The Retail Shift: Recent Episodes
Mitch Black
Welcome to The Retail Shift – a brand new podcast where we’re discussing current retail trends and uncovering the shifts and challenges today’s retailer faces. Every week, we’ll sit down with a different retail expert to discuss what is new in technology, customer expectations, and consumer demand. Join us as we get in the weeds and find out what advice they have that makes today’s retailers successful. Tune in because if there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s shift happens.
Mitch Black discusses the impact and importance of retail employee training with Daniel Craig, Director of Learning and Development at Prime Communications and Mike Mendelson, Chief Learning Officer at Skale.
Daniel Craig is a process-oriented servant leader focused on building and inspiring teams to accomplish more than the sum of the individuals. During his 15+ years of sales & operational leadership experience in the retail and B2B telecommunications industry, he's proven his ability to build, develop, inspire, and lead teams that exceed targets and drive company culture. He is currently responsible for the strategic development and execution of training programs & systems nationwide for the 1900+ stores and 7000+ employees at Prime Communications. His specific focus is on data-driven program & system design, execution, and reporting to improve performance and operational efficiency while personifying mission, vision, and culture. Mike Mendelson was a high school math teacher who figured out not only what the classroom of the future should look like but how enable it. He went on to utilize these unique insights to become the most prolific L&D professional at Nvidia, training over 250k developers on deep learning technical content. He's now the Chief Learning Officer for Skale, who utilizes his core insight to create effective internal training for companies of all sizes, with a core focus on retail.
Oleg Kleyman, COO of B2B Soft, joins Mitch Black to discuss the impact that the digital transformation is having on the retail experience. While COVID-19 may have acceleration the adoption of digital interactions, Oleg shares the importance of understanding how the digital and in-person consumer experience should be woven together.
Mitch Black and Gary Cohen, CEO of Cova, dive into the similarities found between the cannabis and wireless industry and how the lessons learned in wireless retail will benefit the cannabis retail industry.
Gary Cohen is a pioneer in 3 new huge industries: cellular, data analytics and cannabis. Since commercial launch in Nov 2017, Cova has quickly become the thought leader and innovator in each of its targeted markets. Integrity, expertise and a focus on compliance have been key to our rapid success in this exciting new space.
This week's guest is Krista Raymer with Vetrina Group, which is a full-service retail development, and retail operations company that uses technology and retail expertise to make the experience of opening and operating stores fast, convenient, and transparent.
The Retail Shift is presented by Shiftlab, a leading sales-based scheduling software platform focused driving sales and optimizing labor in specialty retail, we are moving into the cannabis retail space.
This weeks guest is Aaron Trahan with Headset.io, which puts state-of-the-art data technology in the hands of cannabis retailers and producers, to bring business strategy and customer needs down to earth.
The Retail Shift is presented by Shiftlab, a leading sales-based scheduling software platform focused driving sales and optimizing labor in specialty retail, we are moving into the cannabis retail space.
David Cherrie, CEO of Arcade, joins Mitch Black, CEO of Shiftlab, to how to Win in Wireless Retail in 2021 by Engaging and Optimizing a Winning Workforce.
In this podcast they cover:
- Trends that impacted wireless retail in 2020
- Lessons learned from digging into the data
- How wireless retailers can maximize engagement & performance strategies
Brian Pascoe, SVP of Strategic Sales at Verizon Wireless, shares his vision for the immersive retail experience that extends beyond the in-person transactions. Building the long-term customer connection has to be the goal of any organization wanting to succeed in retail.
Mike Dano is Light Reading's Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies. He has covered the wireless industry as a journalist for almost two decades, first at RCR Wireless News and then at FierceWireless.
Mitch Black and Mike Dano unpack the impact 5G will have on consumers and the opportunity it gives the carriers as they upgrade the infrastructure to support the new and emerging standards.
Jeff Moore is Principal of Wave7 Research, a wireless research company that covers U.S. postpaid and prepaid competition, as well as smartphone competition and fixed wireless competition. Wave7 Research is the leading firm in terms of wireless retail coverage.
Jeff Moore has over 20 years of telecom industry experience and from 2006-2015, Jeff was the lead official responsible for gathering competitive intelligence for Sprint and was Chairman of Sprint's Competitive Intelligence Roundtable.
Andrew is the CEO of MINT and visionary in the successful practices in retail for the last several decades. In his role as CEO, he leads the MINT team of experts with creating smart, experiential environments for retailers throughout the world.
In addition to his role as CEO of MINT, Andrew sits on several boards and has been a panelist at many industry events.
Akbar Mohamed, President of Prime Communications, talks about the only asset Prime manages in today's episode. *Hint... it's their people.
He shares how investing in people with quality training, removing barriers and aligning those things with customer needs provides an exceptional experience every time.
