The Retail Perch: Recent Episodes
Shekar Raman Gary Hawkins
The Retail Perch podcast is hosted by the powerful duo Shekar Raman, CEO of Birdzi and Gary Hawkins, CEO of Center for Advancing Retail & Technology (CART). We are happy to report that we have made the "Top 15 Grocery Industry Podcasts to Follow in 2021" by Feedspot. The list can be found here: https://blog.feedspot.com/grocery_industry_podcasts/
This podcast aims to provide a fresh perspective and framework for how you view your everyday grocery trips. Whether you're a retailer, entrepreneur, or a curious mind tuning in, there is something in store for everyone. Each Monday, your hosts will share supermarket analysis, personal stories about the industry, along with their views to provide you with further insight into everything retail grocery and AI.
Don't forget to tune in!
Lean more about Birdzi at Birdzi.com
In this episode of The Retail Perch, Shekar Raman and Gary Hawkins are joined by Galen Karlan-Mason, Founder & CEO of GreenChoice.
Galen reflects on his journey from grad school, where he struggled with grocery shopping, nutrition labels, and shopping in line with his environmental values, to creating GreenChoice. Born from those challenges, GreenChoice is a platform designed to make healthier and more sustainable shopping easier. The discussion explores his path as a founder, the inspiration behind GreenChoice, and how AI and data play a role in transforming the way consumers make food choices.
In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary Hawkins and guest co-host Courtney Adams welcome Lee Gaul, AI Expert at Long Horizon AI, for a candid conversation about artificial intelligence.
Lee brings a cautionary perspective, looking beyond the hype to explore both the opportunities and the risks of AI. He discusses its manipulative and subconscious effects, addresses common concerns about an “AI takeover,” and shares how businesses can engage with AI responsibly to drive innovation while mitigating the risk of failure. This thoughtful discussion sheds light on what the rapid evolution of AI means for the future of retail and customer engagement.
In this episode of The Retail Perch, Shekar Raman and Gary Hawkins are joined by Virginia Marsh, Head of Data, Agency & Platforms at Fluent Inc. Virginia’s career began loading trucks in Puerto Rico and took a pivotal turn when she taught herself to code on a Commodore computer. That early curiosity grew into a passion for data that now shapes how she helps retailers make smarter decisions. She shares her perspective on when data is relevant and when it is not, offering practical insights on how retailers can cut through the noise and stay competitive in a changing industry.
In this episode of Retail Perch, we welcome back Ron Bonacci, who shares his journey from grocery bagger to marketing expert in retail. Ron reflects on his longtime friendship with the hosts, talks about the evolving role of CPGs, and offers insights from his time at Kroger on how to make data truly actionable. He also explores the growing impact of Retail Media Networks, bringing together both personal stories and practical perspectives that highlight the future of retail.
This week on The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar sit down with Katie Riddle, Global Strategy Lead at Verizon, to discuss the often overlooked backbone of modern retail: connectivity. From in-store WiFi and device performance to enabling real time innovation, Katie shares how network infrastructure directly impacts both shopper experience and associate efficiency. As expectations rise and tech driven services become the norm, retailers can no longer afford to treat connectivity as an afterthought. Implementing robust, future ready solutions is not just important, it is urgent.
In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar welcome Steven Dietch, Chief Revenue Officer at Bridg, for a timely conversation on how retail media is reshaping the industry. From his early days in computer science to IBM Sweden and now leading strategy at Bridg, Steve shares how platforms like Bridg and Rippl are helping retailers turn shopper data into powerful engagement. The three dive into the opportunities and challenges facing regional players, the role of AI and third-party data, and growing concerns around data privacy and security.
This week on The Retail Perch, Shekar and Gary sit down with Flora Delaney, a veteran retail and CPG executive, consultant, and author of Retail: The Second-Oldest Profession.
With over 25 years of experience, Flora shares how smart space planning, strategic category management, and AI-driven insights transform today’s in-store experience.
Join us as we explore her patented Intelligent Dashboard for Pricing and Promotion, the Earned Space Model for space optimization, and why balancing national and regional retail strategies is key to growth.
In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar chat with Barry Collier. He's the co-founder of DRINKS, a leading e-commerce platform for alcohol retailers and producers. Barry shares how he went from Neopets to launching a DTC wine business, and how DRINKS has since expanded its platform and partnered with Kroger. They dive into alcohol compliance, digital retail, data, and much more.
Don't miss this week’s episode, featuring Neil Twa, the CEO of Voltage Holdings, LLC. As co-author of Almost Automated Income with FBA, Neil specializes in launching, operating, and acquiring e-commerce brands, particularly within the Amazon FBA space. In this conversation with Shekar and Gary, he shares his journey from almost studying music theory to uncovering his passion for e-commerce—and much more.
This week on The Retail Perch, Shekar and Gary welcome Todd Maute, who is a parter at CBX. With many years of branding expertise, Todd shares his journey from advertising to transforming private labels into high-quality, innovative brands. They discuss the evolution of private label perception, the role of retailers like Wegmans, Trader Joe’s, and more.
This week on The Retail Perch, Shekar and Gary are thrilled to chat with David Milstein, the co-founder and CEO of SellCord, a service agency dedicated to simplifying the process of selling on Walmart’s marketplace. David shares his unique journey and insights into navigating Walmart’s ecosystem, from his beginnings in IT to helping clients with product placement. The trio discusses his entrepreneurial path, challenges that sellers face, strategies for thriving in the competitive retail landscape, and much more!
In this week’s episode, Shekar and Gary are joined by special guest Mykhailo Maksymenko, Vice President and Salesforce Practice Head at CustomerTimes Corp, a leader in CRM and digital transformation. Mykhailo shares insights into his role as a product-to-market expert, exploring topics such as crafting emotional connections with buyers, the power of synthetic data, cocktails, and much more.
This week on The Retail Perch, Shekar and Gary are excited to welcome an intelligent and humorous guest, Kevin Coupe, the founder of Morning News Beat—a news platform that provides the latest updates and insights in the retail industry. As Kevin shares his journey from starting out as a news reporter, the trio dives into discussions on retailers' reactions to AI, the shifting dynamics of advertising, Amazon, and much more.
