S5:E2 Influencers, Gen Z, & Beyond Social Commerce: Lessons from AliExpress with Chris Carl

Welcome to the second episode of Season 5 of the Retail Razor Show! Join hosts Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden as they dive into the fresh tactics and cutting-edge strategies that are driving the future of retail and e-commerce with Gen Z. In this episode, they are joined by Chris Carl, the US Head of Marketing for AliExpress (Alibaba Group), to discuss ‘the new playbook for digital marketing’ fresh from his insightful session on marketing to Gen Z at eTail West!

Discover how AliExpress is capturing Gen Z's attention, building a robust social media presence, leveraging influencers like David Beckham, and exploring the future of cross-border shopping with a full-funnel marketing strategy. Chris shares the impressive growth metrics (500% increase in social media following, for example) and innovative campaigns that have set AliExpress apart - think social commerce, live shopping, Gen AI, and TikTok Shops. Plus, new enticing innovations in logistics to help onboard more US-based sellers to the AliExpress marketplace. Whether you're a product junkie, retail leader, or commerce technologist, this episode is packed with insights you won't want to miss!

About Chris Carl:

Chris Carl is a strategy, operations, and marketing executive with a proven track record in retail, beauty, spirits, lifestyle, hospitality, and luxury goods. As the first US Head of Marketing for AliExpress, Chris focuses on making online shopping more engaging and affordable. Since May 2023, Chris has increased order volume by 60%, increased brand share of voice by 75%, expanded headcount by 400%, boosted social media following by 500%, and doubled brand awareness.

Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.com

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00:00 Show Intro

03:04 Introducing Christopher Carl from AliExpress & His Background

05:43 Conversation with Chris Carl, Head of US Marketing for AliExpress

08:52 Cracking the Code with Gen Z

16:00 AliExpress's Social Media and Influencer Strategy

21:22 Leveraging Social Media for Brand Growth

23:30 Navigating the Shifting Digital Marketing Landscape

25:46 The Future of Social Commerce and Live Shopping

28:17 The Importance of Brand Personality and Humor

31:50 AliExpress: A Unique Business Model

35:09 Expanding AliExpress's US Presence

38:45 The Future of Cross-Border E-Commerce

42:20 Show Close

Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:

Ricardo Belmar is an NRF Top Retail Voices for 2025 and a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2021 – 2024. Thinkers 360has named him a Top 10 Retail Thought Leader, Top 50 Management Thought Leader, Top 100 Digital Transformation Thought Leader, and a Top Digital Voice for 2024. He is an advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation, and is the director partner marketing for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.

Casey Golden, is the CEO of Luxlock, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert for 2023 and 2024, and Retail Cloud Alliance advisory council member. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!

Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Overclocked, and E-Motive from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.

S5:E1 Unleashing Retail Media's Potential: A Conversation with Drew Cashmore

Welcome to Season 5 of the Retail Razor Show! In our premiere episode, hosts Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden dive deep into retail media with special guest Drew Cashmore, Chief Strategy Officer at Vantage and a pioneer in the retail media space, with a background scaling Walmart Connect to a $2 billion business. Drew shares his insights on the evolution of retail media, the driving forces behind its rapid growth, and the challenges retailers face in scaling their media networks. Drew also discusses the importance of workflow automation, the use of first-party data, and the balance between digital and in-store media. We highlight the necessity for retailers to invest in their media capabilities to stay competitive and speculate on the future direction of retail media. We also touch on the complexities of managing multiple media platforms and the potential for consolidation within the industry. 

Packed with valuable insights, don't miss out on this must-listen episode for product junkies, commerce technologists, retail leaders, and everyone in retail tech! Plus, learn about the Retail Razor Podcast Network's exciting new shows!

About Drew Cashmore:

Drew is a retail media strategist and thought leader with a background in building, commercializing and scaling new business models in the retail sector across the globe. Heading up strategy for Vantage - the platform that powers self-serve and managed-service for The Home Depot among other retailers - Drew is helping to architect the next generation of unified retail media technologies. He was an original architect of and former executive at Walmart Connect in the U.S. and Canada, helping to scale the retail media business to $2BN and beyond. In addition, Drew was a founding member of Walmart eCommerce and the CMO of SoftBank-backed Live Shopping platform, Firework.

Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.com

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00:00 Show Intro

07:38 Unleashing Retail Media's Potential: A Conversation with Drew Cashmore

08:43 Drew's Background in Retail Media

10:28 The Evolution and Challenges of Retail Media

14:18 ROI and Measurement in Retail Media

18:34 The Future of Retail Media

26:41 First-Party Data and Consumer Privacy

34:47 In-Store Media and Workflow Automation

47:21 Retail Media is a Different Business Model

50:06 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

51:05 Show Close

Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:

Ricardo Belmar is an NRF Top Retail Voices for 2025 and a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2021 – 2024. Thinkers 360has named him a Top 10 Retail Thought Leader, Top 50 Management Thought Leader, Top 100 Digital Transformation Thought Leader, and a Top Digital Voice for 2024. He is an advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation, and is the director partner marketing for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.

Casey Golden, is the CEO of Luxlock, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert for 2023 and 2024, and Retail Cloud Alliance advisory council member. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!

Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Overclocked, and E-Motive from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.

S5 Trailer - Retail's Next Chapter: AI and Media Meet Humanity

Join hosts Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden in Season Five of The Retail Razor Show as they explore the intersection of AI, media, and human connection in retail. This season will examine the power of AI-powered personalization, retail media evolution, and the role of in-store associates in enhancing customer experiences. Key discussions will include how AI makes retailers more resilient, the impact of media on commerce, and the next wave of retail tech innovation. Tune in to understand how technology transforms shopping, selling, and scaling while emphasizing that retail's core is human connection. Subscribe and follow for sharp insights and expert opinions so you don't miss out on unlocking new opportunities in retail!

Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.com

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTube

Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:

Ricardo Belmar is an NRF Top Retail Voices for 2025 and a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2021 – 2025. Thinkers 360has named him a Top 10 Retail Thought Leader, Top 50 Management Thought Leader, Top 100 Digital Transformation Thought Leader, and a Top Digital Voice for 2024. He is an advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation, and is the director partner marketing for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.

Casey Golden, is the CEO of Luxlock, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2023 - 2025, and Retail Cloud Alliance advisory council member. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!

S4:E10 On the Razor's Edge: The Season Four Final Cut

In the season four grand finale of the Retail Razor Show, guest host J.P. Kamel, managing director of RFID Sherpas, takes over to interview our regular hosts, Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden. This episode first reviews the top 10 retail predictions the team had for 2024, evaluating which ones hit the mark and which ones were a total miss! Then the discussion spans a range of topics from throughout Season 4 including the rise of retail media, the evolution from omni-channel to unified commerce, and the transformative potential of AI in retail. Key takeaways include the importance of unified commerce strategies, the necessity for retail media, and the enduring need for human connection in the retail experience. The episode also reflects on memorable moments from the season, the future of department stores, and evolving career paths in retail. Both insightful and entertaining, this grand finale offers an in-depth look into the current and future trends shaping the retail industry, and gives you a behind the scenes view of how our two hosts think about retail and the show!

Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.com

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTube

00:00 Show Intro

02:52 2024 Top 10 Check-in 

03:03 Prediction No 1 

05:00 Prediction No 2 

06:31 Prediction No 3 

10:31 Prediction No 4 

12:45 Prediction No 5 

16:33 Prediction No 6 

18:43 Prediction No 7 

21:19 Prediction No 8 

23:12 Prediction No 9 

30:41 Prediction No 10 

33:13 Season 4 Recap 

33:43 Favorite Moment 

35:34 Most Surprising Moment 

38:07 The Big Retail Avengers Reunion Episode 

45:04 Smart Fitting Rooms 

48:39 Unified Commerce & Everything Shoppable 

52:39 Immersive Commerce & Livestreaming 

59:47 Retail Media 3.0 

01:02:08 Responsible AI 

01:08:56 Retail Career Paths 

01:15:21 Generative AI Transformation 

01:17:43 Relay Race vs Rugby Approach 

01:21:48 Data-Driven Decision Making 

01:22:36 Key Takeaways from Season 4 

01:24:56 Any hints for Season 5 and beyond? 

01:28:33 Show Close

Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:

Ricardo Belmar is an NRF Top Retail Voices for 2025 and a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2021 – 2025. Thinkers 360has named him a Top 10 Retail Thought Leader, Top 50 Management Thought Leader, Top 100 Digital Transformation Thought Leader, and a Top Digital Voice for 2024. He is an advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation, and is the director partner marketing for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.

Casey Golden, is the CEO of Luxlock, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2023 - 2025, and Retail Cloud Alliance advisory council member. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!

Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Overclocked, and E-Motive from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.

