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11 episodes with sucharita kodali
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One thing is constant in retail: change. Innovation is the cornerstone of the industry. We're joined by Seth Webb, executive vice president of Tusk Strategies, and Sucharita Kodali, vice president and principal analyst of Forrester Research, to discuss the transformative trends, cutting-edge technologies, and emerging solution providers that are shaping the future of retail. We explore generative and autonomous AI, robotics, resale, and more top-of-mind topics. (00:00:00) Introductions(00:01:42) Leaders in innovation and technology(00:06:48) The most transformative trends for the retail industry (00:09:15) AI's profound impact on retail (00:19:06) The role of robotics in retail (00:23:00) What excites them about the future of retailThe National Retail Federation is the world's largest retail trade association.Every day, we passionately stand up for the people, policies and ideas that help retail succeed.Resources:• NRF 2025 Innovators Showcase • Reverse Logistics Association • Get ready for Retail's Big Show in NYC• Become an NRF member and join the world's largest retail trade association• Learn about our retail education platform, NRF Foundation, at nrffoundation.org• Learn about retail advocacy at nrf.com/advocacy• Find more episodes at retailgetsreal.comRelated:• How the NRF 2025 Innovators Showcase can help you drive revenue and build crucial partnerships • A snapshot into the latest retail tech breakthroughs Produced by Crate Media.
In this episode of What Just Happened, Christine Russo interviews Sucharita Kodali, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, to unpack the ever-evolving dynamics of digital transformation in retail. Kodali shares her perspective on how retailers should approach innovation with caution, emphasizing the importance of testing and two-way-door decisions—those you can reverse—especially in areas like generative AI and emerging tech. She advises brands not to blindly follow Amazon's lead, but to embrace its spirit of calculated experimentation and long-term thinking.The conversation explores the cyclical nature of retail brand equity, using Target and Gap as case studies. Kodali argues that strong cultural equity, even when dormant, can be revived with the right leadership and strategy. Target's recent stumbles, she believes, are more operational than existential, while Walmart's recent success is attributed to strategic CapEx and improved store design. She notes that Target's fatigue is reversible, and predicts leadership changes could be a catalyst for revitalization.Russo and Kodali also dive into innovation in physical retail, including Urban Outfitters' Re/Reclectic concept, and the nuanced state of live shopping in the U.S. versus China. Kodali suggests that Americans lean toward short-form, influencer-led, asynchronous content rather than livestream commerce. She highlights Nordstrom's quiet but promising use of vertical video by store associates and the challenge of inventory keeping pace with demand driven by social media. The episode ends with a nod to the importance of automation, retail media, and ongoing trend analysis as retailers navigate what's next.
Jay Woods and Sucharita Kodali comb through Walmart (WMT) earnings. Sucharita highlights its earnings beat and says, “any weak guidance is tied to macro issues.” Jay agrees that it was a “great quarter,” but notes the stock has been on a “tremendous run” and might not have had room to go further. They discuss how Walmart's imports could get hit by tariffs, the outlook for the consumer, and its biggest competitors including Amazon (AMZN).======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day.Subscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about
Ted Rossman and Sucharita Kodali react to January Retail Sales missing expectations. They both see upside in the year-over-year numbers despite the month-over-month decline. Ted highlights bars and restaurants' strength as a key point of consumer discretionary spending. Sucharita calls layoffs “isolated cases” and says she's not concerned about the overall job market.======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day.Subscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about
Sucharita Kodali breaks down the November Retail Sales report, which came in above expectations. She says the retail industry has “for all intents and purposes, stabilized.” Consumers are “trading down”, with dining out, for example, lower than in 2022, but tracking its losses “in-line with inflation” rising. She also highlights trends in e-commerce vs brick-and-mortar shopping, with Amazon (AMZN) taking a huge chunk of the former. ======== Schwab Network ======== Empowering every investor and trader, every market day. Subscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribe Download the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185 Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7 Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watch Watch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-explore Watch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/ Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetwork Follow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetwork Follow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/ About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about
The holiday season is almost here, and department stores have always been the shining star of holiday shopping. But have they been dethroned by the rise of eCommerce?
In this insightful episode of BRAVE COMMERCE, Sucharita Kodali, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester, returns for an unprecedented third appearance to dissect the current state of consumer commerce. Joining hosts Rachel Tipograph and Sarah Hofstetter, Sucharita delves into the phenomenon of the "vibecession," where consumer spending remains resilient despite a lingering sense of economic unease. She provides data-backed analysis on how inflation, shifting consumer preferences, and economic headwinds are shaping the retail landscape heading into 2024 and beyond.Sucharita discusses the challenges facing major consumer product brands as private labels and niche competitors continue to disrupt the market. From grocery aisles to luxury goods, she explains how consumers are increasingly trading down to value brands or splurging on high-end offerings, leaving middle-tier players scrambling to remain relevant. Her insights offer critical strategies for brands to adapt, including leveraging innovation, rethinking pricing strategies, and embracing diverse supply chains to mitigate potential tariff impacts under the new administration.Looking ahead, Sucharita provides a cautiously optimistic outlook, highlighting opportunities for brands that prioritize agility and customer engagement. She also shares bold predictions about the future of marketing investments, the role of distribution in a digital-first world, and how brands can stay competitive in the face of evolving consumer expectations. Whether you're a brand leader, marketer, or eCommerce specialist, this episode is packed with actionable insights to help navigate the complexities of today's commerce environment.Key Takeaways:Resilient Spending Amidst Economic Uncertainty: Consumers continue to shop at high rates despite economic unease, focusing on value and premium goods while avoiding middle-tier options.Private Labels & Disruption: The rise of private labels and niche competitors poses a major threat to established brands, requiring innovative strategies to reclaim market share.Preparing for Tariffs and Future Shocks: Diversified supply chains and strategic foresight are crucial for navigating potential policy changes and maintaining brand resilience. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Ulta Beauty (ULTA) soars after releasing its earnings report. Sucharita Kodali and Alexis Browne Roberts break down the quarter. Sucharita highlights that "there is much more optimism in the overall performance of the retail industry." Alexis focuses on the "power of diversification" in order to be successful in today's market. ======== Schwab Network ======== Empowering every investor and trader, every market day. Subscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribe Download the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185 Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7 Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watch Watch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-explore Watch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/ Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetwork Follow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetwork Follow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/ About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about
Folks in America are spendy this holiday season — especially online. Yet there also seems to be a bit of a disconnect between how people feel about their own financial situations and how they’re spending. Today, we’ll examine and discuss some of the data with Sucharita Kodali, vice president of research and advisory firm Forrester. Plus, from “trad wives” to “soft girls,” we’ll hear more about trends embracing women as homemakers and men as breadwinners.
Folks in America are spendy this holiday season — especially online. Yet there also seems to be a bit of a disconnect between how people feel about their own financial situations and how they’re spending. Today, we’ll examine and discuss some of the data with Sucharita Kodali, vice president of research and advisory firm Forrester. Plus, from “trad wives” to “soft girls,” we’ll hear more about trends embracing women as homemakers and men as breadwinners.
“Average order values have started to pick up,” as we enter the holiday season, says Michael Jaconi. Sucharita Kodali notes slower growth in e-commerce and highlights the percentage of sales moving online. She discusses how e-commerce has impacted Black Friday sales, which analysts look to for forecasting the rest of the year. They discuss the recent October Retail Sales report and what we can learn from it and look ahead to expectations for holiday shopping. ======== Schwab Network ======== Empowering every investor and trader, every market day. Subscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribe Download the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185 Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7 Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watch Watch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-explore Watch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/ Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetwork Follow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetwork Follow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/ About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about
In this special episode of The Charlotte Ledger Podcast, Ledger editor Tony Mecia and elections specialist Sucharita Kodali quickly break down the Mecklenburg County ballot, including state legislative races, county commissioner races, local judicial elections and bonds.In less than 10 minutes, they zip through the under-the-radar races that many voters haven't considered but will find on the ballot.Check out the accompanying 10-minute podcast on statewide races, such as those for governor, lieutenant governor, insurance commissioner and attorney general.For full details on the candidates and the races, be sure to check out the Charlotte Ledger Election Hub at NCElectionHub.com. It has brief biographies of 200 candidates in five Charlotte-area counties (Mecklenburg, Union, Gaston, Cabarrus and Iredell), as well as links to candidate questionnaires and articles from other media.The goal is to provide you with trustworthy, unbiased information you can use to cast your vote.Find out more about The Charlotte Ledger at TheCharlotteLedger.com.This episode of The Charlotte Ledger Podcast was produced by Lindsey Banks. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit charlotteledger.substack.com/subscribe
In this special episode of The Charlotte Ledger Podcast, Ledger editor Tony Mecia and elections specialist Sucharita Kodali quickly break down the 14 statewide races on the 2024 general election ballot.In less than 10 minutes, they zip through the races that will be on the ballot for every North Carolinian: the Council of State — including races for governor, lieutenant governor, agriculture commissioner and so on — as well as statewide judicial races and a constitutional amendment.Check out the accompanying 10-minute podcast on the Mecklenburg ballot.For full details on the candidates and the races, be sure to check out the Charlotte Ledger Election Hub at NCElectionHub.com. It has brief biographies of 200 candidates in five Charlotte-area counties (Mecklenburg, Union, Gaston, Cabarrus and Iredell), as well as links to candidate questionnaires and articles from other media.The goal is to provide you with trustworthy, unbiased information you can use to cast your vote.Find out more about The Charlotte Ledger at TheCharlotteLedger.com.This episode of The Charlotte Ledger Podcast was produced by Lindsey Banks. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit charlotteledger.substack.com/subscribe
One of retail's most insightful minds makes her triumphant return to the pod. Sucharita Kodali, Forrester's Principal Analyst, was our very first guest when we launched the podcast in September of 2020, and now she's back to separate the hope from the hype on key topics like the important difference between e-commerce and digital commerce and the critical role of digital influence on brick-and-mortar performance. She also gives us her fun and fascinating perspective on how Amazon is different under Andy Jassy, where retail media networks are headed, the challenges in online grocery, luxury's future, and a whole lot more. We also get a bold prediction about Temu and rocket through a lighting round of hot-takes.But before our interview we unpack the week in retail news brought to you by Scayle, the fastest-growing enterprise commerce platform in the world.We kick things off with the implications of the latest news on inflation, before discussing Forrester's remarkable prediction on the dominance of Walmart and Amazon. We then move to two pieces of interesting Amazon news, discuss Couche-Tard's rebuff by 7-Eleven, ponder Big Lots bankruptcy, before wrapping up with two noteworthy quarterly earnings announcements. About UsSteve 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 authro 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 the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.
James Cook is joined by Sucharita Kodali, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester to talk about five significant trends impacting the retail sector. They discuss consumer confidence amidst low unemployment and high inflation, the role of artificial intelligence in retail, the current state of the luxury market, and the potential merger between Saks and Neiman Marcus. They also explore the implications of political uncertainty on consumer spending, and the recent impact of the CrowdStrike software failure on retailers. James Cook is the Director of Retail Research in the Americas for JLL. Watch the video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/XlIqt1GiUVk Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify Listen: WhereWeBuy.show Email: jamesd.cook@jll.com Watch our video show, Everything We Know About Retail: http://everythingweknow.show/ Leave a message on the Where We Buy hotline. We may use it on an upcoming show. Call (602) 633-4061 Read more retail research here: http://www.us.jll.com/retail Theme music is Run in the Night by The Good Lawdz, under Creative Commons license.
For the March 2024 primary election in Mecklenburg County, what is on the Republican ballot? What do voters need to know?In this special express version of The Charlotte Ledger Podcast, editor Tony Mecia talks with Republican former Charlotte City Council member Kenny Smith and Ledger elections researcher Sucharita Kodali about the candidates for office — who they are, why they say they're running and how the races are shaping up.And we do it all in under 12 minutes.We'll give you the overview you need to be informed about races for U.S. Congress, governor and the N.C. Council of State and the General Assembly.For more information about the 2024 elections, check out the Charlotte Ledger Election Hub, with candidate biographies, videos, questionnaires and links to articles and resources — for the Democratic and Republican primary ballots.Election Day is March 5, 2024. Early voting runs through March 2, 2024.The Charlotte Ledger Podcast is produced by Lindsey Banks. Get full access to The Charlotte Ledger at charlotteledger.substack.com/subscribe
For the March 2024 primary election in Mecklenburg County, what is on the Democratic ballot? What do voters need to know?In this special express version of The Charlotte Ledger Podcast, editor Tony Mecia talks with Bryan Holladay of CLT Public Relations and Ledger elections researcher Sucharita Kodali about the candidates for office — who they are, why they say they're running and how the races are shaping up.We'll give you the overview you need to be informed about races for county commissioner, the General Assembly, U.S. Congress and the N.C. Council of State.For more information about the 2024 elections, check out the Charlotte Ledger Election Hub, with candidate biographies, videos, questionnaires and links to articles and resources — for the Democratic and Republican primary ballots.Election Day is March 5, 2024. Early voting runs through March 2, 2024.The Charlotte Ledger Podcast is produced by Lindsey Banks. Get full access to The Charlotte Ledger at charlotteledger.substack.com/subscribe
In this episode, recorded at the National Retail Federation (NRF) Big Show in New York City in January 2024, host Matt Rubel discusses current trends in the retail industry with NRF President & CEO Matt Shay and Forrester Retail Industry Analyst Sucharita Kodali. Topics of discussion include the role of technology (especially AI and generative AI) in shaping the industry, the rise of retail media and the significance of a strong online presence and social commerce for brands. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Welcome to Retail Therapy, a RETHINK Retail exclusive Podcast series where we examine retailers that have a unique history, are making innovative changes to their business model, or are overcoming challenges in order to stay relevant in this highly competitive landscape. Toys “R” Us has plans to open 24 flagship stores next year, but is that what it's going to take to turn this memorable retailer around? Join host Andrew Smith as he engages in insightful discussions with Top Retail Influencers Shelley Kohan and Sucharita Kodali about the rise, fall, and resurrection of Toys "R" Us while offering some suggestions for their future success. This episode of Retail Therapy is brought to you by the Retail Cloud Alliance, Adobe, Blue Yonder, and Amperity.