This week on the Retail Perch, Shekar and Gary are thrilled to host Kausambi Manjita, who divides her time between Bangalore and Toronto. She is the Co-founder of Mason, a provider of AI-powered customer service solutions. They discuss a unique perspective on the intersection of technology and customer experience, geographic consumer behavior, generative AI, and much more.
On this week's episode of the Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar are joined by Nirit Cohen, all the way from Israel. Nirit is an HR specialist and founder of WorkFutures. The three of them engage in a dynamic discussion with the about the future of the workforce, exploring topics such as evolving flexibility for employees and much more.
On this special episode of The Retail Perch, Shekar hosts our very own Gary Hawkins, to tell us about his latest book! Bionic Retail: How to Thrive in an Exponential World explores the connection between evolving technology and supermarkets. They chat about Gary's childhood, farm life, and his family's grocery business, uncovering fascinating stories along the way.
In this episode of "The Retail Perch," Gary hosts a solo discussion with Shiraz Ritwik, Head of CPG & Financial Services at LatentView Analytics. They dive into the five key stages of CPG, explore the various shifts occurring in retail-focused technology, and analyze consumer behavior. In addition, you’ll hear an interesting discussion on AI, Gary's upcoming book, and much more.
In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar welcome Jose "Jochi" Quijano, Chief Brand Officer at Rest of the World Agency. He discusses the multi-cultural focus of the agency and how his career has traveled from accounting to marketing and finally advertising. The three talk about the importance of culture within retail grocery aisles, history behind culturally focused supermarkets and much more.
This week on The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar sit down to chat with Phil Lempert. Phil is the Founder and CEO of Supermarket Guru, a leading online news source for consumers and retail professionals. The three discuss Phil’s lineage in the food & retail industry, his journalistic journey, the changes in consumer behavior that drive the grocery industry, and much more.
In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar welcome a new guest and a topic closely related to Gary's upcoming book, “Bionic Retail.” Ross Finman is the CEO & Founder of Augmodo, a spatial computing company that works to improve the grocery industry. The three discuss Ross’s journey from living on Llama Farms to Silicon Valley, integrating mapping with augmented reality, and much more!
Do not miss this episode with Shekar, Gary and special guest, Suryaveer Singh! Suryaveer Singh is the head of loyalty at Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC). Suryaveer explains his background in banking and slowly making his way into the loyalty industry. The three discuss how fuel retail works, how loyalty cannot be bought and much more!
This week, on The Retail Perch, Shekar and Gary are thrilled to welcome Brian Cohen, the CEO of PureRed, a dynamic company at the forefront of marketing and technology innovation. In this engaging conversation, Shekar and Gary delve into Brian's diverse background, spanning from space science to cutting-edge machine learning technology. Together, they explore exciting developments in the realm of artificial intelligence, the future landscape of e-commerce, and a host of other fascinating topics!
This week on the Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar are in the festive spirit as they mark a momentous occasion - their 100th episode! To make it truly special, they're joined by a distinguished guest, Len Covello, the Chief Technology Officer of Engage People, a company dedicated to enhancing customer loyalty. Together, Gary, Shekar, and Len dive deep into the fascinating world of customer loyalty. They discuss the intricate dynamics of loyalty programs, the redemption of reward points, the ever-evolving landscape of customer loyalty in the era of technological advancements, and so much more. Tune in for an insightful and celebratory episode!
In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar welcome Scott Greenberg, an acclaimed keynote speaker, renowned for his insightful understanding of people dynamics, and an accomplished author. Scott's insights not only shed light on the intricacies of managerial roles within businesses but also offer actionable takeaways for those navigating the dynamic world of retail. The three discuss the influence of diverse personality types on retail environments, the nuances of generational disparities in the workplace, and much more.
On this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar welcome Linda Wakim, a very special guest and someone they know very well. Linda Wakim, VP of Pre-Sales and Client Success at Birdzi has vast knowledge in all things retail . The three discuss Linda’s pathway through the technology in the retail industry from Giant Eagle to Birdzi, her love of analytics, how she uses her experience to help retailers get the most out of their data, and much more!
In the latest installment of The Retail Perch, your hosts Gary and, filling in for Shekar, co host Stephanie, have the pleasure of welcoming a Chris Kocek. Chris, the author of "Any Insights Yet?" and the visionary Founder & CEO of Gallant Branding, takes us on an intriguing journey through his transition from the world of advertising to the realm of strategy. Join us as Chris delves into the art of defining insights, explores the impact of AI tools on this crucial facet, and covers a myriad of other thought-provoking topics.
This week on the Retail Perch, Gary Hawkins and Shekar Raman are joined by the remarkable Tom Burgess, a true polymath who divides his time between pioneering new ventures and sailing the open seas. Tom boasts a distinguished track record as the founder of four companies, and he currently holds the esteemed position of President at Snipp Interactive. Join us as Shekar, Gary, and Tom engage in a captivating conversation spanning topics such as payments data integration, the synergy between banking and retail data for shoppers, Tom's adventures sailing across the globe, and a myriad of other intriguing subjects.
On this very special episode, Gary and Shekar welcome Paul V. McEnroe, author of THE BARCODE: How a Team Created One of the World's Most Ubiquitous Technologies and a retail pioneer. The inventor of the barcode joins The Retail Perch for a riveting discussion. Paul explains his story in Ohio and his path to creating such an important part of our daily lives. They discuss his journey, the introduction of the barcode to the retail industry in the 1980s, and much more.
Do not miss this episode with Shekar, Gary, Andrew Duffy, and Jake Sky Levin, co-founders of SparkPlug. SparkPlug is a sales incentive software built for retailers and brands to engage frontline teams to hit sales goals while increasing employee engagement. Andrew and Jake explain their interesting career path from hedge funds to tea companies to the retail industry. Also covered in this episode are Sparkplug’s onboarding process, their most recent accomplishments, and much more.
This week, Gary and Shekar are joined by Raz Golan co-founder of Shopic, a company that has transformed the shopping experience to another level. Shopic seamlessly integrates online stores with physical retail stores, enabling businesses to manage inventory, sales, and customer interactions in one unified system. It offers a streamlined shopping experience for both online and in-store customers, fostering efficient and effective retail operations. Shopic has developed an artificial intelligence based device called Smart Cart that attaches to a shopping cart. With cutting edge technology can detect when shoppers remove and add items to their cart acting as a self checkout. Raz discusses his background and the brainstorm that led to the creation of Smart Carts. Gary, Shekar, and Raz talk about the inspiration behind Shopic, the process of onboarding a retailer, and much more.
