Retail and customer experience expert Kate Fannin brings brands down to earth for a living, driven by her consulting mantra, “People buy things; they pay for experiences.” Drawing from her career journey across iconic brands like Gap, Nordstrom, and Estée Lauder, Kate offers insightful strategies for curating meaningful customer connections that make even online shopping feel like window shopping in your favorite small town.

“The Invitation to Come and Stay Awhile”

Key takeaways:

• Human connection never went out of style, even as digital capabilities flourish.
• If a brand’s technology isn’t solving a pain point, they should ask: is that technology enhancing customer experience or force-following a trend?
• [00:11:00] "What we’ve lost in digital is the invitation to come and stay awhile." – Phillip Jackson
• [00:14:00] "There’s no such thing as drive-through luxury." – Brian Lange
• [00:17:00] "Every brand needs to ask: What does it take to bring the customer back?" – Kate Fannin
• [00:40:00] "Can you have human engagement at scale? Not the same as me shopping with Jackie in Cold Spring…So AI has its place, but you can’t just peanut butter it across everything." – Kate Fannin
• [00:42:00] "People buy things, but they pay for experiences." – Kate Fannin

Associated Links:

• Connect with Kate at Kate Fannin Consulting
• Connect with Kate on LinkedIn
• Check out Future Commerce on YouTube
• Check out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and print
• Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
• Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce

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Kate is a "consummate consumer" and channel-agnostic "Retail Realist" -For over two decades, she has worked in marketing, retail, and IT, including 15+ years in luxury fashion, and beauty. She has held various leadership roles at Estee Lauder Companies, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Gap, Inc. 

Her passion is evaluating the consumer experience, from product and packaging to elevated, immersive "phygital" engagement programs to ensure that the customer is the top priority!

‍Kate has an MBA from the University of Illinois, and a BBA from St. Mary's University in San Antonio, TX, both in Marketing.