May 30, 2025 • 24 mins
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Retail is in an age of perpetual reinvention. From navigating online strategies in the early 2000s to mobile adoption in the mid-2000s and now grappling with tariffs and supply chain disruptions, retailers must continuously evolve to survive and thrive. According to Dominick Miserandino, CEO of Retail Tech Media Nexus, the fundamental truth remains constant amid this change: "You are selling an emotion, the emotion of that thing."
Dominick brings a unique perspective to retail, having transitioned from mainstream media to mentoring over 200 e-commerce startups before creating his current venture connecting tech companies, retailers, and media partners. His insights reveal a fascinating dichotomy in today's retail landscape. While giants like Amazon, Walmart, and Apple leverage their vast resources to create seamless digital experiences, nimble small businesses find success through authentic personal connections – like the retailer who phoned every customer to thank them, inadvertently creating a viral marketing strategy that cost nothing but time.
The conversation explores how retailers are adapting to economic challenges, particularly the impact of tariffs on supply chains. For some small businesses with tight margins, these disruptions represent an existential threat: "I do not have the margin. I cannot cover these tariffs in any way. Period, I'm dead." Yet others find ways to innovate through efficiency, implementing solutions like virtual shopping experiences that reduce costs while enhancing customer convenience.
As digital transformation continues reshaping retail, Dominick cautions against getting caught in technology hype cycles without clear implementation strategies. Many retailers collect vast amounts of data without effectively analyzing it, while others struggle to balance personalization with authenticity. "We personalize to the point of almost numbness," he notes, suggesting that consumers increasingly value genuine connections over algorithmic recommendations.
Connect with Dominick on LinkedIn, where he maintains over 30,000 professional connections, to learn more about navigating retail's ever-changing landscape and to discover how businesses of all sizes can build meaningful customer relationships in an increasingly digital world.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey everybody.
It's not often you get a legendon the show here, and we have
one today, dominic the king ofretail, as I call him.
How are you, sir?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Thank you, sir.
How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Doing great.
We've known each other inpassing on social for over a
decade.
Love your content and the workthat you do.
Before that, just how do youintroduce yourself these days to
your followers, fans, clientsand beyond?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Sometimes just Dominic, other times Dominic
Miserandino, CEO of Retail TechMedia Nexus.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Well, that's all.
You said it all, so you know.
Talk about your bio andbackground.
It's so interesting yourjourney into the media retail
empire that you built over thelast decades.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Well, yeah, I definitely appreciate that and
appreciate being on.
I was born more out of media.
I was in mainstream media.
At that time I was on the otherside of the retail mirror.
I was getting pitched all thetime on that side of the mirror
would you like to review myAirPod?
Would you like to tell us howyou love it and whatnot?
(01:15):
And then I realized I caredmore about how those sales
occurred.
I started mentoring startups,probably worked with over
200-plus e-commerce startups.
Literally I got bored throughCOVID and then after that I got
into the retail the media sideof it, created this Retail Tech
(01:38):
Media Nexus where we'rebasically connecting tech
companies and retailers andmedia companies together.
It's a little triangle thereLove it.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
And, you know, give us a snapshot of the retail
market as you see it.
Best of times, worst of times?
Obviously somewhere in between.
But where are we?
In your humble opinion?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Reinvention, reinvention, reinvention.
That's been the theme to me forthe past two decades.
Phone calls I had in the early2000s were how do we handle
going online?
Mid-2000s, how do we handlemobile?
And now, how do we handletariffs?
I've been on TV about tariffstwice, three times a week for
(02:23):
the past few weeks.
It's been insane, but that's it.
You have to kind of constantlyremember that one most important
thing that you are selling anemotion, the emotion of that
thing.
Why do I love this thing in myhands, whatever it may be?
And as long as you kind ofreinvent to that, you're good.
(02:43):
Yeah, and I think guys like youand I kind of reinvent.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
To that you're good, yeah, and I think guys like you
and I are always reinventingthemselves, coming through many
incarnations and careers in techand business.
They call it digitaltransformation, which sounds
very fancy, but it's basically,you know, the old brick and
mortar guys trying, gals tryingto digitize as.
(03:05):
Has digital transformationworked?
I mean outside of amazon andwalmart?
I mean, uh, has.
Has it been a failure, do youthink?
Or?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
there's some bright lights I think there's tons of
bright lights.
I think that, uh, you could seethe successes, the ones you've
obviously mentioned.
Uh, right now we're goingthrough this mini.
I think there's twotransformations going on.
You have the tire oftransformation and the age of
experience.
I would call it, uh,everything's experiential now.
(03:35):
It's connecting, it's a pop-upsand not certainly has soared
much more than ever before, um,but, yeah, those who are doing a
good job at it, certainly hassoared much more than ever
before.