On this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar welcome Max Koziolek who has come a long way from politics to making a marketing platform. Max Koziolek is the co-founder of Spectrm, a conversational marketing platform that powers chatbots for a wide range of companies. Max shares his run in a national election in Germany, his interest in journalism and how that transformed into his current focus of helping marketing teams build trust, and provide success to brands. The three discuss marketing, the rise of marketing on WhatsApp, and much more!
In this week’s episode, Shekar and Gary interview Justin Chen, co-founder of PickFu, a company that provides a self-service way to get in-depth consumer feedback be it for businesses, authors, game designers, and more. Their instant polling services allow you to get feedback on anything from logos to business ideas from your chosen target audience in minutes. Justin explains how this whole project began, how PickFu can be used in the retail industry, how the surveys work, and much more.
On this week's The Retail Perch, Gary, and Shekar welcome a fascinating, virtual guest, that knows a lot about...well everything. The three of them discuss marketing personalization in retail, the podcast, and the future of AI in the retail industry.
In this episode, Shekar and Gary chat with Chandan Mahajan, one of the founders of DotKonnekt, a company that focuses on helping consumer brands scale their D2C channels organically. Chandan comes from a family of retailers and learned the ropes of retail in his earlier years from his father. The three discuss emotional engagement, a brand's relationships with its customers, and much more.
Don't miss this episode where Shekar and Gary welcome Galen Walters. Galen is the CEO of Stor.ai, a Relationshop Company, a platform that empowers retailers by combining ecommerce, data analytics, and omni-channel engagement capabilities to increase transactions, enhance loyalty and grow sales. Galen shares his history in the grocery industry from a boy working in grocery to a pioneer in shopper engagement and changing the retail technology industry. The three discuss the big shifts in the retail industry from a digital marketing perspective, the challenges those shifts may entail for retailers, and much more.
In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar delve even deeper into the world of data and marketing with Valentin Radu, CEO of Omniconvert. Omniconvert focuses on Direct to Consumer businesses, and enriching their customer experiences. Valentin explains his journey in e-commerce, and how to retain customers. The three discuss the future for the company, the goals Omniconvert has and its involvement with the grocery retail industry.
In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar welcome Sean Snyder. Sean Snyder, a fellow retailer himself, is CEO of Engagement Agents. His company helps retailers optimize leases, drive traffic and sales, and prevent lost traffic and sales to competitors! Retailers can achieve up to 30% more traffic and sales by engaging the "hidden" marketing dollars within their leases with the help of Engagement Agents. Sean discusses his marketing background, his time working at Stitch It, his inspiration for Engagement Agents, and much more.
In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary returns to join Shekar in welcoming Carol Leaman. Carol is the CEO of Axonify Inc., a company that delivers fun training and communications to frontline employees. In this episode learn why companies like Kroger and Walmart have used Azonify to communicate with thier frontiline employees. The three discuss the effects the pandemic had on Axonify, digitization of employee training, retail workforce predictions and much more!
In today’s episode of The Retail Perch, Shekar hosts his first episode solo and his first guest of 2023, Randy Mercer of 1WorldSync. Randy is the VP of Global Product Management at 1WorldSync, a leading tool for data synchronization. This episode is all about standardizing data, AI, and product content. Randy discusses the history of 1WorldSync, packaging hierarchies, the challenges they have faced as a company, and much more.
This week on The Retail Perch, Shekar and Gary welcome their first guest from India, Sharat Potharaju. Sharat is the Co-Founder & CEO of Beaconstac. Beaconstac generates QR codes, makes templated landing pages, and facilitates engagement with QR codes. Sharat explains his steps in problem-solving for Beaconstac and connecting the physical and digital world, the importance and future of QR codes in the retail industry, and so much more.
In this special episode of The Retail Perch, Shekar and Gary discuss their top 10 predictions for 2023 surrounding supermarket retail. They both share five of their own predictions which include the growth of retail media networks , artificial intelligence, smart carts and much more!
This is the perfect episode to kick off the season of giving! Gary and Shekar welcome Andrew Forman, Founder & CEO of Givz, a platform that provides customers with an alternative option to traditional discounts that give back to others. Andrew discusses the origin story of Givz, and what inspired him to combine his passion for charity with e-commerce. He explains how donation incentives rather than discounts are helping retailers see a lift in sales and consumer engagement.
In this episode of The Retail Perch, Shekar and Gary are excited to have brothers, Andrew and Thomas Parkinson, founders of Peapod, on The Retail Perch. Andrew and Thomas have more recently founded Sifter Solutions, which personalizes the shopping experience by matching complex diets with the right foods. They explain how their backgrounds led them to the retail industry, the future of e-commerce, future plans for Sifter Solutions, and how Peapod inspired Birdzi.
This week Shekar and Gary are thrilled to welcome Todd Michaud to The Retail Perch. Todd is the CEO of HuLoop Automation, a company that works with retailers and brands to provide them with digital assistants and digital workers to help them augment what their people do. The three discuss the benefits HuLoop Automation brings to retailers, what the Kroger-Albertsons merger means to the industry, Instacart's recent valuation, and much more.
In this special episode of The Retail Perch, Shekar and Gary share their thoughts on the recent Groceryshop event in Las Vegas. It is evident from their enthusiasm that in-person events are almost back to their pre-covid glory. They discuss Instacart’s acquisition of Rosie, computer vision platforms, electronic shelf tags, dynamic pricing, and much more!
This week on The Retail Perch, Shekar, and Gary welcome Shawn Tuckett, CEO of Webstop, a company that helps retailers be more successful digitally. Shawn explains how Webstop levels the digital playing field for small to midsize retailers by providing powerful end-to-end solutions to create a complete digital grocery experience. The three discuss; Webstop's retail media network for small to midsized retailers, how digital strategies have changed over the last 10 years, the flexibility of digital promotion vs. the traditional ad cycle, why retailers should prioritize promotional pages on their websites, and so much more.
