Retail Unwrapped - from The Robin Report

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! What’s up about leading U.S. retailers as serial failures in other countries? Join Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s chief strategist, with special guest Mark Cohen, Director of Retail Studies at Columbia Business School and former chairman and CEO of Sears Canada, for some straight talk abou...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! A&F is making a dramatic comeback after its misstep in marketing exclusively to their definition of young, cool kids …which then plagued the brand with a slew of bad news and lawsuits. In one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the industry, the company is positioned to take market share away...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! What do you do when you’re an innovator that has reached its prime and is no longer disrupting the marketplace?  If you’re Andrew Jassy, you redefine your company from the inside out. Amazonians are in for a rocky ride recasting their company, forced to come back to the office, and challenged to me...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! There are many companies out there that can eat up and acquire struggling brands just to push them into oblivion -- while taking a quick profit. However, it is a rare talent to know when to acquire a brand and build it into a powerhouse. Join guest star Yehuda Shmidman, Chairman & CEO of WHP Gl...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! All the world’s a stage, and this year’s World Retail Congress in Barcelona, April 25-27 gathers some of the top international retail executives who are leading with resilience, purpose, customer-focus, and with the goal of transformation.  Join Robin Lewis, Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s chief strategist...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Inventory overload is clogging retail systems and straining profits. A new paradigm requires retailers to react quickly in real-time to constantly changing shifts in customer demands. It’s becoming a game of beat the clock when product requests need to be matched with ready to purchase product in n...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! What lies ahead? Post-pandemic, current economic disruption, an ongoing war, and a pervasive sense of global anxiety: what will be the new normal for retail? Three key factors will shape the future – the economy, shifting consumer behavior, and a renewed focus on the customer. Above all, it will re...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! OpenAI started the cascade of generative AI innovations with ChatGPT and DALL-E2 and the public’s overnight fascination with these technologies. Now everyone wants in on the action. Yes, these AI technologies can benefit society as a whole. But there are also big questions about how they can be use...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Returns. And it’s not just during the holidays. Recent reports estimate returns at about 16-20% of total retail sales with online returns climbing as high as 30%!  What’s going on here? We know most of these returns account for five to six billion pounds of waste annually, dumped into landfills and...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! The Robin Report celebrates its 100 podcasts! Listen in as Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s chief strategist, review the best (and a few misfires) of their predictions, opinions, and conversations about the state of retail. Hot topics include leadership, retail strategies, and the darker sid...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! It’s that time of year again: predictions and prognostications about what’s on the horizon. What are the key trends that will shape up retailers’ new year? From consumer behaviors and physical retail innovations to tech-enhanced data and analytics and emerging digital transformations, 2023 is bound...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! When you consider holiday spending and economic forecasts (in general), we would argue they are both a fool’s game. At the heart of the problem is partly the survey process; consumers don’t always tell the truth. And then there’s computer modeling. But just look at all the holiday forecasts; they a...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! It may be the single most important strategic and structural shift in retail’s recent history: the return of the small neighborhood store. Whether a traditional department store, big box behemoth or digital native going physical, the small store format delivers on consumer demand for better experie...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! There is a major transformation underway in retail advertising. Maybe it’s not an echo of Mad Men, but instead, really Smart People changing up the ad models. Advertisers are on track to spend more than $41 billion on retail media networks this year. That’s a hefty increase of 31 percent and the ou...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Kanye West’s plummet as an influential force has become legend. And he is not alone. Celebrities can flameout as quickly as they amass hundreds of thousands of fans and followers.  So, how do brands safeguard their reputations, and what do they do when influencers go off the rails? Join Robin Lewis...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Where are malls headed? And how are they surviving today in a disruptive marketplace? Legendary mall developer Bill Taubman joins Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan to go behind the curtain to reveal how malls can be more relevant, discuss the trend of creative lifestyle centers and mixed-use spaces....

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Consumers vote with their wallets and this holiday is no exception.  Commerce Signals just released its Holiday Spending Predictions report and its president, Andy Mantis, joins Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s chief strategist, to deconstruct the predicted winners and losers this holiday sp...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! The journey to digital transformation is an adventure on a steep learning curve.  What does it take to prepare your team and implement the strategies and tools to move forward?  Janice Wang, CEO of Alvanon joins Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s chief strategist as they discuss the challenges...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! True that pre-loved can be re-loved in the circularity market. And true that resale addresses environmental concerns. And amazing that the resale market will nearly double in size by 2030.  Yes, but: Resale pioneers thredUP and the RealReal have never made a profit. Join Robin Lewis and Shelley E....

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Call it crafted with pride in the U.S. or right sourcing production back to America, brands are looking for faster, more responsive, agile, and sustainable supply chains. Moving manufacturing back from foreign shores could control over-production and reduce the environmental impact of the current g...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! A surplus of inventory plus rising inflation make for a grim outlook as we head into the holidays. Metrics tools of the past are not relevant to forecast and benchmark in today’s disruptive marketplace. Join Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan, TRR’s chief strategist, as they deconstruct the challenge...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! McKinsey recently released research that reveals 63% of U.S. retail store managers plan to leave in the next 3-6 months. Why? They don’t feel in control of their day. Information overload, micromanagement, demotivation – they are overwhelmed. Join guest Julian Mills, CEO of Quorso , with Robin Lewi...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Holiday sales are starting in October with Black Friday culminating the frenzy as the top shopping day. This year is different now that the post-pandemic haze has lifted. The Fed raised interest rates and that is sure to impact holiday shopping starting with early price cuts.  Add to that inflation...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! Personalization is table stakes. Data and predictive analytics and are the tools for customization and staying ahead of the competition. And if customers have less disposable income, knowing what they want and delivering an inspirational, personalized journey that is completely relevant to them is...

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! What has 400,000-800,000 square feet of space and nine lives? The American mall. The future of worn-out, irrelevant enclosed malls is to transform into vibrant community hubs that offer services and products housed in villages, town centers and entertainment meccas. Join Robin Lewis and Shelley E....