Future Shop Podcast with WSL: Recent Episodes
WSL
Our podcast focuses on how shoppers are transforming retail and what you need to do about it. Retail strategist and shopping futurist Wendy Liebmann shares her passionate, unvarnished shopper-centric view of where retail is headed. She interviews experts in retail, marketing, insights, design, education, and more. She and the WSL team regularly share excerpts from WSL’s latest proprietary shopper research about what’s coming next. The Future Shop Podcast is a no-holds-barred view of what shoppers want, what you need to deliver, who’s getting it right, and who’s getting it wrong. And why. In this fast and furious view, you will begin to understand how to anticipate the future that’s emerging right under your nose. WSL Strategic Retail is a leader in shopper insights and retail strategy. It helps clients around the world anticipate change in order to grow in the near and longer-term. It is recognized for its ground-breaking How America Shops® and How the World Shops research. Visit us at: www.wslstrategicretail.com
In this episode of Future Shop, Wendy Liebmann sits down with Kiri Masters, founder of the Retail Media Breakfast Club, to dissect the rapid evolution of the shopper journey in the age of generative AI. Using real-world buying experiences—from hair tools to refrigerators—they reveal how tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity are bypassing traditional retail homepages and sending consumers straight to product detail pages. This shift challenges the multi-billion-dollar foundation of modern retail media networks, forcing brands and retailers to rethink their advertising playbooks. Wendy and Kiri discuss why a low-price strategy isn't the only way to win, how Amazon’s AI shopping features change the ad economy, and why keeping an agile, "test-and-learn" mindset is the ultimate key to survival.
Highlights
- The Bypassed Homepage: How AI search engines send 55% of referred shoppers directly to the product detail page, completely missing traditional on-site ads.
- The Myth of the Lowest Price: Why convenience, timing, and brand ecosystem matter just as much as perfect price visibility in AI results.
- The Real Impact on Retail Media: What Amazon's Alexa Shopping (Rufus) means for the future economics of sponsored product listings.
- Incentives vs. Evolution: Why legacy retail media network goals might be slowing down the adoption of future-ready advertising models.
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In this episode of Future Shop, host Wendy Liebmann sits down with Rachel Marler, the North American Chief Commercial Officer for Lifestyles (the makers of SKYN condoms). Together, they explore the rapid evolution of the sexual and intimate wellness category from a restricted retail afterthought to a crucial pillar of holistic physical and mental health. From breaking retail stigmas and adapting to cross-generational shopper behaviors to tackling the modern epidemic of loneliness, this conversation uncovers the massive commercial and social opportunities awaiting forward-thinking brands and retailers.
Highlights
- The "Awakening" of America: How cultural shifts, open dialogues around menopause, and a post-pandemic desire for intimacy are making sexual wellness conversation mainstream for both men and women.
- Retail Stigmas vs. Innovation: A deep dive into the shortcomings of traditional retail merchandising—like dark, hidden aisles—and the immense opportunity to blend beauty and wellness into a cohesive store-of-the-future layout.
- Bridging Sex Tech & CPG: Exploring how challenger brands are using advanced materials, skincare ingredients (like hyaluronic acid), and digital education to outpace traditional products.
- The Surprising Growth Audience: Why baby boomers and divorcees are driving category growth and seeking vocal, empowered exploration in the intimate wellness space.
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In this episode of Future Shop, Wendy Liebmann sits down with the industry’s most plugged-in duo, Peter V.S. Bond and Sri Rajagopalan (The CPG Guys), to dissect a retail landscape currently in the throes of a "hot mess" transformation. They navigate the complex collision of agentic AI, the shifting power of retail media, and a growing leadership talent crisis. From why Target is struggling to the "intransigence" of Trader Joe's e-commerce stance, this conversation reveals why the old rules of retail no longer apply in a world where 100% of purchases are digitally influenced.
Highlights:
- The AI Pivot: Why brand websites are shifting from consumer journeys to LLM data repositories.
- The Retail Media Paradox: How budget silos are making retail media counterproductive for merchants.
- Talent Gaps: The urgent need for C-suite leaders to understand TikTok and social trends, not just P&L management.
- Store Evolution: Why the physical store must pivot to "high discovery" perimeter experiences while center-store moves online.
- Who’s Winning & Not: Retailers and brands who recognize why old rules don’t apply.
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In this episode of Future Shop, Wendy Liebmann sits down with renaissance man and ROAR Forward founder Michael Clinton to discuss his latest book, Longevity Nation. As life expectancies climb and today’s children face a 50% chance of living to 100, the “second half of life” is being completely rewritten. Michael shares how businesses, retailers, and individuals must adapt to a world where 74 is the new middle age and the 50+ cohort represents the most significant growth market in the global economy.
Highlights include:
- The 100-Year Life: Why a holistic approach to health, finance, and spirit is essential for modern longevity.
- The $15 Trillion Opportunity: How brands are missing out by ignoring the high-spending 50+ consumer.
- Global Innovation: Lessons from Asia on urban planning and public-private partnerships for an aging population.
- Future Tech: The role of AI and precision medicine in democratizing “cellular rejuvenation” and slowing the aging process.
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In this episode of Future Shop, Wendy Liebmann sits down with retail powerhouse Ali Kole to dissect the “accelerated evolution” of the beauty and wellness industry. Drawing on her extensive background at McKinsey, Amazon, and Sephora, Kole explores how technology—from back-end logistics to front-end AI—is empowering the modern, information-hungry consumer. They dive into the expansion of beauty demographics, the rise of specialized service models like “Dry Bar,” and why physical storefronts remain a critical “halo” for digital success in an increasingly saturated market.
Episode Highlights:
- Evolution, Not Revolution: Why current retail shifts are a continuation of long-term technological threads rather than an overnight disruption.
- The AI Distiller: How artificial intelligence acts as a tool to simplify “choice overload” for consumers overwhelmed by data.
- Widening Demographics: Exploring the growth opportunities in neglected markets, including Gen Alpha, menopause wellness, and the 50+ demographic.
- The “Store Halo” Effect: Data showing that physical neighborhood locations significantly boost local e-commerce performance and customer loyalty.
- Specialized Services: The movement toward making elite medical and aesthetic services more democratic and accessible.
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As we transition into 2026, the retail landscape is being reshaped by two powerful, seemingly opposite forces: the rapid ascent of autonomous AI and a growing hunger for authentic human connection. In this special year-in-review, Wendy Liebmann reflects on a transformative period of “perpetual chaos,” where shoppers are seizing control of their journeys amid economic and global uncertainty. From the rise of “agentic commerce” to the rebranding of pharmacies as “temples of care,” this episode explores how the most successful brands are throwing out old silos to meet the shopper where they live, breathe, and seek wellness.
Highlights:
- The Agentic Shift: How autonomous AI agents are moving beyond simple search to actively defining new shopper experiences and pricing strategies.
- Retail in Chaos: Insights into how shoppers are “treading water” or “drowning” and the ways they are taking back control of their spending.
- The “Vibe” Factor: Why Gen Z’s path to purchase relies on sensory environments and physical touch as a counterbalance to screen time.
- Temples of Care: A look at how giants like Walmart and niche European designers are transforming healthcare into accessible community hubs.
- Breaking the Last Frontier: Why women’s sexual health and menopause are finally disrupting traditional wellness categories.
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This podcast episode of Future Shop features WSL’s Wendy Liebmann and Elia Auchane as they recap their recent trip to Cosmoprof North America in Miami. Together, they explore the shifting landscape of the beauty industry, questioning if the sector is “tapped out” while identifying the viral trends, from K-Beauty to Middle Eastern fragrances, that are currently dominating the global market. Through the lens of retail curation and the “toyification” of beauty, they break down how social media and community building have replaced traditional marketing as the primary engines of growth.
Episode Highlights
- The Clash of Worlds: Why the ~~“sleepy,”~~ clinical minimalism of K-Beauty and the “glossy,” over-the-top opulence of Middle Eastern fragrances dominated the show floor.
- The TikTok Feed Come to Life: How trade shows have evolved into live content sets for influencers and social media brands.
- Fragrance Wardrobing: The shift from having a “signature scent” to collecting affordable, viral fragrances based on mood.
- Retail as Curator: Why small-footprint, discovery-focused environments like airport shops are becoming the gold standard for beauty retail.
- Beyond the Desk: The importance of Retail Safaris® and physical immersion to understand where the competition is actually spending.
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Join host Wendy Liebmann as she sits down with Kelsie Johnston, a retail strategist with a career spanning Macy’s, Walmart, Coty, and most recently, TikTok. In this episode of Future Shop, Kelsie breaks down the seismic shift from traditional omnichannel retail to the exploding world of social commerce and the dawn of “Agentic AI.” They discuss why brands and retailers must move beyond transactional selling to build genuine community and trust in an era where algorithms and AI agents will soon curate what we buy.
Highlights:
- From Omnichannel to Agentic: Tracing the evolution of shopping from “buy online, pickup in store” to AI-driven discovery.
- The TikTok Strategy: Why the platform is less about selling and more about fueling the “trust signals” of the future.
- Fast vs. Slow: Understanding the modern shopper's desire for friction-free speed or immersive, slow retail experiences.
