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Retail Unwrapped - from The Robin Report

Retail Unwrapped - from The Robin Report

Hosted by The Robin Report

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Episodes

304

Latest episode

Aug 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

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.

Listen to episodes

60 recent
August 14, 202636 min

EP 305: How Does The Vermont Country Store Keep Going?

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us!The Vermont Country Store is an 80-year-old retail icon that has sustained the charm that made it famous and the business expertise that has kept it thriving since 1946. We caught up with Eliot Orton, an 8th-generation Vermonter and 4th-generation Vermont Country Storekeeper to get some insights on how his family has bult a multimillion business anchored in two stores in rural Vermont. Famous for its old-school mail-order catalog, offering practical and “hard to find” necessities, this general store institution is a throwback to a time when retail was central to the life of a community. Listen in as Shelley and Eliot reveal how the Orton family has resisted the temptation compromise their values in a screen-driven, digital marketplace. Their conversation gives a voice to deeply held values, classic, wearable clothes, and a retail ethos (including a customer bill of rights) that survives the test of time.Guest: Eliot Orton, Co-owner, The Vermont Country Store For more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

August 7, 202622 min

EP 304: How to Avoid the AI Trust Recession

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us!Who, or what, do you trust? Retailers who think moving quickly on generative AI as the winning strategy, may be sacrificing trust for speed driven by board and competitive pressure, not customer demand. Speed without building a trust framework is how brands may lose the very customers they're racing to win. Join Shelley and Alice Pope, author of The Trust Algorithm: How Leaders Build Trust with Generative AI to get up to speed on a current trust recession. Alice says that we are facing more customer data than ever yet have a deeper skepticism about AI than ever. This conversation unpacks why unclear ownership, rushed rollouts, and eroding employee trust are creating governance gaps and quietly undermining the AI strategies retail boards have invested in. Listen and learn how to avoid the trust recession.Guest: Alice Pope, author, The Trust Algorithm: How Leaders Build Trust with Generative AI. For more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

July 31, 202632 min

EP 303: Autonomous Delivery in the Driveway

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us!Every retailer preparing for autonomous delivery is watching the wrong vehicle; the real disruption isn't a drone or a sidewalk bot; it's the driverless car already parked in the customer's driveway.  These autonomous vehicles are the next curbside pickup agents. But what happens when dozens of unmanned vehicles all show up for the same six parking stalls at the same time? Join Shelley and Ben Seidl, CEO and Co-Founder of Autolane, as they discuss the potential crisis brewing at malls and stores for managing these fleets of cars. Major retail landlords, including Simon Property Group, Federal Realty, and Jamestown, are already installing driverless parking infrastructure across properties in Austin, Atlanta, Phoenix, San Jose, and beyond.  Planning ahead is never too early, and retailers need to be ready for new wave of autonomous deliveries.Special Guest: Ben Seidl, CEO & Co-Founder, Autolane For more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

July 24, 202636 min

EP 302: It's About So Much More Than Lettuce

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us!Who's watching the lettuce? The cyclospora outbreak has 1,600+ confirmed, and 7,000 suspected victims. Americans are panicked about fresh produce, and Taco Bell has taken the toll from its Taylor Farms lettuce supplier. Join TRR contributors Phil Lempert, the Supermarket Guru and Warren Shoulberg, TRR Hit or Miss Editor, as they review the crisis facing retailers and American consumers. There is a deeper problem behind the crisis; FDA gave Taylor Farms the all-clear, only to reverse itself.  Listen in to learn how this food crisis isn't just a lettuce story, it's a preview of what happens when our government agencies are understaffed and unable to stay ahead of a parasitic outbreak. Phil and Warren reveal why Costco and Walmart have their own safety standards, how retailers can protect their customers, and why the industry should step up to overcompensate for compromised government agencies. Guests: Phil Lempert, TRR Contributor, the Supermarket Guru & Warren Shoulberg, TRR Hit or Miss Editor, Home ExpertFor more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

July 17, 202630 min

EP 301: Why an AI Agent Is More Trusted

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us!Growing dependence on AI has revealed how risk and trust are influencing customer shopping behavior. Join Shelley and Shiv Gupta, Chief Analytics and Solutions Officer at Volute Group, as they explore how AI is used as a confessional when consumers trust agents more than websites, data collectors, and even other humans. They also discuss why unprompted data is a rich information mining opportunity for retailers, plus how to use AI to determine a customer’s lifetime value, intent and probability of purchasing decisions, and how to leverage branding with unemotional, impartial AI feedback. Shiva believes, “Niche retailers are going to do a whole lot better than they've ever done before because they can define the product, audience, and service with a lot more clarity because they don't have a large spread of assortment.” Find out why what you say about your brand and your product may be less influential than what others are saying. As Shiv says, “The misconception is that if you speak louder, you’ll be heard better; but you need to speak smarter.” Special Guest: Shiv Gupta, Chief Analytics & Solutions Officer, Volute Group.  For more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

