Remarkable Retail Podcast

A Dozen Provocative Predictions for Retail's Future, Plus 5 "Wild Card" Prognostications! In the first of two episodes, Steve lays out his first six predictions for retail in 2025. But first, we start with a look at the latest retail news from the past couple of weeks, including an early result on Holiday consumer spending, the formation of Catalyst Brands consisting of SPARC's Lucky Brand, Aéropo...

If we had to pick a couple of words to describe the last few years, "volatile" and "uncertain" are very likely to be at the top of anyone's list. What words and themes will define this next year? Chaos? Clarity? Prosperity? Purpose? Will struggling retailers at long last make the bold leaps they must, or edge ever closer to the precipice? Can the promises of innovation be met, taking consumer expe...

In this special encore bonus episode, we update and revisit the story of Primark, the Dublin-based retail giant with 450 stores across 17 countries. We initially spoke to Primark's US President, Kevin Tulip , in the spring of 2023, and we discussed the brand's steady push into the American market and its ambitious plans for the future. Primark ended 2024 with 29 stores in 12 states, including its...

We wrap up Season 9 with Part 2 of taking account of Steve's 2024 retail predictions. Our second batch include: 7.  Neiman Marcus and Saks merge. 8. Nordstrom goes private. 9.  Apple's "Vision Pro" is a big nothing burger...for now 10.  Sustainability schizophrenia hits a new high. 11.  Bailing still doesn't fix the hole among those stuck in the mediocre middle. 12.  Health-related services are th...

We're all about accountability on the Remarkable Retail podcast, so as we bring this season to a close once again it's time to grade Steve on 2024 predictions. In part 1 we dig into six of his baker's dozen of retail prognostications, which include: 1. The bifurcation of just about everything accelerates. 2. For many brands, flat is the new up. 3. AI: This time its personal. 4. The D continues to...

In this special bonus episode, we delve into the innovative intersection of sports and e-commerce with Patrick Jenkinson, Commercial Director for Venue and E-commerce at Manchester United, and Thomas Peyer, Director, Growth, SCAYLE, a leading enterprise e-commerce platform. Patrick shares insights into Manchester United's remarkable global fan base, boasting over 270 million social followers and v...

Our very special guest this week is is Artemis Patrick , President of Sephora-North America, clearly one of the most remarkable brands in retail today. Artemis shares her remarkable personal and professional journey, along with the keys to Sephora's fantastic growth across the last two decades. We explore how the brand creates a harmonized shopping experience, the role of both humans and technolog...

Welcome to a special episode of the Remarkable Retail podcast, featuring part two of our interview with noted retail journalists, Chantal Fernandez and Lauren Sherman , talking about their fabulous new book  Selling Sexy: Victoria's Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon .  Steve picks up the conversation asking about Victoria's Secret's role in elevating supermodels to new heights in the c...

We welcome noted retail journalists Chantal Fernandez and Lauren Sherman to the podcast to discuss their fabulous new book Selling Sexy: Victoria's Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon.   And we had so much to talk about we are releasing our interview in two parts.  In the first part of our conversation we explore Victoria's Secret's origin and growth in the broader context of retail's ev...

"People buy the story before they buy the product." This week we go sans guest to unpack one of Steve's "mind leaps" from his latest book: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption. In a world of infinite choice, 24/7 access, intense competition, and an epic battle for attention, more and more it's critical to "start with wow." By improving our aim in the customers we seek...

Joining us for another interview recorded live in the Bambuser remote podcast studio at Shoptalk Fall event is Joe Megibow, Casper Sleep's CEO. Joe is a veteran of both more traditional companies as well as disruptor brands, and he helps us understand the evolution of digitally-native brands, the trials and tribulations of trying to reinvent the mattress category, and how he hopes to reinvent Casp...

Joining us in the Bambuser remote podcast studio at Shoptalk Fall in Chicago is Rebecca Fitts ,  SVP, Alvarez & Marsal's Property Solutions. Hot on the heels of Rebecca's joining us on the inaugural list of top NRF Retail Voices , we do a deep dive into what's new and next for the ever dynamic world of retail real estate. Among the topics we cover is how digital disruption has shaped the physical...