- Retailer Advice: Why prioritizing pace and psychological safety is critical for legacy brands trying to survive the next disruption.
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In this episode of Future Shop, Wendy Liebmann sits down with Christi Geary, EVP at Advantage Marketing Partners, to explore the evolving landscape of retail and the enduring power of the human connection. They dive into the intersection of technology and emotion, discussing why physical retail remains vital despite the digital explosion and how brands must shift from simple execution to true transformation. Geary shares her unique perspective on breaking through the "mediocrity middle" by leveraging behavioral science and proprietary points of view to create harmonious shopping experiences.
Highlights include:
- The Attention Economy: Why breaking through the noise has become a different task in the age of constant technological shifts.
- Physical Retail’s Reinvention: Why the "race for reinvention" stalled and how retailers can tap into the human thirst for physical connection.
- AI as Augmentation: Moving beyond mere efficiency to use technology as a tool for enhancing the human shopping journey.
- Systems Over Silos: The necessity of breaking down corporate barriers to create a cohesive, shopper-centric ecosystem.
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In this episode of Future Shop, Wendy Liebmann sits down with retail veteran Andy Murray to dissect the conflicting forces impacting the modern shopper. From the bifurcated "K-shaped" economy to the rise of "vibe shopping" among Gen Z, Andy shares insights from his time at Walmart, ASDA, and P&G, and his current work with the University of Arkansas. Together, they explore a critical paradox: as technology like Agentic AI advances, the human need for physical touch and sensory retail experiences is growing stronger.
Key Highlights:
- The Muddy Middle: How the economy has split shoppers into value-seekers and luxury buyers, leaving a complex "middle" that is harder to define.
- Gen Z & Transparency: Why younger shoppers are using apps like Yuka to demand total ingredient transparency and how they are leading the charge back to physical stores.
- The KPI Problem: Why traditional channel-based metrics are stifling innovation and why retailers must shift to a total customer view.
- AI vs. Humanity: The danger of using AI solely for efficiency and the urgent need to develop "humanist" skills to coexist with Agentic AI.
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann and Justin Honaman (Amazon Web Services) dive into the chaotic yet exciting world of retail and technology as 2025 wraps up. From AI’s real-world impact on commerce to the rise of “agentic AI,” they explore what’s truly changing the business—and what’s just hype. They also touch on talent, innovation, loyalty, and what brands should expect heading into NRF 2026.
Highlights:
- How retailers and brands are preparing for Q4 2025 and beyond
- What “agentic AI” really means for commerce and customer experience
- Why data, not just technology, is key to resilience and growth
- The talent challenge: hiring and training in the age of automation
- Innovation meets pragmatism—how to balance AI efficiency with human connection
- What to expect at NRF 2026 and the next wave of retail transformation
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann sits down with April Showers, the founder of Afro Unicorn®, a brand born from purpose, community, and the need for representation. They discuss how April’s personal passion and smart retail partnerships brought her vision to life.
Highlights:
- How Afro Unicorn grew from T-shirts to Walmart shelves and national recognition
- Why purpose and community are central to building modern brands at retail
- The role of retail partners like Walmart and CVS in nurturing new voices
- Lessons for retailers on inclusion, authenticity, and growth
- April’s lessons on staying true to your “why”
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In this milestone episode, Wendy Liebmann celebrates 100 episodes of Future Shop with WSL’s newest Director of Research & Insights, Rich Kaminski. Together, they unpack the latest How America Shops® in Chaos study — revealing how shoppers are navigating a world defined by constant disruption, rising prices, and shifting trust in retailers. From Gen Z to Boomers, everyone’s learning how to stay afloat in an endless wave of change.
Episode highlights:
- The evolving shopper mindset after two decades of “Black Swan” events
- Three shopper groups: Drowning, Treading Water, and Safely Afloat
- Why trust and emotional connection now drive retail loyalty
- How shoppers are adapting their spending without cutting retailers out
- The psychology of chaos — and what brands must do to stay on the list
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Gina Zilleox, Senior Director Category Management, Glanbia Performance Nutrition about the need to make dramatic assumptions about the competitive landscape in order to thrive in the future.
They discuss:
- Whether or not category management, as we know it, is dead.
- How essential it is to broaden the perspective of what a category is, especially – but not only -- if you are in the health and wellness space
- The importance of building a needs-based segmentation approach
- The challenge of pricing transparency in a world of AI
- Where and how to look for white space growth opportunities
- What it takes to build individualized strategies for retail partners to ensure mutual success
- How the only way to succeed is with an omni-channel approach to category management
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to regular guest Justin Honaman, Global Head, Restaurants, Retail & Consumer Goods Business Development at Amazon Web Services, about what’s now – and next – as technology transforms retail and consumer goods businesses.
They discuss:
- Retail sales and the tension between inflation, tariffs and spending
- Managing pricing as shoppers shop and buy across multiple channels, with agentic AI guiding their journey
- Build loyalty and deliver customer experience as shoppers buy across so many channels
- The normalization of chaos: who are the retail winners – and losers
- Planning for the next disruption, and 2026
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Amanda Coussoule, Chief Customer Officer at Kenvue, Marla Fielder, Health & Wellness Leader at Kroger and Sharon Glass, Global VP, OTC & Pharma at InMarket, about how to transform organizations in challenging retail times.
They discuss:
- Knowing when to use “soft” or “hard” influence to move organizations to change
- The importance of situational awareness and emotional intelligence as AI grows
- How, in today’s fast moving retail environment, it is essential to get out of the office, to engage with consumers, shoppers and colleagues in real time, to create more human engagement, and be ever curious
- The need to be transparent, to provide history and context when making significant changes
- How to engage younger generations: when to say, “just do it” and when to be more empathetic
- The importance of being consistent and authentic – with colleagues and partners – in times of dramatic change
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Liza Rapay, Vice President, Head of Cosmoprof North America, and Founder of Beauty New York, about the importance of bringing industry, innovators and consumers together to grow the beauty business in chaotic times.
They discuss:
- The importance of connecting the industry in-person to build relationships, and drive innovation, education and growth
- How the beauty industry has changed: the influence of small brands from around the globe; the impact of consumers as brand builders; and the growing number of places to shop for beauty in a digital age
- What beauty means to consumers today and the breadth of categories that participate
- What it takes to ensure beauty remains resilient in challenging economic times
- The role Cosmoprof’s US events in Las Vegas, Miami and soon in New York City play in connecting and growing the industry
- What the industry – brands and retailers – need to do to ensure beauty remains relevant in the coming years
Get Your Tickets to Beauty New York Here!
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Anna Mayo, NielsenIQ VP Beauty Vertical, and WSL Strategic Retail’s Elia Auchane and Katie Hornsby about the importance of collaboration to drive innovation at retail.
They discuss:
- In challenging retail times, how critical it is to inspire new thinking
- The power of bringing different companies and different disciplines to address critical challenges and define new opportunities
- How WSL Strategic Retail’s Retail Safari® gets people away from their desks to experience and learn from innovative retail concepts often outside their own areas of expertise
- WSL and NIQ’s collaboration that connects consumer and shopper insights to drive inspiration across disciplines to affect change
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Fiona Sartoretto Verna, retail architect and co-leader of the company Sartoretto Verna™, founded by her grandfather to reshape the global pharmacy landscape. Today, the company has designed pharmacies in over 48 countries, including the US.
Episode Highlights:
- How her family company was founded to create a “temple of care”, rather than merely a dispensary
- How the model of US health care retail is obsolete, and requires new thinking to be profitable
- The importance of building health care retail that reflects each community it serves
- Creating unique experiences for younger and older patients (shoppers), pharmacies can no longer be one-size-fits-all.
- The role of technology in delivering not only efficiency but a customized, personalized health care selling experience
- Insights from other countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Italy, that are relevant for the reinvention of US health care
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Justin Honaman, Head of Worldwide Retail & Consumer Goods Business Development at Amazon Web Services, about the impact of the latest technologies transforming business.
They discuss:
- How generative AI is the next big thing – at least for a moment.
- How the issues are around tariffs have turned CPG and retail conversations back to supply chain – for the moment.
- How AI is now part of every business discussion -- and not the next big thing.
- How companies win in this new technology age only if the CEO is totally engaged.
- And, the continuing speed at which everything is changing. Fast.
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Kevin Host, SVP Health & Wellness Pharmacy at Walmart about how the retailer is bringing accessible health care to communities across the US, every day and in times of crisis.
They discuss:
- The ongoing challenges to delivering easy to access pharmacy and medical care in the US
- How Walmart is bringing solutions to “health deserts”
- The ways technology – from automatic pharmacy fills to home delivery -- are enabling pharmacists to deliver healthier patients outcomes, easier access and better in-store experiences
- Walmart’s “health strategy” that involves, more affordable nutritional options, Nourish My Health
- How other countries are addressing the challenges of health coverage
- Accessible health care in times of weather-related crises
- And, the role of drones, new store formats, parking lots and more.
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Anna Harman, CEO and co-founder of Studs, the specialty ear piercing and earring retailer, with 33+ stores and e-commerce site, founded in 2019 just in time for Covid.
