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In today’s episode of The Retail Perch, Shekar hosts his first episode solo and his first guest of 2023, Randy Mercer of 1WorldSync. Randy is the VP of Global Product Management at 1WorldSync, a leading tool for data synchronization. This episode is all about standardizing data, AI, and product content. Randy discusses the history of 1WorldSync, packaging hierarchies, the challenges they have faced as a company, and much more.

This week on The Retail Perch, Shekar and Gary welcome their first guest from India, Sharat Potharaju. Sharat is the Co-Founder & CEO of Beaconstac. Beaconstac generates QR codes, makes templated landing pages, and facilitates engagement with QR codes. Sharat explains his steps in problem-solving for Beaconstac and connecting the physical and digital world, the importance and future of QR codes in the retail industry, and so much more.

In this special episode of The Retail Perch, Shekar and Gary discuss their top 10 predictions for 2023 surrounding supermarket retail. They both share five of their own predictions which include the growth of retail media networks , artificial intelligence, smart carts and much more!

This is the perfect episode to kick off the season of giving! Gary and Shekar welcome Andrew Forman, Founder & CEO of Givz, a platform that provides customers with an alternative option to traditional discounts that give back to others. Andrew discusses the origin story of Givz, and what inspired him to combine his passion for charity with e-commerce. He explains how donation incentives rather than discounts are helping retailers see a lift in sales and consumer engagement. 

In this episode of The Retail Perch, Shekar and Gary are excited to have brothers, Andrew and Thomas Parkinson, founders of Peapod, on The Retail Perch. Andrew and Thomas have more recently founded Sifter Solutions, which personalizes the shopping experience by matching complex diets with the right foods. They explain how their backgrounds led them to the retail industry, the future of e-commerce, future plans for Sifter Solutions, and how Peapod inspired Birdzi.

This week Shekar and Gary are thrilled to welcome Todd Michaud to The Retail Perch. Todd is the CEO of HuLoop Automation, a company that works with retailers and brands to provide them with digital assistants and digital workers to help them augment what their people do. The three discuss the benefits HuLoop Automation brings to retailers, what the Kroger-Albertsons merger means to the industry, Instacart's recent valuation, and much more.

In this special episode of The Retail Perch, Shekar and Gary share their thoughts on the recent Groceryshop event in Las Vegas. It is evident from their enthusiasm that in-person events are almost back to their pre-covid glory. They discuss Instacart’s acquisition of Rosie, computer vision platforms, electronic shelf tags, dynamic pricing, and much more!

This week on The Retail Perch, Shekar, and Gary welcome Shawn Tuckett, CEO of Webstop, a company that helps retailers be more successful digitally. Shawn explains how Webstop levels the digital playing field for small to midsize retailers by providing powerful end-to-end solutions to create a complete digital grocery experience. The three discuss; Webstop's retail media network for small to midsized retailers, how digital strategies have changed over the last 10 years, the flexibility of digital promotion vs. the traditional ad cycle, why retailers should prioritize promotional pages on their websites, and so much more.

This week Gary and Shekar welcome Russ Hawkins, President, and CEO of Agilence. Agilence is a leader in loss prevention analytics, helping retailers, restaurants, and grocery retailers reduce preventable loss. Russ describes his journey from New England Telephone to Agilence and all the stops along the way. The three delve into the areas where businesses are using Agilence’s analytics platform to gather insights into revenue, revenue management, climate management, compliance, and cost and expense controls

This week Gary and Shekar welcome Kevin Sterneckert, Chief Strategy Officer at DemandTec an Acoustic Company. Kevin brings extensive experience in grocery retail, retail technology analysis, and identifying the possibilities of AI, IoT, big data technologies of the future that are creating excellence in the supply chain. The three discuss the keys to successful deployment, reasons deployments fail, how physical shopping is changing, and much more. 

In this episode, Gary and Shekar welcome back Doug Madenberg Chief Listening Officer and Executive Director at The Feedback Group. Doug is on to share the findings from The Feedback Group's recent national research on food price inflation and shoppers' perception of grocer's profitability. Doug shares the strategies customers are using to cope, the percentage of shoppers using these strategies, the call to action that retailers can't afford to ignore, and much more. The insights from this research are too valuable to miss, if you are a retailer, take the time to listen to this episode.

