With over a decade of success and a loyal fanbase in their pouch, this Canadian menswear staple brand is disrupting the North American men’s underwear space. Today on The Voice of Retail we’re going to strip back the layers of Saxx Underwear’s retail strategy with their CEO Wendy Bennison. As a seasoned retail executive with senior leadership roles at Roots and Marks, plus industry leadership on the RCC Board of Directors, Wendy offers a wealth of insight on Saxx’s integrated channel network strategy and the retail industry at large.
Welcome to the The Voice of Retail , I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
With over a decade of success and a loyal fanbase in their pouch, this Canadian menswear staple brand is disrupting the North American men’s underwear space.
Today on The Voice of Retail we’re going to strip back the layers of Saxx Underwear’s retail strategy with their CEO Wendy Bennison. As a seasoned retail executive with senior leadership roles at Roots and Marks, plus industry leadership on the RCC Board of Directors, Wendy offers a wealth of insight on Saxx’s integrated channel network strategy and the retail industry at large.
Wendy speaks to Saxx’s consumer alignment priorities, navigating relationships with retailers and applying a larger context to COVID-19 consumer behaviour.
Thanks for tuning into today’s episode of The Voice of Retail. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss out on the latest episodes, industry news, and insights. If you enjoyed this episode please consider leaving a rating and review, as it really helps us grow so that we can continue getting amazing guests on the show.
Wendy Bennison is currently based in Vancouver, BC as the CEO of SAXX Underwear Co, a Global Wholesale and Direct to Consumer Brand on its way to becoming the #1 Premium Men’s Underwear brand in North America. Prior to that, across more than twenty-five years in the retail industry, she held multiple senior executive positions inside of great Canadian brands such as Roots Canada where she was President and Mark’s Work Wearhouse. She says the greatest reward of all for her has been the opportunity to build highly engaged organizations that succeed through significant periods of growth and change in an ever evolving industry.
Passionate about building highly engaged teams by providing a culture and strategic business platform from which people can grow through the rewarding and challenging experience of executing a winning plan, Wendy Bennison is currently having fun as CEO of technical men’s underwear brand SAXX, based in Vancouver, BC
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!
Michael LeBlanc 00:04
Welcome to The Voice of Retail. I'm your host Michael Leblanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
With over a decade of success and a loyal fan base in their pouch, this Canadian menswear staple brand is disrupting the North American men's underwear space. Today on The Voice of Retail, we're going to strip back the layers of SAXX Underwear's retail strategy with their CEO Wendy Bennison.
Michael LeBlanc 00:25
As a seasoned retail executive with senior leadership roles at Roots and Mark's, plus industry leadership on the RCC Board of Directors, Wendy offers a wealth of insight on SAXX integrated channel network strategy, and the retail industry at large. Wendy speaks to SAXX consumer alignment priorities, navigating relationships with retailers, and applying a larger context to COVID-19 consumer behavior.
Wendy Bennison 00:29
First of all, choosing the right partner, and then the way you think about those partnerships, we have, you know, top-to-top meetings with all of the very senior people in the retail partnerships that we have. And we sit with them, including me and our VP of Sales, and our own senior team, and talk about what our brand stands for, who our customer is, and where we're going, you know, looking for that consumer alignment.
Michael LeBlanc 01:12
Let's listen in now.
Wendy, welcome to The Voice of Retail podcast. How are you doing this morning?
Wendy Bennison 01:18
Great. Thank you for welcoming me to the podcast, Michael. I'm, I'm fabulous.
Michael LeBlanc 01:22
Well, thanks for joining me, it's great to hear your voice. You and I have met and, and crossed paths, and worked together through Retail Council of Canada, and other things and stayed in touch. So, I'm really thrilled and excited that we have a chance to talk about what's going on in your life today and, and all the fun adventures you're having. Let's jump right in, tell the listeners who may perhaps not be familiar with who you are, a little bit about yourself, your background, your professional journey, and your role at SAXX.