They discuss:
- Going from corporate law to Walmart innovation lab to opening Studs.
- Creating a unique brand ecosystem through quality products, hospitality, and people.
- Learning early how to be good at dealing with emergencies to adapt a business model quickly in chaotic times.
- TikTok and Instagram's critical role in building awareness of the brand’s unique customer experience.
- Why the mall is not dead as a point of distribution (but it needs to be the right mall).
- The role of unique (odd?) collaborations (like food) to grow awareness.
- Being ego-less, listening to customers, and not being reluctant to adapt fast.
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Keith Sleight, expert in “shopping understanding”, who most recently lead the Shopper Centre of Excellence at Unilever, about the state of shopper insights and where it’s headed.
They discuss:
- The biggest changes in the shopper research field over the last five years
- How “connected commerce” has changed how companies need to study shopping behaviors
- How we have more data than ever, but not necessarily more insight -- or context
- The impact of AI on research and analytics
- The lost art of observation and small data
- How to build a modern relevant organization (clue: break down the silos, and get people away from their desks and into stores)
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Diana Melencio, partner at XRC Ventures, an investor in the early-stage intersection of consumer behavior and technology, and its investment approach in the health, beauty, and technology sectors.
They discuss:
- How XRC finds opportunities (one way: scraping the web)
- The touchpoints of the consumer journey that have become so critical in understanding opportunities
- The challenges of growth when physical retail is shrinking, where stores will become showrooms, and DTC profitability is a challenge
- Retailers who win are those at the forefront of testing new things in growth marketing and performance marketing
- How AI is a must for accelerating growth opportunities
- How Retail Media is fast becoming the profit center for many retailer
- The concern for brands in the middle and their potential race to the bottom
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Justin Honaman, Head, Worldwide Retail & Consumer Goods Business Development at Amazon (AWS) about innovation and what expertise -- technology and people driven -- is required to build a modern company.
They discuss:
- Real life use cases for how AI – and generative AI – is transforming work for retailers and brands, whether it’s product design or writing corporate manuals.
- How to innovate in the future. Where to go to be inspired. They discuss places beyond the obvious.
- How critical it is to get out of the office, and your aisles – and take your teams with you.
- Why big brands and retailers are being disrupted every day. (Statis is not a long-term growth strategy).
- What people skills will be required in 2030 and beyond (it’s not what you think).
- How excited they are about the future of commerce.
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Joanna Jensen, founder of Child’s Farm, the British multi-award winning, baby and child personal care brand that took leadership of the category from behemoth Johnson’s Baby.
They discuss:
- How to take on the biggest brand and win.
- Why passion so often leads to disruptive brand and retail innovation.
- That the spending power of women will drive growth – now and in the future.
- Why the physical store still matters: it’s the power of social interaction.
- The importance of retaining a challenger brand mentality, after a business is acquired by large organizations
- How to build a relevant work culture: it’s in person, lifestyle relevant and health supported. (Yes, menopause support makes a difference, for women and men.)
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Catherine Magee, co-founder of Playground, the sexual health and wellness brand, about the opportunities and challenges facing this newly emerging area of women’s health.
They discuss:
- How sexual health and wellness is the last frontier of overall health and wellness.
- That 60 million women in the US suffer from some sexual health or pleasure issue often driven by a life stage change such as pregnancy, peri-menopause or menopause.
- How social media is creating a greater openness.
- The urgency to transition from outdated category definitions and shaming into vernacular that is more relevant and positive.
- How new products and categories are emerging quickly, and will bring a modern openness to the retail aisle (physical or digital)
- That retailers across channels, from Target to Ulta to Nordstrom, see the opportunity.
- Challenges of building a women-first brand centered around women’s pleasure and health needs, and where future investment is required to capture the massive opportunity.
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Justin Honaman, Head of Worldwide Retail & Consumer Goods Business Development for Amazon Web Services. They preview 2025, and what winning companies are doing – and need to do – to capitalize on the latest technology…and other things.
They discuss:
- The continuing tension around pricing.
- How AI is quickly becoming ingrained into the everyday business culture; from supply chain to CRM, ecommerce and marketing transformation
- The state and future of retail media
- How to leverage technology in new ways to drive personalization and loyalty
- In-store technology, including self-checkout, are being embraced.
- New ways for brands and retailers to collaborate
- The re-emergence – and dangers -- of silo-ism
- A call to action to get out from behind our desks to immerse ourselves beyond data, and categories, to see all the innovation and opportunity
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Norm de Greve, Global CMO of General Motors, and former CMO of CVS Health, about transforming industries, retailers and companies, and the role marketing plays.
They discuss:
- How to keep the shopper with you as you manage dramatic change
- The importance of protecting the shopping experience during transformation
- How not to become a victim of short-term profitability while investing in change
- How to keep your eye on the product and the experience it delivers
- The importance of creating distinctive innovation – be it health care or cars
- The role of digital and CRM in personalizing the experience – for cars or for care.
- How transforming cars and health care is not that different
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Jacqueline Windsor, partner in Strategy and Deals for the Consumer Market and UK Head of Retail, PwC, London about the differences and similarities between the UK and US consumer and retail markets, and where to find growth in the coming years.
They discuss:
- Unlocking the power of consumer tribes vs. demographic segments.
- The role of the store (a clue: it’s no longer a transactional channel alone).
- How to build a successful omni strategy; how many stores you need, and what a profitable digital model looks like.
- Reassessing category management: where private brands fit, and the role legacy brands.
- What personalization really means to shoppers.
- How to navigate “vibecession”.
- The framework for growth for the coming years.
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to WSL’s president, Candace Corlett about the emerging Gen A population, and other opportunistic shopper segments that can drive much needed retail growth in the near future.
They discuss:
- The size of the Gen A cohort. What makes them unique.
- Whether Gen A is ready for prime-time shopping or merely influencers. At least for now.
- Why the 50+ population is the bigger opportunity today – and ripe to drive retail growth.
- Immediate opportunities to support Caregivers – younger and older shoppers stressed by their new everyday roles – and drive traffic and sales growth
- Implications for brand and retail trust and loyalty, reflected in the current fractious political and social environment
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In this episode Wendy Liebmann talks to Michael Wysong, CEO of Care Pharmacies about the challenges and opportunities to deliver health care at retail in the future.
They discuss:
- How to deliver more personalized, local health care the way people need and want it in times of great complexity
- Learning from diverse operators, with unique propositions
- Using technology, including AI, to enhance the relationship with patients
- How to create intimacy in retail relationships in order to deliver more personal care
- The opportunity to support the fast-growing population of caregivers
- The implications of medical innovations such as GLP-1s, the solutions they provide, and the challenges they create
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Debbie Kelly, WSL’s director of insights, about the latest How America Shops® research that reveals how often unrecognized populations shifts can drive traffic and volume growth.
They discuss:
- How marketers need to look beyond traditional demographic stereotypes for growth in the future.
- Why single-person and multi-generational households provide some of the biggest traffic and volume opportunities now -- and will in the future.
- How weekly shopping trips and locations are quickly being transformed. Walmart is leading the way.
- The implications for everything from product size and packaging, to the places that people now shop offline and online – and will.
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Wendy Liebmann, WSL’s CEO and Chief Shopper and Justin Honaman, Head of Worldwide Retail & CPG, GTM & Segment Leader for Food & Beverages for Amazon Web Services, continue discussions about emerging technology and the implications for the future of retail.
They discuss:
- The tension points at retail: prices, efficiency and where to invest.
- AI: is it hype or not? New and different ways to use AI to become more efficient
- Personalization and composable commerce, and what that looks like from a modernization perspective
- Increasing investment in tech in new store openings
- Retail media – what’s next? Who’s winning?
- Not throwing the baby out with the bath water. How to maintain the best of the old while adopting the new.
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Visit our website for transcripts and video podcasts. Subscribe and rate us with your favorite podcast app!
In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Sri Rajagopalan, co-founder and co-host of The GPG Guys and founder of Think Blue, about the fast-changing dynamics of retail, what’s plaguing board rooms, and what retail leaders needs to address right now.
They discuss:
- Retail’s number one problem post-Covid: driving volume
- How digital influences virtually every purchase
- Why the role of the in-store end cap is significantly diminished now
- The urgent need for marketers to get away from their data and their desks to see what’s going on at the shelf (and why DSD companies have the edge because they’re in the stores all the time)
- The erosion of national brand shelf space (by smaller and private brands)
- Why (old world) full-funnel marketing is more essential than ever. (Lower-funnel is not the answer.)
- How consumer-centricity is key to all decisions. (No argument from us!)
- Why investing in innovation is more important than ever.
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Reema Jweied-Guegel, Director, AARP Enterprise Strategy Group about the growing population of caregivers, who they are, the challenges they face, and how retailers and brands can support them.
They discuss:
- WSL’s latest How America Shops® research which indicates that 6/10 Americans take care of someone’s health other than their own,
- That a growing number of caregivers are Gen Z and younger Millennials.
- What the caregivers’ lives of perpetual juggling are like.
- What caregivers need to make their lives easier, less stressful, more affordable; from expert advice to convenience to value, and the role technology can play.
