The Voice of Retail

Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of May 6th 2019 I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada and sponsored by Stream Commerce, North America’s fastest growing Shopify Plus agency, learn more at www.streamcommerce.com In this episode an interview with RCC Independent Retail Ambassador of the Year Kendall Barber and her Edmonton based footwear business Poppy Barley. We explore the origins of the business, the move to physical retail, and how this award winning retailer sets and follows a North Star for its brand. Then, part one of a feature interview with Rob Shields, veteran retailer and retail loyalty visionary as we talk about the intersection of loyalty programs, true customer loyalty and brand as Rob declares “the dividend of digital is data”. Next, an interview with RCC’s Stephanie Lear as she dishes on the great thought leadership content you’ll find on the stage at STORE 2019 coming up in a couple of weeks (May 28/29, get your tickets at www.storeconference.ca) and last but certainly not least a quick chat with Canadian Retailer Editor-In-Chief Sean Tarry as he introduces the latest edition, the Food & Grocery edition Last but not least I’ll cover off the top retail news of the week including Roots continued global expansion plans, Walmart Canada invests $200 million on store network, Best Buy’s Ron Wilson at RCC’s 2019 Distinguished Retailer of the Year Award, Tokyo Smoke opens up in old HMV space in Toronto, Amazon Go opens in NYC to massive lines (um, defeating the purpose, no?) and wardrobe rental services up close. That’s a wrap on this edition of The Voice of Retail, if you liked this podcast you can subscribe on iTunes or your favourite podcast platform. You can also ask your favourite home devices, Amazon Echo, Google home, just say “Hey Google, play the voice of retail podcast” 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 on LinkedIn Join me again next week for my interview with Walter Robb, co-founder of Whole Foods, part two of my interview with Rob Shields and Dr. Sylvain Charlebois Senior Director, Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University and frequent commentator on the grocery sector in Canada. Until then, 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. 

Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of May 3rd, 2019 I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada. In this episode part 2 of my conversation with serial innovator Peter Van Stolk, CEO of SPUD. We hone in on global online grocery trends, talk about his innovative Food X platform and how is serves local consumers and small retailers alike, talk about the price of avacados and even make a few predictions of the future of online grocery sales in Canada. Next a feature interview with Michele Sexsmith, SVP and Practice Leader, Retail, Real Estate and Entertainment Sectors from Environics Analytics talking about their work helping retailers understand Canadian consumer online shopping behaviours, how their Click-Spend product that is produced in partnership with J.C. Williams, can help retailers understand buying patterns right down to the local trading area, and a look for surprises in the data. https://www.environicsanalytics.com/en-ca/ Last but not least I’ll cover off the top retail news of the week including the new york times celebrating Canadian retailer Indigo on their reinvention of book selling, tap into some data about beer sales in retail creating jobs, Nova cannabis opens in Toronto and Triple J’s Canna Space is Yukon’s 1st cannabis store - but entrepreneurs in Calgary are still struggling with a lease but no licence, Walmart opens an AI store and Amazon’s trojan horse strategy But first, lets listen to the second part of my interview with Peter - we pick up the conversation talking about his FoodX platform - I ask him beyond the likes of Walmart using his platform, is it the case that local food retailers can also use the platform to address the concerns of his customers, who like to shop from their local grocers as well as SPUD but can feel a bit guilty not sharing their business with them as the smaller grocery players can’t afford eCommerce as a part of their business model….until now… https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/us/politics/trump-border-closing-economy.html That’s a wrap on this edition of The Voice of Retail, if you liked this podcast you can subscribe on iTunes or your favourite podcast platform. You can also ask your favourite home devices, Amazon Echo, Google home, just say “Hey Google, play the voice of retail podcast” I’m Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and company and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or on LinkedIn Join me again next week for my interview Retail Council of Canada Independent Retailer Ambassador of the year for 2019 Poppy Barley’s Kendal Barber, retail and loyalty marketing guru Rob Shields and very special guest Marina Strauss, veteran retail report for The Globe and Mail. Until then, 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. 

