Our guest this week is Michelle Poole, President of Crocs. As Crocs celebrates its 20th anniversary we dig into the remarkable growth story behind the increasingly iconic footwear company. We address head-on the polarizing (or is it fundamentally under-estimated?) nature of the brand and how Michelle has turned that to advantage. We also learn about the personalizing power of jibbitz and how product extensions and geographic expansion are fueling their growth. We also delve deep into the diverse, increasingly digitally-driven, go-to-market strategy that is putting the company on a path to hit $5 billion in sales by 2026. Lastly we get Michelle's perspective on how to balance purpose and profits.

But first we take on the news of the week, including earnings from three DTC brands. Lululemon was first out of the gate with continuing strong results. RH also turned in another solid quarter, but their CEO called out concerns about increasing headwinds. Lastly, Chewy continues the trend of "profitless prosperity" for disruptor brands as they reported strong sales and mounting losses. Their co-founder (Ryan Cohen) also gets this week's chutzpah award for pushing big changes at Bed, Bath & Beyond when his company has yet to break-even. We also touch on all the store openings from Five Below and other value retailers and when this music might stop.

Here is the episode with Vuori's CEO Joe Kudla that Michelle mentions.

And don't forget to check out our bonus episode recapping this year's Shoptalk conference, recorded live from high above the Vegas Strip.

About Michelle

Michelle Poole became President, Crocs, Inc. in September 2020 and has oversight of the Americas, Asia and EMEA regional commercial teams, as well as Product Design and Management, Merchandising, and Marketing teams. Prior to this, she served as our Executive Vice President, Chief Product and Merchandising Officer since April 2020 and as our Senior Vice President and Chief Product and Merchandising Officer since 2014.

In addition to her product and merchandising responsibilities, Ms. Poole assumed responsibility for our Marketing function in 2017. Ms. Poole has more than 28 years of experience and proven success in the development of leading global fashion and lifestyle brands including Sperry Top-Sider, Timberland, Kangol, Converse, MTV Europe and Pepe Jeans where she held a range of marketing, merchandising & product management roles. Since 2018, Ms. Poole has served on the board of Pact, a privately held apparel brand, based in Boulder, CO. She received her Bachelor’s honors degree in fashion marketing from the University of Northumbria, UK.

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.

Carl Bernstein

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