The streams are crossing somewhere along the Vegas Strip, as this week's episode features our news segment recorded at the National Association of Convenience Stores event, while our interview was conducted live at GroceryShop.

Our guest this week is Tony Shan, Head of Tmall Global, Americas, for the Alibaba Group. We learn a bit about the scale, scope and evolution of the world's third largest retailer, before going deeper on the innovative Freshippo grocery concept. We touch on essential elements of providing a more harmonized shopping experience that is at the heart of "New Retail" before getting Tony's perspective on what is key to driving and prioritizing innovation. We also unpack the definition and importance of "fresh" and its interplay with convenience, price and sustainability.

But first we share our top take-aways from the week that was in retail, starting with the contrast of a strong US job market report with the third straight quarter of GDP declines. Then we take on earnings reports from Bed, Bath & Beyond (yuck), Nike (huh?) and Costco (wow!). Peloton continues to take the D out of DTC as they announce a wholesale partnership with Dick's Sporting Goods.

Instead of a trip to the Wobbly Unicorn Corner we lift up some pretty nice capital raises from DNVB darlings Caraway, Monos, and Everlane. It also turns out that physical retail is still not dead, as store openings continue to outpace closures. And fresh on the heels of our interview with Sam's Club SVP Tim Simmons we learn about the brand's planned new innovation center.

About Tony

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shantony/

Tony Shan joined Alibaba Group in 2017 and now serves as the Head of the Americas region for Alibaba Group’s cross-border B2C platforms, Tmall Global & Kaola. He leads a team of category experts in North America working with brands, retailers and SMEs to sell into the growing Chinese market. Prior to his work with ecommerce in China, Tony was the Merchandising and Marketing Lead for the apparel & footwear business at an Amazon subsidiary that operated U.S. ecommerce sites such as Diapers.com and Soap.com. He also gained global retail expertise working at luxury fashion brand, Coach, in global merchandising and planning. He is currently based in Alibaba’s New York office in Manhattan.

About Us

Steve Dennis is an advisor, keynote speaker and author on strategic growth and business innovation. You can learn more about Steve on his website. The expanded and revised edition of his bestselling book Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption is now available at Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior contributor and on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also check out his speaker "sizzle" reel here.

Michael LeBlanc is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus Global E-Commerce Tech Talks , The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois and now in its second season, Conversations with CommerceNext! You can learn more about Michael here or on LinkedIn.

Be sure and check out Michael's latest venture for fun and influencer riches - Last Request Barbecue, his YouTube BBQ cooking channel!

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