What’s a COVID-era trend and what’s here to stay? Amar Singh is the Senior Director in Consulting at the marketing research company, Kantar. As a retail consultant who specializes in macroeconomics and forecasting, Amar has invaluable insights on the past, present and future impacts of the pandemic. At the post-COVID intersection of acceleration and disruption, Amar fleshes out the trends that all retailers should be keeping their eyes on.
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.
What’s a COVID-era trend and what’s here to stay?
Amar Singh is the Senior Director in Consulting at the marketing research company, Kantar. As a retail consultant who specializes in macroeconomics and forecasting, Amar has invaluable insights on the past, present and future impacts of the pandemic. At the post-COVID intersection of acceleration and disruption, Amar fleshes out the trends that all retailers should be keeping their eyes on.
In this episode of The Voice of Retail podcast, I am thrilled to sit down with my long-time friend Amar to talk about supply chain disruption, how AI in the retail space is too focused on the past, and what the “returning to normal” timeline really looks like.
********
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.
I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company, and if you’re looking for more content, or want to chat follow me on LinkedIn, or visit my website meleblanc.co!
Until next time, stay safe and have a great week!
Michael LeBlanc
Welcome to The Voice of Retail. I'm your host Michael LeBlanc. This podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
What's a COVID era trend and what's here to stay? Amar Singh is the Senior Director in Consulting at the market research company, Kantar. As a retail consultant who specializes in macroeconomics and forecasting, Amar has invaluable insights on the past, present, and future impacts of the pandemic. At the post-COVID intersection of acceleration and disruption, Amar flushes out the trends that all retailers should be keeping their eyes on.
In this episode of The Voice of Retail podcast, I'm thrilled to sit down with my long-time friend, Amar, to talk about supply chain disruption, how AI in the retail space is too focused on the past, and what the 'return to normal' timeline really looks like.
Amar Singh
Yeah, I think what the era has done really, it's accelerated some of the trends they were forming pre-COVID, such as eComm, we would have been here five years from now if there were no COVID. But, I think we're COVID did a really, like encouraged and actually force in many ways, retailers to be more omnipresent and, and focus more on the supply chain. And, the one thing that most retailers learned is that AI doesn't work.
Michael LeBlanc
Let's listen in now.
Amar welcome to The Voice of Retail podcast, my friend. How are you doing?
Amar Singh
Hi, Michael. I'm well how are you doing?
Michael LeBlanc
I'm good, thanks. I should say welcome back. This is your second appearance you were on with my, my prior format, I should say when I had two guests in an episode. You joined me on the episode where I had Michael Schneider from Bunnings, in Australia, just to talk about your analysis of the hardware industry. I thought it was a nice combo. But now, in 2021, I do these great solo episodes. I'm so thrilled to have you back on the mic and, and spend some time with, with you and get your perspectives on what on earth has been going on and, what can retailers look forward to. So, thanks again for joining me.
Amar Singh
My pleasure, as always. And thank you for inviting me back. So, it's always a pleasure to be here.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, let's, let's start with, I know a bit about you, but I probably don't know as much about you. Let's start with a little bit about you. Now you and I have a couple of intersection points in our career. First of all, at Guelph, you worked with, or studied with, or I think he was on your dissertation, Sylvain Charlebois, my podcast partner on The Food Professor. And we work together for a big Canadian conglomerate, in very different roles though, Rogers Communication. So, that's a fun part of your background. So, start with that a little bit. Your, your, you've got not just an analyst, not just rigor, but you also have got some creative chops to you, tell. Anyway, tell us all about, tell us all about a little bit about that. Because that's really amazing. And, who you are, what you do where you got to and what you do Kantar?
Amar Singh
Yeah, absolutely. So, I had, when I was doing my masters at the University of Guelph, and I did my Master's in market research. And, while I was doing that, there was an opportunity at CBC's Hockey Night in Canada to start the Punjabi broadcast. And my friend and I, we were one of the first commentators to, to kick it off and also did a bit of same Punjabi commentating for the Toronto Raptors back in the day as well. So, yeah, so that was good times.
