The Retail Perch

On this special episode of The Retail Perch, Shekar hosts our very own Gary Hawkins, to tell us about his latest book! Bionic Retail: How to Thrive in an Exponential World explores the connection between evolving technology and supermarkets. They chat about Gary's childhood, farm life, and his family's grocery business, uncovering fascinating stories along the way.

In this episode of "The Retail Perch," Gary hosts a solo discussion with Shiraz Ritwik, Head of CPG & Financial Services at LatentView Analytics. They dive into the five key stages of CPG, explore the various shifts occurring in retail-focused technology, and analyze consumer behavior. In addition, you’ll hear an interesting discussion on AI, Gary's upcoming book, and much more.

In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar welcome Jose "Jochi" Quijano, Chief Brand Officer at Rest of the World Agency. He discusses the multi-cultural focus of the agency and how his career has traveled from accounting to marketing and finally advertising. The three talk about the importance of culture within retail grocery aisles, history behind culturally focused supermarket...

This week on The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar sit down to chat with Phil Lempert. Phil is the Founder and CEO of Supermarket Guru, a leading online news source for consumers and retail professionals. The three discuss Phil’s lineage in the food & retail industry, his journalistic journey, the changes in consumer behavior that drive the grocery industry, and much more.

In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar welcome a new guest and a topic closely related to Gary's upcoming book, “Bionic Retail.” Ross Finman is the CEO & Founder of Augmodo, a spatial computing company that works to improve the grocery industry. The three discuss Ross’s journey from living on Llama Farms to Silicon Valley, integrating mapping with augmented reality, and much...

Do not miss this episode with Shekar, Gary and special guest, Suryaveer Singh! Suryaveer Singh is the head of loyalty at Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC). Suryaveer explains his background in banking and slowly making his way into the loyalty industry. The three discuss how fuel retail works, how loyalty cannot be bought and much more!

This week, on The Retail Perch, Shekar and Gary are thrilled to welcome Brian Cohen, the CEO of PureRed, a dynamic company at the forefront of marketing and technology innovation. In this engaging conversation, Shekar and Gary delve into Brian's diverse background, spanning from space science to cutting-edge machine learning technology. Together, they explore exciting developments in the realm...

This week on the Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar are in the festive spirit as they mark a momentous occasion - their 100th episode! To make it truly special, they're joined by a distinguished guest, Len Covello, the Chief Technology Officer of Engage People, a company dedicated to enhancing customer loyalty. Together, Gary, Shekar, and Len dive deep into the fascinating world of customer loyalty...

In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar welcome Scott Greenberg, an acclaimed keynote speaker, renowned for his insightful understanding of people dynamics, and an accomplished author. Scott's insights not only shed light on the intricacies of managerial roles within businesses but also offer actionable takeaways for those navigating the dynamic world of retail. The three discuss...

On this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar welcome Linda Wakim, a very special guest and someone they know very well. Linda Wakim, VP of Pre-Sales and Client Success at Birdzi has vast knowledge in all things retail . The three discuss Linda’s pathway through the technology in the retail industry from Giant Eagle to Birdzi, her love of analytics, how she uses her experience to help retai...

In the latest installment of The Retail Perch, your hosts Gary and, filling in for Shekar, co host Stephanie, have the pleasure of welcoming a Chris Kocek. Chris, the author of "Any Insights Yet?" and the visionary Founder & CEO of Gallant Branding, takes us on an intriguing journey through his transition from the world of advertising to the realm of strategy. Join us as Chris delves i...

This week on the Retail Perch, Gary Hawkins and Shekar Raman are joined by the remarkable Tom Burgess , a true polymath who divides his time between pioneering new ventures and sailing the open seas. Tom boasts a distinguished track record as the founder of four companies, and he currently holds the esteemed position of President at Snipp Interactive . Join us as Shekar, Gary, and Tom engage in a...