But, yeah, those who are doinga good job at it, hitting home
runs, they're hitting home runsat it.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
And the home runs are largely.
You know the companies many ofus know and love, like Apple,
the guys who have deep pockets,deep benches, it and tech talent
galore, market cap cap.
How's everyone else doing,except the big brands who are
killing it out there in retailagain, apple is one of my
(04:13):
favorite examples, but we allcan't be Apple, right, we all
can't be Dominic.
Let's say how's everyone elsedoing?
The smaller retailers, the SMEs, the mid market, I think the
smaller ones yeah, those smallerguys who understand what
they're dealing with in that.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
um, there's one uh retailer I was advising and I
asked her how many sales do youget a day?
And it was 5, 10, 15 a.
She had bigger price per unitand we got a call from every
single customer.
It stood out, everybody.
She would say thank you for thepurchase and who do you
(04:54):
recommend?
And it started going viral.
She would just call whilefolding the laundry and I
thought it was such an effectivemeans of cutting through that
noise of just.
I'll just call you evan, thanksa lot for the buying my widget.
I love that, you know, and I dothink those are the techniques.
(05:14):
Um, pop-ups, um, we are retailtech meeting access.
We're doing an event pop-up forone client, like right in their
town, and so you can do thatpretty easily, you can connect,
and so I think knowing of thatsize to be, nimble is amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, one big buzzword I stole from one of
your blogs is omni-channel.
You talked about omni-channelstrategy.
Everything's converging, online, offline, different channels.
What's next, though, when youcover every channel known to
mankind, how do you ensure it'sseamless and integrated and
effective?
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, well, that's a great question, because it's not
always effective.
It's not always effective.
My business, linkedin is by farthe best channel, but that
doesn't mean the others are bad,nor good.
Omnichannel, sometimes turn oneverything is great, but I think
(06:18):
it's a variant of turn oneverything within your abilities
and within your power andwhatever's going to also give
you that conversion event.
You have to think is this goingto do it?
Like?
You might have the ability Imight have the ability to use
(06:40):
Instagram as a channel, butmaybe that's not going to
convert it all for me.
So, even though I might have thetime, you have to kind of weigh
all those when you're lookingat Omnichannel.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yeah, I think it's very generation dependent too.
I mean, my kids just refuse tomake phone calls.
You know 20-somethings and Ithink increasingly we're moving
to a kind of hybrid world ofmessaging and apps.
Where are the retailersinvesting these days in channels
(07:09):
both, both advertising,customer engagement, customer
support?
Do you have any?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
you know a lot of the investment, I think in the past
four months, has been in termsof um efficiency, you know um.
There's one company I'madvising.
They, for example, have a videoexperience right in store, so
the consumer doesn't even haveto go to the store.
They can do it by video call.
They can see their productsParlor retail, it's called and
(07:40):
it cuts out a cost.
It cuts out that cost for theconsumer in terms of delivery
I'm sorry going there it cutsout the cost in terms of labor
and I think that those thingsare kicking in because we can't
control the tariffs, we can'tcontrol supply chain right now.
So if you can't control youroperations, you have control
(08:03):
over something at that point.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yeah, well said, and you're outside of New York City.
Point.
Yeah, well said, and you'reoutside of New York City, I
believe Long Island.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Long Island yes.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
You know, I think New York City is still the media
capital of the world, 100%.
Do you think it's that inretail, retail tech, retail
trends, do you think it's stillthe trendsetter?
Because you know, I look aroundthe world, you've got Shenzhen
and Singapore and London andother places.
I wonder if they're setting thetrends for the future of retail
.
Where's New York City in thebig picture of media?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
and retail.
That is a dangerous question,you know.
On the one hand there's alwaysan event in New York City,
there's always people in thefield to meet in New York City.
I get calls for dinners andevents all the time and I could
probably do one a week, fine.
But then again, when you'retalking innovation, I mean I've
(08:57):
seen some cutting-edge stufffrom all around the world, and
that's especially in apost-COVID world.
There is no centralized, asmuch you don't have to say let's
meet up downtown Brooklyn anddiscuss X, y, z, you, you know,
(09:18):
shenzhen, china, I mean China,there's so many people doing
amazing cutting edge stuff.
Like I was particularly thrown.
I didn't expect it, I thoughtit was brilliant.
It went during the initial,during the initial part of the
tariffs.
There was those factories inChina going on TikTok, not
(09:41):
necessarily innovative, but Ithought, yeah, that was just
jumping into action immediatelyand responding within 24 hours
with a message and uniform, andI think you're seeing that a lot
in various places around theworld.
Again, very cutting edge.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Very cutting edge.
Speaking of cutting edge, AIhas hit the retail sector as
hard and as fast as any.
I saw Google IO this week.
You'll now be able to make adarn good ad for peanuts using
Google IO tools and create whatwas the 30-second spot.
