Retail Refined

On this episode of MarketScale's Retail Refined, host Melissa Gonzalez dove into what the move into a post-pandemic summer could mean for retailers in the United States and beyond. "Well, we are officially in June, and we are getting close to the official start of summer. Stores are opening. People are coming out. Mask mandates are evolving, and we're seeing continued evidence that consumers had p...

With the highly anticipated Tokyo Olympics and Tokyo Paralympics just around the corner, excitement for the Games has been building. Behind the scenes, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Properties (USOPP) team has also been hard at work, establishing new partnerships, and finding innovative ways to support its sponsors and licensees, and, ultimately, the athletes who bring the Games to life. “Our...

The past year has been a deeply transformative one for the retail industry, which saw already emerging trends in online shopping, curbside pickup and more accelerated in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, even with vaccines continuing to roll out and a true reopening commencing, retail isn’t going backward. In fact, the evolution could be just beginning. On this episode of MarketScale’s Retai...

From building brands with musicians to connecting the dots between property owners and retail businesses, Jay Norris, CEO, and Co-Founder at Guesst has led an exciting career. Through each venture, though, he has loved working with talented small businesses, whether that was Biggie Smalls or Whitney Houston. On this episode of Retail Refined, Host Melissa Gonzalez talked with Norris about his care...

The retail industry’s reliance on technology is more apparent than ever. The way people shop, buy, and experience brands have changed dramatically in the next year. What comes next will be powered by 5G. Talking about 5G’s mark on retail, Retail Refined host Melissa Gonzalez spoke with Michael Colaneri, VP of Retail, Restaurants, Hospitality for AT&T. Colaneri has decades of exp...

The world of retail is shifting, influenced by the desire for more value and sustainability. Brands are answering this change with re-commerce and circular shopping. To discuss this new avenue of commerce, Retail Refined host Melissa Gonzalez spoke with Andy Ruben, Founder and CEO of Trove. Trove is the backend engine for circular shopping, working with brands allowing them to...

Creating a digital experience for a consumer is essential but an often overlooked aspect of retail. Business owners are constantly trying to figure out how to break through the noise. Laura Davis-Taylor, the Chief Strategy Officer for InReality, talks with Retail Refined host Melissa Gonzalez about digital strategy, shopper marketing, and consumer product goods in retail, especially in the age of...

Everything in life is an experience. They have just become more sophisticated and calculated, especially in retail, which is driving experiential marketing. Breaking down what it is, its evolution, and more, Retail Refined host Melissa Gonzalez chatted with David Title, Partner at Bravo Media. Title offered an overview of Bravo’s history. “We started in the early 2000s when every company need...

The pandemic’s impact on retail was so disruptive. It changed the industry forever, and a big part of this is the associate model. As retailers lean into technology, they’ve learned it can be the most significant component of agility around workforce management. To discuss the topic, Retail Refined host Melissa Gonzalez spoke with John Orr, Senior Vice President of Retail at Ceridian, an...

What’s the value of the fitting room for retailers? Most don’t know because they don’t have data. In fact, many stores have little to no information on customer experiences in-store. Solving this problem is Crave Retail. The founder Matthew Cyr sat down with host Melissa Gonzalez to talk about the platform. Cyr has an extensive background with experience in eCommerce software and in-store ope...

What’s driving retail digital transformation post-pandemic? There are two main categories—customer interaction and transaction enablement, both of which are solutions of NCR. Their Retail President and General Manager David Wilkinson spoke about both with Retail Refined’s host Melissa Gonzalez. NCR is over 100 years old, with its roots in cash registers and ATMs, now focusing on enterprise te...

While the shelves at stores look appealing to shoppers, they encompass lots of data from retailers and manufacturers. Collecting and analyzing data is critical for the future of retail. Talking about shelf data, host Melissa Gonzalez welcomed David Gottlieb, the Managing Director, Americas at Trax. Trax uses technology solutions to enable stores and brands to obtain intelligence that creates delig...