“The success of our brand will increasingly be determined by our ability to meet our customers' needs anytime, anywhere, anyway.” Arthur Martinez, Sears CEO, February 1999 You might be wondering who was the first person to lead omni-channel efforts at a major retailer. Was it Phil Phygital, Sean Seamless, Uri Unified, or someone else entirely? This week, in this encore episode, we reveal our answe...

Joining us in the Bambuser podcast studio for the first of several episodes recorded live at Shoptalk's inaugural fall event in Chicago is Zia Daniell Widger , Chief Content Officer at eMarketer. In a wide-ranging conversation on digital trends across the globe, Zia's shares both her many years of experience in her current role (along with stints at Shoptalk, Forrester, and Jupiter Research) combi...

Our guest this week is Anna Martini , CEO of Psycho Bunny, the fast-growing men's clothing wear brand founded in New York in 2005. She takes us into the provocative brand's origin story, what makes the brand unique, and how she is crafting a global growth strategy. We also learn how having a clear view of their core "Liam" customer and making it all about the bunny, drives remarkable success. We a...

Joining us for our final interview recorded in the Scratch Event DJs  remote podcast studio at the  Revtech Rev Summit is  Richard Kestenbaum , leading retail influencer, Forbes contributor, and co-Founder and Partner at Triangle Capital. Richard and his firm specialize in mergers, acquisitions and capital-raising for consumer-related businesses, and were fortunate to get his insightful perspectiv...

Joining us for a special bonus episode recorded live in the Scratch Event DJs remote podcast studio during RevTech Ventures annual summit is RevTech's very own David Matthews . David shares his deep experience with early stage investing in retail technology and shares exciting news about a new fund his firm is launching. Promotional consideration for this episode was provided by RevTech Ventures....

Joining us for the first of our interviews recorded in the  Scratch Event DJs remote podcast studio at the Revtech Rev Summit in Dallas is Greg Merrill , most recently global head of digital transformation at Nike.  Greg draws on his extensive start-up experience, board advisory roles, and his just completed tenure at global powerhouse Nike, to help us understand how to accelerate the pace of inno...

Joining us for a fascinating interview is Neil Blumenthal, co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker, one of the most successful and innovative "disruptor brands" to emerge in the past two decades. Neil shares the brand's origin story, what makes Warby Parker remarkable, why they've aggressively invested in brick-and-mortar locations, the critical interplay between digital and physical, and a whole lo...

BMO Analyst Simeon Siegel is back on the pod for the fourth time in as many years to help us understand the increasing bifurcation in retail, how soon we can expect declining interest rates to have impact, and where things might be headed with growth of Temu and Shein. We also revisit the great DTC vs. Wholesale debate and what it portends for luxury brands, Nike, and more. But first we unpack the...

One of retail's most insightful minds makes her triumphant return to the pod.  Sucharita Kodali , Forrester's Principal Analyst, was our very first guest when we launched the podcast in September of 2020, and now she's back to separate the hope from the hype on key topics like the important difference between e-commerce and digital commerce and the critical role of digital influence on brick-and-m...

We're back, with our Season 9 premier episode. Next week we'll return with our usual format of news of the week and fascinating interviews with the retail industry's most remarkable executives and thought leaders. But having devoted our summer episodes to our special 6-part series on accelerating retail transformation, we're taking the opportunity to unpack some of the most important stories from...

If we're learned anything in the past few years, it's that the pace of change is only accelerating and the difference between the winners and losers often centers on those that understand the fierce urgency of now and choose to aim much, much higher and move, much much faster.   Remarkable brands know that speed is essential. But what exactly separates those that successfully transform for a new e...

Welcome to a special Remarkable Retail podcast summer series focused on what leaders need to do to help their organizations win the future and leap to higher ground. In this six-part limited series, Steve will be unpacking key lessons from his new best-selling book “Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption,” available everywhere books are sold. If you have been following...

Welcome to a special Remarkable Retail podcast summer series focused on what leaders need to do to help their organizations win the future and leap to higher ground. In this six-part limited series, Steve will be unpacking key lessons from his new best-selling book “Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption,” available everywhere books are sold. Clayton Christensen, the la...