RETHINK RETAIL

In this episode, guest host Venkatesh Shankar sits down with Forerunner Ventures Partner Nicole Johnson to discuss the state of venture capitalism, the trends she's seeing in the DTC and DNVB space, and what she looks for in an executive team when seeking out new potential investments. About the guest: Nicole is a partner at Forerunner Ventures, a leading commerce-focused venture capital firm that...

This episode of the RETHINK Retail Podcast is guest hosted by RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer and "This Week In Innovation" Host Jeff Roster. Over the last few months, George Mason University's Center for Retail Transformation has conducted several panel discussions with industry thought leaders on a myriad of key trends impacting the retail landscape, such as sustainability, the metaverse, f...

On this episode of the RETHINK Retail Podcast, host Gabriella Bock is joined by Jill Feldman, Vice President and General Manager at Kids Foot Locker, to discuss Gen Alpha and what's cool for this year's back to school shopping season. Jill also shares more about the company's recently launched interactive "House of Play" stores, as well how Kids Foot Locker is giving back to local communities with...

On this episode of the RETHINK Retail Podcast, host Haixia Yu sits down to talk social commerce, live streaming and the creator economy with guest Sophie Frères. Sophie is the co-founder and CEO of LiSA, a SaaS start-up which offers Live and Social Commerce enterprise solutions for the world’s leading e-retailers, marketplaces and brands such as Marks & Spencer, L’Oréal, AVON USA and many more. So...

In this episode, RETHINK Retail Co-Founder and Managing Director Paul Lewis welcomes Rob Garf, Vice President and General Manager for Retail at Salesforce, to the show to discuss what's in store for Holiday 2022. During their conversation, Rob shares insights from Salesforce's recently released 2022 Holiday Predictions and Holiday Planning Guide for retailers. Hear why retailers that have brick-an...

Today's episode is hosted by RETHINK Retail Content Producer and Rocky Mountain climbing enthusiast Fritz Finlay. In this episode, Fritz sits down with Barruch Ben-Zekry, Founder and CEO of Out&Back, a one-stop shop to buy or sell new and used outdoor and adventure gear. The website connects shoppers with brands like Patagonia, Marmot, The North Face, Arc'teryx and many more at an affordable price...

In this episode, host Gabriella Bock sits down with BÉIS President Adeela Hussain Johnson to discuss branding, creative, social media and what's next for this rising star. Adeela is the President of BÉIS, an on-the-go lifestyle brand for people in motion, delivering high quality, functional travel essentials at an accessible price point. Founded in 2018 by actress and entrepreneur Shay Mitchell, B...

This episode of the RETHINK Retail Podcast was recorded live at Future Stores Seattle on July 14, 2022. In this episode, host Gabriella Bock sits down with Tal Zvi Nathanel, CEO of SHOWFIELDS. Launched in 2019, SHOWFIELDS is a lifestyle discovery store featuring rotating, themed curations of mission driven products, art, and events that can be found "IRL" for the first time. With stores in NYC, Mi...

This episode of the RETHINK Retail Podcast was recorded live at Future Stores Seattle on July 14, 2022. Host Gabriella Bock sits down with John Boline, Starbucks' Vice President of Store Design, to talk about all that's happened since he last appeared on the show in 2019. During their conversation, John talks about the pandemic and how the shift to pick up has impacted store design. John also disc...

This episode of the RETHINK Retail Podcast is hosted by Deborah Weinswig, Founder and CEO of Coresight Research. Joining the show are Alfred Chang, Co-CEO of Pacsun, and Brieane Olson, President of Pacsun.  Equipped with a strong understanding on the importance of brand relationships, Alfred Chang leads brand creation and incubation with personalities, up-and-coming brands and new opportunities, a...

Hello and welcome to “On Becoming a Brand”, a RETHINK Retail exclusive where we dive into the stories that shaped the brands we love—and the people behind them. On today’s episode, host Gabriella Bock hears from Jason McGowan, Founder & CEO of Crumbl Cookies, about how he and his cousin Sawyer Hemsley founded the country’s fastest-growing cookie company. Join us as Jason shares his story about how...

In this episode of the RETHINK Retail Podcast, Gabriella Bock sits down with Diane Primo, CEO of Purpose Brand Agency, an award-winning, Chicago-based public relations, branding and digital marketing firm. Diane is also the author of several books including the recently published, “ADAPT: Scaling Purpose in a Divisive World,” which provides a framework for mastering corporate purpose and offers re...