- That caregivers also need to take care of themselves, and the opportunity to provide empathy, and support.
- The role retail, brands and organizations like AARP can do to support the caregiver of the future. It’s a growing commercial opportunity.
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Claudia Lloreda, founder and general manager of Blush-Bar, the Latin American beauty specialty retailer about creating a unique beauty experience for Gen Z shoppers.They discuss:
- How to create a unique beauty retail experience for Gen Z, by challenging the established order
- Why sustaining a clear shopper-led vision – and passion – is so critical to success
- The importance of creating an experience that reflects the values and needs of younger shoppers (e.g., sustainability, mental health)
- The importance of the in-store beauty advisor and service for younger shoppers
- The role of social media and ecommerce in building Blush-Bar
- How to adapt the product focus to different LatAm beauty cultures
- Learnings for Hispanic beauty shoppers in the US, and
- The power of pink bunnies
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Lindsey Braun, Vice President of Research & Operations at HABRI (the Human Animal Bond Research Institute) about the power of pets to positively impact the health and wellbeing of people – and retail.
They discuss:
- The science behind the pet–human connection and the power pets have to change lives. (It’s real.)
- How having a pet can improve overall health and wellbeing, including mental health, autism, and medical outcomes
- With the ageing of America, the role pets can plan in reducing loneliness, even caregiving
- The positive effects of pet friendly workplaces
- Why retailers such as Walmart, Petco and others continue to enhance their pet services
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann, WSL’s CEO and Chief Shopper talks to Helena Foulkes, current board member of Costco & Harry’s, former president of CVS Pharmacy and CEO and Board Member of the Hudson’s Bay Company, amongst other roles.
They discuss:
- Her reflections on the pandemic: What she has learned about retail, leadership and the future.
- How and why the power dynamic shifted from manufacturer to retailer to technology -- and now to consumers.
- The lasting effects of the pandemic. (It’s not technology.)
- The power of community, and the role retail.
- How companies can prosper in times of paradox and complexity.
- The big opportunity in the consumerization of healthcare.
- What makes for future retail winners and losers (a clue: people and innovation, not AI).
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann, WSL’s CEO and Chief Shopper talks to Mara Sipzener, General Manager of Loyalty at CVS Pharmacy about what’s driving all the recent activity and upgrades to retail loyalty programs.
They discuss:
- What shoppers expect to be loyal today
- Why CVS, Walmart, Target Bath & Body Works, and others have upgraded their programs recently
- How loyalty programs need to focus on not only delivering affordability (discounts) but also convenience and personalization
- How the new shopper journey (and all the many touchpoints) needs to be part of a meaningful program
- Best-in-class loyalty programs (a hint: REI is one)
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Wendy Liebmann, WSL’s CEO and Chief Shopper and Justin Honaman, Head of Worldwide Retail & CPG, GTM & Segment Leader for Food & Beverages for Amazon Web Services, continue discussions about emerging technology and the implications for the future of retail.
They discuss:
- How quickly companies are integrating generative AI into operating systems
- Efficiency plays that are delivering better access to information and images faster
- The intense focus on stores and how new technologies are impacting in-store experience, through physical store technology
- The implications for loyalty programs and retail media
- Overall, the importance of unified commerce to create a truly meaningful customer experience
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Craig Dubitsky, founder of Happy™ products, about his recent launch of Happy™ Coffee, his partnership with Robert Downey Jr., and how philanthropy is embedded in reinventing the category at retail.
They discuss:
- What it takes to be a serial entrepreneur (a clue: it’s being obsessed with people)
- How to disrupt massive, CPG categories, including home care, lip care, oral care and now coffee
- Building a unique business model based on bringing happiness to everyday categories at affordable prices
- Finding the right retailers who understand and can articulate the emotional opportunity on the shelf
- How to embed philanthropy into a brand to make a real difference to people’s mental health and wellbeing
- The importance of design in creating something people want and use everyday
- Forgetting the usual business buzzwords and focusing on – and articulating – what people want and need to be happy
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to WSL Retail Strategy Consultant, Elia Auchane, and Retail Innovation Manager, Allie Chilicki, about curating a Retail Safari® at the inaugural Cosmoprof Miami event. And the power of connecting in store and on the convention floor.
They discuss:
- A behind-the-scenes view to customizing the perfect Retail Safari®
- Best-in-class retailers in the Latin-inspired Miami market
- The power of people to build emotional engagement at retail, at Nike and at Aesop
- How Amazon and Ulta unlocked the challenges of doing business today
- The excitement of seeing AI at work, IRL
- Opportunities that emerged when retailers, brands and service companies from Latin and South America and the US came together in Miami
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Alex Gourlay, Executive Chair of Holland & Barrett, the UK’s leading wellness retailer, and formerly Executive Vice President and Co-Chief Operating Officer of Walgreens Boots Alliance, and President of Walgreens about the future of health care retailing.
They discuss:
- The generational opportunities in health care (from food to pharmacy)
- How younger people are much more proactive in taking care of their health, and how longevity means opportunity to support older people with solutions for a continued healthy life
- The power of the pharmacist and the importance of maintaining personal relationships with customers
- How technology creates great opportunity for personalization with shared data to deliver specific one-to-one solutions
- The power of physical retail that is simplified, edited and organized by solutions
- Early “green shoots” of integrated health care, but with much more opportunity still to come to build “a magic box”
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In this Cloud Chat episode, Wendy Liebmann, WSL’s CEO and Chief Shopper and Justin Honaman, Head of Worldwide Retail & CPG, GTM & Segment Leader for Food & Beverages for Amazon Web Services, continue Cloud Chat, a short, sharp take on emerging technology and the implications for the future of retail.
They discuss:
- The year ahead: the yin and yang of the economy, technology and how companies – and shoppers -- are responding, and will
- How slow some companies have been to respond to personalization.
- The urgency to test generative AI and its power to enhance customer experience, and company efficiency
- The need to stop silo-ing e-commerce from the rest of organizations
- Best-of-breed technologies, and what’s to come
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Maly Bernstein, CEO, Bluemercury, the luxury specialty beauty retailer, about her vision for the future of beauty retail and how her strategy is coming to life neighborhood by neighborhood.
They discuss:
- What makes Bluemercury shoppers unique
- The focus on personalized skincare – both products and services
- The importance of new categories and private brands
- The new store format, with its “modern residential” focus, in-store service bars, master classes and other events that are driving shopper engagement and loyalty
- How wellness is delivered through unique products, partnerships services, and human experiences
- The role technology and AI will play in the future to enhance service and customer experience
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to WSL’s president Candace Corlett about the latest How America Shops® research that reveals how Americans are feeling (not happy), and what that means for 2024 and beyond (challenging).
They discuss:
- How shoppers see the challenges for their standard of living in 2024, and what they plan to do about it.
- The lack of innovation that leaves shoppers wanting – with little inspiration to pay more.
- Where shoppers will actually spend more in 2024 – categories, services and retail experiences. There are some.
- New ways shoppers are defining convenience, value and values. There’s a whole new vernacular emerging.
- And lots of surprising white space opportunities (segments of shoppers, categories and more….). Hint: Pet Owners.
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann, WSL’s CEO and Chief Shopper and Justin Honaman, Head of Worldwide Consumer Goods at AWS, continue Cloud Chat, a short, sharp, sometimes provocative take on emerging technology and the implications for the future of retail.
They discuss:
- The holiday season – binge or bust – and implications for 2024
- What’s up – and down – with Generative AI
- E-commerce and creating a more flexible platform
- Soon-to-be-revealed AI use cases from brands and retailers
- All in 10 minutes or less.
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Muriel Gonzalez, President, The Vitamin Shoppe about how the pandemic brought her out of retirement to lead the transformation of street corner vitamin shop into a model of 21st century wellness.
They discuss:
- The keys to transforming a store for fitness jocks into one for anyone on a wellness journey
- How to manage fast-emerging categories and products in the health and wellness space, from hydration to sports fitness, from menopause to immunity
- Working with young entrepreneurs and the power of influencers and social media
- The importance of the “health enthusiasts” staff in helping shoppers make sense of all the news -- and noise.
- Creating value in the heavily discounted vitamin category
- How to create a reason for quick trips and longer-term loyalty
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Alissa Hsu Lynch, formerly of Google and Johnson & Johnson, about the consumerization of technology in health care, and the implications for consumer packaged goods companies and retail.
They discuss:
- Google’s utilization of 10x thinking to create radical solutions
- How technology will provide better outcomes and more affordable access to health care
- The success of consumerizing technology in health care is staying focused on real consumer needs
- How wearables will evolve and provide more insight into everyday lives over time.
- How digital tools, like generative AI, plus real people will provide better outcomes.
- What will come next – from advances in sensors to prescription digital therapeutics for mental health, and the implications for retail
- The urgency to build integrated teams – across brand, R&D, marketing, media, user experience
- How data is key to it all
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann, WSL’s CEO and Chief Shopper, and Justin Honaman, Head of Worldwide Retail & CPG, GTM & Segment Leader for Food & Beverages for Amazon Web Services, introduce Future Shop’s Cloud Chat – a short, sharp, sometimes provocative take on emerging technology and the implications for the future of retail.