Wendy Bennison 01:47
Sure, sure. Well, again, thanks for having me. A little bit about me. Well, I think of myself as a retailer. I guess that's why you invited me here today.
Michael LeBlanc 01:58
Thought leader, thought leader, retailer. All those things, yeah.
Wendy Bennison 02:01
Yeah, so, I, I've grown up in the retail industry. I, I've had along the way, I'll tell you a bit more about it in a second, the amazing good fortune to work inside of a number of different growth businesses, you know, during what I would call transformational times. You know, where I was surrounded by strong leadership and great talent to learn from.
Wendy Bennison 02:21
And I grew up on the operating side of retail. So, I learned early on the power of a great plan, followed by outstanding execution, that's kind of my formula. My career has included a long stretch at Mark's, Mark's Work Wearhouse, which, of course, is a division of Canadian Tire.
Michael LeBlanc 02:38
Yeah.
Wendy Bennison 02:38
I'm also thrilled to say that Mark's is a strategic retail partner for SAXX, today. Following that, I, I landed at Roots Canada, an iconic Canadian brand, where I was President and CEO for a few years. And while there, we took the business through a change of control, from the ownership by the founders—
Michael LeBlanc 02:59
Right.
Wendy Bennison 02:59
Into private equity. So, that was an incredible journey. And then I left there to follow a dream to live in the west coast of Canada and experience what it was like to live by the mountains. So, I went out there to join Kit and Ace. And after a one-year stint there as President, things change.
Michael LeBlanc 03:09
Yeah.
Wendy Bennison 03:14
And five years ago, I landed as, at SAXX as CEO. You know, where together, we've been growing rapidly and, actually, recently took the business through a change of control to new ownership. Thrilled to say we're now owned by the TCP Private Equity Group, who are proving to be excellent partners. So, that's a, that's a little bit about my journey as to, you know, where I got to today.
Michael LeBlanc 03:44
Well, let's talk about, talk about SAXX. So, I know it well, I've been a longtime customer actually—
Wendy Bennison 03:48
Thank you, thank you.
Michael LeBlanc 03:51
Love them, very familiar. But, of course, once again, perhaps the audience might know, not know, about SAXX, and probably don't know, if they might have known the brand, they don't know the full scope and scale, like where you trade, how do you go to market—
Wendy Bennison 04:03
Yeah, yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 04:04
All those things. Talk about SAXX for a bit.
Wendy Bennison 04:05
Yeah, for sure. Well, first of all, I can tell you, I never imagined myself, you know, ending up operating a men's underwear brand. We spend our days talking about the very private parts of mean, and, you know, so that's been a—
Michael LeBlanc 04:22
Yeah.
Wendy Bennison 04:22
Surprising career turn for me. But I have to say, the brand and business is a really, it's a really exciting place to be. So, for those of you who don't know much about SAXX, we're a Canadian company. We were founded in Vancouver more than a decade ago. We're a globe, today we're a global brand that plays in the premium technical men's underwear space. And whose products focus is on comfort and self-care for men.
Wendy Bennison 04:24
Over a decade ago, as I said, we started out as a wholesaler. So, in the early days of the brand, you know, they, they were beginning to sell in independent retailers and then eventually got into some larger retailers. And then today we've gone on, a number of years ago, to add in our own DTC and marketplaces. And so, today we have that in addition to our amazing retail partnerships.
Wendy Bennison 04:56
You know, our brand and product quite literally revolutionized and disrupted the men's underwear category, you know, through a technical, patented ballpark pouch and other technical features that our product delivers. We have this incredible, loyal fan base, we represent a diverse customer base, and strive to give voice to challenging uncomfortable conversations on the topics relating to—
Michael LeBlanc 05:16
Yeah.
Wendy Bennison 05:43
Changes in masculinity. So—
Michael LeBlanc 05:45
Yeah.