This week Gary and Shekar welcome Russ Hawkins, President, and CEO of Agilence. Agilence is a leader in loss prevention analytics, helping retailers, restaurants, and grocery retailers reduce preventable loss. Russ describes his journey from New England Telephone to Agilence and all the stops along the way. The three delve into the areas where businesses are using Agilence’s analytics platform to gather insights into revenue, revenue management, climate management, compliance, and cost and expense controls
This week Gary and Shekar welcome Kevin Sterneckert, Chief Strategy Officer at DemandTec an Acoustic Company. Kevin brings extensive experience in grocery retail, retail technology analysis, and identifying the possibilities of AI, IoT, big data technologies of the future that are creating excellence in the supply chain. The three discuss the keys to successful deployment, reasons deployments fail, how physical shopping is changing, and much more.
In this episode, Gary and Shekar welcome back Doug Madenberg Chief Listening Officer and Executive Director at The Feedback Group. Doug is on to share the findings from The Feedback Group's recent national research on food price inflation and shoppers' perception of grocer's profitability. Doug shares the strategies customers are using to cope, the percentage of shoppers using these strategies, the call to action that retailers can't afford to ignore, and much more. The insights from this research are too valuable to miss, if you are a retailer, take the time to listen to this episode.
This week Gary and Shekar get the opportunity to geek out with Stephen Statler, SVP at Amazon-backed Wiliot a company that has designed IoT Pixels to track the location and temperature of produce from farms to stores. Stephen explains how their postage stamp-sized technology is allowing retailers to minimize waste and maximize freshness for customers. The three also delve into how these tiny computers are powered, the costs associated with them, their uses in grocery retail, and much more.
This week, Gary and Shekar have the pleasure of speaking Arsen Avakian CEO and Founder of Cooler Screens and Founder of Argo Tea. The focus of today's conversation is the sophisticated digital add platform known as Cooler Screens, but Arsen shares how building his challenger tea brand, Argo Tea, helped him to understand the consumer experience gap (CX Gap) between the information available online and the information deficit of brick and mortar shopping. Cooler Screens bridge that gap by using AI to deliver ingredient information, allergens, calories, etc. as well as vibrant images of the actual products within the case.
Sustainability seems to be a buzzword in grocery retail these days. Many retailers have gone so far as to sign sustainability pacts. In this episode, Gary and Shekar speak with Jay Jordan, co-founder, and COO of Strella Biotech, a startup that provides actionable data to optimize the fresh supply chain. Strella Biotech focuses on upstream supply to make ripeness predictable and reduce food waste. Jay explains where the inspiration for Strell Biotech came from, how their ethylene sensing technology works to optimize inventory, the possibilities for this tech in retail, and much more.
This week Shekar, Gary, and guest host Stephanie have the privilege of speaking with Sterling Hawkins, keynote speaker, investor, entrepreneur, and author. Sterling is on the show to share his new book, "Hunting Discomfort." We discuss the #nomatterwhat movement, how fear and ego keep us stuck in business and life, and much more. This show is for anyone who feels there are too many obstacles between them and the goals they would like to achieve.
Gary and Shekar welcome Lucinda Wright, co-founder and CEO of Cask & Kettle, creators of boozy cocktail k-pods for home coffee brewing systems. That's right boozy k-pods! When one thinks of alcoholic beverages, technology probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind, but Lucinda’s story about their k-pods distilled spirits will make you think twice. Boozie vanilla latte anyone? Just load the k-pod and press brew on your coffee maker! Lucinda shares her inspiration story and the challenges associated with breaking into adult beverages with a product unlike any other on the market.
This week Gary and Shekar welcome Adam Zimmerman, Partner at DESIGN HOUSE, an advanced digital circular platform. DESIGN HOUSE is redefining the weekly ad for retailers in more ways than one and of course, Gary and Shekar were excited to offer their .02 on the subject. Adam explains how his company has taken the weekly circular of the 1970s and modernized it into a digital ecosystem that drives traffic into the store, and they have the analytics to prove it.
This week is a first for The Retail Perch! Gary and Shekar have the pleasure of speaking with Alicia Esposito, VP of Content at Retail TouchPoints. Alicia offers the unique perspective of someone in retail media. The three discuss Retail TouchPoints' approach to delivering relevant content to retailers, the different retail verticals and what they can learn from each other, the power of TikTok and other social media, what grocery can learn from the cosmetic retail industry, and much more!
This week, Gary and Shekar are joined by Tommy Yionoulis founder of OpsAnalitica, a SaaS platform that helps clients manage their daily operations and identify issues in their business so they can be addressed quickly and efficiently. Tommy tells the story of how he went from college grad to stand-up comedian to founder of OpsAnaliica. They discuss the positive impact the platform had on businesses during Covid, the ways it reduces the load of operations teams, and much more!
In Part III of this series, Gary and Shekar discuss how to execute quickly on the copious data that retailers have to ensure they are providing the most relevant offers to their customers. They also talk about how marketing automation combined with a sophisticated understanding of each shopper helps retailers create strategies for 1 to 1 personalization, the future of the weekly ad, and much more.
In Part II of this series, Gary shares how he took his family stores from mailed out paper coupons targeting the top 30% of shoppers to an engine that supported personalization algorithms which allowed him to deliver coupons to specific customers via the web, email, or a kiosk. Shekar then explains the transition from pre-cloud data centers to the more accessible cloud and how it democratized access to high-performance computing. They finish their discussion by clarifying the difference between segmentation and personalization.
In part one of a two-part series, Gary and Shekar discuss how personalization has evolved over the years. Gary shares his experience in the retail trenches and the lessons he learned from them. They discuss why grocers needed to develop loyalty programs and the new information they were able to learn from these programs. Next week they will discuss the steps grocers can take to move their personalization strategies to the next level.
This week, Shekar and Gary welcome Manolo Almagro, Managing Partner at Q Division, a transformational tech consultancy. Manolo offers his perspective on retail tech and where it's going. He also weighs in on the MetaVerse and how it can be used in grocery, the limitations of the Amazon stores, his ideal e-commerce experience, why 5-year plans should make way for 12-24 month plans, and so much more.