In a special mini-podcast that's less than 10 minutes, we discuss candidates running for Charlotte City Council and Charlotte mayor in 2023: Who are they? Why are they running? How could Charlotte's city government change?Ledger editor Tony Mecia discusses the election with Charlotte Public Relations' Bryan Holladay and Ledger elections researcher Sucharita Kodali.For more information about the 2023 elections, check out the Charlotte Ledger Election Hub, with candidate biographies, videos, questionnaires and links to articles and resources.The Charlotte Ledger Podcast is produced by Lindsey Banks. Find out more about The Charlotte Ledger at TheCharlotteLedger.com. Get full access to The Charlotte Ledger at charlotteledger.substack.com/subscribe
In a special mini-podcast that's under 10 minutes, we discuss candidates running for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education in 2023: Who are they? Why are they running? What's at stake?There are 14 candidates running for 3 seats. Ledger editor Tony Mecia discusses the race with WFAE's Ann Doss Helms and Ledger elections researcher Sucharita Kodali.For more information about the 2023 elections, check out the Charlotte Ledger Election Hub, with candidate biographies, videos, questionnaires and links to articles and resources.The Charlotte Ledger Podcast is produced by Lindsey Banks. Find out more about The Charlotte Ledger at TheCharlotteLedger.com. Get full access to The Charlotte Ledger at charlotteledger.substack.com/subscribe
Target slashed its sales and profit expectations in its latest quarterly report. CNBC's Courtney Reagan and Forrester Research's Sucharita Kodali explain the retailer's troubles, from inflation-conscious shoppers to Pride month backlash. A new strain of Covid-19 is hitting the American South and West; former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb explains the risks, the relevance of vaccinations and boosters for immunity, and this phase of endemic Covid. Plus, there are new court filings in the federal case against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, a new deal could breathe life into Wheels Up stock, X Corp. has rebranded Tweetdeck, and Cava is hoping to satisfy Wall Street's appetite. Sucharita Kodali - 15:17Courtney Reagan - 11:44Dr. Scott Gottlieb - 24:09 In this episode:Sucharita Kodali, @smulpuruScott Gottlieb, MD, @ScottGottliebMDCourtney Reagan, @courtreaganMelissa Lee, @MelissaLeeCNBCJoe Kernen, @JoeSquawkAndrew Ross Sorkin, @andrewrsorkinKatie Kramer, @Kramer_Katie
On this episode of BRAVE COMMERCE, Sucharita Kodali, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester, returns to the podcast to discuss the current state of the consumer economy, the impact of inflation, interest rates, and consumer spending. Sucharita sheds light on the resilience of the US economy despite challenges like inflation, interest rate hikes, and an inverted yield curve. She explains that consumers have been spending enthusiastically, especially on discretionary categories like travel and leisure, even though there were concerns about a potential recession. She talks about the "pandemic paradox," where despite health and education crises, households emerged financially stronger. The discussion also covers the prospect of future interest rate hikes and how brands can navigate the economic landscape. Despite inflationary pressures, consumers have shown little inclination to shift to cheaper options, making the market favorable for brands. However, she predicts that once consumers exhaust their savings, the competitive dynamics will change, leading to possible price reductions and more cautious spending. Sucharita mentions that certain sectors, like housing, aren't as impacted by seasonality and increasing supply could potentially drive down costs. However, the movement towards urban areas for work might sustain spending in these regions. Sucharita's expertise shines as she offers a positive outlook for the US economy, predicting a favorable business environment through the back half of the year and possibly beyond. Key Takeaways: In the face of gloom and doom financial forecasts, tracking consumer behavior is still your best source of understandingGive your customers a “why” to spend on your brand as opposed to potentially cheaper alternativesEmbrace uncertainty as an opportunity for growth and innovation in your business Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
For this episode of the eCom Logistics Podcast, we welcome Sucharita Kodali, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research. Today, she shares a wealth of knowledge on retail and the consumer goods space. We go through topics including trends in the ecommerce and retail world today, strategies for retention and improvement, and the potential of technology in the space. ABOUT SUCHARITASucharita serves digital business strategy professionals. She is an expert in e-commerce, omnichannel commerce, consumer behavior, and trends in the retail and consumer goods space. She is also an authority on technology developments that affect the online commerce industry and vendors that facilitate online marketing and merchandising. In her research, Sucharita covers areas such as e-commerce trends and global, regulatory, and technology issues shaping commerce. She is the author of Forrester's “The World's Most Future-Proofed Brands” report, which reviews global consumer-facing brand manufacturers. She is often the keynote speaker at retailer conferences around the world and is frequently featured in national media such as NPR, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Information, and more. Prior to Forrester, Sucharita was the director of marketing at Saks Fifth Avenue, where she managed the customer acquisition, retention, and market research efforts for the $2 billion luxury retailer's online channel. Prior to Saks, she held management positions at Toys R Us, where she was a merchant in the Babies R Us division and a store manager in one of the company's largest toy stores. She also worked for the Walt Disney Company, where she was part of the strategic planning team. Sucharita holds a BA in economics from Harvard University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. HIGHLIGHTS02:18 How Sucharita's journey in retail started09:10 The boom in online commerce during the pandemic14:51 The bullwhip effect in retail supply chain recently21:05 Can we expect more automation and robotics in warehousing?27:07 Don't try to match what Amazon is doing34:24 Will there be conflict in CPG when working with consumers and being a direct-to-consumer brand? QUOTES16:58 Don't diversify only when there are issues - Sucharita: "One of the things we learned from the pandemic was that maybe we are too concentrated with our supply chains in Asia, particularly in China, then you add on some of the geopolitical issues. I think companies are gradually recognizing that maybe they do need to diversify their supply chains. But it's a painful decision to have to make because then you have to increase the costs of your inputs." 27:07 Look inward instead of trying to compete with top players like Amazon - Sucharita: "I think that the companies that created a lot of the frenzy around shipping were the ones that fundamentally didn't really have differentiated offerings. They were selling the same things Amazon is selling and net-net all being equal, if you are slower than Amazon, you have the same products, and you're not even pricing better, you really don't have a choice but to either lower your prices or increase your speed of shipping." Find out more about Sucharita in the links below: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sucharitamulpuru/Website: https://www.forrester.com/bold
Rent the Runway's deal with Amazon is a five-alarm fire for brands such as Rag & Bone and Tory Burch. RTR sells pre-owned branded fashion and its own branded pieces on Amazon at significant discounts. RTR started with selling via Thredup the Sacks Off Fifth and now Amazon. Their stock was rewarded, but this is short term, but it's hard not to see the desperation with long-term concerns for the company.@Sucharita Kodali, principal analyst at Forrester, said in a Sourcing Journal piece the new relationship suggests RTR isn't “operating from a position of strength” and has “basically thrown in the towel.” She compared the deal to the “end game in chess.” “You're about to lose… so you're giving up your rook as a last-ditch effort to delay…the end of the game.” I share these quotes because Sucharita nailed them.This makes fantastic sense for Amazon, which now sells $7,150 Chanel handbags and $12,500 Rolex watches to their customers, even though Chanel or Rolex would never directly choose to sell on Amazon. They continue to provide more brands and value to their customers. With more customer traffic, they gain negotiating power over others such as RTR and What Goes Around Comes Around (WGACA), who suppliers the Chanel handbags and $545 Hermès scarves.So why did RTR do the deal? As a recent public company, they are fighting to prove they can build a profitable business that captures the customer shift from ownership to access. And there is a massive shift taking place, but it needs to be faster to satisfy public investor expectations. We will see whether these moves toward resale will distract RTR from its core rental platform or provide the life support that the business needs for customers to catch up. I sadly expect it will be the first.And what does this mean for brands who now find themselves with more items on Amazon? More headwind. As if this economic market and the changing customer weren't challenging enough, brands increasingly compete with discounted items as others profit and degrade their hard-earned brand equity. This latest move is another example of how brands must control their destiny–offering resale models directly and working with channel partners with aligned interests.In other news, this past week, we went from 120 resale programs to 121, as we can add YETI to the list of brands with owned resale channels with the launch of YETI RESCUES. YETI is the latest in a series of impressive launches for Arrive, including Burton and Eddie Bauer. While the assortment appears limited to ‘open box' items, the online storefront is clean, on-brand, and easy to shop. While it's a fine starting point, I expect this to be a jumping-off point for YETI and expect them to expand assortment and ideally trade in over the coming months.On the marketplace front, consolidation continues as South Korean internet player Naver invested $80.7M to become the largest stakeholder in Wallapop, a mobile-based European platform for buying and selling second-hand products. This follows the acquisition of Poshmark last year as Naver establishes a strong global P2P portfolio that connects the markets in North America, Europe, Japan and Korea. Given these platforms are building customer brand and loyalty, this is a play for more global market coverage with the ability to leverage P2P technology at a greater scale.Additionally, Sellier Knightsbridge has acquired the luxury resale platform Worn, growing its business by a reported 25%. Both acquisitions speak to the maturing marketplace space and the need for scale. It's only mid-January! and I expect to see far more consolidation in the coming months.While luxury marketplaces consolidate, more luxury players are predicted to enter with direct offerings, as covered in Retail Brew. The article summarized it's 2023 predictions as another massive growth year for resale; however, profits will be elusive. While I don't disagree, I see this year far more about scale for brands. For brands to scale any line of business as they fight for their fair share of the growing market, they must live up to the customer experience and make money. This is where profit becomes critical to scaling resale.The So WhatBrands need to control their destiny in the secondhand market, so their items don't end up being sold in channels that devalue the brand.What's good for Amazon may not be good for your brand
Today, the speed of change is running on turbo boosters. Startups, large companies, and everything in between are finding more ways to innovate to address consumer demand. Join us as we chat with Forrester Industry Analyst, Sucharita Kodali, as we explore what's trending in e-commerce, why a lot of it is distracting, and the foundational best practices that companies – large and small – need to remember if they want to move at the speed of change and build a strategic e-commerce business.
Sucharita Kodali, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester, joins hosts Rachel Tipograph and Sarah Hofstetter to discuss financial business strategy and consumer spending habits. Sucharita shares her thoughts on how consumers are spending despite inflation. She talks about how 2021 is not the best indicator for commerce because of how the landscape shifted post-pandemic, and explains how habits will change over the next year.Discussing the recent popularity of layaway (or buy now, pay later options), Sucharita talks about the longevity of these businesses with the increasing interest rates. She then talks about delivery services and how these companies can strengthen their B2B relations in cohesion with their B2C product. She stresses the importance of automation. Sucharita also offers her advice to brands, recognizing the value of alignment between a brand's eCommerce team and their partners to experience success in eCommerce.Subscribe to BRAVE COMMERCE on your favorite podcast platform!You can listen and subscribe to all of Adweek's podcasts by visiting adweek.com/podcasts.Stay updated on all things Adweek Podcast Network by following us on Twitter: @adweekpodcasts.Follow our hosts on Twitter: @RachelTipograph @PezMeister1And if you have a question or suggestions for the show, send us an email at podcast@adweek.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
"The Lululemon (LULU) brand seems to be doing really well and is outpacing retail and apparel sales. I haven't seen any major fruit borne by mirror yet so that remains to be seen," says Sucharita Kodali. Wedbush has an outperform rating on the LULU stock with a $430 price target. "Lululemon is a resilient name amid ongoing macro uncertainty that will benefit from the second quarter from belt bag going viral," Tom Nikic adds.
Retail is the process of selling goods or services to a consumer. Retail sales can be made directly to customers or via retail outlets. Recently, retail innovation has accelerated to a level never witnessed before. Due to the epidemic, retailers have developed a greater capacity for adaptability, creativity, and innovation. To understand the future of Retail, in this episode of "The Future Of", Jeff is joined by Gautham Vadakkepatt, an Associate Professor, a Dean's Scholar, and the Director of the Center for Retail Transformation at George Mason University, with additional insights from Sucharita Kodali, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research.
"The Retail Sales report could have been a lot worse. It indicates that consumer spending has grown less robust. Retail sales seemingly grew 8.4% year-over-year, but it feels like an inflation story," says Ted Rossman. "Retail sales taking out inflation are about flat to last year. Consumers spending on discretionary goods suggests that many people are OK financially. Apparel and grocery segments are both soft so some consumer sectors are probably suffering more than others," Sucharita Kodali adds.
Welcome to the Conversations with CommerceNext podcast, I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with CommerceNext and presented by CommX.Recorded live in person at the 2022 CommerceNext Ecommerce Growth Show, we sat down with some of the top trailblazers and change-makers that joined our community in New York City to discuss the future of digital commerce and share the latest strategies for ecommerce acceleration.In this episode, meet Sucharita Kodali, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Forrester Research as she talks macro economic trends and the role of sustainability. ABOUT US: Scott SilvermanAn ecommerce veteran, Scott Silverman has been active in the industry since 1999 and is passionate about digital retail and the innovation driving the industry. Scott Silverman is the Co-Founder of CommerceNext. Previously, he spent 10 years as Executive Director of Shop.org where he launched the Shop.org Annual Summit. Scott co-invented “Cyber Monday” in 2005 and was the founder of Cybermonday.com in 2006, a shopping site that has generated more than $2.5 million for Shop.org's scholarship fund.Veronika SonsevVeronika Sonsev is the Co-Founder of CommerceNext. She also leads the retail practice for Chameleon Collective and is a contributor for Forbes on how to grow retail and ecommerce in the age of Amazon. Having spent the last 10+ years working with some of the largest retailers and direct-to-consumer brands, Veronika has intimate knowledge of the challenges facing retail and ecommerce today. She is also an advocate for women in business and founded the global non-profit mBolden, which is now part of SheRunsit. Michael LeBlanc is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada's top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus Global E-Commerce Tech Talks and The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. You can learn more about Michael here or on LinkedIn.
China and supply chain flows are likely seeing factors that could produce an upside for Nike (NKE), says John Kernan. He and Sucharita Kodali discuss the takeaways from NKE's earnings. They talk about why NKE is falling despite a positive earnings report. They then go over how Cowen is maintaining an outperform rating on NKE and lowered its price target to $127 from $133. They also cover the best positioned athletic-wear stocks. Tune in to find out more.
“I think it's terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfill other people's expectations. If you feel safe in the area that you're working in, you're not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you're capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth. And when you don't feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you're just about in the right place to do something exciting.”— David Bowie, David Bowie: The Last Five Years On the 1st anniversary of the release of the revised and expanded 2nd edition of Steve's best-selling book Remarkable Retail: How to Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption--which confusingly is also the 2nd anniversary of the 1st edition's release--we celebrate its success and impact with our very special guest Forrester Research VP & Principal Analyst Sucharita Kodali. Sucharita is not only one of retail's top thought leaders, but she was our very first guest on the podcast back in September of 2022 and she graciously wrote the Foreword to Remarkable Retail's 2nd edition.We unpack some of the key lessons from the book and take stock of Steve and Sucharita's predictive prowess. We also wonder aloud about whether there is complacency setting in among too many retailers, if a "collapse of the unremarkable middle" is inevitable and whether certain oft talked about "innovations" are victims of the hype cycle. But first examine the retail news of the week that caught our attention, including trying to be glass is half full on JC Penney's new strategy to "love the customers that love us." We then move on to marvel at Shein's stratospheric $100 billion valuation, before weighing in on whether the Neiman Marcus Group's new partnership is rather Farfetched (see what we did there?). We close with our take on what to make of Walmart's bold moves to deal with trucking shortages. Note: The John Oliver "This Week Tonight" segment referenced in the episode can be found here.And don't forget to check out our bonus episode recapping this year's Shoptalk conference, recorded live from high above the Vegas Strip. About SucharitaSucharita serves digital business strategy professionals. She is an expert on eCommerce, omnichannel retail, consumer behavior, and trends in the online shopping space. She is also an authority on technology developments that affect the online commerce industry and vendors that facilitate online marketing and merchandising.In her research, Sucharita covers such consumer-oriented topics as eCommerce forecasting and trends, merchandising best practices, conversion optimization, and social computing in the retail world. She has also authored "The State Of Retailing Online," a joint study conducted annually with NRF.Prior to Forrester, Sucharita was the director of marketing at Saks Fifth Avenue, where she managed the customer acquisition, retention, and market research efforts for the $2 billion luxury retailer's online channel. Prior to Saks, she held management positions at Toys R Us, where she was a merchant in the Babies R Us division and a store manager in one of the company's largest toy stores. She also worked for the Walt Disney Company, where she developed and managed marketing plans for new business initiatives, including the Disney Stores, the Disney Cruise Line, and Club Disney.Additionally, she was involved in the expansion of Cap Cities/ABC properties, specifically ESPN Zone, ESPN Magazine, and the Go.com network. She has written two nonfiction books and has contributed to BusinessWeek Online.Sucharita holds a B.A. in economics from Harvard University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. About UsSteve Dennis is an advisor, keynote speaker and author on strategic growth and business innovation. You can learn more about Steve on his website. The expanded and revised edition of his bestselling book Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption is now available at Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior contributor and on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also check out his speaker "sizzle" reel here.Michael LeBlanc is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada's top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus Global E-Commerce Tech Talks , The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois and now in its second season, Conversations with CommerceNext! You can learn more about Michael here or on LinkedIn. Be sure and check out Michael's latest venture for fun and influencer riches - Last Request Barbecue, his YouTube BBQ cooking channel!
Shopify's (SHOP) earnings were recently released. Ygal Arounian, Managing Director of Equity Research at Wedbush Securities, and Sucharita Kodali, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, recaps Shopify (SHOP) earnings. They also talk about the macro factors weighing on SHOP. They then go over how SHOP is falls after weaker-than-anticipated earnings results. Tune in to find out more.
Welcome to episode #813 of Six Pixels of Separation. Here it is: Six Pixels of Separation - Episode #813 - Host: Mitch Joel. When I think of retail and the state of eCommerce, I'm always curious what Sucharita Kodali is thinking. As Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester, Sucharita is a leading expert on eCommerce, multichannel retail, consumer behavior, and trends in the online shopping space. In her research (you can get a taste of it right here), Sucharita covers such consumer-oriented topics as eCommerce forecasting and trends, merchandising best practices, conversion optimization, and social computing in the retail world. Prior to Forrester, Sucharita was the director of marketing at Saks Fifth Avenue, where she managed the customer acquisition, retention, and market research efforts for the $2 billion luxury retailer's online channel. Sucharita holds a B.A. in economics from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Enjoy the conversation... Running time: 1:00:07. Hello from beautiful Montreal. Subscribe over at Apple Podcasts. Please visit and leave comments on the blog - Six Pixels of Separation. Feel free to connect to me directly on Facebook here: Mitch Joel on Facebook. or you can connect on LinkedIn. ...or on Twitter. Here is my conversation with Sucharita Kodali. Forrester. A taste of Sucharita's latest research. Follow Sucharita on LinkedIn. Follow Sucharita on Twitter. This week's music: David Usher 'St. Lawrence River'.
Sucharita Kodali, Retail Analyst at Forrester Research, discusses the latest on takeover bids for Kohl's (KSS). She talks about how a KSS takeover would impact the retail sector. She also goes over how Starboard Value is reportedly offering $64 per share of KSS in $9B valuation. She then mentions how KSS stock pops to multi-month highs. Tune in to find out more.
Welcome to the The Voice of Retail , I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of CanadaOn this special episode I am thrilled to be sharing a full episode from my Conversations with CommerceNext podcast featuring Exclusive Holiday Research with Forrester VP & Principal Analyst Sucharita KodaliI launched the Conversations with CommerceNext podcast with my U.S. based partners to meet the top practitioners and thought leaders in the DTC & eCommerce marketing space, and explore both their tradecraft and share the learnings from their career journeys. Now let's have a listen to my podcast partner Scott Silverman as he introduces the episode with Sucharita, a frequent and popular guest here on The Voice of RetailThanks for tuning into today's episode of The Voice of Retail. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss out on the latest episodes, industry news, and insights. If you enjoyed this episode please consider leaving a rating and review, as it really helps us grow so that we can continue getting amazing guests on the show.I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company, and if you're looking for more content, or want to chat follow me on LinkedIn, or visit my website meleblanc.co!Sucharita KodaliVP, Principal AnalystSucharita serves digital business strategy professionals. She is an expert on eCommerce, omnichannel retail, consumer behavior, and trends in the online shopping space. She is also an authority on technology developments that affect the online commerce industry and vendors that facilitate online marketing and merchandising.In her research, Sucharita covers such consumer-oriented topics as eCommerce forecasting and trends, merchandising best practices, conversion optimization, and social computing in the retail world. She has also authored "The State Of Retailing Online," a joint study conducted annually with NRF.Previous Work ExperiencePrior to Forrester, Sucharita was the director of marketing at Saks Fifth Avenue, where she managed the customer acquisition, retention, and market research efforts for the $2 billion luxury retailer's online channel. Prior to Saks, she held management positions at Toys R Us, where she was a merchant in the Babies R Us division and a store manager in one of the company's largest toy stores. She also worked for the Walt Disney Company, where she developed and managed marketing plans for new business initiatives, including the Disney Stores, the Disney Cruise Line, and Club Disney.Additionally, she was involved in the expansion of Cap Cities/ABC properties, specifically ESPN Zone, ESPN Magazine, and the Go.com network. She has written two nonfiction books and has contributed to BusinessWeek Online.EducationSucharita holds a B.A. in economics from Harvard University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Scott SilvermanAn ecommerce veteran, Scott Silverman has been active in the industry since 1999 and is passionate about digital retail and the innovation driving the industry. Scott Silverman is the Co-Founder of CommerceNext. Previously, he spent 10 years as Executive Director of Shop.org where he launched the Shop.org Annual Summit. Scott co-invented “Cyber Monday” in 2005 and was the founder of Cybermonday.com in 2006, a shopping site that has generated more than $2.5 million for Shop.org's scholarship fund.
