In the first of several episodes brought to you by Bambuser and recorded at Shoptalk Europe, we did our first full episode in front of a live audience.

Our topic may at first seem counter-intuitive given the dramatic and continuing growth of e-commerce. But in a world where the role of brick-and-mortar locations has evolved significantly and shopping journeys are often split between jobs and joys, errands and experiences, it's never been more important to be sure that brands' physical store investments deliver great customer relevance and powerful differentiation.

So we go deep on how the role of stores (and shopping centers) have changed, how some retailers adapted quickly, and others failed to seize the opportunity, and what it takes to makes sure physical retail is contributing to remarkable performance.

As usual, we start by unpacking the most important retail news of the week with a focus on the good, bad, and somewhat promising earnings reports from Abercrombie & Fitch, PDD Holdings, Dicks Sporting Goods, Kohl's, Gap, and more. We also explore the lingering impact of inflation in services and the continued expansion of Vuori, one of our favorite remarkable brands.

Buying vs. Shopping episode

Joe Kudla interview

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.