Brad MacArthur, President of TracPoint, shares how retailers can use digital tools such as PWAs (progressive web apps), social media and coupons to engage customers and keep them coming back.
It's important, in an evolving retail world, to provide your customers the positive experiences they crave and reduce barriers around education and product information.
Sterling Raehtz, ShopperTrak, joins us to share how sensory and traffic analytics can be used to better understand shopper habits and give retailers an advantage.
Key Learnings
1) How using RFID technology to better track product can enhance the omni-channel experience
2) Sensory technology can better equip stores to understand their traffic patterns so they can staff to meet customer needs
3) Know what how your sales team sells. Are they marathoners or sprinters? Make sure you staff appropriately to take advantage of each skill set.
David Ritter, Managing Director at Alvarez & Marsal, shares his take on the current state of retail and the importance of transforming to stay relevant.
Key Takeaways:
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Cash is king - retailers are taking great strides to get expenses in order. What are you doing to reduce costs and where are you doubling down?
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Scheduling will play a larger part in retail strategy as companies align needs in store with the appropriate labor.
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Agile methods are more prominent since stores can't wait 6-12 months to drop new products or services.
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Using data for greater personalization is paramount to standard segmentation.
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Capitalizing on the talent pool that is currently available will pay dividends as stores evolve and emerge with a digital focus.
Adapt to change or you'll be left behind. Troy Fargey, President of Hitfar, shares how Hitfar adapted their business for continued growth with drop shipping and gives us a little view into Hitfar's impact on the circular economy.
In today's episode, Alex Yeater, President of Conway Communications, shares his thoughts on the sales process and how understanding who your successful reps are is key in replicating positive experiences for the customer... resulting in greater sales.
Key Takeaways:
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Using conversion data to understand who your best reps are is necessary to grow and replicate success.
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Focusing on the small details in a sales (i.e. pulling up an account) can make all the difference in the experience a customer has. Make them feel like royalty.
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If you aren't actively using analytics and adjusting your processes based on those analytics, you are behind.
Michael Osborne, CEO and President of SmarterHQ, shares how retailers can benefit by defining a sound strategy and personalizing the buying experience for their customers.
Key Takeaways:
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Learn about your buyers and how they want to interact with your brand. When do they want to buy? What do they want to buy? How do they want to buy?
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Define your strategy before your begin execution. Understanding what you are trying to accomplish allows you to focus on the data to support that strategy.
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Simple execution is key. Don't take on a lot of flashy tools when they can't be used to their full potential. As you see success and have the talent to support more tools then expand.
Biju Nair, President and CEO of HYLA Mobile, joins us in this episode of The Retail Shift.
Key Learnings:
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What is the circular economy in wireless retail and how can organizations benefit from it.
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How data plays into trade-in and buy back programs
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How companies can track and manage upgrade cycles to positively impact their business with more foot traffic
Performance-based scheduling is a big advantage for companies who choose to adopt a strategic approach to scheduling. Companies who have adopted it have been extremely underserved with technology to support the process. In this episode of The Retail Shift, we talk to the President and COO of Shiftlab, Devin Shrake, about why he started Shiftlab, what predictions and shifts he is seeing in the wireless retail space, what he's learned from starting a company, and so much more.
How do you effectively deliver the best possible customer and brand experience? Join us as Jason Becker, CEO of RICS Software, shares his insights on how connectivity in the ecosystem will make a difference for companies in the future.
Point of sale solutions have played a vital role in the evolution of wireless retail. Eric Stachowski, President of iQmetrix, provides insights into the shift and small business taking advantage of e-commerce to compete against larger retailers.
Success comes from having invested employees and evolving the organization over time. These are tall orders in the current climate and the organizations who take the time to hire quality, team players and create a process to adjust their business are able to easily avoid disruption.
Retail stores have unique opportunities to personalize a shopper's experience, but what do those look like? Understanding shopper habits is step one and the easiest in terms of data gathering. Using omni-channel approaches to reach them where they are is step two and much more challenging.
Wireless providers have different explanations for what 5G actually is and what it will mean for you and your service. Industries including, health and wellness, apparel, and automotive are looking to see how they can provide unique offerings around 5G. Creating a seamless experience for customers is the forefront of this push and will drastically change the landscape in the coming years.
Welcome to The Retail Shift – a brand new podcast presented by Shiftlab where we’re discussing current retail trends and uncovering the shifts and challenges today’s retailer faces.
Every week, we’ll sit down with a different retail expert to discuss what is new in technology, customer expectations, how to create consumer demand and create a great work environment for employees.
Join us as we get in the weeds and find out what advice they have that makes today’s retailers successful. Tune in because if there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s shift happens.