(10:22):
It may have taken weeks, monthsand tens of thousands of
dollars.
You can do for a few hundredbucks.
That's just one example.
How is AI hitting the retailspace, with the decision makers
that you speak with daily?
Speaker 2 (10:40):
You know, I find it interesting because I don't know
if we're societally caught upto where AI is.
If you told me even a photogeneration, as good as it is,
let alone this video generation,well beyond where I expect it
to be and I don't think the usecase is, you need to have people
(11:04):
really push it, as we normallydo, to say does this make sense,
does that make sense?
I don't know if we're there yetin terms of understanding.
The tech is there, how are wegoing to use it?
I feel like that's a differentstory.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
And you know that applies to the front office and
the back office, like everyvendor you talk with at you know
, the big NRF show isdata-driven decision-making and
data analytics.
And you go into a retailer andthey're running on tech from the
you know 70s or 80s and thereseems a big disconnect between
(11:42):
all of this advanced data tech,data science, automation, and
what the retailer can consumeand deploy and manage.
I don't know if data scientistsat scale, whether it's Amazon
or Walmart or Apple, what haveyou?
So how do you make use of thistech like data analytics or back
(12:04):
office IT effectively, giventheir challenges.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
It's definitely an education.
There's one company I useactually here in Long Island,
five Element Analytics, and I'llspend more time learning than I
will sometimes doing, and Ithink you know there's a lot to
(12:27):
unpack when it comes to datascience.
And I think the challenge isalso you your, I found retailers
will throw everything up in thecloud and not even make sense
of it.
Hooray, they have it up there,but no one's looking at that.
And then you have to reallyconstantly think of what this
means, uh, impact, how itimpacts your business.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Basically, that's a constant, constant question yeah
, yeah and and uh, you know, notgetting bought into the the
vendor hype is is it is achallenge.
They're spending gazillions onmarketing it.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
It's easy to get caught up that vendor hype.
If you stand at NRF and say,does anyone have a unified data
solution, I mean 500 hands willraise at that point and that
doesn't help anybody.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Speaking of NRF, I mean it remains the powerhouse
in the industry.
It seems to get bigger everyyear.
Is that just going to continuein perpetuity?
Are there other events thatyou're focused on in retail
retail tech and what do youthink the future of big events
like that is?
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I'm not sure, like I've been doing a lot with gds
and middle alliance recently.
Uh, for example, and um,sometimes I find it easier when
there's less, and sometimes Ifind it easier when there's less
crowd, less noise, you can sitdown, you can have a
conversation.
But also there's so manyspecific ones.
I just did a keynote at aconference called Deliver in the
(14:01):
fall and it was just people inthe delivery space and I just
found it fascinating to get thatuniform point of view and those
people hyper focused on thatone area, um, in the room, with
enough of the crowd that youdon't have to worry about uh,
grabbing 30 seconds while you'reon a line, like at a bigger
conference.
(14:21):
But I think each has its ownplace.
Sometimes it's great to be ableto give 58 high fives in 20
minutes that's true, you knowand other times you just want to
say, hey, can we just sit andhave a coffee and actually
handle that meeting here and now?
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Yeah, no, the power of intimacy.
A lot of money continues topour into customer experience CX
for short and you really seethe big tech leaders taking
advantage of it.
I mean, it's really amazing toshop from Apple or Amazon these
days, but you know my averagebank branch or pharmacy probably
(15:02):
not so much.
Yep, how are you seeingretailers leverage, you know all
these amazing CX customerservice, even contact center
tools?
Speaker 2 (15:13):
enhanced customer experience.
You know, one of the otherquestions along with that I'll
get is CX and personalization.
And I think at times my mindset, especially in personalization,
has been changing, because wepersonalize to the point of
almost numbness.
You know everything ispersonalized and then you're
(15:34):
like, okay, just like with AI.
How often can you now tell whenit's written by AI, just
instinctually we get used to itand then we say maybe not, maybe
too much here.
We get used to it and then wesay maybe not, maybe too much
here.
But also, the consumer hasgotten used to things of a
(15:57):
certain quality, a certain level, a certain ease.
So there's a certain standardthere.
And I think, especially inretail, the constant reminder
that you're serving the customer, ultimately, whatever that
experience needs to be at thatlevel, is vitally important.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Yeah, no, it's, you know.
You know what it feels rightand it feels genuine and honest.
It's a great feeling.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Exactly.
You can always tell right,genuine, honest.
And I always, you know, striveand double check myself, even
all the time.
How can I make this better?
How can I fix this better formyself?
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah, totally.
So I know you get this questionasked a million times.
You've been on, you know everynetwork talking about tariffs.
So you know, as we speak here,it's Friday, I'll push this out,
probably next week.
You know, as we speak here,it's Friday, I'll push this out,
probably next week.