Michael LeBlanc
That's really taken off, right. I mean, that's really become quite a great institution.
Amar Singh
Yeah, absolutely. We're very proud of the legacy, actually. So, I called a couple of games, well, I called the game two years ago, last year, we can do it. I used to call play offs now, but I call the Leafs and the Sens series a couple of years ago, the first round of playoffs. So, that was fun. But yeah, no, it's great. And I know my ex-colleagues, and they're still my friends doing a great job with Hockey Night in Canada. And, the broadcast now is like owned by, is owned by Rogers now since,
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Amar Singh
And so, these guys been, done a great job expanding it and bringing more people and also the talent is just fantastic. One of my ex-colleagues, Harnarayan is now on the mainstream English broadcast. He's been calling the, the NHL playoff games now. So, super proud of him as well.
Michael LeBlanc
Let's talk about Kantar. And, you already talked about deep experience in research. But, how did you find your way into, into this business? Were you, were you the guy in the, in the sandbox with your fellow students asking them questions about what their thoughts were about the latest snacks or were you always interested in insights and research? Tell me about that.
Amar Singh
Yeah, absolutely. Like, you know, when I, when I did my Bachelor's in marketing, I just was always more fact and evidence-based guy. So, the natural progression for me in terms of academics was a degree in MS, marketing, science and consumer research, which I did at Guelph. And after that, I you know, I joined Kantar Insights, which used to be legacy Millward Brown. So, I worked with Millward Brown and cut my teeth there in brand and marketing, advertising tracking, as well as, you know, brand tracking and copy testing. Then I had, I worked at Kraft Heinz Canada, as a Brand Manager and Consumer Insights Manager and then you know, I was a consultant at heart. So, there was an opportunity at Kantar Consulting with the retail division. And, I embraced that about three years ago. So, I'm back with Kantar about for three years. And, I lead the Canadian retail portfolio as well as health and wellness portfolio for entire North America, as far as home improvement. So, those are the three parts that I own here at Kantar.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, right. Well tell, and tell us about Kantar. Tell us all about that organization and what you do and their scope. Big global scope, does some amazing work. But, tell us more.
Amar Singh
Yeah, absolutely. Kantar is in about 90-countries and we specialize in brand and advertising. Kantar used to be owned by WPP. We still have WPP as a minorities stakeholder. And, as you all know, WPP has most of the advertising, all the successful advertising firms under its umbrella. So, big global, you know, reach, big global footprint for Kantar, especially my division, you know, insights,
Michael LeBlanc
Right,
Amar Singh
For brand tracking, and copy testing, and all brand related research. But, we have different verticals within the consulting division, where retail is one of them, then there's a division that works in futures. They've been running their service for more than 40 years in different countries. And, basically, what they look into is the attitudes and behavior shifts in all these countries and see, you know, like the shopping behaviors, how's that changing political awareness? You know, like how like, you know, the, the attitudinal shifts when it comes to race relations and what have you. So, there's, there's a plethora of attitudes and behaviors, these guys, they track.
And then, we have a brand and marketing consulting division that focuses purely on brand building and brand repositioning. But my division, the division I represent in retail, we look into the macro-economic forces, their impact in retail channel level data, retail level trends, as well as omni-commerce expansion. The big part of what we do is we do sales forecasting for all major retailers in North America, including the top Canadian retailers, as well as you know, tier B retailers, as we call them, the smaller retailers,
Michael LeBlanc
Right, right.
Amar Singh
We look at their sales footprint, number of store counts, and how their offline and online sales are going to shape up in the next few years based on our frameworks and methodology. So, it's a lot of fun.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, right on, and we should we be remiss in not mentioning, your partner and my friend and friend of the industry, David Marquette, who is not able to join us, but will be back on The Voice of Retail as a solo. He was actually my first guest on The Food Professor podcast. So, real great insights into, into food and grocery and all great things. So,
Amar Singh
Absolutely.
