The Voice of Retail

Welcome to the 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 this episode is brought to you by omNovos - Canada’s Retail Customer Engagement Solutions Provider. Join me next week for an insightful interview with omNovos where we will discuss just how COVID-19 may have given retailers a bit of a gift. Turning contactless shopping into brand loyalty.  Learn more at  www.realcustomerengagement.comOn this episode recorded live from London England Nicola  Kilner CEO of Deciem -  the umbrella beauty company that houses a fleet of customer loved beauty brands and retail stores, more commonly known as the Toronto headquartered Abnormal Beauty Company.  We talk about how they maintain their pace of innovation, create wildly loyal brand advocates and how the resilience that is part of their brand is helping them through the COVID-19 crisis.Next the one and only Bryan Pearson, former CEO Loyalty One/Airmiles, is back, and back on the podcast to talk about loyalty trends pre-COVID-19 and the changing face of loyalty in the COVID-19 era and beyond, picking winners and losers, and his “jump-ball” moment on loyalty programs and customer behaviours and habits.But first, lets check in with Nicola from Deciem:******Thanks to Nicola and Bryan for being my guests, and thanks to omNovos for their support of this episode.   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 LinkedInUntil next time, have a safe 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. 

Welcome to the The Voice of Retail, I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.On this episode we’re going global - all the way to Melbourne Australia for an exclusive interview with Michael Schneider, Managing Director of Bunnings, one of the leading big box home improvement retailers in the world.   If you don’t know Bunnings, they are a $13billion retailer with 377 trading locations employing over 44,000 team members. We talk about the one-two punch of the Australia wild fires and COVID-19, and how the business continues to operate, innovate and serve their communities across New Zealand and Australia.Next up Amarinder (Amar) Singh Principal Analyst at Kantar Consulting takes us through the trends, performance and competitive set of the hardware DIY retail sector, and brings us up to speed on the trends that were happening pre-COVID-19, the performance of the category so far in the COVID era and top three tips to stay competitive and win market share.But first, lets check in with Michael live from Melbourne******Thanks to Michael and Amar for being my guests, and thanks to Tectonic Architecture (www.tectonic-arch.com ) for their support of this episode.   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 LinkedInUntil next time, have a safe 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. 

Welcome to the 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 this episode features an interview with our sponsor Kronos who believes that great businesses are powered by great people.On this episode we are going to learn about two great retail businesses, Levi Strauss and Eight Sleep.  First up on this episode live from Paris Diana Dimitian, Vice President and Managing Director South Europe at Levi Strauss & Co. talks about the strength of the brand and operating DTC and stores in Italy, Spain and France leading into and during the COVID crisis.Next up Amanda Nichols Sr Manager, Industry Marketing from Kronos describes the strength and agility of this largely cloud based workforce management solution, employee management trends heading into 2020  and the key essential new requirements for employees for the COIVD-19 eraFinally live from New York Alexandra Zatarain, Co-Founder at Eight Sleep introduces her innovative product, sleep solution brand and DTC retail model that I first saw at Showfields in January, and is sparking a movement for better sleep during troubling times.But first, lets check in with Diana live from Paris******Thanks to Diana, Amanda and Alexandra for being my guests, and thanks to Kronos for their support of this episode.   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 LinkedInUntil next time, have a safe 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. 

Welcome to the 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 this episode is brought to you by omNovos. Create the personalized interactions that your customers will actually look forward to with omNovos – Canada’s Retail Customer Engagement Solutions Provider. Combine all of your customer data into a single view. Learn more at www.realcustomerengagement.com First up on this episode an exclusive interview with Peter Simons, CEO of La Maison Simons, live from Quebec City.   Started in 1840 and still a family owned and operated Canadian department store, Peter talks about the history of this storied retail brand, the expansion out of Quebec across Canada, and brings us up to date on the current state of the business, his perspective  on the future of the department store format and tells all about their Fabrique 1840 initiative, which creates a marketplace for bespoke local creators across Canada on the Simons web site and beyond.Next up the one and only Willy Kruh is back on the podcast.  The recently retired  Partner and Global Chair Consumer & Retail at KPMG International and frequent top ranked presented at RCC’s annual STORE conference, Willy steps back into the ring with his analysis of the current state of retail, what the COVID-19 era means from millennials and other consumers, and wise advise honed by decades of working with c-level retail and brand executives from around the world on how retailers can survive the crisis.But first, lets check in with Peter Simons******Thanks to Peter and Willy for being my guests on this episode, and thanks to omNovos for their support of this episode and The Voice of Retail podcast.   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 LinkedInUntil next time, have a safe 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. 

Welcome to the The Voice of Retail, I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.First up on this episode an exclusive interview with Michael Graydon, CEO at Food & Consumer Products of Canada (FCPC) the national industry association in Canada representing the food, beverage and consumer products industry.   We talk about how brands reacted to the shockwave of demand for food and household products, how retailers and their vendor partners came together to keep Canadians fed and take care of their new and essential needs, and finally a cautionary note around the challenges ahead of operating in the COVID-19 era.Next up Jane Gaynor, Founder and Certified Coach, Gain Your Edge Coaching puts on a master class in the tradecraft of executive coaching, the key attributes of executive success managing through the COVID-19 crisis and beyond, crucial communication skills that help you manage teams remotely and two starts and one stop on the road to being effective during the COVID-19 era.https://www.gainyouredgecoaching.com/But first, lets check in with Michael Graydon from FCPC******Thanks to Michael and Jane for being my guests on this episode  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 LinkedInUntil next time, have a safe 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. 

