Nov 03, 2026

Retail Media’s Untapped Value with Andrew Lipsman, Plus DoorDash Bets on Instacart & Amazon Disappoints

Retail media analyst Andrew Lipsman of Media, Ads + Commerce is back, and his message to retailers is blunt: forget agentic commerce. The real money is the on-site ad inventory most of them still leave on the table. The former eMarketer principal analyst also gives his first read on DoorDash’s $17 billion Instacart deal, which merges two of the biggest retail media businesses outside Amazon and Walmart. In the news: Amazon’s quarter, Starbucks’ U.S. turnaround, steeper UPS and FedEx holiday surcharges, and Walmart letting AI shopping agents in the front door.

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Oct 27, 2026

Why Smart People Keep Getting So Much Wrong, Plus Membership Wars, The Online Grocery Boom & Quince Goes Global

Walmart and Sam’s Club launch a combined membership bundle to take on Amazon Prime, retail space tightens, NRF’s 4.2% holiday forecast is mostly inflation, and online grocery posts its eighth straight quarter of 20%+ growth as Quince launches in the UK. Then Steve asks why so many smart people got e-commerce and other digital trends wrong, and whether agentic AI is the next overhyped prediction. On the radar: soaring fiscal deficits, global unrest, and AI-powered cybercrime hitting major retailers.

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Oct 20, 2026

Wayfair’s President Jon Blotner on Going Physical, Plus Aritzia’s Blowout Quarter & Grocery’s Mushy Middle

Inflation runs hot, and so do the winners. Costco, Aritzia and Uniqlo keep pulling away while LVMH stumbles and Kroger and Albertsons struggle to escape grocery’s mushy middle. Then Wayfair President Jon Blotner explains why a two-decade online pure play is betting on 150,000-square-foot stores, how merchants narrow a catalogue of millions to one floor, and what the store halo is really delivering.

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Oct 13, 2026

Keeping the Soul in the Sole: Birkenstock Americas President & Managing Director, David Kahan on Constantly Reinventing a 250-Year-Old Icon (E)

In this special Encore episode, we're revisiting one of our favourite conversations from last year: David Kahan, President and Managing Director of Birkenstock Americas, on keeping a 250-year-old brand relevant. Steve opens with what’s changed since: revenue up 15%, DTC outpacing wholesale for the first time, 13 new stores last quarter, and community-driven concepts in Malibu and Berlin. David then shares lessons behind the brand’s run: never deviating from the footbed, engineered distribution, localized stores, and turning customers into missionaries.

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Oct 06, 2026

Consumer Spending Still Defies Gravity, Luxury Retail Winners and Losers & Untangling AI Shopping Agents

Consumer spending keeps defying gravity, even as sentiment hits a 12-year low and mortgage rates climb. Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc dig into Nike's struggles, Sephora's move into Marks & Spencer, and a luxury check-in on two of Steve's predictions, from the fragile Saks-Neiman reset to Hermès and Coach pulling ahead. Plus: Walmart's pledge to "price the product, not the person," and Steve's four types of AI shopping agents and why trust will pick the winners.

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Sep 29, 2026

Seth Godin: Solving the Unsolvable, Plus Costco Surges & the AI Backlash

The Remarkable Retail podcast Episode 313 opens with the news: Costco's fuel-boosted gains, J.C. Penney's deepening slump and Stitch Fix's stalled turnaround in the return of the Wobbly Unicorn Corner. Then bestselling author Seth Godin is back on the podcast to discuss his new book, The Knot, on why organizations get stuck and how telling the truth untangles them. Plus Adobe's holiday forecast, Neiman Marcus closing its historic downtown Dallas flagship, and on our radar screens AI's mood swing, Canadian & Chinese beer and the state of U.S.global trade.

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Sep 22, 2026

The Race to the Doorstep Escalates, Plus Bloomingdale's Record Comp & Diesel Drama

The Remarkable Retail podcast turns six. Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc mark the milestone by discussing the Fed's latest move to increase interest rates, record diesel prices, and early holiday forecasts from Deloitte and Bain. They also explore Bloomingdale's record 11.3% comp, Coresight's store opening and closing data, Toys R Us expansion, and earnings from Inditex and Kroger. Steve unpacks his Substack article on whether the race to the doorstep is a race to the bottom, and the “On The Radar Screen” segment covers the Target Beauty Studio launch and the ROI of AI.

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