They discuss:
- Generative AI…of course
- The need to explore proofs of concepts and piloting…fast
- New focus on data for legacy brands…good news and not
- Real opportunities for upstart brands to use new tech…take heed legacy brands
- Compossible commerce…and more
- All in 10 minutes or less.
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Justin Lafoe, most recently Executive Vice President of Marketing and Merchandising for Trader Joe’s and, prior to that, SVP of Merchandising & Retail, Disney Parks, Experience & Products, where he worked for 25 years.
They discuss:
- How delivering a relevant shopper experience has changed as a result of technology and COVID.
- How deep understanding of changing shopper expectations is essential to building relevant experiences.
- How the role of the physical store is more important than ever.
- Why retail icons, such as Starbucks, known for delivering extraordinary experiences have lost their way.
- How essential it is to engage all constituencies: employees and shoppers in order to deliver a compelling retail experience.
- The challenges to retailers and brands when values are so politicized.
- The role of a company’s culture in delivering the right customer experience at retail.
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to six industry leaders about key trends that will impact retail in 2024-2025. Listen to:
- Susan Lang, CEO, XIL Health
- Michael Clinton, CEO & Founder, ROARForward
- Parbinder Dhariwal, VP & General Manager, CMX, CVS Health
- Dawn Clark, Co-founder & Principal Architect, Osean Studios
- Justin Honaman, Head Worlwide Retail & CPG, GTM, Food/Beverage, Amazon Web Services
- Lisa Paley, President, North America, Haleon
They discuss:
- The health and wellness revolution at retail, and how to define women’s wellness.
- The new generation cohort driving growth: how 50+ consumers are the big opportunity now.
- Personalization, retail media, and how one-to-one marketing is finally in retail’s sights.
- The role of the physical store: now a place of engagement, not more stuff.
- How AI has already transformed business. Now what?
- The urgency to create a modern corporate culture; engaging internal and external constituencies to grow.
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to WSL’s president Candace Corlett about the latest How America Shops® research that addresses the foundational changes in shopper sentiment and behavior as a result of five years of turmoil. (That’s right, it’s not only about the pandemic.)
They discuss:
- The paradox of shoppers’ “just in case” approach to spending versus treating themselves
- The paradox of shopping in many, many more places – channels, stores, digital – versus wanting to make their shopping lives easier
- The paradox of the new shopper journey
- The paradox of what makes a brand – and the real challenges to national brands from private brands (not private label)
- The paradox of how shoppers are taking care – and control -- of their own health and wellbeing
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Noah Rosenblatt, president, SpaceNK North America, about the company’s unique retail model, and how to straddle Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, and Walmart all at the same time.
They discuss:
- Why the changing beauty landscape exemplifies where retail at large is headed
- How to successfully straddle luxury and mass distribution at the same time
- How the pandemic opened the door to a partnership model that brings prestige to a broader audience
- The key to curating categories, brands and price points efficiently to suit the moment
- Why successful retail today is about accessibility and affordability
- How technology enables a better service environment in mass retail, and overcomes staff shortages in luxury retail
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Parbinder Dhariwal, VP & General Manager of CMX, at CVS Health, about the evolution of Retail Media Networks and the opportunity they offer to create more personalized shopping experiences.
They discuss
- Whether this is the moment of one-to-one shopper personalization.
- The challenge of digitizing a traditionally analog retail business
- How Retail Media Networks must be consumer-led and add value through the increasingly fragmented shopper journey.
- How to enable consumers to discover products within categories or adjacent areas, and then become a recommendation engine.
- The responsibility to utilize data and assets to understand consumers to enhance their lives, and their health and wellness journey and deliver the right message to the right person at the right time.
- How CVS’s CMX is staying true to its purpose to benefit CVS shoppers on their health and wellness journey.
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Michael Clinton, author of ROARinto the Second Half of Your Life - Before It’s Too Late, andCEO and Founder of ROARforward, a joint venture with Hearst Ventures.
They discuss:
- The new 50+ cohort and the social movement driving change in the developed world, as people live longer.
- One-third of the population is already 50-plus with substantial – and growing spending power.
- They're not brand loyal. They're blowing up all of the stereotypes, rejecting brands and retailers where they don't feel they represent them accurately.
- How marketing strategy and merchandising approaches need to be rethought.
- How understanding this new cohort is critical for business, employees, brands, and retailers.
- The implications for brands and retailers – most of whom are currently getting an F grade.
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In this episode Wendy Liebmann talks to Susan Lang, founder of XIL Health, a women-owned healthcare analytics and technology company that advises major corporations on health care strategy and invests in healthcare startups. In her prior life, she was a senior executive at Express Scripts, and has spent her entire life working in healthcare.
They discuss:
- Healthcare at retail in the next 3 - 5 - 10 years through the lens of patients/consumers/shoppers. With advice for CPG companies and retailers
- The role of the front store and in-store clinics in the future
- New health categories that are emerging
- The impact virtual medical care will have in the future; for which patients and conditions (even pets get a mention)
- New technology advances, including AI
- The shift from “self care” to “self control”
- What “Women’s Wellness” really means
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In this issue:
Wendy Liebmann talks to Debbie Kelly, the new Director of Insights at WSL, about WSL’s latest How America Shops® study, entitled Leading Shoppers From Troubles to Joy.
They discuss:
- After three years of the pandemic, how shoppers are making different decisions about what brings them joy, and what’s still only about the lowest price.
- What makes for joyful shopping in these inflationary times.
- New shopper segmentation based on how shoppers consider what’s a “head” category versus a “heart” category.
- How companies – brands and retailers -- need to market accordingly.
- Who’s getting it right.
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Dawn Clark, a noted retail architect, who runs Osean Studios, and was most recently director of design and construction for Amazon, where she led the design of the new Amazon Style concept store, and prior to that Nordstrom and Starbucks.
They discuss:
- How to create a “human” store, and how that has changed since Covid
- Why many retail environments are designed to showcase products rather than create an emotional connection with shoppers
- Why it’s so critical to understand the context of the shopper’s life not just what you want to sell
- The interweaving and translation of technology in physical spaces, where search tools and algorithms can add value to an in-store shopping experience but where flashing digital screens often do not
- How to bring together the right team – architects, construction, technology, merchants, marketers, sales personnel – to create innovative, shopper-lead environments
- And why one-eighth of an inch really matters
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In this episode,Wendy Liebmann talks with Lisa Paley, president of Haleon, NA, formerly GSK Consumer Health, about how to build a modern consumer healthcare company.
They discuss:
- Critical requirements of a modern organization, including purpose, a founder mentality, and agility.
- The three C’s of success: delivering for the consumer, the retail customer, and colleagues.
- How to integrate established brands into a new purpose-driven organization
- Not to sweat the little stuff, recognizing that everything doesn’t stick, and that sometimes change management requires you to go back to move forward
- How essential it is to get out into the market, to following emerging trends, stay close to business partners, and stay open to change
- Ultimately, the need to balance purpose with performance
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks with Candace Corlett, WSL’s president, about the current state of planned disruption that shoppers have created for themselves, and the resultant impact on brands and retailers.
They discuss:
- How shoppers have created new and dynamic ways to shop
- That there is no longer an orderly path to purchase
- The implications for supply chain of people now buying in 40% more places than they did in 2014, including the metaverse
- That companies can no longer assume they own the customer. There is no “my customer”.
- The role of the physical store now as the place to find the newest products and services, and the implications on store design and merchandising
- How companies need to plan their own disruption – utilizing what they learned throughout the pandemic
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks with Dan O’Connor, founder of the Future Commerce Initiative and Executive in Residence at the Harvard Business School, about the future of commerce and retail.
They discuss:
- How retail is fast moving into a 50:50 (in-person vs. not-in-person) world.
- The dramatic complexity of the retail landscape with some 70 different store types around the world and 15 digital models.
- The implications for CPG companies and large retailers.
- How space in stores will need to be redeployed.
- The impact of conversion marketing channels like Tiktok and Instagram, and the power of Instacart.
- What Amazon’s disappointing sales results mean for it, and the future of e-commerce.
- And how data digitalization will be critical to support supply chain, localization, and personalization in order to deliver a highly improved shopper experience.
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In this episode Wendy Liebmann talks to Chris Perry and Oskar Kaszubski of Firstmovr, a Center of Excellence for CPG eCommerce Education & Change Management about how to build and educate companies to constantly adapt to the new digital retail landscape.
They discuss:
- The ever-expanding digital eco-system, and the need for constant learning across all areas of organizations
- The multi-dimensional capabilities now required by CPG employees rather than what was a linear approach
- How companies must keep the shopper at the center of their e-commerce capabilities
- How to overcome the struggle to find insights in a world of so much data
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks to Justin Honaman, head of Worldwide Retail & Consumer Goods, Go-to-Market at Amazon Web Services, and worldwide segment leader for Food & Beverage.
They discuss:
- Immersive retail, the power of personalization, frictionless retail and where the Metaverse is already having an impact
- The role of the physical store, and the impact AI can have on curating more meaningful shopper experiences.
