We're recording live this week from the just wrapped GroceryShop conference in Las Vegas.

Our guest this week is Tim Simmons, SVP & Chief Product Officer of Sam's Club, who takes us deep into the transformation process that he's been helping lead. We learn how Walmart and Sam's Club have been evolving and accelerating the pace of innovation. It's a Master Class on how to embed a culture of experimentation and the role of design thinking and agile methodology. We also learn what "The 5 Why's" and "low fidelity prototyping" are all about and how they are making a real difference at Sam's. We close on the critical role of executive leadership in driving the innovation agenda--turns out "Scooby snacks" might be the key.

But first we share our top take-aways from the conference before diving into our hot-takes on the latest retail news, including what a big jump in interest rates means for retail. But Walmart and Target say "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" when it comes to holiday hiring plans. Then it's thoughts and prayers time for JC Penney as they revel more details about their turnaround plans. We raise questions around Wegman's decision to bail on "scan-and go" before returning to the Wobbly Unicorn Corner to discuss Stitch Fix's earnings whiff and the potential acquisition of Purple.

About Tim

Tim serves as the Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer at Sam’s Club. In this role, he oversees product management, operations transformation, and the user experience across omnichannel commerce, digital in-club experiences, supply chain, merchandising, and more. Tim joined Sam’s Club in 2015 and has worked in various areas of the business including Membership and Marketing, Operations Transformation and In-Club Product Management and Fulfillment before taking on his current role in 2021.

Before joining Sam’s Club, he spent more than 15 years working largely in professional services, doing advertising and consulting for companies such as MRM/McCann, RAPP, Peppers & Rogers Group and Ernst & Young. During this time, he worked with clients across numerous industries including technology, retail, oil and gas, entrainment, travel, food services and health care to help generate growth, increase market share, and provide measurable impact.

Tim has an Associate of Arts degree from Snow College, a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brigham Young University, and an MBA and Masters of International Studies from the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University.

About Us

Steve Dennis is an advisor, keynote speaker and author on strategic growth and business innovation. You can learn more about Steve on his website. The expanded and revised edition of his bestselling book Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption is now available at Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior contributor and on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also check out his speaker "sizzle" reel here.

Michael LeBlanc is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus Global E-Commerce Tech Talks , The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois and now in its second season, Conversations with CommerceNext! You can learn more about Michael here or on LinkedIn.

Be sure and check out Michael's latest venture for fun and influencer riches - Last Request Barbecue, his YouTube BBQ cooking channel!

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career.

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.

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