Retail Gets Real

Nicole Panettieri is much more than a retailer – she’s an advocate for small business and her community. As the owner of The Brass Owl, a boutique in the Astoria, Queens neighborhood of New York City, Panettieri exemplifies what it means to be a community retailer that makes a real impact. Learn more at retailgetsreal.com.

Retail is evolving — gone are the days when a company needed was a good product or service. Now they need to create an experience, a brand and a community. To learn about how the most successful entrepreneurs do this, we talk to JJ Ramberg, the host of MSNBC's “Your Business” and the Been There. Built That. podcast. Learn more at retailgetsreal.com.

Shopping is no longer about visiting a store to pick up products. Consumers expect a visit to the store to be much more than browsing and checking out. Matt Corey, chief marketing officer for PGA TOUR Superstore joins this episode to discuss how the golf-focused sports store is using technology to design a stand-out experience both online and offline. Learn more at retailgetsreal.com.

The retail industry loves to talk trends, but SapientRazorfish’s Jason “Retailgeek” Goldberg says that many are overhyped. So what will stick? Joining us at Shop.org 2018 in Las Vegas, Goldberg chats about the retail tech trends that will gain momentum in the coming year and why a solution is in sight for the “mobile gap” problem. Learn more at retailgetsreal.com.

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.

Shopping for bras is generally an unpleasant experience — so ThirdLove takes shoppers out of awkward dressing rooms and allows them to shop for underwear at home, using data to create a more personalized shopping experience and better products. Chief Creative Officer Ra’el Cohen shares how ThirdLove is disrupting the bra industry by “taking data and using it in a really personal way.”   Learn more at retailgetsreal.com.

Brandless is “unapologetically a brand,” says co-founder and CEO Tina Sharkey, and it’s one specifically designed to appeal to millennials. On its online platform, Brandless carries everything from applesauce to knives for no more than $3, and all products are sustainably manufactured, organic and non-GMO. On this episode, learn how Brandless makes the business model work while also donating a meal to Feeding America for every purchase.   Learn more at retailgetsreal.com.

Back-to-college spending is expected to reach $55 billion this year, and many of those shopping for themselves are members of Generation Z. Katherine Cullen, NRF’s director of retail and consumer insights, discusses trends from NRF’s annual survey of back-to-class shoppers and how this generation of consumers that grew up with the internet and smartphones is shaping retail.   Learn more at www.retailgetsreal.com.    

Intel is at the forefront of today’s retail revolution, driving the technology that incorporates the best of the physical and digital store. Stacey Shulman, chief innovation officer for the retail solutions division at Intel, discusses Intel’s role in retail and some macro technology trends that affect everyone in retail. Learn more at www.retailgetsreal.com.

Boon Supply is a vertically integrated product company that gives 50 percent of each purchase to various causes and schools. It’s a disruptive new idea in the world of fundraising that already supports over 500 causes and gives $12.5 million to schools annually, and CEO Lily Kanter has some big ideas for how it can leverage capitalism to do better in the world.   Learn more at www.retailgetsreal.com.