Retail Remix

More than 50% of brands plan to increase budget spend on creators in 2025. While brand execs across categories agree that creators help boost awareness and product consideration, their tactical goals and priorities vary.  During this episode of Retail Remix, Rodney Mason of LTK and Frank Dudley of Northwestern University dig into their latest research report focused on how brands are tapping creat...

Amina Pasha has been in the CPG space for more than 20 years. While a good portion of that time was with P&G , her career went into new, exciting territory when she joined The Honest Company , a challenger brand that, from the beginning, doubled down on its mission and values.  She has spent the last five years applying her learnings with the brand at Thrive Market , which is a values-based, c...

Mars, Inc. has embarked on a digital transformation that encompasses ecommerce experience and in-store activation. Throughout this journey, which began with the M&M’S brand, the company has successfully embraced experience innovation that has composable technology and agile processes at the center of it all.  During this episode of Retail Remix, Kyle Barz of Mars, Inc., shares how he helped dr...

You may think shopping online for a car (especially a used car) is overwhelming, even frustrating. But Jim Lyski is trying to change that.  As EVP and Chief Growth & Strategy Officer for CarMax, Jim has helped drive the company’s AI efforts, which span various touch points and all stages of the buying journey. Listen to get details into how CarMax is:  Evolving its value proposition to align w...

Livestreaming was said to completely transform retail as we knew it. A commerce staple in Asia, experts claimed it was only a matter of time before it took the west by storm.  Although the hype cycle has slowed, companies like Orca are working to turn livestreaming and social commerce into highly effective and scalable sales channels. During this week’s Retail Remix, Orca co-founders Max Benator a...

Over the past year, retail executives have had to navigate many forces: the rise of disruptive tech like generative AI, ever-changing consumer spending patterns and economic volatility.  How did these and other issues drive C-level decision-making? And at the end of the day, what really kept retail leaders up at night? To find out how all this impacted retail leader's strategies this year, we went...

Anthropologie has developed a truly distinct in-store experience; one that evokes emotional attachment and inspires discovery. How does the brand achieve this as it grows across formats, markets and even into digital channels? During this episode of Retail Remix, Mindy Massey, Global Executive Director of Retail for Anthropologie, shares how her growth and evolution within the company has helped h...

User-generated content (UGC) has become central to brands’ marketing and customer experience strategies over the past decade. But as social channels and trends have evolved, so too have brands’ methods for collecting, amplifying and monetizing their UGC.  In August 2024, the FTC issued a formal ban on fake reviews and testimonials — an effort designed to prevent businesses from purchasing and “gro...

The payment experience has always been considered a “necessary evil” for ecommerce sites. There’s information merchants need to accept, validate and fulfill online orders.  But now, technology is turning the payment experience into an opportunity for differentiation. During this week’s Retail Remix, two executives embedded in this exciting new world of payment share their thoughts on:  What consum...

Marci Zaroff coined the term “ECOfashion” in 1995 and has spent decades driving meaningful conversations and tangible change in the fashion industry. Nearly three decades later, she is reflecting on the market’s evolution and the work that still needs to be done.  During this episode of Retail Remix, Marci shares: Her vision for “ECOfashion” and how she believed it would influence the way all play...

Brandon Rael has decades of retail industry experience. As a member of RetailWire’s BrainTrust, a Rethink Retail Top Industry Influencer, and part of Kynryl’s consulting team, his daily focus is keeping pace with the new trends driving the retail industry forward.  So who would be a better person than Brandon to dig into holiday trends and predictions? During this episode of Retail Remix, he share...

VICI was founded in 2012, when women were looking for trendy, high-quality fashions on a relatively new platform called Instagram, but were extra wary of their spending. With consumers now in a very similar headspace, it is an optimal time for Co-founder and Chief Merchandising and Marketing Officer Aimee Dudum Colorado to reflect on how the business has evolved. During this episode, Aimee chats w...

To identify new collaborative opportunities, retailers should focus on their distinct business values and how they translate into serving specific customers and communities. That is how Dollar General was able to turn its commitment to supporting households into a successful multi-year partnership with Bayer. For this special episode of Retail Remix, Allen Warch, VP of Food & Fresh Merchandisi...

