Remarkable Retail Podcast

William Gibson, the great American-Canadian speculative fiction author, once said: "The future is already here, it's just not very evenly distributed." 

This episode features a deep dive into several key concepts to navigate the COVID economy and execute the journey to remarkable. First and foremost is the idea that much of the disruption that will determine future winners and losers is already in play, though we may yet see it or fully appreciate its importance. Second, we must be careful not to fall into the trap of managing by averages or becoming overly obsessed with more traditional channel-centric metrics. The customer is the channel, the lines between online and physical shopping are blurring and we must bust the silos that get in the way of a remarkable customer experience.

Our special guest is the one and only Jason Goldberg, chief commerce strategy officer for Publicis and co-host of the "Jason & Scot Show", one of the most followed and influential retail podcasts--at least until very, very recently. Jason helps unpack some of the most important trends in retail, explains how Amazon is actually extremely profitable in its retail division and sheds light on what is really going on with online penetration numbers and the critical role of digital influence on all of shopping. He also clues us in on how to pronounce "Publicis."

Learn more about Jason here.

Check out Jason's outlook for the holiday season in this piece for Forbes.

You can subscribe to the Jason & Scot Show here.

Steve's been talking about the blurring of the lines and the end of e-commerce for years. Here's one take from a few years back.

You can learn more about Steve on his website  here . His new best-selling book is available in hardcover, audiobook at ebook at Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. 

Steve shares his insights in his role as a  Forbes senior contributor and on  Twitter and  LinkedIn. You can check out his speaker "sizzle" reel  here.

You can learn more about Michael here (  www.meleblanc.co) or here on LinkedIn (  https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeleleblanc/ )

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 author 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 a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail, The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast. He has been recognized by the NRF as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2026 and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.

In this episode we delve into a topic that sits at the core of the need to be remarkable: the on-going bifurcation of the retail market.

For more than a decade success has largely been found at either end of the spectrum. At one end, brands that offered incredible value and convenience have been gobbling up market share and opening hundreds of stores, even in the face of the so-called "retail apocalypse." At the other end of the continuum, many higher-end stores and well-honed specialty concepts have similarly enjoyed expanding sales, profits and, in many cases, store counts. Yet those stuck in the mediocre middle, have been hit incredibly hard, a situation made all the more dire by the COVID economy. In this episode we discuss the underlying forces that are causing the collapse of the middle and how to get on the journey to remarkable.

To better understand "the collapse of the middle" we interview Kasey Lobaugh, Deloitte Consulting's chief retail innovation officer. Kasey helps us unpack the key findings from Deloitte's "Great Retail Bifurcation" report. We also discuss how the pandemic is amplifying many of these forces and why we may well be looking at a "K-shaped recovery."

For further reading on the concept of retail bifurcation by Kasey:

A tale of 2 holiday seasons: As a K-shaped recovery emerges, consumer spending is heavily bifurcated.

Holiday sales expected to jump 4.5 - 5%

For further reading on the Collapse of the Middle by Steve in Forbes:

The Coronavirus will accelerate retail's "collapse of the middle"

Retail's great bifurcation 2.0

You can learn more about Steve on his website here .  His new best-selling book is available in hardcover, audiobook at ebook at Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. 

Steve shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior contributor and on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can check out his speaker "sizzle" reel here.

You can learn more about Michael here ( www.meleblanc.co) or here on LinkedIn ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeleleblanc/ )

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If you liked what you heard you can subscribe on Apple, Spotify or your favourite podcast platform, please rate and review, and be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the retail, brand or CPG industry.   

Have a safe week everyone!

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 author 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 a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail, The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast. He has been recognized by the NRF as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2026 and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.

In this episode we talk about the end of scarcity that previously characterized much of retail's evolution. As we entered the 21st century, some 98% of all retail was done in brick & mortar locations where access, product choice and the information about what product and services would best meet our needs--and the price we should pay-- was highly constrained. Now e-commerce and the ubiquity of smart devices has created an anytime, anywhere, anyway landscape and a world of abundant choice, where even very good is no longer good enough.

Then we interview with the one and only Seth Godin, best selling author of 19 books, 7,000 blog posts, fellow podcaster…marketing legend. Seth implores retailers to ask themselves one key question in the age of COVID: “Would they miss you if you were gone.” We also get a preview of Seth's forthcoming book The Practice.

You can learn more about Steve on his website here .  His new best-selling book is available in hardcover, audiobook at ebook at Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. 

Steve shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior contributor and on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can check out his speaker "sizzle" reel here.

You can learn more about Michael here ( www.meleblanc.co) or here on LinkedIn ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeleleblanc/ )

******

If you liked what you heard you can subscribe on Apple, Spotify or your favourite podcast platform, please rate and review, and be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the retail, brand or CPG industry.   

Have a safe week everyone!

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 author 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 a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail, The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast. He has been recognized by the NRF as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2026 and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.

In our inaugural episode we explain what Season 1 is about and the structure of the podcast. We talk about why Steve wrote his book, the underlying concepts of ""Remarkable Retail: How to Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Digital Disruption" and his "8 Essentials" framework. We unpack the idea that "shift happens", dissect the Black Swan event that is the global pandemic and delve into whether Steve would have changed anything in this book given it was completed just a few months before the COVID-19 crisis. Next Sucharita Kodali Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research joins us for a peek into what's now and what's next for retail. Finally, we talk about Steve's recent Forbes article about the Five Emerging Forces of Retail's New Normal.

You can learn more about Steve on his website here .  His new best-selling book is available in hardcover, audiobook at ebook at Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. 

Steve shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior contributor and on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can check out his speaker "sizzle" reel here.

You can learn more about Michael here ( www.meleblanc.co) or here on LinkedIn ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeleleblanc/ )

If you liked what you heard you can subscribe on Apple, Spotify or your favourite podcast platform, please rate and review, and be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the retail, brand or CPG industry.    

Have a safe week everyone!

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 author 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 a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail, The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast. He has been recognized by the NRF as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2026 and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.

Season 1 Trailer

I'm here to tell you: Retail isn't dead. Boring retail is. 

As a C-level executive at two Fortune 500 companies, keynote speaker and strategic advisor to dozens of retail, consumer and technology brands I help organizations accelerate their growth.  I’m also the author of the new best-selling book,  “Remarkable Retail: How to Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Digital Disruption” (in Canada you can purchase here)  

Join me and my co-host Michael LeBlanc, Producer & Host of The Voice of Retail podcast  as we use my “8 Essentials of Remarkable Retail’ framework to explore modern retail, before, during and after the COVID-19 crisis. 

Each and every week along with special guests including top retailers and industry thought leaders, will  explore the latest events and work to understand the lessons of the past and present to craft strategies for the future. 

So please join us each and every week for a lively and interactive journey to Remarkable Retail.   You can find Season one now on Apple, Spotify or any of the major platforms wherever you enjoy your podcasts today.

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 author 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 a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail, The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast. He has been recognized by the NRF as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2026 and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.