The Business of Retail

Jul 09 2023

The Business of Retail Podcast artwork

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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Re-Innovating Retail

Jul 09 2023 25 mins

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 technological revolution filled with overwhelm

Retail Careers in Flux in 2022

Dec 06 2021 28 mins

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 redesigning the way retail wo

"Shop Local" - What Does It Really Mean?

Nov 22 2021 24 mins

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 'locally made' pr

Hard Truths in a Retail Staffing Crisis

Nov 15 2021 24 mins

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't. We speculate on a slow dem

Working Through The Supply Chain Disruption - In-store

Nov 10 2021 22 mins

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 dissects the issues and offers tips

The Path to 2022

Oct 27 2021 20 mins

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 curated topics for deep dives in th

Wake Up And Small The Supply Chain (Trailer, 2:29 Min)

Sep 07 2021 2 mins

Are #retailers' #supplychains ready for the next Black Swan moment(s)? Listen here for our preview of Episode 26.

Wake Up And Smell The Supply Chain

Sep 07 2021 51 mins

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 shoppers alike. This is the subjec

Exploring The Challenge Of 50% Retail Sales Online by 2025

Aug 10 2021 26 mins

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.

Exploring The Challenge Of 50% Retail Sales Online by 2025 (Trailer, 1.27 Min)

Aug 02 2021 1 mins

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..