Michael LeBlanc
Thinking of him today as well. So, let's jump in. So, you know, as someone steeped in analysis, and observation, and analytics, you must have had a fascinating look at the COVID era. What, are we looking at the COVID era, and I keep saying, looking back at the COVID era. I mean, I think, you know, we can see the end zone, the goalposts keep moving a little bit, but certainly in the US, they're moving out of it with the double shots, you and I were talking off mic, we both had ours and, you know, it takes two shots to open the economy. Canada's behind the US, but we can see the endzone, right. So, the COVID era, 18 months, 20 months by the time it's done, what, what are your observations about the industry and consumer behavior? And like, what, when we look back, you and I are sitting like two years from today together, having a beverage, when we look back and say this is the things that define that era, what, what in your mind today jumps out?
Amar Singh
Yeah, I think we're the era has done really, it's accelerated some of the trends they were forming pre-COVID, such as eComm, we would have been here five years from now if there were no COVID. But, I think we're COVID did, it really like encouraged and well actually forced in many ways, retailers to be more omnipresent and, and focus more on the supply chain. And, the one thing that most retailers learned is that AI doesn't work, artificial intelligence or technological things really don't work. When you,
Michael LeBlanc
It can't predict, it can't predict stuff like, you know, it's great point, cause how, AI is such a wonderful prediction engine, but it takes inputs of the past and there's been nothing like what we've been through, right.
Amar Singh
Absolutely, so you know, and that's what Dave's like, you know, Dave Marquette, you mentioned, he brings that up several times. It's like, you know, the AI and all those tools are effective as long as there's, there is no disruption, but when disruption hits it's our agility in the way you go about, you know your fundamentals of your business, they are very important.
The one thing that really came out of the COVID-19, the third thing I would say would be the emphasis on your people. Your employees and your people assets, you know, the human resources, it's all about them, like you know, you need their partnership, you need to look out for them to build a strong team and build a strong company, right.
So, all those things were really important. I think the COVID, these are the key lessons that we learned is you know, you got to be omnipresent.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah,
Amar Singh
And that's where the future is going to be. No one's going to stop working, you know, stop, you know, buying in store.
Michael LeBlanc
Right,
Amar Singh
In-store retailing is important. But, the convenience aspect of getting some of your routine shopping done through online channels is going to stick. And, on top of that, you got to take care of your people, your employees are your front, they're your most important touch points with your clients and your consumers. So, you make sure you take care of them.
Lastly, you got to be thoughtful of how you design your supply chain. Just know just in time did not work this time around, right?
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, yeah.
Amar Singh
So, it's just have that buffer and have the contingency plans. And that's very important for retailers to consider as we navigate the next few years.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, in fact, perhaps one of the lingering impacts of the COVID here is just to touch on supply chain. I mean, right now it is just jammed at every single note. I mean, in the paper today, we're talking, we're talking on Friday, and the paper today in The Globe and Mail, they're talking about, you know, a drought and the St. Lawrence is increasing, like it seems, you know, it's going sideways, both literally and figuratively, in a number of different ways. What, what, how can, what a retail is telling you about how they're dealing with it and how they see it on a go forward basis? I hear a lot of talk about, we need to be more agile, as you said, it's difficult to predict. So, let's not try to be to the button forecast. Let's try to build agility. that's easier said than done right?
Amar Singh
Absolutely, and it's a long-term commitment, right? So, the one thing what we've learned from this experience where retailers are telling us they're taking more ownership of the supply chain. We saw that Home Depot, you may have read about it,
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, yeah.
Amar Singh
Home Depot, you know, their chartered, or they have their containers coming directly to them.
Michael LeBlanc
Isn't it crazy, they're big enough. I was joking with, one of them was with, someone from Home Depot was on a live stream with me, and I'm like, 'Man, you guys are gonna need a bigger boat once everybody wants to take some of the space, they want to rent it from you, you get into a whole different business for God's sake, you got your own boat?'
Amar Singh
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc
Wow, you know.
Amar Singh
It comes to a lot of risk and there are benefits,
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, yeah.
Amar Singh
Obviously, you have control over your supply chain. But the risk is like, you know, once you lose that shipment, if God forbid, it sinks then you know your season supplies,
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Amar Singh
Right.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Amar Singh
And then you know, so there are some inherent risks in that. But I think the long-term commitment is going to it's going to be finding local partners, local vendors and trying to bring those costs down, through you know, private label expansion to collaboration, what have you, I think those things will be key.