We're back on punishing the EU,we're back on punishing Apple,
but what's your take on how thismight resolve?
(16:58):
What scenario?
Are you high, medium, low road?
Are you behind at the moment onhow the tariff story is going
to play out over the next fewmonths in?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
retail.
That is a great question,because I think the challenge on
the tariffs is more so theconsistency, the supply chain
consistency.
You're seeing LA ports gettingreduced chips coming in and I
(17:30):
think every business needs, tosome degree, to predict.
Now, you can't always who knowswhat's going to happen next
quarter, next month, next year,but the prediction, and I wonder
at what point do we all say Ijust want to know what's
happening.
I want to know what's happening, I want to know for sure.
(17:52):
And there, I think, is going tobe before burnout in terms of
the tariffs themselves, there'sgoing to be a burnout in terms
of being able to predict what'shappening, and that's where
we're going to hit people.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
It's going to hit people hard and I think the big
Fortune 2000 can probablyweather that.
It's lots of ability to managethat.
It's going to be harder forearly-stage companies and
startups and small retailers.
You know you said you mentionedyou mentored over 100 startups.
(18:28):
What are startups saying to youabout navigating this
complexity and all thesechallenges, these?
Speaker 2 (18:34):
days.
And how are they doing it inpracticality?
It's all practically supplychain, that's everything and
they're all I know.
One called me and she simplysaid I do not have the margin.
I cannot cover these tariffs inany way.
I have to cut down Period, I'mdead.
I can't get it domestically.
There is no chance.
(18:55):
I have one contact.
She used specifically artisansin Italy.
Wow, it's like they don't existhere.
There is no artisan in Italy.
I cannot get this up to speed.
I can't fly people here fromItaly to train locals.
It's just not going to happen.
And her margin was so tight.
(19:17):
But so I think it's so case bycase.
At that point, every case is alittle bit different at that
point.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
It is and I feel lucky.
I'm in a business that you knowdoesn't produce any goods.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Uh, just content uh speaking of we are the safest
business in the world you knowthere's no, there's no tariff on
content yet, so we'll tax.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
We'll see if that uh plays out.
Uh.
But what are you up to the nextfew weeks and months?
What's on your mind?
It's a little bit quieter overthe summer in the industry.
Maybe the events cool down.
But what are you up to?
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yeah, I know that's actually the big question in
this entry.
I've been looking possiblyputting together a few things
over the summer to keep things alittle awake.
I'm having a few conversationsabout that right now actually.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
That's fantastic, and tell us about your business.
I mean, I'm a, you know.
As you know, I'm a contentcreator, a TV host now on a show
called Tech Impact, and Ipodcast and blog, and I think
we'd call each other influencersof a sort, although we don't do
the TikTok.
How's business otherwise?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, you know it's funny.
You say that because I agreeit's become this new influencer
world and that in turn, hascreated this business On the
tech companies calling me sayingDominic, do you know so-and-so?
I have 30,000 connections onLinkedIn.
I know so-and-so Whoever thatso-and-so may be.
(20:47):
So we've created two legs of it, if you will.
One leg is connecting the techto the retailers Do you know
so-and-so?
And then the other we have aleg for the B2B PR side PR tech
companies trying to connect tothe media.
But you know, it's timing too.
I think that's all we'relooking for as people is just to
(21:08):
connect, and I'm proud to makea business of who do you want to
meet and how do you want toconnect to them.
And we make it happen.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
And I think it's nice to have a business that okay.
Nominally, you call it aninfluencer, but it's not.
We're not selling beautyproducts, obviously.
We're not selling makeup andhair products, obviously.
So there is an appetite for B2Bcontent, which is really cool,
and the fact that we both make agreat living at it is a
(21:39):
testament to what's possible onsocial 100%.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
I think you know we have social.
We all want to connectessentially as humans.
I think we learned that viaCOVID and we learn it now, and
any opportunities we can makefor that, the better.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
What channels are working best for you?
I mean I find you knowpodcasting is really great.
I mean I listen, you knowpodcasting is really great.
I mean I listen to podcasts allday and apparently there's even
for niche topics pick retailtech, but any other B2B topic is
pretty niche.
There's a great audience onpodcasts.
Itunes, spotify, youtube.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
You know, it's funny.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
But what other formats are working?
Great for you.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
At times I meet people I will actually ask them
that question in terms ofcommunication, how do you want
me to contact you?
Linkedin message, whatsapp,text, phone, and I've had people
say, instagram, and I thinkthat's where we're evolving,
where it's not necessarily theone I mean linkedin has been
incredible.
I'm thrilled, uh, having somany connections reach out.
(22:51):
I probably get dozens minimalof messages a day, if not,
usually about 100 plus, but thatdoesn't mean a better nor worse
.
