Retail Analyst Lavina Suthenthiran joins Jim Fielding (former CEO of Claire’s and former President at Disney Stores World...

AI is changing what search means in e-commerce. Shoppers are no longer just typing keywords and scanning static results. Conversational agents are shaping discovery, addressing objections, and guiding purchases like digital salespeople. Brands must look beyond traditional SEO and design for both human shoppers and AI-driven journeys. Jeremy Goldman sits down with Sean Whitehead, VP of Digital Prod...

Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup—your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce. In this week’s episode, Jeremy Goldman sits down with industry experts Charisma Glassman (Genpact) and RETHINK Retail's very own Tanya Thorson to examine the shifts redefining commerce. Together, they analyze shifting consumer spending, the evolution of socia...

“The hard part isn’t going global. It’s staying operational once you’re there.” Senior Retail Analyst Lavina Suthenthiran unpacks the newest Global Lens report in a new podcast series exploring the forces reshaping global retail. Over the coming weeks, she dives deeper into the data, case studies, and market dynamics behind one central conclusion: cross-border growth has shifted from a demand prob...

Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup—your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce. In this week’s episode, Jeremy sits down with Martin Bailie (MWB Advisory) and Kimberly Morgan (The Fashion Tech Exec) to break down how three major retail moves signal a definitive shift away from safe, superficial trends toward bold execution. INSIDE THE EP...