Michael LeBlanc
You think that's, you think that's realistic? I mean, I know that's a I know, that's an ambition, but I can we outperform manufacturing, it's a long way away. But can we ever outperform in Canada, particularly, but even North America the manufacturing, scale and scope and flexibility of China? Like,
Amar Singh
I would say in certain categories, yes.
Michael LeBlanc
Okay.
Amar Singh
You know, we talk about lumber, I mean, we're the biggest suppliers in the world by far,
Michael LeBlanc
Sure, sure.
Amar Singh
Right. And that is something that's driving inflation throughout, as you know, in the housing market in the US, like, you know, the average cost of building houses, it is upwards of $200,000, where we were pre-pandemic,
Michael LeBlanc
Crazy, crazy.
Amar Singh
And most of its, maybe all of its really coming from the minorities, right? So, and then if we can have some kind of value add to those things at home with the help of technology, and people, I think we should be able to find that mix. At the end of the day, we still need to employ people, right? Employments got to surge somehow. And if you are having all those things done at home, they'll be good, at least you have more control over a supply chain,
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah,
Amar Singh
Maybe not 100%, but there should be some fraction of that that's going to come on shore again.
Michael LeBlanc
You know what's funny, I, when I was talking to a bunch of retailers, they, you know, they might say, 'Listen, I can shift my manufacturing here'. But what they found during the pandemic was it was always the last weak link. In other words, the cap on the bottle, the label on the bottle, the, the corrugate, like it was all the different various components, even if it was being made here. It's such a gnarly challenge, right?
Amar Singh
Yes, and so far, we do depend on other countries and other suppliers to provide us all those things, right.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah,
Amar Singh
I mean, this is, like I said, it's long-term commitment is something that you know, retailers will be start thinking about it. And, if you think about in the US, Michael, the biggest importers in the country are Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe's and Ashley's Furniture, right? I mean there are furniture clients right now, they're reeling with supply issues.
Amar Singh
And that's why your costs have gone up tremendously, even this country. So,
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, yeah.
Michael LeBlanc
And now the tariffs, that these, these new tariffs have kicked in, in Canada, these punitive tariffs around imports from Vietnam and from other Southeast Asian countries, just double, triple digit, quadruple digit tariffs, just to kind of, I know Pallister out of Winnipeg is trying to level, their argument is they're trying to level the playing field. But I think retailers are saying, 'Yeah, but you don't have the capacity to meet our demand'. So, we're, we're at a rock and a hard place, right?
Amar Singh
Absolutely, and absolutely. And, we got to see across all the other categories, too, right. And there was something that happened tremendously in the last decade or a couple of decades when most of the shoes and apparel were made in Mexico, Haiti, Honduras and the Caribbean. And then there was a gradual shift of that to the Far East, especially South Korea, and now basically all issues, I mean weight now, Vietnam and, and China. So, it's been a gradual shift offshore.
Where I think that's where it is like, you know, there's, there's a dynamic at play where there's concentration of clothing and apparel and those markets. And, some how we need to bring it a little closer to home to make sure we can, you know, you can have a seamless supply chain to some extent, but again, it will be category specific.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah,
Amar Singh
It will not happen overnight, maybe not even next year, but eventually, there will be some push to bring it on-shore.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, how long do you think this is going to go on for? I mean, you know, right now the supply chain is, I see nothing, I see nothing but more trouble. Because, as some commodities wane, like furniture and things like that, as the economy opens up, people go back to work and start getting together apparel sales, which have been just decimated, will start to perk will start to pick up and that will create more challenges. But are you more optimistic? Or, what, how long, when do you think the supply chain will kind of level itself out based on what we know today?
Amar Singh
The way things are looking right now, Michael, I think we're looking at early 2022, when things will be back to normal. This will be chaotic year. It's not even getting stuff from the other countries to our shores, it's basically even getting it through from the port to,
Michael LeBlanc
Right.