- Retail media and how, if done correctly, it can deliver a “triple win”
- How to develop and execute a Consumer 360-view that can drive loyalty – not just discounts
- How retailers and brands are behind in the cloud journey and the urgency to catch up
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In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks with Joi Pratt, Senior Consultant for Shopper Activation, at WSL Strategic Retail, about how the WSL team brought the future of retail to life in real time through a customized Retail Safari®.
They discuss:
- The 5 Health & Wellness trends that were the focus of a two-day event conducted in collaboration with the Kroger Company in Cincinnati.
- The diversity of retail that inspired 30 CPG attendees – from robotics at the Ocado Shed that enable fast seamless delivery, to immersive experiences at Jungle Jim’s, to the passion of REI associates, to the Kroger Marketplace and urban format, and more.
- How bringing people together encourages new thinking and partnerships to deliver what shoppers want now. And will.
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In this episode Wendy Liebmann talks with Mindy McKnight, CEO of M-Star Media Inc., content developer and founder of Hairitage by Mindy, about how to build a successful CPG brand today.
They discuss:
- The essence of building a successful multi-million dollar brand without losing its founder soul, and its solution driven reason-for-being
- The keys to creating a modern business collaboration: a partner with the right intellectual capital, a retailer [Walmart] eager to experiment, a digital expertise, and a willingness to let the consumer/shopper be part of brand building
- The value of real-time consumer feedback that comes with having a devoted, engaged digital community
- How new social platforms, including the metaverse, will make for exciting retail times in the future
- How a successful content-driven, social brand will make them laugh, cry, teach something or make their life easier
Watch this video episode on our YouTube channel.
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In this episode Wendy Liebmann talks with Jenny B. Fine, executive editor of WWD and Beauty Inc., about the transformation of the beauty industry and how it has and will change over the coming decade.
They discuss:
- Younger, Generation Z consumers and how their beauty priorities are based on not only looking good but also doing good
- How wellness is being fully integrated into beauty, with more to come
- How social media platforms like TikTok and Flip are changing the rules of engagement, especially with younger generations of shoppers
- The explosion of ways to buy beauty that are leaving luxury retail behind, while new experiences are emerging in mass and specialty retail
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In this episodeWendy Liebmann talks with Matthew Liebmann, Chief Innovation & Data Officer at Vista Group about the role of physical experiences in addressing the increasingly disturbing societal issues of loneliness.
They discuss:
- Loneliness and the decline of socialization prior to the pandemic, and its continuing impact across populations
- The opportunities that retail and movie theaters have to create in-person occasions to socialize – and differentiate themselves from competition at the same time
- How to get beyond demographic proxies to understand peoples’ tastes, preferences, and behaviors to build more personalized interactions
- How to build new habits of engagement in-store and through other physical experiences
- The role the employees can play when technology and digital tools free them up to interact rather than transact with shoppers
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In this episode Wendy Liebmann talks with Phil Wahba, senior writer at Fortune magazine, about what it takes to lead successful retail companies in complex times, as operational issues clash with increasingly demanding shopper and workforce expectations.
They discuss:
- The qualities the next generation of retail leaders must have to succeed
- How empathy is a critical CEO requirement in post-Covid times when companies are demanding a lot more of employees
- The need to adapt the structure of the C-suite to the new reality of a company.
- How a culture of stagnation and lack of experimentation cannot be overcome overnight by even the most innovative leaders
- How the best leaders – in retail and in general -- get the fundamentals right first and always, and are not distracted by “bright shiny” things
- How not everything Gen Z entrepreneurs do will revolutionize the (retail) world
- The characteristics that will define retail winners and losers in the future. Who’s getting it right now. (We name names.)
In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks with Dr. Somi Javaid, OBGYN and chief medical officer at HerMD, about a new healthcare model that is empowering women to take control of their sexual health and wellness needs, and the opportunities she envisions for retailers and brands.
They discuss:
- How traditional medical practices and retail have ignored women’s wellness issues, leaving health and wellness deserts
- A new healthcare model that focuses on a multidisciplinary approach to treating women across ages, from menstruation to menopause to sexual health and wellness, in a friendly, supportive environment
- Opportunities to create and deliver products that are modern, effective, safe, and supported by education, in a retail environment
- The need – and opportunity -- to integrate both virtual and physical support for women as they navigate busy lives
- How Millennials and Gen Z women will not accept current approaches and messaging on sexual health and wellness as they age
In this episode WSL’s Wendy Liebmann, CEO, and Candace Corlett, President, discuss WSL’s latest research, the health and wellness shopper revolution it reveals and the implications for retailers and brands.
They discuss:
- How health and wellness has changed over the last 8 years, and the new conditions, such as mental health, that are impacting Americans’ health issues.
- How trust of established professionals has eroded as America continues to move through the COVID pandemic.
- That technology has had both a positive and negative impact on wellness – from the benefits of virtual health care to the problems of loneliness, especially in Gen Z.
- How the new openness around categories, such as sexual health, the growing interest in alternative solutions (e.g., immunity), and new retail concepts, are creating untapped growth opportunities.
In this episode Wendy Liebmann talks with Damian Kernahan, founder & CEO of Proto Partners, an Australian-based customer experience consultancy, to understand how technology, the Covid pandemic and increasingly complex shopping behaviors are driving the urgency to build shopper-centric organizations.
They discuss:
- The challenges to building a shopper-centric organization in today’s increasingly complicated omni-channel world
- Why it is critical to put the shopper at the center of every decision and understand the broader context of shoppers’ lives
- How to break down barriers in siloed corporations to focus on end-to-end shopper experiences
- How to get “the brilliant basics right” to create a singular shopper experience
- How companies often misunderstand what shoppers want, what problems they are trying to solve, and instead “throw an app at it”
- Why shopper personas often don’t work in building successful CX
- Three steps to building the right experience for shoppers, and why digging into “the question behind the question” is critical
In this episode: WSL’s Wendy Liebmann, CEO, and Candace Corlett, President, discuss how shoppers are dealing with spiraling price increases, how this moment is different from 2008, and how companies need to respond. They preview WSL’s upcoming Wellness study (The New Wellness Frontier). And the baseball season. (Yes, really!)
They discuss:
- WSL’s latest research on shoppers’ responses to inflation; how categories and retailers are being impacted based on new choices and trade-offs shoppers are making, and issues surrounding premiumization
- How this is different from the global economic crisis in 2008 (for those who can remember)
- What retailers and brands need to know, and do, in order to respond appropriately -- in 2022 terms, and not necessarily using tools they did two decades ago.
- WSL’s upcoming research, The New Wellness Frontier, and opine over the current baseball season (you may be surprised at what you learn on both topics)
In this episodeWendy Liebmann talks with Kate Ancketill, founder and CEO of GDR UK, about the future of the physical store in a digital, and Meta-age. They agree there will always be a significant role for good physical retail, however, it must be fully omni-channel and logistically optimized to support ecommerce.
They discuss:
- How stores must move away from the transactional, and towards enhanced services
- How mass retail should hybridize space, build smart partnerships, deliver what’s trending on social media, create “tribal hangouts”, and empower retail employees
- That it is essential to create many different options for shoppers in their different mindset modes
- How the key to successful retail is to use data to get the right product at the right time for the customer walking in the door
- Examples of innovative physical retail around the world – from Spain to China to England to the US
In this episode Wendy Liebmann talks with Sally Mueller, CEO and co-founder of Womaness, a brand that is changing not only the conversation around menopause and women’s sexual health but also breaking taboos in branding, retail distribution and merchandising.
They discuss:
- How to build a brand through continuous consumer and shopper research
- How to identify gaps in the marketplace that lead to new whitespace and growth opportunities
- Creating a distinctive brand voice and how to deliver it through packaging, ecommerce, and the retail shelf
- How small disruptor brands can take advantage of unique, distribution opportunities, from ecommerce and marketplaces to traditional retail
- The challenges of traditional retail merchandising when selling cross category solutions that shoppers want, and
- Emerging opportunities around wellness and aging
In this episode
Wendy Liebmann talks with Chris Skyers, Vice President of Own Brands for the Wakefern Food Corporation (which includes ShopRite), about the social imperative and commercial opportunity to support under-served communities.
They discuss:
- The importance of access to affordable and healthier options; it’s not just about lower prices
- How important it is to see the whole shopper and their life and not assume lower-income households only look to buy the cheapest product; that premium brands and products need to be part of the offer
- The commercial opportunity – the size of the prize – serving these communities is significant.
- Being a store of the community with services and products the community needs is the real opportunity
- In the end, serving lower-income communities is not just about putting cheaper products on the shelf. It's about access and choice and inspiration.
In this episode WSL’s Wendy Liebmann and Candace Corlett discuss that, in spite of all the attention given to ecommerce during the pandemic, the physical store matters. But not the same way it used to.
They discuss:
- Why the store still matters to shoppers
- What shoppers expect from stores today [hint: efficiency and happiness]
- How, in a world of so many choices, people have created a new shopping journey for themselves, often and always
- How old retail terms now have very new meanings
- That saving is about time as much as money, and
- Why ecommerce is a solution, but not the only solution
In this episode Wendy Liebmann talks with Andrea Leigh, former Amazon executive, and founder of The Allume Group, an ecommerce education community, about the future of commerce.
