Retail Unwrapped - from The Robin Report
Welcome to Retail Unwrapped, a podcast from The Robin Report.
Join Shelley E. Kohan as she shares insights and unpacks issues at the core of retail and consumer products. The conversations are lively and the opinions are honest.
New episodes every Friday.
Episodes
263 episodes
EP 263: How Uncle Jerry’s Pretzels Is a Poster Child for Healthy Snacks
Big brands in the food industry face a double-edged challenge: Make snacks healthy and deliver duller colors and unfamiliar tastes. Eliminating dyes and reducing preservatives and sugar are consumer demands that are forcing food manufacturers t...
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26:06
EP 262: A Preview of Mixed Holiday Spending Trends
In a wide-ranging conversation, Shelley and Tom McGee, president and CEO of ICSC, discuss a mix of consumer trends that will impact holiday spending. It might surprise you to know that Gen X controls 33 percent of all spending (although only 19...
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26:09
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EP 261: Why Traditional Retail Stores Are Missing Return on Experience
When you are an architect who works on projects around the world, your perspective about American retail changes through a refined filter. Kevin Roche, Founder of Roche Design Strategy, has the advantage of understanding firsthand the power of ...
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35:03
EP 260: Leading with Impact and Purpose
Modern leadership often confuses constant availability with maximum impact. It veers off course when it ignores intuition in favor of data. Join Shelley and Melissa Gonzalez, Principal and founder of MG2 in a conversation about her new book, Th...
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26:59
EP 259: How to Get a Better Seat at the Table
Here’s a surprising fact: A workplace revolution is underway and fundamentally reimagining how ergonomics drives productivity and employee retention. With mandates of returns to office, companies are discovering that outdated workspace designs ...
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22:24
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EP 258: AI Is Transforming the Fashion Supply Chain
The fashion industry's stubborn reliance on outdated supply chain practices is bleeding profits and destroying consumer trust. Traditional approaches to sizing, inventory management, and trend forecasting are creating failures across the entire...
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31:08
EP 257: How to Build a Retail Media Empire
Spoiler alert: The physical store is an experiential platform that can tap into retail media network ad spending projected to reach $100 billion by 2026. In a digital marketplace, dynamic advertising platforms leverage AI-powered analytics to c...
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25:11
EP 256: Primark Sets Its Sights on the States
Primark's strategic U.S. expansion started 10 years ago and is a master plan in calculated retail growth that could fundamentally reshape America's affordable fashion landscape. Primark has 450 stores worldwide and 33 in the States. It has ambi...
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23:43
EP 255: Why Retailers Are Becoming Political Casualties in Culture Wars
Crisis management has become a requisite strategy in today’s fractious marketplace. The socio-political landscape has become a minefield for retailers where one misstep can trigger unprecedented consumer backlash and boycotts. In today's hyperc...
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27:00
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EP 254: Ace Hardware Knows How to Build Community
How do you make yourself matter to your local community? If you’re a hardware retailer, what you have to offer is more than nice; it’s a necessity. Ace Hardware gets it. They are innovative players in the retail media landscape with RedVest Med...
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21:04
EP 253: An Inside Look at The Honest Company’s Transformation
Some turnarounds make for epic legends. How do you rebuild a brand and transform it dramatically in two years? The Honest Company, co-founded by Jessica Alaba in 2011, is experiencing a renaissance with double-digit revenue growth and the highe...
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26:51
EP 252: Blunt Talk About Retail News Headlines
Provocative, controversial, and blunt observations about what’s making retail news headlines. Shelley and TRR contributor Mark Cohen, who is an industry veteran and former director of retail studies at Columbia Business School, explore a few of...
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40:17
EP 251: Surprises About Rising Food Costs
While consumers fixate on tariffs as the primary force behind rising food prices, the reality is far more complex and revealing. Regulatory changes, labor costs and operational expenses coupled with new tariff pressures on some food categories ...
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36:02
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EP 250: AI Alert: The Retail Workforce Is About to Change
The retail industry stands at a crossroads where artificial intelligence threatens to eliminate millions of jobs while simultaneously creating new opportunities—but only for those retailers smart enough to adapt. Rather than competing with AI, ...
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36:39
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EP 249: Why the Fed’s Policy Paralysis Threatens BTS and Holiday
The Federal Reserve's policy paralysis is creating a perfect storm for retailers heading into the most critical selling season of the year. Inflation is still threatening, labor markets are more fragile than they appear, and tariff-driven price...
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24:10
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EP 248: Stop Chasing Normal: Disruption Is Your Opportunity
The retail apocalypse isn't coming—it's here, and survival depends on adaptation, not market dominance. Consumer behavior has fundamentally shifted beyond price sensitivity to a complex value equation encompassing convenience, curation, and exp...
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35:03
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EP 247: Watch What Your Customers Do, Not Say
Do you know how to unlock the hidden opportunities in what your customers aren’t telling you? Traditional consumer research captures what customers say they want but misses the subconscious decisions driving 85 percent of purchasing behavior. E...
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30:03
EP 246: The Retail Marketing Test: AI or Human?
Special Guest: Greg Licciardi, Vice President of Sponsorships and Partner Programs at the Association of National Advertisers; Adjunct Professor of Marketing at Fordham and Seton Hall Universities. AI may replace some market...
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33:38
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EP 245: Wholesale Isn't Dead, It’s Revitalizing Growth
The traditional wholesale model isn't dying—it's evolving into something far more strategic and profitable than many executives realize. The widespread belief that direct-to-consumer channels automatically deliver superior margins is a myth. Su...
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25:51
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EP 244: Market Chaos Demands New In-Store Retail Strategies
Special Guest: Nikki Baird, VP of strategy and product at AptosThe retail landscape is facing unprecedented disruption as traditional profit centers collapse, and new opportunities emerge from the chaos. This isn't just anot...
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24:32
EP 243: Marketing Newsflash: Demographics Are So Over
Special Guests: Lisa Holland, Executive Head Enterprise Analytics at Albertsons CompaniesDan Bonert, Senior Vice President of Retail Media, Merchandising Analytics and Collaborations at NIQWendy Liebman, CEO and...
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1:05:43
EP 242: Trump Majeure Surprise: Tariffs Trigger Retail Collaboration
Special Guest: Arick Wierson, Emmy-winning producer and TRR contributor The retail apocalypse isn't coming from Amazon or an economic recession—it's being manufactured in Washington through tariff policy that defies basic bus...
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30:26
EP 241: Reeling from Tariff Whiplash
Special Guests: Sonja Chapman: Associate Professor in the Department of International Trade and Marketing at SUNY Fashion Institute of TechnologyKen O’Brien: CEO and President of Gemini Shippers Group...
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39:06
EP 240: How to Bridge the Retail Tectonic Shift
Special Guest: Jan Kniffen, CEO of retail consultancy, J Rogers Kniffen Worldwide Today's retail industry faces unprecedented transformation driven by three major forces: tariff restructuring affecting global supply chains, A...
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42:50
EP 239: The Tariff Storm: Navigating the Harsh Inequity of Global Trade
Special Guest: Maytee Pereira, Managing Director in PwC’s US Customs and International Trade practice Regardless of the flipflops of the Trump administration’s trade policies, retailers are operating in the middle of a tariff...
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27:50
