The Retail Perch

In part one of a two-part series, Gary and Shekar discuss how personalization has evolved over the years. Gary shares his experience in the retail trenches and the lessons he learned from them. They discuss why grocers needed to develop loyalty programs and the new information they were able to learn from these programs. Next week they will discuss the steps grocers can take to move their personalization strategies to the next level. 

This week, Shekar and Gary welcome Manolo Almagro, Managing Partner at Q Division, a transformational tech consultancy. Manolo offers his perspective on retail tech and where it's going. He also weighs in on the MetaVerse and how it can be used in grocery, the limitations of the Amazon stores, his ideal e-commerce experience, why 5-year plans should make way for 12-24 month plans, and so much more.

The Retail Perch is back! And what a fantastic guest to return with. This week, Gary and Shekar have the opportunity to speak with Michael Solomon, prolific author and Professor of Marketing at Saint Joseph's University. "They want to be educated, they want to be stimulated, they want to be entertained, and there’s no reason not to do that,” says Michael about consumers. The three discuss how to achieve this in grocery retail in addition to the importance of environment on buying behavior, how to move a grocery store from a food warehouse to a community center, and so much more. Don't miss this episode.

This week Gary and Shekar welcome a fellow podcaster on the show. Jason Goldberg, co-host of the popular e-commerce Podcast, the Jason & Scot Show. He is also a 4th generation retailer who brings with him the perspective of someone who had a front-row seat to the digital disruption of retail. Jason explains his family journey from a fruit cart to Blockbuster Video to Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis and Retailgeek. Jason offers his prediction for the future of e-commerce in grocery, advice on how retailers can make e-commerce profitable, and much more. 

This week Gary and Shekar have the pleasure of speaking with Harold Lloyd, vice president at Harold Lloyd Presents, Inc, where for the past 25 years he has been presenting ideas and solutions to the retail and supermarket industry to better enhance their productivity, team leadership, time management and more. To say this episode is entertaining would be an understatement. Harold shares the story of how he fell in love with grocery retail, his totem pole theory, his projections for the next five years and so much more. Do not miss this episode. 

The Retail Perch is back this week with a refreshingly new perspective from a CPG company. Gary and Shekar interview David Klavsons, Chief Executive Officer at King Juice/Calypso Lemonade. David explains his journey from big CPGs like PepsiCo, Nabisco, and Craft to convenience retail and now Calypso Lemonade. He highlights how his organization has used a test and learn environment to grow its brand. He has some great advice for brands including how data, distributors, retailers, and your own organization work together as pieces of the same puzzle. 

This week's episode is a slight departure from our usual focus on grocery retail. Shekar and Gary have the opportunity to speak with Rupal Patel, CEO of VocaliD, custom synthetic voice designers, and the makers of PARROT STUDiO, a no-code audible content creation platform. Rupal explains how synthetic voice is created using AI, the various uses for synthetic voice, and some of the ethical issues around it. Best of all, she gives us a live demo of the PARROT STUDiO platform inspiring Gary and Shekar to brainstorm all kinds of uses for it within the grocery sector. Visit https://vocalid.ai/parrot-studio/ for more information about the platform or to sign up for a free trial. 

Are unmanned stores the wave of the future? This week Gary and Shekar speak with Daniel Lundh, founder and COO of Lifvs, and the platform that powers it, Storekey. Daniel shares why areas of Sweden can be considered food deserts and the solution he created to solve the problem. Lifvs are small, 24-hour, unmanned grocery stores that shoppers can access through the company's app. The company currently boasts more autonomous stores than Amazon. Listen to learn how they handle supply chain and shrinkage, and how the technology can be used in other retail verticals. Learn more at storekey.com and lifvs.com

This week Shekar and Gary delve into digital marketing with John Readman, Founder & CEO BOSCO™ powered by Modo25, an AI machine learning tool that suggests where retailers should be investing their marketing spend. Throughout his journey in technology marketing, John realized people wanted to understand their digital marketing rather than just paying an agency to do it for them. BOSCO™ allows retailers to look at their market presence across different channels and help them understand where their focus should be and arms them with the knowledge to build their marketing roadmap. Meet John at NRF (booth #1259) and ask any questions you might have about BOSCO™ and what it can do for your business.

In this special episode, Shekar Raman and Gary Hawkins participate in another Harold Lloyd Presents share group. They explain the danger and the opportunity presented by strategic personalization in the grocery industry. A valuable Q&A from the retailers sheds light on where grocers feel the most friction around new technology. Moderated by Doug Madenberg of The Feedback Group