Exclusive interview with Canadian retailer Knix CMO Danielle Brown, Stocard Managing Director Jesse Michael and RCC's Kalie Belanger on Canadian Independent Bookstore Day

Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of April 7 2019 I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada and sponsored by Stream Commerce, North America’s fastest growing Shopify plus agency, learn more at www.StreamCommerce.com

In this episode an exclusive interview with Danielle Brown, freshly minted CMO for award winning Canadian DTC retailer www.Knix.ca

Next, we meet up Jesse Michael from Stocard and talk about their innovative solution for managing loyalty programs from the palm of consumers hands that delivery measurable benefits for retailers

Then Kalie Belanger from Retail Council of Canada and I sit down for a chat together and she brings us up to speed on Canadian Independent Bookstore day coming happening April 27th.
https://www.retailcouncil.org/events/canadian-independent-bookstore-day/
https://www.facebook.com/82391994581/posts/10156516448599582

Last but not least I’ll cover off the top retail news of the week, including Macy’s roll-out of their version of Story, Walmart’s latest environmental initiative (plus their Mic Drop as the kids would say on Amazon, MEC opens a new flagship in Toronto, another retail cannabis store graces that market, and the rise of electronic shelf labels

Thanks again to Danielle, Jesse and Kalie for joining me for this episode, and here is a link to Jeff Bezos’s 2018 Letter to Shareholders as mentioned in the show.
https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/2018-letter-to-shareholders

That’s a wrap on this edition of The Voice of Retail, if you liked this podcast you can subscribe on iTunes or your
favourite podcast platform. You can also ask your favourite home devices, Amazon Echo, Google home, just say “Alexa, play the voice of retail podcast” (hopefully I just woke up you Echo device).

I’m Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and company and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeleleblanc/

Join me again next week for a feature interview with Mark Miller, author of Legacy in the Making, International Business Book Awards Book of the Year 2019 Finalist "Top Ten Business Books for 2018" according to Forbes, and RCC Quebec President Marc Fortin gives us a retailers view into Quebec

Until then, have a great week!

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 fifth year in a row, the National Retail Federation has designated Michael as on their Top Retail Voices for 2025, 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.