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

Former Stitch-Fix COO Julie Bornstein is creating one of the most innovative eCommerce brands on the market today. THE YES, an eCommerce retail concept only available via mobile app that has already raised over $30 million in funding and is set to revolutionize the fashion industry.

“..and so the beauty of sort of what we've built is called THE YES, the whole system is built based on the customers yeses and noes. And as a customer shopping, they can yes and no the product kind of like a thumbs up thumbs down but in our own greatest way. And you don't have to do it as your shopping but as you see stuff you like and don't like the stuff you like you Yes, we learn about your preferences and we save that for you if you want to come back to it. And then the noes are really helpful…”

Julie’s deep breadth of knowledge building successful eCommerce experiences for some of the largest retailers in America like Nordstrom, Sephora, and of course Stitch-Fix, gave her a deep understanding in what was missing in the eCommerce space. The Yes utilizes a revolutionary recommendation engine, built on a neural network, is one of the first of its kind, and is set to disrupt the entire fashion industry. In this podcast we discuss her professional journey, the lessons she learned along the way, and Julie gives us some great advice on how to navigate through another year of the COVID era

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Today’s podcast is part of an ongoing series of CommerceNext episodes that will feature some the fantastic speakers taking the virtual stage January 27th and February 3rd with snapshot insights into how they dealt with online /eCommerce in the first year of the COVID era and lessons learned for the future.

You can learn more and register for CommerceNext here.

Thanks for tuning into today’s episode of The Voice of Retail. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss out on the latest episodes, industry news, and insights. If you enjoyed this episode please consider leaving a rating and review, as it really helps us grow so that we can continue getting amazing guests like Ben on the show.

I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company, and if you’re looking for more content, or want to chat follow me on LinkedIn, or visit my website meleblanc.co!

Until next time, stay safe and have a great week!

The Voice of Retail podcast is presented by Hale, a performance marketing partner trusted by brands like ASICS, Saje, and Orangetheory to scale with focus and impact.

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.

Straight Outta Context Pt. 2