Transcript - Season 4 Trailer

Season 4, Trailer

Season 4: A New Year, A New Perspective

Joshua Williams: Retail Revolution, a unique podcast that features in-depth conversations with guest experts in omni-channel retailing with myriad perspectives, technology, consumer engagement, data analytics, merchandising, and more. We pay special attention to current sociopolitical issues and challenges and their implications on fashion retail, as well as opportunities to innovate and rethink retail's future. Visit us at retailrevolutionpodcast.com for more information, including full transcripts and follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn @retailrevolutionpodcast.

Retail Revolution is produced by Joshua Williams and hosted by Christopher Lacy. Both are assistant professors in the Fashion Management graduate program at Parsons School of Design.

Christopher Lacy: Hello everyone. And welcome to our intro to season four. And we wanted to give you a big thank you for hanging with us through three seasons. And last season was amazing. We had 16 episodes, so 16 amazing guests. We also did one bonus episode in Mandarin for our audience across Asia. So, this was really an insightful season that we had,  an exciting season that we had; and all in the midst of coming out on the other side, we hoped, of a pandemic. So, I'm going to talk about this more in detail. when I come back with Joshua Williams.

Joshua. So, here we are, season three ended.

Joshua Williams: I know, I can't believe it, 16 episodes.

Christopher Lacy: So, look, I have to ask you, what were the three things that stood out to you about season three?

Joshua Williams: Well, you know, I think when we started the podcast, it was really theoretical around what could potentially happen during COVID. And I think that by the time we got to season three, it was really all of those theories in practice.

So, I remember one of our first conversations as a group, and I believe we had Dr. Niz Safrudin on, and we were talking about community and we were talking about all of these very high level values, which I think in many ways came through in the fall. But I think once business got, not back to usual, but business started to pick up again, especially for Q4, companies had to refocus on just product and customer service.  So, for me, the three things that really stood out were companies that were adapting to COVID, so for example, The Webster, right with Fanny Damiette really talking about how you couldn't just be authentic anymore. You actually had to think about how that integrates across the whole entire experience for our customer. So she talked a lot about integrity. And also these ideas of new technologies that weren't necessarily new. They've been around for a long time, but accelerating. So, Massimo Volpe talking about voice recognition software, and Alexa and Siri and all of these things that have sort of accelerated.

 And then I guess the third thing is just this conversation around the values again, because I think we thought it was very clear, "Oh, once COVID sort of ends, it's all going to be about, you know, these high-minded values." But you know, we're still dealing with a lot of people who are sick, family members who are dying because of COVID, the inability to travel. And how do you as a company actually help or support the communities that you're in when your customer is having a tough time, and really talking about that at a very personal level, as opposed to sort of this high values. I don't know how else to say it, but just these kind of big minded values.

It was really, rubber meets the road.  What about you?

Christopher Lacy: Yeah, I think the thing that stood out to me the most for this season is we really got back to the roots of retail. And we talked about frontline employees and their experiences and leaders and while we did have many people that came from kind of a corporate, an oversight view, we made it a point to really talk to some people who were "boots on the ground." So, the Carissa Barretts, Luisa Garcia Herrera. And that for me was exciting. And I love those moments. And Nick McHenry; those moments where we got to go, this is what's happening in retail after, you know, COVID when we've come back to being in store and what their experiences are.

Joshua Williams: Yeah, it really was about people working with people. That came up a lot, just this whole idea that at the end of the day, those storeline employees are really the ones at the frontline that are getting the feedback from customers and are able to bring that feedback to the head office and to make decisions. I think everyone had to collaborate in a way that they hadn't had to, necessarily before.

 Who was your favorite guest? You mentioned a few there. And I did as well.

Christopher Lacy: Oh, see that's rough see you're going to ask me who my favorite guest was, so now if they listened to it. Um, you know, what was amazing about this season is I felt so connected to every person we had on, because they represented every part of my career trajectory, but, I would have to say, my conversation with Luca Marchetti. It was a fun conversation because he is extremely cerebral. And it was interesting to talk to someone who was living and seeing and breathing the data around the culture divide and what the future looks like; and really the truths about what we need to do it, in not just the fashion industry, but I think as a world at large.  And I left it different than when I went into it. And for me, that was an amazing experience.

Joshua Williams: Yeah, that was a real standout for me too, because I think this podcast is very American-centric. And I think we come into retail with that hat on. And I think we were scratching our heads a little bit about Europe and what was happening there and why there seemed to be some tone deafness around, especially the Black Lives Matter movement and some of these political issues that we're struggling with. And he had such a different point of view. I thought it was, it made me rethink things or at least reframe some of my own opinions.

