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A-AMA w/Carl BoutetA-AMA Ep 19: FinTech and Its Implications for RetailWelcome back everyone! We are back with a new episode discussing FinTech - what it means, the implications around data, technology and of course regulation because where you have technology, you will find regulation follows. Carl tells us about the futures of FinTech in the retail space and we discuss network effects, benefits FinTech brings to consumers and to retailers, such as cross border transactions so tune into this podcast and follow us on Linkedin to stay up to date!
https://linktr.ee/aamapodcast2024-02-1523 minA-AMA w/Carl BoutetA-AMA Ep 18: Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023This week, Carl and Arta recap the 2023 Black Friday and Cyber Monday reports! With the season of door-crashing and sale frenzies being something of the past, the future of retail sale periods involves a much higher focus on online deals. Tune in to here some of the figures and some of our perspectives on what level of sale would be enough to gain our attention and whether consumers will need to be weaned off these dramatic sale discounts in future when retailers struggle to sustain them.
If you enjoyed this episode, follow and leave...2023-11-3015 minA-AMA w/Carl BoutetA-AMA Ep 17 - OpenAI News and the Role of Governance in AIWhat a whirlwind of a weekend it was in the world of AI with the firing of OpenAI co-founder and CEO, Sam Altman. Days later, he is back but the impacts of this will continue to be felt - what does it mean for the role of governance in AI? This episode, Carl and Arta discuss OpenAI, Microsofts moves, seeing a Facebook like coup happening in 2023, and a lot more.
If you enjoyed this episode, follow and leave us a review! The support means a lot.
You can follow...2023-11-2212 minA-AMA w/Carl BoutetA-AMA Ep 16 - Netflix Opening Retail Stores - WHY?This week, the news that Netflix is "adding retail to its roster" is on our minds and Arta asks a big, fat, WHY. Why would this be the move for Netflix and what are they hoping to gain? Tune in to hear Carl's insight - Netflix may hope to connect their digital consumers to physical consumers and use these stores to better understand what consumers want and in this experiential economy, where Taylor Swift has the power to raise the US GDP, Netflix may be in for a ride!
If you enjoyed this episode...2023-10-2309 minA-AMA w/Carl BoutetA-AMA Ep 15 - Automation & Operations in the Quick Service Food and Beverage IndustryThis week, Arta and Carl get technical and discuss automation and operations in the quick service/fast casual food and beverage industry - think Starbucks, Sweetgreen and Blank Street Coffee. We dive into the effects on employees and Carl raises the point of how saving consumers time is highly desireable and it's not a one size fits all in how consumers act. Tune in to hear more about this topic!
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And Arta - here2023-10-0910 minA-AMA w/Carl BoutetA-AMA Ep 9 - Arta's Recap from The Lead SummitThis week Carl asks Arta about how her first retail industry conference (The Lead Summit in NYC) went! We discuss her key takeaways - how the circular economy, creating community, and innovative brand engagement were all top of mind.
(This episode was recorded in July - but there was a posting error so posting again now)
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And Arta - here2023-09-2805 minA-AMA w/Carl BoutetA-AMA Ep 14 - The FTC's Suit Against Amazon | Has Amazon gotten too big?This week, we're discussing the breaking news that the Federal Trade Commission has filed a long-time coming lawsuit against Amazon and Carl tells us how this might play out. The FTC's chair Lina Khan wrote about the Amazon Anti-Trust Paradox and it seems there may be an impending shift in whether companies like Amazon can continue to do everything in service of the customer as this idea perhaps is challenged by a view of now acting in service of society more collectively. Tune into this quick episode to get the rundown!
If you enjoyed:2023-09-2805 minA-AMA w/Carl BoutetA-AMA Ep 13 - What is the job of a Retail Strategist?This week, we're asking Carl to tell us about his job as a retail strategist / prescriptor / consultant and what these mean in practice. Who seeks out a retail strategist? And how long can they help a retailer or brand? Carl tells us about how his experience as a small business founder operating within Costco armed him with the empathy to understand both sides of the coin and this helps him identify solutions in the retail space. Tune in to hear a key question: what skill should an emerging retail leader, like Arta, be looking to develop for success in...2023-09-1806 minA-AMA w/Carl BoutetA-AMA Ep 12 - The Circular Economy and Sustainability in RetailIt was about time we spoke about the circular economy and sustainability in retail! As sustainability has become more top of mind in the past decade, retail businesses are thinking of how they can implement the 5 Rs - recycle, refurb, reuse, repair and reduce and we can't deny there is a huge consumer led demand for companies to do better.
Particularly in fashion, there is a huge growth in second hand, resale, and even renting businesses and in this episode we discuss whether consumers are really ready for sustainability or whether they might still hold back.
2023-09-0810 minA-AMA w/Carl BoutetA-AMA Ep 11 - Retail headwinds and what happens when big retailers go bust?This week Arta and Carl take a look at Wilko, a UK mixed-goods retailer, which is shutting down after almost a century in the business. Unfortunately high street staples have been dropping off and this episode explores the likely causes - supply chain issues, a business model that no longer works or just the latest evolution in the world of retail that demands more of our retailers - as well as what happens next..
Join us this episode and if you enjoyed, make sure to follow and leave a review!
Follow Carl...2023-08-2808 minA-AMA w/Carl BoutetA-AMA Ep 10 - Back to Basics - Financial Quarters and the Economics behind Retail StrategyThis week Arta is taking us back to basics and asking retail expert Carl about how the pressures and objectives of each financial quarter affect retail strategy. Inspired by the news of a 2nd annual Amazon prime day as a technique to bump Q4 financials, Arta was curious to learn about techniques retailers use to improve their reports so tune in to learn what Carl had to say!
