The one and only Kristina Rogers, Global EY Consumer Chairwoman, is back on the podcast with the latest powerful insights from her 13th Future Consumer Index report. Climate change is becoming a growing reality for people worldwide and Canada, disrupting ingrained consumption habits. If you think COVID-19 shocked consumer behaviour, brace yourself for what happens next.
The one and only Kristina Rogers, Global EY Consumer Chairwoman, is back on the podcast with the latest powerful insights from her 13th Future Consumer Index report. Climate change is becoming a growing reality for people worldwide and Canada, disrupting ingrained consumption habits. If you think COVID-19 shocked consumer behaviour, brace yourself for what happens next.
About Kristina
As EY Global Consumer Leader, Kristina is responsible for defining and implementing the EY strategy for consumer products companies and retailers. She ensures that EY’s global clients are well served across geographies, leading over 30,000 EY professionals worldwide. Kristina works directly with clients on the strategic issues they face as they pursue their rapid global expansion and is the Global Client Service Partner for a major consumer products company.
Prior to her current role, she served as Emerging Markets Leader for Consumer Products & Retail. Before joining EY, she was a senior partner at a global strategy consulting firm.
Kristina has lived and worked in more than 20 countries. Over the course of her career, she has built long-term client relationships with some of the world’s largest global consumer products companies, helping them solve some of their most complex strategic marketing issues across geographies.
How Kristina is building a better working world
“I am currently a member of the Financial Times’ ‘Global Board-Ready’ Women group and was selected as one of 40 women by Forbes to join ‘More Women on Boards’ in Turkey.”
Michael LeBlanc 00:05
Welcome to The Voice of Retail podcast. My name is Michael LeBlanc, and I am your host. This podcast is produced in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
The one and only Kristina Rogers, Global EY Consumer Chairwoman, is back on the podcast with the latest powerful insights from her 13th Future Consumer Index report. Climate change is becoming a growing reality for people worldwide and Canada, disrupting ingrained consumption habits. If you think COVID-19 shocked consumer behavior, brace yourself for what happens next.
Let's listen in now. Kristina, welcome back to The Voice of Retail podcast. How are you doing?
Kristina Rogers 00:39
I'm great. I am looking forward to a fantastic 2024.
Michael LeBlanc 00:43
Yeah, fantastic and listen, thanks again. I think, I think one more appearance on the pod you get like a smoking jacket or something.
Kristina Rogers 00:51
Well, good. We'll have to meet in person for that and maybe I'll ask for dinner too.
Michael LeBlanc 00:55
That's funny, right, we first met you and I back in Vancouver at a big consumer brand conference and then of course, COVID but we've kept in touch you both been on-, a guest here on The Voice of Retail, you've been a guest on Remarkable Retail. We love-, Steve and I love the work you're doing. So thank you so much for coming back and so excited to get an update on the latest Rev and the latest insights. So once again, thank you.
Kristina Rogers 01:23
Yeah, absolutely. It's always a pleasure to be here and I really enjoy both of those podcasts. So please, do keep up the good work. Great, great, you know, great guests, with really fantastic insights and just fun conversation. So delighted to be part of it.
Michael LeBlanc 01:40
Fantastic. Well, alright, so let's not assume that everybody has heard our prior interviews, or who knows you or knows enough about you. So, spend a minute about who you are and what you do for a living.
Kristina Rogers 01:52
So, I am the-, I will, I guess state my position, and then try to explain what that means. I am the Global Consumer Leader at EY, formerly known back in the day as Ernst and Young and my role is really to kind of think about the future. So I cover-, I in the team cover three specific sectors, retail, consumer products, and food and agriculture and the goal really, is to think, around the world, what are the trends, where are the future-, what is the future of those industries, what do our clients need to be thinking about, what do us as EY need to be thinking about in terms of the people we have the capabilities, we have to work with our clients so that they are able to think ahead and win in the marketplace and so, you know, it's-, it's a fantastic role. It's a pleasure to have the opportunity to really be thinking forward thinking about just the industries where consumers are going and how our clients need to be thinking about their own businesses to win and meet that future head on.
Michael LeBlanc 02:55
Now, and for additional information for our listeners, you are based in Chicago, right still based in Chicago, is that right?
Kristina Rogers 03:01
I am still based in Chicago.
Michael LeBlanc 03:03
Global mandate, you've traveled the world, you've been based all over the place, but you're but your roots, your home is here in Canada, right?