Welcome to the Conversations with CommerceNext podcast, I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with CommerceNext and presented by Bloomreach First, welcome to Season two of Conversations with CommerceNext. Thank you to Bloomreach for being our sponsor this season. This is different than our typical podcast where we learn about an industry leader and get career and marketing advice from them - although, those topics would be great for another time with our special guest today.Today we're going to dig into research that CommerceNext conducted in the past two weeks where we surveyed 84 merchants of various sizes about the 2021 holiday season including promotional levels, expectations for margins, biggest concerns and more. We thought this would be timely because, for the 2nd year in a row, we have a very unique holiday season.We want to give a big thank you to the retail executives that took a few minutes to take the survey. We can't do this without your support. And, we want to thank our partner, Forrester's Sucharita Kodali, who is here with us today to talk about the findings. CommerceNext reached out to Sucharita a couple weeks ago about doing a survey like this and she quickly jumped in and offered to help. She provided great input on the questions and she did an analysis based on the results.Thanks for tuning into this episode of Conversations with CommerceNext. Please follow us on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform where we'll be sharing career advice and marketing strategies from eCommerce and digital marketing leaders at retailers and direct-to-consumer brands each and every episode. CommerceNext is a community, event series and conference for marketers at retail and direct-to-consumer brands. Through our online forums, interviews, webinars, summits and other in-person events, we harness the collective wisdom of our community to help marketers grow their businesses and advance their careers. Join CommerceNext events to meet other industry leaders and learn the latest ecommerce and marketing strategies. You can find upcoming events at CommerceNext.com Sucharita KodaliVP, Principal AnalystSucharita serves digital business strategy professionals. She is an expert on eCommerce, omnichannel retail, consumer behavior, and trends in the online shopping space. She is also an authority on technology developments that affect the online commerce industry and vendors that facilitate online marketing and merchandising.In her research, Sucharita covers such consumer-oriented topics as eCommerce forecasting and trends, merchandising best practices, conversion optimization, and social computing in the retail world. She has also authored "The State Of Retailing Online," a joint study conducted annually with NRF.Previous Work ExperiencePrior to Forrester, Sucharita was the director of marketing at Saks Fifth Avenue, where she managed the customer acquisition, retention, and market research efforts for the $2 billion luxury retailer's online channel. Prior to Saks, she held management positions at Toys R Us, where she was a merchant in the Babies R Us division and a store manager in one of the company's largest toy stores. She also worked for the Walt Disney Company, where she developed and managed marketing plans for new business initiatives, including the Disney Stores, the Disney Cruise Line, and Club Disney.Additionally, she was involved in the expansion of Cap Cities/ABC properties, specifically ESPN Zone, ESPN Magazine, and the Go.com network. She has written two nonfiction books and has contributed to BusinessWeek Online.EducationSucharita holds a B.A. in economics from Harvard University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. ABOUT US: Scott SilvermanAn ecommerce veteran, Scott Silverman has been active in the industry since 1999 and is passionate about digital retail and the innovation driving the industry. Scott Silverman is the Co-Founder of CommerceNext. Previously, he spent 10 years as Executive Director of Shop.org where he launched the Shop.org Annual Summit. Scott co-invented “Cyber Monday” in 2005 and was the founder of Cybermonday.com in 2006, a shopping site that has generated more than $2.5 million for Shop.org's scholarship fund.Veronika SonsevVeronika Sonsev is the Co-Founder of CommerceNext. She also leads the retail practice for Chameleon Collective and is a contributor for Forbes on how to grow retail and ecommerce in the age of Amazon. Having spent the last 10+ years working with some of the largest retailers and direct-to-consumer brands, Veronika has intimate knowledge of the challenges facing retail and ecommerce today. She is also an advocate for women in business and founded the global non-profit mBolden, which is now part of SheRunsit. Michael LeBlanc is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada's top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus Global E-Commerce Tech Talks and The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. You can learn more about Michael here or on LinkedIn.
This episode features an interview with Sucharita Kodali, Retail Analyst at Forrester Research. With an expansive career that features stops at Saks Fifth Avenue, Toys R Us, and the Walt Disney Company, Sucharita is an expert on eCommerce and the technology developments that affect online shopping.On today's episode, Sucharita touches on everything from rogue distributors to the ESG movement to how retailers can avoid the boiling frog syndrome. --“The thing I think is really important about retail, CPGs, and brand manufacturers is that the world may be changing, but the technologies and cataclysmic changes to their worlds don't happen overnight.” -Sucharita Kodali--Show Notes(1:34) Taking a critical eye to retail assumptions(7:57) Separating the hype from the reality(10:51) How retailers can avoid the boiling frog syndrome(14:51) The rise of brand manufacturers(17:42) Brand independence in the era of rogue distributors(20:48) Getting unstuck from the 80s retail orthodoxy(25:11) Mindset changes, the ESG movement, and other disruptions(28:33) The long journey of digital transformation(31:37) Lightning round--SponsorThis podcast is presented by Dell Technologies and Intel. Together they help you realize digital transformation across retail by driving IT innovation to better engage with today's connected consumer. Learn more at DellTechnologies.com/retail and Intel.com/retail.--LinksConnect with Sucharita on LinkedInFollow Sucharita on TwitterConnect with Tony on LinkedInConnect with Tony on TwitterTony Saldanha - Transformant
In the latest Women's Retail Collective Podcast brought to you by Parcel Pending by Quadient, host Anne Mezzenga sits down with Forrester VP and Principal Analyst Sucharita Kodali. This is a special one, in particular, because the retail industry may have lost one of their most valuable analysts and experts to Hollywood director, Judd Apatow. Sucharita explains her very unique career journey and the full details of that story in this podcast. They also cover important pointers from Sucharita on how the industry should be analyzing the PR sizzle in today's constant retail technology headlines, what the industry should be paying attention to that they aren't, and of course, Sucharita's all-star concert lineup. Thanks to Parcel Pending for their support of this and all the Women's Retail Collective Content. Music courtesy of HookSounds.com
Sucharita Kodali, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, discusses retail sales, as the July 2021 Retail Sales report was released today, August 17th. She talks about the state of the retail sector, as well as going over department store stocks such as Nordstrom (JWN), Kohl's (KSS), and Macy's (M) and e-commerce stocks such as Amazon (AMZN), Wayfair (W), and Etsy, Inc. (ETSY). Tune in to find out more.
In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer & Retail Group, and Takeoff Anne Mezzenga and guest host Forrester VP and Principal Analyst Sucharita Kodali discuss: -Instacart's powerhouse move, bringing over yet another Facebook Exec, Fidji Simo, to be the company's CEO and what this indicates for the direction company may be headed in. -Why Sam's Club adding Scan & Ship is so much more than a new app feature and may open them up to an entirely new consumer. -Apple's new Apple Pay Later platform unlocking interest-free installment payments for all Apple Pay users and how it could take BNPL mainstream. -7-Eleven's rollout of mobile checkout to 3,000 stores and Sucharita's suggestions for retailers when dealing with Big Tech in rolling out these initiatives. -Asos opening up Nordstrom to the international market with their new co-owned brands and future partnership. Anne and Sucharita also talk about everything else they'd rather eat before trying Kraft Mac & Cheese Ice Cream, a Sucharita-inspired line of sneakers for Porsche, and what they'd be wearing to an after-party at “Disco Kroger” had it not shut down this past week. To learn more about the A&M Consumer & Retail Group, visit: www.alvarezandmarsal.com/industries/retail/retail To learn more about Takeoff, visit: www.takeoff.com/ You can follow Sucharita Kodali here: https://twitter.com/smulpuru
Sucharita Kodali, Retail Analyst at Forrester, joins Marketing Matters to talk Marketing Hits & Misses of the week and Marketing News including Amazon's mental health kiosk, "“AmaZen".
Host: Larry Bernstein. Guests include Alex Tabarrok, Desmond Lachman, Sam Wineburg, Jason Goldberg, Katherine Monasebian, and Sucharita Kodali.
Our special guest, Sucharita Kodali, joins the podcast to share insights gained over the past decade in the retail industry, with a focus on the online shopping experience.What makes for an excellent online shopping experience? How can retailers gain customer loyalty? What were the factors leading up to the highly publicized Toys R Us downfall and what can retailers learn from that bankruptcy? We ask these questions and more of our special guest, Sucharita Kodali, a retail analyst for Forrester Research and former Marketing Director for Saks Fifth Avenue. Sucharita is truly an eCommerce expert, and she joins the podcast to share insights gained over the past decade in the retail industry, with a focus on the online shopping experience. As a former Toys R Us employee, she also provides her opinion on the company's downturn and the underlying factors that led to the bankruptcy.
Gemma Milne talks with Sucharita Kodali about the current state of the retail sector, including what a digital-first channel strategy means for retailers, which technologies are currently making the biggest impact in the sector, and some of the first steps retailers can take to strengthen the resiliency of their supply chains.About Sucharita Kodali:Sucharita Kodali is Vice President and Principal Analyst serving e-business and channel strategy professionals at Forrester. She is an expert on e-commerce, omnichannel retail, consumer behavior, and trends in online shopping. She is also an authority on technology developments that affect the retail industry, focusing on topics such as forecasting, merchandising, conversion optimization, and social computing.Learn more:https://www.forrester.com/bio/sucharita-kodali?id=BIO1129 Topics of discussionHow growth has changed the customer experience and the ability of companies to keep up with changing demand (02:20)How retailers have adapted their supply chains to more digital selling (08:41)Keeping up with the most innovative retailers as they respond to evolving demands (11:13)The importance of people, process, and technology (17:37)Balancing the ability to react to supply chain disruptions with the ability to prevent them (20:25)The role of technology in managing risk, safety, and controlling costs (23:39)The first step toward improving supply chain resiliency (28:09) Sponsor linkLearn how Microsoft Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management helps organizations simplify and automate omnichannel fulfillment using data, AI, and machine learning. Learn more:https://aka.ms/CandRIOM Contact usEmail: connectedandready@microsoft.com Follow us on social mediaTwitter: https://twitter.com/msftdynamics365LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/microsoft-dynamicsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJGCg4rB3QSs8y_1FquelBQ
This week we celebrate the publication of the expanded and completely revised edition of Steve's bestseller Remarkable Retail: How to Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. On this special episode we share the (slightly edited) recording of our virtual book launch event, hosted by Michael, and featuring guests Seth Godin, Sucharita Kodali (who wrote the Foreword), Oliver Banks, Carl Boutet and Michelle Grant.Learn more about the book and hear our guests drop some wisdom about what's next for retail. To order Remarkable Retail click below.U.S. ResidentsCanadian ResidentsU.K. ResidentsAustralian ResidentsNote: The audiobook version will be available soon.Steve Dennis is an advisor, keynote speaker and author on strategic growth and business innovation. You can learn more about Steve on his website. The expanded and revised edition of his bestselling book Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption is now available at Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior contributor and on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also check out his speaker "sizzle" reel here.Michael LeBlanc is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus Global E-Commerce Tech Talks and The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. You can learn more about Michael here or on LinkedIn.
This week we welcome CNBC's ace retail reporter Lauren Thomas, who talks about the journey into her current position, what her beat is all about, and the trade craft of choosing and developing stories. We also dip into what's surprised her about the retail industry and the evolving nature of consumer preferences. Lastly we discuss the challenges of understanding retailer performance as we transition into the post-COVID economy, as well as what's on her radar screen for the future.Then we move on to our fast-paced weekly segment “Remarkable or Forgettable?” where we give our hot takes on retail headlines, and deem them wow-worthy, best ignored or somewhere in between. This week's big stories include the prediction that 80,000 stores will close within 5 years, while several big brands announce aggressive store opening plans, an uptick in mall vacancy rates at the same time Amazon converts some into distribution centers, Best Buy pilots a new membership program and Target devotes $2 billion to black-owned businesses. Join us Tuesday, April 13th at 5pm EST for our Virtual Book Launch on Zoom as we celebrate the release of Steve's new book with special guests Seth Godin, Sucharita Kodali and many more. Space is limited, so please register here ASAP.To order Remarkable Retail click below.U.S. ResidentsCanadian ResidentsU.K. Residents Lauren Thomas is a reporter for CNBC in New York covering retail and retail real estate. She joined in January 2017 after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studied Business Journalism and Spanish. Thomas previously held internships at CNBC in San Francisco, Bloomberg and TheStreet. She was born in South Carolina and is the oldest of five kids. Steve Dennis is an advisor, keynote speaker and author on strategic growth and business innovation. You can learn more about Steve on his website. The expanded and revised edition of his bestselling book Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption will be released April 13th and is now available for preorder at Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior contributor and on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also check out his speaker "sizzle" reel here.Michael LeBlanc is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus Global E-Commerce Tech Talks and The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. You can learn more about Michael here or on LinkedIn.
This week we welcome Forrester's Brendan Witcher for a wide-ranging, thought provoking and no holds barred discussion of what's most important right now in retail. Among the topics we explore are what strategies are working best, why it takes a crisis for retailers to innovate, the often critical role of physical stores, and the distinction between "disruption" and "destruction" (and why many retailers should be embracing the latter). Then we move on to our fast-paced weekly segment “Remarkable or Forgettable?” where we give our hot takes on retail headlines, and deem them wow-worthy, best ignored or somewhere in between. This week's big stories include Chewy's earnings, Bed, Bath & Beyond's digital and private label dreams, Kroger's fading tailwind, Nike bids adieu to more wholesale partners, and JC Penney's alleged "green shoots." Brendan Witcher..As Vice President & Principal Analyst with Forrester Research, Brendan Witcher serves business strategy professionals and is globally recognized as a leading authority on consumer behavior, market developments, technology trends, & solution providers in the digital engagement space.With 25 years of experience in leading B2C businesses, and having written more than 150 industry-leading research reports for Forrester, Brendan is a trusted strategic adviser to well over half of U.S. Fortune 100 companies — including 8 of the top 10 — that sit at the forefront of driving innovation and digital transformation.In addition to regularly speaking at industry events, Brendan is sought after frequently for commentary and insights by top media outlets including Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, NPR, The Economist, Time Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal.********Join us to celebrate the release of Steve's new book.Monday, April 12 at 5pm EST. We'll be joining Trevor Sumner and other retail luminaries for a Remarkable Retail takeover of "This Week in Retail" on Clubhouse.Tuesday, April 13th at 5pm EST. Join us on Zoom for our Virtual Book Launch Celebration with special guests Seth Godin, Sucharita Kodali and many more. Space is limited, so please register here ASAP.To order Remarkable Retail click below.U.S. ResidentsCanadian ResidentsU.K. ResidentsSteve Dennis is an advisor, keynote speaker and author on strategic growth and business innovation. You can learn more about Steve on his website. The expanded and revised edition of his bestselling book Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption will be released April 13th and is now available for preorder at Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior contributor and on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also check out his speaker "sizzle" reel here.Michael LeBlanc is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus Global E-Commerce Tech Talks and The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. You can learn more about Michael here or on LinkedIn.
Give us a call - 888-723-4630 Send us an email - podcast@ebay.com visit us at ebay.com/podcast Welcome to eBay for Business! This week, Griff and Rebecca talk to VP and Research Analyst at Forrester, Sucharita Kodali, about buying trends for 2021.Kirsty Dunn returns with news of the latest eBay For Business Facebook Sweepstakes, and Griff and Rebecca answer two seller questions; Moving Listings from one account to another, and Best Offer text box auto-fill. To have your questions answered on our eBay for Business podcast, call us at 888 723-4630 or email us at podcast@ebay.com. To give us feedback, please take our podcast listener survey at (https://connect.ebay.com/srv/survey/a/sellerops.podcast) 00:01 - Intro 04:10 - Refine Month Sweepstakes 11:19 - eCommerce Trends for 2021 - Sucharita Kodali 27:46 - Q&A and Outro New Links for Ep 134: Refine Month Sweepstakes - https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/photos/a.514051868672414/3890286147715619 Forrester - https://go.forrester.com File Exchange - https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/ebay-tools/file-exchange?id=4096 eBay Community Post - Photo Solution for File Exchange - https://community.ebay.com/t5/Tools-Apps/File-Exchange-and-Pictures-Bulk-Upload-Ebay-Image-Hosting/td-p/30693034 MIP - https://developer.ebay.com/products/mip Recurring Links / Phone Numbers / Hashtags Mentioned: 888-723-4630 - Call in Line eBay Seller News Announcements - ebay.com/announcements eBay Community - ebay.com/community eBay Weekly Community Chat - ebay.com/communitychat eBay Help - ebay.com/help/home eBay Meetups - ebay.com/meetups Managed Payments on eBay - ebay.com/payments eBay for Business Podcast - ebay.com/podcast eBay Seller Center - ebay.com/sellercenter eBay Seller Hub - ebay.com/sh eBay System Status - ebay.com/sts explore.ebay.com facebook.com/eBayForBusiness eBay for Business Podcast Listener Survey - https://connect.ebay.com/srv/survey/a/sellerops.podcast #ebaypodcast
In this episode, Forrester Research's Sucharita Kodali sits down with Mina Fader, Managing Director of the Baker Retailing Center at the University of Pennsylvania. They discuss recent allegations that Amazon favored big sellers on its India platform, as well as Standard Cognition’s recent round of funding and, finally, Facebook’s current news debacle in Australia. - - - - - - Hosted by Sucharita Kodali Written and produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller
Sucharita Kodali, Retail Analyst at Forrester Research, is an expert on e-commerce, omnichannel retail, consumer behavior, and trends in the online shopping space. In this episode, we discuss the rapid online penetration growth, omnichannel strategies, how to minimize returns and much more.Join the FreightWaves Retail Community and sign up for Point of Sale: https://web.freightwaves.com/point-of-saleSubscribeApple PodcastsSpotify
Sucharita Kodali, Retail Analyst at Forrester Research, is an expert on e-commerce, omnichannel retail, consumer behavior, and trends in the online shopping space. In this episode, we discuss the rapid online penetration growth, omnichannel strategies, how to minimize returns and much more.Join the FreightWaves Retail Community and sign up for Point of Sale: https://web.freightwaves.com/point-of-saleSubscribeApple PodcastsSpotify
We focus on what 2021's retail marketing priorities should be this episode that was produced in partnership with the customer engagement platform Emarsys, part of SAP, to coincide with the National Retail Federation's 2021 ‘Retail's Big Show', that took place virtually due to covid restrictions. Sucharita Kodali, VP, Principal Analyst Serving eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals at Forrester, was our guest moderator and she was joined online by: - Kristin Smith, Senior Vice President, Digital, Hanna Andersson - Gavin Wheeldon, CEO, Purple - Payal Hindocha, Vertical Product Marketing Manager, Emarsys - John Starke, Vice-President, Business Development, Zulily We also hear from Ratul Shah, Head of Product Marketing, SAP Customer Data Solutions, SAP To download a copy of the Emarsys Unpredictions ebook, visit https://emarsys.com/learn/
Get Ready for Season Two of Remarkable Retail debuting February 2, 2021!If you think the COVID era has brought the narrative of the retail apocalypse to life, you’re only half right - retail isn't dead - boring retail is.As a C-level executive at two Fortune 500 companies, as a strategic advisor to dozens of retail, consumer and technology brands and as a speaker who has delivered keynotes on six continents and on screens around the world, I help organizations reignite and accelerate their growth. I’m also a Forbes senior contributor and author of the bestseller “Remarkable Retail: How to Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption." Book Authority called it the best retail book ever, and a second all new updated and expanded edition is will be out April.In our first season of the Remarkable Retail podcast, we explored why even very good is no longer good enough through great conversations with thought leaders like Sucharita Kodali and Seth Godin and retailers like Tractor Supply and Untuckit.Join me and my co-host Michael LeBlanc, Producer & Host of The Voice of Retail podcast, as we pivot into our second season of the Remarkable Retail podcast - this season focusing on the key strategies that will ensure retailers survive and thrive in the COVID economy and beyond. Each and every week Steve and I, along with special guests including top retailers, industry thought leaders and authors, will explore the latest retail news and themes ripped from the headlines and work to read the tea leaves and help listeners make sense out of the noise and craft winning strategies for the future. So please join us each and every week for a lively and interactive journey exploring the strategies, the people and the companies that create Remarkable Retail. Season Two launches February 2, 2021. Listen on Apple, Spotify, Amazon or any of the major platforms wherever you enjoy your podcasts today. Steve Dennis is an advisor, keynote speaker and author on strategic growth and business innovation. You can learn more about Steve on his website. Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption was recently named the best retail book of all time by BookAuthority. It's available in hardcover, audiobook or as a ebook at Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly 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. Michael LeBlanc is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus Global E-Commerce Tech Talks and The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. You can learn more about Michael here or on LinkedIn.
