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NRF Article written by Karen Kroll   While many retailers have long offered credit cards, a growing number are providing a wider range of financial services, often partnering with a financial technology company (“fintech”) to make the shift. The goal, says WSL Strategic Retail CEO Wendy Liebmann, is “to build loyalty when shoppers are buying anywhere and everywhere.” In January 2021, Walmart announced a partnership with fintech investment firm Ribbit Capital. The venture, Walmart said, would bring together Walmart’s retail knowledge and scale with Ribbit’s fintech expertise, and deliver tech-driving financial experiences for Walmart’s customers and employees.   Driving customer engagement At the same time, the fintech sector — which combines expertise in financial services, software development and network operations — seeks greater access to customers, says David Ball, president of retail consultant The Grayson Company. “Digital retailers and fintech firms are developing increasingly intertwined ecosystems,” he says.   New skills and technology [...]

Riders on the Storm:  How Retailers Can Proactively Plan for the New Normals of Extreme Weather by, our partner, Evan Gold of Planalytics Over the past several decades, tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific oceans have experienced an increase in terms of the overall occurrences, as well as size and intensity. Combine this with the number of retail stores (and population) who live in hurricane and flood prone areas, and you will note the significant risk and exposure that retailers have from extreme weather events. While we can not control the weather, there are a number of things retailers can do to proactively plan for, and react to extreme weather events. Measure First, then Manage. The first step is to have a foundational understanding of the risk and exposure to weather. Analytics can help quantify the financial impacts weather has on product demand as well as store traffic [...]

Imagine conducting a focus group on your brand with over a million people who didn't know they were in a focus group Unbiased insights Unaided responses Cold hard truth Using digital audits, we capture and process millions of data points using artificial intelligence applications like text analytics and machine learning to extract meaningful, actionable insights from unstructured text in social media   TGC Social Listening ---- CLICK HERE  

Steve Goldberg was proud to participate in the B. Riley 2020 Consumer Expectations panel moderated by B. Riley Managing Director, Senior Equity Research Analyst Susan Anderson TGC shared insights about the state of Consumer Brands and Retailers, along with very important weather based planning commentary from Fred Fox of Planalytics and Retail Real Estate forecasts from Neill Kelly of CBRE. pictured above from left to right:  Steve Goldberg (TGC), Fred Fox (Planalytics), Neil Kelly (CBRE) and Susan Anderson (B. Riley)

Click here to read Lenore Fedow's interview with Kevin Mullaney for National Jeweler    

Target creates an extraordinary Design “Class Union” ~~ By:  Steve Goldberg On Saturday, Sept 14th, Target unveiled their “20 Years of Design” Shop that highlighted product capsules from the most extraordinary fashion and home designers of our time; each had collections at Target in the past. We rushed to Target to hopefully see the presentation at its best, given that past Design Capsules have sold out so quickly. Target Did Not Disappoint! Each presentation represented the truest DNA of each designer, sometimes updated for today’s silhouettes and functionality. The products were well made and represented exceptional price / value. And, while the collection was quickly picked over, especially on-line, Target has made a great effort to replenish wherever possible. Some of the most popular items that sold out on Monday were back on line today! Equally important, Target told the backstory of each designer on its website, creating a wonderful and educational Customer [...]

Working with our strategic partner, The Erlick Group, we are pleased to announce the Octavian Forum, which will be held on October 23rd at Sotheby’s. The Octavian Forum is a highly curated community of global leaders and thought leaders that some refer to as a “Davos” based in New York City. In the past, the Forum featured political leaders including heads of state and ambassadors, investors, economists, Pulitzer Prize winners, artists, influencers and senior executives from across multiple sectors. For sponsorship information, including participation in the Forum, and/or the Octavian report, please contact Jim Erlick at jim@erlick-group.com Click here to watch video for more information

"Let's Talk about the Weather" - Allison Zisko's interview with Steve Goldberg of TGC and Evan Gold of Planalytics Click here for HFN's article

Planalytics, the leading provider of weather-informed demand analytics has partnered with The Grayson Company, the leading retail , brand and investor focused consulting firm. This partnership will enable businesses to understand and effectively manage the impacts of never-ending weather volatility on sales and profitability. Understanding and managing weather's impact across the business remains a huge, untapped area for planning optimization and profit enhancement. Retailers and Brands have long acknowledged that changes in the weather can significantly affect their sales, often pointing to Mother Nature when discussing disappointing or better than-expected results. Weather volatility is a reality that makes it challenging for retailers to plan effectively and keep inventories, operations, and resources aligned with shifting consumer demand trends. In fact, no other external variable has the ability to shift consumer buying behavior as frequently, directly, or meaningfully as the weather.