It's almost, you know, like wesaid, omni-channel in terms of
communication, in terms of media.
Each of these channels, I think, is an active and valid
communication.
You just have to figure outwhat your audience wants and
(23:13):
what works best for you and findthat mutuality.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yeah, and I think brands need to think more
expansively about their socialreach.
And you know, multi-channel,omni-channel, being in more
places, being interesting, beingfun, being funny like you are
and not so straight-laced, whichmost brands can be pretty
boring.
So working with folks likeyourself is a great way to liven
(23:37):
up their content, their pointof view, their perspective.
I look forward to seeing youwhen I'm in the city next.
I won't even hold the Celtics'loss to the Knicks against you,
but I will look forward tobreaking bread.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
So I look forward to seeing you soon.
I love it, man.
I'm looking forward to it too.
We should definitely do that.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
And thanks everyone.
Thanks for listening, watching,checking out my new TV show,
techimpacttv, and until then,take care.
Talk soon.
Hey everybody.
It's not often you get a legendon the show here, and we have
one today, dominic the king ofretail, as I call him.
How are you, sir?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Thank you, sir.
How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Doing great.
We've known each other inpassing on social for over a
decade.
Love your content and the workthat you do.
Before that, just how do youintroduce yourself these days to
your followers, fans, clientsand beyond?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Sometimes just Dominic, other times Dominic
Miserandino, CEO of Retail TechMedia Nexus.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Well, that's all.
You said it all, so you know.
Talk about your bio andbackground.
It's so interesting yourjourney into the media retail
empire that you built over thelast decades.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Well, yeah, I definitely appreciate that and
appreciate being on.
I was born more out of media.
I was in mainstream media.
At that time I was on the otherside of the retail mirror.
I was getting pitched all thetime on that side of the mirror
would you like to review myAirPod?
Would you like to tell us howyou love it and whatnot?
(01:15):
And then I realized I caredmore about how those sales
occurred.
I started mentoring startups,probably worked with over
200-plus e-commerce startups.
Literally I got bored throughCOVID and then after that I got
into the retail the media sideof it, created this Retail Tech
(01:38):
Media Nexus where we'rebasically connecting tech
companies and retailers andmedia companies together.
It's a little triangle thereLove it.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
And, you know, give us a snapshot of the retail
market as you see it.
Best of times, worst of times?
Obviously somewhere in between.
But where are we?
In your humble opinion?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Reinvention, reinvention, reinvention.
That's been the theme to me forthe past two decades.
Phone calls I had in the early2000s were how do we handle
going online?
Mid-2000s, how do we handlemobile?
And now, how do we handletariffs?
I've been on TV about tariffstwice, three times a week for
(02:23):
the past few weeks.
It's been insane, but that's it.
You have to kind of constantlyremember that one most important
thing that you are selling anemotion, the emotion of that
thing.
Why do I love this thing in myhands, whatever it may be?
And as long as you kind ofreinvent to that, you're good.
(02:43):
Yeah, and I think guys like youand I kind of reinvent.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
To that you're good, yeah, and I think guys like you
and I are always reinventingthemselves, coming through many
incarnations and careers in techand business.
They call it digitaltransformation, which sounds
very fancy, but it's basically,you know, the old brick and
mortar guys trying, gals tryingto digitize as.
(03:05):
Has digital transformationworked?
I mean outside of amazon andwalmart?
I mean, uh, has.
Has it been a failure, do youthink?
Or?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
there's some bright lights I think there's tons of
bright lights.
I think that, uh, you could seethe successes, the ones you've
obviously mentioned.
Uh, right now we're goingthrough this mini.
I think there's twotransformations going on.
You have the tire oftransformation and the age of
experience.
I would call it, uh,everything's experiential now.
(03:35):
It's connecting, it's a pop-upsand not certainly has soared
much more than ever before, um,but, yeah, those who are doing a
good job at it, certainly hassoared much more than ever
before.
But, yeah, those who are doinga good job at it, hitting home
runs, they're hitting home runsat it.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
And the home runs are largely.
You know the companies many ofus know and love, like Apple,
the guys who have deep pockets,deep benches, it and tech talent
galore, market cap cap.
How's everyone else doing,except the big brands who are
killing it out there in retailagain, apple is one of my
(04:13):
favorite examples, but we allcan't be Apple, right, we all
can't be Dominic.
Let's say how's everyone elsedoing?
The smaller retailers, the SMEs, the mid market, I think the
smaller ones yeah, those smallerguys who understand what
they're dealing with in that.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
um, there's one uh retailer I was advising and I
asked her how many sales do youget a day?
And it was 5, 10, 15 a.
She had bigger price per unitand we got a call from every
single customer.
It stood out, everybody.
She would say thank you for thepurchase and who do you
(04:54):
recommend?
And it started going viral.
