We are pleased to announce the winners of The Robin Report 2023 Retail Radicals. The annual awards program focuses on identifying radical thinkers and doers (innovators and entrepreneurial leaders) in the retail industry. These radicals are driving the major transformations within their respective retail brands. We celebrate radicals in traditional retail because they face challenges that are much larger and more complex than those of the popular tech-driven startups that are so often promoted and celebrated. Like all strategic transformations, it requires enlightened leadership, major capital commitment, dedicated resources, innovative initiatives, and extreme focus matched with a high level of financial discipline to achieve success in terms of revenue growth and profitability. The awards are based on metrics for outperforming retail brands across various sectors in the industry which were measured through a systematic quantifiable analysis. Qualitative factors supporting the data were researched across publicly accessible reports covering their major innovations, including breakthrough technology strategies.

The Winners

As a result of our analysis, Aritzia, Boot Barn, Crate & Barrel, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Yeti are the 2023 Retail Radicals winners. Based on the strategic initiatives and innovations, these companies have implemented capital investments in technology, resources and infrastructure focused on elevating the physical store experience and accelerating the integration of their digital experience with the physical store experience while outpacing their competitive peers in delivering the outperforming financial metrics. Like all strategic transformations, it requires enlightened leadership, major capital commitment, dedicated resources, innovative initiatives, and extreme focus matched with a high level of financial discipline to achieve success in terms of revenue growth and profitability. These factors define each of the five Retail Radicals of 2023. We believe the five brands have reached an inflection point activating a successful transformation that will accelerate a sustainable profitable growth curve going forward. Again, this is a program unique to traditional retailing which is in the ongoing process of transforming itself to meet the demands of today’s digitally savvy customers of all ages. We believe that the innovators in traditional retail will be the forerunners that shape the sustainable future of retail.