July 10, 202630 min

EP 300: Spoiler Alert: Stop Chasing AI and Clean Up Your Store First

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us!AI continues to make headline news throwing retailers into disruption. But the real news is that retail is in crisis and it’s in the physical store. Join Shelley and Mark Cohen, TRR contributor and former Director of Columbia University's Retail Studies Program, as they challenge the industry's obsession with technology and make an unapologetic case for getting back to basics. Listen and learn from a blunt, provocative conversation about the state of retail; it may make you feel uncomfortable, but it is an unvarnished assessment of how an obsession with AI is incapable of replacing intuition, vision, leadership, and the unpredictable human behavior that drives the retail industry.Special Guest: Mark Cohen. TRR Contributor, former Director of Columbia University's Retail Studies Program, Retail CEO VeteranFor more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

July 3, 202637 min

EP 299: Signals Retailers Are Missing

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us!The biggest threats to retail are hiding in plain sight. And the biggest problems facing retailers are caused by not asking the right questions. This is not convenient management theory; it is missing the key signals that are reshaping the retail industry. Join Shelley and David Katz, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer at Randa Apparel and Accessories, as they challenge why reading the headlines is not the same as understanding what those headlines mean and why they matter. David’s gray swan model reveals how key trends are bellwethers for significant shifts. Listen and learn why boomers in America, GLP-1s’ resizing of America, climate risk, and supply chain concentration are trigger events that retailers need to pay attention to.  This conversation is surprising and provocative, and a call to action for critical scenario planning and foresight.Special Guest: David Katz, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer at Randa Apparel & AccessoriesFor more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

June 26, 202633 min

EP 298: What AI Can’t Deliver

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us!Everyone thinks AI will replace the workforce. But that’s the wrong assumption. The real question is what human work will become more valuable once machines handle the basics.  Join Shelley and Ron Thurston, author of Retail Pride and Human Pride and a 30-year retail veteran across Apple, Gap, Tory Burch, and Saint Laurent, as they challenge the automation narrative that most retail leaders are getting wrong. Learn how to strengthen data and insights with AI while humans provide the essential judgment. Making the distinction between automation and judgment is how to determine the best AI technology to invest in. Listen and learn how human memory and pride are the gold standards for ensuring brand trust. Guest: Ron Thurston, Strategic Advisor and author, Human Pride For more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

June 19, 202630 min

EP 297: Humans Are the Weakest Link in Your Data Strategy

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us!The weakest link in most data strategies is the human factor; it’s the team members who can’t agree on measuring what matters. Add to that, communications often break down in the best tech solutions to deploy and how to integrate them to prevent data fragmentation. Join Shelley and Tim Shea, Founder and CEO of Latticework Insights, as they unpack why culture, not code, decides whether a retailer's next analytics dollar will be profitable. Fast facts: Agentic commerce is already filling shopping carts before customers reach a retailer's site, and most brands have no real lever to influence which products an AI agent selects. Plus, organic search visibility is collapsing as AI overviews and sponsored results dominate the page, pushing traditional discovery to page two or three. Listen and learn how to be a better data strategist with analytics that are evaluated with the same rigor as marketing spend, as a return on investment rather than an obligatory expense. Special Guest: Tim Shea, CEO and Founder Latticework Insights For more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

June 12, 202620 min

EP 296: Gaming AI Search

We'd love to have your feedback and ideas for future episodes of Retail Unwrapped. Just text us!AI search is growing at over 300 percent while traditional browser search is declining. Most retailers and brands are completely unprepared for what that means for their search visibility. Join Shelley and Heather Holmes, Founder of Publicity for Good, as they unpack how brands need to think like their customers and understand how they use agentic search engines including ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. Key signals: Consumers are bypassing a brand website, asking AI for recommendations and going directly to purchase. Over 90 percent of what AI surfaces in search results comes from earned media, not paid advertising; brands cannot buy their way to the top of an AI search result. And credibility through legitimate reviews, third-party features, directory listings, and high-domain-authority publications all influence how AI ranks a brand. Listen and learn how to figure out this complex AI paradigm.Special Guest: Heather Holmes, Founder of Publicity for Good For more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

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