They discuss:
- How lifestage and lifestyle needs coupled with new technologies mean that shopping is now a passive -- rather than an active -- activity.
- That “always shopping” has impacted loyalty to retailers and brands
- How digital shopping can create opportunity to shop in physical stores
- The emerging challenges for Amazon, and how specialty-oriented retailers are winning
- The impact of omni-commerce and the critical need for seamless shopping
- The “revenge of the stores” as shoppers, especially older ones, move back to physical retail, and
- The critical distinction between saving time and faster shopping, and the investment implications for the future
In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks with Bryan Gildenberg, senior vice president of Commerce for the Omnicom Commerce Group about how to create a vision of the future when we are still living in a world of wet cement.
They discuss:
- Major pandemic shifts that will impact grocery retail, including Instacart
- How the physical store will be the replenishment arm of e-commerce and that an endless aisle is “silly”
- The role of partnerships and experiential retail
- How the reselling environment will be even more complex in three to five years, and the resulting implications for supply chain
- Gaming, Snapchat and the metaverse, and
- That there’s never been more opportunity than now to address behavioral changes
In this episode, Wendy Liebmann talks with Paco Underhill, founder of Envirosell, author of Why We Buy, What Women Want, and his newly published How We Eat, about the changing world of food and drink, and the impact on grocery retail in this US.
They discuss:
- The social, political, economic, and technological developments impacting food consumption and food retail
- That increasingly knowledgeable and digitally engaged shoppers are on a mission to become happier and healthier, and are now demanding accountability from brands and retailers
- That cutting edge grocery retail left the US 40 years ago, and that innovation is coming from Brazil, Mexico, China, and other areas around the world
- How technology is enabling retail to get smaller, more local, more diverse
- How Aldi, Lidl and Trader Joe’s have built extraordinary levels of shopper trust with their curated, easy to shop concepts
- The digital home and digital kitchen, and how they are transforming the way we buy and the future impact of the hybrid world between the physical and digital shopping
In this episode Wendy Liebmann talks to Lauren Brindley, Group Vice President and General Merchandise Manager for Beauty and Personal Care, Walgreens, about whether the future of the beauty category is now truly connected to health and wellness.
They discuss:
- How US shoppers have come to understand the natural link between beauty, health, and wellbeing and the opportunities for healthcare companies and retailers to support shoppers on this new journey
- How Walgreens is connecting the pharmacy to the skin care aisle with training, merchandising, and education
- The need – and opportunity – to create more personalized, inclusive offers to ensure healthy beauty (and the entire store) is more inclusive
- Where national and exclusive brands fit into the new retail beauty model
- And how the online-offline offer to shoppers will enable their more personalized connection and drive loyalty
WSL’s Wendy Liebmann, CEO, and Candace Corlett, President, challenge the notion that companies cannot anticipate the future in these times. The shopper and retail trends WSL identified and has been tracking for 4 – 5 years are now clearly redefining the retail landscape.
They discuss:
- How powerful shopper movements and new shopper values are transforming retail
- How new retail opportunities, from live streaming to spontaneous shopping, are adding more complexity to everything from trip management, category management to shopper marketing, and supply chain
- The level of retail innovation WSL tracks around the world, and how it is inspiring and challenging companies to move fast to the future
- How, by asking shoppers and retailers the right questions, WSL’s research gets to the essence of what’s coming next
Visit our website for additional links!
In this episode,Wendy Liebmann talks with Tim Girvin, founder and chief creative officer of Girvin Inc., about how companies need to tell their stories in this age when shoppers are more focused on their health and wellbeing than on accumulating things.
They discuss:
- The importance of truth in storytelling when shoppers have access to so much information
- How to integrate the story through everything – packaging, store, website – so the relationship to the brand is unforgettable
- How to “walk around the backside” of a brand – product or retail – to prove the story from a shopper’s perspective
- The importance of building a human connection across all touchpoints
- What it takes to train internal teams to tell better stories
Get the transcript and other sources on our website.
Wendy Liebmann talks with Anne Fink, president of global foodservice at PepsiCo about how she, her team, and her foodservice community responded when the industry shut down overnight -- and how together they have reinvented their business model for these changing times.
They discuss:
- The importance of taking care of all constituents – employees, customers, consumers, and communities
- Staying true to your corporate purpose
- How to build community engagement during times of great upheaval, and in so doing build longer-term brand trust
- The importance of continuous innovation and how it enables companies to respond quickly in disruptive times
- Trends that will drive retail growth, from “home as hub”, to making shoppers’ lives easier, to delivering heightened, meaningful experiences in stores
In this episode Wendy Liebmann talks with Joclyn Konrad, Executive Vice President and Chief Pharmacy Officer, Rite Aid, about the company’s new RxEvolution retail concept and the future of retail healthcare delivery.
They discuss:
- How the new concept focuses on younger shoppers and their extended family (including pets), providing whole health solutions – from pharmacy to front store, and from traditional to alternative remedies
- How the pandemic enabled Rite Aid to connect with a younger generation of shoppers who would not necessarily see a traditional drug store as a destination
- Store design, and how critical light and greenery has been to deliver a healthy, “thriving” experience
- The front store merchandise mix – and the integration of healthier options throughout
- And how digital – from telehealth to efficient shopping options -- fits within the overall concept
Wendy Liebmann talks with Peter V.S. Bond, VP of CPG Strategy and Development for Fetch Rewards, about whether it is possible to build shopper loyalty today, and how important it is to understand where shoppers are on their loyalty journey.
They discuss:
- The critical components retailers and brands need to build loyalty
- How to connect actions to loyalty; recognizing that not all shoppers are driven by discounts
- Ways to accumulate 1P data even if you are not a DTC brand
- How a frictionless and meaningful relationship is just one part of building loyalty
In this episode, Wendy Liebmann and Candace Corlett walk – and talk – you through a virtual Retail Safari®. They share their latest observations of what’s working and not at retail – from department stores, drug stores, mass merchants, specialty beauty and more...
They discuss:
- How department stores are winning and losing (yes, some are winning)
- How retail partnerships -- the Power of Two – are creating reasons for digital-first shoppers to come back into the physical store
- How creating a “human store” is key to creating a successful customer experience
- How the idea of a Store of the Future only works if it can be delivered in more than one store
Wendy Liebmann talks with Martin Waters, CEO of Victoria’s Secret, about the transformation of the iconic Victoria’s Secret brand, with lessons for retailers and brands about how to stay relevant, always, and how to boldly move ahead when evolution is not an option.
They discuss:
- How to ensure a company is sensitive to cultural shifts that ensure a brand’s continued relevance to shoppers
- How to tell the new story fast and boldly (no small steps allowed)
- Becoming a digital-first company, personalizing relationships with shoppers, and how and when to integrate technology into physical stores
- Building a corporate culture of openness; the importance of listening to retail associates and internal executives
Visit our website and take a virtual tour of the store with our Retail Safari®.
In this episode:
Wendy Liebmann and Candace Corlett preview WSL’s latest How America Shops® research, The New Shopper Truths. The study reveals the now entrenched shopper values that define how companies need to position themselves and communicate to shoppers in the coming years.
They discuss:
- That “fairness” is now the underpinning of what shoppers expect from companies
- How shoppers question the way companies deliver sustainability (not well), and how they have turned an important value into merely a buzzword
- That shoppers are frustrated -- they cannot do it all alone, and they expect companies they buy from to share the burden, to show up, to make a difference, and
- How Generation Z is very different from Millennials in attitudes and expectations around these new truths and values
In this episode Wendy Liebmann talks with Ping Hao and Burke White, founders of Brand3P, and developers of the Walmart.com marketplace about the current opportunities -- and challenges -- for brands and retailers as e-commerce marketplaces fast become a primary distribution channel.
They discuss:
- Why marketplaces are growing (Hint: because shoppers are there), and when to consider them as part of your overall distribution strategy
- Why listing a product is only the beginning
- Using brand and shopper marketing to create an immersive brand environment just as in any physical retail space
- How to avoid the “butterfly effect”
- When to participate on a marketplace, and when it may not be right for you
- What a comprehensive marketplace strategy looks like
In this episode, Wendy Liebmann and Jo Horgan, Founder & Co-CEO of Mecca Brands, discuss how retail innovation must be a discipline embedded into the culture of organizations to stay relevant to what shoppers want in a fast-changing world.
They discuss:
- Putting shoppers at the center of a company’s innovation culture
- How retail innovation is not something that companies can stop and start; it must be a continuous process
- How to build the innovation discipline throughout the company
- Building a process of innovation that goes beyond product and store design to include all aspects of business -- from backroom efficiency, to supply chain, and team education
- The tools to evaluate innovation continuously in order to refine, adapt and continue to iterate
Visit our website and take a virtual tour of the store with our Retail Safari®.
In this episode, Wendy Liebmann and Candace Corlett provide a preview of What’s Up in WSL’s latest How America Shops® research.
You’ll learn
- Why retailers’ efforts to differentiate are not working.
- How spontaneous shopping is impacting traffic, both in-store and online.
- What categories are most susceptible – and most opportune -- to the spontaneous trip.