The one who stood out for me was, Luca, but also Fanny Damiette. So, shout out to our Europeans this year, French and Italian, thank you. Just because I think Fanny, in many ways, took really big, complex ideas around marketing, and really distilled them in a way that I thought was so simple. In fact, I remember getting off of that episode and thinking, this is the episode I want all of my marketing students to hear, because she manages to talk about these concepts. And I mentioned earlier, this idea of integrity. We talk a lot about authenticity, but she said, you know, it has to be more than that, it has to be integrity. It has to be, really that word, integrated across all of the different decisions that are being made from the ground up all the way to the head office and how that really comes through to customers. And I, certainly walked away with that and I've used that information in conversations and lectures that I've given. So, I really appreciated her perspective.

Christopher Lacy: Yeah, I think if you were to probably sum up season three, that word integrity was, you know, run throughout it. And I think our guests spoke to it even without really saying that word. You know, we talked to people who were in the finance part of the business, the logistics part of the business,  sales part of the business. And one thing you see is that they're like, you aren't going to survive as an organization, or be a good leader, without integration and this integrity built into your strategies. And, that's really an important message that I think we were able to get through in this season.

Joshua Williams: Yeah. I also think that this idea that fashion at the end of the day, is a business came through as well. And you mentioned that a little bit earlier that a lot of our guests this year were very retail minded. Shout out to Josh Kappelman and Paul Magle and Massimo Volpe, who really were talking about the business of retail and the business of fashion and the nuts and bolts of how one makes a decision. And  I do hope that our listeners were able to learn a few sort of nuggets of, information that they could use and apply in their own businesses. With that in mind what do we have in store for season four? I already have a little bit of an inkling, obviously, but-

 Christopher Lacy: Yeah, you know , this season four, I really want to go into the roots and the foundations of what is the meaning of sustainability and how do we need to start leveraging technology in the right ways to make sustainability and the four pillars of that happen. So, when we talk about environmental, when we talk about, human sustainability, human capital, communities, these things. Like, how do we ensure that our businesses are able to apply the right strategies from a financial perspective, from an operational perspective, from the associate perspective to really move the needle the right way, so that we, as an industry can, can start really moving towards the right sustainability efforts that matter to our consumers, no matter the socioeconomic situation that they're in. So, it'll be an exciting season.

Joshua Williams: As always taking big ideas and thinking about how they actually matter at the business level.

Christopher Lacy: Absolutely. Absolutely. And I do want to talk about, you know, really how can we use technology better than what we're doing? And use it in a way that really is for the greater good, is going to be important for us as we move out of this pandemic and people start to get vaccinated and we started shopping and behaving as we did before.

So, I want to ask you then, with that being said about what's happening with season four, how can our listeners engage with us more, this season and for Retail Revolution?

Joshua Williams: I think the best way is to make sure that you subscribe. We are now on Amazon Music and Pandora. Those are two new platforms that we are now streaming on. As always, we're still on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and Deezer and TuneIn. There's so many different platforms that you can now find Retail Revolution. So, we just ask that if you subscribe, also leave a comment or rate us if possible, that really helps to amplify the voice of what we're doing and it makes it more available.

I'm very proud of the fact that we have hit, in the top 100 charts in France and Spain, Italy. I just read today in Mongolia, in China. So, Retail Revolution has become a revolution worldwide, and  we're very excited about that because you're part of this and by sharing and subscribing and commenting that helps to ensure that other people find out about Retail Revolution.

I would also mention to go to our website we've made some updates. If you don't know already, we have full transcripts there, you can go and read these episodes. We also have introduced a new insights and perspectives. So, we're actually working to create insights based on the interviews that we have, everything from themes and thematics that come out of episodes. So, make sure you check that out and leave your comments there.

And then lastly, if you want to donate, to help us out or to support, we now are taking donations on our website and we also have a Patreon subscription. So, either way, if you want to help support what we're doing, we would really appreciate that.

And I already said finally, but there is one last thing I just remembered here, is that, as part of some of the plans that we have going into 2021, we have some really exciting partnerships that are coming our way. So, if that is something that your company or organization is interested in, whether it's special or custom episodes, a sponsorship on the podcast, please reach out to us on the contact page. We'd love to hear from you and see how we might be able to be in partnership with you.

Christopher Lacy: All right. Thank you so much, Josh, for, allowing and making it accessible for our listeners to engage with us even more than they have been before. I think there's a lot for them to chew on in this next season. And I, again, I want to thank every single person that has supported us, every single person that has joined the podcast and provided their insights and their knowledge and wisdom to every listener that we have.

So, here is to continued success and, the success of all of our revolutionaries out there. Thank you.

Joshua Williams: Thank you for listening to this episode of Retail Revolution. A very special thank you to everyone who has helped make this podcast possible. If you'd like to support the work we're doing, please visit our show page at retailrevolutionpodcast.com and click on the donate link. Our theme music was composed by Spencer Powell.

Be well and stay tuned for our next episode.