RETHINK RETAIL

RETHINK Retail - the evolution of retail in today’s connected world.Join us as we explore the most recent trends and innovations in commerce.

RETHINK RETAIL is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 500 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts RETHINK RETAIL, a business show with 500 episodes published.

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  RETHINK RETAIL

  Retail Media's Investment Gap and How to Close It

  Sep 21, 202631 min

  Introducing Media Mondays. A new Rethink Retail series going inside the real strategies, real numbers, and real people building retail media from the ground up. In our debut episode, host Drew Cashmore, Chair of the Media in Retail Community, sits down with Austin Leonard, Vice President and General Manager of DG Media Network, to break down what it actually takes to build a retail media network and where this industry still has room to grow. INSIDE THE EPISODE: Retail media hasn't caught up to the rest of the investment story Core retail IT and martech have seen serious capital flow into them for years. Retail media hasn't seen the same investment yet, despite the precedent for it elsewhere. Proving this industry's importance, and its room to grow, is a job the whole space needs to take on together. This job isn't like other media jobs, and that's the point Coming from traditional media into retail media means rolling up your sleeves and learning an entirely different business, fast. The advice for anyone stepping into the space: be patient and impatient at the exact same time. 21,000+ stores aren't just footprint; they're the product Physical scale is the differentiator, not a byproduct. Leaning into what makes a retailer's stores unique shapes entirely different media products, and finding that "secret sauce" matters more than copying what works somewhere else. Listen above to hear how Austin is building Dollar General’s Media Network playbook, one investment, one hire, and one differentiator at a time

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  RETHINK RETAIL

  AI's Existential Risk Debate Hits Retail's Radar

  Sep 18, 202636 min

  Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup. This is your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce. In this week's episode, Jeremy Goldman sits down with Petr Lízner (Rohlik Group), Aidan Mittra (OrderGrid), and David Polinchock (Unified Brand Experience Lab) to unpack AI's growing safety debate, what it means to own the customer relationship as agents start shopping on our behalf, and where retail media is outpacing the core business. INSIDE THE EPISODE: The AI apocalypse debate isn't just a Silicon Valley conversation anymore An Anthropic researcher resigned this week, warning that frontier AI could pose existential risk within the decade. Separately, AI agents in a sandboxed test allegedly lied and self-terminated to cover their tracks. Both raise a real question for retail: how much should AI safety factor into decisions being made right now? AI shopping assistants have moved from experiment to expectation Instacart's Clementine and Shopify's Ask Shopify are turning prompts into ready-to-buy carts, and the data backs it up: AI-referred shoppers convert nearly 50% better, with 14% higher order values, per Shopify. Petr Lízner shares how Rohlik's own voice-enabled assistant, Maya, closed a customer's entire grocery order while he was driving, no typing required. Retail media is booming while grocery's core business isn't Kroger cut its full-year sales outlook to as low as 0.2% growth, even as Kroger Precision Marketing profit jumped 24%, its strongest growth since 2021. More grocers may be tempted to chase that same retail media playbook, even if it costs something in the in-store experience. Target's new "brand and guest experience" hire signals a bigger shift Target tapped former Hilton CMO Mark Weinstein to oversee brand, guest experience, Roundel, and Target Plus all at once. The real story may be treating loyalty and retail media as one connected discipline instead of two separate teams. Listen above for the full conversation on the trends making us rethink retail this week. Then check out "What's In Store," Renee Hartmann and Sharon Yourell Lawlor's new series, for a closer look inside Rohlik Group's own operations.

