Remarkable Retail Podcast

Our special guest this week is Amit Sharma , Founder & CEO at Narvar , the post-purchase platform for e-commerce. Amit brings tremendous experience to his current role, having held leadership positions at Williams-Sonoma, Walmart and Apple. Narvar was recently named to Fast Company's annual list of most innovative companies . We unpack why so much of the industry's historical focus has been on dem...

  Despite all the hype, after gobs of venture capital investment, several high profile IPO's and some big moves into physical retail, the OG's of the new wave of DTC are running into trouble. Most of the digitally native brands that were supposed to disrupt the retail industry (think Warby Parker, Stitch Fix, Allbirds, Caspar, and many more) may be growing the top-line--though not even Wayfair and...

Welcome to a special cross-over episode of the podcast.  We're taking a break for the week and bringing you a great conversation Michael had on The Voice of Retail podcast with best-selling author Dan Pink.  Dan  believes that regret is our most misunderstood emotion. In his quest to reclaim the power of regret as a force for good, Dan has written a breakthrough book, The Power Of Regret, which sp...

“We've already established what you are, now we're just haggling over price." -  A less than PC old joke It's hardly news that the retail industry is responsible for too many self-inflicted wounds. At the top of this list, perhaps, is many retailers' long-term reliance on aggressive discounting to drive top-line sales. This has taught many consumers that the regular price is "the sucker price" in...

Our special guest this week is Lee Bird, CEO of AtHome , the Home Decor Superstore that has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years growing to nearly 250 stores in 40 states. Lee brings a wealth of experience to his current role, having held leadership positions at a few brands you might have heard of, including Nike, Gap, Old Navy, and Ford.   We dig deep into AtHome's incredible transforma...

“The future is already here, it's just not very distributed.” - William Gibson Ever since the pandemic began, the narrative of a great acceleration in online shopping has taken hold, with some even claiming that we experienced 10 years of e-commerce growth in a matter of months. While many markets did see a huge surge in e-commerce penetration during the height of physical store lockdowns, it turn...

Our guest this week is Nancy King , SVP, Product Engineering at Target who shares the remarkable story of her company's journey to omni-channel--or is it harmonized ?--leadership.  This episode provides a deep-dive, insider's perspective on how Target has embraced the blur of modern retail and put their stores at the center of the guest experience. We get a fascinating behind the scenes look at ho...

“I think it’s terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfill other people’s expectations. If you feel safe in the area that you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth. And when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right pl...

Our guest this week is Michelle Poole , President of Crocs. As Crocs celebrates its 20th anniversary we dig into the remarkable growth story behind the increasingly iconic footwear company. We address head-on the polarizing (or is it fundamentally under-estimated?) nature of the brand and how Michelle has turned that to advantage. We also learn about the personalizing power of jibbitz and how prod...

We're live and in-person together for the first time since we launched the Remarkable Retail podcast for this special bonus episode. Steve and Michael sit down together in the Vegas Podcasting Studio (i.e. Michael's hotel room!) on the third and final day of the Shoptalk 2022 show in Las Vegas and discuss the key themes heard in the aisles, restaurants, and on the stage at Shoptalk 2022.   Steve's...

This episode we welcome our fellow "Rethink Retail Top Influencers" Cate Trotter , Hitha Herzog , and Rob Garf .  Julia Raymond Hare  and  Gabriella Bock  also join us to explain what the Rethink Retail's list is all about.  But first we take on the news of the week, including what to make of Nike's earnings announcement, their plans to open "Jordan" concept stores and the progress of their Consum...

This episode we welcome our fellow "Rethink Retail Top Influencers"  Nikki Baird , Ricardo Belmar , and Alicia Esposito . Julia Raymond Hare and Gabriella Bock also join us to explain what the Rethink Retail's list is all about.  But first we take on the news of the week, including the continuing "profitless prosperity as exhibited by Warby Parker's expanding losses and the big drop in market capi...

