The Retail Tea Break

The latest episode of The Retail Tea Break podcast is a little different. Recorded live at the Olympia in London, I’m joined by a whole host of guests from The Retail Technology Show. The magic of retail could be seen and heard on every stage and at every booth! With key themes of creating meaningful experiences for the retailer, the customer and the employee, this was retail at its best. So grab your cup of tea, sit back and listen… This episode features: https://www.retailtechnologyshow.com/https://scala.com/en/Amazonhttps://www.sparkbox.ai/https://hypervsn.com/Swarovskihttps://www.redant.com/https://www.x-hoppers.com/https://circularx.com/https://holly.co/ Transcription and show notes available at: https://theretailadvisor.ie/

In the latest episode of The Retail Tea Break podcast, I’m joined by a guest who has always had an eye on what’s coming next and exciting ambitions for growth. Anthony Gallagher, Founder and Managing Director of Petstop. Having started out as a trainee with Penneys, Anthony has since gone to set up one the first pet superstores in Ireland. This experienced retailer took note of what pet stores across the pond were doing to develop his own successful business model. This is an honest, heartwarming conversation full of great retail stories and examples! So grab your cup of tea, sit back and listen in… Topics: For more information visit: https://www.petstop.ie/ Transcription and show notes available at: https://theretailadvisor.ie/

In the latest episode of The Retail Tea Break podcast, I’m joined by a guest who believes in creating more value & less waste from every purchase through innovation & technology. Kiran Gange is the CEO and Founder of RapidPricer. The author and entrepreneur has over 18 years of experience launching innovative technologies around the world. Kiran has the ability to connect with multicultural teams and has trained on entrepreneurship, internationalisation and pricing at several prestigious institutions and organisations such as the Berkeley in California, Dutch Basecamp in Amsterdam and the Professional Pricing Society in Atlanta. This is a fascinating episode that brings pricing, margins and sustainability together. So grab your cup of tea, sit back and listen in… Topics: For more information visit: Kiran Gange | Retail Pricing Expert To purchase The Expert Guide to Retail Pricing: The Expert Guide to Retail Pricing: Gange, Kiran: 9781032465326: Amazon.com: Books Transcription and show notes available at: https://theretailadvisor.ie/

In the latest episode of The Retail Tea Break podcast, I’m joined by three special guests to explore how working together has brought a well loved brand to life, in its forever home. I’m joined by Aoibhín Garrihy and Sharon Connellan, the founders of BEO. The nationally renowned lifestyle brand blends live events promoting self-care with their product line which offers thoughtfully curated collections from sustainable and ethical sources in the West of Ireland. I’m also joined by Ciara Petty from Ciara Petty Design Studio which is a full-service interior design agency specialising in strategic, brand-focused retail, food service and hospitality design. This episode explores the journey that BEO undertook to design and develop their new home in the heart of Ennis. The beautiful retail space is combined with a coffee shop and community studio space under Ciara’s guidance. From strong brand values to stalking a landlord (!), this episode is one not to be missed! So grab your cup of tea, sit back and listen in… Topics: • Putting down roots and integrating retail space, coffee shop and studio space • Beo’s brand values and developing a design brief • Real life experiential retail • Concept design and space planning for a new retail store • The challenges of setting up a new retail store for an established brand • The importance of a retail design led customer experience For more information visit: https://beowellness.ie/ and https://www.ciarapetty.com/ Transcription and show notes available at: https://theretailadvisor.ie/

In the latest episode of The Retail Tea Break podcast, I speak to a retail trailblazer! Linda Johansen-James is the Founder and CEO of International Retail Group. The “Billion Dollar Brand Maker”, specialises in brand launches, in-store design, sales training, franchising, and has a track record of generating $1.7 billion in revenue and attracting top brands. Linda’s years of experience shines through in this episode, as she discusses everything from shaking up shopping malls to training thousands of staff. She encourages the c-suite to work the shop floor, she expects staff to stick to the 4 second rule and she expects you to know the LTV of your customer. This episode is FULL of golden nuggets! So grab your cup of tea, sit back and listen… Topics: · Starting out with a shopping cart · Nurturing retail staff and writing a script · Going back to basics · Pivoting during Covid · Supporting the next generation of retailers For more information visit: https://irg-retail.com/ To read the IRG magazine: https://irg-retail.com/international-retail-magazine/ Transcription and show notes available at: https://theretailadvisor.ie/