Kristina Rogers 03:09
Yep, I grew up in London, Ontario, and went to Queens as an undergrad and yeah, after that just sort of ended up you know, unfortunately, never going home. Maybe that-, that will be in my future.
Michael LeBlanc 03:20
And let's talk about EY for a second. So everybody listening would know the letters or the words, but maybe they don't know the full scope and scale, particularly of your side of the business, the consulting advisory side of the business. Talk about that for a bit.
Kristina Rogers 03:32
Yeah, and EY, so yeah, way back in the day-, and I think people do still refer to EY as Ernst and Young and probably that is, you know, the more associated with the tax and audit work that we do, but the firm is truly a sprawling organization. We have nearly 400,000 employees in over 150 countries, imagine that. I mean, it's just when I think about that, that's crazy, 700 offices around the world.
Michael LeBlanc 03:55
You've got to, you've got to be careful, do not hit reply all, I guess in your organization.
Kristina Rogers 03:58
Yes, do not hit reply all. No. Absolutely and, you know, it's truly incredible to think about the work we do, obviously, our clients, certainly the clients I work with, particularly in the consumer product space, if you think about some of the giants in that industry. They are in all of the countries where we are so they need services of some sort, whether it's tax and accounting or strategic advisory, thinking about growth, strategy work, corporate strategy, divestitures, acquisitions and so, you know, my world is really thinking about what are our clients trying to do in all of these places and is EY configured appropriately and, you know, more recently, I would say, in the past couple of years, you know, we too have been on the push forward to that area of sustainability, and reporting ESG reporting and real strategy development and investment in that space with our clients.
Michael LeBlanc 04:51
So, over the years, literally years, you've been sharing your future Consumer Index and the insights and this project with us and we're here to talk about the latest Rev. But why don't we start at the, at the foundation. So tell us a little bit about, as I-, as I understand that the index was kind of developing when the COVID Hitting is like, oh, there's gonna, there's a lot of really dramatic changes happening, let's get ahead of that, or let's understand it and then now it's kind of taken on a new role, not that we're exactly past COVID, but as a COVID era, it's past, take a minute and tell us about the tradecraft, and the process, the scope and scale of the index itself, before we kind of dive into the latest findings.
Kristina Rogers 05:30
Well, you would remember, and, you know, any of us would remember my kids too, April 2020, brought something new to us, we can remember that date, our lives change dramatically. It was the start of the pandemic, and you know, in our, at least my world specifically, and all of the shutdowns and everything was closed schools, work, restaurants, businesses, everything. So, it was pretty clear to me, we wanted to track those changes, and really understand what new habits might form out of some of those changes. We didn't know how long it would last, and track that to really understand, you know, what's changing, what are consumers noticing in this dramatic difference in their lives and so now we've, you know, had 13 rounds of this research, and we're looking at consumers in 28 countries, and as you said, you know, originally it was really to think about, you know, pandemic oriented behaviors, of course, there was a lot of content and data around health and how people were thinking about shopping, and we moved online so quickly, for those of us who hadn't been online.
Kristina Rogers 06:32
But now, you know, we've really repurposed a lot of what we've been doing. A: we're still tracking some of that, but clearly, over the last couple of years, you know, we're more interested in behaviors and sentiment around inflation or sentiment around, you know, new technologies that are upon us, and certainly looking at, you know, sentiments and behaviors around sustainability, climate change, and you know, people thinking more about their waste and their contribution to landfills, and that sort of thing. We're getting a lot of good data around that.
Michael LeBlanc 07:07
Well, and it's a good segue into talking about the latest research, because, as you say, talking about sustainability and climate change is on our mind, we're just kind of rolling out of the whatever that cop 28, got us for all that kind of stuff and I guess, you know, in many ways, climate change is a bigger challenge to us longer risk challenge and potentially a longer range changing, you're changing consumer behaviors than even the COVID era was. COVID was short, sharp and intense. Climate change is big, and arguably a bigger threat, or not, arguably, but a different threat and so, you know, we're all wondering what on earth are consumers thinking. They're impacted, whether they know it, or not, in large or small ways, from the cost of the food to the safety of their food, and when they shop for apparel, so, so many questions, it's a great survey. So, take us through at a high level, what your what your findings were when talking to consumers about climate change and their behaviors, their shopping behaviors willingly or I guess, in some ways, unwillingly, right?