She would just call whilefolding the laundry and I
thought it was such an effectivemeans of cutting through that
noise of just.
I'll just call you evan, thanksa lot for the buying my widget.
I love that, you know, and I dothink those are the techniques.
(05:14):
Um, pop-ups, um, we are retailtech meeting access.
We're doing an event pop-up forone client, like right in their
town, and so you can do thatpretty easily, you can connect,
and so I think knowing of thatsize to be, nimble is amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, one big buzzword I stole from one of
your blogs is omni-channel.
You talked about omni-channelstrategy.
Everything's converging, online, offline, different channels.
What's next, though, when youcover every channel known to
mankind, how do you ensure it'sseamless and integrated and
effective?
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, well, that's a great question, because it's not
always effective.
It's not always effective.
My business, linkedin is by farthe best channel, but that
doesn't mean the others are bad,nor good.
Omnichannel, sometimes turn oneverything is great, but I think
(06:18):
it's a variant of turn oneverything within your abilities
and within your power andwhatever's going to also give
you that conversion event.
You have to think is this goingto do it?
Like?
You might have the ability Imight have the ability to use
(06:40):
Instagram as a channel, butmaybe that's not going to
convert it all for me.
So, even though I might have thetime, you have to kind of weigh
all those when you're lookingat Omnichannel.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yeah, I think it's very generation dependent too.
I mean, my kids just refuse tomake phone calls.
You know 20-somethings and Ithink increasingly we're moving
to a kind of hybrid world ofmessaging and apps.
Where are the retailersinvesting these days in channels
(07:09):
both, both advertising,customer engagement, customer
support?
Do you have any?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
you know a lot of the investment, I think in the past
four months, has been in termsof um efficiency, you know um.
There's one company I'madvising.
They, for example, have a videoexperience right in store, so
the consumer doesn't even haveto go to the store.
They can do it by video call.
They can see their productsParlor retail, it's called and
(07:40):
it cuts out a cost.
It cuts out that cost for theconsumer in terms of delivery
I'm sorry going there it cutsout the cost in terms of labor
and I think that those thingsare kicking in because we can't
control the tariffs, we can'tcontrol supply chain right now.
So if you can't control youroperations, you have control
(08:03):
over something at that point.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yeah, well said, and you're outside of New York City.
Point.
Yeah, well said, and you'reoutside of New York City, I
believe Long Island.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Long Island yes.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
You know, I think New York City is still the media
capital of the world, 100%.
Do you think it's that inretail, retail tech, retail
trends, do you think it's stillthe trendsetter?
Because you know, I look aroundthe world, you've got Shenzhen
and Singapore and London andother places.
I wonder if they're setting thetrends for the future of retail
.
Where's New York City in thebig picture of media?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
and retail.
That is a dangerous question,you know.
On the one hand there's alwaysan event in New York City,
there's always people in thefield to meet in New York City.
I get calls for dinners andevents all the time and I could
probably do one a week, fine.
But then again, when you'retalking innovation, I mean I've
(08:57):
seen some cutting-edge stufffrom all around the world, and
that's especially in apost-COVID world.
There is no centralized, asmuch you don't have to say let's
meet up downtown Brooklyn anddiscuss X, y, z, you, you know,
(09:18):
shenzhen, china, I mean China,there's so many people doing
amazing cutting edge stuff.
Like I was particularly thrown.
I didn't expect it, I thoughtit was brilliant.
It went during the initial,during the initial part of the
tariffs.
There was those factories inChina going on TikTok, not
(09:41):
necessarily innovative, but Ithought, yeah, that was just
jumping into action immediatelyand responding within 24 hours
with a message and uniform, andI think you're seeing that a lot
in various places around theworld.
Again, very cutting edge.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Very cutting edge.
Speaking of cutting edge, AIhas hit the retail sector as
hard and as fast as any.
I saw Google IO this week.
You'll now be able to make adarn good ad for peanuts using
Google IO tools and create whatwas the 30-second spot.
(10:22):
It may have taken weeks, monthsand tens of thousands of
dollars.
You can do for a few hundredbucks.
That's just one example.
How is AI hitting the retailspace, with the decision makers
that you speak with daily?
Speaker 2 (10:40):
You know, I find it interesting because I don't know
if we're societally caught upto where AI is.
If you told me even a photogeneration, as good as it is,
let alone this video generation,well beyond where I expect it
to be and I don't think the usecase is, you need to have people
(11:04):
really push it, as we normallydo, to say does this make sense,
does that make sense?
I don't know if we're there yetin terms of understanding.
The tech is there, how are wegoing to use it?
I feel like that's a differentstory.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
And you know that applies to the front office and
the back office, like everyvendor you talk with at you know
, the big NRF show isdata-driven decision-making and
data analytics.
