The Voice of Retail Feature interviews with Kendall Barber Co-Founder & Co-CEO of PoppyBarley.com, Rob Shields Co-Founder & CCO of Paymi, and RCC's Stephanie Lear & Sean Tarry talk STORE2019 and Canadian Retailer
Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of May 6th 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 interview with RCC Independent Retail Ambassador of the Year Kendall Barber and her Edmonton based footwear business Poppy Barley. We explore the origins of the business, the move to physical retail, and how this award winning retailer sets and follows a North Star for its brand.
Then, part one of a feature interview with Rob Shields, veteran retailer and retail loyalty visionary as we talk about
the intersection of loyalty programs, true customer loyalty and brand as Rob declares “the dividend of digital is data”.
Next, an interview with RCC’s Stephanie Lear as she dishes on the great thought leadership content you’ll find on the stage at STORE 2019 coming up in a couple of weeks (May 28/29, get your tickets at www.storeconference.ca)
and last but certainly not least a quick chat with Canadian Retailer Editor-In-Chief Sean Tarry as he introduces the latest edition, the Food & Grocery edition
Last but not least I’ll cover off the top retail news of the week including Roots continued global expansion plans, Walmart Canada invests $200 million on store network, Best Buy’s Ron Wilson at RCC’s 2019 Distinguished Retailer of the Year Award, Tokyo Smoke opens up in old HMV space in Toronto, Amazon Go opens in NYC to massive lines (um, defeating the purpose, no?) and wardrobe rental services up close.
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 “Hey Google, play the voice of retail podcast”
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 on LinkedIn
Join me again next week for my interview with Walter Robb, co-founder of Whole Foods, part two of my interview with Rob Shields and Dr. Sylvain Charlebois Senior Director, Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University and frequent commentator on the grocery sector in Canada.
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.