Amar Singh
Our stores and distribution centers. The trucking, both in the US and in Canada, we have a shortage about 20% truckers right now.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Amar Singh
So, that is actually, as a matter of fact, the reason why gas prices are up is not because, it's not because of supply chain issues, it's because they're not enough truckers to haul the, the oil from the refineries to, to our gas stations. So, I mean, you know, so those pressures are going to exist. And there's labor shortages in the US now, you know, consumer, they're,
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Amar Singh
You know, people are not going back to retail, or leisure, or restaurants.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Amar Singh
They found other ways of employment, that's going to be another added pressure throughout the industry. So, there will be some challenges in the next foreseeable future. I think it's going to take at least seven to eight months, provided there are no other aggressive variants that we find that's going to get us back,
Michael LeBlanc
Sure.
Amar Singh
To lock downs again. We're thinking about six to seven months. And that could also be delayed given the resurgence of COVID in some of those developing markets as well.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, I was reading there's an outbreak in South China that is further delaying some of the ports and movements. I mean, this thing is not over, right. I mean, it's funny, we're kind of acting like the COVID era is over. But in fact, I think I said that but, but really globally, it's far from over. I mean, this could be a couple of years before things get back to whatever normal looks like.
Um, okay, so let's talk about grocery. So, you guys do a lot of work in the grocery space. The grocers on the whole had been the recipient of a huge tailwind as, as consumers and restaurants, unfortunately, our friends in food service had to shut down and remain closed. Phenomenally lost an entire year of business, for some of them, some formats, but the, the grocers have been the net recipient of that, what are your thoughts on, you know, as the, as inevitably that volume starts to ebb off as people start to regain their lives. I know, grocers are keen to figure out how to hold on to as many of those new customers and build those new lines of thinking, as build new extensions, get people to think of them as the place to do takeout. And, what's your view on, on the industry where it's heading and the, the optimistic or realistic assessment of that?
Amar Singh
And our assessments, Michael, what are we seeing, there'll be some stickiness to people's purchasing behaviors right now. There'll be some things they've just, they've learned to let, love to do as a family, and that's cooking is one of them. You know, the whole family gets involved. But eventually, when people are going to get back to the offices and their daily jobs, there'll be time constraints. Takeout and all those options look lucrative. There's some traction that retailers have found with a meal order kits. But again, it's again, you still got to prepare them and that's the pain point of hearing from a lot of clients that you know,
Michael LeBlanc
And they're not alone. And they're tough business to make money in, right because there's a lot, a lot of work, a lot of customer churn, there, that's a hard build kits are a tough business, right?
Amar Singh
And on top of that, wastage. If you don't find, you know,
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Amar Singh
If you don't sell them, you got to, you know, you got to recycle them or just like, you know, basically toss them out. And that's again, like the margins are very thin on those.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Amar Singh
But when the disposable income is going to be spent on entertainment and tourism and some of the other avenues which have been flowing into retail, there will be some, you know, tapering off of those dollars from grocers. So, there will be some softness,
Michael LeBlanc
Right,
Amar Singh
But, I think grocers have learned how to engage shoppers through their loyalty programs and personalization initiatives. So, I think some of that stickiness is going to stay. Some of those, you know habits are probably going to prevail for the next foreseeable future. But eventually, this is all depends on the intensity or the strength of the programs and, you,
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah,
Amar Singh
Know, the how the new habits are going to stick for how long that's going to define how the grocery volumes are going to be, be administered in the next year, in the near future. That said, the double and triple digit, digit category growth, as some of our CPG clients have seen, are probably not sustainable.
Michael LeBlanc
No, no.
Amar Singh
And I think you know, for them to plan that out, for the next few quarters is going to be unrealistic.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah,
Amar Singh
So that's, that's
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah,
Amar Singh
A heads up that we often give to our clients.
Michael LeBlanc
And, what do you think about consumers and their behavior? I mean, in the before time, we used to say it takes you know, what, some amount of time or weeks to develop new habits. We've definitely, all as consumers, have tried new brands, tried new retailers, developed new habits, you talked about more dining at home, whether we wanted to or not, you know, staycations. Any, any ideas about the consumer behaviors that might stick? I mean, we could talk about eCommerce, for example, we could talk about how they shop or where they shop, anything, anything you, you think, has really changed from behavior. Or, or will it all just regress to the mean? Phenomenally after 18 months of this weirdness, is it going to go back to normal? Is there a new normal?
