7 podcasts on technology, entrepreneurship and retail trends

March 7, 2017

The Podcast Studio at Retail’s BIG Show hosted seven shows that recorded 36 episodes. Industry experts interviewed entrepreneurs and executives about topics ranging from technology and innovation to economic and retail trends. Here’s a roundup of the episodes.

“Technology is a great tool, but at the end of the day, we’re still human and we still want human connection."

Monica Phromsavanh
Modabox

BeautySkew featuring Abigail Posner

Abigail Posner kicked off a new series of podcasts at Retail’s BIG Show by talking to women in the wearable tech industry who merge fashion, beauty and culture with technology. In her first episode, she spoke with Modabox founder Monica Phromsavanh, a serial entrepreneur who turned her experience as a refugee into her biggest strength. “Technology is a great tool, but at the end of the day, we’re still human and we still want human connection,” Phromsavanh said.

Posner also spoke with tech genius Amanda Parkes and SWSI: Smart Women Smart Ideas founder Heidi Lehmann, as well as Thesis Couture founder Dolly Singh and Switch Embassy founder Alison Lewis.

Jason and Scot Show

If you’ve ever listened to the Jason and Scot Show, you know Jason Goldberg and Scot Wingo love keeping tabs on Amazon. It will come as no surprise that in a conversation with Jason Del Rey, senior editor of commerce at Recode, the online giant was a hot topic. Del Rey also shared his thoughts about the technology trends that are about to transform retail.

“It’s very popular to talk about this now, but I think for good reason: Voice as the next interface for computing ... I think that’s huge. I do question ... how shopping happens via voice that is not reordering,” Del Rey said. “There need to be a lot of solutions to trying to browse via voice. I have more questions than answers right now.”

Goldberg and Wingo also talked with Deloitte chief retail innovation officer Kasey Lobaugh, e-commerce pioneer Scott Silverman, Touch of Modern founder and CEO Jerry Hum and Bonobos CXO Dominique Essig.

“Uniquely Gen Z,” an NRF/IBM report released at Retail’s BIG show, was mentioned on more than one podcast.

Total Retail talks

Total Retail recorded six episodes on location at New York’s Javits Center. Among those interviewed were Hickory Farms IT Director Gordon Jaquay on how the company used data to transform its business and Chinese Laundry Vice President of E-commerce Scott Cohn about the company’s plan for growing e-commerce.

NRF Senior Vice President of Research and Strategic Insights Ellen Davis spoke to Total Retail about what retailers need to know about Generation Z. “This is a customer base that likes to be in the store,” she said. “They like the experience.”

Amanda Hesser, co-founder and CEO of Food52, also shared her passion for storytelling and providing a complete customer experience. “Everything we do is geared toward creating a strong bond with [the customer],” she said, referring to how the lifestyle brand combines content with commerce. “Not all of our content is converting you into a shopper.”

Behind the bell with NASDAQ

Bradley Smith and Josh Machiz of NASDAQ spoke with retail leaders on everything from artificial intelligence to Generation Z. NRF Vice President of Research Mark Mathews explained how NRF’s recent research shows the difference between Millennials and Gen Z, noting that 22 percent of Gen Z earned money online. “They are very pragmatic, financially savvy and a spending force to be reckoned with,” Mathews said.

Smith and Machiz also spoke to Mark Danchak of Carbon6 Ventures, Chris Wong of IBM, Pano Anthos of XRC Labs and Leif Jentoft of RightHand Robotics, among others. Expand the list below to listen to more episodes.

The Glossy podcast

Glossy Senior Reporter Hilary Milnes and Managing Editor Shareen Pathak chatted about the biggest trends at this year’s event. Milnes spoke about the ways some retailers are uniting sustainability and on-demand personalization, like Eileen Fisher’s 3D-printed sweater that’s customer-designed and less wasteful. The technology was one of many on display in the exhibit hall at Retail’s BIG Show.

Retail Tech Podcast

RetailTech Podcast host Darius Vasefi spoke with Josh Teitelman, AVP of social commerce solutions at Sprinklr, on what it means to provide a “human touch” through social media and all channels of commerce. Teitelman gave a quick recap of a case study with Michael Kors, explaining how the brand leverages user-generated content to give shoppers ideas and save time while they shop online. Vasefi recorded a total of 10 episodes based on this year’s show, and discussed a range of topics from converting customers at the highest possible value and optimizing physical retail with in-store analytics to bringing in-store promotions into the connected age.

Fashion Is Your Business

Hosts Pavan Bahl, Marc Raco and Rob Sanchez spoke to IBM IX Global Technology Director TJ Travelbee about IBM’s Watson powering smart cars, using artificial intelligence to enhance customer experience and using technology to make people’s lives better. They also discussed Intel’s new role in retail and fashion technology with Intel’s General Manager of Responsive Retail Ryan Parker. See below for a list of all 36 episodes recorded live at the show.

BeautySkew featuring Abigail Posner

Jason and Scot Show

Total Retail talks

Behind the bell with NASDAQ

The Glossy podcast

On the Glossy Podcast: Live from NRF 2017

Retail tech podcast

Fashion is Your Business

NRF17, Fashion, Retail technology, Artificial Intelligence, Generation Z, Read Watch Listen, Technology, Retail Trends