Consumers are increasingly turning to mobile to conduct research, price compare, and purchase products. According to Forrester, over one-third of total U.S. retail sales are influenced by a mobile device during the buying process. As e-commerce continues to grow, will consumers still have an appetite for in-store experiences? Moving forward, how can physical stores coexist with digital stores?

To answer these questions, we took a glimpse into the future with The Retail Prophet, Doug Stephens, one of the world’s foremost retail industry futurists. Doug is the author of Reengineering Retail and the Retail Revival, a keynote speaker, and a business advisor for today’s most innovative retail brands, such as Home Depot, Walmart, Disney, and Google. Doug chatted with us about how the purpose of the physical store is shifting away from being a distribution center, towards a media experience, and how elevating the role of the retail associate is a key component to differentiating your customer experience.

If you visited a Golf Town store just 12 months ago – you would have seen a very different company than the innovative brand which stands before you today. Making the decision to buy back its namesake from its US counterpart, Golfsmith, was just the first step on its transformative journey to re-establish itself as a premier, stand-alone Canadian golf retailer.

And this year has been one for the books. While many retailers are facing declining foot-traffic, decreasing sales and store closures, Golf Town marches forward. Between relaunching their brand, to rebuilding their culture (in partnership with their store associates, no less), to introducing experiential store concepts across the country – Golf Town relishes in the unique opportunity to create a fresh foundation. One that is built on an evolved purpose, a forward-thinking strategy and encompasses its renewed core values: team, winning, adaptation and authenticity.

But how does a brand in transition, faced with the uncertainty of today’s retail landscape, bring its brand to life and create an enduring foundation? We had the opportunity to speak with Sue Gilpin, Director of HR at Golf Town, to discuss the organization’s remarkable transformation.

If you look at retail today, you’ll see an industry that’s on the verge of disruption. With headlines from Bloomberg such as “America’s ‘Retail Apocalypse’ Is Really Just Beginning”, it seems the future for brick-and-mortar retailers is grim. Boutiques, department stores, and even entire malls are shutting down, while e-commerce and the digital landscape are continuing to gain momentum.

What we’ve discovered is that perhaps, retail is not dying, but is instead going through massive transformation. Take this headline from Forbes, for example: “Retail Apocalypse? The Sky Isn't Falling - The Sector Is Just Evolving.” For new age retailers, expectations have been set. Consumers are looking for higher levels of service, employees who have true domain expertise, and stores that provide an elevated experience - beyond just shopping.

We sat down with Ron Tite, a speaker, author, and CEO of The Tite Group, to discuss the future of retail. What do today’s consumers expect? What does the future of brick-and-mortar look like? Working in advertising and as a retail consultant, he had great advice on what retailers can do to elevate the in-store experience, pulling best-in-class insights from brands such as Best Buy and Starbucks.

Around the world, Nando's has over 1,200 restaurants and an employee base of 45,000 people who are proud to be part of the Nando’s family. 

We sat down with Krista McLay, Manager of Brand Communications Strategy at Nando’s Canada, to talk about marketing strategy, what makes campaigns successful, and the keys to engaging restaurant staff in activating those campaigns.

We quickly discovered that their saying, “behind most things at Nando’s is an extraordinary story”, holds true - especially in terms of their approach to the employee experience and building a family-friendly culture. From the names of their restaurants (‘Casas’) and staff (‘Nandocas’), to the Nando’s guest journey, storytelling is a key component to Nando’s brand and global success.

Freshii, a Canadian-based ‘health casual’ restaurant chain, was founded in 2005 with the simple mission of making it convenient for people to eat healthy food. Today, they’re bringing that mission to life across the globe, with over 300 locations in over 20 countries.

We had a chance to speak with Melissa Gallagher, their VP of Marketing, about how they have built a consistent brand and guest experience while going through explosive growth.

How quickly have they grown? To put it in perspective, Freshii opened their first 200 restaurants faster than global brands like McDonald’s, Subway, and Domino’s – and they plan on continuing that momentum.