And you go into a retailer andthey're running on tech from the
you know 70s or 80s and thereseems a big disconnect between
(11:42):
all of this advanced data tech,data science, automation, and
what the retailer can consumeand deploy and manage.
I don't know if data scientistsat scale, whether it's Amazon
or Walmart or Apple, what haveyou?
So how do you make use of thistech like data analytics or back
(12:04):
office IT effectively, giventheir challenges.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
It's definitely an education.
There's one company I useactually here in Long Island,
five Element Analytics, and I'llspend more time learning than I
will sometimes doing, and Ithink you know there's a lot to
(12:27):
unpack when it comes to datascience.
And I think the challenge isalso you your, I found retailers
will throw everything up in thecloud and not even make sense
of it.
Hooray, they have it up there,but no one's looking at that.
And then you have to reallyconstantly think of what this
means, uh, impact, how itimpacts your business.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Basically, that's a constant, constant question yeah
, yeah and and uh, you know, notgetting bought into the the
vendor hype is is it is achallenge.
They're spending gazillions onmarketing it.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
It's easy to get caught up that vendor hype.
If you stand at NRF and say,does anyone have a unified data
solution, I mean 500 hands willraise at that point and that
doesn't help anybody.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Speaking of NRF, I mean it remains the powerhouse
in the industry.
It seems to get bigger everyyear.
Is that just going to continuein perpetuity?
Are there other events thatyou're focused on in retail
retail tech and what do youthink the future of big events
like that is?
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I'm not sure, like I've been doing a lot with gds
and middle alliance recently.
Uh, for example, and um,sometimes I find it easier when
there's less, and sometimes Ifind it easier when there's less
crowd, less noise, you can sitdown, you can have a
conversation.
But also there's so manyspecific ones.
I just did a keynote at aconference called Deliver in the
(14:01):
fall and it was just people inthe delivery space and I just
found it fascinating to get thatuniform point of view and those
people hyper focused on thatone area, um, in the room, with
enough of the crowd that youdon't have to worry about uh,
grabbing 30 seconds while you'reon a line, like at a bigger
conference.
(14:21):
But I think each has its ownplace.
Sometimes it's great to be ableto give 58 high fives in 20
minutes that's true, you knowand other times you just want to
say, hey, can we just sit andhave a coffee and actually
handle that meeting here and now?
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Yeah, no, the power of intimacy.
A lot of money continues topour into customer experience CX
for short and you really seethe big tech leaders taking
advantage of it.
I mean, it's really amazing toshop from Apple or Amazon these
days, but you know my averagebank branch or pharmacy probably
(15:02):
not so much.
Yep, how are you seeingretailers leverage, you know all
these amazing CX customerservice, even contact center
tools?
Speaker 2 (15:13):
enhanced customer experience.
You know, one of the otherquestions along with that I'll
get is CX and personalization.
And I think at times my mindset, especially in personalization,
has been changing, because wepersonalize to the point of
almost numbness.
You know everything ispersonalized and then you're
(15:34):
like, okay, just like with AI.
How often can you now tell whenit's written by AI, just
instinctually we get used to itand then we say maybe not, maybe
too much here.
We get used to it and then wesay maybe not, maybe too much
here.
But also, the consumer hasgotten used to things of a
(15:57):
certain quality, a certain level, a certain ease.
So there's a certain standardthere.
And I think, especially inretail, the constant reminder
that you're serving the customer, ultimately, whatever that
experience needs to be at thatlevel, is vitally important.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Yeah, no, it's, you know.
You know what it feels rightand it feels genuine and honest.
It's a great feeling.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Exactly.
You can always tell right,genuine, honest.
And I always, you know, striveand double check myself, even
all the time.
How can I make this better?
How can I fix this better formyself?
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah, totally.
So I know you get this questionasked a million times.
You've been on, you know everynetwork talking about tariffs.
So you know, as we speak here,it's Friday, I'll push this out,
probably next week.
You know, as we speak here,it's Friday, I'll push this out,
probably next week.
We're back on punishing the EU,we're back on punishing Apple,
but what's your take on how thismight resolve?
(16:58):
What scenario?
Are you high, medium, low road?
Are you behind at the moment onhow the tariff story is going
to play out over the next fewmonths in?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
retail.
That is a great question,because I think the challenge on
the tariffs is more so theconsistency, the supply chain
consistency.
You're seeing LA ports gettingreduced chips coming in and I
(17:30):
think every business needs, tosome degree, to predict.
Now, you can't always who knowswhat's going to happen next
quarter, next month, next year,but the prediction, and I wonder
at what point do we all say Ijust want to know what's
happening.
I want to know what's happening, I want to know for sure.
(17:52):
And there, I think, is going tobe before burnout in terms of
the tariffs themselves, there'sgoing to be a burnout in terms
of being able to predict what'shappening, and that's where
we're going to hit people.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
It's going to hit people hard and I think the big
Fortune 2000 can probablyweather that.