Welcome to the The Voice of Retail, I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.First up on this episode retail veteran Nadia Vattovaz, CFO & EVP Operations at Fire & Flower talks about operating  across Canada during COVID-19 powered by their purpose built, retail 2.0 company, allowing them to roll out curb side and home delivery in lightening speed with fantastic results with awesome consumer experience thanks to the  power of their peopleNext up Forrester Research Vice President & top retail analyst Sucharita Kodali is back on the podcast looking at the catastrophic retail results in the U.S. and what all retailers should be focussed on today to ensure there is a tomorrow including re/up skilling their idle teams, investing on neglected areas of the business, and mastering the mechanics of click & collect or curb side.Elite soccer player/trainer turned health scientist, entrepreneur and DTC retailer Rachael Rapinoe is my final guest, taking lessons from the pitch and turning them into focus on the touch line of her CBD brand for retail, Mendi.First lets jump right in to my interview with Nadia from Fire & Flower******Thanks to Nadia, Sucharita and Rachael for being my guests on this episode  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 LinkedInUntil next time, have a safe 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. 

Welcome to the 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 omNovos – Canada’s Retail Customer Engagement Solutions provider, combining data, software, and services to help retailers create and deliver real-time personalized content in your customers’ moments of truth.In this special feature episode a full length interview with one of the sharpest minds in corporate strategy in the world - Roger Martin is my special guest.  One of the original founders of Monitor Company, transformative Dean of now the globally top ranked Rotman School of Business at University of Toronto, and author of many influential papers and books, Roger and I talk about the nature of strategy and where it has gone wrong,  the big bets retailers need to make to survive through the COVID-19 crisis, consumer habits versus loyalty, and his new book When More is Not Better: Overcoming America’s Obsession with Economic Efficiency coming out this September.So lets jump right in to my interview with Roger Martin, live from Florida******Thanks to Roger for being my guest on this episode, and my generous sponsor omNovos.  I’ll return next week with more great interviews and with the top retail stories from  Retail This Week.That’s a wrap on this edition of The Voice of Retail.  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 LinkedInUntil next time, have a safe 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. 

Welcome to the The Voice of Retail, I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.In this special episode an exclusive interview with the President and CEO of one of the largest wine and alcohol retailers in the world right in my back yard, George Soleas of Ontario’s LCBO.   In a two part interview, the first part one recored in mid March in LCBO’s Toronto boardroom pre-COVID-19, the second part recorded online during the peak of the crisis, George shares the ins and outs of the art and science of his personal journey, and work done to modernize the LCBO, work that is being pressure tested today as an essential service.  Next he shares tips for retailers of all formats as they work to craft the playbook to open their stores and operate in the new “business as unusual” Coronavirus retail environment .Next Jennifer Huether, one of Canada’s rare Master Sommeliers and one of less than 300 in the world with her designation is my guest from backstage at the Restaurants Canada trade show in early March.  We talk what it takes to be a master som, trends in wine and Jennifer shares her top tips for finding an amazing bottle to enjoy.But first, let’s jump right into my conversation with George Soleas from the LCBO******Thanks to George and Jenifer  for a unique pairing on this episode. We’ll return in the weeks to come with the top retail stories from  Retail This Week.That’s a wrap on this edition of The Voice of Retail.  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 LinkedInUntil next time, have a safe 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. 

Welcome to the The Voice of Retail, I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.Live from New York at the epicentre of technology and the COVID crisis,  Lockie Andrews, CIO and Chief Digital Officer for retailer UNTUCKit is my special guest.   We talk about the history of this fast growing apparel retailer, starting online then with a single store in Soho with now 85 locations in the U.S, Canada and the U.K.  Lockie describes operating during the COVID crisis and how as a venture backed, digitally native brand they moved early and are seeing sales success online.  Finally, she shares her three top tips or pillars on getting through the crisis and the months ahead.Next Steve Buors, CEO and Co-Founder of Reshift Media joins me and we delve into the latest COVID era consumer media and social media platform behaviours, and Steve parses the data to come up with solid, action strategies and tactics for both essential and non-essential retailers.But first, let’s jump right into my conversation with Lockie Andrews from UNTUCKit******Thanks to  Lockie and Steve  for being my guests on this episode.    Now let’s take a look the top retail stories with Retail This Week for the week of April 17, 2020.That’s a wrap on this edition of The Voice of Retail.  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 LinkedInUntil next time, have a safe 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. 

Welcome to the The Voice of Retail, I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.In this episode I kick off with an interview with Duncan Fulton, Chief Corporate Officer for Restaurant Brands International, better known as Tim Hortons, Burger King and Popeyes.  Recorded live in a busy media room at the Restaurant Canada trade show in Toronto early March, Duncan takes us through the strategy and culture driving 27,000 restaurants in 110 countries with a new restaurant opening every seven hours and how to figure out the right pace of change in any organization.Next Carl Boutet, Chief Strategist for Studio RX, recorded from his office in Montreal.  We catch up after missing each other in January at the NRF Big Show and talk about his visit to Asia and China earlier in the year, observations from his tour and lessons learned that we can apply to our situation today dealing with COVID-19 and how the Chinese are pulling themselves out of the crisis.But first, let’s jump right into my conversation with Duncan from RBI******Thanks to Duncan and Carl for being my guests on this episode.  Speaking of doing business in China, I’m thrilled to announce that in partnership with some of the top thought leaders in the space I’ve launched a new podcast, Global E-Commerce Tech Talks!  Be sure and check out our trailer episode now available on all the major platforms to learn more.  Now let’s take a look the top retail stories with Retail This Week for the week of April 6th, 2020.That’s a wrap on this edition of The Voice of Retail.  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 LinkedInUntil next time, have a safe 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.