Wendy Bennison 05:45
Since, since then, we've also, you know, begun the journey of adding other clothes, and I'll call them apparel categories. So, but, but we, you know, we think of the gateway to the SAXX brand as men's premium underwear. And it's, it's a growing market. We've been growing with that market, and it's a really exciting space. It's always exciting to be in a space that's being disrupted.
Michael LeBlanc 06:07
Yeah.
Wendy Bennison 06:08
And this one is certainly that.
Michael LeBlanc 06:11
Well, I, and I can say for the fellas listening, it was epiphany for me. I, I, where did I buy my first pair, I think was a GOTSTYLE, small specialty store.
Wendy Bennison 06:20
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 06:20
A men's store here in, in Toronto. And you put them on you, just get, it's like an epiphany. This is, I don't know, five, five years ago, and I'm like, I'm never going back I like—
Wendy Bennison 06:29
Well, yeah, yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 06:30
This is it.
Wendy Bennison 06:31
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 06:31
You described the category as technical, which is an interesting, I mean, you know, people follow, but you guys’ lead, right. You were, you were, that was originator.
Wendy Bennison 06:40
Well, you know it, the words out customers, if ever you, you want to spend a fun few minutes, just go read some of our reviews. Because our customers get to talk about our brand in ways we couldn't possibly talk about it through our marketing. The passion is, is really—
Michael LeBlanc 06:56
Yeah.
Wendy Bennison 06:56
Is really major. And, and customers talk about it as life changing. Like that, those are their words. You know, underwear, the underwear market is a massive market, but it's largely made up of $4 a pair, you know, white underwear and—
Michael LeBlanc 07:11
The equivalent of the, equivalent of the boxed bra, yeah.
Wendy Bennison 07:13
Yes, correct, correct. And that are really not technical, and that really don't do, do a good job of supporting men. So, anyway, yeah, it's, it's a, it's an awesome product.
Michael LeBlanc 07:23
I want to talk about a particular element of the retail strategy in the retail landscape. And it's sometime referred to as the elephant in the room. So, you started as a wholesaler, you have relationships, now you're selling direct, you could be, you know, there's a lot of, of growth in that area, the digital native, vertical brands, you're not digital native, but you play in that direct.
Michael LeBlanc 07:44
How do you balance wholesale trade relationships and growth, and selling direct to customer? So, you know, a long time ago, it was verboten, right. You were like, you were not going to, you're selling against me, there was, it was a lot of, there's a lot of emotion—
Wendy Bennison 07:59
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 07:59
Sometimes involved.
Wendy Bennison 08:00
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 08:01
When you were, you know, going direct, you're, you're stealing my customers. But that's evolved over the years. How do you think about that? And how do you craft that strategy? So—
Wendy Bennison 08:09
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 08:10
One plus one equals three, everybody—
Wendy Bennison 08:11
Yeah, yeah. Well, for sure. I mean, you know, let's face it, brands today are built in the digital space. So, let's start there. That, that's where they are built, it's how consumers become connected with them. We have something here that we refer to as an integrated channel network strategy. That's how we think, we really think about being where our customers want us to be, you know, underwear gets sold in a lot of different places, and we want to be wherever the customer wants us to be.
Wendy Bennison 08:40
But coming back to your question about the relationships with our wholesalers, you know, as with everything that starts with, you know, consumer and market insight that leads you to the right partners. And I think, from the very beginning, SAXX did a really great job of determining the right partners. The success, honestly, is being disciplined about who you partner with and why.
Wendy Bennison 09:01
And then it's about investing deeply in servicing those partners with senior level discussions about business strategy, long term business, and brand building plans. And then it's about really working together with them to, to deliver insight driven right assortments, providing them with retail analytics, you know, ultimately, supporting marketing efforts with them. And, and, and again, just being a great service partner in terms of—
Michael LeBlanc 09:29
Sure.
Wendy Bennison 09:29
Delivering the product itself. So, I think it honestly, I think it really begins with the way you treat, first of all, choosing the right partner, and then the way you think about those partnerships. We have, you know, top-to-top meetings with all of the very senior people in the retail partnerships that we have. And we sit with them, including me and our VP of Sales, and our own senior team, and talk about what our brand stands for, who our customer is, and where we're going.