If you want to create store experiences that are not only engaging, but truly immersive, storytelling should be your central design strategy.  American Girl is one brand that has taken storytelling to the next level, creating realms where imaginations flourish and brand narratives are celebrated. For this episode of Retail Remix, we’re replaying a session from the Retail Innovation Conference &amp...

Rachel Frederick oversees various aspects of Sur La Table’s digital business, from digital marketing to the brand’s direct-to-consumer ecommerce site, fraud prevention and even fulfillment offerings.  To ensure Sur La Table creates experiences that meet and exceed customer expectations, Rachel and her team rely heavily on customer data. During this episode of Retail Remix, Rachel discusses how aud...

Merchants of all sizes and across categories have heard the call: to survive in an era of heightened expectations, they must empower consumers to buy anytime, anywhere and in any way they want. And oh yeah, they have to get those products to customers’ doorsteps faster.  Companies like Feedonomics are making it a reality by ensuring product data is accurate, compelling and integrated across all pl...

For his latest book, Gary Hawkins wanted to explore the gap between technology's rapid evolution and retailers' slow adoption of it. With Bionic Retail: How to Thrive in an Exponential World , he identifies what's holding retailers back, and how they can adapt their systems, processes and cultures to embrace innovation. During this Retail ThinkTank Ideation Session, Hawkins explores what's happeni...

The beauty and wellness industries are brimming with new trends and growth opportunities. Yuriy Boykiv and his team at Front Row are focused on helping brands in these dynamic markets adapt, innovate and drive growth.  During this episode of Retail Remix, Yuriy outlines:  How the growth of marketplaces has created new challenges for smaller brands;  Why social commerce may reach a tipping point, e...

Bodegas are a fixture in local communities and large cities alike. Rachel Krupa has her own fond memories of local corner stores, which is why she’s leveraging her deep CPG experience to reimagine and elevate the experience.  During this episode of Retail Remix, Rachel provides insight into why she founded The Goods Mart, and how she has:    Created a distinct space for “good for you” brands to en...

The streaming era isn’t just giving households one-click access to a seemingly endless supply of content; it’s enabling brands and retailers to deliver relevant and impactful advertising to target consumers, making media moments shoppable.  Walgreens Advertising Group is capitalizing on this opportunity by testing new connected TV (CTV) advertising offerings through Roku. For this week’s Retail Re...

Consumers want to make more thoughtful decisions about what and how they buy. They don’t want to just minimize their environmental impact, though. They also want to purchase high-quality goods that are good for them and the individuals they love. Yes, that even includes their pets. During this episode of Retail Remix, we explore Nestlé Purina PetCare’s vision and launch of Purina ONE DualNature. G...

Have you ever walked into such a beautiful store, you couldn’t mutter another word other than, “dang”? Well, that was Nicki Gitlin’s inspiration when the time came to name her design and architecture business. With years of hands-on experience, including a stint at Theory when she designed stores worldwide, she focuses on “intersecting architecture and interaction with daily life,” including the u...

More than half of U.S. shoppers are concerned with the quality and legitimacy of the product discovery channels they use most, according to research from Reddit. And yes, that includes social media. That is why, rather than relying solely on social media ratings and reviews, brands need to connect with consumers in context, according to Bob Ferdman, Reddit’s Head of Retail. During this week’s Reta...

Although some use the words “membership” and “subscription” interchangeably, 64% of consumers believe there is a distinct difference in these types of programs.    But what do consumers really expect from these commerce experiences? Retail TouchPoints and CI&T collaborated on a survey of 1,000+ consumers to find out. Melissa Minkow, author of the report, sits down with host Alicia Esposito to...

Rebekah Kondrat has worked for brands known (and loved) for their incredible store experiences: Apple, Starbucks and Warby Parker, among others. She has taken these experiences to start Rekon Retail, a company that helps brands scale their retail operations and set them up for long-term success.   During this RetailThinkTank Ideation Session, host Alicia Esposito sits down with Kondrat to discuss...