In this week’s episode of The Retail Tea Break podcast, I’m joined by a guest who really understands frontline retail. Brian Librach is author of The Retail Leader’s Roadmap. He followed in the footsteps of his Father and Grandfather having been brought up around retailers and merchants. With a career that saw him climb the corporate ladder (and fall down it a few times), Brian worked for Urban Outfitters, Pacific Sunwear and Old Navy. Brain’s approach to leading a retail team is practical and timely. He appreciates the need to juggle business tasks while nurturing people to enable business growth. He continues to channel his passion for coaching, mentoring, and leading the next generation of retail stars with his new book. So grab your cup of tea, sit back and listen in! Topics: For more information visit: www.retailleadersroadmap.com To buy a couple of The Retail Leader’s Roadmap: https://a.co/d/8a8N1JU Transcription and show notes available at: https://theretailadvisor.ie/

In this week’s episode of The Retail Tea Break podcast, I’m joined by a guest who is a creative entrepreneur, having spent most of her career as a leading Irish fashion designer. Aideen Bodkin is founder of StylAi . Throughout her successful career Aideen has been an advisor, trainer and mentor to many SME’s and creative individuals. Her expertise includes Fashion Design, Design Thinking, Sustainability for Creative Businesses, Digital Entrepreneurship and Product Development. In this episode, Aideen describes how she wanted to use her knowledge and expertise to influence change in the fashion industry. She started to look at the problem of returns, from a shopper and a retailer's perspective. From all of her research, Aideen was able to pinpoint three key issues with shopping online for clothing. This episode gives you a great insight into the fashion retail industry, so grab your cup of tea, sit back and listen in! Topics: For more information and for details of Aideen’s appearance in Kilkenny Design in Nassau Street on 30th March, check out Aideen’s social media pages including: https://ie.linkedin.com/in/aideen-bodkin-35185822 Transcription and show notes available at: https://theretailadvisor.ie/

In this week’s episode of The Retail Tea Break podcast, I’m joined by a guest who really knows ecommerce. Vinny O’Brien from Vinny & Co works with some of the world's biggest brands in strategy and training roles and has delivered training to over 1000 companies over the last few years. Vinny also has in-depth knowledge of DTC channels thanks to DTC brand, Crua Outdoors, selling in the US market. Last year he joined an analyst firm in New York, RMW Commerce as their content producer and analyst. Earlier this year Vinny was added to the RETHINK retail list of retail experts for 2024! This is such a refreshingly insightful conversation that is full of great examples. If you are curious about ecommerce, grab your cup of tea, sit back and listen in! Topics: For more information visit: https://www.vinnyandco.com/ Transcription and show notes available at: https://theretailadvisor.ie/

My name is Melissa Moore, The Retail Advisor and Rethink Retail Top retail expert for 2024. This season I’ll be joined by industry experts, retailers and brands to dispel the myths, share their knowledge and give you an insight into the retail industry. Coming up on season 6: In the meantime, listen back to previous episodes on your favourite podcast platform or YouTube and while you’re there please subscribe to the podcast so that you get to listen to it first every week. So get ready to grab that cup of tea, sit back and listen in- to season 6 of the retail tea break podcast! Transcription and show notes available at: https://theretailadvisor.ie/

Each week on season 5 of The Retail Tea Break podcast, I’ve be joined by industry experts, retailers and brands to decode the myths, share knowledge and give you a better insight into the retail industry. In this final episode of season 5, I give you a quick recap of key moments from 2023. So grab your cup of tea, sit back, relax and listen in! If you have enjoyed the podcast, please subscribe and share it. Remember you can also listen back to previous Retail Tea Break episodes on your favourite podcast platform or on YouTube. You’ll find full transcriptions of each episode on www.theretailadvisor.ie. See you in 2024 for season 6!