Wendy Bennison 09:58
You know, looking for that consumer alignment. And it works, it works. I think it's, it's about being selective about who you work with, and then really investing in those relationships.
Michael LeBlanc 10:10
Do you think tactically about how to present the brand as you sell direct to customers? So, I launched Levi Strauss online in 1997, to sell direct. Imagine, you know, 98% of our business was done by like Sears, Eaton’s, and The Bay—
Wendy Bennison 10:25
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 10:25
And then beyond, you know, maybe a bit of jeanery. So, it was, it was an interesting day, but the way we crafted the site, strategy, even at that point, and it was online was, we're going to be the home for everything. Because not every wholesale partner takes everything they have—
Wendy Bennison 10:39
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 10:39
Different assortments, channel management, as we would call it. Is that, is that some of the things you, you spend some time internally thinking about, is what to present?
Wendy Bennison 10:45
For sure, for sure. I mean, we, we, I mean, first of all, we think of our, our own D-to-C as the flagship store. You know, it's where you're going to go to get the fullest experience of the brand, in terms of, you know, knowledge about the product. You know, if you want to go and take an underwear quiz about, you know, the perfect pair for you.
Wendy Bennison 11:06
It's the place where you can ultimately really provide the greatest service and to your point, the broadest assortment. And, you know, but certainly when we think about the marketplaces we're in, and the retailers when in our own site, our own site is, as I said, it's the flagship store.
Michael LeBlanc 11:24
Right.
Wendy Bennison 11:24
We always want the customer to get the, the fullest expression of our brand there, because we know that very often, they'll come there to learn about the brand, and they may go to a store to try it.
Michael LeBlanc 11:35
Which you're fine with, right. I mean, the site is—
Wendy Bennison 11:36
Totally.
Michael LeBlanc 11:38
A well-built site does double duty, right, build the brand—
Wendy Bennison 11:40
Yes.
Michael LeBlanc 11:41
And sell direct to those who want, but, but basically, it has to do all those things, right?
Wendy Bennison 11:45
It has to do all of those things. And we know, you know, through our own insight, that customers bounce around in all of the channels that we sell in. We know that customers discover brands in retail and experience them there. And then they might decide, you know, that they'll, they'll gift shop online, or they, they, they might be in an independent retailer for another reason and see our product.
Wendy Bennison 12:11
So, really, we know our customers travel around the various different places our product is being offered to them. And we think that's awesome. We want to be where the customer is, and that is what I mean by an integrated channel network strategy.
Michael LeBlanc 12:26
Let's come at the same question from a different angle. So, you spent most of your career on the other side of the table, so to speak, with brands talking to you, or wholesalers talking to you. What's your advice to retailers listening about how best to deal, work with brands like yourself?
Michael LeBlanc 12:40
So, I think you're, you're already talking about some of them. But imagine yourself, you know, the shoe is on the other foot or the pair of underwear—
Wendy Bennison 12:46
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 12:46
Is on the other, whatever. You know, what's your advice to retailers when those discussions, and they increasingly come up more, what's the best way to approach it from your, from your perspective?
Wendy Bennison 12:59
Well, and first, first and foremost, I mean, retailers, of course, are looking for great business partners. You know, so for the retailer, it's all about, in my view, partnering with brands that will bring them traffic, right, and create great margins for them. So, as with anything a retailer decides to do inside of their own four walls, it has to start with who the customer is. And I think retailers should expect strong levels of insight from the brands, you know, that they're thinking of doing business with.
Wendy Bennison 13:26
That should ultimately give them confidence that it's the right customer, and that it's the right brand messaging in align-, in alignment with their own brand. And, and brands need to provide retailers with a robust business case and retailers should expect that. So, you know, I, I think retailers love emerging brands, they love, they love brands that, you know, are reaching the heart of the customer, that is, very often, the very same customer that's standing inside of your own brick-and-mortar stores, or even shopping on their own websites.