Kristina Rogers 08:09
Right, well, and I think, you know, over the, the few times, I've been a guest here, we, we've talked a bit around, you know, some of this did start in a way, the, the more, I guess, you know, obvious things when you sat at home, when you realized how much stuff you had around, right? So, we've talked about that in the past, you know, I've just, you know, you were at home, you were doing everything at home, when you realized your house was filled with things that you really don't need.
Kristina Rogers 08:35
And I think we saw that early on in some of the research where people said, well, you know, my home is filled with things that I don't want, I'm sad that it's going to landfills, you know, but I don't, I don't want any of this stuff anymore and there's been a real sort of conscious effort and thought, in some of the research, we've seen about just consumption in general, but this time around, when we really dug into the topics of sustainability or circularity, or what's happening in climate change. You know, there were a lot of very direct responses related to that. So, if you can imagine this research was done at the end of September, early October, and consumers were coming off of, you know, pretty, some pretty devastating climate events that we saw, you know, over the previous, probably five or six months, and-
Michael LeBlanc 09:26
Saw or literally couldn't see even given the fires from Canada, made their way to the States.
Kristina Rogers 09:30
We had we had that smoke in Chicago coming and that-, you know, it'd be like, where's this from, oh, it's from this part of Canada and that, right and so, you know, besides just our environment, we were, you know, there were many more associations made, you know, in our news in places where we got information that talked about various droughts or flooding or things that were wiping out crops, and despite inflation still hanging around and being like a, you know, a bad part of our household budget. I think what we saw out in this round of research is that consumers were much more willing to make the association of, you know, climate issues and climate events, weather events to the price of goods, and you made the point that food, certainly food.
Kristina Rogers 10:14
I mean, there was a lot of association with, you know, the price of things related to droughts, flooding, and just, you know, just not enough to go around type of thing and certainly, you know, related to clothing as well, I mean, people start to realize, hey, our clothing comes from somewhere, sometimes that's cotton and that also is affected by weather events and so I think there was a slow awakening to the cost of these weather events to our basic daily needs and then in certain places, as you probably know, Michael, maybe it was more in the US than, than other places, but, you know, there were a lot of insurance companies, you know, over the summer and into the fall, that started to say, we're not insuring in certain, you know, jurisdictions, we can't afford that anymore. There's too many climate events and so I think consumers, whether it's just their daily needs or bigger needs, like something like insurance costs for their homes, or what have you started to really associate some of these events, to the cost of goods into the cost of things that they were bringing into their homes.
Michael LeBlanc 11:19
Yeah, I think you make a great point, I think for 2023, for many climate change became somehow more real, and more in front of them and, you know, I'm looking at your survey now, and I'll put a link in the show notes, because it's great work, you know, change the foods I eat because of availability or cost issues, you know, turns out to be the number one thing people have had to do and think about, I also think about food safety, right, we've just gone through a, a cantaloupe issue here, where seven Canadians have died from eating cantaloupe that really comes down to climate because
Kristina Rogers 11:52
Oh my goodness.
Michael LeBlanc 11:53
They're-, they're finding water for these balls of poison, as I've kind of described them. I mean, like this is, you know, the people need to start, I think many consumers in your research kind of validate, or start to connect the dots around these things, right. I think that's-
Kristina Rogers 12:07
Starting to connect the dots to you know, especially food and the cost of food and trying to understand some of that, and then certainly safety issues. You know, that's really devastating what you just said. I think the other thing that has, you know, and I mentioned just people thinking, I've got too much stuff, what do I do with all this, I don't need it, I don't want it. So there's the issue of the daily consumables, like our food and our beverage needs, and that that sort of thing and then there are just I, you know, I was having a look at the research recently and, you know, even with regards to landfill and circularity, I mean, you have about 40% of global respondents saying they want to spend less to help the environment and there were a couple of, you know, areas where this was really predominant. So fashion accessories topped the list, because they kind of have become throwaway, right, they become disposable items, almost consumables and so I think people are reconsidering that somehow.
Kristina Rogers 13:07
You know, that-, that's a pretty significant number, 40% of respondents globally, wanting to think about, hey, do I need this, why don't I repurpose some things I already have and then, you know, that was also noted for toys and electronic gadgets. So, people are starting to connect the dots like, do I really need the latest and greatest, when I know this is just going to be disposed of, and sit somewhere or shipped somewhere, as we're all learning now?
Michael LeBlanc 13:36
Well, it's funny you say that, because I want to go down a thread of what people say and what people do and-
Kristina Rogers 13:41
Correct. That's good.
