There was a lot going on at Shoptalk this month. For starters, it was Shoptalk’s first time doing the event in the fall. Held in the sprawling McCormick Place in Chicago, more than 3,000 attendees gathered, braving the city’s sunny yet chilly weather to hear top retail executives deliver mainstage keynotes and be a part of lively discussions around themes like unified commerce, data-driven loyalty, and building modern legacy brands. It was also the first time the primary mainstage participants during the first two days of the three-day event were all women.
Here’s what else you need to know:
New beginnings
As it marked its 15-year anniversary, Jennifer Hyman, Rent the Runway CEO and co-founder, said a lot has changed at the company. The popular e-commerce platform has, like many other retailers, seen a series of profit dips over the last few years as it continues to adapt to the changing economy.
To better address the challenges, Hyman mentioned how the company has hired a new CMO this year to revitalize its marketing, alongside a new chief product officer. She added that it was part building out a new team, which she called “a second founding moment.”
“No matter if you’re a startup, if you’re a big company, over 50% of the ideas that you launch are not going to work anyway,” she said. “So why not get them out into the universe as quickly as possible? Figure out what works, iterate on it, and move to utilize data to guide those decisions.”
Building a community-based brand
Glossier was another brand on stage marking a major anniversary—10 years—as CEO Kyle Leahy echoed Hyman’s sentiments about data while reflecting on the retailer’s undying appeal as an OG DTC beauty brand among consumers.
“People don’t come to Glossier because we’re DTC. They don’t come to us because we’re a technology company,” Leahy said. “They come to us because of our brand, and they come to us so we are a community-based beauty brand and the products and experiences they have. So understanding that that was our superpower—it was a unique competitive advantage for us. We really led around that and said that brands endure channels of all kinds, and it was time for us to evolve our strategy from beyond DTC to become omnichannel.”
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The power of a memory
Build-A-Bear President and CEO Sharon Price John discussed how the brand has been successful within the experiential economy—while consistently maintaining profitability—and the importance of unique experiences.
“Even though we’ve been around long enough, no one can continue to call us a fad or a craze,” Price John said. “But I think we’re in an intersection right now of…this tactile piece that’s something that you take with you that isn’t just digital. That’s really important to people these days.”
“[We] used to keep our scrapbooks,” she added. “You’d also keep your tickets. You can’t even keep a ticket to a concert anymore. So just marking the moment in time is important because that's a way to share memories with people.”
Staying loyal
Speaking of memories, if there is one brand nearly everyone you probably know has a memory associated with, it’s McDonald’s. Present to talk about the brand’s legacy were Michelle Gansle, global chief data and analytics officer, and Allegra Krishnan, global chief loyalty and engagement officer, at McDonald’s Corporation. The duo spoke of their specific roles in driving digital engagement and ensuring data accessibility while also discussing the importance of personalization when it comes to loyalty programs.
“We think about the loyalty program as essentially that kind of entry point. It’s the value exchange that we have between the McDonald’s brand and our customers,” Krishnan said, adding that not long ago the company had little insight into their customers and only two channels: its restaurants and drive-thrus.
“Now you’ve got kiosk, you’ve got mobile order and pay, you’ve got delivery, you’ve got all of these net new channels where we can think about harnessing that data asset,” she said, “really taking those insights from that and then essentially bringing them to life across our digital ecosystem in a really meaningful way.”