Retail Unwrapped - from The Robin Report

Shelley E. Kohan
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  • UPDATED WEEKLY

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.

  1. EP 254: Ace Hardware Knows How to Build Community

    2D AGO

    EP 254: Ace Hardware Knows How to Build Community

    We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! 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 Media, designed to drive embedded community relationships that translate into measurable ROI advantages. Join Shelley and Molly Hjelm, Corporate Vice President of Retail Media, as they discuss how Ace Hardware is riding the seismic shift in retail media and leveraging authentic community connections to create marketing experiences that feel helpful rather than intrusive. With 5,100 stores generating 50 million monthly site visits and a 30 percent year-over-year ecommerce growth rate, Ace is a local chain that has quietly built a massive digital ecosystem that rivals those of major retailers. Most striking is how their 73 million ACE Rewards members and thousands of vendor partnerships co-create unprecedented customized opportunities—where local store owners anticipate what their communities need and deliver a personalized retail experience customers care about remember. Special Guest: Molly Hjelm, Corporate Vice President, Retail, Ace Hardware  For more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from Robin Lewis and other retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

    21 min
  2. EP 253: An Inside Look at The Honest Company’s Transformation

    AUG 22

    EP 253: An Inside Look at The Honest Company’s Transformation

    We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! 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 highest gross margin in the history of the company. Join Shelley and Carla Vernón, CEO of The Honest Company in a candid conversation on how authentic brand purpose to maintain honest standards for a portfolio of cleanly designed products, margin enhancement to drive profitability, and operating discipline results in customer loyalty and shareholder trust. The sensitive skin market is expected to reach $80 billion by 2030. Honest’s standards exceed both U.S. and EU regulatory requirements, banning 3,500 ingredients and product development through proprietary in-house toxicology and laboratory testing is a commitment to customers and the industry at large. As a result, The Honest Company has created unshakeable customer loyalty even during economic uncertainty.  Special Guest: Carla Vernón, CEO, The Honest Company  For more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from Robin Lewis and other retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

    27 min
  3. EP 252: Blunt Talk About Retail News Headlines

    AUG 15

    EP 252: Blunt Talk About Retail News Headlines

    We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! 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 the difficult challenges facing retail leaders. They reveal truths about vendor abuse (new revenue streams from chargebacks for questionable violations), the myths about great customer service despite public boasts, and how return to office policies, although unpopular, are mandated by CEOs taking a hardline to uphold the viability and sustainability of the business. It’s a conversation that pulls no punches! For more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from Robin Lewis and other retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

    40 min
  4. EP 251: Surprises About Rising Food Costs

    AUG 13

    EP 251: Surprises About Rising Food Costs

    We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! 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 are creating uncharted supply-demand dynamics. Join Shelley and Stew Leonard, Jr., president and CEO of Stew Leonard’s as they discuss the three-tier cost structure that's creating permanent price pressures and reveal surprising consumer behaviors that smart retailers are leveraging for a competitive advantage. Special Guest: Stew Leonard Jr., President & CEO, Stew Leonard’s  For more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from Robin Lewis and other retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

    36 min
  5. EP 250: AI Alert: The Retail Workforce Is About to Change

    AUG 1

    EP 250: AI Alert: The Retail Workforce Is About to Change

    We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! 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, forward-thinking executives are discovering how to amplify human skills like negotiation, empathy, and conflict resolution in collaboration with technology. Join Shelley and Kevin Finnegan from Global Recruiters of Lowcountry as they expose a new reality: 59 percent of retail workforces will require retraining by 2030, and ironically, AI may be the solution for upskilling employees. They also tackle how companies implementing return to office (RTO) policies without understanding underlying cultural shifts are discovering that younger workers simply won't tolerate mandates—they'll just leave and find new jobs instead with a 14 percent spike in employee turnover.  While physical stores remain the ultimate competitive advantage, most retailers are treating their retail associates as expense lines rather than revenue-generating assets capable of creating memorable customer experiences. The future belongs to retailers who can humanize their brand experience with an upskilled workforce while leveraging technology strategically.  Special Guest: Kevin Finnegan, from Global Recruiters of Lowcountry For more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from Robin Lewis and other retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

    37 min
  6. EP 249: Why the Fed’s Policy Paralysis Threatens BTS and Holiday

    JUL 25

    EP 249: Why the Fed’s Policy Paralysis Threatens BTS and Holiday

    We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! 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 increases are hitting apparel and durables precisely when consumers need to make back-to-school and holiday purchases, Join Shelley and economist Daniel Altman as they discuss how smaller retailers are being systematically squeezed out as they lack the capital to absorb tariff costs at the border, potentially creating inventory shortages during peak selling periods. Their conversation reveals the dangerous disconnect between Washington's focus on Wall Street metrics and the harsh reality facing retailers on Main Street. The timing couldn't be worse—with trade negotiations understaffed and reciprocal tariffs potentially hitting in October or November, retailers may face simultaneous stock market volatility and consumer spending uncertainty during their most profitable quarter. Special Guest: Economist Daniel Altman, author of the ‘High Yield Economics’ newsletter For more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from Robin Lewis and other retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

    24 min
  7. EP 248: Stop Chasing Normal: Disruption Is Your Opportunity

    JUL 18

    EP 248: Stop Chasing Normal: Disruption Is Your Opportunity

    We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! 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 experiential factors. Consumers have restructured how they engage with brands, migrating away from traditional retail stores toward a melding of physical retail, ecommerce, vertical retail, and social commerce platforms. Join Shelley and David Katz, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer at Randa Apparel and Accessories, as they discuss today’s complex consumer marketplace disrupted by geopolitical events and the new realities of artificial intelligence which presents both immediate tactical wins and transformational opportunities. While everyday AI streamlines operations, transformational AI reshapes entire business models. The companies that master this dual AI approach will emerge as tomorrow's market leaders. The key insight: stop trying to return to normal. Normal is a constraint. Disruption is your opportunity to invent a sustainable future using an entirely new strategic playbook. For more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from Robin Lewis and other retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

    35 min
  8. EP 247: Watch What Your Customers Do, Not Say

    JUL 11

    EP 247: Watch What Your Customers Do, Not Say

    We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us! 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. Ethnographic research reveals the gap between stated preferences and actual shopping patterns identifying untapped revenue opportunities hiding in plain sight. Join Shelley and Matt Mueller, founder of Mindful Innovations Services and author of The Mindful Innovator, as they discuss how operational efficiency often conflicts with the emotional triggers that drive purchase decisions – from sustainability claims to packaging functionality issues.  Special Guest: Matt Mueller, founder of Mindful Innovations Services and author of, The Mindful Innovator  For more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from Robin Lewis and other retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

    30 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.5
out of 5
10 Ratings

About

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.

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