Content of this podcast is intended for 21+. Welcome to the Voice of Retail special O’Cannabiz Conference retail cannabis edition I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this special edition podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada. I recently attended the April O’Cannabiz cannabis conference [https://ocannabiz.com/], a multi-day event in Toronto and as always met and heard lots of really interesting cannabis industry thought leaders in this close-knit and expanding community. I thought for this episode I’d let my interviews speak for themselves to give you a good flavour for the issues and the insights from the conference. I was fortunate to interview three amazing thought leaders from different perspectives on retail recreational cannabis - a top global retail industry thought leader, the CEO of a top cannabis retailer looking to re-imagine the retail experience and the customer they serve, and a U.S. based integrated LP and retailer to help us see around the corner to what is next and upcoming for retail recreational cannabis in Canada. So first I chat with the one and only Tony Chapman back on the voice of retail for a second week in a row this time talking about retail cannabis in his role as the MC for this event. https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonychapmanreactions/ Next I chat with me Tom Dyck, CEO of mihi Cannabis [https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-dyck/] who was drawn out of retirement from a successful career at a major Canadian banking institution into a whole new industry, and last but certainly not least I talk with California-based NUG CEO & Founder John Oram [https://www.linkedin.com/in/oramjj/] who takes us through his journey from scientists to fully integrated producer and retailer in the U.S. So let’s listen in as I sit down first with Tony Chapman and talk about the Bong Shows and moonshots: Special thanks again to my guests Tony, Tom and John for chatting with me on the podcast today, apologies to Tom for the technical gremlins towards the end of our interview the mushed up our interview tracks together to make it sound like we were talking over each other, and to John for a bit of echo as the very beginning of our interview. That’s a wrap on this very special O’Cannabiz edition of The Voice of Retail. You can learn about their upcoming September conference , GrowUp, happing in beautiful Niagara Falls Ontario September 12-14th at https://growupconference.com/ I’m Michael LeBlanc Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc., and you can learn more about me at www.meleblanc.co or on LInkedIn, and stay tuned for our next regular edition of the podcast available each and every Friday. If you like this edition please subscribe, rate it on iTunes and tell all your LinkedIn friends! 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. 

Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of April 22nd, 2019 I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada and sponsored by Stream Commerce, North America’s fastest growing Shopify plus agency, learn more at Stream Commerce dot com. In this episode part 1 of my conversation with serial innovator Peter van Stolk, CEO of SPUD based in Vancouver. In a wide ranging conversation we talk about the business he founded, his journey to creating a circular economy business, and the fundamental nature of innovation in retail. www.spud.ca Next, a feature interview with the one and only Tony Chapman as he expands on his latest article “Mind your P’s but own your Be’s (https://www.retailcouncil.org/community/technology/mind-your-ps-but-own-your-bes-how-bricks-can-beat-back-clicks/ ), in advance of his appearance on the main stage at RCC’s STORE conference along with three retail titans. You can get ahold of Tony at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonychapmanreactions/ Lastly, a special bonus interview with Michelle Ribout, Director of Events at Retail Council of Canada talking about STORE2019, Excellence in Retail awards and Canadian Grand Prix awards. https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleribout/ Last but not least I’ll cover off the top retail news of the week including Henry’s on the acquisition trail, LuLulemon’s aspirations towards growing the men’s wear business, celebrating Edmonton based Poppy Barley, the Golden Goose, Casper doubles down on Canada changes at Chicos and much more. But first, let’s listen to my interview with Peter: That’s a wrap on this edition of The Voice of Retail, if you liked this podcast you can subscribe on iTunes or your favourite podcast platform. You can also ask your favourite home devices, Amazon Echo, Google home, just say “Hey Google, play the voice of retail podcast” I’m Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and company and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or on LinkedIn Join me again next week for part two of my interview with retailer Peter van Stolk, and Michelle Sexsmith from Environic Analytics talking about their powerful Clickspend product and the insights and advantage retailers can glean from utilizing that tool. Until then, 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. 

Welcome to the Voice of Retail special Retail Marketing Conference edition, I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this special edition podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada. Recorded live in Toronto April 18th 2019 at Retail Council of Canada’s annual Retail Marketing conference, this special edition podcast features two of my on-stage interviews plus insights from attendees. First I chat with two of Canada’s top influencers, Jonathan Cavilier and Shannae Ingleton . They discuss their tradecraft, experiences working with brands and advice for retailers on how to work with key influencers to achieve their objectives. https://www.instagram.com/torontoshay/?hl=en https://www.instagram.com/jonathancavaliere/?hl=en Next, my fireside conversation with Trinh Tham, Vice President of brand strategy and planning at Sobey’s. We talk about the tradecraft of the modern retail marketer We’ll wrap up with my thoughts around the key moments and insights from Canada’s leading retail marketing conference. At the end of a great day of retail marketing thought leadership and networking with old friends, colleagues and new friends, we were all treated to amazing cocktails sponsored by Emilio at Ad Mill featuring retail marketing/agency veteran Paul Allemby’s latest venture, a bespoke local-made gin call Levenswater. https://www.levenswater.com/ Going to get Paul onto an upcoming episode of TVOR to tell us his amazing story of moving from leading top marketing agencies, to following his passion and creating an award winning spirit! You can see the whole agenda from Retail Marketing here: http://racsymposium.ca/schedule That’s a wrap on this very special edition of The Voice of Retail. I’m michael leblanc founder and president of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, and you can learn more about me at www.meleblanc.co or on LInkedIn, and stay tuned for our next regular edition of the podcast available each and every Friday. If you like this edition please subscribe, rate it on iTunes and tell all your LinkedIn friends! 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. 

Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of April 15 2019 I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada and sponsored by Stream Commerce, North America’s fastest growing Shopify plus agency, learn more at www.StreamCommerce.com . In this episode an exclusive feature interview with Mark Miller, Toronto native, Founder of the Legacy Lab and Chief Strategic Officer at Team One (Publicis Groupe's Premium Brand Agency) - https://www.teamone-usa.com/about and most importantly co-author of Legacy in the Making, recently anointed in Forbes magazine as one of the top ten business books for 2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2018/12/02/give-a-valuable-gift-the-top-10-business-books-for-2018/#708a07d568b7 You can purchase the book here: http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8946794/type/dlg/https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/legacy-in-the-making-building/9781260117561-item.html?ikwid=legacy+in+the+making&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0 Next up, an interview with Retail Council of Canada’s Quebec President Marc Fortin as we chat about the state of the retail nation in Quebec and explore the top issues facing retailers in Canada’s second largest retail market. You can get in touch with Marc directly at 514 982 0267 x 331 or on mfortin@cccd-rcc.org Last but not least I’ll cover off the top retail news of the week including Metro’s foray into reusable containers and and Uber eats, MEC building on it’s experiential history, Tip Top new store concept and reinvention expansion, Bed Bath and Beyond closing 40 but opening 15, and Best Buy thrives through an eCommerce revolution. That’s a wrap on this edition of The Voice of Retail, if you liked this podcast you can subscribe on iTunes or your favourite podcast platform. You can also ask your favourite home devices, Amazon Echo, Google home, just say “Hey Google, play the voice of retail podcast” I’m Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and company and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or on LinkedIn Join me again next week for a feature interview with the one and only Tony Chapman as he expands on his latest article “Mind your P’s but own your Be’s (https://www.retailcouncil.org/community/technology/mind-your-ps-but-own-your-bes-how-bricks-can-beat-back-clicks/ ), and Peter Van Stolk, CEO of www.spud.ca based in Vancouver who tells us all about the there pillars of his business and how sustainability is at the core of everything he does. Until then, 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. 

Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of April 7 2019 I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada and sponsored by Stream Commerce, North America’s fastest growing Shopify plus agency, learn more at www.StreamCommerce.com In this episode an exclusive interview with Danielle Brown, freshly minted CMO for award winning Canadian DTC retailer www.Knix.ca Next, we meet up Jesse Michael from Stocard and talk about their innovative solution for managing loyalty programs from the palm of consumers hands that delivery measurable benefits for retailers Then Kalie Belanger from Retail Council of Canada and I sit down for a chat together and she brings us up to speed on Canadian Independent Bookstore day coming happening April 27th. https://www.retailcouncil.org/events/canadian-independent-bookstore-day/ https://www.facebook.com/82391994581/posts/10156516448599582 Last but not least I’ll cover off the top retail news of the week, including Macy’s roll-out of their version of Story, Walmart’s latest environmental initiative (plus their Mic Drop as the kids would say on Amazon, MEC opens a new flagship in Toronto, another retail cannabis store graces that market, and the rise of electronic shelf labels Thanks again to Danielle, Jesse and Kalie for joining me for this episode, and here is a link to Jeff Bezos’s 2018 Letter to Shareholders as mentioned in the show. https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/2018-letter-to-shareholders That’s a wrap on this edition of The Voice of Retail, if you liked this podcast you can subscribe on iTunes or your favourite podcast platform. You can also ask your favourite home devices, Amazon Echo, Google home, just say “Alexa, play the voice of retail podcast” (hopefully I just woke up you Echo device). I’m Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and company and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeleleblanc/ Join me again next week for a feature interview with Mark Miller, author of Legacy in the Making, International Business Book Awards Book of the Year 2019 Finalist "Top Ten Business Books for 2018" according to Forbes, and RCC Quebec President Marc Fortin gives us a retailers view into Quebec Until then, 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. 

Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of April 1, 2019 I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada and sponsored by Stream Commerce, North America’s fastest growing Shopify plus agency, learn more at Stream Commerce dot com. In this episode an exclusive interview with Peter Housley, Chief Revenue Officer for Vancouver based Indochino talking about performance marketing, the simple genius of the showroom and managing a team through a hyper-growth cycle. Next part two of my interview with eCommerce merchandising veteran Lauren Freedman, President of the eTailing Group. But that’s not all…on my whirlwind trip to Vancouver I had the opportunity to grab lunch at Nordstroms with Andrew Cherwenka, digital and eCommerce strategy and usability guru, on his new adventures and insights in the Western Canadian market. Last but not least I’ll cover off the top retail news of the week, including Ontario Cannabis store openings, Oxford properties launch of their new food concept in Mississauga, Ikea reinvents itself, Hudson’s Bay results, RH goes big in home, and Loblaw pilots an innovative new digital strategy. Alright thanks again to Andrew Cherwenka for joining me, Let’s jump right into the top news of the week…starting with where we left off last week - retail cannabis! Big week in Ontario, with ten stores (my bet was five) of the 25 launching April 1. seven out of ten shared the same pos system, Cova Software, and they tell us there was $50,913 of sales on opening day.  And by the way As part of my ongoing coverage of the roll out of retail cannabis, and Courtesy of my friends at Environics Analytics CannabisInsights, powered by Vividata, we share some insights about the Toronto and Vancouver retail cannabis markets…. If you liked this podcast you can subscribe on iTunes or your favourite podcast platform. I’m Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and company and you can learn more about me on meleblanc do co or on LinkedIn Join me again next week for a feature interview with Danielle Brown , CMO of Knix and RCC’s 2019 Retail Marketing award winner, and Jesse Michael Managing Director, North America at Stocard who will talk to us about their innovative mobile loyalty app focussed on increasing foot traffic to retailers in Canada. Until then, 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. 

Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of March 25, 2019 I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada and sponsored by Stream Commerce, North America’s fastest growing Shopify plus agency, learn more at Stream Commerce dot com. In this episode an exclusive interview with Andy Palalas, Chief Revenue Officer of High Tide talking about their family of retail stores, and particularly their CannaCabana retail cannabis store as it grows in Alberta and the eve of expansion to an open Ontario market. Next part one of a two part interview with Lauren Freedman, President of the eTailing Group. Lauren literally wrote the book on eCommerce merchandising two decades ago with her landmark book “It’s Just Shopping”. We chat about the current state of eCommerce merchandising and customer expectations, and about the insights Wiseplum gathered in the Understanding the Canadian Consumer study. Then of course I’ll cover off the top retail news of the week, including the Sobey family donation to retail education, the Landmark $100-million gift to the University of Toronto from Gerald Schwartz and Indigo CEO Heather Reisman , ontario cannabis store opening update, Holts beautiful new expansions and another one bites the dust with Steve Dennis. It’s a milestone couple of weeks in Canada - RCC had their first Retail Cannabis forum, and Ontario opens up bricks + mortar retail. The RCC Retail Cannabis forum was a great morning, with Westleaf presenting their Prairie Records innovative cannabis store format, my panel covering in-store experience (check out the special edition of TVOR as I taped the panel), hiring advice both at the associate and executive level, and beating any stigma that might associate itself with the category - basically, be a great neighbour ! Good advice pretty much anywhere anytime! As part of my ongoing coverage of the roll out of retail cannabis, and Courtesy of my friends at Environics Analytics CannabisInsights, powered by Vividata, I share some really interesting insights about two markets, Edmonton and St. John’s If you liked this podcast you can subscribe on iTunes or your favourite podcast platform. I’m Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and company and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or on LinkedIn Join me again next week for part two of my interview with Lauren Freedman, and an exclusive interview with Frank Monteleone, Senior Vice President of HR for Rexall as we discuss digital strategies for attracting talent. And we’ll see how the Ontario Cannabis roll-out went. Until then, 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. 

Welcome to the Voice of Retail special Retail Cannabis Forum Store edition, I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this special edition podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada. Recorded live in Toronto March 26 at RCC’s first ever Retail Cannabis forum I moderated the Rethinking Traditional In-store Experience panel. According to Environics Analytics CannabisInsights, powered by Vividata, 29% of Canadians 19 and older have consumed cannabis, 41% of Canadians under the age 35 have consumed cannabis. Canada currently has 206 bricks and mortar retail cannabis locations, in all Provinces and Territories except for Ontario which opens up April 1 2019. Alberta leads with 75, Newfoundland with 25, Saskatchewan with 21, New Brunswick 20, B.C. 14, Quebec 13, North West Territories 5 and Yukon 1 in Whitehorse. What has become clear from the early sales numbers is that notwithstanding the availability of cannabis online, consumers seek out the in-store experience - as they do in traditional retail - it is a vital component of this sector of the industry Have a listen as we explore these issues on the Rethinking Traditional In-store experience panel RCC’s Retail Cannabis forum was generously supported by J Ross Retail Recruiters, Lift & Co., March Networks, Midfield and Spiritleaf, along with media partners Ad Standards, Cannabis Retailer and The Growth Op. I’m Michael LeBlanc Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc. and you can learn more about me at www.meleblanc.co , stay tuned for our next regular edition of the podcast available each and every Friday. If you like this edition please subscribe, rate it on iTunes and tell all your LinkedIn friends! 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.