Wendy Bennison 14:00
And so, I think, you know, I think if a retailer thinks of a brand as a business partner and expects that business partner to come to the table with insight and data, along with, obviously, you know, relevant product that consumers are going to love, I think great partnerships can be made. I know they can be because we, we have phenomenal partnerships with our retailers.
Wendy Bennison 14:26
I can't say enough about the incredible give-and-take that exists together between us. You know, it is very much a helping each other out here. We know our brand is, is driving footsteps to, to their men's underwear department. Which is what they need. And we know that customers go there to discover brands. So, it's, it's, it's a fantastic partnership, if you think about it as such.
Michael LeBlanc 14:53
I love your approach. I used to reflect on it as, you know, I'm looking for partners, not mercenaries. Like if I—
Wendy Bennison 14:59
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 15:00
If I'm talking to a wholesaler who is clearly trying to build their own book of business on my back, that's generally not a very productive conversation. So, it's, it's great advice. Let's, let's take a bit of a turn. Let's talk about building your brand, like product development, one, you know, one pair of underwear at a time, building a global brand.
Michael LeBlanc 15:18
What's the tradecraft of that? So, give me a, just open the, you know, open the lid a little bit on how you approach, you know, what does the product road look like? Where, where do you go for insight? And, and how do you explore different markets? Talk about that a little bit.
Wendy Bennison 15:34
Well, first of all, we are a product centric organization. So, you know, one of the things I, I had the advantage of along the way, in my own career, at Mark's, at Roots, you know, the business was centered around the product, it's sold and centered around the consumer who was buying that. So, like all other parts of our business product, including the building out of existing assortments and the addition of new, starts with, you know, data driven consumer insight.
Wendy Bennison 16:02
We do deep research, we do concept testing, we lab test new technologies and fabrications, we test consumer reaction to everything, pricing, prints, we do focus groups, we do ongoing work with a group of customers on fit and function. Yes, we also use historical sales analysis, and we have a great data tool that allows us to have visibility to the customer journey, at the product level.
Wendy Bennison 16:30
You know, we can see what products they buy first, and what after, when they buy that, where do they go next? So, we can really learn from that. And of course, lastly, we monitor our competitors very, very closely and fiercely protect our patent from any infringements. You know, so I would say, Michael, ultimately, it’s data, and deep interest in consumers’ needs and behaviors that guide all of our decision making.
Michael LeBlanc 16:55
Let's talk about leadership. You've been a leader for most of your career, leading people, and leading organizations. I, I, you know, I reflect on the past couple of years of COVID. And the one thing I think about is that, you know, COVID provided a mission, like everybody was aligned and going in one direction. And that, and building, and more agile, we don't know what's coming up next, so how do we build an agile organization?
Michael LeBlanc 17:19
Talk about your leadership style, and maybe any tips or advice for the retail leaders, listening, any leaders listening about your style of leadership, and how to keep people, teams motivated. These are, have been very difficult times, sometimes very challenging. And what have you been working on, and what are your tips?
Wendy Bennison 17:37
You know, one of the very first things I did when I arrived at SAXX was very, very purposefully work with everybody who was there at that time, to land on together what our core value system would be. I wanted to make sure when I arrived that I understood, for the people that were already there, you know, what were the, the things about the culture they really wanted to protect? And what were some of the things that, that we thought were opportunities within that culture.
Wendy Bennison 18:06
And so way back then, we developed what we call the SAXX Six. Which is how we, how we wanted to behave with one another, how we wanted to, you know, in effect, live with each other every day as we build out this business. And so, I, I'm a big believer in let's, let's start by articulating the culture we want to live into together, it's really important. And when I think back on the pandemic, oh my god, that first year. I was, you know, the first few months were utter chaos. I was so, I'm so proud when I look back, I think because we had done a lot of work building trust together, building an incredible team of, of people who, you know, were proud of being scrappy.
