The World's First Omni-Channel Executive?

“The success of our brand will increasingly be determined by our ability to meet our customers' needs anytime, anywhere, anyway.”

- Arthur Martinez, Sears CEO, February 1999

You might be wondering who was the first person to lead omni-channel efforts at a major retailer. Was it Phil Phygital, Sean Seamless, Ingrid Integrated, or someone else entirely? This week we reveal our answer.

Then we dive into why it's taken so long for retailers to embrace the blur that is modern retail today and still act as if the idea of "omni-chanel"--or “harmonized retail”--is a new phenomenon. We do a brief tour of the evolution of shopping behavior since e-commerce reared its disruptive head and unpack why some retailers watched the last 20 years happen to them, before diving into the key steps  that retail brands need to take to go beyond the platitudes and table stakes to deliver remarkable results in the future. Some of keys: "silo's belong on farms, become channel agnostic, create new customer-centric metrics, and accept that digital drives physical--and vice versa. 

But first we open up with the retail news that caught our attention this week, including our take on last week's monthly retail sales data and Amazon's new (and tepid) Early Access Sale. Then it's time to take on the ever lowering valuation of Instacart, the broader troubles in home delivery, and trying to figure out what's going on at Nordstrom  We also give our reaction to Shein's new resale program, which seems more about PR, than sustainability and riff more broadly on the general conflict between cheap and purpose-driven.

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About Us

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  ,      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!

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor, board member, and keynote speaker focused on strategic growth and transformation and the impact of digital disruption. He is the author of the bestselling book Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption and the all new Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption , now available for purchase in the U.S. and available for pre-order at book retailers elsewhere. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior contributor and on social media..

Don't forget to join Steve's new Linked Group for his new book.

Michael LeBlanc  is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. He 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 Secure conference with leaders from The Gap and Kroger talking about violence in retail stores, keynotes on the state & future of retail in Orlando and Halifax, and at the 2023 Canadian GroceryConnex conference, hosting the CEOs of Walmart Canada, Longo's and Save-On-Foods Canada.   Michael brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael also produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in North America, Remarkable Retail,

Canada's top retail industry podcast; the Voice of Retail; Canada's top food industry and the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor, with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail influencers for the fourth year in a row, Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer, and you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state of the retail industry in Canada and the U.S., and the future of retail.