The Retail Perch is back! And what a fantastic guest to return with. This week, Gary and Shekar have the opportunity to speak with Michael Solomon, prolific author and Professor of Marketing at Saint Joseph's University. "They want to be educated, they want to be stimulated, they want to be entertained, and there’s no reason not to do that,” says Michael about consumers.The three discuss how to achieve this in grocery retail in addition to the importance of environment on buying behavior, how to move a grocery store from a food warehouse to a community center, and so much more. Don't miss this episode.
This week Gary and Shekar welcome a fellow podcaster on the show. Jason Goldberg, co-host of the popular e-commerce Podcast, the Jason & Scot Show. He is also a 4th generation retailer who brings with him the perspective of someone who had a front-row seat to the digital disruption of retail. Jason explains his family journey from a fruit cart to Blockbuster Video to Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis and Retailgeek. Jason offers his prediction for the future of e-commerce in grocery, advice on how retailers can make e-commerce profitable, and much more.
This week Gary and Shekar have the pleasure of speaking with Harold Lloyd, vice president at Harold Lloyd Presents, Inc, where for the past 25 years he has been presenting ideas and solutions to the retail and supermarket industry to better enhance their productivity, team leadership, time management and more. To say this episode is entertaining would be an understatement. Harold shares the story of how he fell in love with grocery retail, his totem pole theory, his projections for the next five years and so much more. Do not miss this episode.
The Retail Perch is back this week with a refreshingly new perspective from a CPG company. Gary and Shekar interview David Klavsons, Chief Executive Officer at King Juice/Calypso Lemonade. David explains his journey from big CPGs like PepsiCo, Nabisco, and Craft to convenience retail and now Calypso Lemonade. He highlights how his organization has used a test and learn environment to grow its brand. He has some great advice for brands including how data, distributors, retailers, and your own organization work together as pieces of the same puzzle.
This week's episode is a slight departure from our usual focus on grocery retail. Shekar and Gary have the opportunity to speak with Rupal Patel, CEO of VocaliD, custom synthetic voice designers, and the makers of PARROT STUDiO, a no-code audible content creation platform. Rupal explains how synthetic voice is created using AI, the various uses for synthetic voice, and some of the ethical issues around it. Best of all, she gives us a live demo of the PARROT STUDiO platform inspiring Gary and Shekar to brainstorm all kinds of uses for it within the grocery sector. Visit https://vocalid.ai/parrot-studio/ for more information about the platform or to sign up for a free trial.
Are unmanned stores the wave of the future? This week Gary and Shekar speak with Daniel Lundh, founder and COO of Lifvs, and the platform that powers it, Storekey. Daniel shares why areas of Sweden can be considered food deserts and the solution he created to solve the problem. Lifvs are small, 24-hour, unmanned grocery stores that shoppers can access through the company's app. The company currently boasts more autonomous stores than Amazon. Listen to learn how they handle supply chain and shrinkage, and how the technology can be used in other retail verticals. Learn more at storekey.com and lifvs.com
This week Shekar and Gary delve into digital marketing with John Readman, Founder & CEO BOSCO™ powered by Modo25, an AI machine learning tool that suggests where retailers should be investing their marketing spend. Throughout his journey in technology marketing, John realized people wanted to understand their digital marketing rather than just paying an agency to do it for them. BOSCO™ allows retailers to look at their market presence across different channels and help them understand where their focus should be and arms them with the knowledge to build their marketing roadmap. Meet John at NRF (booth #1259) and ask any questions you might have about BOSCO™ and what it can do for your business.
In this special episode, Shekar Raman and Gary Hawkins participate in another Harold Lloyd Presents share group. They explain the danger and the opportunity presented by strategic personalization in the grocery industry. A valuable Q&A from the retailers sheds light on where grocers feel the most friction around new technology. Moderated by Doug Madenberg of The Feedback Group
This week, Shekar, and guest host, Stephanie Doherty have the opportunity to speak with Mike Novosel, Industry Lead for Grocery, Gas & Convenience at Cardlytics. Cardlytics uses purchase-based intelligence to make marketing more relevant and measurable. They partner with more than 1,500 financial institutions to run their rewards programs which gives them a secure view into where and when consumers are spending their money. They then use these insights to help marketers identify, reach and influence customers. The three discuss the unique view Cardlytics has into how and where consumers are spending their money, how the company simultaneously creates value for bankers, customers, and grocery marketers, the one consistent challenge created by Covid across all retailers, and much more!
This week Shekar and Gary speak with Jeremy Neren, co-founder and CEO of GorcerKey, a comprehensive e-commerce platform for independent and regional grocers. Jeremy explains how he went from a high school teacher to the CEO of a grocery technology company. The three delve into topics including the evolution of e-commerce, ways to make it profitable, and of course Instacart!
This week Shekar and guest host Stephanie Doherty have the privilege of interviewing, Brandon Scholz, a partner at The Capitol Group and President & CEO of the Wisconsin Grocers Association. This episode is all about workforce and supply chain issues. Brandon does not candy coat his take on the source of supply chain disruptions, the need for people to return to work, and the consequences to everyone if we don't find a solution to the labor shortage. Brandon also gives high praise to all of the grocery store employees who have seen us through the pandemic.
This week, Gary and Shekar review the most recent in-person events in Las Vegas. They discuss precautions taken around Covid, attendance, the possibility of hybrid events, and how lockdown may have affected attendance at in-person events.
In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar delve even deeper into the world nutrition data with Victor Penev, CEO of Edamam. Edamam offers affordable value-added nutrition data to businesses in the food and health and wellness sectors. Victor explains how he went from investment banking to combining his two passions, food and tech, to do something meaningful in the world. The three discuss; use cases for the data and what needs to come together for people to start living long, healthy lives free of chronic illness, from smart toilets to making healthy food convenient and affordable.
In an effort to stay healthy during the Covid Pandemic, many shoppers started to examine how the food they eat affects their health and well-being. Marcus Sredzinski, COO/EVP ScriptSave is the perfect candidate to speak on this issue. Marcus, Gary, and Shekar discuss the link between groceries and staving off disease, health insurance companies incentivizing healthy eating just as car insurance does for safe driving, how digital can help create a link between individuals, their health care, and their grocery shopping, and much more.
“How granularly you define your customer is how much better and refined your insights will be about them as an individual."- Annette Franke.