Wendy Bennison 18:48
Were proud of, you know, the way they partner together, that, what I witnessed every day in the leaders of our business coming together, in a huddle to kind of say, what are today's challenges? How can we help each other, what decisions are we going to make today? What I would say is, what we had was a really great team and culture, it became even stronger through the pandemic, because we learned, we had to learn to trust each other, we had to learn to make decisions rapidly and keep moving.
Wendy Bennison 19:18
So, you know, having the right people in the right chairs. But, you know, if I think of some of the, you know, the, the key advice I would give, you know, as I think about the various businesses I've come into, that, sort of, feed into everything I was just talking about. I mean, first and foremost, you have to make sure you have an insight driven strategy, right.
Michael LeBlanc 19:36
Right.
Wendy Bennison 19:37
That starts with deeply understanding your current business, your consumer, you know, the market that you plan, and, you know, when your business lacks skills and expertise in a particular area, find a way to buy that, that knowledge—
Michael LeBlanc 19:52
Right.
Wendy Bennison 19:52
Or skill through the right external resources. You know, be really honest with yourself about what you don't know, right, like—
Michael LeBlanc 19:58
Right, right.
Wendy Bennison 19:59
Because it's not hard to actually, you know, get information to build out your strategy, yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 20:03
Right, equally important to address that as it is to, what you basically are doing, is setting, kind of, a, a point of arrival in terms of a culture.
Wendy Bennison 20:03
Yes.
Michael LeBlanc 20:04
So, and then how do you, kind of, if necessary, backfill in or grow roles and strategies, and all those things to meet that.
Wendy Bennison 20:19
Absolutely. Oh, for sure. I mean, once that strategy is built, understanding deeply the work that actually needs to be done to achieve it, and in what order that work needs to be done, and then building out a comprehensive organizational design. So, in the first year I was at SAXX, we built out a five-year organizational design based on the work of the strategy.
Wendy Bennison 20:41
And then you go out and make sure you hire the right talent, at the right time, on that journey. And then honestly, Michael, let that talent do what they're good at, you know, while as the leader, you keep them focused on the right things.
Michael LeBlanc 20:54
Get out of the way, get out of the way of the day-to-day.
Wendy Bennison 20:56
Get out, get out of the way, get out of the way. So, being strong, focused, executors, inside of, you know, a defined, supportive, and I'll call it, fine culture—
Michael LeBlanc 21:06
Right.
Wendy Bennison 21:06
That ultimately holds people accountable for that work that needs to be done. Like for me, that's, that's been our proven success formula.
Michael LeBlanc 21:15
Right on, right on. All right, last question for you. Can't have you on the mic without asking your insights, or thoughts, about the impact of the COVID-era on consumer and consumer behavior. I mean, we're, kind of, at the tail end, I guess, I think, of the COVID-era. I mean, the goalposts keep moving a little bit.
Michael LeBlanc 21:32
But I think we're at a better place than we were two years ago. I can't imagine consumers haven't changed with such a, you know, what I've called a circuit breaker behavior, what have you observed? You've talked about deep insight, and anything, any thoughts about what's different? What has changed for, for, from now on, versus what it was in the before time. What do you guys talk about around the table?
Wendy Bennison 21:56
Well, you know, I, I might have a slightly different way of answering this than you might be expecting. My answer might be a bit narrower than you'd like, or you might have heard it before. But here's how I'm thinking about it. My opinion COVID, while yes, obviously, has been life altering, is one, one of many events along the way. I've been doing this for longer than I really want to admit. And—
Michael LeBlanc 22:21
It's not your first change, right, it's not your first—
Wendy Bennison 22:23
Exactly. So, when I think about the number of things I've witnessed along the way, in this industry that have impacted consumer behavior, you know, over the last number of decades, you know, from the establishment of a global economy, the arrival—
Michael LeBlanc 22:35
Yeah.
