Brick & Mortar Reborn

In today’s podcast, Bobby is joined by Nadina Guglielmetti, Vice President, General Manager, Marketing at The Vitamin Shoppe, a popular specialty vitamin and supplement retailer. Nadina shares how her team at the Vitamin Shoppe makes use of a process that allows them to democratize work and enables them to plan and strategize with consistency across all channels whether it be for brand launches, promotions, or brand messaging. She highlights the importance of leveraging data and...

Jenna Flateman Posner is the Chief Digital Officer for SNIPES, one of the fastest growing sneaker and streetwear retail platforms in Europe and the US. Jenna is a seasoned retail industry professional having worked as a retail technologist and digital retailer for an impressive lineup of innovative tech startups like Radius8 (Fiserve), Clutch, Curalate (Bazaarevoice) and Levelup (GrubHub). In this episode, Jenna gives us an overview on her current role at SNIPES, and shares some tips on...

Tal Zvi Nathanel is the CEO & Co-Founder of SHOWFIELD, a multi-brand department store environment built for today’s customers and tomorrow’s brands. With a background in technology and event experiences, and inspired by the power of physical stores to stimulate all of our senses, Tal is driving democratization in the retail sector by bringing new brands and new customers together in shared spaces. SHOWFIELD’s unique ‘C-Commerce’ approach pushes them to constantly innovate, asking critical...

Barruch Ben-Zekry is the Founder and CEO of Out&Back, a managed marketplace for outdoor gear leveling up the peer-to-peer resale experience. He joins the show to talk about why re-commerce has so much potential in the outdoors market, how building partnerships with brick-and-mortar stores helps drive growth in a largely digital industry, and why customer experience is central to sustainable growth. Topics discussed:

Craig Patterson is the Editor-in-Chief of the leading Canadian retail industry news magazine, Retail Insider. He joins the show to discuss how retail has changed in the last few years, why online shopping still has value in a post-covid world, and his take on the future of retail. Topics discussed:

Marshall Kay is the founder of RFID Sherpas and a retail entrepreneurial consultant. In this episode, we dive into the technology of RFID technology, and how it can help retail brands in their stores. RFID creates smart lables that will help stores collect and manage more data about the movement of their inventories. This technology is inexpensive to implement and it will fundamentally improve the running of your store. Topics discussed:

Ron Thurston is the host of the Retail in America Podcast. He spent many years working on the front lines of retail, and then he wrote his book, Retail Pride, to celebrate his career journey. On his book tour, he also meets front line retail workers around the country and documents his adventures on his podcast. On the show today, we talk about what it’s like to work on the front lines of retail in 2022. Ron shares everything retail businesses need to know about supporting the workers on the...

April Sabral is the founder and CEO of retailu, an online, on-demand leadership development platform for retail professionals. She is also the author of The Positive Effect, where she details her journey working in retail. In the episode today, we talk about the biggest lessons April has to share about leadership in the retail industry, including her ACT model that she uses to teach retail professionals how to build strong teams. Topics discussed:

Mina Fader is the Managing Director of Wharton’s Baker Retailing Center at the University of Pennsylvania. In this episode, Mina discusses the present and future state of retail. She breaks down the fate of the brick and mortar space in the digital, post-COVID world, and you might be surprised to hear her take on where retail is heading in the future. Topics discussed:

Hitha is the Chief Research Officer at H Squared Research LLC, a consumer spending columnist at US News and World Report, and the author of the book “Black Market Billions: How Organized Retail Crimes Fund Terrorists.” She is a self-proclaimed futurist related to all things retail, and in this episode, she discusses some of the trends that we should be looking for in the retail space. Topics discussed:

How do robotics function in the retail world now, and how will they play into retail settings in the future? Today’s guest is working in the cutting edge of autonomous robotics and will explain a lot of the thinking around robotics in the retail space. Josh Baylin is the Vice President of Product and Marketing at Brain Corp, a company that makes software that transforms manual machines into robots. Listen to the episode as he discusses how customers utilize Brain Corp products and who those...

What is the NRF (National Retail Federation) and what do they do? Today’s guest, Katherine Cullen, is the senior director of industry and consumer insights for the National Retail Federation’s research team. That means that she leads NRF’s research on consumer spending and emerging retail trends. What does that information tell us about retail today? Listen to today’s interview to learn more about it. You’ll hear what Katherine has to say about her own journey to the NRF, why in-location...

Over recent years, there have been many changes in what people expect from retailers. People want to shop locally, but they also want the convenience afforded to them by big retailers. SpotOn helps smaller retailers achieve that. Today, you’ll hear from Doron Friedman, co-founder of SpotOn. Listen to the episode to hear more about Doron and SpotOn, and how SpotOn helps businesses. Learn how SpotOn’s clients use the service, how it helps them cope with changing trends and challenges, and why...

Has the definition or expectation of convenience changed over time? The people who might best know the answer to this are people in the convenience store business – people like today’s guest. Pervez Pir is the President of Retail at Loop Neighborhood Marketplace, and he has an important perspective on the value of convenience and convenience stores in the lives of the people who use those stores. Listen to the episode to hear what Pervez has to say about Loop’s retail strategies, what...

When you’re a business operator, how can you make sure you’re on track, gather the information you need, and keep up with what your team needs and what they’re doing? The answer is good operations management. And that’s what today’s guest’s business does – operations management and analytics. Tommy Yionoulis is the founder of OpsAnalitica. Previously he worked in restaurants and also did a stint as a stand-up comedian. Listen to today’s episode to hear what Tommy has to say about why he...

Retail has undergone a lot of changes over the past few years. In today’s episode, you’ll hear from Dan Goldman, strategic consumer and retail industry executive who explains what’s changed for the retail industry during the pandemic, the importance of focusing on creating closer relationships with customers and appealing to their motivations, and what Dan foresees for the future of retail. TOPICS DISCUSSED IN TODAY’S EPISODE: ✔ Dan’s career and how he got in the clothing industry ✔ Fun...

You can’t think about brick-and-mortar retail without considering franchises. Is a franchise right for you? Will a specific franchise work in your region of the US? How much work does it take to maintain a franchise? These are some of the important questions that a person must consider when thinking about franchising. In today’s episode, you’ll hear from Lance Graulich, founder and CEO of ION Franchising. Listen to the episode to hear what Lance has to say about assessing whether a...

White Castle isn’t as big as some other hamburger chains, but it is the oldest chain in the United States, and it remains family-owned even after 100 years, which is a big feat. In today’s episode, you’ll learn more about White Castle and why it remains a success so long after its initial appearance. Jamie Richardson is the Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations at White Castle. Over the years, he’s also worked as a Regional Marketing Supervisor, Director of Marketing, and the VP...

What is different about selling your brand in a multi-brand, brick and mortar store? Is this a good idea for a direct-to-consumer brand that wants to add a brick and mortar option for customers? How does it work? Today’s guest is Matt Alexander, the co-founder and CEO of Neighborhood Goods, a department store that sells a variety of different brands that fit the store’s guidelines and meet their customers’ needs. In today’s episode, you’ll learn about what led Matt to create a department...

Having a great idea for a business doesn’t necessarily mean you understand how to best manage your money, make a financial plan, or handle cash flow. So where does an entrepreneur turn when they need to learn how to manage the financial end of their business responsibly? They can turn to someone like today’s guest, Tracey Bissett. Tracey provides her clients with coaching. She prefers to frame it as teaching them how to become financially fit, rather than focusing on financial literacy. She...