It's lots of ability to managethat.
It's going to be harder forearly-stage companies and
startups and small retailers.
You know you said you mentionedyou mentored over 100 startups.
(18:28):
What are startups saying to youabout navigating this
complexity and all thesechallenges, these?
Speaker 2 (18:34):
days.
And how are they doing it inpracticality?
It's all practically supplychain, that's everything and
they're all I know.
One called me and she simplysaid I do not have the margin.
I cannot cover these tariffs inany way.
I have to cut down Period, I'mdead.
I can't get it domestically.
There is no chance.
(18:55):
I have one contact.
She used specifically artisansin Italy.
Wow, it's like they don't existhere.
There is no artisan in Italy.
I cannot get this up to speed.
I can't fly people here fromItaly to train locals.
It's just not going to happen.
And her margin was so tight.
(19:17):
But so I think it's so case bycase.
At that point, every case is alittle bit different at that
point.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
It is and I feel lucky.
I'm in a business that you knowdoesn't produce any goods.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Uh, just content uh speaking of we are the safest
business in the world you knowthere's no, there's no tariff on
content yet, so we'll tax.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
We'll see if that uh plays out.
Uh.
But what are you up to the nextfew weeks and months?
What's on your mind?
It's a little bit quieter overthe summer in the industry.
Maybe the events cool down.
But what are you up to?
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yeah, I know that's actually the big question in
this entry.
I've been looking possiblyputting together a few things
over the summer to keep things alittle awake.
I'm having a few conversationsabout that right now actually.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
That's fantastic, and tell us about your business.
I mean, I'm a, you know.
As you know, I'm a contentcreator, a TV host now on a show
called Tech Impact, and Ipodcast and blog, and I think
we'd call each other influencersof a sort, although we don't do
the TikTok.
How's business otherwise?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, you know it's funny.
You say that because I agreeit's become this new influencer
world and that in turn, hascreated this business On the
tech companies calling me sayingDominic, do you know so-and-so?
I have 30,000 connections onLinkedIn.
I know so-and-so Whoever thatso-and-so may be.
(20:47):
So we've created two legs of it, if you will.
One leg is connecting the techto the retailers Do you know
so-and-so?
And then the other we have aleg for the B2B PR side PR tech
companies trying to connect tothe media.
But you know, it's timing too.
I think that's all we'relooking for as people is just to
(21:08):
connect, and I'm proud to makea business of who do you want to
meet and how do you want toconnect to them.
And we make it happen.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
And I think it's nice to have a business that okay.
Nominally, you call it aninfluencer, but it's not.
We're not selling beautyproducts, obviously.
We're not selling makeup andhair products, obviously.
So there is an appetite for B2Bcontent, which is really cool,
and the fact that we both make agreat living at it is a
(21:39):
testament to what's possible onsocial 100%.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
I think you know we have social.
We all want to connectessentially as humans.
I think we learned that viaCOVID and we learn it now, and
any opportunities we can makefor that, the better.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
What channels are working best for you?
I mean I find you knowpodcasting is really great.
I mean I listen, you knowpodcasting is really great.
I mean I listen to podcasts allday and apparently there's even
for niche topics pick retailtech, but any other B2B topic is
pretty niche.
There's a great audience onpodcasts.
Itunes, spotify, youtube.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
You know, it's funny.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
But what other formats are working?
Great for you.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
At times I meet people I will actually ask them
that question in terms ofcommunication, how do you want
me to contact you?
Linkedin message, whatsapp,text, phone, and I've had people
say, instagram, and I thinkthat's where we're evolving,
where it's not necessarily theone I mean linkedin has been
incredible.
I'm thrilled, uh, having somany connections reach out.
(22:51):
I probably get dozens minimalof messages a day, if not,
usually about 100 plus, but thatdoesn't mean a better nor worse
.
It's almost, you know, like wesaid, omni-channel in terms of
communication, in terms of media.
Each of these channels, I think, is an active and valid
communication.
You just have to figure outwhat your audience wants and
(23:13):
what works best for you and findthat mutuality.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yeah, and I think brands need to think more
expansively about their socialreach.
And you know, multi-channel,omni-channel, being in more
places, being interesting, beingfun, being funny like you are
and not so straight-laced, whichmost brands can be pretty
boring.
So working with folks likeyourself is a great way to liven
(23:37):
up their content, their pointof view, their perspective.
I look forward to seeing youwhen I'm in the city next.
I won't even hold the Celtics'loss to the Knicks against you,
but I will look forward tobreaking bread.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
So I look forward to seeing you soon.
I love it, man.
I'm looking forward to it too.
We should definitely do that.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
And thanks everyone.
Thanks for listening, watching,checking out my new TV show,
techimpacttv, and until then,take care.
Talk soon.
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