Talk Retail to Me

As retailers gear up for the critical back-to-school and holiday seasons, new tariffs on Chinese imports—some as high as 145%—are causing significant disruptions in global supply chains. In this episode of Talk Retail to Me, Parker Avery’s CEO, Clay Parnell, is joined by the firm’s Chief Consulting Officer, Amanda Astrologo, and industry thought leader Walt Holbrook to discuss the current chaos driven by tariffs and how retailers c...

In this episode of The Parker Avery Group's "Talk Retail to Me" podcast, retail experts Marty Anderson and Mike Johnson delve into how our firm collaborated with a major theme park retailer to untangle the complexities of managing over 300 unique stores. From hyper-localized assortments to razor-thin inventory margins, these consultants detail how data, analytics, and a clear roadmap contributed to balancing customer satisfaction w...

In this dynamic roundtable, host Sam Iosevich monitors a panel of pricing experts as they discuss how to tackle the complexities of modern retail pricing. From inflation and AI to organizational alignment and price wars, this episode delivers sharp insights and practical guidance.

• Robert McGuire, Retail Pricing Leader
• Jeffrey Kittell, VP, Pricing & Strategy, SpartanNash
• Eddy Salas, SVP Retail Strate...

In this episode, Tricia Gustin is joined by Sam Iosevich from Parker Avery and Dilip Popat from Novulis Consulting to discuss how AI-driven demand signals transform retail and CPG industries.

The conversation explores the power of the Enterprise Intelligence Hypercube, an advanced platform that integrates data across all organizational functions to provide real-time, actionable insights. Sam and Dilip share how AI enables retailer...

In this episode of Talk Retail to Me, we dive into a transformation at one of America's largest family-owned luxury retailers. What started as a straightforward client project to clarify roles became a journey of rebuilding trust, transforming leadership behaviors, and healing a deeply fractured organization. Join Parker Avery CEO Robert Kaufman, Principal Kathi Toll, and host Tricia Gustin as the team unpacks how authentic leaders...

In this episode of Parker Avery's "Talk Retail to Me" podcast, Clay Parnell (president and managing partner) and Marty Anderson (principal) discuss a recently completed project for a $7 billion jewelry retailer. The two retail experts share valuable insights from the project which entailed developing a comprehensive, actionable roadmap to address business and technology challenges resulting from significant growth and acquisitions.

In this episode of the 'Talk Retail to Me' podcast by The Parker Avery Group, Tricia Gustin, senior director Carrie Habel, and senior manager Dustin Wright discuss a recent store operations improvement project. They detail their innovative approach, including a capsized train-the-trainer strategy and deep store collaboration, to identify inefficiencies such as laborious administrative tasks and ineffective training practices. The p...

In this episode of Talk Retail to Me, Parker Avery’s Chief Executive Officer, Robert Kaufman shares his insights about the changing role of the retail chief supply chain officer.

Answering questions from a recent interview with media outlet, Modern Retail, Robert discusses how changes in consumer shopping behaviors, combined with global macroeconomic events and disturbances have added great complexity, challenges, and risks to the ...

In this episode of Talk Retail to Me, Senior Director and omnichannel expert Rob Oglesby shares his insights into how big box retailers are handling the in-store fulfillment of omnichannel orders. Answering questions from a recent interview with media outlet Modern Retail, Rob outlines the implications, challenges, and risks, even as this capability becomes critical to many retailers’ success.

Rob answers the following questions ab...

Hosted by retail demand planning experts, Sam Iosevich, Marty Anderson, and Steve Gordon, Parker Avery's recent Talk Retail to Me Transformation Happy Hour covered integrated business planning as a key strategic focus area for leading retailers and consumer brands. The trio outlined key enablers around technology, business process, and organization that help companies unleash collaboration and efficiencies with integrated business...

This episode of Parker Avery's Talk Retail to Me podcast focuses on business process transformation. Featuring two of our retail leaders, Clay Parnell and Deanna Emsley, we take a deep dive into what it means to transform business processes. We cover what areas are focus points for our clients, how Parker Avery helps retailers and consumer brands prioritize and navigate these process transformations, and what success looks like. 

M...

In this episode of Talk Retail to Me, Parker Avery consultants and retail veterans Marty Anderson, Deanna Emsley, and Mike Johnson take a deep dive into the world of retail hierarchies. Senior Director of Marketing, Tricia Gustin, hosts the discussion, during which the experts discuss:

• What are retail hierarchies and what roles are involved?
• Why they are so often mismanaged or poorly executed?
• What are best practices when it c...

In this episode of Talk Retail to Me, Parker Avery consultants take a deep dive into allocation and replenishment. Coming off the heels of Shoptalk 2023, where so many people are still reaching for the shiny tech, we are focused on ensuring the basics of retail are securely and optimally in place so those customer-facing innovations work well and deliver a great customer experience.

Allocation and replenishment is one area with its...

Organizational change management and retail experts Kathi Toll and Carrie Habel discuss transformational leadership and why this competency is critically important. They outline how it differs from change management and specific tactics retailers and brands must take to evolve their organizations and people into transformational leaders.

• Meet Kathi Toll: https://parkeravery.com/kathi-toll/
• Meet Carrie Habel: https://parkerav...

In this episode of our Talk Retail to Me podcast, we discuss integrated business planning (IBP) and how Parker Avery approaches this strategic capability that many retailers and consumer brands struggle to effectively grasp because of the traditionally highly siloed nature of planning.

This episode features Sam Iosevich, Parker Avery’s Chief Analytics Officer, and Steve Gordon, our Chief Customer Officer. Both Sam and Steve have de...

Tricia Gustin, Senior Director of Marketing for The Parker Avery Group is joined by Parker Avery’s CEO, Robert Kaufman, along with Senior Manager John Lawing. The trio takes a deep dive into the product development process and supporting PLM systems. Based on their decades of experience helping Parker Avery clients enhance this key functional area, they also highlight best practices and innovations that retailers and brands should ...

In this episode of Talk Retail to Me, Tricia Gustin is joined by Parker Avery's Chief Analytics Officer Sam Iosevich, along with Senior Analytics Consultant Scott Kirila and Professor Alex Iosevich from the University of Rochester mathematics department. This episode provides an insider’s view of the university’s STEM Tripods 2022 summer research program. The group discusses the "real world" retail industry experience the participa...