Michael LeBlanc 13:43
Index that by demographic regeneration, because you know, if you think about the China factory direct model, where you might as well be shipping it direct to a landfill, they are the number one or number two downloaded apps in America and Canada right now. So you know, this, you know, and when I've talked to folks like yourself about, okay, what's the-, how do we square this, this contradiction, it is clearly around money and generations it's like, you know, I'd love to do better for the environment and make those decisions and buys a product that lasts longer, but I just don't have the money. So yeah, I'll buy from Shein or Temu.
Michael LeBlanc 14:18
So how do you how do you think, as people, you know, start to get their heads around the affordability of making environmentally friendly choices, how do you-, how do you think that and you do some of this work and generation-, do it by generation or demographic speak to that for a little bit and, you know, does this translate into a drop of overall consumption as a way to address the issue, but I think it's more nuanced than that, yeah?
Kristina Rogers 14:41
I think it is nuanced. I mean, I think there's-, there's certain you're right, certain segments of the population and then certain generations who are looking around to say, I don't need all of the things I thought I needed. I don't need to respond to marketing or, you know, demand creation or what have you and you're right. I think younger consumers, I think that you-, they really need to have a look at themselves. We see this in our research too. I mean, there's that action and intention gap. So yeah, you know, I intend to, I'm very, you know, keen to, you know, do things that are good for the environment, I want my, you know, world to exist in the future. I'm, you know, big on climate change, I don't want to throw things in the landfill, but then the action is just not there.
Kristina Rogers 15:23
And that's, I think we're not just our research, Michael, but we're seeing that in other places, too and so whether that's because I can't afford to invest in something that's better quality and keep around, or you look, I need to post on Instagram or somewhere else all the time. So I need to be seeing it in something different, you know, whatever that is, I don't, it's unclear, but I think you're right, there's that action and tension gap. And that changes, frankly, with older generations that maybe are less, you know, vocal or less agitated about some of the things that are going on, but they're actually the ones that tend to, you know, actually make some lifestyle changes, whether that's, you know, figuring out how to compost or buying different products, or even bringing a reusable grocery bag to the-, to the-, to a store, you know, there's just a willingness to take the action. So maybe older generations don't talk about their intentions as much or signal that as much, but they actually take some action and so-.
Michael LeBlanc 16:24
Or have action-, you know, it's interesting, I just fall in that thread or have action thrust upon them. You know, I was talking with the folks at LCBO, who-, Liquor Board in Canada for those international listeners, and they've eliminated not only plastic bags, which they did before, but they've now eliminated paper bags. So, when you go into a LCBO store, which is massive, bring your own, like, there's none in store.
Kristina Rogers 16:46
If you're planning to buy a lot, bring your own.
Michael LeBlanc 16:49
Well, they'll give you-, they'll give you a case or something.
Kristina Rogers 16:51
They'll give you a box.
Michael LeBlanc 16:52
They'll give you a box, but you know, and they're not a singular example, many retailers have phased out plastic bags and, and more than encourage you, so some of it is thrust upon and it kind of gets me into a segue into how retailers are thinking about all this and reacting because you work on both the brand and the retail side, which is what's so fascinating and it's, it's, it's funny, I noticed that the number one just back to, you know, consumers taking-, taking action. The number two thing must have warmed the hearts of some of the brands who had to purchase bottled water.
Michael LeBlanc 17:25
Okay, that's good. It's not really good, but it's good for some brands that -
Kristina Rogers 17:31
If you're selling bottled water, sure.
Michael LeBlanc 17:33
Sell bottled water, but let's-, let's talk more-, more globally, like when you present this to your clients on the brand side, or the retail side, what are their reactions, because they've got, you know, I speak to them, they've got some very talented people in this sustainability and-, and that files, as they would say, very senior roles, and all the retailers and I'm sure in the brands, and they're all working on this, what do they what do they make of what you're telling them?
Kristina Rogers 17:56
Well, I think they're-, they're smart. I mean, they understand that despite there's this big bulge of people, whether it's Millennials or Gen Z that are kind of a pawn, virtue signaling all the things they want to do, but maybe can't afford it or too lazy, or they want the immediate delivery or whatever the thing is, that doesn't really vibe with their intentions, retailers know that they're on the front line. So if they are private label their own brand, or you know, they've got to have a clean supply, they've got to be working towards a clean supply chain and they've got to be sorting through the data at reporting, you know, to provide the right information to their customers because the one thing that we do know about consumers is that, while they-, you know, they say a lot of things, they want a lot of things, they're a bit lazy, and they expect that information to be provided to them.