Acquiring data is step one; understanding it and acting on it is what really matters. With data the fuel for better customer relationships, how can retailers capitalize? To answer the question, host Melissa Gonzalez spoke with Jonathan Silver, Founder and CEO of Affinity Solutions. Affinity Solutions is a data-driven intelligence platform, which helps companies develop stronger connections wi...

Host Melissa Gonzalez spoke with the company’s President and CEO, Dick Sullivan, about how the business is thriving. Sullivan has a long history of working for top retail brands, including as the CMO of The Home Depot. He was also an EVP at the Atlanta Falcons. In both these roles, he worked for The Home Depot founder Arthur Blank.  Sullivan and Blank saw an opportunity with the store, w...

Host Melissa Gonzalez welcomed Jaysen Gillespie, SVP of Data and analytics for Shopkick. Gillespie has over two decades of experience in the industry and oversees all aspects of data and analytics for Shopkick. This retail app rewards consumers and feeds retailers and brands essential consumer data.  The life of a consumer is changing, and while COVID-19 didn’t create these recent trends...

How the world shops and buys has always been a steady evolution. In the last year, that incremental change hit rapid speed. That caused huge ramifications for the supply chain, creating a real need for transparency in many ways. Tackling the subject of transparent supply chains, host Melissa Gonzalez spoke with Ryan Yost, VP and General Manager at Avery Denison, leading their printer solutions div...

Designed for retail leaders and lovers alike, Retail Refined explores the in-store technology of the future, challenges the industry’s preconceived notions, and brings together retail’s biggest names to understand the brand strategies that will define the next decade in retail. An in-store experience team is not unlike the UI/UX group for digital assets. It’s about connection, value, spe...

Customer experience, inventory control, and interactions are all challenges for retailers. The pandemic only exasperated them; however, technology is closing the gap. Host Melissa Gonzalez spoke with entrepreneur and technology expert Skip Howard, Co-Founder and CEO of Spacee, about what his company is doing to support retailers. Spacee has several computer vision and AI products for retailer...

The ecosystem of eCommerce is always evolving, and the last year has seen a rapid pivot for retailers. So, what can an eCommerce expert share? Host Melissa Gonzalez sat down with Hatch CEO and Founder Joris Kroese to learn more about what Hatch does and the changing online shopping environment. Kroese has an extensive history in eCommerce, once owning a brand that sold technology products. He noti...

Data-driven retail delivers insights that lead to better decision-making. On the digital side, retailers have easy data sources, but offline retail is harder to quantify. Location analytics is closing the gap. To learn all about this exciting segment of data analytics and how it’s redefining retail, host Melissa Gonzalez welcomed Ethan Chernofsky, VP of Marketing for Placer.ai. Basic concepts abou...

Steve Hornyak oversees Fabric's global sales, marketing, business development and customer success business functions. He has worked in the retail technology, software, and SaaS business sectors for the past 30 years, including executive and senior management positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Oracle, SQL Financials, Clarus, Brickstream (Nomi), Trax Image Recognition, and Symphony RetailAI. He h...

Melissa Gonzalez, host of MarketScale’s Retail Refined, knows what’s at the top of everyone in the industry’s mind as 2021 dawns – more personalized experiences and better supply chain efficiency. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, these two trends are paramount. Consumers are still hesitant to shop in person in many cases but, when they do, they’ll likely return to elevated expectations for pe...

Retailers learned many lessons in 2020 relating to the “new” in-store experience. This knowledge now shines the light on what’s to come regarding inventory accuracy, flexible fulfillment, and more trends. Sharing thoughts on these subjects and the role of technology is Tim Kane, Retail Solutions Consultant for North America, Zebra Technologies. Zebra supports retailers with devices and solutions f...

If there is anything recent events have taught us, it’s that being adaptable is a key trait in life and in business. To gain insight into the business side of things, Melissa Gonzalez, Host, Retail Refined sat down with Adam Gam, US Chief Marketing Officer for Perfect Corp. to discuss the importance of adapting and embracing a 360 degree direct to consumer strategy. What does Gam think is needed t...