If you are in grocery retail, this is an episode you don't want to miss. Annette Franke, industry expert and former VP at Kroger Technology offers insights informed by years of experience in retail information technology. The three tackle supply chain issues and labor shortages due to Covid, how to transform the legacy environment into something nimble enough to keep up with the Digital world, organizational transformation, and much more.
Just in time for the NGA Show, Gary and Shekar welcome Greg Ferrara, President, and CEO of the National Grocers Association. Greg shares his observations of how independent grocery has faired in the last year and how the association has helped retailers navigate the new technologies available. They also delve into; how retailers are developing wellness strategies in response to Covid, innovative ways retailers are creating community with the grocery store at the center, the labor shortage, and of course...THE NGA SHOW an opportunity for retailers to take a break from working in the business to work ON the business.
This week, The Retail Perch takes a foray into academia with Karthikeya Easwar, Associate Teaching Professor in the area of Marketing, at Georgetown University's MSB. Dr. Easwar offers unique and refreshing insights from his area of expertise, consumer psychology. The three discuss the friction associated with grocery shopping, the characteristics a retailer should be looking for in new hires, the risk of discrimination based on data segmentation, the best way to frame marketing messages, and much more!
This week Gary and Shekar have the pleasure of speaking with Steve Dennis, author, strategic advisor, senior Forbes contributor, and podcast host. The three discuss the difference between buying and selling, the pitfalls of being a little something for everybody but not particularly important to anybody, the importance of understanding your target market and delivering what they are looking for, why it’s more challenging for grocery to do e-commerce than other retail verticals and so much more!
Do not miss this fascinating episode with Richard Kestenbaum, Partner at Triangle Capital LLC and contributor at Forbes.com. Gary, Shekar, and Richard discuss the impact the growth of online has had on physical store economics, why testing and failure are a part of the road to success, how subscription is an opportunity for grocery to make e-commerce profitable, and so much more.
This week Gary and Shekar interview Sandra Duff, President of Jackman, a customer engagement firm, whose clients include Lululemon, KAY Jewelers, and Staples. The three discuss the categories that will need to work harder to bring back in-store traffic, the importance of brands connecting with communities, the types of brands that are best positioned for success and much more.
In this episode, Gary and Shekar take a brief departure from grocery retail and speak with ShiSh Shridhar, Global Retail Lead for Microsoft Startups. ShiSh shares his insights into how the culture of innovation can be implemented in retail. The three also discuss an example of successful innovations and what made them successful, additive manufacturing as a supply chain disrupter, digital twin models, autonomous grocery, and much more!
It's high time for another Retail Round up where Gary and Shekar delve into some of the latest retail tech news. In this episode, they cover the latest FMI Shopper Trends Report, hybrid stores, Instacart's partnership with Fabric, scan and ship technology at Sams club, C&S wholesalers acquiring Piggly Wiggly, and Coborn’s switch to AWG as their primary wholesale provider.
Today Gary and Shekar switch focus from AI-driven retail technology to merchandising and retail design. They interview Joe Lampertius President at ChaseDesign. Joe shares many stories from his years of experience including: how they convinced Amazon to change its wireframes for the household cleaning department and why, how the behavioral design approach changed the shape of the Head and Shoulders bottles, and how digital is influencing in-store environments.
This week Gary and Shekar have the pleasure of speaking with Olga Yurovski, inventor and CEO of Shopperations, a cloud based planning software for CPGs and retail marketers. Shopperations goal is to help shopper marketers become more agile and data driven. Olga shares her latest creation Vendorstan, a platform where CPG marketer can discover and evaluate new capabilities and easily reach out to the vendors' sales teams for more information.
DO you know where your customer data is? Do you know who has access to it? This interview with Ashish Shrowty, CEO and Co-founder of Divebell Inc is a must-listen for retailers. Divebell Inc helps companies protect data and alerts them to any violations around data protection. Ashish explains how his solution enables companies to maintain data compliance and security while still moving the business forward. Divebell Inc is a lightweight SaaS platform that does not require customer data to ever leave the retailer's own IT environment.
This week Gary and Shekar are joined by Orlee Tal, CEO of Stor.ai, an end-to-end, digital e-commerce solution that is very tightly integrated into the retailers' internal systems. Stor.ai allows the retailer to take what they know about the customers through e-commerce interactions and apply it to the in-store experience. The three discuss D2C opportunities for brands, the fate of online shopping as the world opens up again, the role e-commerce plays in the survival of grocery, and why retailers should be cautious when it comes to their relationship with Instacart.
This week, Shekar and Gary interview Roger Heaston co-founder and CTO of Refinition, and Elise Wood, managing partner of Refinition. Refinition empowers retailers and brands by allowing them to control their destinies through data. Elise and Roger discuss data issues including Google's recent 3rd party cookie ban, the common occurrence of brands overpaying to talk to the same people, and how Refinition can help put the power back into the hands of brands and retailers. If you want to own the relationship between you and your customers using ethical clean data, reach out to Refinition at https://www.refinition.com/.
This week, Shekar and Gary interview Michael Haase
CEO and Founder of Plant Jammer. Plant Jammer is a product that not only makes food preparation more fun and creative, but also drastically reduces food waste. This is more than just recipes; the solution does not contain a database of recipes, instead, it is an AI Chef. The user enters the ingredients they have on hand then the solution creates a recipe based on taught food pairings, basic rules, and user preferences. Offered in an app for consumers and also an API for brands to encourage true user engagement.
In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar have the pleasure of speaking with Manil Uppal, co-founder of Delivery Solutions, a solution that lets retailers consume and harness the power of all of the delivery providers. Manil explains how his solution takes the friction out of same-day delivery, last-mile delivery, and delivery orchestration and management, for retailers.
In this episode, Gary and Shekar have the opportunity to pick the brain of Jon Kramer, Managing Director at JMK Solutions, a strategic advisory group that helps drive business growth through strategy integration. Previously, Jon spent 15 years as the Enterprise Sales Marketing lead at WestRock. Based on his extensive experience, Jon offers up some tough love to retailers. Some of the topics he covers are: why the traditional grocery business model is broken and the radical changes that are necessary to fix it, why shopper conversion is the most important metric and retail, and how a lack of urgency can be the death knell for many traditional retailers.