Kristina Rogers 18:43
So, you know, I feel like we've seen over time, Michael, doing this research that there is a trend towards, you know, real desire to either buy less, buy better, or, you know, be more conscious, you know, make better choices. Now, maybe the actions aren't there right now, but the trend that I see in the research we do is there for so many reasons, whether it was COVID, or inflation, or now I'm more aware of climate change and it is a trend and there will be a tipping point where people will gravitate, so retailers just need to be ready and they're on the front line. I mean, that's where people expect to get the information they expect to be presented with good options and good choices and they want that to be easy. So from one, you know, on the perspective there, I mean, the burden really is on the retailer, certainly grocery and I would-, I would imagine certainly, you know, clothing, apparel-, apparel anytime soon.
Michael LeBlanc 19:38
I mean, the apparel, I-, you know, I was presenting at a at a conference and one of the questions from the audience was, you know, what, what about sustainability and can I, you know, really the question circulated around table stakes versus differentiators and you know, it has being or can you win on-, on the foundation of sustainability and circular reality in your retail when you've got competitors who are not winning on that at all, they're winning on a bunch of other things. So, like, what do you-, what do you think about this table stakes versus differentiators, can you, is it all now just table stakes, you've got to know this stuff and you can't really win or it's hard to differentiate yourself. What do you-, what do you think of that?
Kristina Rogers 20:21
I think in the longer term or medium term, let's say it will be table stakes. I do think now, there's value. I mean, as much as I-, you know, I'm sort of saying our younger generations are not taking action, despite their best intentions. There are segments of the population who value that, and they will gravitate to those places. I mean, those are the-, the generations that are huge on vintage, right, and subscriptions, and they're trying their way to repurpose things. So, there is-
Michael LeBlanc 20:50
We should dimensionalize what huge means, though, I mean, when you look at some of the startups, the disruptor startups in that space, they're really small.
Kristina Rogers 20:57
They're small, I think it's the vent, you're right, the vint-, it's more than the kind of vintage people love that sort of shopping, but I think in the medium term, this will be table stakes. I think you're right, Michael, I mean, everyone's got to be-, there will be so much exposed about some of probably the very disturbing ways in which some of our clothing comes to us and accessories and fashion and what have you that I think eventually that-, that will have to change, right that. So it will be table stakes, but I think there's probably some value in you know, if you are going for a certain segment of the population or your consumers are, are willing to pay more, and you're comfortable with that part of the population, you don't want to be fully mess, I do believe the trend that we're seeing shows you that there's an opportunity there.
Kristina Rogers 20:59
I can think of, you know, retailers, like in Canada, Mec, or in the US Patagonia that makes, you know, winning proposition out of doing what you describe,
Kristina Rogers 21:54
Right and so there's a template there. So, for others to know, they have to go in that direction. You know, there's some places to go have a look and say, how are you doing that, how expensive is that, how can we do it, what do we have to change in our operating model to make this happen?
Michael LeBlanc 22:10
Now you work in, as you said, EY, very big company doing all kinds of different research. So, I wonder if you comment a little bit on the broader context of priorities for retailers and brands. I mean, when I talk to retailers, you know, they bring up things like cybercrime, which they've there's been many significant attacks, and in Canada, in the US, so, you know, they got a lot to deal with, right, they got, how did you bounce off the priorities of climate change and all these other, let's frame them as risks. What do you-, what are you hearing from retailers about how they're, they're shifting and investing and making this a priority?
Kristina Rogers 22:49
Yeah, and to be honest, Michael, I mean, despite the fact we're just coming off of COP 28, at the end of last year, and-, and so on, and we've got kind of this great consumer demand and, you know, new regulatory environment in different parts of the world, especially Europe, I do feel like there's been an easing off of the focus on, you know, sustainability or climate initiatives that our clients, I think that's tough when the ROI is out in the future. So what we were just talking about, right and certainly the business client, for so many companies has been really challenging, right, they're dealing with all sorts of things, as you say, whether it's cyber issues, or exploring use cases for Gen AI, or talent management, especially in retail, I mean, there's such a challenge on the talent, front supply chain issues that we've all heard about, and so on and so I think companies and retailers know that regulation and consumer expectation with regards to circularity or sustainability, or energy transition is only going to grow, and they can't really take their foot off the pedal. For long on this topic. I do notice less conversation about it, I have to say.