Sucharita Kodali, the retail industry analyst at Forrester joins James for a look back at the year in retail and a look forward to 2021. With vaccines rolling out and an expected return to cities, travel and experiential shopping, it's a hopeful future. But will our new reliance on online pickup and delivery continue at restaurants and grocers? James Cook is the director of retail research in the Americas for JLL. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts Listen: WhereWeBuy.show Alexa: Say "Enable the Where We Buy skill" Email: jamesd.cook@am.jll.com Leave a message on the Where We Buy hotline. We may use it on an upcoming show. Call (602) 633-4061 Read more retail research here: http://www.us.jll.com/retail Theme music is Run in the Night by The Good Lawdz, under Creative Commons license.
“You can't stop the waves. But you can learn to surf.”- Jon Kabat-ZinnIn the final episode of our first season, before delving into the key themes from Chapter 20 ("A Brave New World") of Steve's book, we share two pieces of big news. The first is that an expanded and completely revised 2nd edition of Remarkable Retail will be released on April 13th, featuring a Foreword by Sucharita Kodali. It's now available for pre-order on Amazon or on Indigo in Canada and just about everywhere books are sold. The second is that we will be doing a new season of our podcast, launching February 2. More details on episode themes and special guests coming soon. This episode we explore what it means to operate in a "VUCA" world and how uncertainty, humility and adopting a "Beginner's Mind" can be the source of great wisdom. And we remind ourselves of SNL producer Lorne Michael's great quotation that "the show doesn't go on because it's ready. It goes on because it's 11:30." With guests Chris Walton and Anne Mezzinga from OmniTalk, we talk about their experience driving innovation during their time at Target, how technology continues to accelerate and some of the things malls must do to adapt to retail's brave new world. Anne Mezzinga & Chris WaltonChris Walton and Anne Mezzenga met leading Target’s Store of the Future Project. Currently they are the Co-CEOs of Omni Talk, which they founded in 2017 and quickly turned into one of the fastest growing and most frequently read blogs in retail. Together they also own and operate Third Haus a retail technology lab in Minneapolis, as well as Urban Rooster Shop, a new online marketplace for local brands that just opened this past fall and that has already received national attention. Their unique blend of candor and humor, from the perspective of real retailers, who have lived and breathed next generation retail in both theory and in practice, is what sets them apart. When they are not keynoting trade shows, moderating webinars, or writing for Forbes, you will find them holding court each week on their weekly Omni Talk Fast Five podcast, which is the quickest, fastest, and quite possibly funniest rundown of all the week’s top headlines in the world of retail. Related ReadingClayton Christensen, The Innovator's DilemmaSteve Dennis, "We're Never Ready"Steve Dennis is an advisor, keynote speaker and author on strategic growth and business innovation. You can learn more about Steve on his website. Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption was recently named the best retail book of all time by BookAuthority. It's available in hardcover, audiobook or as a ebook at Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly 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. Michael LeBlanc is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus Global E-Commerce Tech Talks and The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. You can learn more about Michael here or on LinkedIn.
What a year it has been! Sucharita Kodali joins the show to talk about how 2020 forever changed retail and the world.
Mary Epner and Sucharita Kodali say that Nike (NKE) has been leaning into digital transformation for decades and it's paying off. Also, the strong brand continues to drive consumers first and foremost to its properties, not to department stores or Amazon.
The costs of this pandemic are staggering. Most importantly, in lives lost. And increasingly, businesses lost or struggling to survive. Changing lockdown rules upended supply chains and a wary public. A lot of those businesses have been scrambling to get online, and as it happens, there are a lot of places online to list your goods beyond your own website — almost too many. Do you go to Shopify, Amazon, Facebook or Etsy? Molly speaks with Sucharita Kodali, a retail analyst with Forrester. She says the options can be overwhelming. Your support makes our podcast possible — become a Marketplace Investor today to keep us going strong.
The costs of this pandemic are staggering. Most importantly, in lives lost. And increasingly, businesses lost or struggling to survive. Changing lockdown rules upended supply chains and a wary public. A lot of those businesses have been scrambling to get online, and as it happens, there are a lot of places online to list your goods beyond your own website — almost too many. Do you go to Shopify, Amazon, Facebook or Etsy? Molly speaks with Sucharita Kodali, a retail analyst with Forrester. She says the options can be overwhelming. Your support makes our podcast possible — become a Marketplace Investor today to keep us going strong.
The costs of this pandemic are staggering. Most importantly, in lives lost. And increasingly, businesses lost or struggling to survive. Changing lockdown rules upended supply chains and a wary public. A lot of those businesses have been scrambling to get online, and as it happens, there are a lot of places online to list your goods beyond your own website — almost too many. Do you go to Shopify, Amazon, Facebook or Etsy? Molly speaks with Sucharita Kodali, a retail analyst with Forrester. She says the options can be overwhelming. Your support makes our podcast possible — become a Marketplace Investor today to keep us going strong.
The costs of this pandemic are staggering. Most importantly, in lives lost. And increasingly, businesses lost or struggling to survive. Changing lockdown rules upended supply chains and a wary public. A lot of those businesses have been scrambling to get online, and as it happens, there are a lot of places online to list your goods beyond your own website — almost too many. Do you go to Shopify, Amazon, Facebook or Etsy? Molly speaks with Sucharita Kodali, a retail analyst with Forrester. She says the options can be overwhelming. Your support makes our podcast possible — become a Marketplace Investor today to keep us going strong.
Sucharita Kodali, the VP, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, adds her page to the Marketing Playbook. Hear what to expect with the future of retail, how retailers have adjusted their strategies in 2020, how to pivot to an eCommerce focus, detect the shiny object that is worth pursuing, and Sucharita's experience starting her career at Disney and Saks Fifth Avenue. Connect with Sucharita on Twitter at @SMulpuru and on LinkedIn
Give us a call - 888-723-4630 Send us an email - podcast@ebay.com visit us at ebay.com/podcast Welcome to eBay for Business! This week, Rebecca speaks with Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester, Sucharita Kodali about shopping trends for the holidays and beyond. eBay Trading Card Category Lead Bob Means has exciting news about a brand new shipping service for low value trading cards and Rebecca and Griff answer your questions. To have your questions answered on our eBay for Business podcast, call us at 888 723-4630 or email us at podcast@ebay.com. To give us feedback, please take our podcast listener survey at (https://connect.ebay.com/srv/survey/a/sellerops.podcast) 00:01 - Intro 05:47 - Bob Means - Trading Cards and 25:12 - Fireside Chat - Rebecca and Sucharita Kodali 45:04 - Q&A and Outro New Links for Ep 121: USPS Informed Delivery - https://informeddelivery.usps.com/box/pages/intro/start.action Thermal 4x6 Label Printers on eBay - https://ebay.to/3jnYZiz Listen to Ep 106 for more info on Thermal Printers Recurring Links / Phone Numbers / Hashtags Mentioned: 888-723-4630 - Call in Line eBay Seller News Announcements - ebay.com/announcements eBay Community - ebay.com/community eBay Weekly Community Chat - ebay.com/communitychat eBay Help - ebay.com/help/home eBay Meetups - ebay.com/meetups Managed Payments on eBay - ebay.com/payments eBay for Business Podcast - ebay.com/podcast eBay Seller Center - ebay.com/sellercenter eBay Seller Hub - ebay.com/sh eBay System Status - ebay.com/sts explore.ebay.com facebook.com/eBayForBusiness eBay for Business Podcast Listener Survey - https://connect.ebay.com/srv/survey/a/sellerops.podcast #ebaypodcast
In this pandemic, we are shopping online way, way more than we ever have. And sometimes we want to return the things we buy, which can be a hassle — with shipping and restocking fees and printing out return labels with printers we may or may not have at home. This holiday season, some retailers are trying to make returns easier. For example, employees at Simon malls will process returns for brands like Levi’s and Gap, so all you have to do is go to a mall kiosk with your item and a QR code. But as annoying as online returns can be for us, they might be worse for the retailers. Marielle Segarra speaks with Sucharita Kodali, a retail analyst at Forrester.
In this pandemic, we are shopping online way, way more than we ever have. And sometimes we want to return the things we buy, which can be a hassle — with shipping and restocking fees and printing out return labels with printers we may or may not have at home. This holiday season, some retailers are trying to make returns easier. For example, employees at Simon malls will process returns for brands like Levi’s and Gap, so all you have to do is go to a mall kiosk with your item and a QR code. But as annoying as online returns can be for us, they might be worse for the retailers. Marielle Segarra speaks with Sucharita Kodali, a retail analyst at Forrester.
In this pandemic, we are shopping online way, way more than we ever have. And sometimes we want to return the things we buy, which can be a hassle — with shipping and restocking fees and printing out return labels with printers we may or may not have at home. This holiday season, some retailers are trying to make returns easier. For example, employees at Simon malls will process returns for brands like Levi’s and Gap, so all you have to do is go to a mall kiosk with your item and a QR code. But as annoying as online returns can be for us, they might be worse for the retailers. Marielle Segarra speaks with Sucharita Kodali, a retail analyst at Forrester.
In this pandemic, we are shopping online way, way more than we ever have. And sometimes we want to return the things we buy, which can be a hassle — with shipping and restocking fees and printing out return labels with printers we may or may not have at home. This holiday season, some retailers are trying to make returns easier. For example, employees at Simon malls will process returns for brands like Levi’s and Gap, so all you have to do is go to a mall kiosk with your item and a QR code. But as annoying as online returns can be for us, they might be worse for the retailers. Marielle Segarra speaks with Sucharita Kodali, a retail analyst at Forrester.
Three years ago, Sucharita Kodali called it in episode 41. Marketplaces are on the rise. 10% of Americans are subscribed Walmart+. We talk marketplaces, the K shaped recovery, and more.
"Amazon has been on a tear for years & the pandemic only accelerated its gains in e-commerce.” Sucharita Kodali says that Amazon Prime Day should be bigger than ever, and other retailers have not succeeded in getting people to up-spending into October.
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!
Jharonne Martis and Sucharita Kodali share their expectations for the report with Nicole Petallides, then assess where the strength lies in the athleisure space.
No time for news? We've got you covered. Welcome to the Retail Rundown, your go-to weekly podcast where RETHINK Retail teams up with industry experts to deliver the top trending news stories in retail. September 14, 2020: holiday shopping predictions, several off-price retailers continue physical expansion, Michaels unveils test and learn concept. Hosted by Julia Raymond Written and produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller
In our last episode, Amazon had once again taken a financial hit to get ahead in the shipping game, cutting out its need for FedEx and UPS, and turning them into the competition. But there’s one more link in the shipping chain that FedEx, UPS and even Amazon hasn’t cut loose: The United States Postal Service.Private shipping companies also sometimes hire the Post Office to take care of last-mile deliveries. But that might be changing as FedEx becomes more self-sufficient, and may plan to cut some of its ties with the USPS. Does that mean UPS will follow? And if so, will your shipping rates rise as the Post Office faces cutbacks later this year?To learn more, David chats with Sucharita Kodali, a digital business strategy and e-commerce expert at Forrester Research. For more on Sucharita Kodali: https://www.forrester.com/sucharita-kodaliListen ad-free on Wondery+ hereSupport us by supporting our sponsors!Fiverr - Check out FIVERR.com and receive 10% off your first order by using code BW.
Sam Gagliardi, EVP e-commerce for IRI and Sucharita Kodali, VP and Principal Analyst, Forrester Research GET REAL in this episode about all things e-commerce. Plenty of insights and implications are uncovered for marketers from: myths about e-comm penetration; which retailers are gaining share at Amazon’s expense; and the reality that online purchases are beginning to eliminate shopping because people aren’t re-shopping, they’re re-buying through auto-fulfillment, previous purchase conveniences and voice. Check out our [link to] “Potential Impact Of Reduced Unemployment Benefit Changes On Food & Beverage Spending” thought leadership mentioned in the episode.Learn more:COVID-19-Emerging-Point-of-View-8-14-2020COVID-19-Emerging-Point-of-View-8-11-2020COVID-19-Emerging-Point-of-View-7-30-2020
As retail evolves and changes in general and in response to the current moment, it’s important for companies and brands to understand how best to connect with and educate their customers about what they can offer. To talk about the changing approaches in retail today, Sucharita Kodali, Retail Industry Analyst at Forrester joins the podcast today to talk about how retailers can draw customers into brick and mortar locations, how to capture demand signals in-store, and how to bridge the gap between digital and brick-and-mortar experiences. Topics Discussed in Today’s Episode: ✔ Sucharita’s history in retail ✔ Why Sucharita was interested in joining an analyst group ✔ What Sucharita has learned from different retail companies ✔ Changes that are likely in the retail world post-pandemic ✔ What retailers can do to draw people back into brick and mortar locations ✔ How to connect with and educate customers more about the brand ✔ Ways for retailers to capture demand signals in-store ✔ How companies can bridge the gap between digital and brick and mortar experiences ✔ What in-store experiences retailers should be mimicking in the coming months and years ✔ What technologies are being adopted faster than expected and will help retailers in the coming years Resources: Sucharita Kodali QUOTES: “Short-term, there’s just going to be a lot less buying in categories that are not essential.” “A lot of it is, let the customer give feedback, let them provide the feedback on what they know.” “That’s one of the advantages of being behind digitally is that there’s no need to really reinvent the wheel.”