This week Gary and Shekar interview Marcus Stratzel, CEO of Whitebox Inc. Marcus shares his journey from qualified nuclear engineer to e-commerce technology. Whitebox is an e-commerce solution that helps brands get their products into the hands of customers. Marcus explains how Whitebox helps brands, often challenger brands, navigate modern commerce by offering e-commerce marketplace and fulfillment technology and expertise. Anyone who wants to get their product out to the customer, but is unsure how to compete with the "big guys" should give this one a listen.
This week on The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar interview Diana Fryc, partner, and chief sales and marketing officer of Retail Voodoo. Diana and her team are dedicated to building, growing and developing wellness brands and naturals. She shares her passion for naturals as well as her insights into how this category has developed and changed over the years. Diana is also a champion of the women and minorities who were responsible for nurturing natural products in their infancy, but who are now being displaced in some cases.
This week, Gary and Shekar have the pleasure of speaking with Jeff Ketner, CEO and Catherine Seeds, President of Ketner Group Communications. The focus of this week's discussion is the important role PR plays in a startups overall business plan. They cover how it fits in with marketing and sales, how to budget for it, the importance of consistency, and how to assess ROI. If you have been considering adding public relations to your growth plan, this episode has the insights you need to make an informed decision.
In this fascinating episode, Shekar and Gary interview Jon Stine, Executive Director of Open Voice Network, an industry association dedicated to developing standards in the world of voice assistance. As voice technologies develop, where will they be used? What types of data can be gleaned from voice interactions? Who owns the data? These are all questions the Open Voice Network is working to answer. The three also discuss what the implications are for retail and the role voice plays in a frictionless customer journey.
This is a must-listen episode for anyone working in the grocery retail industry. This week Gary and Shekar have the pleasure of interviewing an industry veteran, Doug Baker. Doug's years of experience in grocery retail have culminated in his present role as VP of Industry Relations at FMI. Doug outlines the four main focuses of retailers: shopper experience, operational efficiency, supply chain, and data analytics. He also discusses what role technology plays or should play in all of it.
Learn more at theretailperch.com or Birdzi.com
In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar welcome back Mary Scimone. The trio discusses why grocers need to go beyond the "look back" approach of RFM. AI is necessary to project forward and give a picture of what is to come. Retailers need to partner with solution providers that alleviate the burden of having to figure out what all the data means. With the right technology and service provider, the individual composites now available will allow retailers to know time in store, coverage of store, interactions with private label products, the time between transactions, etc., to help drive decisions throughout the organization.
In this episode Shekar and guest host, Stephanie Doherty, speak with Di Di Chan, president and co-founder of FutureProof Retail, a company offering scan-and-go software to help retailers affordably compete with the retail giants. Di Di explains how her interest in the study of philosophy created the foundation for FutureProof Retail. This episode is equal parts grocery retail, entrepreneurship, and philosophy. Listen now!
In this episode of The Retail Perch, Shekar and Gary interview Spencer Price, CEO and Gabriel Nipote, COO of Halla, the taste intelligence company. These co-founders explain how the challenge of finding a restaurant for different people with different dietary requirements and preferences inspired the creation of Halla. Their goal is to help shoppers sort through the noise and expand their basket size through relevant recommendations based on individual tastes. Also in this episode, the hosts and guests discuss the changing retail landscape and the tools available to help grocers compete.
This week, Shekar and guest host, Stephanie Doherty interview Katie Hotze, founder, and CEO of Grocery Shopii, a digital meal planning platform that drives relevant recommendations while solving the problem of cart abandonment in e-commerce. In this episode, Katie explains the inspiration behind her product and how her hyper-focus on the customer journey has made Grocery Shopii successful. Additionally, Katie shares her very honest journey from digital marketer and data analyst to entrepreneur. Her inspiring story is one that anyone with a good idea should hear but is especially helpful for other women considering the grand adventure of entrepreneurship in a male-dominated industry.
It’s time again for a Retail Roundup. This week Gary and Shekar discuss some of retail's big news items including the Tops and Price Chopper merger, the rise in seafood sales, the future of Instacart, and an introduction to the new social media platform, Clubhouse…are you on it?
In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar discuss the concept of a Customer Intelligence Platform (CIP). They describe how the latest trend in grocery retail unifies information, insights and action in one place, and how retailers can elevate to this next level.
In Part 2 of this episode, Gary and Shekar learn more about Nir's role at Amazon Web Services (AWS) as the program manager for AWS Jam (https://jam.awsevents.com). Nir lays out the 4 principles of AWS: Mechanism, Architecture, Culture and Organization, unlocking the mystery of how Amazon remains the most relevant and nimble company out there.
In Part 1 of this two-part episode, Gary and Shekar get the opportunity to speak with Nir Pilo, one of retail loyalty's pioneering architects. He was the owner of a Retalix loyalty product that was awarded Gartner's "#1 Product in the Market." Nir gives a unique look into what the backend of retail systems look like and details the differences between tier 1, tier 2, and smaller independents when it comes to loyalty and promotion. Peppered throughout, Nir offers sage advice based on his years of experience in the industry, "Innovation is a game of numbers. The more you do, the more you fail, the more you learn from it and you become a better learner."
The Retail Perch is back! Join Gary and Shekar as they interview the VP of Marketing at Harps Food Stores, Inc., David Ganoung. David is a grocery lifer, starting at the young age of 16. He offers an enlightening perspective on how grocery retail and marketing has evolved over the years.
In this interview, the trio discusses the imperatives of grocery retail. David offers his advice to others who hope to up their digital engagement game. He also outlines his approach to market research when it comes to adopting new technology. You won't want to miss this one!
Loyalty and personalization are often used interchangeably, but they aren't the same thing. In this episode Gary and Shekar explore the differences as well as the relationship between the two. Gary also outlines the roadmap for retailers to take from one to the other on the road to true customer engagement.
This week The Retail Perch tries something new and asks shoppers to discuss how their holiday shopping has changed, how they feel about it, and whether or not they plan on returning to normal when the time of Covid has passed. In these interviews conducted by The Retail Perch's producer, Stephanie Doherty, some valuable and sometimes surprising insights are uncovered. All the data in the world can't replace honest, customer feedback as a means of understanding customer behavior.
