Retail Responsible Reset Series – WWD

WWD Voices, the publication’s recently launched podcast, kicked off a series powered by Accenture. NS RetailThe Responsible Reboot Series taps industry leaders to dig deeper into the latest industry news and insights like retail, fashion, luxury and beauty are re-established and prepared to develop for a better future.

Hosted by WWD’s Evan Clark and Arthur Zaczkiewicz, with Accenture’s Jill Standish, WWD Voices covered topics including the state of the industry, re-imagining the workforce, reengineering supply chains, fine-tuning data and insights, among other trendy topics. So far, podcast guests include leaders from Levi Strauss & Co., Tapestry, Macy’s Inc., VF Corp. and Michael Kors.

Opening the series, in episode one: “Resetting Retail – The State of the Industry,” Standish and Chip Bergh, chief executives of Levi Strauss & Co., discussed the state of retail and acceleration. importance of technology and the environment, society and corporate governance.

“This year has been a year unlike any we’ve had in our careers,” said Standish, applauding the strides Levi Strauss & Co. achieved in the last year, including prioritizing ESG and the recent acquisition of sports brand Beyond Yoga. .

Notably, Bergh said, Beyond Yoga is the first company acquisition in his 10 years as CEO, but importantly, it’s a strategy for the times. “One of our strategies is to continue to diversify the company, and we’ve been looking at acquisitions for a few years, but we’ve had pretty strict filters that some of us are not sure about,” says Bergh. acquisitions need to pass. “We have a very strong culture, very strong values ​​and principles and so that’s a very important filter for us.”

Volume two, “Resetting the Customer Experience,” focuses on the importance of enhancing the consumer journey with insights from Peloton Marketing Manager Dara Treseder. In this episode, Treseder shares the company’s experience from the boom times during the pandemic, when people sought to exercise more at home than ever before, to the democratization of services at multiple price points. meet the needs of all consumers.

“You have to make decisions based on what’s going on around you,” says Treseder. “And having the right insights and especially writing about what’s going on with consumers and known cultures is where making sure you’re making the right decisions, and I think that That’s really interesting.”

In episode three, Joseph Taiano, executive director of marketing for consumer industries at Accenture, and Sarah Dunn, global human resources officer at Tapestry, joined WWD to discuss the force disruption labor. The duo agree that companies are thinking about their workforces in new ways, handling new employee expectations, and thinking about how those relationships shape an overall business.

Meanwhile, looking forward to a holiday like no other, episode four is about supply chain with Dennis Mullahy, the supply chain manager at Macy’s Inc., who assures everyone that Santa is coming 34th street. in this year. “Partners are a really important part of the supply chain and building the right relationships with partners,” says Mullahy. “It is also an important part of our fourth layer strategy to modernize our supply chain to help it thrive in efficiency and productivity, while allowing us to opportunity as the business continues to evolve to maintain that level of flexibility.”

Episode 5 dives deeper into data and insights, revealing key lessons from Velia Carboni, chief digital and technology officer of VF Corp. She speaks. And looking to the future, she believes that informing built products will become an even more important part of leveraging data. “This whole thing around first-party data is absolutely critical,” Carboni said. “In a way, I think everyone was stressed. I’m really excited because I see this as an opportunity to own that relationship with that consumer even more than we’ve had before.”

Upcoming episodes of WWD Voices premiere every Monday and will highlight topics including strengthening the ESG, the new generation of beauty consumers, holistic and sustainable beauty, and the purpose of restoring brands. brand. To listen to all episodes live, CLICK HERE.