Future Shop Podcast with WSL

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

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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 

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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 

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 

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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

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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

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