Amar Singh
This is a very fair question. And Michael, I must say that we're going to have, we be doing another Canadian retail conference in September. And these are the questions we've just fielded right now. So, we're going to have more evidence-based research, results later on this summer to present at the conference in September. However, that said, some of the preliminary data that I've seen so far, we see that eCommerce is going to stick. We see as tremendously, notably increase versus pre-COVID. However, compared to a year ago, when we were in the lockdowns in Q1 of last year versus Q1 of this year,
Michael LeBlanc
Right.
Amar Singh
We see that, you know, the, the demand for eCommerce has tapered off, consumers are still going back to stores. They're going back to the physical store. That said, eCommerce is definitely going to gradually get a greater share of retail dollars, right.
Michael LeBlanc
Right.
Amar Singh
We saying, you know, the last time we spoke, and I remember you came to our conference last year, you said it's about 10%, right?
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, yeah.
Amar Singh
And I think that is going to eventually get to about 15% in the next three or four years.
Michael LeBlanc
You don't think it's there already. I mean, I was looking at some, it's funny, right, because as you say, that the, the billion, literally billions of dollar question is, 'Where does the waterline reset itself?' You don't have we moved ahead a couple of years, is it of core retail, I mean, I've been calling it about 12 to 15% now, but do you think it's not there yet? Do you think it's, I mean, after all this, do you think it's greater, or do you think it is today, and I guess, as you say, when the stores open up, it's going to have off a bit. But where do you think it's going to set out for 20, 2021?
Amar Singh
Yeah, when we look in a penetration data for online retail, and you know, across the board, across all channels, and all major retailers, we saw a point of saturation in about Q2 of last year. So, there was a surge in Q1 and in Q2 it came down, in Q3 just went stable, Q4 even Q1 of this year, they've been more or less at the same point, at the same level. So, give or, give or take, you know, the lockdown restrictions and what have you,
Michael LeBlanc
Right, right, right.
Amar Singh
A propellant of that. What we, what we think, once you know, the two things that have happened and again, Michael, like I guess, you know, Walmart, Loblaws everyone is going to remodel their stores, they want to, you know, engage customers in the store with experience and the benefit, the added value they're going to get from buying in store with better curation of products and more inspirational ideas. And that's something Canadian shoppers love, they dig that, you know, in a less informal way.
But the, the online experience is going to stay for convenience, we still know Canadians are sleep deprived, and they just don't have enough time to do all the tasks, I mean, that is going to be outsourced for convenience. And that's why Subscribe and Save is such a big feature in Canada that consumers just love getting those repeat orders from Amazon and Walmart, right and we over index compared to the US, by the way on that.
Michael LeBlanc
Oh interesting.
Amar Singh
So, the limited capacity in stores, you know, the restrictions that they fuel some of those eCommerce growth, but in the data, we do find that consumers still want to go back to the store. It's just we love shopping in store as Canadians right? And maybe when it gets cold outside you know your your store becomes the Wonderland. Right? And that excites a shopper so we, we still think physical store is gonna be huge, but you cannot ignore the strength of e commerce and acceleration of that channel, you must be prepared to, you know, to be too well placed in both of those platforms.
Michael LeBlanc
What's a great segue or kickoff question, kickoff to my last question for you, which is what, what is it going to take for retailers to be remarkable both in-store and online? What are those things that they've learned. And, as people come back to the stores, I worry sometimes they come back with enthusiasm because they haven't been there. And they go, 'Oh, this didn't change at all, since I left, since I saw it, I was expecting more'. 'Yeah, this is amazing. This is exactly what I, what I wanted' What, what would be your advice to retailers in terms of, as my podcast partner, Steve Dennis says, you know, 'Be remarkable', like be that retailer where people come home and tell their friends about. What are those moving parts? What are those elements in your mind?
