Future Shop Podcast with WSL

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.

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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. 

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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. 

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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?

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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.

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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

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