S4:E9 Department Stores 2.0: Building Experiences for Tomorrow

In this episode, hosts Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden bring back the original Retail Avengers team for a highly anticipated reunion. What discussion could bring the team back together again? The current struggles and future opportunity for department stores! Welcome back Jeff Roster, Shish Shridhar, and Brandon Rael to explore why these once-iconic shopping destinations have lost their appeal and what innovations can bring them back into relevance. Key themes include the use of AI, retail media, and enhancing the human connection in shopping. The team covers detailed insights such as the need for improved customer data usage, creating engaging in-store experiences, and leveraging technology to empower store staff. The conversation also touches on successful strategies from other retailers like Target and the importance of loyalty and community in retaining customers. If you’re wondering how (or if) department stores can return to relevance with consumers, this is a can’t miss discussion full of insights and recommendations!

Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.com

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTube

00:00 Show Introduction 

04:28 Retail Avengers Reunion - The Future of Department Stores 

06:36 The Decline of Department Stores 

14:01 Challenges and Opportunities 

18:23 Future Strategies and Innovations 

32:39 The Decline of Department Stores 

33:52 The Marketplace Model for Department Stores 

38:10 The Role of Technology in Retail 4

3:14 Creating Human Connections in Retail 

46:38 The Future of Retail Experiences 

55:37 Leveraging Technology for Better Retail 

01:01:42 The Role of Department Stores in Modern Retail 

01:03:57 The Balance Between Technology and Human Interaction 

01:07:01 Show Close

Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:

Ricardo Belmar is an NRF Top Retail Voices for 2025 and a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2021 – 2024. Thinkers 360has named him a Top 10 Retail Thought Leader, Top 50 Management Thought Leader, Top 100 Digital Transformation Thought Leader, and a Top Digital Voice for 2024. He is an advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation, and is the director partner marketing for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.

Casey Golden, is the CEO of Luxlock, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert for 2023 and 2024, and Retail Cloud Alliance advisory council member. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!

Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Overclocked, and E-Motive from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.

S4:E8 Navigating Responsible AI in Retail: Trust in a Digital World

In this episode of the Retail Razor Show, hosts Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden dive deep into the ethical implications of AI and commerce technology in the retail industry. They reflect on past discussions about AI innovations and the necessity of critical groundwork before deploying new technologies. They cover the balance between leveraging synthetic media for marketing and maintaining brand trust, highlighting examples like Levi's virtual AI models. The conversation touches on the potential of generative AI, virtual influencers, and the risk of losing authenticity. They stress the importance of building an ethical framework for technology initiatives and the long-standing questions of deception in advertising, emphasizing transparency and responsible AI use. Ricardo and Casey also explore how brands can balance cost-saving measures with realistic, authentic representations and the impact of these decisions on sustainability and customer trust.

Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.com

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTube

00:00 Show Intro

00:43 Reflecting on Past Discussions

01:27 The Role of AI in Retail

02:49 Ethical Considerations in AI

03:50 Building Brand Trust

04:52 Listener Engagement and Feedback

06:31 AI and Virtual Influencers

07:07 The Future of Influencer Marketing

10:51 Cost and Authenticity in AI Marketing

11:45 Engineered Influencers

15:57 Transparency in AI Content

17:35 Aspirational vs. Unrealistic Marketing

22:10 The Evolution of Body Diversity in Fashion

23:36 Balancing Real and Virtual Models

25:44 Ethical Implications of AI in Fashion

29:35 Sustainability and AI in the Fashion Industry

30:48 The Impact of AI on Marketing and Operations

33:02 Navigating Ethical AI Deployment

36:52 The Future of AI in Retail and Fashion

42:20 Final Thoughts and Call to Action

Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:

Ricardo Belmar is an NRF Top Retail Voices for 2025 and a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2021 – 2024. Thinkers 360has named him a Top 10 Retail Thought Leader, Top 50 Management Thought Leader, Top 100 Digital Transformation Thought Leader, and a Top Digital Voice for 2024. He is an advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation, and is the director partner marketing for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.

Casey Golden, is the CEO of Luxlock, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert for 2023 and 2024, and Retail Cloud Alliance advisory council member. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!

Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Overclocked, and E-Motive from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.

S4:E7 How Smart Fitting Rooms’ Data Insights Transform Store Operations & Shopper Conversion

Hosts Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden dive into the transformative potential of smart fitting rooms in the fashion and apparel industry. Joined by Matthew Cyr, founder and CEO of Crave Retail, the discussion explores how digital fitting rooms enhance customer experience, boost conversion rates, and provide invaluable analytics that can revolutionize store operations and merchandising strategies. The episode emphasizes the importance of integrating technology with personalized service to create a seamless and satisfying shopping experience. Discover how retailers can leverage smart fitting rooms to gain deeper insights into customer behavior, optimize in-store performance, and ultimately drive revenue.

