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The Business of Retail

Christine Cowan, David Ian Gray, George Minakakis, Gary Newbury, Craig Patterson

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Canadian discussions - a global retail perspective. As the world entered lockdown in March 2020, a small, diverse group of Canadian thought leaders gathered virtually to speculate, collaborate and share their insights on the waves of disruption facing retailers. "The Business of Retail” podcast emerged as an unflinching strategic alternative to the conventional discourse. Listen or watch as root causes are revealed and new paths forward for the wider retail ecosystem are explored.
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While the Pandemic Triage is well in the rearview of retail executives, we have been hearing of the need for sharing and discussion around more deep challenges facing the sector. New in 2023, TBOR is tackling the next round of complexities. Here is our first - Re-Innovating Retail. As the retail industry transitions through a high-speed technologic…
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Arguably the top buzzword of 2021 is “The Great Resignation”. Catchy as it sounds, it's an incomplete story. Many are leaving, but others are staying and new will come - for the right opportunities. A recent Fast Company piece suggests it is actually “The Great Reprioritization”. It focused on the worker perspective, but reprioritizing and redesign…
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This time of year in particular brings urgent calls to "Shop Local". Individually and collectively, the TBOR Crew has been a vocal supporter of independent retail and foodservice from the earliest days of the pandemic. Yet, as we dove into Ep. 30, we soon realized these two words can mean different things to different people. Is it about buying 'lo…
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Some fire showed in this 24 min episode. All agree that the retail front of house staffing model for stores is broken. There are quick patches for Holiday 2021, but the underlying issues are not going away. The question is whether the industry can disrupt itself to find the answer. The ongoing campaign against a higher minimum wage suggests it won'…
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Another shorter segment (22.35 min). The Supply Chain issue has many facets. This episode focuses on what can be done at the store level in face of stock unpredictability and shortfalls. Independents might be hard hit with supply, yet have a real edge here to pivot and reset product experiences. The challenges are exponential for chains. The crew d…
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As we head into the last quarter of 2021, the crew looks to the retail CEO's path to 2022. Each of us brought our top one or two priorities to the discussion. What must be tackled now, while continuing to solidify foundations for 2023 and beyond. This was a fast moving discussion. Listen as we scan the landscape to establish in real time our curate…
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We know Amazon has been buying planes while chip shortages are creating shortages in car rental fleets. Gary notes that 2020/21 backlogs might take a year to catch up given current global capacities. If corona-virus protocols wax and wane through 2023 or beyond, supply chain vulnerability will continue to be the biggest wild card for retailers and …
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We have heard much about ado about how we have “gained 5 years in 5 weeks”, evolving rapidly through the pandemic. There are pundits claiming soon 50% of retail will flow online. At #thebusinessofretail we love an intriguing hypothesis to test. We take this one head on.By Christine Cowan, David Ian Gray, George Minakakis, Gary Newbury, Craig Patterson
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Gary had come across a push-piece calling for #ecommerce to comprise half of all retail transactions by 2025. "No way!" we thought. Yet, we dissected it to contemplate implications and conditions for this to occur. Here is a sample from Ep 25, which will launch in full in one week..By Christine Cowan, David Ian Gray, George Minakakis, Gary Newbury, Craig Patterson
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Imagine drive-through meals at every Loblaw's supermarket, with President's Choice on the menu board?. Or retailers taking over the better meal prep kit plays. Will grocers unleash their vision of the future? Or will they just test the waters? Will A.I. be cleaning up in aisle four? If so, will it be about customers, or on cutting costs (and people…
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Canada's Food Professor is back! Dr. Sylvain Charlebois covered Foodservices a few months ago and returns to reveal the big shifts happening in our large grocers that are sending ripples through our Food Retail sector. Here is a sneak peak and a 'tip of the cap' to Sobey's CEO, Michael Medline.By Christine Cowan, David Ian Gray, George Minakakis, Gary Newbury, Craig Patterson
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There ha s been much trumpeting of "customer experience" over the past decade. However, the experiential foundations of the past 100 years are still these: sales and service. Have we forgotten what exceptional sales and service entails? Have productivity efforts gone too far? This is different than having shiny interactive displays in store... this…
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Our resident CEO George Minakakis, MBA pushed the crew to revisit a bedrock fundamental of retailing that has been eroding for years: the art of exceptional sales and service. Listen here to a 4 min sneak peak... and subscribe in order to catch the full episode when it drops July 13.By Christine Cowan, David Ian Gray, George Minakakis, Gary Newbury, Craig Patterson
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In Episode 22 we are joined by Arlene Dickinson - Canadian business leader, investor, author and television personality. General partner of District Ventures Capital and CEO of Venture Communications, she recently launched the Venturepark ecosystem of supports to assist Canadian #food and #wellness #cpg brands. This one will be of broad business in…