No time for news? We've got you covered. Welcome to the Retail Rundown, your go-to weekly podcast where RETHINK Retail teams up with industry experts to deliver the top trending news stories in retail. June 8, 2020: Retailers respond to nationwide protests, thredUP's partnership with Walmart, and the future of digital innovation. Hosted by Julia Raymond Written and produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller
EP221 - E-Commerce Logistics Crunch Episode 221 covers recent news including logistics moves from UPS, FedEx, and Amazon. Past Events Jason NRF Interview Leaders of Change Interview Upcoming Events NRF Global Trends from the Reopening of Stores June 8th, 11am ET. Hear from retail industry leaders Jason Goldberg, chief commerce officer of Publicis, and Sucharita Kodali, VP and principal analyst at Forrester, on what retailers are seeing as their global stores reopen post-COVID-19 Amazon News Amazon adds 12 new planes (now has 80 on it’s way to 200). Prime day moved to September, Summer Sales June 22nd. Amazon Grocery Store coming to Chicago Lowes- Same store sales up 11.2%, e-commerce up 80% Other News Gucci – Personalized Video Shopper UPS/FedEx – Surcharges Kylie Jenner – Inflated revenue ($177 million last year) Instacart Media Network Target Instagram Checkout Shopify Marketcap $90B, IBM $114B Lickable Screen – Norimaki Synthesizer Don’t forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 221 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded live on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2020. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis, and Scot Wingo, CEO of GetSpiffy and Co-Founder of ChannelAdvisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. Transcript Jason: [0:24] Welcome to the Jason and Scott show this is episode 221 being recorded on Wednesday June 3rd 2020, I’m your host Jason retailgeek Goldberg and as usual I’m here with your co-host Scot Wingo. Scot: [0:40] Hey Jason and welcome back Jason Scott show listeners well given the tragic events this week we totally understand if Talking Shop isn’t really a top priority for you but we thought that some of our listeners may be in the mood for a little bit of a mental distraction we sure are, and there is some interesting news happening in the world of Commerce so we thought we would bring you what’s been going on the last couple weeks with that Focus before we jump into the e-commerce retail payments news Jason what have you been up to. Jason: [1:11] Yeah I have been just talking covid non-stop with clients which is exhausting and mostly depressing to be totally honest with you Scott. But I get some point we should will probably do a deep dive on the show about all that but that is not tonight. I did do a couple between all these talks I have done a couple of interviews recently so in the highly unlikely event, you want even more Jason opinion there’s a couple new written things out there so I’ll put some links in the show notes but I got a chance to do an interview with the national retail Federation that they published last week, and then a past guests on the show Chris Perry does these interviews on LinkedIn that he calls leaders of change and since he couldn’t find any leaders this week he interviewed me instead. Scot: [2:04] I missed it in RF thing what was the overall topic on that. Jason: [2:09] Well you know talking a lot a brief interview about the. Adoption and transition to digital and commerce so stuff that, maybe not very shocking to listeners on our show but to a lot of the more traditional brick-and-mortar retail side of in RF they still needs an evangelizing so. So they wheeled me out to talk digital transformation. Scot: [2:36] What’s digital how do payments work stuff like that what are these smartphones that people speak of. [2:51] Well let’s tease the covid think so what are your clients thinking about are they thinking about kind of I keep hearing this new normal, which is kind of maybe overdone but maybe that’s your favorite it’s actually faster Forsyth. But you know so I think we all agree there’s going to be a lot of consumer Behavior changes is that kind of like what people want to know about her. Jason: [3:11] That is part of, Rashad tobacco Allah who was on our show a month or two ago I can’t I can’t keep track of time anymore he calls it the new abnormal which maybe feels more apropos to me, but we are like a super interesting thing is there’s a bunch of. New behaviors were seeing from consumer mostly As a result of shelter-in-place orders and so there’s there’s. Really interesting questions about each of those behaviors. Are they permanent new behavior is there going to be a counter Behavior as soon as the shelter-in-place orders of lift which like we are now starting to see, shelter in place order is lifted is is there going to be a new behavior that some some place in between the old and the new the scenario planning about like which of these are permanent versus temporary shifting in shopping Behavior, are super interesting so we have a lot of conversations about that, but I’ll be honest a lot of my clients are looking on the slightly longer Horizon and you know what they’re really thinking a lot about now is, kind of shifting into the recession Playbook and how they you know appeal the more value oriented consumers and you know how, deep and along the recession is likely to be and what the potential recovery looks like. [4:36] So a lot of kind of conversations about how how the recession will likely impact various businesses, um one I bring up and we talked a lot with clients about is. How the world changes because of the changes in the landscape so we’re seeing tons of stores closed we’re seeing tons of, market share getting Consolidated into the biggest players in every category and so if you’re a brand as many of my clients are it’s a pretty big deal like the, your top few customers are you know getting a lot more leverage over you than they had before and so you know the. People have to think about operating in a different competitive landscape than. Then they were thinking about pre covid and then II 10 we we have brought in like these epidemiologists and these economists and we’re you know trying to do the best job possible a painting a picture of. Of like. How what recovery looks like for this whole thing and it’s mostly super Debbie Downer news and it’s you know it’s mostly evidence that like there’s going to be repercussions from this that last for a considerable period of time so folks that were hoping, that like this is really something they just have to worry about through the rest of 2020 or maybe even 20 21 or are unfortunately probably optimistic so so having a lot of conversations about consumers about why that might be. Scot: [6:05] Wait at ease up an exciting Deep dive that we may put down next week that will depress the hell out of you. Jason: [6:11] Yeah yeah exactly I do try to put some happy moments in there as bits of levity. Scot: [6:19] Nice I’m sure that Lance roll know real well. Jason: [6:22] Yeah yeah you were just channeling my wife right there by pointing out that I’m not as funny as I think I am. Scot: [6:28] We have to keep keep your ego in check their Jason how about upcoming events anything on the horizon that’s interesting. Jason: [6:39] Yeah there’s a few things booked but one that’s going to be fun is another internet thing they’re doing a live webinar about global Trends from the reopening of stores. And they’ve asked Sue charita code I’m Al Peru. Longtime friend of the show and myself too. Kind of share some of the global trends that we’re seeing from markets that may be reopened sooner than the US has like in particular China, and you know what we can learn from those those markets in terms of how things are likely to reopen here and I don’t want to spoil it but I think there’s going to be a, third guest panelists that we can’t announce yet but hopefully. As if surgery and I weren’t enough that will make it even more interesting so that’s a webinar on June 8 so if people are interested in registering for that I will put a link in the show notes for that as well. Scot: [7:37] Registering right now I’m curious to find out who the mysterious third guest is. Jason: [7:42] Yes I know that’s it’s what we call a teaser in the in the professional promotion business as I’m in. Scot: [7:49] Nice and I spoiler alert it’s not me so boom that narrows it down to 300 million other potential guess I guess. Jason: [7:58] Exactly most of which would not be as interesting as you yeah. Scot: [8:02] Thank you okay people get enough of the the Jason Scott show we want to keep it exclusive here suture Rita can only have one of us on our shows at a time. Awesome let’s jump into news it wouldn’t be a Jason Scott show without. Jason: [8:19] Amazon news new your margin is their opportunity. Scot: [8:33] So Jason I saw a couple interesting things going on with the Amazon so first of all let’s talk about logistics I don’t know about you but with kind of pandemic and all the other stuff going on the Amazon Prime Vans have been humming here in my neighborhood and then I saw that Amazon is beefing up their plane Fleet they have about 80 now they’ve added 12 recently and have plans to get to 200 planes putting that in the comparison FedEx has 650 planes so still very small compared to FedEx and then, I being in the fleet Fleet World here suddenly I’m very interested in the size of their Fleet and it’s really interesting so Amazon rolled out their delivery service provider program and when they did that they announced they had a acquired 20,000 Mercedes sprinters that is early nineteenth announce that and then since then they’ve been really quiet about updating the number of vehicles in that Fleet and I feel like they probably are. [9:36] Double if not triple that so another thing I’ve learned watching Amazon over the last 20 years is when they get really quiet about something that means. There’s something going on there so I feel like they’ve really grown that Fleet and then the other news on the Fleetside is they did place an order with ribbon who is the electric truck provider they ordered kind of a hundred thousand of those trucks that’s out there I think those are 20 2120 22 kind of thing and I’m sure it’s going to take years for Ruby and to produce that many vehicles but that was interesting for those of you that keep up with that and then we reported on a previous new show that there was rumors that Amazon was going to move Prime day from its home in June late June to September that was never confirmed or denied by Amazon. [10:27] But they have announced that they are doing a June 22nd summer sale I’m doing air quotes for those of you that can’t see me which is everybody you know so it’s really interesting so it’s almost kind of like they’re keeping the slot toning it down and then maybe they’ll do a September, and they just essentially said kind of messaging was that they were doing this to jumpstart summer sales what do you think about the logistics moves and then this summer sale Jason. Jason: [10:55] Yeah it’s complicated so the logistic moves ya like, there’s going to be some other logistics news non Amazon news later in the show that kind of Dove two doves tails on this but it’s so smart in such a huge advantage, to own more of your own fulfillment and Logistics capability and that’s like that’s going to be an increasing competitive Advantage so even if Amazon never does anything but use that capacity for their own internal needs, um it’s a big deal and like when you’re comparing Amazon to any traditional retailer like saying you own a tea 737s. Is like you know a pretty giant step ahead of Walmart or anyone else in terms of. Of logistic capability and I haven’t heard anything about this but I’m partly wondering since like all the airlines the passenger Airlines aren’t using their planes are planes like can you get used planes just cheaper right now. As they all downsize I don’t know. Scot: [12:00] Absolutely yeah there’s got to be a used car markets crashing I’m sure the plane Market is tough too. Jason: [12:05] Yeah so smart stuff there that just going to extend the the digital advantage that Amazon has, more on that later and then the sale thing is really complicated Prime is so successful that a lot of my clients now try to counter. Program against Prime day and so, in unintended consequence of all this ambiguity about primed as it’s driving a bunch of other retailers nuts right because, they like to plan some counter programming and they have no idea like win or what Amazon is going to do so that’s kind of interesting I think it’s really interesting if they’re going to land in a September date because, um potentially September ends up being a better permanent date for that big tent post than. [12:58] The traditional summer date does right because it it potentially just kicks off holiday even earlier, and they can kind of maintain that momentum. Like from September all the way through holiday that that could be interesting there’s some risk associated with that but they’re in a way they’re going to get a free test this year to see how it goes so so I’m going to be watching that that Prime day carefully. And then this September date sliding this in is interesting and controversial a like vendors aren’t getting as much notice as they, they normally would so in a way this is like the first Prime day where vendors got kind of. You know are getting solicited at the last minute to see if they want to participate and what kind of deals they want to offer. [13:48] And you know so in some ways it won’t be as comp it certainly won’t be as comprehensive as a traditional Prime day is, the you know it’s debatable whether Amazon is like all the way back with their service levels and so. You know adding a big demand spike in June is a little risky right like because if their. If I look at customer SATs cores from Amazon they’ve dropped down there’s a lot more negative reviews for fulfillment from Amazon the last couple of months than there usually are, and now you know they’re going to put more pressure on their system so it’s a little, interesting that they feel confident enough to do a summer sale and then you know there’s always going to be detractors but there’s a lot of people talking about like is just the climate in the country. Um right to be doing a big sale right now when there’s so much you know negative stuff going on. [14:44] You know I don’t know that’s that’s tough tough to judge but you know I think one way or another, the remainder of this year is going to be the mother of all liquidation sales as all the apparel companies try to, you know sell that that stale inventory that’s been locked in their stores for the last three months and you know everybody’s going to be downsizing tons of stores are closing and all that distress inventory is going to get liquidated through all these other channels so I think like, you know the Amazon summer sale is going to be one of many price oriented promotions that consumers are just going to get flooded with it’s going to it’s going to be a really interesting consumer experiment but don’t pay full price for anything this year. Scot: [15:27] I’ll take that advice to Heart. Jason: [15:31] Yeah. Scot: [15:31] So I saw that someone I forget who did the investigation on this but there was a there was a building sold in your neck of the woods and people have identified that Amazon’s up to something and that building. Jason: [15:44] Yeah I have said this before and you know people are still skeptical but I’m convinced that Chicago is Amazon’s favorite Market, almost every new cool thing they do they either do in Chicago first or they bring it to Chicago extremely quickly after they do it somewhere else first. And so for listeners that follow Amazon closely. There is a new Amazon grocery store that was scheduled to already be open in Woodland Hills California which is a suburb of Los Angeles. [16:17] It’s about a 20 memory serves 22,000 square foot store, it was scheduled to open already like reporters had gone by and it was pretty close to opening prior to covid, and then as a result of covid the store didn’t open but it’s very clear that Amazon has been using it as a dark store to do grocery delivery so we’ve seen a bunch of delivery drivers in the parking lot shuttling orders, back and forth and a lot of speculation this this store is not it’s a grocery store it’s not branded Whole Foods, it’s much bigger than Amazon go Amazon went on record and said it’s not going to have the cashier OS self checkout system that that Amazon go stores have hashtag J Watson, so it’s going to be a traditional grocery store under a different Banner than Whole Foods and then the big Revelation was, that a significant chunk of this 22,000 square foot store is what we call an automated micro fulfillment center in the back of the store so this is a. [17:25] In Auto picking robot that stores a lot of the groceries in different climate zones and you know when it gets an order it fills all the bags with all the products, and so this is a brand new grocery concept from Amazon we’re super excited to see it if that that auto replenishment system is already running, that’s a great tool to use for a dark store so that’s make sense why they’re doing this thing in LA and so now they’ve announced a second store which is almost certainly going to be in the same Banner is that La store here in Chicago but it’s 43,000 square feet so that’s very large by grocery store standards, to put things in perspective it’s a former Babies R Us store so it’s a. Scot: [18:07] It’s a bigger than a whole food so Whole Foods feels like we have one that has like an extended. Jason: [18:12] Yeah they range the biggest Whole Foods are in that 42 I think there might even be a 50,000 square-foot Whole Food store but but a lot of Whole Food stores are in the 20 to 30,000 square feet so 43 is on the big side for Whole Foods. Like like a bigger Whole Foods this store like is reputed to have restaurants & dining service and things in it’s going to be interesting to see. If those were pretty covid plans and how those plans change because of covid. But I’m excited like even even if we’re not doing a lot of international travel sometime this summer the store supposed to open so I’ll get to go do a, store visit and report on what Amazon sees the future of non Whole Foods Grocery looks like so it’s, that is some exciting news. Scot: [19:02] Is the robot thing on modified Qibla or is it a whole new you. Jason: [19:05] No like so third party if you’re a general merchandise system like there’s a couple of these automated picking systems out there like perfect pick and auto store, and how they mostly work as their bin based so products it in a bin and a Big Grid and then these like, robots can Shuffle around the bins and so most of these micro fulfillment centers and these are companies like Fabric and take off Technologies Walmart has when they invested in called alphabat, they’re these they’re kind of like the automated picking systems except the bins live in different temperature zones so usually they have a ambient temperature zone a refrigerated temperatures own and a frozen temperature zone, so that when they get a grocery order they can you know grab the cereal from the ambient temperature and the, the milk from the refrigerated and the frozen pizzas from the. The Frozen aggregate those all in a shopping bag and then put them in your car for curbside pickup or put them in a delivery guys car for home delivery and, my speculation is, that’s also going to be used for in-store customers so I have a feeling you’re not going to be shopping for cereal in these stores and walking down an aisle of cereal I think you’re going to get your cereal bye. [20:25] Placing an order on your mobile phone and the and, the micro fulfillment center filling the bag with your cereal and I have a feeling the mean like physical things you’re going to do in this store our shop for things that you want to pick yourself like produce and meat and things like that but that’s entirely just my speculation at this point. But those micro fulfillment centers are super important. [20:47] It reduces the cost to pick a grocery order and remember a grocery order likely has sixty to a hundred twenty items in it versus a. An apparel order is going to have like one to two items in it so the cost to pick that order the auto-replenishment micro fulfillment systems, reduce that cost by about 90% so they’re they’re basically essential if we’re ever going to get the unit economics for digital grocery to make sense. Scot: [21:15] Michael the and we’ll talk about that a little bit more later in the show how about any interesting Amazon news your non Amazon news retraction. Jason: [21:23] Yeah yeah they’re a few random things I probably think this things more interesting than anyone else but Gucci has launched a pretty clever service. In response to covid so they’re calling it a personalized video shopper, and so essentially what they’ve done is they’ve set up a store in their customer service center and they have. Customer service reps are like literally using a FaceTime like service, to show you merchandise they that you’re thinking about buying so it’s kind of like a sales assisted experience our client telling experience, over video conference so you’re thinking about buying a handbag like the a sales person that you’re talking live to can actually like. [22:13] Grab that handbag off the shelf and show it to you for example and. Like honestly I don’t care that much about that feature for Gucci but I actually think that that experience makes a lot of sense, I don’t remember we’ve talked about on the show a lot but most of my appliances have died during covid and so I’ve had to like replace all my my laundry and kitchen appliances, and we had to shop all those without going to the store right and it frankly would have been super helpful if a sales person could have. Why gone on FaceTime and showed me you know some of the refrigerators they were recommending in person, and I just think in this new world where less people are going to be allowed in a store and where you know they’re trying to amplify the effectiveness of human salespeople, this idea of salespeople telepresence is going to going to be a bigger idea so I’m interested to see, how customers take to this the Gucci version of that that experience would you want to Alive salesperson help you with your Gucci shopping Scott. Scot: [23:18] I insist on it generally when I do my Gucci shopping I was at where was I, I was in a foreign land I was in Italy and went to Louis Vuitton store and they were doing this of course this is way before covid and then it was interesting because there was two lines there was a Chinese line and then a non-chinese line and the Chinese line they had Chinese speakers that would come and meet the Chinese people that were in that line and then those folks very frequently it seemed like they had been paid to come. [23:58] Almost as a personal physical Shopper but then they would fire up a FaceTime and so you had a good not good cheap but a Louis Vuitton sales person a Chinese person and then they would be talking to someone on a FaceTime and showing the wall of product and they would I watch this it would each transaction was like a good 30 minutes they would pull down some bags someone on the FaceTime would say well show me that one over there and then they would pull it down and look inside of it so there it was clear the person on the FaceTime that was doing the shopping so so it’s a maybe maybe Gucci kind of got this idea from some of their Chinese Shoppers watching how they’re doing it and then yeah we’ve had I’m on the board of a non-profit that helps homeless folks that are coming out of homelessness they frequently get into you know a residence, like a habitat or something like that but they don’t have any furniture so this this company provides this really cool showroom where they can come pick up their Furniture right now they can’t come to the showroom so they’re doing the same thing they’re doing face times with the clients to show them here’s six different couches we have do you want this green one what are the measurements that kind of thing so it’s interesting I think I think Innovation comes from these this necessity of we can’t be there what’s the next best thing. Jason: [25:21] Yeah no it’s fascinating and you think about it like a pre covid problem is you got a super busy store in Manhattan and then there’s a store in Iowa that’s not very busy, why can’t you use those salespeople in Iowa to help customers and in that Manhattan store or vice versa depending on the time zones, um in that makes a lot of sense and then you think about a highly sales assisted experience like a Neiman Marcus. If you go to the website you don’t get any of that personalized service that you’re used to from the store and why is that right and as people are shifting to digital shopping more and more and are forced to because of covid. You know it just makes sense that you’d want to replicate some of that high-touch sales assistant experience so I think we’re going to see more of this and you know in most ways covid is kind of a, a time machine that’s accelerating things like this is the kind of experience, people would have talked about for a long time but wouldn’t have done because it’s too much effort and it’s too low a priority to do but now because of covid, there there you know quickly putting stuff out there and seeing if customers like it or not so I’m excited about those kinds of tests. [26:34] It’s– earlier in the Amazon news that there was even more Logistics news so let’s jump right to that, earlier or the end of last week UPS announced that they were going to start charging surcharges for big shippers. And in this is the latest step in something that we’ve been seeing a lot of. [26:57] UPS and FedEx are seeing shipping Demand right now for e-commerce that’s very comparable to what you would typically see over holiday, and and you know traditionally, UPS and FedEx scale up for holiday and they hire a bunch of seasonal labor and they do all these things to try to handle that holiday Peak so now they’re having. Equivalent Peak that they were not you know that they had no ability to prepare for in any way and so what’s happening is their demand outpaces their capacity, and so when you win you have a limited Supply and high demand what you do is you charge more for that supply and so, early on like