Retail strategist David Ian Gray talks Black Friday performance, Canadian farmer-advocate Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel, and Michel Sirios President of BlueStar Canada unpacks the retail technology ecosystem

Welcome to The Voice of Retail, I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.

First up in this episode I catch up with David Ian Gray, founder and strategist behind retail consultancy DIG 360; we touch base on  his ongoing and recent research into consumer behaviour in partnership with Leger into Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Boxing Day - consumer shopping results.
Next Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel, a farmer-advocate spokesperson joins me again on the podcast after our session together in Ottawa at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Market Access summit.   We catch up after the summer growing and fall harvest season and discuss the incredible forces and mega trends in the food industry and how they are impacting farmers in Canada and ultimately the food on retailer’s shelves.

Finally recorded live in Montreal at RCC’s DTLQC conference, Michel Sirois, President of Blue Star Canada walks us through the retail technology product infrastructure, the impact of big platform and product trends such as 5G, enhanced security and unpacks the role of Distributors and Value Added Resellers in the retail industry.

Lastly I’ll hit the highlights from Retail This Week for the week of December 16, but first, let’s jump into my interview with David Ian Gray

Thanks to David, Cherilyn and Michel for being my guests on this episode, now let’s hit the highlights from Retail This Week.

That’s a wrap on this edition of The Voice of RetailIf you liked this podcast you can subscribe on Apple iTunes or your favourite podcast platform, please rate and review, and be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the retail industry.

I’m Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and Company Inc. and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or of course on LinkedIn

Until next time, 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.