Wendy Bennison 22:35
Of a big box, you know, the redefining of opening price points, you know—
Michael LeBlanc 22:39
E-commerce, I mean.
Wendy Bennison 22:40
The shift to online purchasing—
Michael LeBlanc 22:41
Yeah, yeah.
Wendy Bennison 22:41
And access to a global brand at your fingertips, you know, the speed at which brands can build in the minds of consumers, you know, with digital marketing capabilities, just to name a few, Michael. So, you know, the key, in my opinion, to thriving through any of them is to be in touch with your consumer and market. And today, that's largely, in my opinion, driven by data science and analytics.
Wendy Bennison 23:05
It's about being flexible enough in your channel strategy to be able to pivot to wherever the customer is, and, and, you know, when they get there, they need to find again, you know, insight-driven relevant products, you know, being offered at fair prices, you know, with ease of shop, being driven by, you know, the latest solutions, but also by an ethical business that they can trust. And, you know, who cares about something more than profits.
Wendy Bennison 23:29
So, you know, while yes, I, I, I think, you know, there's all kinds of emerging trends. Re-commerce, I think is a very interesting one—
Michael LeBlanc 23:37
Yeah.
Wendy Bennison 23:37
For us all to start thinking about. Clearly the customer has found their legs in on-, online shopping. I, the, although I still believe the experience of going to a store is never going to go away. And I look forward, and I can't wait for retailers to be back in a place where they're, you know, they've got strong inventories and are able to give the fullest expression of service—
Michael LeBlanc 23:58
Yeah, yeah.
Wendy Bennison 23:59
That they clearly want to give. But what I feel like is this pandemic is, is, is been massive, and I don't want to minimize the impact it's had on businesses, you know, because we were at SAXX, so well positioned to move. That's what I mean about the flexibility, being able to move your inventory, move your marketing to where the customers are.
Wendy Bennison 24:17
We could quickly pivot to a more heavily based D-to-C strategy. But at the end of the day, if you really, you know, history would tell us, if you look back over the last, you know, 30 years or more, you know, there's been a lot of significant shifts. And I think it just comes to never losing sight with your consumer. And today, you know, with data science and analytics, I'm not saying it's all about that, you have to use—
Michael LeBlanc 24:44
Yeah.
Wendy Bennison 24:44
Instinct and experience but—
Michael LeBlanc 24:46
Art and science, right. It's art and science.
Wendy Bennison 24:47
Keep your fing-, yes, and keeping your finger on the pulse. That's how I look at it.
Michael LeBlanc 24:51
Well, it's a great message to end on. Not the first, tectonic change in retail, won't be the last either, but hopefully the last—
Wendy Bennison 24:58
Right.
Michael LeBlanc 24:58
Pandemic we'll have to deal with.
Wendy Bennison 24:59
Yes, I hope so.
Michael LeBlanc 24:59
Okay, let's, well, we'll take some other changes but let's, let's make sure, hopefully we don't have another one of those. Well listen, this has been a great conversation. How can people learn more about SAXX, get in touch and, and tell me about that.
Wendy Bennison 25:01
Yeah, well listen, I would, of course, love all of the listeners to go to saxx.com, and check us out. I think you'll find that we are a pretty inspiring brand. I hope you'll find that, with amazing product assortments. And if you're interested in reaching out to me, of course, I'd love to hear from you. And you can find me on LinkedIn.
Michael LeBlanc 25:30
Well, perfect. Well, Wendy, thanks so much for joining us. It's great to hear your voice, talk strategy, talk retail, it's been a real treat for me. I wish you much continued success as, as you continue to lead SAXX and you've got new partners so, boy, you got a great, you got great momentum and a great strategy. So, once again, thanks for joining me on The Voice of Retail and, and I wish you great holidays as well.
Wendy Bennison 25:50
And same right back at you, and thank you very much for having me, Michael.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
brand, customer, retail, retailers, business, underwear, consumer, strategy, partner, product, insight, bit, people, building, assortments, sell, talk, wendy, driven, learn