several weeks ago UPS you know notice this trend that like all these closed retailers were trying to use their stores as Dart stores and ship stuff from inventory from stores. And that all required more UPS capacity so UPS put a surcharge on that, now they’re putting a surcharge even on the Fulfillment centers because they’re just dramatically exceeding their forecast for shipping packages, and then this week FedEx kind of match that surcharge and they’ve added some, some enhanced charges as well and so you know you’re a retailer you’re not selling anything through your stores right now your only bright spot is e-commerce which is way up. [28:18] Eight normal piece of bad news is that unit economics on that e-commerce order usually are worse than the in-store order was and now you get even worse news UPS and FedEx want to charge you more than usual the ship that stuff. And it’s a real conundrum like if these shift to digital are permanent, um then the costs are just going to go up because UPS and FedEx just don’t have that extra capacity. And that’s why I was sort of alluding the fact that it’s a huge overwhelming advantage to Amazon that they can deliver a good chunk of their. Um their packages themselves and then you know they’re the last leg in this stool of logistics. That the United States Postal Service which most e-commerce businesses heavily rely on, is in huge huge financial Jeopardy right now and nobody knows how that’s going to play out if they’re going to get bailed out or they’re going to be able to find some way. To continue operations without getting bailed out or we’re going to see some. Significantly diminished service from the US Post Office so it is a very tumultuous time in e-commerce Logistics. Scot: [29:30] And these surcharges are in effect now are there talk about holiday. Jason: [29:33] Nope they’re in effect now like you would expect so normally what what the shippers do is they ask for a forecast and they price, your your services based on that forecast and then if you significantly exceed that forecast they charge you surcharges over holiday, and you know three holidays when you normally are going to see the rate increases the kind of annual rate increases the shippers have but now they’re putting a surcharges in effect for summer. Scot: [30:03] Wow crazy preparing for the summer sell I guess. Jason: [30:07] Yeah yeah yeah so that’s going to be super interesting stuff to play out, and that’s going to be another nail in the coffin for I know what your favorite e-commerce business which is Kylie Jenner cosmetics. Scot: [30:24] OMG I love me some Kardashians tell me more. Jason: [30:27] Yeah well so you know about a year ago there was all this press that Kylie Jenner has become the the the youngest self-made billionaire, and that was largely as a result of you know her being an influencer like most members of our family but instead of Hawking other people’s stuff she launched her own Cosmetics brand, and you know there are all these reports that it was wildly successful and, like you know they were increasing estimates that that she had sold over a billion dollars in more than 500 million dollars a year and you know her, right as we know now didn’t necessarily know what the time the her PR agency is like you know selling all these stories about how successful she is and how successful the Cosmetics industry is, and you know frankly. [31:20] This this e-commerce site is frequently cited as the biggest case study for Shopify like it’s supposedly the highest volume highest revenue, store on Shopify featured prominently in in a shareholder meeting for, for Shopify well last year that she sold half the business to a large Cosmetics company khadi and, Cody rather and. The financials their public company the financials just came out and it’s a significant business but it’s way smaller than. Had been represented so so for the last 12 months they had a hundred and seventy seven million in sales so that that’s a decent. Sort of midsize d2c brand but it’s nowhere close to the Unicorn that they were they were sort of claiming. Scot: [32:18] Well that’s so Revenue they value in Revenue aren’t the same right. Jason: [32:24] No no but they had claimed that like I want to say over like an 18-month period that they had achieved a billion in Revenue, the now confusingly the valuation that that Cody paid was a like reported but you know never confirmed. That that it was close to a billion dollar valuation now she only sold 50% of it and like who knows what sort of. Incentives where you know performance incentives were tied to that but either, if they paid like it was a billion dollar run rate than they wildly overpaid and I kind of I kind of doubt that, like fraudulently represented Revenue in the sale so I have a feeling they just knew it was a smaller business than the pr folks had been pitching to Fortune Magazine. Scot: [33:19] Yeah Anderson Well 5. Jason: [33:20] Yeah so sad news Kylie is probably not a billionaire. Scot: [33:24] Well there’s you know it’s growing fast it could get a five times I don’t know those like wildly profitable or there a subscription Revenue in there it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Jason: [33:33] No it’s again it’s still a successful business and and like you know I think she’s objectively a successful entrepreneur I just it’s kind of funny when they’re like dramatically inflating their own success I guess. Scot: [33:47] Yes I’m shocked. Jason: [33:50] Yes yes I know shocked and disappointed so. I don’t know why we put these stories in this order because it feels really incongruities that we have these these like random stories but another one that’s interesting to me is instacart has launched a self-service media Network so, I don’t know what spend a ton of time on this I was not Super Bowl champs instacart going into covid like for a variety of reasons. I kind of felt like they had you know serve their purpose but they were declining in in utility for their traditional market and that they were having a kind of Chase smaller Grocers and and kind of move down Market. And covid. [34:34] Totally boosted their prospects so they’ve had a cured quarter they become way more important for way more Grocers than I would have anticipated. And one of the ramifications of that is they now have enough traffic on their site that they have. Meaningfully large audience to sell advertisements to. Um and you know every retailer is trying to model Amazon and launch their own advertising Network, but a huge problem with most of these retailers of their traffic just isn’t big enough to have very good reach so if you’re if you’re Walmart you know you you have pretty big reach so you can you can credibly launch an ad Network. But like you know even at like Target or Kroger size it’s a pretty Niche audience and so now like instacart because they aggregate Shoppers across so many different Grocers. Instacart becomes the you know. [35:30] Third or fourth largest potential retail media Network out there and then a world when people can’t go in stores to see in-store displays anymore, brands are looking to invest a lot more in retail media networks than they were a quarter ago so, this is another favorable Trend Instagram the that will be watching closely and Instagram has launched it with an API so you can actually do. Self-service ads and programmatic ads so you can kind of you know buy stuff on an automated basis and have it show up in Instagram I’m sorry instacart. Scot: [36:05] Yeah I see I’m a unlike you I guess I’m a frequent instacart user and they’ll do a lot of clever things like you throw something in the cart and that brand will then come and say Hey will kind of cover your shipping if you throw two more of our things in the car and they’ll give you like, then they’ll put you an experience where you just kind of picking from that Brands items that are available in that storm so is that is that kind of like a that an ad unit inside of there that they’re buying or. Jason: [36:30] It was I would say the historically those have been more manual. Scot: [36:35] So now they’ve kind of made a programmatic. Jason: [36:36] Yeah now I mean the big news is they’ve added this programmatic aspect but I actually think you’re going to see a lot more of that like when instacart was doing it before it was kind of controversial because. On the one hand you’re eroding conversion right like you’re making it more complicated to check out you put the stuff in you wanted and you just want to leave and now they’re trying to sell you a bunch of extra stuff. Um there’s very high abandonment in e-commerce so so I by doing those offers your you’re hurting conversion and increasing abandonment. But the flip side is, there’s not a lot of unplanned purchases and impulse buys in digital e-commerce and so by having those offers you know close to check out or those Dynamic offers based on what’s already in your cart, um they’re increasing the size of your basket and. In the old world they were you know most grocery retailers were just happy to close the sale so they were loath to do a lot of that cart base promotions in the New World. A much more significant chunk of their businesses now digital and they need that that bigger cart to make it profitable so I think you’re going to see a lot of retailers adopt more of those kinds of. Dynamic marketing tactics in the car. [37:58] I think half the time I talked about that instacart story I called instacart Instagram so apologize for that and perhaps that’s because the next news item is. The that Target is the latest. Brand to be leveraging the the native check out feature an Instagram in this is super interesting to me because. You know they’ve had this Instagram check out for a while and they launched it with like 20 Brands and they’re all brands that make sense that would be trying to sell stuff on Instagram so they’re mostly Beauty Brands or fashion brands, Nike has had some interesting successes on the platform but they were all like companies that with a small number of skus that you know we’re heavily like influence or driven categories, and now target has put thousands of skus for sale on Instagram so that’s going to be an interesting. Test and like a less obvious Testa me so I’ll be really curious to see if that gets any traction or how that plays out, obviously Target does have some fashion and some home decor so maybe it’s going to be skewed in that direction but I’m, I’m going to be following that that new pilot quickly but however you slice it it’s further proof that the social networks are really leaning into Commerce and especially as covid is kind of. Accelerated digital Commerce they all want to be playing in that space. Scot: [39:27] Very cool how about even watching shopify’s market caps or lately. Jason: [39:34] Yeah so again like hey you see the trend for covid is that it’s shifting more people to shop digitally so who can you invest in to ride that wave one of the best investments has been Shopify, and their market cap is now up to 90 billion. And shockingly like that’s getting super close to IBM’s market cap at a hundred and fourteen billion and so it’s going to be super interesting if they keep going at their current to trajectories, in the next quarter we could see Shopify have a larger market cap than all of IBM which is just mind-boggling to me. Scot: [40:11] Yeah they should have dumped all the mainframes all the services and then put all the wood behind the websphere e-commerce engine and made it available Des embiez that who knew that was the strategy and don’t by Red Hat. Jason: [40:26] Yeah it’s crazy. Scot: [40:27] Cloud forget Cloud forget blockchain. Jason: [40:30] Like like IBM has this huge portfolio products like one small product in that portfolio was at one time the world’s most successful commercial e-commerce platform IBM websphere Commerce, and it literally had like the largest market share of Enterprise clients and you know the most big clients relying on it and then you have this like. Startup platform that was you know exclusively catering to small businesses in Shopify and you you fast forward five years and, IBM had to sell off that Commerce platform and now it’s owned by another integrator and Shopify is almost as big as all of IBM it’s just it’s a. It’s really interesting. Scot: [41:17] Yeah and remember Yahoo back when I started chela’s or we had to do a Yahoo store integration because it was the hot platform they totally squandered that that was that was a good platform and they just kept up with the times and mobile and everything that could have been Hugh. Jason: [41:32] No absolutely yeah and in fact like you know who else had a third-party Web Store platform for small businesses at one point was Amazon. Scot: [41:41] Yeah. Jason: [41:42] So they you know arguably like they could have leaned into that and you know not not ever created the opportunity for Shopify to exist. Scot: [41:51] Yeah and it’s funny because Shopify is adding FBA and payments and all the stuff Amazon already has. Jason: [41:59] Yeah yeah I mean a lot of people are are trying to position Shopify as the big amazon competitor I don’t particularly by that narrative I think they’re way more. Complementary than they are competitive but like you know they are like you know slowly shifting into a more competitive posture with each other so that’s going to be interesting to see play out. And then I’ve saved the most exciting news for last Scott. Scot: [42:23] I saw this on Twitter go ahead and throw it out there. Jason: [42:28] Yeah this is perhaps the most covid friendly invention of all times a scientist in Japan has invented a lickable screen, and it can simulate like any any food flavor on your tongue when you lick this little portable device. Scot: [42:49] Okay and what are these cases. Jason: [42:52] Well it virtual shopping for food right like you you want to decide which dishes to order from your your blue apron or your Factor whatever your meal service is or try the new flavor of Oreos before you go to the store, you know in theory you could have one of these peripherals on your computer at home and, you you could fry the Green Tea Oreos, or the cherry blossom Starbucks latte at home before you make a trip to go buy one in in person. You know I’m I’m slightly skeptical that it’s awesome just to talk about a lickable screen. Scot: [43:39] Yeah there was a smell of vision thing you remember this there’s like some accessory that had like all these different there’s something like X number of things that mix together can make almost any smell or and someone had that it never really caught on and on. Jason: [43:52] Yeah there are so there are a lot of commercial or a factory emitters, and there are retailers that use them like there’s a lot of retailers that have a signature smell that they pipe into the store casinos are sort of famous for this. And you know there’s there are experts that know what kind of smells like encourage people to dwell longer and spend more money and things like that so smell is a super important, part of the experience and I totally get it but man you know. Customers at the moment don’t even want to use a touchscreen much less a lick screen so I feel like the timing may not be. Scot: [44:36] Yeah we’ll see I think you owe it to our listeners to buy one of these and then you can report on it. Jason: [44:43] I for sure will inside note well I think the science is really tricky in a way taste is easier to do than smell because there is. Like almost Limitless variety of all these Esters to make different smells, but like taste is really like five different senses and so what these guys have figured out is, we just need these five different gels that each trigger one of the five taste senses and by just you know delivering them in the right ratios we can simulate almost any any food flavor so it’s kind of interesting. And we did promise a shorter later show this week so that is going to do it for this show as always if we screwed something up more than usual feel free to let us know on Twitter or Facebook, please please please jump on iTunes and give us that five star review, but we really appreciate everyone listening and you know I hope everyone is safe and doing as well is possible in these. Unprecedented uncertain times that we’re living through right now. Scot: [45:45] Thanks for joining us everyone and until next time. Jason: [45:48] Happy commercing.
On today's podcast we have Sucharita (Mulpuru) Kodali. Sucharita is the Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research. Sucharita serves digital business strategy professionals. She is an expert on eCommerce, omnichannel retail, consumer behavior, and trends in the online shopping space. She is also an authority on technology developments that affect the online commerce industry and vendors that facilitate online marketing and merchandising. In her research, Sucharita covers such consumer-oriented topics as eCommerce forecasting and trends, merchandising best practices, conversion optimization, and social computing in the retail world. She has also authored "The State Of Retailing Online," a joint study conducted annually with NRF. Before that Sucharita worked for various Retail companies such as Disney, Saks Fifth Avenue and Toy's R Us. Sucharita brings her personal perspective on how the current Pandemic is effecting retail and how it may change retail for years to come. Listen-in as Chris & Sucharita dive-deep into the current world of Retail and what can be expected in the near future.
Welcome to the The Voice of Retail, I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.First up on this episode retail veteran Nadia Vattovaz, CFO & EVP Operations at Fire & Flower talks about operating across Canada during COVID-19 powered by their purpose built, retail 2.0 company, allowing them to roll out curb side and home delivery in lightening speed with fantastic results with awesome consumer experience thanks to the power of their peopleNext up Forrester Research Vice President & top retail analyst Sucharita Kodali is back on the podcast looking at the catastrophic retail results in the U.S. and what all retailers should be focussed on today to ensure there is a tomorrow including re/up skilling their idle teams, investing on neglected areas of the business, and mastering the mechanics of click & collect or curb side.Elite soccer player/trainer turned health scientist, entrepreneur and DTC retailer Rachael Rapinoe is my final guest, taking lessons from the pitch and turning them into focus on the touch line of her CBD brand for retail, Mendi.First lets jump right in to my interview with Nadia from Fire & Flower******Thanks to Nadia, Sucharita and Rachael for being my guests on this episode If you liked this podcast you can subscribe on Apple iTunes or your favourite podcast platform, please rate and review, and be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the retail industry.I'm Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and Company Inc. and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or of course on LinkedInUntil next time, have a safe week!
Bradley is joined by Sucharita Kodali, Vice President at Forrester and a leading expert on eCommerce, multichannel retail, consumer behavior, and trends in the online shopping space. The two talk about what happens when consumer spending comes to a complete halt in the face of a crisis like COVID-19 and the ripple effect that occurs in the economy. They also discuss what to do about supplies hoarders, and why P&G won’t ship Charmin direct to consumers...
The NRF Innovation Lab at Retail’s Big Show showcases over 50 of the most groundbreaking technologies in the retail space. Sucharita Kodali, an NRF Innovation Advisory Committee member and a retail analyst with Forrester joins the show to talk more about the Lab, along with one of the innovators from the lab, George Shaw, CEO and co-founder of Pathr, the first AI-powered spatial intelligence platform that uses anonymous location data to derive business insights in real-time. Learn more at retailgetsreal.com.
Welcome to another in a series of special NRF Big Show episodes of The Voice of Retail, I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.First up in this episode recorded live from New York City at the NRF Big Show in the NRF podcasting studio I'm joined by Tal Zvi Nathanel, the CEO of “the most interesting store in the world” Showfields. We delve into his origin story beginning in Israel, moving to New York, opening what was for sure the most talked about retail store in New York at this year's NRF show. Next, respected retail industry analyst Sucharita Kodali, Vice President and principal analyst from Forrester is back on the podcast with her insights of the top tech trends at the show, perspectives on the state of modern retail and bold predictions on retail trends for 2020 and for the decade ahead.But first, let's listen into my conversation live from NRF podcasting studio with Tal from Showfields******Thanks to Tal and Sucharita for being my guests on this episode. Well Now let's hit the highlights of the retail news in Canada and around the world with Retail This Week for the week of January 27th, 2020That's a wrap on this edition of The Voice of Retail. If you liked this podcast you can subscribe on Apple iTunes or your favourite podcast platform, please rate and review, and be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the retail industry.I'm Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and Company Inc. and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or of course on LinkedInUntil next time, have a great week!
No time for news? We've got you covered. Welcome to the Retail Rundown, your go-to weekly podcast where RETHINK Retail teams up with industry experts to deliver the top trending news stories in retail. January 13, 2020: Amazon widens its global reach, Pier 1 Imports store closings, 2020 brand predictions Hosted by Julia Raymond Researched, written and produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller
Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of October 28, 2019 I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.In this weeks episode we check in with two highly respected retail industry analysts to take the pulse of online retail and retail experience.First a feature interview with Forrester VP and Principal Analyst Sucharita Kodali. One of the most respected analysts in the North American eCommerce space, we talk about the big trends and powerful business models that are increasingly separating the winners from the losers in online retail and beyond.Next I talk with Andrew Cherwenka, veteran retailer and CX guru and President at Touchpoints Retail Consulting live in the Atomic Reach podcasting studio recorded at Retail West in Andrew's new(wish) home town of Vancouver . Andrew takes deep dives into Forrester's Canadian Customer Experience Index survey, and goes well beyond in articulating best practices and pitfalls retailers should avoid as they continue their CX journey.Lastly I'll take a look at the retail news of the week, but first, lets listen to my interview with Sucharita from Forrester******Thanks to Sucharita and Andrew for being my guests on this episode, now lets hit the highlights from Retail This Week eNewsletter, I put this newsletter together, the biggest circulation of any weekly in Canada together each and every week, 51 weeks of the year - you can subscribe for free at retailcouncil.org******That's a wrap on this episode of The Voice of Retail if you liked this podcast you can subscribe on Apple iTunes or your favourite podcast platform, please rate and review, and be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the retail industry.I'm Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and Company Inc. and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or of course on LinkedInUntil next time, have a great week!
A NEW FORMAT. BOOM! In part 1 of #132: Matt Taylor created something special when he created Tracksmith. Based on heritage and collegiate styles, Tracksmith has redefined outdoor apparel in a space that is dominated by household names and global retailers. In the second half: LVMH bids on Tiffany and Sucharita Kodali of Forrester gives us the low-down on 180-year-old brand.
No time for news? We've got you covered. Welcome to the Retail Rundown, your go-to weekly podcast where RETHINK Retail teams up with industry experts to deliver the top trending news stories in retail. October 28, 2019: Five Below's got games, Barneys' uncertain fate, Prescription drone delivery. Hosted by Julia Raymond Researched, written and produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller
Prime Day 2019 has long passed, but its impact remains. After all, Amazon reported that this year's event was the largest in its history, selling more items than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. As Prime Day and Singles' Day capture more consumer wallet share and media headlines, retailers are considering how these landmark sales "holidays" will influence their core holiday strategies. During this episode of the Holiday Insights Series, Sucharita Kodali, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester, offers commentary on Prime Day performance and what retailers can do to measure up as consumer expectations evolve.
Every day, retail executives must navigate new shopper behaviors and preferences. But they must also respond swiftly to outside political and economic forces that ultimately impact consumer sentiment and spending. Is your team prepared to respond and adapt to these new developments as they emerge? In this interview, Sucharita Kodali, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester, shares her take on the current retail climate, her predictions for 2019, and what executives can do to prepare. What else is in store for the future of retail? Register today for Forrester’s 3-part webinar series. For more from Forrester on retail, please click here.
In this episode of Savvy Business Leaders, host Bill Detwiler meets with Sucharita Kodali, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester, to discuss the digital disruption of retail. Kodali provides valuable insight into building a data strategy to address these emerging challenges, including key considerations and guidance on where to start. Learn about the role of AI in the retail sphere, how connecting and consolidating data can ensure its integrity, and why automating processes improves customer experiences.