Amar Singh
Yeah, I would say there are four things you got to be really, you got to have it locked. The first is experience in store that has always been there and this is something that shoppers expect of retailers. When they come to the store, there's got to be, you know, the stocked shelves, and the navigation should be simpler and find ability should be easy, you know. They should be able to find items they want to find. So, the design is important.
But on top of that is the element of surprise and delight that we, you know, that we get from our Instagram shopping experience. That has to be there. When you go you discover new items that where they place, their curated, that is going to stay there. And that's important. And that's what retailers should be paying attention to either through personalization of different, because they have the data now they know exactly who the shoppers are in the area, what they prefer, what they buy. And if it can move the right merchandising, customized experience, that's great.
And then, so the next thing is your flexible fulfillment, you should be able to provide your shoppers the option of buying in store where there's something they want to quickly buy, they should have the option of getting it delivered or picked up at store. So, flexible fulfillment is the way to go. And, I can't emphasize enough how COVID has taught us that.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah,
Amar Singh
Over the last 18 months or so.
Amar Singh
And lastly, supply chain, I mean, you need to have a rock-solid supply chain. You should your products and your brands must be there when you enter the store. Because shoppers, once they see that you're not stocked they go to another store. And that becomes your new habit, right? So, there are loyalties. But you know, they can't be broken because everyone is now competing for the same dollar, right?
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, that may be, like I said, that may be one of those legacies, right? Where people tried new things they'd never done before and figured out, hey, I can go to three or four different places and be like, I've never stepped in this, this brand of store before and I did during COVID because maybe they had in-stock, maybe whatever the case, right. And I think that could be one of those longer lasting legacies.
All right, well, listen, it's been a fantastic discussion. And I think we've just barely scratched the surface, the surface on the work that Kantar does. So where can listeners go to learn more about you and learn more about the work you do? And maybe see some of that, some of these great insights both around North America and globally?
Amar Singh
Oh, absolutely. So, you can go to kantar.com. We do have some complimentary webinars that we run for, for our clients as well as everyone in the market. So, we talk about emerging trends, macro as well as retail trends. Kantar.com would be great source for that.
kirq.com is our portal for the retail division. You can find more information about the thought leadership pieces, they'll be right there, and also some of the upcoming events that we host. And yeah, so you can find my contact information on kirq, and you can get in touch with me. Happy to discuss what, how we can help our clients with the consulting capacity as well, as well as syndicated products that we offer.
But Michael, thank you so much again. It's always a pleasure to be here and looking forward to another discussion with Dave when he's back. And, and yeah, and I saw that you got your second jab. So,
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, yeah.
Amar Singh
Excellent so I guess you'll be bulletproof. And hopefully we can go to NRF again together someday.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, I'm looking forward to that. I mean, I, I'm, I'm kind of planning to be there, in, in January. Actually, I just did an interview with Matt Shay from the NRF. And they're doing, they're doing it. And they, there's lots of enthusiasm. They don't, you know, they're not sure how many people from around the world will be there. And that's, yet to be seen. But, I think it's exciting.
Now you, just lastly, you mentioned an event coming up in September. Do you have dates for that, that you want to tell the people about?
Amar Singh
Yeah, it's on the 15th of September. And this year, we used to host it in, in Toronto downtown every year. But, I think this year as well as last year, it's going to be virtual. So yeah, you can find more information on that on kirq. And yeah, if you could reach out to me on LinkedIn or so, happy to discuss more, more details about that event as well.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, wonderful. Amar, thanks again for joining me on The Voice of Retail podcast. Great to hear from you. Great to hear your voice look forward to seeing you in person real soon as this whole COVID stuff winds up and we get back to normal things and new normal life. And until then, continued success and have a wonderful and safe week ahead.
Amar Singh
Yes, well, sir. Thank you very much, Michael.
Michael LeBlanc
Thanks for tuning into today's episode of The Voice of Retail. Be sure and follow the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you enjoy podcasts 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 continue to get amazing guests onto the show. I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company, Inc. And if you're looking for more content or want to chat, follow me on LinkedIn or visit my website at meleblanc.co.
Until next time, stay safe. Have a great week.