The Retail Perch

This week, Shekar, and guest host, Stephanie Doherty have the opportunity to speak with Mike Novosel, Industry Lead for Grocery, Gas & Convenience at Cardlytics. Cardlytics uses purchase-based intelligence to make marketing more relevant and measurable. They partner with more than 1,500 financial institutions to run their rewards programs which gives them a secure view into where and when consumers are spending their money. They then use these insights to help marketers identify, reach and influence customers. The three discuss the unique view Cardlytics has into how and where consumers are spending their money, how the company simultaneously creates value for bankers, customers, and grocery marketers, the one consistent challenge created by Covid across all retailers, and much more!

This week Shekar and Gary speak with Jeremy Neren, co-founder and CEO of GorcerKey, a comprehensive e-commerce platform for independent and regional grocers. Jeremy explains how he went from a high school teacher to the CEO of a grocery technology company. The three delve into topics including the evolution of e-commerce, ways to make it profitable, and of course Instacart!

This week Shekar and guest host Stephanie Doherty have the privilege of interviewing, Brandon Scholz, a partner at The Capitol Group and President & CEO of the Wisconsin Grocers Association. This episode is all about workforce and supply chain issues. Brandon does not candy coat his take on the source of supply chain disruptions, the need for people to return to work, and the consequences to everyone if we don't find a solution to the labor shortage. Brandon also gives high praise to all of the grocery store employees who have seen us through the pandemic.

This week, Gary and Shekar review the most recent in-person events in Las Vegas. They discuss precautions taken around Covid, attendance, the possibility of hybrid events, and how lockdown may have affected attendance at in-person events.

In this episode of The Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar delve even deeper into the world nutrition data with Victor Penev, CEO of Edamam. Edamam offers affordable value-added nutrition data to businesses in the food and health and wellness sectors. Victor explains how he went from investment banking to combining his two passions, food and tech, to do something meaningful in the world. The three discuss; use cases for the data and what needs to come together for people to start living long, healthy lives free of chronic illness, from smart toilets to making healthy food convenient and affordable. 

In an effort to stay healthy during the Covid Pandemic, many shoppers started to examine how the food they eat affects their health and well-being. Marcus Sredzinski, COO/EVP ScriptSave is the perfect candidate to speak on this issue. Marcus, Gary, and Shekar discuss the link between groceries and staving off disease, health insurance companies incentivizing healthy eating just as car insurance does for safe driving, how digital can help create a link between individuals, their health care, and their grocery shopping, and much more.

“How granularly you define your customer is how much better and refined your insights will be about them as an individual."- Annette Franke.

If you are in grocery retail, this is an episode you don't want to miss. Annette Franke, industry expert and former VP at Kroger Technology offers insights informed by years of experience in retail information technology. The three tackle supply chain issues and labor shortages due to Covid, how to transform the legacy environment into something nimble enough to keep up with the Digital world, organizational transformation, and much more.

Just in time for the NGA Show, Gary and Shekar welcome Greg Ferrara, President, and CEO of the National Grocers Association. Greg shares his observations of how independent grocery has faired in the last year and how the association has helped retailers navigate the new technologies available. They also delve into; how retailers are developing wellness strategies in response to Covid, innovative ways retailers are creating community with the grocery store at the center, the labor shortage, and of course...THE NGA SHOW an opportunity for retailers to take a break from working in the business to work ON the business.

This week, The Retail Perch takes a foray into academia with Karthikeya Easwar, Associate Teaching Professor in the area of Marketing, at Georgetown University's MSB. Dr. Easwar offers unique and refreshing insights from his area of expertise, consumer psychology. The three discuss the friction associated with grocery shopping, the characteristics a retailer should be looking for in new hires, the risk of discrimination based on data segmentation, the best way to frame marketing messages, and much more!

This week Gary and Shekar have the pleasure of speaking with Steve Dennis, author, strategic advisor, senior Forbes contributor, and podcast host. The three discuss the difference between buying and selling, the pitfalls of being a little something for everybody but not particularly important to anybody, the importance of understanding your target market and delivering what they are looking for, why it’s more challenging for grocery to do e-commerce than other retail verticals and so much more!