2022 Retail Refined

How Daniel’s Jewelers is Utilizing the Recent Successes of the Jewelry Industry

Daniel’s Jewelers

The jewelry industry stands unique compared to other retailers for a lot of reasons, and most of that being with how personal a jewelry purchase can be. Despite flourishing over the years, that growth saw a quick decline in 2020 due to the pandemic. But later the industry saw a rapid increase in sales just…

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2022 Retail Refined
Bubble Skincare Refreshing and Authentic Consumer-Centered Products

As any good entrepreneur knows, starting a new business should address a consumer gap. For Bubble Skincare CEO and Founder, Shai Eisenman, she identified the need of affordable skincare that was accessible, made with clean ingredients, and centered around its target consumers – Generation Z teens. With such a refreshing approach to business, host…

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2022 Retail Refined
Why Retailers are Using Computer Vision to Help Customers Find the Perfect Shoe

Currently, the customer journey for shoe shopping is quite involved and tedious. Consumers shop for shoes, read reviews and shoe sizing graphs, maybe even go in store to try shoes on, and often buy multiple pairs in various sizes. Sometimes they even buy the same product in different sizes — only to ultimately return…

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2022 Retail Refined
Behind WorkJam’s Mission to Improve Retention and Training in Retail

Steve Kramer, CEO at WorkJam, is a twenty-year veteran in e-commerce. His specialty is finding the gaps in how organizations manage their frontlines. He founded WorkJam in 2014 as a digital frontline workplace to solve retail industry issues. “Our platform essentially helps retailers and companies and other industries, such as healthcare, manufacturing, and distribution,…

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2022 Retail Refined
Platform Unification Is More Important Than Ever for Retailers

Successful retail requires flexibility. Recently, omnichannel was groundbreaking, but Retail Dive now reports it as a consumer baseline expectation. Let’s say a consumer is shopping on their mobile device. They transfer to their laptop to complete the transaction only to find an empty cart. These disconnections create enough friction for shoppers to jump and abandon…

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2022 Retail Refined
How Buy Now Pay Later is Impacting the Store Experience

The popularity of BNPL (buy now, pay later) has grown tremendously over the past decade. The attraction of breaking purchasing payments up over weeks without interest or late fees is undeniable. In fact, “BNPL spending in the US is up 230% since 2020, per a September report by Accenture… [and] it’s estimated to total ~$226 billion this year,…

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2022 Retail Refined
How Retailers Are Rethinking Their Space to Maximize Experience and Flow

Retail in 2022 and surviving as a brick-and-mortar store means keeping up with the consumers and consistently improving the customer’s experience. Keeping up with the consumers means being able to know what is convenient for them and what drives a consumer to make a purchase. In this episode of Retail Redefined, hosted by Melissa Gonzalez…

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summer melt
From Freshmen to Founders: Michigan Students Take on Higher Ed’s Summer Melt Crisis with MeetYourClass
May 29, 2025

A growing number of colleges are struggling to convert applicants into enrolled students—and to keep them engaged through graduation. With Gen Z students relying heavily on familiar digital platforms like Instagram and Discord for social interaction, traditional college tools for orientation, enrollment, and community-building often miss the mark. According to research, between 10 to 40…

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Aviation maintenance
The Future of Flight Depends on Mechanics, Not Machines: How Jets MRO is Solving the Aviation Maintenance Talent Gap
May 28, 2025

Private aviation is booming—but behind the sleek jets and luxury cabins lies a hidden crisis. A looming shortage of qualified aviation maintenance technicians threatens to ground growth. According to Boeing’s 2023 Pilot and Technician Outlook, the industry will need about 690,000 new maintenance technicians by 2042. While private jet usage is skyrocketing, the infrastructure to…

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digital learning ecosystem
Stride at 25: Redefining the Digital Learning Ecosystem for Today’s K–12 Learners
May 28, 2025

As virtual learning matures and school choice accelerates across the U.S.,the 25th anniversary of Stride Inc. offers a moment to reflect on how far the digital learning ecosystem has come and where it’s headed.. Once known as K12 Inc., the company helped pioneer online education at scale. But in a landscape shaped by evolving…

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search
From Search (SEO) to Answers with Generative AI
May 27, 2025

In this episode of The Marketing AI SparkCast, Aby Varma—founder of Spark Novus, which partners with marketing leaders to adopt AI responsibly and strategically—hosts Mike Ensing, Founder and CEO of Revere AI. They explore how LLMs are revolutionizing search, shifting the customer journey, and forcing a new marketing playbook where brand discovery is increasingly…

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Other 2022 Retail Refined
Moving Online to Brick & Mortar Has Helped UNTUCKit Thrive
June 21, 2022

With over 12K retail locations closing in 2020, leaving 159M square feet of retail space unoccupied, many might be thinking that the future of brick and mortar retail locations is permanently on the decline. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, retailers opened more stores than they closed in 2021, “with a nearly…

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How American Eagle Outfitters Went by Acquisitions to Fill Logistics Gaps
April 12, 2022

At a time when the supply and demand chain is experiencing growth in the retail sector, companies are focusing now more than ever on their efforts to keep up with the increasing pressures. Retail Refined host Melissa Gonzalez sat down to talk about the matter, and with her, Shekar Natarajan, Chief Global Supply Chain Officer…

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IBM Study Shows a Growing Portion of Consumers Embrace Hybrid Shopping
April 5, 2022

It’s the age-old question advertisers ask themselves: How do I ensure the brand is placed at the right place and right time to successfully engage our target audience throughout the customer journey? Discussing this loaded topic with Retail Refined Host, Melissa Gonzalez, is Karl Haller, partner of the consumer center of competency at IBM. One…

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$40 Million in Funding Allows HugePOD to expand to the US
March 31, 2022

The Head of Global Expansion at HugePOD discusses custom apparel with Retail Refined host Melissa Gonzalez. HugePOD is a global leader in print-on-demand apparel design and manufacturing. Formally launched in 2021, HugePOD includes a worldwide network of diverse manufacturers and has developed a flexible fashion supply chain for world-class retailers, including Steve Madden, Forever New, Landmark,…

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Having Funding Isn’t Enough, Entrepreneurs of Color Need an Ecosystem of Resources
February 8, 2022

Making a difference for black-owned businesses is Kendra Bracken-Ferguson. Bracken-Ferguson’s establishment of BrainTrust, an innovative social, digital, and influencer marketing agency focused on growing brands from organic communities since 2016, recently launched BrainTrust Founders Studio. This membership-based community platform creates inclusive economic opportunities for Black Beauty and Wellness Founders, increases business performance, and builds…

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