Remarkable Retail The Myth of the Great E-Commerce Acceleration
“The future is already here, it's just not very distributed.”
- William Gibson
Ever since the pandemic began, the narrative of a great acceleration in online shopping has taken hold, with some even claiming that we experienced 10 years of e-commerce growth in a matter of months. While many markets did see a huge surge in e-commerce penetration during the height of physical store lockdowns, it turns out that facts are stubborn things. In reality we are almost exactly where we would have been had the Covid crisis not hit.
In this episode, with Michael weighing in from the SIAL conference in Montreal, we challenge yet another overly simplistic narrative that, had you bought into it, might have caused you to do precisely the opposite of what you should have done. We also learn that, contrary to popular belief, Steve is not a hype man for physical retail, but rather devoutly anti bullsh*t.
What's really going on with online shopping growth, why your mileage may vary, and why we often get so much wrong about e-commerce are at the heart of this deep dive.
But first we open up with the retail news that caught our attention this week, including Lululemon's 5-year plan to double their revenue, Uniqlo's plans to open 400-500 new stores in the continuing rejection of all the retail apocalypse nonsense, and what to make of the departure of Old Navy's CEO (and Gap's overall lack of remarkability). We also unpack the interesting trend of the D getting taken out of DTC as more disruptor brands choose to explore wholesale distribution. Plus, in our very popular everything old is new again segment: the return of print catalogs!
The McKinsey Article
The WSJ Article
The Pandemic Was Supposed To Push All Shopping Online. It Didn't.
Steve Recent Forbes Articles
The Myth of the Great E-Commerce Acceleration
What We Often Get Wrong About E-Commerce And Why It Matters
Past Podcast Episodes We Reference
The Store As Brand Hub w/ Target's Nancy King
The Great DTC v. Wholesale Debate w/ Simeon Siegel
Understanding Warby Parker and Customer-Based Valuation w/ Dan McCarthy
What We Get Wrong About E-commerce
Custom Fit Solutions w/ Indochino's Drew Green
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.