Richard Armour is a deeply experienced omni-channel retail executive having cut his teeth at Travelocity and Gamestop. Now he is helping drive the digital transformation for Michaels Stores, one of North America's largest provider of arts, crafts, framing, and more for makers and do-it-yourself home decorators.  We dig deep into the evolution of e-commerce, how the blurring of the lines between di...

This episode we welcome Simeon Siegel, the retail rockstar analyst from BMO for a provocative discussion on whether going direct-to-consumer is all it's cracked up to be. In a Masterclass on retail growth strategies, we first clean up some of the often confusing nomenclature, then discuss whether wholesale really is a dirty word and how everything old is often new again. Mostly we go beyond the cl...

"The future is already here--it's just not very evenly distributed." - William Gibson   In this episode we delve into why unremarkable retailers often struggle to make the changes they must until essentially being forced to, as well as what it takes to embrace a true culture of experimentation. Among the areas we explore are Whether a retailer's culture is wired to say no or wired to say yes Why m...

“Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” - Mark Twain Turns out physical retail isn't dead. In fact, brick & mortar retail seems to be undergoing a renaissance of sorts. In this episode we go sans guest, and delve into how a few savvy retailers (e.g Target) started seeing their stores as assets rather than liabilities prior the pandemic and began investing heavily in them (The Stores S...

We love lifting up emerging remarkable retailers that may not have (yet) hit our audience's radar screen. So this episode we welcome Rachel Bentley and Carly Nance , the co-founders of The Citizenry , the fast-growing, thoughtfully designed, ethically crafted, home furnishing company. We dig into the inspiration for the brand, the "white space" they seek to address. and how social impact is at the...

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.” - Henry Ford   Is it possible that you are not changing as dramatically and profoundly as you should? Is it possible that many of the strategies that have brought you success may actually prevent future success? Is it possible that you aren't moving nearly fast enough? In this provocative episode we take on the question...

This episode we welcome Joe Kudla, CEO and Founder of Vuori , the fast-growing Southern California-inspired activewear brand. Joe's journey is a fascinating one that anyone in retail and branding will enjoy and can learn from. We discuss the origin story of the company and discover how two big pivots allowed Vuori to find its unique positioning and set it on its path to its recent $4 billion valua...

We go sans guest this week to unpack Steve's 2022 Retail Predictions, previewed in his recent Forbes article . We cover a lot of ground including future of certain unremarkable retailers, what's next for Amazon, the importance of understanding 'buying' vs. 'shopping' and more. We also unveil "The Great Reconfiguration."  But that's not all! Because we are all about accountability, we start out wit...

Our new season kick-off episode features an illuminating interview with Ulta CEO Dave Kimbell . Ulta has become one of the most remarkable growth stories in all of retail, growing from a small regional player to an $8 billion powerhouse with more than 1,300 stores and an expanding presence within Target. Dave discusses the brand's evolution and some of the keys to their success, including a relent...

This is Steve Dennis, trusted strategic advisor, keynote speaker and author of Remarkable Retail: How to Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. If the last two years has taught us anything it’s this: Shift Happens. But becoming and staying remarkable is not about predicting the future. It’s about accepting the reality that even very good is no longer good enough. It’s about deeply understa...

We wrap up Season 3 with the inimitable, irrepressible and always provocative Scott Galloway . For those who have yet to jump on the Big Dawg train, Scott is a Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern, author of 3 best-selling books, podcast host, and the founder of Section4 , where he teaches Strategy and Brand Strategy Sprints. His new TV show will debut on CNN+ next year. In a wide-ranging interview...

As the battle for convenience continues to escalate the supply chain is becoming far more hybrid in nature and retailers are challenged to able to create a flexible--and profitable--solution for last-mile delivery. To unpack the evolution of the space and the exploding world of micro-fulfillment we're excited to interview Elram Goren , Co-Founder & CEO at Fabric a pioneering robotics firm and reta...

This week we've got a blockbuster panel featuring three of the most experienced and insightful veterans of the luxury world: Karen Katz (former President & CEO of the Neiman Marcus Group, Steve Sadove (former Chairman and CEO of Saks) and Oliver Chen (Managing director and senior equity research analyst at Cowen and Company).  We cover a lot of territory, first trying to align on a working definit...