All Insights - The Robin Report

Management

The Only Female Leader in the Room Becomes a Disruptive Tech CEO

Melissa Gonzalez didn’t plan to revolutionize retail. The Principal and founder of MG2 and author of The Purpose Pivot, left her Wall Street career for a more creative path, leveraging her analytical talent, risk management ability and affinity with consumer passion. Her career has been defined by clarity in the midst of chaos, by understanding the bigger picture.

The Robin Report February 10, 2026

Experience

Is Netflix House the Next Big Retail Thing?

It doesn’t get any more experiential than Netflix’s store format, which takes participatory adventures, hospitality and the ubiquitous gift shop to levels unmatched by anything this side of Florida theme parks.

Warren Shoulberg February 9, 2026

Management

Walmart: The Robin Report Retail Hit of the Week, 2.7.2026

Take that Amazon and Google and all the rest of you entitled Magnificent Seven: You’ve got a new trillionaire member, and it’s not another tech bro AI and agentic wannabe.

Warren Shoulberg February 7, 2026

Retail Unwrapped Podcast

Why Materials Should Lead Design

Join Shelley and Liza Amlani, principal and founder of Retail Strategy Group and co-author of The Material Life, as they discuss why design innovation is typically mismatched with process innovation in the fashion supply chain, and what the consequences are.

Retail Unwrapped February 6, 2026

Operations

Curate or Get Curated

Retailers that continue to compete primarily on product breadth risk becoming background noise. Availability doesn’t equate to value. Curation isn’t a niche strategy reserved for luxury brands or personal shoppers. It is becoming table stakes for relevance in a crowded, fatigued marketplace.

Rich Honiball February 5, 2026

Operations

What’s TikTok Shop’s Future?

TikTok Shop harnesses the power of interest-driven impulse shopping through entertainment, rather than consumer necessity, like Amazon. Using “shoppertainment” to lock down Gen Z consumer loyalty is where TikTok Shop excels.

Jasmine Glasheen February 4, 2026

Technology

Think You’re in Control Shopping for Groceries? Wrong!

Every scan of your card, every clipped coupon, every “substitute” you accept when something’s out of stock is recorded. You’re not just earning points; you’re teaching the system how to give you what exactly you want.

Phil Lempert February 3, 2026

Technology

Intelligent Retail: Mastering Agentic AI

At best, Agentic AI is a system’s ultimate thinking tool. Enabling a retail metachannel, Agentic learns from itself, tests and evaluates alternatives, executes decisions, and automatically improves.

Sarah Holbrook February 2, 2026

Experience

Costco: The Robin Report Retail Miss of the Week, 1.31.2026

A proposed class action lawsuit has reportedly been filed in San Diego claiming that Costco’s labeling on its famed $4.99 rotisserie chicken contains “No preservatives, MSG, gluten, artificial flavors, or colors” is…foul (fowl?).

Warren Shoulberg January 31, 2026

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