On this week’s episode of The Retail Tea Break Podcast I’m joined by a guest who has a retail framework that boils down to implementing the basics, focusing on cashflow and profit. Alvin Narsey is a business coach and consultant with over 25 years of experience in the retail pharmacy industry. He has bought, grown and sold large pharmacy businesses in Australia and is now passionate about helping retailers achieve their business goals. Grab a notebook, Alvin shares lots of golden nuggets in this episode. So grab your cup of tea, sit back and listen in! Topics: For more information visit: https://www.alvinnarseycoaching.com/ Transcription and show notes available at: https://theretailadvisor.ie/

In this week’s episode of The Retail Tea Break podcast, I’m joined by a guest who is passionate about taking a consumer centric approach. Ciara O'Keeffe is Chief Operations Officer at Peachylean. Over the last few years she has ensured brands make the right decision to drive consumer awareness and reduce friction in the shopper journey. Ciara has worked with a broad number of B2B retailers across EMEA; focusing on being where the consumer shops, and bringing the best of the brand to life across those touchpoints, to complement their D2C offering. She’s currently working for a fantastic Irish female focused startup bringing an inclusive athleisure proposition to women, not currently provided by mainstream brands. Ciara’s shares lots of insights in this fascinating episode. So grab your cup of tea, sit back and listen in! Topics: For more information: https://peachylean.com/ Transcription and show notes available at: https://theretailadvisor.ie/

This week’s episode of The Retail Tea Break podcast is sponsored by Salesforce, the world’s #1 CRM. I’m joined by two amazing guests to discuss how employee experience together with customer experience supports the growth of incredible brands. Sarah Esler is the Digital Product Lead at Brown Thomas Arnotts and Natasha Beegan is a Principal Solution Engineer at Salesforce. Looking through the lens of digital transformation, Natasha explains the research that supports the need for retailers to have an ‘EX+CX=Growth’ agenda. Sarah describes how Brown Thomas Arnotts are utilising an opti-channel experience to meet the needs of all of their customers. This is a must listen to episode, which is packed full of inspirational insights and thought provoking data. So grab your cup of tea, sit back and listen in! Topics: For more information visit: https://www.brownthomas.com/ https://www.brownthomas.com/services/brown-thomas-app.html https://www.arnotts.ie/ https://www.arnotts.ie/arnotts-app-info.html https://www.salesforce.com/eu/campaign/salesforce-ireland/ Transcription and show notes available at: https://theretailadvisor.ie/

This week’s episode of The Retail Tea Break Podcast is sponsored by TruRating, unlocking the voice of every customer. I’m joined by a former lawyer, who became fascinated with how to measure, understand, and predict human behaviour. Georgina Nelson is the CEO and Co-Founder of TruRating, the award winning, rapidly growing, global tech start-up. Retailers and brands using TruRating average an 80% response rate on questions asked. This is accomplished by asking a single, rotating question directly on the POS pin pad, making it a seamless part of the shopper's checkout experience. This is a fantastic conversation full of incredible insights from half a billion responses that TruRating has collected. Georgina takes us through the key themes from the data that has been gathered across various retail verticals including grocery, clothing and pharmacy brands. So grab your cup of tea, sit back and listen in! Topics: For more information check out: https://trurating.com/ Transcription and show notes available at: https://theretailadvisor.ie/

In this week’s episode of The Retail Tea Break podcast, I’m joined by a true retail people expert. Maeve McCleane is Chief People Officer & Board Executive for Lidl Ireland and Northern Ireland. She is a passionate, commercially focused and experienced leader with huge expertise leading and developing a range of teams across operational, technical and strategic retail topics. She has headed up a number of industry-leading initiatives within the retail sector, many of which she talks about in this episode. Maeve discusses growing the business with Lidl’s colleagues, by nurturing and upskilling them and in turn they deliver the service and sales that the business needs. This is a fascinating conversation, full of golden nuggets and thought provoking ideas. So grab your cup of tea, sit back and listen in! Topics: For more information check out: https://jobs.lidl.ie/ Transcription and show notes available at: https://theretailadvisor.ie/

