Fashion Is Your Business - a retail technology podcast

There’s no way around it: customers are paying attention to sustainability. Creating unique sustainable initiatives must be in the menu. Savvy consumers are demanding to know from where products are sourced and are looking for higher levels sustainability from brands. Julie Mathers (Founder/CEO of Flora and Fauna, Australia's largest cruelty free & vegan shop with exclusive eco friendly products) and Sarah Mullen (COO of Adore Beauty, Australia's online beauty boutique) join Marc Raco on location in front of a live audience at Online Retailer in Sydney Australia. They discuss the challenges and knowledge required to take the next step.the next level of ethical advancement required to meet an aware and conscious consumer. 

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It’s no secret diversity is on the minds of many founders and executives in all industries, including fashion. Two thought leaders in diversity in fashion, Jessica Couch and Brittany Hicks, who amongst many other things are the co-founders of the Women of Color FashTech Brunch, sat down with Rob Sanchez and guest host Lois Herzeca for a lively discussion about diversity — in the industry and in thought. 

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There is no set formula to entering China’s retail landscape successfully, there are still many unknowns and risks to navigate. While the opportunity is huge, so too is the potential damage. Raymond Ma, General Manager, Alibaba Cloud (a major player in cloud solutions) joins Marc Raco on location in front of a live audience at Online Retailer in Sydney Australia to discuss the challenges and knowledge required to take the next step.

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Most millennials are screening out brands that aren’t relevant, unique or ethical - this has created sharp growth in the rise of artisan and street brands. Eric Phu, founder of Citizen Wolf (a company that offers custom tailored t-shirts that are lauded as “the best fitting t-shirts on the planet”) joins Marc Raco in front of a live audience on location at Online Retailer in Sydney Australia to discuss how deep authenticity can be cultivated and how to remain relevant a growing marketplace of unique brands.

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Social marketing continues to surprise in its integration of innovation and creativity. Generating compelling, authentic and meaningful engagement is key for retail social success. While there is no set formula for any organization, it’s highly beneficial to hear from those who are raising the bar on impactful content creation.

Olivia Carr, Founder and CEO of Shhh Silk (silk pillowcases), and Travis Wright,  General Manager of apparel brand Esther & Co., join Marc Raco and guest host Oliver Rhodes (Head of Growth for Peoplevox) in front of a live audience on location at Online Retailer in Sydney Australia. They discuss what’s required in 2020 to curate relevance and depth in social communication. And, what role, if any, social impact and charitable giving can, and should, have on success.

This episode is powered by the warehouse management solution peoplevox.com .

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The 2020 global consumer is likely to change, and that change is likely unpredictable. And in a tumultuous environment of constant change it’s imperative to gain clarity on the emerging forces. While there are obvious trends arising there are also unpredictable behavioral shifts expected that will have meaningful impact on the online and offline retail market place. 

Mark Teperson,  Chief Digital officer for Accent Group Limited (a regional leader in the retail and distribution of performance and lifestyle footwear, with over 420 stores across 10 different retail banners and exclusive distribution rights for 10 international brands across Australia and New Zealand such as The Athlete’s Foot, Skechers, Dr. Martens, Timberland, Sperry Top-Sider) joins Marc Raco for a discussion on the next wave of digital evolution and how to prepare. This 300th episode of Fashion Is Your Business was recorded on location in front of a live audience at Online Retailer in Sydney, Australia.

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Kasper Hulthin, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer of Peakon (an employee engagement platform), joins Rob Sanchez on location at H.R. Retail. This is the 3rd of 3 in a series of conversations about hiring and retaining the right people.

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Stephen Engdahl, Chief Product Officer and GM of Software and Conversion Services for Access Information Management, joins Rob Sanchez at H.R. Retail to discuss the considerations, solutions, and innovation of storage and protection of employee documentation for businesses. Part 2 of 3 of a series of conversations about hiring and retaining the right people in the right way.

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Retail --and all businesses — cannot run without their employees. Hiring the right people is just the first and important step. Retaining the right talent, navigating complex HR laws and regulations, and managing them efficiently and productively is another massive challenge, especially the larger the company. Rob Sanchez spoke  with a few experts on this topic at HR Retail. This conversation with Elizabeth McLean,  General Counsel and Compliance Counsel for GoodHire (the only company in the industry with built-in, localized adverse action workflows to help take the stress and worry out of the employment background check process), is the first of three interviews, presented as an important resource for running your business.

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Acquiring and keeping customers in both online and physical environments is something Sarmad Saghir, VP of Acquisition for Adore Me (a sleepwear and activewear company offering a monthly lingerie subscription service), knows something about. He joins Marc Raco and guest hosts Joe Yakuel (Agency Within) and Catherine Schepis (American Fashion Podcast, and Lean Canvas Advisory). Recorded in the MouthMedia Network studios. To hear more from speakers like Joe and Sarmad, check out CommerceNext on July 31st & August 1st in NYC.

In this episode:

Adore Me’s goal to bring high quality underwear and lingerie to everyone, no matter what their shape, size, or race, and how they plan to scale their marketing channels with streaming, TV, mail, as well as influencers and traditional display to meet this goal as effectively as possible

How Facebook’s algorithms have lost brand’s some of their flexibility and ability to leverage the platform as effectively as possible with the proliferation of blind spots for marketers

The importance of differentiating dissatisfied customers versus customers at the end of the lifecycle with a subscription-based service like Adore Me, and how to either win those customers back or know when it isn’t worth the effort to retain that customer

The value of associates in brick and mortar stores and the engagement opportunity that provides versus the tendency for the modern consumer to want to avoid interpersonal interaction, especially with online-online and subscription model sales platforms

Communicating with customers, and how building and maintaining loyalty is all about honesty and accountability throughout, especially in situations where the brand may be at fault

How Adore Me assess who may be a valuable customer, and the surprising homogeny between a-la-carte customers versus subscription model customers or elite try-at-home customers

Adore Me’s plans to assess the wants and needs of its customers who opt into each transactional model to better leverage each for its strengths and target customers who may be wary of a subscription model

Maintaining a brand identity across all platforms, from social media accounts to advertisements to website landing pages, and balancing what the metrics are showing people want and what the brand’s stated identity is

How Adore Me is branching out into physical store locations and navigating brick and mortal sales by testing and learning

Why Facebook is still a better short-term marketing performer for Adore Me than TV spots, but why the drag time of TV ads makes the metrics harder to analyze

How Sarmand uses data as well as the experiences of his colleagues to navigate the tricky seasonality of lingerie and swimwear

What Sarmand’s hypothetical dream marketing plan for Adore Me would entail

The importance of making online quizzes worthwhile for the brand and the consumer

Plus, some off the grid questions with Sarmad where we learn about what he looks forward to at the end of the day, what he does to relax, and a moment he resisted the urge to give up on something

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