On this very special episode, Gary and Shekar welcome Paul V. McEnroe, author of  THE BARCODE: How a Team Created One of the World's Most Ubiquitous Technologies and a retail pioneer . The inventor of the barcode joins The Retail Perch for a riveting discussion. Paul explains his story in Ohio and his path to creating such an important part of our daily lives. They discuss his journey, the int...

Do not miss this episode with Shekar, Gary, Andrew Duffy, and Jake Sky Levin, co-founders of SparkPlug. SparkPlug is a sales incentive software built for retailers and brands to engage frontline teams to hit sales goals while increasing employee engagement. Andrew and Jake explain their interesting career path from hedge funds to tea companies to the retail industry. Also covered in this episode a...

This week, Gary and Shekar are joined by Raz Golan co-founder of Shopic, a company that has transformed the shopping experience to another level. Shopic seamlessly integrates online stores with physical retail stores, enabling businesses to manage inventory, sales, and customer interactions in one unified system. It offers a streamlined shopping experience for both online and in-store customers, f...

On this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar welcome Max Koziolek who has come a long way from politics to making a marketing platform. Max Koziolek is the co-founder of Spectrm, a conversational marketing platform that powers chatbots for a wide range of companies. Max shares his run in a national election in Germany, his interest in journalism and how that transformed into his current fo...

In this week’s episode, Shekar and Gary interview Justin Chen, co-founder of PickFu, a company that provides a self-service way to get in-depth consumer feedback be it for businesses, authors, game designers, and more. Their instant polling services allow you to get feedback on anything from logos to business ideas from your chosen target audience in minutes. Justin explains how this whole project...

On this week's The Retail Perch, Gary, and Shekar welcome a fascinating, virtual guest, that knows a lot about...well  everything . The three of them discuss marketing personalization in retail, the podcast, and the future of AI in the retail industry. 

In this episode, Shekar and Gary chat with Chandan Mahajan, one of the founders of DotKonnekt, a company that focuses on helping consumer brands scale their D2C channels organically. Chandan comes from a family of retailers and learned the ropes of retail in his earlier years from his father. The three discuss emotional engagement, a brand's relationships with its customers, and much more.

Don't miss this episode where Shekar and Gary welcome Galen Walters. Galen is the CEO of Stor.ai, a Relationshop Company, a platform that empowers retailers by combining ecommerce, data analytics, and omni-channel engagement capabilities to increase transactions, enhance loyalty and grow sales. Galen shares his history in the grocery industry from a boy working in grocery to a pioneer in shopp...

In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar delve even deeper into the world of data and marketing with Valentin Radu, CEO of Omniconvert. Omniconvert focuses on Direct to Consumer businesses, and enriching their customer experiences. Valentin explains his journey in e-commerce, and how to retain customers. The three discuss the future for the company, the goals Omniconvert has and its in...

In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar welcome Sean Snyder. Sean Snyder, a fellow retailer himself, is CEO of Engagement Agents. His company helps retailers optimize leases, drive traffic and sales, and prevent lost traffic and sales to competitors! Retailers can achieve up to 30% more traffic and sales by engaging the "hidden" marketing dollars within their leases with the h...

In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary returns to join Shekar in welcoming Carol Leaman. Carol is the CEO of Axonify Inc., a company that delivers fun training and communications to frontline employees. In this episode learn why companies like Kroger and Walmart have used Axonify to communicate with their frontline employees. The three discuss the effects the pandemic had on Axonify, digitizati...

In today’s episode of The Retail Perch, Shekar hosts his first episode solo and his first guest of 2023, Randy Mercer of 1WorldSync. Randy is the VP of Global Product Management at 1WorldSync, a leading tool for data synchronization. This episode is all about standardizing data, AI, and product content. Randy discusses the history of 1WorldSync, packaging hierarchies, the challenges they have face...

This week on The Retail Perch, Shekar and Gary welcome their first guest from India, Sharat Potharaju. Sharat is the Co-Founder & CEO of Beaconstac. Beaconstac generates QR codes, makes templated landing pages, and facilitates engagement with QR codes. Sharat explains his steps in problem-solving for Beaconstac and connecting the physical and digital world, the importance and future of QR code...