This week Gary and Shekar get the opportunity to geek out with Stephen Statler, SVP at Amazon-backed Wiliot a company that has designed IoT Pixels to track the location and temperature of produce from farms to stores. Stephen explains how their postage stamp-sized technology is allowing retailers to minimize waste and maximize freshness for customers. The three also delve into how these tiny computers are powered, the costs associated with them, their uses in grocery retail, and much more. 

This week, Gary and Shekar have the pleasure of speaking Arsen Avakian CEO and Founder of Cooler Screens and Founder of Argo Tea. The focus of today's conversation is the sophisticated digital add platform known as Cooler Screens, but Arsen shares how building his challenger tea brand, Argo Tea, helped him to understand the consumer experience gap (CX Gap) between the information available online and the information deficit of brick and mortar shopping. Cooler Screens bridge that gap by using AI to deliver ingredient information, allergens, calories, etc. as well as vibrant images of the actual products within the case. 

Sustainability seems to be a buzzword in grocery retail these days. Many retailers have gone so far as to sign sustainability pacts. In this episode, Gary and Shekar speak with Jay Jordan, co-founder, and COO of Strella Biotech, a startup that provides actionable data to optimize the fresh supply chain. Strella Biotech focuses on upstream supply to make ripeness predictable and reduce food waste. Jay explains where the inspiration for Strell Biotech came from, how their ethylene sensing technology works to optimize inventory, the possibilities for this tech in retail, and much more. 

This week Shekar, Gary, and guest host Stephanie have the privilege of speaking with Sterling Hawkins, keynote speaker, investor, entrepreneur, and author. Sterling is on the show to share his new book, "Hunting Discomfort." We discuss the #nomatterwhat movement, how fear and ego keep us stuck in business and life, and much more. This show is for anyone who feels there are too many obstacles between them and the goals they would like to achieve. 

Gary and Shekar welcome Lucinda Wright, co-founder and CEO of Cask & Kettle, creators of boozy cocktail k-pods for home coffee brewing systems. That's right boozy k-pods! When one thinks of alcoholic beverages, technology probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind, but Lucinda’s story about their k-pods distilled spirits will make you think twice. Boozie vanilla latte anyone? Just load the k-pod and press brew on your coffee maker! Lucinda shares her inspiration story and the challenges associated with breaking into adult beverages with a product unlike any other on the market.

This week Gary and Shekar welcome Adam Zimmerman, Partner at DESIGN HOUSE, an advanced digital circular platform. DESIGN HOUSE is redefining the weekly ad for retailers in more ways than one and of course, Gary and Shekar were excited to offer their .02 on the subject. Adam explains how his company has taken the weekly circular of the 1970s and modernized it into a digital ecosystem that drives traffic into the store, and they have the analytics to prove it.

This week is a first for The Retail Perch! Gary and Shekar have the pleasure of speaking with Alicia Esposito, VP of Content at Retail TouchPoints. Alicia offers the unique perspective of someone in retail media. The three discuss Retail TouchPoints' approach to delivering relevant content to retailers, the different retail verticals and what they can learn from each other, the power of TikTok and other social media, what grocery can learn from the cosmetic retail industry, and much more!

This week, Gary and Shekar are joined by Tommy Yionoulis founder of OpsAnalitica, a SaaS platform that helps clients manage their daily operations and identify issues in their business so they can be addressed quickly and efficiently. Tommy tells the story of how he went from college grad to stand-up comedian to founder of OpsAnaliica. They discuss the positive impact the platform had on businesses during Covid, the ways it reduces the load of operations teams, and much more!

In Part III of this series, Gary and Shekar discuss how to execute quickly on the copious data that retailers have to ensure they are providing the most relevant offers to their customers. They also talk about how marketing automation combined with a sophisticated understanding of each shopper helps retailers create strategies for 1 to 1 personalization, the future of the weekly ad, and much more.