This week Gary and Shekar welcome back Brian Numainville and Doug Madenberg of The Retail Feedback Group to discuss their recent findings around e-commerce, shopper behavior, and the future of retail. With consumers making fewer trips to the grocery store, retailers must take meaningful steps to make those experiences feel safe and satisfying. This episode can help by answering the questions: Do shoppers feel that their primary grocery store is providing good value? Has disruption in the supply chain affected consumer use of add flyers? What is the main determinant of satisfaction of a shopping trip even prior to the pandemic? and What are the biggest risks to traditional retailers?
She is a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) Retail Technology & Insights expert. Mary works between technology companies, brands, and the retailer to translate needs from product management to business consulting.
In this interview, Gary, Shekar, and Mary discuss the role and responsibility of retailers in their shoppers' health and wellness. Where are the opportunities to create loyalty by putting the customer first? How can retailers leverage data to give their shoppers a customized and personalized experience that meets their health needs? At a time when we are facing another season of quarantine people need ways to stay healthy and boost their immunity, this is an excellent opportunity for grocery to step up and help fill that need.
This episode is for everyone. Sterling Hawkins is an international keynote speaker, and the creator of the TEDx talk, "Discomfort is Necessary for Innovation". In this episode he outlines his 5 "No Matter Whats": Hunt Discomfort, Get a Tattoo, Flip It, Build a Street Gang, and Surender. He speaks about them in relation to retail, but in reality, they are applicable to life when growth is the goal. Listen as Sterling explains why you need to lean into discomfort in order to achieve transformative growth.
Entrepreneurs and start-ups, this episode is for you. This week, Gary and Shekar get to pick the brain of venture capitalist, David Matthews from RevTech Ventures. David shares his ideas of what makes a successful start-up, what he looks for in start-ups, and what makes him run in the other direction. David explains the importance of automation and authenticity and how companies like Birdzi, Accel Robotics, The Citizenry, and Pensa Systems are doing it right.
Are you ready for the future of retail? This week on The Retail Perch, our host Gary Hawkins turns guest. Gary, in addition to being podcast host extraordinaire, is also the Founder and CEO of CART (Center for Advancing Retail & Technology). In this interview, Shekar asks Gary to walk listeners through his latest white paper, Retail 4.0: The Age of Metamorphosis. Among other insights from the paper, Gary outlines the three steps retailers have to take not just to be best in class today, but in years to come. Gary cautions retailers to innovate BEFORE they have to because by then it will be TOO LATE.
In this episode, Shekar and Gary discuss the latest news in retail technology. They offer their speculations regarding the Amazon/Spartan Nash relationship, and offer insights into biometric payment, delivery robots at Save Mart, Loblaws' health and wellness app, in cart scanning/self check out, and much more. Listen and enjoy!
In this episode, Shekar and Gary interview Ron Bonacci, VP of marketing and advertising at Weis Markets. Ron has day-to-day oversight of the company’s advertising, marketing and public relations activities.
The three discuss many trending topics and answer the question: how do you take the 'Nice to know' data and make it actionable? They also cover measuring churn, customer segmentation, lessons from Covid and why owning fresh is the key to retailer survival in the age of Amazon.
In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar interview two of their favorite retailers from Coborn's Inc., Diana Barr, Director of Loyalty and Dennis Host, VP of Marketing. Coborn's began in 1921 and now boasts 120+ grocery, convenience, and liquor stores throughout the Midwest. Diana and Dennis walks us through the digital engagement powerhouse that Coborn's is today. They highlight the effects COVID-19 has had not only on their marketing and customer engagement, but also on the behaviors of their shoppers. This is a valuable interview for anyone in the grocery sector. Listen and enjoy!
Shekar and Gary interview Brian Numainville and Doug Madenberg, Principals of The Retail Feedback Group. Brian and Doug Share their insights on how surveys can help retailers engage their customers, the right and wrong ways to use survey data, what the future of surveys looks like in the COVID 19 era, and much, much more.
Once a month, Shekar and Gary will discuss current events in retails. In this month's Retail Roundup, they delve into Kroger's Q2 results, Amazon throwing its hat into grocery retail, drones, TikTok and so much more. Tune in to get their take on retail's latest news.
Today, Gary and Shekar dive into digital engagement and the effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had in regards to it and the retail industry overall. The laid-back approach to digital engagement in previous years will not be enough to currently help retailers. Digital engagement is no longer an option, it's an imperative.
Are retailers staying relevant and personal with their communication strategies? If not, how do they do so? How do their websites, mobile apps, and social media come into play? Gary and Shekar offer advice on how retailers can not only keep up, but get ahead in the race to capture customer loyalty. Tune in to find out how.
Join Gary and Shekar as they discuss technology trends in Grocery Retail. They delve into the continued growth of e-commerce, digital engagement, the substantial presence of automation, and what role AI plays in it all. How will retailers remain profitable while investing in the technology necessary to remain relevant? Will adding technology to the traditional retail model be enough or do retailers have to deconstruct and build something new? Tune in to find out.
The Retail Perch has its first guest: Mary Scimone.
She is a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) Retail Technology & Insights expert. Mary works between technology companies, brands, and the retailer to translate needs from product management to business consulting.
This week’s theme focuses on challenges, and she’ll be providing her take on modernizing and moving the industry forward. All three discuss the challenges that retailers might face - either big or small, with adapting certain technologies given their current state.
Today’s theme: a history lesson.
Shekar and Gary dive into the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) retail marketing industry, its inception, and how retail has been built on mass marketing, along with how trade promotion has driven it.
They show you how customer marketing, data, and personalization go hand in hand. Are you aware of how your weekly ad affects the industry? The shopper experience has transformed entirely, and it all starts with understanding how and why.
Welcome to The Retail Perch!
In the first episode, we get to meet our two hosts, Shekar and Gary, as they dive into their backstories and experiences, including their perception of the current state of retail.
Shekar describes Birdzi's origin, and Gary lets us in on how he transitioned from growing up bagging groceries to launching one of the first loyalty programs in the supermarket sector.
They also answer questions like "what challenges do retailers face in adopting and implementing the latest technologies?" and "what does the future hold for this industry?"