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As we continue this June to explore the opportunities and challenges for new brands to scale, we are delighted to discuss the issues in a food context with one of Canada's most respected business people, resident Dragon on CBC and all-around supporter of ventures: Arlene Dickinson. She joined on the heels of launching Venturepark - what might be th…
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“Purpose” in business is a daily topic in our newsfeeds. We expect much as shoppers, but are our values and commitments to do right by society and the environment in the way of our desire for what's new in fashion, technology - and the economic means to acquire them? While consumers continue to buy cheap and made-to-fail products, CEOs are under in…
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We have been seeing a surge in new fashion and lifestyle brands even as the bigger players in this subsector seem to struggle. Yet making it through to profitable scale remains elusive for many. The TBOR team are joined by Canadian retail executive Christine Day to explore why this is occurring and to discuss the challenges and common pitfalls foun…
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This time we are unpacking the tumult that has swept through the foodservice sector in Canada. Our dine-in restaurants and bars have borne the brunt of the pandemic, while some formats have thrived. Lots of losses here have been gains for grocery. But what next? The TBOR team is joined by guest Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. Sylvain a Canadian researcher …
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There is an escalating war of engagement by brands in an overcrowded and noisy consumer marketplace. We can’t compete without digital and we can’t afford to get it wrong. But beyond the hype, are current levels of spend sustainable? Why are so many overemphasizing acquisition over retention?By Christine Cowan, David Ian Gray, George Minakakis, Gary Newbury, Craig Patterson
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George and Gary wanted to get real about what might happen to the retail sector whenever we get to a point of full return, no restrictions - and what might be a very serious concern that dampens the mood of at least some the sector. On a lighter note, David wondered why the heck we are calling a potential spending surge "revenge spending" ?!?! "Wak…
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The TBOR team invited guest Claude Sirois, the forward-thinking former President of Retail at Canadian Shopping Centre giant Ivanhoe Cambridge, to a two-part discussion. Part 2 takes a look at what the future of “physical” for retailers, developers, and landlords might look like, including tremendous opportunities to collaborate on innovation in re…
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The TBOR team invited guest Claude Sirois, the forward-thinking former President of Retail at Canadian Shopping Centre giant Ivanhoe Cambridge, to a two-part discussion. Part 1 reviews the deep, persistent shifts in the real estate landscape the past few years and the jarring impacts on landlords and tenants triggered by Covid responses. Part 2 in …
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Perhaps this should be titled The High Cost of Data Illiteracy in Retail. In fairness, retail is very literate about a narrow range of data: skus and sales. But how many retail leaders have a vision and roadmap behind statements such as "we are a data driven business" or have applied critical thinking to scope out a range of data needs, over time, …
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Lale Kesebi joins the discussion from Hong Kong. Lale is an ex c-suite executive of global distribution giant Li & Fung and has built upon her sterling track record of transformations in her counsel to CEOs in her Human At Work advisory. We delve into the need for substantive change in retail cultures to enable successful transitions for legacy ret…
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As we gather stories of the plight of iconic independent stores and restaurants closing for good under pandemic guidelines, we discuss the bigger ripple effects beginning with streetfronts and local communities. Can the damage still be mitigated in 2021?By Christine Cowan, David Ian Gray, George Minakakis, Gary Newbury, Craig Patterson
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The Business of Retail team invite guest speaker Marina Strauss to discuss where Canadian retail heading. With a deep knowledge of corporate retail and the players in Canada, Marina Strauss is an award winning writer, recently retired from the Globe and Mail and is now the director of the Canadian Journalism Foundation.…
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Department Stores have been part of the North American retailing landscape for several generations, however, over the last decade they seemed to have struggled to re-orientate themselves to remain relevant with a compelling proposition in the "Age of Amazon". Is it time for their leadership teams to make some bold moves to succeed? If so, what radi…
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In this episode the Team is joined by retail people person, Jackie Ross, to speak on the topic - The World of Work. The world of work in retail has been transitioning pre-pandemic, but during COVID this is becoming perhaps the biggest challenge facing retail execs. For executives and their teams, what will careers, leadership and technical skills l…
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An ongoing C-suite discussion amongst senior experts, focusing on the transformation a pandemic is accelerating throughout the retail ecosystem. The Business of Retail is: George Minakakis, Craig Patterson, David Ian Gray, Gary Newbury, and Christine Cowan. From time to time, notable guests will join in on our exploration of underlying issues and r…
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