Retail War Games

Product returns represent an $800+ billion challenge across the e-commerce landscape, yet most brands barely scratch the surface of secondary market recovery. In our Season 3 FINALE of Retail War Games, Jeremy sits down with Sender Shamiss, President & CEO of ReturnPro. Sender breaks down his journey from writing multi-channel e-commerce software to building a massive reverse logistics infrastruct...

What happens when a Food Network celebrity chef turns her culinary expertise toward solving a massive supply chain issue? In this episode of Retail War Games, Jeremy sits down with Nettie Frank, Celebrity Chef and CEO & Founder of CITREVE. Nettie shares her wild journey competing on Food Network's Cake Wars and Chopped, managing high-volume pastry departments in luxury resorts, and eventually laun...

That's an official wrap on our May Summit! We're closing out this incredible event series with Panel 10: Founder Strategy & Scaling. In this grand finale, top founders and executive operators share their candid playbooks on what it really takes to navigate rapid growth, adapt to economic shifts, and scale physical product brands without sacrificing core strategy. Moderators: Matt Behrend (Agility...

Running a physical products brand over the last few years has meant navigating supply chain hurdles that no operational playbook could have predicted.   In this episode of Retail War Games, Bobby Djavaheri, President of Yedi Houseware Appliances, breaks down how his family built a 40-year housewares brand from the ground up. Bobby shares the inside story of transitioning from traditional B2B distr...

Scaling a company past a few dozen employees usually forces founders into a tough dilemma: do you hand over the keys to traditional managers, or do you find a way to scale your operational vision? In this Keynote session from our Retail Summit, former Overstock CEO Jonathan Johnson shares his framework for transitioning from "founder mode" into shared team ownership. He breaks down how to implemen...

In this episode of Retail War Games, Jeremy sits down with former NFL offensive lineman, National Champion, and Co-Founder & CEO of Momentous, Jeff Byers. Jeff shares his journey from playing alongside Heisman quarterbacks to launching and scaling a premium performance nutrition brand trusted by elite military units, professional sports teams, and top athletes.   Jeff breaks down how Momentous bui...

Building a successful hard goods or home products brand in today's economic climate requires constant adaptation—from navigating global supply chain disruptions and tariffs to establishing factory redundancy across multiple countries.  Live from the Retail Collective Summit, this panel of founders and executives dives into the operational realities of scaling physical products.  Discover how leadi...

In this episode of Retail War Games, Jeremy sits down with Mordy Kurtz, CMO of The Boxery, to discuss the evolution of e-commerce packaging and unboxing experiences. Mordy breaks down the massive shift toward eco-friendly and biodegradable materials—from corn-based tape to paper protective void fills—and how sustainable packaging directly impacts brand perception. He also shares how brands can lev...

Building a category-defining health or nutrition brand in today's CPG market requires a balance of rigorous formulation, supply chain transparency, and unyielding consumer trust. Live from the Retail Collective Summit, this executive panel dives deep into the forces shaping the future of clean CPG, functional nutrition, and wellness. Discover how leading operators navigate the complexities of clea...

In this episode, Jeremy sits down with Owen Carr, Chief Marketing Officer at Spreetail and host of the CarrTalk! podcast. Owen breaks down how Spreetail grew from a $500 million business to $1.8 billion in revenue by operating as an end-to-end e-commerce accelerator for durable and hard goods across 20+ channels, including Amazon, Target, Walmart, and Home Depot. He explains why heavy-ground logis...

Scaling a consumer product brand in today's volatile market requires far more than basic logistics—it demands total supply chain agility, strategic marketplace placement, and an unwavering commitment to the customer experience.  Live from the Retail Collective Summit, this expert panel unpacks the critical decisions every brand faces when expanding into new channels, navigating international tarif...

Recorded live, this episode features Bruce Martin, former Sr. Vice President of Account Development at NielsenIQ, who shares insights from a career that spans every angle of the retail ecosystem—from an apprentice meat cutter at Kroger to the head of category management at Kellogg and managing director for Nielsen Chile.  Bruce breaks down why consumer packaged goods (CPG) represent the absolute h...