Michael LeBlanc 23:58
Interesting, well, it's always been the case in my career, that economics to some degree dictates environmental issues, right? There's this, you know, they there's a spectrum of consumers and businesses, then we think about consumers, some consumers make all their decisions based on let's say climate based priorities and some make it only if it's very, very convenient, and it doesn't cost me anything and like, like, there's that spectrum and economics moves that that bullet point or that bubble around a little bit. Let's move as we, as we kind of wrap up to advice, so what are you telling your clients about understanding and acting on this research and is there different advice for brands and retailers, if you had three things you could, you could end with in terms of advice for all the listeners, what would you say?
Kristina Rogers 24:43
Yeah, I mean, I think I'd come back to something maybe I said already, retailers are on the front line. I mean, that's just the fact and so they've got to continue working on if it's their own brands, or if you know if it's a private label or if they're its own branded retailer. You know, they've got to keep working on, you know, pushing on that clean supply chain pushing on understanding where their data comes from how to report it provide the right information to regula-, regulatory bodies, certainly in Europe and their customers, because right, as we said, despite it all, you know, consumers are lazy, they want these things, but they also want it provided and so I think the creative retailers, and the ones who are, you know, really having a look at how they can do this and get it right. You know, when I mean, the burden is clearly on retailers.
Michael LeBlanc 25:32
And keep telling the story is what I would call out of that, like, all the time, you're investing in telling the story of what you're doing is time well spent.
Kristina Rogers 25:41
Oh, absolutely. Michael, I remember when I lived in Europe, there was a European retailer, which I learned later in life was the largest purchaser of organic cotton. I never would have known that being in their stores.
Michael LeBlanc 25:54
Right.
Kristina Rogers 25:54
But I might have appreciated it. So you're absolutely right. I mean, there's got to be that messaging the right-, in the right place with the right people, and push this forward. I think that, you know, if you think about the medium in the longer term, as we said, you know, this will, there will be a benefit out in the future, I see the trends, and I don't know where the tipping point is, but it will be, you know, good strategy to be working on, you know, how to deliver that in, you know, three, four or five years from now.
Kristina Rogers 26:22
And then on the manufacturing side, I mean, again, it's about clean supply chains, it's about knowing where your inputs are coming from, it's about energy transition, I mean, there's so many things they need to be doing and then it's that willingness to share data, and maybe even supply chains with your retailers that's all new, right? I mean, manufacturers and retailers weren't necessarily friends in the past and some of that has to be, you know, you know, set aside and think about, you know, how do we ensure that the data is shared, retailers have the data, they're able to share it as well, in terms of the products that are in their stores, if they are, you know, say grocery, retail or etc. So, you know, I think there's a lot more thinking about how to align systems, how to, you know, be more integrated, and be comfortable sharing, you know, data on this dimension.
Michael LeBlanc 27:14
Interesting. Well, listen, great advice and speaking of advice, where can folks go to, to get in touch if they want some more advice from you or the folks at EY? Are you a LinkedIn person? I know you to be a LinkedIn person, but where can they go get in touch and get more advice and find out more?
Kristina Rogers 27:31
Yeah, I'm, well, I'm a LinkedIn person. I'm always posting, you know, what I think is relevant, myself on LinkedIn, so certainly go there and ey.com You should be able to find, you know, a lot of our thinking, whether it's, you know, under consumer or under consumer products, or under a future Consumer Index, hopefully those things pop up on ey.com.
Michael LeBlanc 27:52
All right, well, fantastic. Well, Christina, thanks again, so much for joining me on-, on the mic. I always really enjoy our conversations; you provide such great data and then the insights that wrap around the data. So, I really appreciate you taking the time out of your travels and-, and I wish you safe travels for the year 2024 and maybe we'll get back in touch as you continue to learn, and we all continue to learn. So once again, thanks for making the time.
Kristina Rogers 28:17
Absolutely delighted to.
Michael LeBlanc 28:20
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of The Voice of Retail. If you haven't already, follow on your favorite podcast platform so new episodes will land automatically each week and be sure to check out my other retail industry media properties, the Remarkable Retail podcast with Steve Dennis and the Global E-Commerce Leaders podcast.
I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, senior retail advisor, keynote speaker, Rethink Retail: 2023 Global Top Retail Influencer. If you want more content or to chat, follow me on LinkedIn.
Safe travels everyone.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
retailers, retail, climate change, sustainability, consumers, thinking, EY, talk, work, Canada, research, brands, landfill, clients, future, podcast, action, issues, climate, consumer