On this week’s episode of The Retail Tea Break Podcast I’m joined by a guest who is a gift-maker and a businesswoman. Maria Porter is one half of Duffy and Porter, an Irish family run business specialising in personalised gifts. Having started her career in a very different field, Maria and her husband Melvin realised that they were not happy with their jobs. They wanted to do something more meaningful and fulfilling, something that would bring joy to themselves and others. This episode is full of those meaningful moments, as Maria describes the highs and lows of running a retail store and ecommerce business while making so much of the stock. This is a wonderfully heartwarming episode, so grab your cup of tea, sit back and listen in! Topics: For more information visit: https://www.duffyandporter.ie/ Transcription and show notes available at: https://theretailadvisor.ie/

Today’s episode of The Retail Tea Break Podcast is sponsored by Salesforce, who bring companies and customers together. I’m joined by an incredibly experienced businessman, who’s company provides the backbone to the retail industry. Niall Rock is Managing Director of Storage Systems Limited, one of Ireland’s largest commercial fit out companies. Founded in 1979, the business has grown to be the leading provider of storage solutions that make the maximum use of space. Over the years, Niall has met the customer at every touchpoint from design through to implementation and he firmly believes in customer centricity. He describes how storage solutions are normally an afterthought for retailers and brands and how he can guide them to solutions that ensure retail staff are more customer facing, which leads to a greater ROI and increase in sales. This is a fascinating episode, so grab your cup of tea, sit back and listen in! Topics: For more information visit: https://www.storagesystems.ie/commercial/ Transcription and show notes available at: https://theretailadvisor.ie/

In this week’s episode of The Retail Tea Break podcast, I’m joined by a guest who is a global eCommerce and digital transformation leader. Dean McElwee is the author of ‘eCommerce for CEOs’. From omnichannel to marketplaces, B2B eCommerce, and Direct to Consumer, Dean has had a varied career covering local, regional and global roles across both emerging and developed markets. Before joining The Stanley Black & Decker Company, Dean held roles at The Kellogg Company, The Coca-Cola Company, Mastercard Advisors and Nestle. All this experience gives him a unique perspective of the eCommerce landscape across the world, how it is evolving and what to do about it. This is a fascinating conversation, full of golden nuggets and thought provoking ideas. So grab your cup of tea, sit back and listen in! Topics: To purchase the book visit: https://amzn.eu/d/0UNYATN Transcription and show notes available at: https://theretailadvisor.ie/

This week’s episode of The Retail Tea Break Podcast has not one, but 4 guests! Sara Allbright, Elaine Hooper, Neil Amer and Anna Berry are Co-Founders of Retail 100 Consulting. Together they have over 100 years of retail experience at senior levels across buying and merchandising. With expertise and knowledge ranging from homeware, gifting, toys, seasonal & beauty they have a multitude of insights to offer. This episode really does dispel the myths about buying and merchandising (not to be confused with visual merchandising) with insights into the not so glamorous life of a buyer and how to plan a range. Underneath it all, there is a clear message about the importance of team work, collaboration and communication. It is a great episode, so grab your cup of tea, sit back and listen in! Topics: For more information visit: https://www.retail100consulting.co.uk/ Transcription and show notes available at: https://theretailadvisor.ie/

This week’s episode of The Retail Tea Break Podcast is sponsored by StoreHero, the profit dashboard for ecommerce companies. I speak to Thomas Gleeson, the Co-Founder of StoreHero, who alongside his Co-Founder Karl O’Brien want to empower retailers through their ecommerce analytics platform. Having grown up watching and supporting the family DTC business grow, Thomas now helps ecommerce brands grow their businesses bridging that gap between marketing and finance. The company’s mission is to provide store owners with the insights and tools they need to make informed decisions about their business and drive growth in the confidence of doing so profitably. This is a great episode, so grab your cup of tea, sit back and listen in! Topics: For more information visit: https://storehero.ai/