The Black Friday episode featuring a lively panel debate on the merits of Black Friday-Cyber Monday with veteran retail reporter Marina Strauss, retail marketer Patrick Dickinson, and Ryerson Professor Mark Lee

Welcome to a special Black Friday 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.

Recorded early November in front of a live audience at The Ted Rogers School of Retail Managment at Ryerson University’s 12th annual retail week, I’m joined by an esteemed panel of retail experts and veterans to discuss a bit of retail history, the state of the retail nation and the competing narratives and industry debate around the Black Friday retail holiday event.

According to the 2019 Retail Council of Canada + Leger research, sponsored by Chase, 43% of Canadian consumers plan to shop on Black Friday versus 34% on Boxing Day - a revolution in this country where this relatively new Holiday, plus Cyber Monday, has risen to the forefront of the retail promotional calendar.

On the panel is Marina Strauss, award winning retail reporter for decades with The Globe and Mail; Patrick Dickinson veteran retail marketer and brand strategist most recently with Hudson’s Bay, and last but certainly not least Mark Lee, Director and Associate Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Retail Managment bringing his expertise in consumer perception around pricing and promotions to the discussion.

Let’s jump right into the fascinating and entertaining discussion with an introduction to the panel by our host Sean Sedlezky, Manager of Program Design at the Ted Rogers School of Retail Management

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That’s a wrap on this special Black Friday edition of The Voice of Retail, Thanks to Marina, Patrick, Mark and Sean for being my guests on this live panel, and to the Ted Rogers School of Retail Management at Ryerson University for hosting us.

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.