Retail Unwrapped - from The Robin Report

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Retailers are facing a potential economic event, and the wildcard is predicting what consumers will do. Most Americans are in credit card debt, prices are higher than last year, pandemic savings are dwindling; and student loan repayments hit in October, just in time for holidays.  Join Robin, Shell...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Tapestry is no LVMH or Kering in its acquisition of Capri. The aspiration to play in the luxe space is nearly impossible; for starters, Jimmy Choo and Versace are too niche and too small.  Add to that Tapestry’s mainstream brands are outlet mall darlings, at one point, driving about 70% of revenues...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Is Amazon on a downward retail slide? It’s backing off physical stores (except grocery) and its Amazon Go technology hasn’t gained traction. And then there’s Walmart down every American’s street that continues to up its game.  So, Andrew Jassy is focusing on Amazon’s emerging technologies including...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Join Robin Lewis and Shelley Kohan as they dig into Supreme’s recent history, armed with Robin’s invaluable insights. They dissect the crucial role of company culture and its direct impact on brand acquisitions.  Be prepared to get a grip on the inner dynamics of the investment community and how it...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Imagine a world where legacy retailers, once terrified by the concept of ecommerce, are now leading the charge, leveraging multiple distribution channels to connect with their customers.  Join us, Robin Lewis and Shelley Kohan, as we dissect this seismic shift from the wholesale to the retail model...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Ever wondered how to tackle the billion-dollar problem of organized retail crime? Join us for an engaging chat with George Shaw, founder and CEO of Pathr.ai , as he sheds light on the magnitude of this issue, with the prediction of $100 billion in losses looming over the retail industry in 2023. In...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Tom McGee believes there is a bright side for retail in the suburbs; it has benefited from shifting consumer behaviors.  Join us as Robin, Shelley, and Tom discuss suburban retail, Gen Z, and the return to physical spaces including outdoor malls. They also discuss how higher interest rates and remo...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Brian Field, Global Leader of Retail Consulting for Sensormatic Solutions, joins us to provide a breakdown of their 2023 Annual Consumer Survey.  Join us as Robin, Shelley, and Brian talk through some of this year’s key findings and what they mean across the industry segment. Brian also offers his...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! This week’s podcast addresses the impact of AI in retail, delving into how AI is currently reshaping and will continue to shape the retail industry, from personalized shopping experiences to supply chain and inventory management, real-time pricing optimization, and beyond.  What are companies like...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! In October, an estimated $10 billion a month is being taken away from 2023 holiday purchasing when the student loan forgiveness program ends. Combine that with ongoing rumors of the “R” word, along with Amazon Prime Days, and you see why we believe retailers may be up for a wild second half with mi...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! For mid-tier fashion specialty retail, it’s gone, baby gone. This sector is really struggling. With the proliferation of the internet and so many fashion startup companies, the democratization of fashion has become ubiquitous. Join Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s chief strategist, as they d...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Even with the addition of Sephora and Amazon return centers, will it be enough to turn the struggling retailer around? Heavy inventory coming out of 2022 and a loss of $19 million to the bottom line make 2023 a challenging year. Meanwhile, CEO Kingsbury wants to pull back on couponing , which is a...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! What drives loyalty, provides new revenue streams – and most importantly, responds to customer needs and wants? Ancillary services are more than meets the eye: they are a portal into building an ecosystem that supports customer wellbeing. Costco is the poster child, offering 25 different services d...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Organized Retail Crime is growing and a $95 billion problem, not to mention its impact on putting employees and shoppers at risk. These crime syndicates resell stolen goods and use the money to fund other illegal activities. Join Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s strategist, as they discuss h...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! We’re living in strange times. None of the best and the brightest economists, finance experts, academics, futurists – no one has been able to predict the recessions we’ve had. And no one has been able to stop them. What’s a retailer to do? First and foremost, learn to manage and thrive in an era of...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Today there is a fine line between doing the right thing and breaking a law. The role of a retail CEO is playing in a public landmine as political policies may dictate private practices. Take recent moves to limit support of an inclusive workforce. Retailers face backlash from all sides when custom...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Catalogs are back! And that’s not all. Dynamic pricing is a red-hot topic today…is personalized pricing a real deal? A unified commerce business model opens new channels along with the renaissance of print catalogs. It’s a cost-effective model because it focuses on a customer-centric mindset in a c...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! How does a brand stay relevant after 53 years? What does it take to keep it vital and iconic? Cotton Incorporated is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Seal of Cotton this month, with the Seal recognized as a global icon by retailers and brands throughout the textile industry and beyond. To fo...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Don’t count your customers out, even when they’re facing turbulent, unpredictable market trends. Last July the growth rate of consumer discretionary purchases was slowing down. This downward trend combined with inflation at near 40-year highs begs the question: How long can consumer spending growth...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! AI is not delivering the customer service customers want or retailers thought it would. For all its promise, the lack of human touch, not to mention intuitive empathy, has made AI customer service a nightmare. Added to this, with a worker shortage, there aren’t enough human beings to come to the re...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Traditional retail has become unhinged, and we operate in a marketplace where the more things change, the more they change. Forces for change are redefining the new rules of retail in real time. Just look at how Gen Z, a hybrid workforce, loyalty programs, and emerging technologies are resetting th...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Much of the world is calling for a pause on AI to reflect and reconsider the immediate impact of emerging tech and the runaway train that is Chat GPT and all its AI iterative language siblings.  And then there’s the looming issue of privacy and consumers’ worries about how to own and protect their...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Managing a global business with a portfolio of brands over the past three years has been a challenge for even the most experienced leaders. How do you strategically plan for transformation when the world marketplace is so disruptive, sustainability concerns are mounting, and each workforce in diffe...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Gen Z is setting the pace for rethinking fashion. The trend today is gender-fluid fashion and 56 percent of Gen Z shops outside their assigned gender area. Influenced by high-profile celebrities (think Billy Porter and Harry Styles), there is a business case to be made for gender-fluid fashion.  Ro...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! EV charging stations represent the most electrifying new opportunity for retailers, restaurants, and service providers in generations. Over 1.3 million charging stations are coming online within the next decade, and they bring with them a consumer who will have some time to kill – or make their cha...