You can find Carl and Arta on Linkedin and also don't forget to leave a review of the podcast and subscribe if you're enjoying so far!
Carl...2023-08-1513 minA-AMA w/Carl BoutetA-AMA Ep 8 - Simeon Siegel Live from The Lead SummitToday's guest on Arta Asks Me Anything is Simeon Siegel, a Managing Director and award-winning Senior Analyst specializing in Retail and E-commerce. Live from The Lead Innovation Summit in NYC, Arta asks a series of quickfire questions around DTC, returns, discounting and also why Simeon was drawn to retail.
If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a rating and subscribe to stay tuned.
You can find Simeon - here, Arta - here and Carl - here! 2023-07-2403 minA-AMA w/Carl BoutetA-AMA Ep 7 - Live from The Lead Summit with Michael LeBlanc and Steve DennisThis episode is live from The Lead Innovation Summit in NYC with none other than top 100 retail influencers: Michael LeBlanc and Steve Dennis. The first official guests on Arta Asks Me Anything are the dynamic duo from the Remarkable Retail podcast and Arta asks them about a retailer they have their eyes on, challenges of fostering community and Amazon Prime Day.
You can catch Steve and Michael on their podcast - Remarkable Retail and as always, follow and subscribe to A-AMA on your preferred podcast network!
You can find Carl Boutet - here...2023-07-2123 minA-AMA w/Carl BoutetA-AMA Ep 6 - Threads & Emerging Social Media PlatformsBoasting over 100 million users, Threads is the latest social media platform out there. Leveraging the userbase from Meta, this new app has Carl & Arta discussing the impact of emerging social channels, from who the main benefactors will be to how this app will provide different content from the others. Perhaps it's an app where brands and users can take advantage of the newness of the app to bring humanity and humour to the social media of brands.
If you enjoyed this episode, follow and leave us a review!
Follow C...2023-07-2105 minA-AMA w/Carl BoutetA-AMA Ep 5 - Airphoria, the Nike x Fortnite Immersive WorldAirphoria is the latest collaboration between Nike and Fortnite to bring gamers on an adventure around immersive cities to find the Air Max shoe and unlock digital rewards. Nike is a brand that isn't making the mistake of abandoning this form of digital exploration and in this episode, Carl and Arta discuss the impact and value of exploring the metaverse for brands and how the rise of these collaborations can have an impact even on the non-gamers of the world.
Carl mentions some of the first and second order benefits for a brand like Nike to gain...2023-07-0508 minA-AMA w/Carl BoutetA-AMA Ep 4 - Subscriptions & Spotify's New 'Supremium' LevelDrawing from the news of Spotify's upcoming subscription level, 'supremium', today's episode of Arta Asks Me Anything discusses subscriptions and why they're so powerful in retail.
Carl's take is that there is a larger trend of brands looking to build Customer Lifetime Value (CTV) as opposed to looking at Per Purchase Metrics and the market moving towards rewarding recurring purchases has incentivised businesses, from Disney to car manufacturers, to introduce subscriptions.
Whilst subscriptions weren't the norm 10 years ago, now there is great value for businesses to understand their cohorts...2023-06-2704 min
A-AMA w/Carl BoutetIntroducing A-AMA w/Carl Boutet - A New Series Discussing Retail Hot Topics Hi all! Welcome to Arta-Asks Me Anything with me, Arta, and my co-host, Carl Boutet. Carl is a retail strategist and expert with 25 years of experience and Arta is a young student, freshly interested in the retail world. Every week, we'll be combining perspectives on the hot topics in retail and discussing stories that have caught our eye and what we think this means for the retail space.
This series is available on Carl Boutet's LinkedIn and also on all podcast platforms. Please leave a review and follow for more!
2023-06-2701 minA-AMA w/Carl BoutetA-AMA Ep 1 - Apple's Vision ProsWould you spend $5000 (CAD) on Apple's new Vision Pros? This week we're discussing the latest innovation announced at Apple's 2023 WWDC Keynote and how this mixed reality headset is a signal to the future of immersive experiences.
However, the Vision Pro won't be the hero device we were hoping for to get us immediately to our eventual smartphone-free ubiquitous immersive/i-commerce future... but does bring us one step closer.
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And Arta - here 2023-06-2707 minA-AMA w/Carl BoutetA-AMA Ep 2 - Live ShoppingWhy is live shopping so much more successful in Asia than in the West? Today's episode of Arta Asks Me Anything brings us Carl in Bangkok discussing live shopping and the differences in the Asian and North American consumers.
Live shopping is an interactive way to shop where you can ask questions in chatboxes and shop directly from the stream, and it seems there is a resurgence of live shopping. We also discuss how this may affect influencer marketing and how the Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) in Asia are highlighting the importance of trust.2023-06-2706 minA-AMA w/Carl BoutetA-AMA Ep 3 - DTCIs DTC dead? Is that even possible?
Inspired by this article, this week Carl and Arta are discussing DTC aka Direct-To-Consumers, the model of selling directly to consumers online or in brick and mortar stores instead of using retailers or wholesalers as middlemen.
There's a lot of questioning of how economically sustainable DTC is with big brands like Nike returning to selling through retail channels after seeking to own the channel but not finding that value sufficient and ultimately it's not black and white when it comes to DTC or selling through...2023-06-2705 min