Business Radio Hosts, Barbara Kahn and Dave Reibstein team up to kick off the holiday shopping season with an in-depth look at what retailers and consumers can expect on what has historically been one of the largest shopping days of the year – Black Friday. Does this nation-wide event have the same impact it once had? How are retailers strategizing to compete with Amazon? We'll chat with Jill Renslow, VP of Biz Dev and Marketing at Mall of America, about how they prepare for the holiday shopping season. We also speak with Sucharita Kodali, VP and Principal Retail Analyst at Forrester Research, about ecommerce, the coveted toy market, and how this year will measure up to years past. Then, the hosts will recap with their own thoughts about the evolution of Black Friday. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Sucharita (Mulpuru) Kodali @smulpuru is the Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research covering retail and e-commerce. She has previously worked at Saks Fifth Ave, Toys R Us, and Walt Disney Company. In this interview, we cover a wide range of topics including shop.org 2018, Amazon, marketplaces, holiday 2018 predictions, personalization, and the future of e-commerce. Upcoming: Groceryshop October 28-31, Las Vegas Don't forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 146 of The Jason & Scot Show was recorded on Thursday, September 20th, 2018. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "retailgeek" Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at SapientRazorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Channel Advisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. Transcript Jason: [0:25] Welcome to the Jason and Scott show this is episode 146 being recorded on Thursday September 20th 2018 I'm your host Jason retailgeek Goldberg and as usual I'm here with your co-host Scot Wingo. Scot: [0:41] Hey Jason and welcome back Jason and Scott show listeners Jason were sitting here at episode warning 146 knocking on 150 and there's someone we've been trying to get on the show for a long time but she is so busy it's taken almost a hundred fifty episodes for the stars and the moon and the planets to align so we are really really excited to finally have on the Jason and Scott show the Infamous and famous sucharita kodaly welcome to the show sucharita. Sucharita: [1:11] Oh thank you Scott and I'd only been waiting for years to even be invited to the show so this is my moment. Scot: [1:20] Usually the inter I give like a little blurb about people and I was like near LinkedIn and there was so many things you've done the the ones I'll just throw out there you've got tons of retailers at Walt Disney and of course well known for Forester so so you're welcome to show excited to have you. Sucharita: [1:41] Thanks for having me I appreciate it finally. Jason: [1:46] Hahaha. I feel like the weight is going to be well worth it as you know from having listened to a couple shows we always like to start by a kind of orienting the listeners with a little bit of background and sort of a. A quick synopsis of of the scope of your roll now so I know you have a fancy title principal Analyst at Forrester. What does a principal analyst do. Sucharita: [2:10] Yeah I'm pumped Forrester for for for those who don't know is a technology research company it said based in Cambridge Massachusetts and we have a number of analysts to focus on different aspects of a technology research and I've focused for the 10-plus years that I've been at Forrester I'm on the retail industry so that means digital retail omni-channel issues mobile Commerce social commerce and anything and everything that really involves a bit technology or the internet and I work with retailers and a lot of the technology suppliers and Technology software providers that that support the retail industry. Jason: [2:56] Very cool and Anna Scott alluded to it but you you have a prodigious retail background before coming to Forest or can you share their listeners of the synopsis of how you got there. Sucharita: [3:08] Yeah yeah there would you pull just before I had joined Forrester I was at a department store so I worked at Saks Fifth Avenue for the saks.com team. And the four sacks I worked in Big Box retail I was at Toys R Us for for a little while and then before that I was at a startup during the first.com the late 90s and it was that it was a startup that was in the e-commerce space selling baby products Baby Style and that was actually founded by a colleague who had worked at Disney when I was when I was there so so that is that range of experiences except brands internet start-up department stores in big box. Jason: [4:00] Awesome and that you Scott and I are part of the prestigious club we have we've all served on the shop. Org board of directors and you and I were just at shop.org in Las Vegas last week. Sucharita: [4:15] Indeed indeed yeah that shopped out of work is where I think I got to know both of you. Jason: [4:22] So that alone is a good reason to be part of shop.org to get to meet fabulous people like Scott and sucharita and. I'm curious I haven't had a chance to kind of debris that you sent the show any big takeaways or or. I think thank you you saw or heard of the show that they stood up to you. Sucharita: [4:43] You know that the topics that seem to come up have been a lot of the topics I think that that don't have been pretty popular in 2018 as you know Jason I know that you had spoken on that like a Ally and machine learning which retailers I think we're just still trying to get their arms around what does it mean for their businesses and is there a flexibility and is there applicability really to amateur business that has a large sore foot print where where is there an opportunity there and in how do they even know think about leveraging it it to their advantage. Amazon is always have Perpetual topic of it's almost kind of every conversation I have with a retailer it almost seems like it I have done to that territory. There was that that you know also I think I'm an interest in in just it as an extension of the Amazon discussion around marketplaces. And that will likely be wanted the topic said that will probably talk about today is that is that a Facebook and what it's doing with it latest Commerce Commerce initiative those are definitely that that the teams that stood out to me that seem to be recurring that that came up over and over again. Jason: [6:09] Nice I actually feel bad because Scott wasn't able to make it this year due to the hurricane. Sucharita: [6:15] We miss you Scott. Jason: [6:17] I know it's not the same. Scot: [6:18] Is the first one I've missed and I think I'm going to say tennis shoes on it it was very strange not going this year but I've heard a recap so I saved. Jason: [6:28] Nice if you're doing the math at home that means Scott started going shop.org when he was a teenager. But you gave it talk there's a secret session on the giveaway that the inside scoop is it shut that or there's a secret invite only session call Executive afternoon and Shop. Org. Then all the fancy people attend and that's when they get all the big brains to present. And you were one of the presenters at that section and you actually talked a lot about marketplaces and I was as I was listening I was thinking of myself. Scot Migos toys. Sucharita: [7:02] Well this is wet that Scott's been evangelizing for for so long right is it is how much of the world is is now marketplaces how much of retail is now Marketplace is and the Forrester stats are that globally marketplaces are now. 50 more than 50% of all of e-commerce projected to be north of 60% in 5 years or so so your call at has always been right Scot Wingo. Scot: [7:29] Thanks thank you I need to bring you on on all my meeting so you can talk. I'll just put a quote then I'll just put on my slides Scot Wingo is always right situated so you know one of the things we identified early in the Chow beiser was sweet we started going to China and realizing you over there it's like 90% marketplaces to do feel like we're heading towards that kind of world or do you think you feel like that kind of balancing point in the 50 to 60% range right where do you think that goes. Sucharita: [8:03] Well I'm a large you're right I mean it's there's a large part of e-commerce that is China it is the largest e-commerce Market in the world and when most of the e-commerce in the largest market is marketplaces it's going to be skewed a little bit that figures for the US I think we have our life more like 30 to 40%. Scot: [8:23] That was a global to 50%. Sucharita: [8:25] So yeah sorry I if if that wasn't clear but that so so where is the saturation point for for marketplaces in the US and I think that that is a question that's all smelly what's there to nuances I think that are important with that question 1 is how broadly we Define marketplaces once you get into defining marketplaces with travel or potentially with food or other categories it becomes the penetration numbers change and it's actually even higher because there are certain categories that are entirely marketplaces like in a large marketplaces like ride-hailing. [9:05] So so that is why I think that there's a there's a there's a very narrow definition of e-commerce that we have now which is about 30 categories of physical goods and within those 30 categories the future I think is ultimately I intertwined with the future of Amazon in retail and I think that's the at the big that's one of my big questions is given Amazon's first-party margins which I don't I think are probably the lowest margins of all of its key category is that it does business in Risky Business says that it participates in I think it really begs the question of yet you know do they do they consider do they lean into their higher margin businesses like advertising or cloud or hardware and ultimately give up on on some of the retail on pieces and they've become more of or they become more of a service at service provider and in that in in that scenario I actually think. [10:13] We may see a cab to that market place to Unistaff. Maybe we won't get to 70 or 80% liking somebody you know some of these other markets like China or north of that but. But I did it for I think it's it's it's heavily dependent on your what sort of happens in the next five years with Amazon. Scot: [10:34] Yep so we we've already kind of jumped into it but it wouldn't be a Jason Scott show without talking about Amazon so it's a good Market Marketplace kind of approach I had a 30000 foot question for you I were Twitter buddies and you know if I kind of look at the trend your your kind of. Not anti Amazon but I get the vibe that you're kind of feeling like you know maybe they'll come under more scrutiny around some stuff with what's going on there. Sucharita: [11:01] Well I think that it there a lot of people that think that I did you know there's there's no question that there are there certain things that happened on Amazon there are CEOs of companies like Birkenstock and Swatch that have called out you know that there are fake versions of their product on on Amazon so you have counterfeit issues you have pricing issues there yet you know there are issues related to the authenticity of reviews on the other number of products that I bought an Amazon that I'll have like 500 positive reviews and then you get the product and the packaging contact this URL for support and it's it's a URL for some heat for a non-existent website. [11:55] There is all kinds of there all kinds of issues with you know it's gotten to Amazon has gotten so big and even though they have some of the most Brilliant Minds in retail working. There are there are there a lot of fraudsters in the marketplace that are one step ahead and constantly you know it's it's a whack-a-mole situation for Amazon so so my so anyway my net-net of my by my salon Soliloquy here is that I think that there are. A few different directions that Amazon could be tackled it could be you know that you have State's attorney generals. [12:38] Brett unipack reading some case with the but you no wonder that the guys of consumer protection laws we have it another artist at the DUI Mantee trust commissioner I'm just the other day who said that you know she's looking at some of the pricing issues with who or what the data that Amazon is collecting from Marketplace Sellers and does that affect the pricing of UniFirst versus third-party merchandised so so there are a lot of different I think constituents within government regulation that I think may have some some legs to stand on with respect to addressing these issues I mean that I can't think of other business that's had a first and third party Marketplace in. [13:30] Piano ever and you know kind of that also has instant transparency of information and there there just no laws around this so it's it's difficult to retrofit our existing laws on topics like predatory pricing or price-fixing. When it you know what Amazon May doing may be doing their site nuances to those to those issues. Scot: [13:58] Yes and hq2 you want to share Charlotte. Sucharita: [14:00] Might my guess what Charlotte was do was kicked out of the first round better shot. Scot: [14:13] Yep yep we're on the short list. Sucharita: [14:15] Write the short list of a my my my bets would actually be on Boston. Scot: [14:19] A lot of people are saying DC because of a lobbying thing which I don't understand at that tire lot of lobbyists 20,000 lobbyist. So Jason I got in a vigorous debate with some people about Amazon go they were they announced they were going to open a couple more people like this is crazy and stupid and then they announce they're going to open 3000 leakage that they may open what would you think about the Amazon go store in the strategy there. Sucharita: [14:50] Well I think that you know when when things like this are said with Anonymous sources it it does become more questionable that I want to see the lease it is and I'm going to wait and let you know I'm not going to speculate too too early because I feel like we've seen this movie before you know when Amazon took out the lease at the Empire State Building everyone thought that was going to transform you know grocery in retail and distribution in New York City you know after they launch the bookstore's there was speculation that it was you know they were going to have you know hundreds of them throughout the country there by think 15. You know when they even launched with Amazon Fresh you know I think that there was some speculation that they were going to be in you know hundred plus cities and you know what a very short. Of time and that roll out spend a lot a lot slower so I I don't know that I completely believe the rumors there's a part of me that that wonder is you know is it is it somebody who's trying to short grocery stocks is planning these Rivers you know so I'm not I'm not I'm not sure that I fully believe it. Also be the logic of of opening that many stores that do require such a high capital investment. [16:14] I'm usually pretty small format stores. Especially ones that are not selling high-ticket goods and you know a lot of what they're selling or these you know convenience store items are lunch for someone. You're not talking about you know business that is like 10 or 15 million dollars per location and I'd be surprised if it was even that much so. Terribly High capital investment for a business that ultimately I don't know how much of an impact is going to have on Amazon's overall business at this point I mean the kind of bet that Amazon needs to make now now that it's like a 200 billion dollar plus company it has to be really big and and I don't even know that you know kind of opening a convenience store chain is going to deliver. Those kind of numbers for them. Scot: [17:14] Yeah and we like we like to say it's a trillion-dollar company just use the bigger number. Sucharita: [17:19] Google valuation versus Revenue right. Jason: [17:24] Yeah that is a very first world problem when you get to the scale where. Buying a business is only interesting to you if it as a potential to be huge and an Amazon certainly has entered that phase. Sign on Amazon go if the rumors are true and they roll a 3,000 there's an interesting question does that disrupt convenience stores I-80 is that horrible news for 7-Eleven or is it actually worse news for like. GSR Quick Serve restaurants like Subway sandwiches and those folks because it really seems like the in the first few stores. The the purpose people have her going to the store is to get lunch more so than you know get emergency convenience items. Sucharita: [18:09] Right right yeah I think that that's that the end up an unknown I mean that whether it ends up being more of a grab-and-go restaurant dsmi restaurant semi going to pick up some Essentials I mean when I when I visited one time and they had meal kits bars in a wine all kinds of eating it seemed almost like it was an experiment on you know what are what are things that people can can carry consumed in the next few hours so so yeah it'll be it'll be interesting to see I mean I don't know that 7-Eleven and. Gas station convenience stores are going to be necessarily that disrupted the reason being that you're fundamentally it's gas or cigarettes or the other some other driver of the visit to those stores as far as as as Amazon goes ability to provide food I think yes they become essentially a new at the dispensary to come like a new quick service restaurant in in the space you know when it's I think that that's just the natural competition in the restaurant industry and it's so hyper competitive and it's so hyper competitive I don't know that any given quick service restaurant is going to feel the pain because there are their players that come and go in any Market within the restaurant industry in a year's time any. Jason: [19:37] Yeah yeah it's it's really going to be interesting to watch the one thing it was interesting to me that you know they just open the third one in Chicago first one had a big kitchen in it second one was very close to the first one in Seattle and I didn't have a kitchen because presumably. That kitchen was sort of a hub for spoke of a story but the first one in Chicago does in fact have a kitchen and so you know when you're when you think about it like that. Well a lot of the traditional convenience stores may have some food but they don't actually have fresh food they're preparing on site. And I think we did hear from one of the Amazon execs that that's so far that be my sandwiches they're number one's cute whereas like a convenience store it would be a beverage. In the old days cigarettes. It's going to get you some lunch another category that people are selling speculating Amazon is is on the cusp of disrupting is the pharmacy I know they bought till pack earlier this year any any thoughts about Amazon's true aspirations in the pharmacy space and how that might play. Sucharita: [20:42] Yeah I mean it will this is it's a it's a fascinating one because going. To the point about they need to go after really really huge markets obviously Healthcare is one of the biggest and one of the fundamental advantages of healthcare is it it's a sec actually growing unlike retail which is growing probably at the rate of inflation that Healthcare is growing. Faster than inflation and to be part of that probably one of the more scalable aspects of it in there on the prescription drug side versus on the provider side and by the way there actually let you know there was the whole announcement of Amazon with Berkshire Hathaway JP Morgan which is actually an experiment on the provider side too but on the the prescription drug side of it makes it makes a ton of sense it's an enormous mark. You know a hundred billion dollars plus there's inefficiency in that space and if Amazon is able to do to help support that. And Chad make life easier for for everyone in the Echo System whether it's. A medical provider or whether it is a patient that's that's a that's a transformational thing so so that makes actually a lot more sense to me because that's that's a market that that that is one of those markets that could be meaningful to a company that is still 200 billion dollars in Revenue. Scot: [22:10] So just tap it a little bit when when retailers asked you what to do about Amazon what what kind of what are you. Sucharita: [22:17] I think that there's a lot to learn from Amazon Amazon executes of course incredibly well they there they have they make customer so happy with with their fabulous customer experience whether it's shipping or how easy it is to return something or how easy it is to track merchandize or you find whatever it is that that you're looking for I'm so so all of that I think is is absolutely worth emulating and you know I always point out that one of our data points says that one of the things that consumers want from any website is just visibility until when you know when an item is supposed to arrive and you're Amazon's been doing that for years but yet to this day most e-commerce site still don't have it so when the question is you know what should we do about Amazon my first inclination is to take the best parts of it because you know they said some pretty good standards in. In a great customer experience and so I think that that's that's that's one of the things that you can do there I think that there are our other opportunities from the standpoint of leveraging a lot of the information of a night I think that Amazon is one of the largest open source product databases. [23:35] And I'm going to expose a lot of what's actually selling on their site when you dig into categories and subcategories and Sub sub categories and I don't know that there are a lot of companies that take advantage of that data to see if there are opportunities and trends that benefit them to now it's light from from Dad I think that's one of the biggest questions that we got about Amazon are related to well how do we how do we engage with them as a as a partner on do we sell on the Amazon Marketplace knowing that it is it could be you know deal with the devil if you know where exposing everything from emergency to. Velocity and dumb is that is that something that could come back to haunt us if they Jordan shoes Deb to private label or or basically take the best aspects owns of you know kind of merchandised universes do we go at it and try to sell something to sell our products direct-to-consumer through other channels and and that I think is those are those are tough act to existential decisions that be at the right answer is going to vary from company to company it's going to depend on everything from your culture to what it is that you actually sell to you know what kinds of barriers to competition your brand is has even set up if any. [25:00] But that but yeah it said it's a it's a complicated relationship I think the easiest answer is you take the best of what they've already established and and you know of an embrace it and harder side it's a big kind of how do you how do you spell exist in this you know in a world where online it such a dominant force and it is that it's it's it's proven to be. [25:28] Front of me to at it too many Brands and retailers you know I used to work at Toys R Us and see it you know kind of a lot of that there was a big huge lawsuit in an hour more than a decade all of that when you go back and read you know they're the ultimately wet that the judge wrote about it you're so much of of what happened then when Toys R Us was selling on Amazon platform. Still applies today in Amazon's approach toward its Partners so so that this this notion and this is concerned that their front of me is is absolutely. Jason: [26:07] Yeah one of the fun games to play on Amazon is sort of imagine what categories are going to disrupt next do you have any prognostications you care to make about about love wet wet the next big move might be. Sucharita: [26:21] Well I think that you know what I've been thinking for a while is I think they're going to make another go at mobile phones we know that they're their first attempt at the fire phone was loose a disaster but that was just a thing wrong item wrong time you not the right the right mix of value for for the customer but the Despicable phone being a space is so large and is one of again those categories that would be meaningful to a company that's already 200 billion dollars that it it almost seems that they would be foolish not to take the IP that they had development that's their playbook right is like you know nothing's a failure everything is you know learning opportunity that you build on later I mean I'm actually more surprised that. After all the failures and challenges with grocery which is such a low-margin category they keep going after that whereas phones which are you know when you look at you know Apple's number is a really high margin category why why they