About Matthew Cyr & Crave Retail:

Matthew is a seasoned and three-time founder, CEO and co-founder of Crave Retail. Starting back with Abercrombie and Fitch and Skechers, he developed the commit to convert program that led Skechers expansion across southeast Asia, opening over 250 stores and optimizing in store experiences. Matthew has earned a 40 under 40 recognition from Retail Touch Points.

Crave Retail helps retailers elevate their stores by giving shoppers the best-in-class digital fitting room experience. Crave's proprietary fitting room technology and touchless experiences allow retailers to meet each customer's unique needs, access real-time insights into all customer activity, increase conversion, and improve customer satisfaction..

Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.com

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTube

00:00 Show Intro

03:31 Converting Customer Insights to Action Through Smart Fitting Rooms

06:40 Challenges and Benefits of Smart Fitting Rooms

10:37 Customer Journey: Enhancing the Fitting Room Experience

18:16 Impact on Retail Operations and Return Rates

20:36 Leveraging Data for Retail Success

23:55 Implementing Smart Fitting Room Technology

26:56 Importance of Executive Leadership in Retail Strategy

28:28 Engaging Store Operations for Smart Fitting Rooms

30:15 Understanding Store Performance Metrics

32:47 Leveraging Fitting Room Data for Business Insights

38:03 Enhancing Customer Experience with AI and Technology

47:43 Future of Smart Fitting Rooms in Retail

54:39 Show Close

Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:

Ricardo Belmar is an NRF Top Retail Voices for 2025 and a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2021 – 2024. Thinkers 360has named him a Top 10 Retail Thought Leader, Top 50 Management Thought Leader, Top 100 Digital Transformation Thought Leader, and a Top Digital Voice for 2024. He is an advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation, and is the director partner marketing for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.

Casey Golden, is the CEO of Luxlock, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert for 2023 and 2024, and Retail Cloud Alliance advisory council member. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!

Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Overclocked, and E-Motive from the album Beat Hype, written by Hestron Mimms, published by Imuno.

S4:E6 Unlocking Generative AI for the Retail C-Suite with Peter Cohan

In this episode of The Retail Razor Show, hosts Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden explore the transformative potential of generative AI in retail, featuring insights from Peter Cohan, an associate professor, strategy consultant, startup investor, book author, columnist and AI expert. The discussion covers AI's evolution compared to the dot-com era, the influence of large tech companies, and the substantial growth opportunities AI presents for retailers. Key topics include the contrast between the relay vs. rugby approaches to AI transformation, the crucial role of CEOs in AI adoption, and the importance of a quality data foundation for AI inputs. The episode highlights strategic investment, customer-centric innovations, and practical examples of successful AI implementations, guiding C-suite listeners on how to embrace AI as a long-term investment for unlocking new revenue streams versus a short-term quick fix.

About Peter Cohan:

Peter is an Associate Professor of Management Practice at Babson College, he is the faculty lead for the core undergraduate strategy course and has created popular electives on Startup Cities and Scaling Strategy. His strategy consulting firm has completed over 150 projects to help companies identify, evaluate, and profit from growth opportunities created by changing technology. He has invested in seven startups, three of which were sold for over $2 billion and one of which, SoFi, went public in 2021 at an $18 billion valuation. He is the author of 17 books, most recently "Brain Rush: How to Invest and Compete in the Real World of Generative AI" and he is a senior contributor at Forbes and a contributor at Inc. RETHINK Retail named him a Top Retail Expert every year between 2021 and 2024 and chose him as a Top AI Leader for 2024 this year.

Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.com

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTube

00:00 Show Intro

02:49 Meet Our Guest: Peter Cohan

04:21   Unlocking Generative AI for the Retail C-Suite

05:40 Peter Cohan's Background and Journey

10:25 Impact of Generative AI in Retail

12:48 Challenges and Risks of AI in Customer Service

16:34 Strategies for Embracing AI in Retail

17:21 Relay Race vs. Rugby Approach in Product Development

28:48 Best Practices for AI Implementation

32:43 Driving Company Growth: The CEO's Role

35:15 The Value Pyramid Framework

39:36 AI's Role in Retail Innovation

47:49 Challenges and Opportunities with AI Data

53:19 Entrepreneurial Insights and Cognitive Hunger

57:18 Concluding Thoughts and Future Directions

58:56 Show Close

Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:

Ricardo Belmar is an NRF Top Retail Voices for 2025 and a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2021 – 2024. Thinkers 360has named him a Top 10 Retail Thought Leader, Top 50 Management Thought Leader, Top 100 Digital Transformation Thought Leader, and a Top Digital Voice for 2024. He is an advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation, and is the director partner marketing for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.

