129. Tackling Operational Inefficiency in Retail

In Part 1 of this two-part Retail Perch conversation, Courtney Adams joins Gary Hawkins, Kate McCormick and Shekar Raman to explore the ideas behind Gary’s article, “From Promotion Spending to Customer Investment.”The discussion covers:• Why personalization deserves a role in business strategy• How marketing and merchandising silos affect promotional funding• Why lower spending doesn’t always mean lower shopper loyalty• How retailers evaluate personalization compared with traditional promotions• What AI and retail media mean for expectations around measurementComing in Part 2: How retailers and CPGs measure success, rethink funding and put these ideas into practice.Featuring:Gary Hawkins — Retail Expert & AuthorKate McCormick — Director of Solution Engineering, BirdziShekar Raman — CEO & Co-founder, BirdziModerated by Courtney Adams, VP of Marketing, Birdzi.Subscribe to The Retail Perch for conversations about grocery retail, customer intelligence and personalization.Learn more about Birdzi: https://birdzi.com

Grocery shoppers haven't stopped visiting their favorite stores, but they're increasingly spreading their purchases across multiple retailers. So what does loyalty really mean when a customer shops with you every week but buys fewer items?In this episode of The Retail Perch, host Courtney Adams sits down with Linda Wakim, VP of Client Success at Birdzi, to explore the fragmented grocery basket and what changing shopping habits reveal about customer behavior.Drawing on her experience in grocery merchandising, loyalty, and shopper analytics, Linda discusses why basket fragmentation isn't new, how value and convenience influence shopping decisions, and why traditional measures of loyalty may not tell the whole story.They also explore the early warning signs retailers should watch for, from declining category engagement to changes in basket size and spending, and how understanding these shifts can help grocers respond before shoppers disengage.In this episode:Why shoppers are dividing their grocery purchases across more retailersHow value, convenience, and shopping occasions influence purchasing decisionsWhy a loyal shopper may still be spending less with your storeWhat changes in shopping frequency, basket size, and category participation can revealWhich shopper metrics grocery executives should be monitoringThe takeaway: A customer doesn't have to stop shopping with you for you to start losing their business. Understanding what's changing inside the basket is an important first step toward influencing what happens next.Tune in for a practical conversation about grocery loyalty, changing shopper behavior, and the insights retailers can use to make more informed decisions.

Are retailers and CPGs wasting trade dollars by measuring the wrong things? Courtney Adams, Kate McCormick, and Gary Hawkins explore how retailers and CPGs can move beyond traditional trade spend and focus on measurable customer growth. From customer lifetime value to AI and better measurement, they discuss what it takes to put the customer at the center of every investment.

In this episode of Retail Perch, Birdzi's Joseph Dahari, VP of Sales, and Kate McCormick, Director of Solution Engineering, discuss their career journeys and the experiences that led them to Birdzi. They explore the challenge of "dashboard dizziness," the realities behind today's AI buzzwords, and what true innovation looks like in retail. The conversation also examines how siloed data impacts decision-making, the importance of connecting systems across the enterprise, and how retailers can leverage technology to create better shopper experiences, drive growth, and attract more customers.

In this episode of Retail Perch, Birdzi’s Client Success team showcases AskKea, Birdzi’s new AI-powered platform that helps retailers turn questions that once took days to answer into insights in seconds.The team steps into different retail roles, including marketer, analyst, merchandiser, and CEO, and shares examples of the types of questions each role can ask to uncover insights, reduce operational lift, power stronger offers, and make faster, data-driven decisions. Listeners will also get to know the Client Success team, a crucial part of what makes Birdzi so special.Video is recommended for this episode, as the team walks through the platform and shows AskKea in action. Available on Youtube

In this episode of Retail Perch, Gary and Shekar reunite to discuss Gary’s new paper, Retail 5.0: The Age of Bionic Orchestration. They explore how AI and retail innovation mirror human anatomy, the shift from making decisions to designing decision systems, and the difference between human-speed and machine-speed retail. The conversation looks at how orchestrating both human and machine intelligence can create smarter, faster, and more adaptive retail experiences.

In this episode of The Retail Perch, Courtney Adams, VP of Marketing, and Kate McCormick, Director of Solution Engineering at Birdzi, discuss why retail operations need to move beyond “that’s how we’ve always done it.” As shopper behavior shifts quickly, processes that take weeks can lose relevance just as fast, making it even more important for retailers to reduce operational time, lower stress, and work more efficiently. They also discuss Birdzi’s newest capabilities and how they help tackle operational inefficiencies at scale.

Gary and Shekar return to The Retail Perch to dive into all things AI and introduce a new format for the series. Future episodes will feature more voices and perspectives, exploring a wider range of topics around Birdzi, innovation, and emerging technology. In this conversation, they break down the three main types of AI, discuss how the AI landscape is changing, and share how people can better understand and embrace AI as a tool for growth rather than fear.

In this episode of The Retail Perch, Shekar Raman sits down with Steve Worthy, Managing Director and North America Head of Growth at Competitor IQ, and CEO of Worthy Retail Global. With more than 27 years in retail, Steve brings a deep leadership perspective shaped by decades of industry experience.They discuss the importance of clear communication, defining reality for your team, and how retail leaders can navigate the ongoing AI shift. Steve shares practical guidance on leading through change and supporting teams during periods of uncertainty.The conversation also explores competitor analysis, how to use it effectively to create meaningful differentiation, and why psychological safety plays a critical role in building strong, high performing teams, along with much more.

In this episode of The Retail Perch, Shekar Raman is joined by Zoher Karu to discuss data, analytics, and what it takes to make information truly actionable. Zoher shares his journey from earning a PhD in Electrical Engineering at MIT to building a career focused on customer data and enterprise wide analytics, including his role as VP and Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Blue Shield of California. They explore how companies with growing data sets can approach leveraging them effectively, and Zoher also highlights his current work with Taelor.Style, an AI powered menswear rental platform.