In this episode, Gabriella Bock sits down with Tal Rotman and Kunal Puri to discuss the increasingly complex customer journey and why retailers today should shift their focus on creating human-centric experiences both in-store and online. About the guests: Tal Rotman is the Vice President of Partnerships and Alliances at Namogoo. Kunal Puri is the Vice President and Head of Customer Success at Inf...

This episode of the RETHINK Retail Podcast with recorded live at Shoptalk Europe on June 8th, 2022. Host Gabriella Bock sits down with Megan Maley, general manager for the UK, Benelux and Ireland at Zalando, one of Europe's leading fashion platform offering a broad assortment from over 5800 international brands across 25 countries During their conversation, Megan shared her journey to Zalando afte...

This episode of the RETHINK Retail Podcast with recorded live at Shoptalk Europe on June 8th, 2022. This episode features RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer Haixia Yu as our host and Roland Palmer, general manager for the UK, Belgium, Netherlands, and Nordics at Alibaba Group. During their conversation, Haixia and Roland discuss livestreaming trends as well as how European brands can unlock the...

This episode of the RETHINK Retail Podcast was recorded live at Shoptalk Europe. On June 8, 2022, Nicky De Simone, Vice President of Enterprise Marketing, Data and Creative Studios for the Estee Lauder Companies UK & Ireland, stopped by the RETHINK Retail podcast booth to chat with host Gabriella Bock ahead of her session at the show. During the conversation, Nicky and Gabriella spoke about omnich...

This episode of the RETHINK Retail Podcast was recorded live at Shoptalk Europe. On June 8, 2022, Parag M. Parekh, co-Chief Digital Officer at Ingka Group, the largest IKEA franchisee, stopped by the RETHINK Retail podcast booth to chat with host Gabriella Bock about IKEA's rapid digital transformation since the COVID-19 pandemic as well as why "being good is good business." If you enjoyed this ep...

In this episode of the RETHINK Retail podcast, host Julia Hare sits down with The Vitamin Shoppe CEO Sharon Leite. During their conversation, Sharon shares stories from her recent appearance on Undercover Boss and reveals some pretty interesting findings from The Vitamin Shoppe's 2022 Health and Wellness Trend Report. Julia and Sharon also discuss TikTok and how businesses can best prepare for vir...

Host Melissa Minkow sits down with Bridget Dolan, Global Managing Director of Shopping Partnerships at Youtube. During their conversation Bridget shares her journey to Youtube after spending 20+ at Sephora and dives deep into how she is helping bring Youtube's shopping vision to life for retailers and brands. About the guest: Bridget Dolan is the Global Managing Director of Shopping Partnerships a...

CBRE Vice President and CRE Fast Five Host Karly Iacono is here to share good news for retail! According to Karly, we have flipped the script of brick-and-mortar doom and gloom, and are seeing double the number of announced store openings vs closings for 2022. On this episode, we discuss all things retail real estate including consumer trends, BOPIS and how migration during the pandemic has impact...

Hello RETHINK Retail listeners! Today we are celebrating our 200th podcast episode. Joining the show is our producer Gabriella Bock, Natalie Arana, our brand marketing manager and Paul Lewis, RETHINK Retail’s co-founder and managing director.   Join us as we reminisce on why we launched the show and how it set the foundation for RETHINK Retail as an entity. We also answer your audience-submitted q...

On this episode of the RETHINK Retail Podcast we are joined by guest Oliver Brunschwiler. Oliver is a board member and former Lead Link of FREITAG, a global brand that creates one-off bags and accessories made from used truck tarps and fully compostable textiles. We discuss the story behind the FREITAG brand, the similarities between snowboarding and business leadership, and how the pandemic refra...

The Metaverse certainly seems to be on everybody’s mind this year but, so far, everyone we’ve spoke to seems to have a different definition of what the Metaverse actually is. On this episode, we go straight to the source as Julia Hare sits down with Eva Press, vice president of the global business group at Meta. During their conversation, Eva reveals how social commerce has evolved during her time...

Hello and welcome back to the RETHINK Retail Podcast. On today’s episode we are revisiting a discussion from the RETHINK Retail archives. Recorded in November 2019, Julia Hare sits down with Alexander Genov, head of customer experience research at Zappos. A pioneer in human-centric experience, Zappos differentiates itself through its top-tier customer service—a strategy that Genov says helps the b...

Host Gabriella Bock is joined by Leilani Han, executive director of commerce at Wirecutter, a New York Times-owned product review publication that attracts an average of 12 million readers a month. During their conversation, Leilani discusses the evolution of affiliate marketing as well as how Wirecutter tests products, identifies strategic partnerships and earns the trust of its readers.  About L...