How do you transform a simple consumer product into an indispensable daily habit? Live from the Retail Collective Summit, this executive panel dives deep into the psychology of habit formation, product-to-identity fit, and long-term customer retention. The conversation explores how modern brands transition customers from being sold to organically sharing their experiences, how emotional hooks outp...

Recorded live, this episode features Jeff Beck, President and CEO of Stabila, sharing insights from his 25-year career at DeWalt—where he managed a $930 million division—to leading a premier German-engineered hand tool brand. Jeff delivers a masterclass in premium brand positioning, detailing exactly why Stabila completely rejects big-box retailers like Home Depot and Lowe's to protect its price p...

Recorded live at the Retail Collective Summit, this episode features Ryan Napierski, CEO of Nu Skin, as he outlines his 30-year journey from working in the call center to steering a global corporate empire spanning 50 countries. Ryan delivers an unvarnished masterclass in corporate survival, detailing how a sudden industry-wide ban in China forced the company to completely shift its direct-selling...

Recorded live on the podcast, this episode features Danielle Sabrina, founder of Society 22 PR, outlining her journey from a teenage mother and high school dropout to a corporate trader and agency founder. Danielle delivers an unvarnished lesson in resilience, detailing how hit rock bottom forced her to rebuild her career after a severe corporate burnout and bankruptcy. She reveals the organic ori...

Recorded live at the Retail Collective Summit, this keynote features Crystal Maggelet outlining her journey from a childhood trailer in Willard, Utah, to managing a multi-billion dollar diversified retail empire. Crystal delivers a masterclass in corporate survival, detailing her sudden appointment as CEO of FJM just three weeks into a massive, free-fall bankruptcy in 2008. She breaks down the str...

In this episode, iFIT CMO Raquel Rozas shares her journey from working as an electrical engineer to managing Procter & Gamble's $4 billion Tide North American business, before ultimately transitioning to West Coast tech. Raquel delivers an elite marketing masterclass on the delicate balance of brand heritage, explaining how to protect a brand's core "hard points" while taking calculated risks on i...

Recorded live at the Retail Collective Summit, this dynamic panel features top state legislators, federal economic advocates, former regulatory chiefs, and prominent venture capital moderators addressing the macro-economic realities of scaling private enterprises. The discussion dives deep into the shifting landscape of corporate funding, uncovering how single-family offices are increasingly actin...

In this episode, Cydni Tetro—President of MNTP™ and Advisory Board Member for Swire Coca-Cola—breaks down what it truly means to create transformative products that place the consumer at the center of a brand's narrative. Cydni tracks her career from early B2B enterprise roots to her time as the head of technology commercialization for Disney. She pulls back the curtain on working with Disney Imag...

Recorded live at the Retail Collective Summit, this panel of elite industry leaders and marketing executives dismantles a massive industry fallacy: consumers aren't obsessed with your brand, they are obsessed with themselves. To drive real loyalty, speakers explain why companies must tap into the "identity layer," ritualizing products so that using them says something bold about the consumer's own...

In this second installment, Spretail CEO Joshua Ketter shares why he left early retirement after his time at Amazon to lead a multi-billion dollar e-commerce turnaround through the post-COVID supply chain crisis. Joshua delivers a profound lesson on the hardest balancing act in executive leadership: maintaining hyper-efficient business outcomes while extending true human grace and mentorship to st...

In this episode, serial entrepreneur Nate Alder shares how he built the global outdoor brand Klymit and launched his new venture, Skavengerz. Nate breaks down how he created his first Klymit prototypes for just $150 by hacking together Gore-Tex jackets, wine preservation valves, and Reebok Pump shoes—proving how extreme capital constraints force the creativity needed to scale a brand to a successf...

Recorded live at the summit, this panel featuring sports industry experts and elite athletes from the NCAA, NFL, NBA, and MLB addresses a massive missed opportunity for modern retail brands: the fact that while almost all companies spend heavily on advertising, very few tap into the high-conversion power of strategic athlete alignments. Featuring rare insights from sports icons like Greg Oden and...

In this episode, I sit down with Don Alexander, owner of the nearly 100-year-old family business behind the premium firewood storage brand, Woodhaven. Operating out of Parsons, Kansas, since 1927, this company has achieved what few family enterprises ever do: reaching four generations of continuous family ownership and operation. Don pulls back the curtain on their incredible evolutionary journey,...