Casey Golden, is the CEO of Luxlock, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert for 2023 and 2024, and Retail Cloud Alliance advisory council member. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!

Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Overclocked, and E-Motive from the album Beat Hype, written by Hestron Mimms, published by Imuno.

S4:E5 Unlocking Retail Media: Measurement, Innovation, and Customer Engagement

In this episode of The Retail Razor Show, hosts Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden explore the evolving landscape of retail media with expert insights from Andrew Lipsman, analyst and founder of Media, Ads + Commerce, and James Bauer, CEO and founder of Venvee. They discuss the progression of retail media 1.0 with online ads to retail media 2.0 - in-store media, highlighting key metrics like closed-loop attribution and incrementality. The conversation moves into innovative technologies such as spatial AI, the importance of first-party data, and privacy concerns. They also emphasize the collaborative efforts needed to integrate these advancements effectively for full funnel customer conversion and attribution in retail media 3.0. This episode delivers a comprehensive overview of how retailers and brands can use modern technology to bring the same level of measurement currently enjoyed in the 15% of retail sales happening in ecommerce, to the larger 85% of sales happening in stores!

About Andrew Lipsman:

Andrew Lipsman is an independent analyst and consultant at Media, Ads + Commerce. His industry coverage specializes in retail media—which he is known for anointing as “digital advertising’s third big wave”—and other areas of the digital media, advertising, and commerce ecosystem. He has published more than a half dozen articles in the Journal of Advertising Research and is frequently quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Financial Times, and Advertising Age.

About James Bauer:

James Bauer is the Founder and CEO of Venvee, a retail media technology company that is closing the loop on in-store measurement and attribution. Venvee leverages AI-generated digital twins of physical stores, combined with computer vision running on existing cameras, to enable precise measurement of impressions, interactions, and conversions on a shopper-by-shopper basis. This innovative approach requires no changes to the store and provides comprehensive aggregate measurement for in-store video, audio, fixtures, and products.

Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.com

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTube

00:00 Show Intro

02:50 Exploring Retail Media 3.0 & Measurement 

03:29 Evolution of Retail Media 

07:08 In-Store Attribution and Measurement 

14:44 Challenges and Opportunities in Retail Media 

32:37 Future of Retail Media and Final Thoughts 

44:43 Show Close

Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:

Ricardo Belmar is a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert for 2021 – 2024, and a Thinkers 360 Top 10 Retail Thought Leader, Top 50 Management Thought Leader, and Top 100 Digital Transformation Thought Leader. He is an advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation, and director partner marketing for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.

Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock, RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert for 2024 and 2023, and Retail Cloud Alliance advisory council member. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!

Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Overclocked, and E-Motive from the album Beat Hype, written by Hestron Mimms, published by Imuno.

S4:E4 Retail Transformers: Michael Zakkour

In this episode of The Retail Razor Show, hosts Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden are joined by special guest Michael Zakkour, founder of 5 New Digital and author of two Amazon #1 bestselling books, to discuss the transformative power of unified and immersive commerce in the retail industry. Michael, a thought leader and practitioner in digital commerce with 25 years of experience as a CEO, CMO, and Founder, shares his extensive expertise on retail strategies, AI, the evolution of e-commerce, and the impact of video as a foundational tool for immersive commerce. Together they explore key topics such as the shift from omnichannel to unified commerce, the impact of social commerce and livestreaming from Asia on global markets, and future opportunities with AI in retail. Michael also provides practical advice for retailers to enhance both digital and physical store experiences that resonate with today's digitally savvy consumers, while aiming for higher conversions, better customer engagement, and sustainable profitability.

00:00 Show Intro 

04:36 Retail Transformer - Michael Zakkour 

06:42 The Evolution of Retail

12:36 Challenges in E-commerce 

16:35 The Future of Immersive Commerce 

26:07 Video Commerce: The Next Frontier 

28:39 The Evolution of E-commerce 

30:04 The Importance of Immersive Commerce 

32:10 Case Study: Live Streaming Success 

38:47 The Role of AI in Retail 

48:04 Navigating the Future of Retail 

50:57 Future Trends 

58:05 Show Close

Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:

Ricardo Belmar, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert for 2024, 2023, 2022 & 2021, RIS News Top Movers and Shakers in Retail for 2021, advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation, and director partner marketing for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.

Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock, RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert for 2024 and 2023, and Retail Cloud Alliance advisory council member. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!

Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Overclocked, and E-Motive from the album Beat Hype, written by Hestron Mimms, published by Imuno.

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