Retail Gets Real

Originally released May 14, 2018: BARK, the makers of BarkBox, began where so many great companies do — in a heart-shaped bed on a cruise ship. Henrik Werdelin and his co-founders bonded over a mutual love for dogs and an obsession with making their furry family members happy. In this episode, Werdelin discusses how BARK’s dog-obsessed culture drives every facet of the business and attracts an army of similarly obsessed fans.   Learn more at retailgetsreal.com.

How do you stay on the cutting edge of wellness while maintaining consumer trust? Sharon Leite, CEO of The Vitamin Shoppe, starts by asking a question: “How can we make this relevant for today and how do we make sure that we can take it forward into the future?” In this episode, Leite talks about how The Vitamin Shoppe is innovating around everything from the customer experience to CBD products. Sharon has learned how to take her years of retail experience fundamentals and apply them to turning companies around.   Learn more at retailgetsreal.com.

What does it take to become the person responsible for creating some of the world's most-loved fragrances? Jo Malone, the creator of Jo Loves, shares her origin story and how she came to be called an English scent maverick. Learning to sell as a means of survival, Jo cultivated a passion for her business that has led to the creation of two global brands.   Learn more at retailgetsreal.com.  

Originally released Sept. 9, 2018: For millions of people around the world, Pinterest is the first stop on their retail journey — it’s a place to discover, get inspired and personalize. For retailers, Pinterest is an opportunity to engage with customers earlier and more often, well before a transaction takes place. To learn more about how brands of all sizes are taking advantage of this social media platform, we sit down with Amy Vener, the head of retail strategy at Pinterest.   Learn more at retailgetsreal.com.

Annie Agle, Director of Impact and Brand at Cotopaxi, shares how its customers are gathering around a mission of sustainability, conscious capitalism and an ambitious goal of ending poverty, as well as what other companies can learn from the startup’s unique approach to sustainable outdoor apparel.    Learn more at retailgetsreal.com.  

Zeynep Ton, the author of the book The Good Job Strategy, discovered that many of the expensive, productivity-draining problems faced in retail came down to poor labor practices. By focusing on creating good jobs for employees that lead to great customer experiences, companies can both save money and make their employees happy.   Learn more at retailgetsreal.com.

Alison Hahn, Senior Vice President of Merchandising for Color and Fragrance at Sephora, is at the helm of some of the most exciting innovations in the beauty industry. She joins Retail Gets Real from the NRF Foundation Student Program to share some of the cutting-edge initiatives Sephora is leading and where the beauty industry is headed. Learn more at retailgetsreal.com.

The consumer is constantly changing, and companies need to adapt and change quickly in order to keep up — or, even better, retailers can be proactive and get ahead of the curve. To tell us more about where the customer will be in 2022 and what retailers can do to prepare, we talk to Andrea Bell, Head of Insight for WGSN, who believes that the biggest point of differentiation in 2022 will be the dichotomy between different generations.   Learn more at retailgetsreal.com.

TechStyle has built one of the most data-driven, deeply consumer-obsessed advertising groups by effectively building an internal agency that advertises across its portfolio of brands. They also have a unique membership model that rewards customers with better pricing and promotions, and in return, these members help TechStyle acquire more customer data. To learn more about the company’s unique model and where it’s headed in the future, we talk to Laura Joukovski, President of Global Fashion Brands for TechStyle.   Learn more at retailgetsreal.com.

The NRF Innovation Lab at Retail’s Big Show showcases over 50 of the most groundbreaking technologies in the retail space. Sucharita Kodali, an NRF Innovation Advisory Committee member and a retail analyst with Forrester joins the show to talk more about the Lab, along with one of the innovators from the lab, George Shaw, CEO and co-founder of Pathr, the first AI-powered spatial intelligence platform that uses anonymous location data to derive business insights in real-time.  Learn more at retailgetsreal.com.