Retail executives, marketers, and business leaders gathered earlier this month at the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan for a series of conversations about what’s driving retail today.

The program was put together by CommerceNext, an annual community event series and e-commerce conference, and featured experts from popular fashion, beauty, tech, and food and beverage brands.

Retail Brew was there to moderate a panel discussion on two things that have been on retailers’ minds, well, forever: customer loyalty and retention, especially when faced with economic challenges, changes, and uncertainty.

Executives from Shiseido, DSW, Omaha Steaks, and BlueCore broke it all down, and while they shared a lot of wisdom on the topic, we’ve put together some of the best bits.

These interviews have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Fayez Mohamood, co-founder and CEO of BlueCore, on what customer loyalty in retail means today and the importance of AI in furthering it.

It’s been interesting to see the trajectory of what loyalty means and how it has changed [in the past 10 years]. I think the biggest change is it’s not a binary concept anymore. Customers are not “loyal” or “not loyal.” It’s a spectrum.

Keep reading here.—JS

The fast-moving retail world has lots of stories to tell. To all the retail experts, enthusiasts, and industry insiders trying to keep up: Placer.ai rounded up all the latest data-driven stories for you.

First up: grocery trends. Ever wonder how grocers are adapting to changing consumer behaviors? Grab Placer.ai’s 5 Major Grocery Trends Shaping the Industry in 2023.

And for retail advertising networks: Retailers and advertisers can leverage foot-traffic analytics to continue taking the ad world by storm. How? Find out in this on-demand webinar, The Evolution of the Retail Media Network.

Last but not least, malls: Despite what you may have heard, malls have continued attracting hundreds of millions of visits. This white paper studies recent location analytics to better understand why.

A hearty helping of info indeed. Happy retailing.

While we all started the summer fighting for the role of Chief Cold Brew Officer at Peet’s Coffee, other retail execs have been focused on some, uh, more traditional roles. Here’s the most notable retail C-suite moves to know in June:

• Savage X Fenty founder Rihanna stepped down as CEO, tapping former Anthropologie Group CEO Hillary Super to fill the role. Rihanna will remain as executive chair.
• GameStop fired Matt Furlong, its chief exec since 2021, after the company reported a quarter of dipping revenue, but did not cite a reason for his termination. The retailer also promoted board member and Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen to executive chairman.
• Macy’s chief customer and digital officer Matt Baer joined Stitch Fix as CEO and board member, replacing founder Katrina Lake, who temporarily returned to the chief exec spot in January.
• VF Corporation named former Logitech International CEO Bracken Darrell president and CEO following the unexpected exit of CEO, chairman, and president Steve Rendle in December. VF Corp-owned Timberland also tapped Nike vet Archie McEachern as its VP and chief merchandising officer.
• Alibaba replaced CEO and chairman Daniel Zhang, splitting his position across two execs: It announced co-founder and executive vice chairman Joseph Tsai as chairman of the board and Eddie Wu, chairman of Taobao and Tmall Group, as CEO.

Keep reading here.—EC

Luxury purchases in the US may have slumped lately, but it seems like demand is picking up again, at least when it comes to Swiss watches, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.

Swiss watch exports rose 14% in May (hitting $2.6 billion), and 11% percent over the first five months of 2023. Much of the growth can be credited to rebounding demand for expensive watch brands like Rolex, Patek Philippe, Omega, and Cartier.

And while China contributed significantly to the increase in demand, the US wasn’t far behind; Swiss watch exports to the US were up 9.8% in May, following a downturn in April.

“This suggests that high-end American consumers, still seemingly in the YOLO [You Only Live Once] mindset, have resumed traveling and spending as summer approaches,” Luca Solca, a Bernstein analyst, told Business of Fashion.

The jump in exports came just weeks after Swiss luxury watchmakers like Oris and Patek Philippe expressed concerns about dampening demand.

Keep reading here.—JS

Today’s top retail reads.

Making moves: Luxury house Kering has snapped up a niche fragrance house for $2 billion, marking its first big beauty acquisition, as it builds out its beauty biz. (Business of Fashion)

Here come the waterworks: How Liquid Death became a leader in the $350 billion bottled water market with “the dumbest name” and the tongue-in-cheek tagline “murder your thirst.” (CNBC)

Flying high: Ssense, the luxury e-commerce behemoth, continues to rise, but what does its success mean for small and emerging designers? (Blackbird Spyplane)

5-star expectations: Customers expect a seamless, white-glove shopping experience, especially with today’s direct-from-social shopping. Join Retail Brew’s virtual event and hear from industry pros about keeping up with expectations. Sponsored by Cloudinary.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

A roundup of our favorite retail multimedia content from across platforms this week—from TikTok to Twitter. We’re keeping you hip, and you’re welcome.

Not that simple: Menswear writer Derek Guy breaks down all the troubling labor issues surrounding the production of fast fashion and the differences between creating a high-end garment in China vs. a $5 Shein shirt. (@dieworkwear on Twitter)

Point by point: In this comprehensive post, beauty brand Experiment explains the science behind creating each of its products so it’s able to adapt to different skin types and avoid skin irritation. (@experimentwrld on Instagram)

Now, hold on a sec: Were you at the Cannes Lions Festival this year? No worries if not, since this Linkedin post pretty much covers the highlights, from the potential AI has to disrupt industries to how brands can balance being political in their messaging. (Alexis Williams on Linkedin)

Instant revival: How a Scandinavian designer incorporated elements of a glass sculpture created by a Swedish visual artist into its collection to bring her art to life. (Filippa K on Instagram)