As the world of retail continues to evolve, transformation and business improvement remain high on the agenda. The podcast is now celebrating its 5th birthday, so Oliver Banks is pulling out clips of the best bits, or those famed golden nuggets, for you to enjoy. The clips feature ideas about retail technology, data, AI, omnichannel retail, retail media networks, business models, customer experience, cost savings and profitability. Listen now to this first part with retail-inspired golden nuggets from the past 12 months.
Listen to this episode to hear:
- Highlights from different episodes, featuring expert guests and from Oliver Banks’s solo shows.
- Takeaways on topics like new business models, CX, retail media networks, marketplaces, data and AI.
Oliver Banks: Contradictions are defining the retail industry
In episode 250: Becoming Fit For The Future, Oliver explores the complex retail environment, and defines 5 elements to factor in as you seek to become fit for the future.
ChatGPT: Humans play a critical role alongside AI in the future
An unlikely guest joined Oliver Banks as a guest in this episode. ChatGPT, aka “Chatters” explored the future of retail and the roles and opportunities for AI and humans going forward. Listen to episode 223: AI And The Future Of Retail to understand more about where AI is being used and how it will transform the retail industry.
Oliver Banks: Consumer AI will play a disruptive force
Following on from the episode with ChatGPT as the guest, this solo show with Oliver Banks dives deeper to explore this crucial topic further. In episode 224: 10 Thoughts On AI In Retail, you’ll hear more about where AI will and won’t play a key role, as well as a critical reframe that’s needed to help make the most if this new technology.
Ben Miller: Using data to show you the way
AI was a key talking point in a number of recent events. So too was data, as Ben Miller explained in episode 241: Building On Big Shoptalk Europe Takeaways.
“Make sure you don’t use data like a drunk uses a lamp post. Use it for enlightenment, not support.”
Ben Miller, with kudos to an ex-colleague
Oliver Banks: The challenges are defined by the journey of transformation
Technology and transformation are often nearby each other. In episode 230: Retail Tech To Solve In Store Challenges (part 1), you’ll hear about how to best apply technology. But it all begins with understanding the challenges that the business faces – be that around profitability, disjointed operating models, colleague experience, customer experience or any other factor.
Oliver Banks: Consumers aren’t talking about omnichannel, nor many other crucial retail topics
“Customers don’t talk about omnichannel” is a criticism that’s often cited. But there are many topics which they also don’t talk about. In episode 262: Omnichannel Vs Unified Commerce, Oliver explores why were starting to move away from the idea of omnichannel and instead pursue unified commerce.
Ricardo Belmar: When is too much retail media too much for customers
Retail media networks have been one of the major industry developments of the last 12 months, although they’re not strictly new. Retail influencer Ricardo Belmar joined in episode 214: The Evolution Of Retail Ad And Media Networks and highlights watchouts, including the risk of over advertising to consumers.
Oliver Banks: Great experiences are defined by great human interactions
Customer experience is always a critical topic. And a subset of CX, customer conversations represent a huge opportunity, be that in person, on the phone or online. Episode 245: Elevating Customer Conversations explores this further with the valuable observation that great experiences are not when things work well. They’re when the experience has been elevated by a person.
Oliver Banks: Community makes it hard for customers to leave
Following on from the previous episode, Oliver explored the opportunities for developing customer relationships and interactions. In episode 251, Oliver highlighted the opportunities and approaches for Unleashing The Power Of Retail Community.
Liza Amlani: Ultra fast fashion retailers are smart with insight and processes
Merchandising expert Liza Amlani joined in episode 225: Transforming Ranging And Curation. Liza spoke about the art of curation and selecting an assortment that offers meaningful options to customers. She also spoke about how fast fashion (and ultra fast fashion) retailers like Zara and Shein are adapting their processes and insight to define their ranges.
Oliver Banks: Use expansive and reductive thinking to find new business models
New business models offer a load of opportunity, but they represent a hugely disruptive and tricky form of transformation. In episode 255: Moving Beyond The Traditional Business Model, Oliver explores why you should be focused on new business models and how to go about creating them. This clip helps highlight one of the skills and approaches to discover the right new model and opportunity for you.
Oliver Banks: Amazon failed, a lot. And it’s been brilliant for them
Amazon has been one of the biggest retail innovators. They have found many transformation efforts that have refined their operating model, business model and even the entire industry. But, they’ve also discovered many ideas that didn’t work. Oliver highlights some of these ideas in episode 257: Unpacking How Amazon Have Expanded alongside other activities or cultural differences that have helped Amazon expand to the enormous retailing force that they are today.
Oliver Banks: Avoiding acquisitions blowing you off course
Retailers like Next, Frasers Group and Walmart have been busy acquiring companies to help develop their core business. But buying companies is only a small part of this expansion strategy. Join Oliver Banks in episode 215: Making Acquisitions Successful and explore elements to factor in.
Oliver Banks: Variation is the enemy of simplification
Simplification should always be in business leaders’ minds to help drive incremental improvements. In episode 260: Unlocking Retail Simplification, Oliver highlighted that variation is the enemy of simplification and considered how to consider making your business processes quick, easy, reliable and repeatable to help minimise variation.
Lindsey Mazza: Old cost-cutting techniques won’t work now
Capgemini’s Lindsey Mazza highlighted the factors that are most important to customers in 2023. A key enabler of these is cost cutting and retailers must realise that the old approaches won’t work any longer. Check out episode 228: What Customers Want In 2023 to discover more.
Oliver Banks: Pricing is a crucial lever for profitability
Profitability remains the primary goal for commercial businesses. But it also remains stubbornly difficult for many companies, especially in the fiercely competitive retail market. In episode 261: Uncovering The Path To Retail Profitability, Oliver explored the 6 workstreams to factor in to help drive profitability.
He also introduced OB&Co’s new Path for Profitability service to help you discover the opportunities to unlock financial success. If you’d like to discover more. Book a call with Oliver Banks and discuss how you could drive your bottom line upwards.
Oliver Banks: Assessing the health of a transformation
Finally, the clip from episode 258: The Story Behind My Upcoming Book included a reading from Oliver Banks’s upcoming book, Driving Retail Transformation. In this reading, you’ll discover the background to the book’s core framework that will help keep your transformation on track throughout the entire lifecycle of change – from idea inception to implementation.
Look out for more Golden Nuggets
The golden nugget review continues in the next episode. So look out for episode 264.
Also check out the golden nuggets from previous years. Find them on this site or listen on your usual podcast app.
- Year 4: episode 211 and 212
- Year 3: episode 158 and 159
- Year 2: episode 106 and 107
- Year 1: episode 54 and 55
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