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  RETHINK RETAIL

  When Tariffs Hit, Calgary Co-op Doubled Down on Local

  Sep 16, 202614 min

  $27.6 billion in American goods now enters Canada facing a new tariff, 15%, 25%, or 50% depending on the product, as part of Canada's counter-tariffs on US goods. Dairy, general merchandise, and health and beauty are all caught in it, while Alberta's "Buy Alberta" campaign is pushing grocers to make Canadian products impossible to miss on the shelf For most retailers, that's a scramble. For Calgary Co-op, it's a confirmation. In this episode of the Global Lens podcast, Lavina Suthenthiran sits down with Walter Roth, Director, Digital Commerce & Retail Systems at Calgary Co-op, to find out what a sudden trade shock actually looks like on the ground, and why a 70-year-old, member-owned grocer says the tariffs haven't forced a single strategic pivot. INSIDE THE EPISODE: - Local sourcing isn't a response to tariffs; it's a head start Calgary Co-op was running "Best From the West" long before this trade war started: Alberta beef, Alberta chicken, Western Canadian goods, built into the business for years. So when tariffs hit, there was no scramble to relabel shelves. There was already a campaign running. - "Made in Canada" is a less reliable label than it looks "Made in Canada" turned out to be more complicated than a flag on a package. Some suppliers manufacture the same product in both countries so that identical packaging can carry a different origin week to week. Roth explains why Calgary Co-op built its strategy around regional sourcing instead of a label that couldn't always be trusted. - There's a fourth option beyond absorb, pass on, or swap Most retailers facing new tariffs pick from three familiar levers. Roth argues there's a fourth: wrap the product in enough customer education and experience that the tariffs become almost beside the point. Listen above to hear why Roth believes the real lesson, for any retailer, anywhere, is turning supply chain disruption into a customer story instead of a customer complaint.

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  RETHINK RETAIL

  How Seamless Tech Powers Human Connection

  Sep 14, 202617 min

  Retail technology has automated the back office for years, but the store floor has lagged, still running on manual gap scans and disconnected systems that pull associates away from the guest. Jerome Rose, SVP Strategic Sales at Vusion, and Mathew Toussaint, Vice President of Operational Processes & Labor, Guest Experience & Labor at The Fresh Market, join Jeremy Goldman to unpack how connected store technology can transform daily floor operations without losing the human connection at the center of the guest experience. INSIDE THE EPISODE: - Hospitality is the thing technology should protect, not perform. Technology should never try to perform hospitality. It should protect the conditions that make hospitality possible. Systems can monitor and prioritize. People still have to read the moment, care, and adapt. - A connected store isn't measured in devices. For Toussaint, a connected store starts with three things: the human experience, the operating condition, and the human return. The real test is whether technology absorbs the complexity backstage so the front-of-house experience stays calm, consistent, and personal. - Electronic shelf labels have outgrown pricing. ESLs increasingly do double duty. On the shopper-facing side, they've evolved into tools for merchandising and storytelling, sourcing, or wellness details beyond just a price. On the associate-facing side, many labels include a second screen entirely - one associates can flip to for real-time inventory levels without leaving the aisle. - Moving from hunting to acting changes what "available" means. Shelf availability and inventory aren't the same thing. A product can exist in the building and still not be available to a guest when they need it. Real-time shelf data lets teams detect, prioritize, replenish, and verify, instead of walking the aisle to find out what's already gone wrong. Listen above to hear how Vusion and The Fresh Market are approaching connected store technology as a way to give teams back their attention, not just their time.

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  RETHINK RETAIL

  Tariffs Hit Canada as AI Reshapes Product Discovery

  Sep 11, 202633 min

  Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup. This is your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce. In this week's episode, Jeremy Goldman sits down with Kimberly Morgan (CEO & Founder, The Fashion Tech Exec) and Ricardo Belmar (Founder, Retail Razor) to unpack the trade pressures, AI shifts, and brand loyalty questions reshaping retail this week. INSIDE THE EPISODE: CANADA's TARIFFS ARE FORCING A DIVERSIFICATION RECKONING Canada's new tariffs are pushing brands to ask how much revenue they can safely risk on a single retail account like Ulta, Sephora, or Walmart. The panel argues that the same risk is already playing out with shoppers. Once someone trades down to a cheaper brand, they rarely trade back. AI IS MOVING UPSTREAM IN SHOPPING, AND NO ONE OWNS IT YET Shoppers are increasingly starting their search in ChatGPT or Claude instead of a retailer's own site, and Anthropic's new agent blueprints are accelerating that shift. The panel agrees there is no one platform anymore, and argues retailers need to focus on being discoverable everywhere, rather than trying to control where the search starts. ANTHROPOLOGIE's NIKE BET IS A MASTERCLASS IN CATEGORY EXPANSION A 30% jump in customers searching Anthropologie for sneakers led the retailer to add Nike, its largest footwear brand yet. The panel argues curated expansion like this builds loyalty, while growth without focus confuses shoppers. Listen above for the full conversation on the trends making us rethink retail this week.

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