- What to do about it.
In this episode:
Wendy Liebmann discusses how retailers have the opportunity to reintroduce themselves to shoppers as they move out of their COVID-cocoons with Steve Sadove, retired Chairman & CEO of Saks Incorporated, and current board member of Colgate-Palmolive and advisor to Mastercard and private equity.
They discuss:
- The new foundation for retail
- How to build relationships with shoppers in a mobile-first world
- How shopper data and analytics and perfect information will separate retail winners and losers
- The future of marketplaces, commercializing live-streaming, Tik Tok, and new payment methods that open up shoppers’ wallets
- The need to create a seamless total experience for shoppers
- Supply chain challenges and opportunities
In this episode, Wendy Liebmann discusses the expertise, mindset, and agility retail leaders will need in the future with Professor Stephan Kanlian, Chairperson of FIT’s Master’s Program in Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management, and Morgan Hagney, AVP, Maybelline New York.
They discuss:
- Critical capabilities required in the new phygital retail environment
- The urgency to build consumer- and shopper-centric organizations
- How to deal with a fluid and fast accelerating channel strategy
- The need for a broader global perspective as context for change
- The social role brands must play today
- The future of supply chain and emerging agile technologies
Wendy Liebmann and Paco Underhill, founder of Envirosell, the behavioral research company, discuss how retail must respond faster to social change if it is to keep up with shoppers.
Wendy and Paco discuss:
- What shoppers expect now from retailers and brands
- What made a good store a decade ago does not work today
- How supply chain innovation opens the doors for curation, personalization, and localization
- Why internet shopping needs to “be beaten up”
- How effective leadership is about being on the “selling floor”
- Examples of best – and worst -- retail experiences
Wendy Liebmann and Terry Thomas, EVP & Chief Customer Officer, Unilever US, discuss how diversity and inclusion are critical to building a modern, socially responsible company that today’s shoppers expect.
Wendy and Terry discuss:
- What Diversity and Inclusion actually mean (it’s more than ethnicity)
- Why an intrinsic, top-down approach is critical, and how to execute it
- How to build and retain the best talent through diversity and inclusion
- How manufacturers and retailers need to collaborate to deliver a cohesive approach to diversity and inclusion
- Why shoppers are at the center of this, and why “seeing them” is the key to success
- What retail needs to look like in the future
Our own Wendy Liebmann and Candace Corlett (WSL’s dynamic leadership duo) discuss the new realities of the emerging retail world and challenge whether or not new shopping patterns formed during the pandemic will endure.
Wendy and Candace discuss:
- Whether physical stores will remain viable
- How time is now the focus of every trip
- How “spontaneous” shopping is the biggest retail opportunity and challenge
- Why Amazon is facing pushback now
- How national brand trust has diminished (in spite of what companies say)
- The biggest mistakes companies are making
- What companies must focus on right now
- What Shopping Next really looks like
In this episode, our own Wendy Liebmann and Christine Cross, UK-based global retail consultant, discuss trends that are already disrupting retail around the world.
Wendy and Christine discuss:
- The impact of channel agnosticism on how people shop, and where companies invest
- The growth of DTC and how it enables brands to stay closer to shoppers
- How shoppers (and investors) are increasingly concerned about societal health
- How the last moment of the shopper’s experience is defining success – or failure.
- New food practices that are disrupting the future of big box retail
- The intense pressure on non-food categories post-pandemic, and
- That big brands are not infallible.
Our own Wendy Liebmann and Colleen Lindholz, President of Kroger Health, discuss the power of retail to transform lives, and Kroger’s journey to help Americans be healthier -- during the pandemic and every day.
Wendy and Colleen discuss:
- Kroger’s “Food as Medicine” strategy grounded in affordable, personalized solutions
- How the shopper is the center of the strategy
- Kroger’s multi-disciplinary approach, across aisles, categories, services, and digital
- The impact of COVID19 – what will stick and not
- A view to the future, and the critical metrics of success
In this episode our own Wendy Liebmann and Norman De Greve, Chief Marketing Officer at CVS Health, discuss how retail, and companies that sell through retail, need to communicate differently with shoppers today; what’s the same, what’s different and what the future will demand.
Wendy and Norm discuss:
- How digital has changed and how companies must communicate with shoppers
- The impact of COVID19
- The importance for retailers to build their own brand and messages
- How to build trust
- How retailers and manufacturers need to work together to deliver cohesive communication
- How CVS is building new communication across its multi-platforms and enterprise
In this episode, Wendy Liebmann interviews Andy Murray, CEO of BigQUEST, and Founder and Chair, Customer Centric Leadership Initiative at the University of Arkansas’ Walton College of Business, and formerly head of customer experience at Walmart and ASDA UK.
Wendy and Andy discuss:
- Why being a shopper-centric organization is more important than ever.
- The role of the physical store in an omni-channel world.
- How to deliver “new” when people no longer shop the aisles.
- How to build shopper-centric organizations to drive the Future of Retail.
In this episode, Wendy Liebmann interviews Greg Farrar, CEO of ECRM, a leading trade organization and provider of business-to-business solutions for retail food service operators, health system buyers, and for the suppliers of consumer packaged goods for general merchandise, food service products, medical supplies, and pharmaceuticals.
You’ll learn:
- How the pandemic changed the relationship between brands and retailers
- How ECRM flipped its business model in a moment as it was no longer tethered to time and space
- How the organization has opened up the global business world to buyers and sellers just as the physical world was closing down, and
- What all organizations, big and small, can learn from this as they build the future of retail
In the final episode of this 3-part discussion, WSL Strategic Retail’s Wendy Liebmann and Candace Corlett, reflect on how shoppers are moving on having survived the chaos, and how companies must reset fast to accommodate them. The implications for retail, brands and service companies are now crystal clear: Retail must restructure (finally) to accommodate new technologies shoppers have quickly adopted. Brands must connect in new ways emotionally. And a new level of service expectations emerges.
In this episode, Wendy Liebmann and Candace Corlett, WSL Strategic Retail’s managing partners, continue the previous discussion and talk bluntly about the fact that there is no going back. That longing for the past days of retail – pre-pandemic – is irrelevant and dangerous. They discuss how retail has not been “a happy place” for shoppers for a long time, that the pandemic merely exacerbated the situation. They discuss how to connect emotionally with shoppers in a digital world, where brands fit, the movement to smaller stores, and how shoppers are dealing with the recession.
Wendy Liebmann and Candace Corlett, WSL Strategic Retail’s managing partners, discuss key shopper insights from the first six months of the pandemic, surprises and new realities, and how retailers and brands must now move forward. In this first segment of a three-part discussion, they answer the burning question: Will shoppers ever go back to the store?
In this episode, Wendy Liebmann interviews Dr. Gayatri Devi, a nationally recognized neurologist, attending physician at Lenox Hill Hospital/Northwell Health, director of New York Memory and Healthy Aging Services, and author of “A Calm Brain: How to Relax Into a Stress-free, High-powered Life”.
You’ll learn:
- How the current pandemic has changed not only relationships with families and work but also retail experiences.
- What shoppers are missing and now long for.
- The importance of creating emotional engagement at retail now.
- The new vernacular to rebuild trust with shoppers.
- The power of retail in a world where everyday personal connections are now limited.
In this episode, Wendy Liebmann interviews Matthew Parry, Senior Director II of Customer Experience at Walmart Health & Wellness, about how the largest retailer in the world is disrupting everyday health care.
You’ll learn:
- Walmart’s strategy to build personal health care solutions – from clinics to the whole store
- New customer purchasing behaviors inside and outside the store
- How Covid-19 has forced Walmart to leapfrog 5 years into the future
- And lots more
In this episode, Wendy Liebmann interviews Craig Dubitsky, the “happy” founder of Hello Products, about how to create brands and retail that shoppers want in these volatile times. They discuss reinventing established categories, how big companies can move fast, how unleashing internal creativity can transform business culture and how, as e-commerce has grown, retail has become all about “how I got it” rather than the magic of “what I got” – and that’s no longer good enough. These two iconoclasts agree that it is essential in these times to humanize brands and retail whether you’re a small entrepreneurial company or a global giant.
In this episode, Helena Foulkes, former CEO of Hudson’s Bay Co (Saks Fifth Avenue), president of CVS Health and current Home Depot board member, talks frankly to Wendy Liebmann about the future of retail, winners and losers, silver linings and how to lead in a crisis.
In this episode, Wendy Liebmann, WSL’s CEO & Chief Shopper, interviews Elizabeth Gretkowski, senior consultant at WSL, about The Big Business of WELL. They discuss how shoppers are responding in this time of heightened anxiety, their underlying mindset, share insights from WSL’s How America Shops® research, and define the long-term implications for retailers and manufacturers. They tell you how to reframe your thinking and your business culture.
In this episode, Wendy Liebmann, CEO & Chief Shopper, interviews Candace Corlett, president of WSL, about how companies have been pre-occupied with Amazon. They talk about how the shopper, not Amazon, has been disrupting the retail world. And that Amazon is merely the enabler of what shoppers want. They share highlights from WSL’s latest How America Shops® research and tell you how to reframe your thinking.