Welcome to a very special Retail West edition of the Voice of Retail, I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada and sponsored by Atomic Reach. Atomic Reach offers Atomic AI, the world's leading Smart Content Platform. By optimizing product descriptions and marketing content to match shopper's reading and emotional preferences, the deliver sales conversion improvement and personalization at scale.

Recorded live from Vancouver at RCC’s annual Retail West conference with top retailers and retail industry insiders gathered for a day of insights and action items, I spoke with leading retailers and took the stage myself to explore leading edge AI solutions for eCommerce digital marketing content.

First up is Frank Monteleone Senior Vice President, Human Resources & Corporate Relations Rexall Pharmacy Group. We talk about the importance of employer branding, and leveraging modern digital tools and social media to find the top employees that make the difference at Rexall.

Next a live recording of my fireside chat on the Retail West stage with Paul Rosco, Vice President of Strategy for Atomic Reach. After an introduction from RCC Vice President Sonny Brar, we break down the essence of AI, understand the spectrum of it’s key contribution to retail, and finally how Atomic Reach used their AI engine to create a 7% sales lift for Golf Town.

Finally a look back and ahead with Mark Startup, as he looks back on a storied career representing independent retailers coast-to-coast and looking ahead as he prepares to transition to whatever comes next.

But first, let’s listen to my interview with Frank Monteleone from Rexall.

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That’s a wrap on this special Retail West edition of The Voice of Retail, Thanks to Frank, Paul and Mark for being my guests on this Retail West special edition!

if 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.

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