Retail by MarketScale

With the heightening of the online delivery arms race and the further collapse of the middle-market, the retail landscape has never looked more different. To help us make sense of it all we were joined by Doug Stephens, founder of Retail Prophet. Stephens breaks down the story of Retail Prophet, the emerging trends in the retail industry, and lastly, explain why retail must die to be saved. "Brands now are awakening to the idea that they can have direct relationships with consumers and in doing so they can learn a tremendous amount more than they have been able to learn about their markets, about their consumer preferences and needs, and about their own products," Stephens said. "I think they can certainly better control the pricing of their products, and the margins that they enjoy, and ultimately they can much better control the way the story around their product is being told."

The invention of the electric light was an important moment for the Retail industry. It allowed for longer store hours, consistent store atmosphere, and the opportunity for dramatic highlighting of specific goods. The advent of digital rewards programs has the potential to be just as impactful. On today's podcast, Sean Heath spoke with Miya Knights, the Head of Industry Insight for Eagle Eye Solutions. They discussed some of the ways that digital wallets are changing the retail experience for customers, the challenge of dealing with the fear of managing all of that data in a coherent way, and the way that blockchain could change the balance of power in the retail/customer relationship. (Also, they agreed that Sean can not be left alone on Alibaba with a credit card.)

In an era of e-commerce takeovers, Amazon's retail reign and the death of legacy brands, Half Price Books isn't going anywhere; not only is the chain bookstore surviving while other like Barnes & Noble are floundering, it's actually thriving. Our guest today can't pinpoint just one reason for the store's success; instead, she can rattle off a handful. Today we're joined by Kathy Thomas, Chief Strategy Officer for Half Price Books, who sums up the power of a physical book store in one short phrase: "You can't get inspired if you're putting an ISBN number in." Thomas walks us through everything from guest experience, community involvement and smart stocking, and how they're all helping Half-Price stand out among its competitors.

Stepping into high school, Jordan Mack wanted a way to feel confident. It was the perfect time to reinvent himself, and what better place to do that than at the mall. Years of school uniforms made him look to a solid outfit as being the thing to make him stand out in a new environment, and as soon as he put together some of his favorite pieces at American Eagle that day, he found that long sought-after confidence.

Now he’s bringing that passion for fashion to the industry, and on today’s Retail episode of Wildfire, Jordan dives into the social and data-driven trends that push fashion through it’s ever-cyclical loop, how a younger generation is changing the definition of menswear, and the ecological responsibility retail brands have as they look to expand at unprecedented rates.

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Featured Song: Smooth Life by Space Cadet

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To paraphrase Ralph Waldo Emerson: "If you build a better play area, the world will beat a path to your Denver doors." That is exactly what Playtime started doing in 1998. Now their path extends to 6 continents. On today's podcast, Sean Heath spoke with the founder of Playtime, Mike Evans. They discussed the marvelous journey of the past 20 years, how they achieved the difficult by keeping it simple, who the REAL customer is for their installations, and the social importance of maintaining these safe, free-form opportunities for play.

Mathematical physicist William Thomson (aka Lord Kelvin) was widely quoted as saying: "To measure is to know." The real challenge is knowing what, exactly, to measure when formulating a plan. On today's podcast, our host spoke with Matthew Tate, Senior Account Executive at Buxton. They discussed how analytics can dramatically change the perspective on "standard" protocols, the way in which current shopping malls might be re-purposed in the future, and how faith in numbers is only as good as the numbers themselves.

Many say that technology is the ultimate disruptor in the retail space as e-commerce more and more becomes the norm. But it's not, said Andrew Busby of Retail Reflections, a UK-based retail consultancy. "Actually, it's us. Retailers need to get start getting a lot smarter about using technology to improve the customer experience. Consumers are the biggest disruptors." In this episode of the Retail Podcast, we talk about the evolution of retail consumers and what to expect from the next wave of customers: Generation Z.

There is a scientific principle that states that natural systems seek balance. That tendency, in Retail, leads to a sense of comfort and continuity. In today's environment, that can be detrimental to a company's long-term survival. On today's podcast, our host had a chat with Bryan Gildenberg, Chief Knowledge Officer for Kantar Consulting. They discussed the benefits and power of being uncomfortable in the Retail industry, the things to be learned from "Primerica", and how critical it is to focus on verbs instead of nouns. (Also: They decide to start an umbrella company at Niagara Falls.)

Speech-enabled devices like Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home have slowly become more and more ubiquitous in our homes, but now many are looking for speech technology solutions in other avenues of their life. Jesse Montgomery, Senior Speech Technologist at Theatro, joined us to talk about the rise of the “ubiquitous voice,” the common challenges facing those in the retail space, and how Theatro’s software and hardware are streamlining powerful & effective communication in the work place.

The advance of technology often adds so much innovation to the retail space that it becomes seemingly impossible to navigate. Paul Greenberg, co-founder of Australia’s first online retailer, Deals Direct Group, and founder of NORA, joins us to make sense of the modern-day retail sphere by guiding us through the past, and making light of what the future might have in store. In this episode we focus on how you can better communicate with your customers, the importance of connectivity in the industry, and how exactly you can better develop your brick and mortar retail stores into an amazing brand.