haven't Give Mickey why they haven't made another attempt there I think there are other categories like you know potentially you know Automotive or travel that are also substantial. That they may tackle in some way shape or form. [27:48] But and I'm actually in a frankly surprised they haven't already done something in in the automotive space but but I think that's hardware makes a lot of sense and also given. So much of the unicorn of the credibility they've now built with with Echo. As a hardware manufacturer I think that you know any attempt at a phone this time around will be more positively receive. Jason: [28:17] Yeah that's really the reason why I guess I'm hoping is wrong because. We we do these forecast at the beginning of every year Scott and I are highly competitive and I think you may have just agreed with one of his his pics in the forecast so I just for the sake of me winning I'm I'm hoping that doesn't happen but I. Scot: [28:37] Sucharita is truly a genius. Sucharita: [28:39] What we're just going to link to one another Twitter Scott. Jason: [28:46] I'm actually going to go back to an Andre at at that show and I'm going to add a prediction that Amazon is going to get into the microwave oven business. Cuz I didn't answer I see that one coming back I don't know if you guys got the news Amazon announced 14 new Alexa enabled products today and you know there's a microwave oven in a wall clock. Scot: [29:05] Yep I thought you'd be excited about the microwave it has a order more popcorn but I know you can't talk about you love the buttons being integrated so that's exciting. Jason: [29:14] So needless pivot off of Amazon for second and we could certainly talk about them all day. Most other retailers that are definitely trying to compete with Amazon have a very unique attribute they have these these physical stores that Amazon doesn't have. Any any thoughts about the best way to leverage those those stores and sort of omni-channel way as a competitive advantage or what what are you saying going on in that that's out of the fence. Sucharita: [29:43] Yeah it's so I one of those pieces at Forrester that I just finished up doing research on is retailer LED media networks and it's funny that because this Amazon actually the biggest of retailer let me in it works but there are actually a lot of meat media networks bad that are less well-known but are successful growing profitable and really interesting engines of profitability for for retail or so Best Buy has one target has one Walmart has one and you know Credit Union there other players in retail that are in the Commerce Pace like Expedia that have had these media networks as well and the most successful ones are seeing double-digit percents of their sales coming from these media networks and their. Profitable been there for retail business so I said okay so what's the implication there and I think that the takeaway is that retailers have opportunity take advantage of the assets they have and monetize them in other ways and for some of these large mass Merchants one of those ways is to see what they have as traffic you know they the biggest Merchants have more. [31:07] Captive visitors who are engaged for longer periods of time than most media prettiest out there whether it's a magazine or you know what a TV show or you know a movie I mean it's it's an incredibly powerful. I said that they have that very few have taken advantage of and some of that spin just historically. [31:30] They never knew how to take advantage of that into technology didn't exist to necessarily make it scalable there maybe like a TV that would be mounted in Walmart stores this is before Cloud these things would break down and no one would know and it may take months before somebody figured out that it needed to be fixed and you know there goes you know the media that should have been visible in that particular Store so slow but things are different now and you know I think. These online media networks are proven that there is an ability to get alternative revenue and I I see this as an opportunity. For other large mass Merchants whether they're hyper markets or. [32:17] Even drug stores convenience stores that attract broad audiences of so so that's one thing I think just the overall mix of how retailers look at inventory the idea of stores within stores and Market places within storage and being more inventory light letting the brands be more of the stewards of what's in that physical store I think those those are those are definitely things that have to to to be different I mean what I'm describing is more kind of you know play is Sean how do you monetize the store and how do you think about. Destroyed from in a different financial model not just you know having a lot of inventory and selling it but ultimately all of that also needs to be wrapped into a great visual experience and you know when you look at retail I'm especially the big National chains. [33:17] Supposedly the most experiential like Mall based apparel Merchant the really for the most part haven't changed that much and you know that the Adena from when they started too often where they are now. But the sector that I'll look at 4 visual inspiration is the ruler look at the restaurant industry I mean there are so many different restaurants out there that cater to so many different demographics and you know whether it is the highest-end booty the culture or whether it is you know kind of mass you know there's a lot of innovation in in the restaurant space and. Part of that is due to Innovation and Yuna food and ingredients and menu items a lot of it is also in. [34:06] The visual look and the inviting nature of the establishment and that's part of the reason that the restaurant industry which is. For the most part offline I mean there's now online ordering but you know it's still an experience where people go to the the venue for the most part and even in the age of seamless and all of the delivery space at the delivery company is I mean it's still the vast majority is is is still in the the physical store I mean that's a space that's grown like 30 or 40 times in the last few decades and I'm it's because there has been innovation in the experience and if retailers applied that same Innovations their businesses I think. You know me they would they would probably bring a lot more people back to the shorts. Scot: [34:55] People speaking of storage to every store I go to now is full of Halloween gear we're sitting here at September 20th Halloween will will come and go pretty quickly and there were looking at holiday 18 our friend Casey over at delete they just released their forecast and they're saying online growth 17 to 22% which is pretty robust I think last year they said that they measure 18% based on the categories and stuff where where have you guys put out your Forrester report and and where where do you think that's going to end up. Sucharita: [35:29] Yeah we're in the midst right now of figuring out those numbers were not quite as a aggressive as Casey's number is our figures are in the low-teens they've been about there for the last couple of years and you know part of part of that is it is is you just kind of that historic Trend and so much of it is is about the key holidays it's around that it's Black Friday Cyber Monday you know this person in demand that really generates so much such a high volume of the sales there's one other big unknown and for this particular holiday season and that's what effect the terrorists are going to have on on retail I mean the the latest round which takes a fact. [36:20] Any day now effects a lot of consumer goods in a lot of holiday items like apparel accessories Footwear Consumer Electronics Home Goods so it'll be it didn't even even though we're probably not going to be in a revised our forecast down for that reason you know we'll see and at the end of December and in January if there was any impact in if there wasn't yeah we can he is a great sigh of relief for the holiday season but then yet you know it. That just means that were delaying the inevitable and the impact will be seen in q1. Scot: [37:00] Got it so the tariffs are the possible Grinch this year that's going to a bummer. Sucharita: [37:05] Yeah yeah I mean what's that mean that the terrorists are 10% right on most of these goods and when you look at some of the mass merchandised particularly you know in nabbed and HomeGoods are electronics that the margins are any then stop by for some of those categories so the retailer couldn't even absorb it if they wanted to so will you absolutely will see some of those eventually show up and in what consumers have to pay. Scot: [37:37] This actually brings up a topic that that kind of we hit on the show sometimes you know we will do these news reports and everyone's reporting so I can Amazon Q2 was like 30% growth and Walmart was 40% and Targets this all the online numbers. And then Target was like in a 30%. But then e-commerce is growing 15% even even like shopify's GMB kind of an aggregate is growing at like 20 or 30%. So have you have you thought about the site I kind of end up there's there's some people in the industry that kind of say they think the number to 15% kind of off because it's Baseline to this government number and it's a survey and comes were bass lines off of that it is a question I ask myself is if the biggest slices of the wedge of the pie are growing. Twice a 15% than the ones were not talking about have to be something has to be losing Trinidad share for e-commerce going to be growing 15%. Sucharita: [38:43] Sears JCPenney yeah I think that it's there is you know there's that psychological bias called survivorship by us that that we hear about which is that yeah you know we could we talked about the 6s cases and 6s cases talk about themselves and what you end up with is kind of have an understanding or seemingly and understanding that that that everyone's doing well. But when in and I do see a lot of the the numbers from specific retailers because we. [39:22] They still out our surveys and not everyone is is doing that well I mean there are absolutely do you know kind of some of these thieves. Some of the big box stores this past year for the last couple of quarters have been doing fairly well but a lot of small ones are not and Gina there are a number of companies that are that are dying you know a lot of a lot of retailers in the big box space you know I mean Toys R Us great I'm Staples you know Office Depot you know there's so many. Companies that are included in Indy's figures that you don't you don't always think about because they're not really publicizing Derek their stats but that's that I think is an important piece to keep in mind there's also and I think they get the other prevailing pieces then. [40:18] An e-commerce the big have been getting bigger which is ironic because e-commerce was supposed to be an equalizer right it was supposed to be in a zero barriers to entry and anybody can you can come in. But you know what you are seeing as you know you're seeing company is like that like it look at you know Amazon getting more share Walmart getting more share getting disproportionate share to the growth of the industry and. Neon we definitely know that it's harder to attract customers it's harder to let you know kind of gain mindshare on the internet these days and you know that could be part of part of the issue 2 is that there are 800,000 e-commerce Merchants out there in the United States so you know this is many of them are or are not piecing double-digit growth and I think that stuff you know likely where the figures that we see are coming from. Jason: [41:12] Yeah I certainly will buy that the survivorship bias light. Affects how we do this I do still think though there's some goofiness and have and numbers are collected and reported by the the the census Department like there's actually some tangible examples that they report you can get the date of is IC Code and you know for example if you take the ssic code that Walmart sand and you look at e-commerce sales in that ssic code total sales e-commerce sales for that ssic code are way lower than Walmart's e-commerce sales so there's something's getting Miss coded or like it's even sales are getting attributed in a different bucket or you know it again. In many cases of these are self-reported numbers to the retailers just have to make a mistake in order for the data it'll be wrong so potentially. Simulation of of some of these weird data collections in this new industry and some of the survivorship bias that your your highlighting. Sucharita: [42:13] That's a fair point Jason I mean I think that the truth is and this is the dirty secret of a forecasting is that. There's no there's no one knows what the right answer is because there's nobody has every datapoint and you know as a as a result of that Unifour casts you no matter who puts them out or a combination of a little you know in a little bit of Art and Science so you know there is the date of points that you do know and do you have different types of data points that you can gather some can be in Summerside data .7 could be you know retailer. Yeah they're always questions around how accurately or how truthfully you know companies and people may be answering some of these reported numbers and they're even very few even when you're talking about the census it's not getting figures from from yeah the IRS it's getting again it's getting figures from a survey defense is definitely has the ability test unit has the government behind it so you know there is presumably a little bit. You know the sense of responsibility that people have to have reporting numbers truthfully but even they aren't going to get every single data point so there's there's absolutely extrapolation and within that extrapolation there is a lot of there's there's there's a lot of speculating and that's where the art comes in. Jason: [43:42] And we're not going to sell that on the podcast unfortunately. But I do want to Pivot. An annoyance I have and I'm just curious you you would have some sort of analogous conversations on with clients I'm sure I get asked a lot about these trends that in my mind are simultaneously like overhyped buzzwords. And really important trends. I got to talk about one of those a shop.org a I like you know I sort of my my POV was. That it's grammatically overhyped in a lot of people you know her are trying to implement a I just to say they implemented a i but in the long run it's going to have these really profound effect on on our industry and be hugely disruptive the one of those trends that comes up the most in my world is personalization. I'm curious if you have a a point of view about personalization like is anybody doing it well or are we doing enough of it are we doing too much of it what your. What's your thoughts. Sucharita: [44:42] Why yes yes it said it did yeah incredibly I probably one of the most frequently asked questions that that we get I mean my perspective and I'd love to hear your thoughts too because I know that you'll have a point of view on it is that I don't know that people know even what it means I think that a lot of people still think that personalization means the recommendation and Jen's there other people who think that personalization means getting as much data as you can collect they don't have any plan for how they're going to use the data that they collect you know I mean some of the the best examples when I pink at you know kind of the heart of it what's great personalization is you know when a sales associate or somebody that you've had a business interaction with her some, Commerce interaction with to send the thank-you note you know where they do something special for you. In a bathtub a great examples of peanut butter personalizing an experience that's incredibly welcome but that type of personalization. [45:49] Doesn't get considered in the discussions that that retailers are having about personalization. I'm so I'd I think that you know there's it's your personalization data-gathering. Big data analytics officer I think all of these terms get get co-mingled and there is not. Even a great. [46:16] Did you know there's not even I don't I haven't seen any great examples of companies that have have have truly you know kind of Taken personalization and created some unique strategy. And have made you know billions and billions of dollars from it I don't know I mean that maybe I'm mistaken have you. Jason: [46:37] No I'm desperately looking for that example cuz we get asked for it all the time and I I'm sort of a I like mine with you I am fond of reminding people personalization isn't an outcome it's attacked it right and so you know how I get annoyed when people say the goal is to have personalization because like your goal should be to use a packet your goal should be to achieve some some help come. Sucharita: [46:58] Exactly cuz then you're just checking the box right I mean you're not really you know kind of delay you're not doing anything for your business that's that's meaning for for your customers. Jason: [47:08] Yeah like so I would argue most person was it when people say personalization what they really the outcome they're hoping to achieve is relevant city right like is never more relevant experience that therefore connect better with the Shopper in in case of Commerce. Like I know I can't think of any front in experiences that are. Fabulously personalized should therefore be more relevant for the Shopper I would argue like a maybe like a stitch fix is a good example of personalization in the custom assortment they offer customers pretty personalized to them. But not so much on that on the front end shopping. Sucharita: [47:46] Right right right and I think that you know sometimes some company is make it carried away with it you know this idea of relevancy doesn't matter as much if you have a small or limited product catalog you know it's like then you're over personalizing you know you just want people to see everything in your you know 50 product catalog and it doesn't make sense to necessarily you know go more granular than than that. You don't make the tennis sounds if you have a catalog with you know 5 million products but I think. You know that that's part of the the challenge 2. Anytime within you know small product how I can get very nuanced if you know if it's a VW purchase or if it's a very complicated purchase but but but yeah I mean there's there's often this the sense that you know personalization is some silver bullets and you know it's not. Jason: [48:41] Yeah and I 10% agree like you know sometimes you don't need personalization if if your product is super relevant to a huge audience you have a great product and you can make the same offer to all of them and I would argue that that's Apple for example. And you know if you can take the best personalized e-commerce experience in the world and I'll take apple and I'll probably retire before you. Sucharita: [49:02] Exactly and I think also you know I mean maybe if some of the Holy Grail is is loyalty like how do we get you know the outcome being in this store this belief that somehow personalization is tied to loyalty or tied to more loyalty and and I think that's where so you know there is a little bit of fallacy because the best loyalty programs out there it's not necessarily about personalization it's just that they give you free stuff for her you know they just they just have amazing prices or perks. Scot: [49:40] Cool so we spent a lot of time kind of in the in the present may be stretching out the holiday but but let's going to go to 325 and maybe 10 years out what her what are some of the things that are on your radar that that you think retailers brands should be thinking about our show is talked about everything from drones 3D printing to a rvr what what are some of the things that get you excited about the future of online retail. Sucharita: [50:04] I think that within Rudy tail the the biggest changes are going to be in. Disrupting the orthodoxies of retail and what I mean by that is that retails fundamentally constrained by a few things that they've always done you know they've always owned inventory they've always you know hired store associates to do certain tasks and they don't even share those store associate with other stores in their chain they did they have real estate that they have bought you skin a 20 30 year 50 year long leases that they're they're stuck with. [50:50] And when I say the orthodoxies change I think all of that changes in the future so it may not be you know and in some cases technology will will potentially in power and change aspects of that like for instance with labor force differences in the most retailers now you know will have their store associates and they they put them on their shifts and they come in and the store associates only work with that particular store but there are companies out there there companies like shiftgig for instance that actually have a Marketplace of basically store for workers and as a store you can tap into that market place based on who's available who's worked at your store before you know who has good ratings from their managers and who's in a potentially train to unload a truck or he knows how to work the returns desk or whatever the task maybe that you need and that kind of nimbleness I think is is what will transform retail in the future it's really about rethinking how are things done now and are there ways to change that dysfunction in the future for our for the better in the future. Jason: [52:13] I do agree I think that that is a very interesting for the evolution and you know how can we leverage that that in Star labor force across a bigger pool of customers with. Telepresence is in all of those sorts of things. Sucharita: [52:27] Right absolutely absolutely yeah the new question I think that you know me we've spent so much time in the last year talking about omni-channel but for the most part it's really still only in the realm of fulfillment issues and it you know me there's any channel merchandising omni-channel customer service on. You know there's so many different places where cross-channel present exactly like what you described and why can't I FaceTime you know somebody who knows everything about being a Sony. TV's when I want to purchase a Sony TV like you know that's that just seems like that's a logical thing to do. Jason: [53:07] For sure and I hope we do see that in the in the near future I think they're actually may have even been a few vendors in that space in the Innovation Center in shop. Org. Some of those guys will make it. But that's going to be a great place to leave it because it has happened again we've used up all our a lot of time but if you have a burning question that we didn't answer on Today Show or you have a comment we encouraged you to jump on the Facebook and continue the conversation there as always if you enjoy the show the way you cannot repay us is to jump on to iTunes and give us that 5-star review it really helps us to continue to build our audience. Scot: [53:46] Sucharita we really appreciate you coming on here this evening and sorry it took a hundred 50 episodes for us to line up everything but let's let's have you back on in less than before episode 1 300 your very active online where do you Journal edirect people if they want to see your your thoughts about what's going on up. Sucharita: [54:07] Am I I am a big Twitter fan so I would say Twitter yes my Twitter handle is an decimal Peru which is which is the name before I started using my married name is s m u l t u r u. Jason: [54:22] Awesome we will put that in the show notes sucharita as always it's been a true pleasure thanks very much for coming on the show. Sucharita: [54:29] Thanks so much Jason and Scot. Jason: [54:30] And until next time happy comercing.
Sucharita Kodali of Forrester Research joins us to talk about the unfortunate demise of Toys 'R Us and her new book, "Toys 'R Bust: Reasons One of the Country’s Most Revered Retailers Collapsed". Listen now!
Forrester analyst Sucharita Kodali thinks that many retailers are putting too much emphasis on collecting and analyzing an ever-growing list of consumer data points, when they should be focusing on old-fashioned retailing techniques. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android Listen: WhereWeBuy.show Got a retail question? Tweet: @JamesDCook Email: jamesd.cook@am.jll.com Leave a message on the Where We Buy hotline. We may use it on an upcoming show. Call (602) 633-4061 Read more retail research here. James Cook is the director of retail research in the Americas for JLL. Theme music is Run in the Night by The Good Lawdz, under Creative Commons license.
Sucharita shares tips for building a fantastic professional network and discusses how she became one of the country’s leading retail industry experts.
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