Future Stores 2024

June 03 - 05, 2024

JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE

Main Day Two: Breakthrough Store Design & Innovation

7:30 am - 8:05 am Networking & Breakfast In The Innovation Lab

8:05 am - 8:10 am Welcome Remarks

8:10 am - 8:25 am Chairperson’s Opening Address

Stan Zylowski - CEO, Movista
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Stan Zylowski

CEO
Movista

8:25 am - 8:50 am Keynote: The First 10 Feet And The Bridge To The Last 10 Feet - A Bean To Cup Story At Starbucks

John Boline - VP Store Design, Starbucks
John takes us on a journey of his recent trip to Hacienda Alsacia, Costa Rica - a Starbucks Origin Trip that focused on the first 10 feet of the coffee journey.  In that experience, he toured support centers where farmers learn about sustainability, helped plant coffee trees and discovered how the beans are processed. 

He further translates how that experience, after being a 13 year partner, more deeply connects him to the Starbucks bean to cup mission.  In this visceral and real connection of the first 10 feet, John brings it home with the same laser focus on the last 10 feet of our coffee journey - the part he and his team are responsible for: to design and deliver our stores.  The origin experience solidifies who and what Starbucks is at its best and reaffirms his commitment to excellence in every step with his own team as they deliver on the last 10 feet.

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John Boline

VP Store Design
Starbucks

Stores are not just homes for walls of products stacked high, they are the gateway to your brand, a place for community engagement and for fun and new experiences. How are retailers responding to changing customer behaviors through store design? Panelists will walk you through ideas for: 
  • Determining your objectives—Is it beauty, function, efficiency, comfort, etc?
  • Creating a customer environment that is fun, comfortable, premium and yet cost efficient 
  • Designing for behind the scenes as well to create efficient and functional spaces for associates and products 
  • Weaving authenticity and heart into the retail environment 
  • What’s in and what’s out from a store design standpoint 
  • What they are zeroing in on in 2020 and beyond 
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Julia Brunzell

Director, Retail Development & Brand Experience
Arc’teryx

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Chuck Gladney

Sr. Creative Director, Brand Experience & Design
CVS Health

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Gabrielle Rosi

Senior Design Director
Whole Foods Market

9:20 am - 9:45 am Keynote VC Panel: Insight Into The Minds Of Retail Investors: What’s Hot & What’s Not

Sonia Nagar - Partner, Pritzker Group Venture Capital Robin Li - Principal, GGV Capital
This is your chance to get a handle on the next big thing in retail and technology. Where are VC’s investing and why? Hear more about which trends they are bullish about and where they wish they had invested. Panelists will:
  • Discuss what VC’s see as the next big trend in retail and technology
  • Explore the core factors VC’s consider when
  • Investing in retail—from top line growth to retention
  • Examine why retail investing is fairly rare and which retailers are getting the most VC attention in 2020 and why
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Sonia Nagar

Partner
Pritzker Group Venture Capital

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Robin Li

Principal
GGV Capital

9:45 am - 10:30 am Morning Refreshment and Networking Break In The Innovation Lab

9:45 am - 10:30 am Working Mamas Meet-Up!
Are you a working mama and this work trip is the new vacation? Meet in the lounge in the back of the Innovation Lab!

10:30 am - 10:55 am Keynote: Meta Trends Of The 2020s – Tech Advances And Their Implications For Retail
Gene Lunger - EVP, Licensee Operations, Business Development & Retail Education, Ashley Homestore
In this session, Gene Lunger of Ashley HomeStore will share the mindset and focus of a growth oriented organization. Ashley is the worlds largest manufacturer of furniture and distributes, wholesales and retails in an end-to-end supply chain relationship. With its thousandth store opening last year, and hundreds more stores planned to open in the 20s, join the discussion on how this organization is managing a disruptive ecosystem, accepting and managing risk, and exploiting technology to improve quality and reduce costs.
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Gene Lunger

EVP, Licensee Operations, Business Development & Retail Education
Ashley Homestore

10:55 am - 11:15 am Keynote: One Device To Rule Them All: Technology That Enhances The Associate And Customer Experience
Karen Bomber - Director, Industry Marketing, Honeywell
What happens when you connect your people, assets and merchandise with a single device?

In this case study, you’ll hear from [Name], [Title] at [Retailer Name] and how they were able to consolidate to one device for their in-store operation allowing them to eliminate the need for several point solutions, cut down on required training time, minimize on-floor IT disruptions, and future-proof their IT investment – all while having a positive impact on the customer experience. 

Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this seminar, attendees will have an understanding of:
  • What happens when strategy and technology roadmaps intersect and what that means for the customer experience
  • The importance of empowering in-store associates with the right technology that cuts down on in-store training time and boosts in-store productivity
  • How to scale and future-proof your technology investments
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Karen Bomber

Director, Industry Marketing
Honeywell

11:15 am - 11:45 am Keynote Panel: The Merging Of Online And Offline Commerce Models
Scott McLeod - Chief of Staff, Resident
As consumers preferences evolve and they now move seamlessly between their digital and physical worlds, your commerce models should reflect this. How are you using digital channels to drive traffic to your stores while also infusing digital into bricks? Discuss:
  • How to meet changing customer needs through blended commerce models
  • The back of house barriers to achieving integration
  • The technology that is helping to merge online and offline
  • Getting your digital and store teams aligned and collaborating
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Scott McLeod

Chief of Staff
Resident

11:45 am - 12:05 pm Keynote
Executive, Inkling

12:05 pm - 12:30 pm Guest Speaker: Roll With It! A Practical Guide To Managing Change
Jake French - Speaker, Author, & Trainer, Jake French Inspires
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Jake French

Speaker, Author, & Trainer
Jake French Inspires

10:30 am - 12:05 pm Store Tour E

12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Lunch

12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Private Lunch

12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Private Lunch

Track A: Designing For The Next Gen Customer

1:30 pm - 1:40 pm Chairperson’s Afternoon Address

Track A: Designing For The Next Gen Customer

1:40 pm - 2:10 pm Panel Discussion: Local Relevancy: Designing And Managing Store Formats For Different Markets
Phillip Besner - VP, Real Estate & Business Development, SleepCountry
Localization and hyper localization continues to be a big trend in retail as it allows for customers to interact at a more personal level with the brand and with their community. Discuss the ways in which you can achieve localization from design to events, etc. and manage these varying efforts on a national level. 
Discuss:
  • Why is localization so important in today’s retail environment
  • How are you managing different formats for different markets
  • How do you connect on a localized level, but support on a national level
  • Matching format to real estate and your consumer
  • What are the benefits of catering to a local demo with highly relevant brands and assortments
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Phillip Besner

VP, Real Estate & Business Development
SleepCountry

Track A: Designing For The Next Gen Customer

2:10 pm - 2:30 pm Presentation With A Retail Client

Track A: Designing For The Next Gen Customer

2:30 pm - 3:00 pm Panel Remix: Scaling Creativity: How Do You Operationalize Your Visual Merchandising Efforts?
Visual merchandisers are responsible for engaging customers and contribute greatly to in-store sales. They must be creative and produce relevant and fresh displays to help boost in-store sales. At the same time, they have to be able to scale their efforts across multiple stores. Panelists will share ideas for: 
  • Methods for ensuring visual merchandising have the technology and tools needed to operationalize their creative efforts
  • Ensuring that designs are adaptable and able to change quickly based on customer behavior, inventory availability, etc.
  • Achieving creativity at scale with the ability to roll out concepts to multiple stores

Track A: Designing For The Next Gen Customer

3:00 pm - 3:35 pm Case Study: A Deep Dive Into Our Flagship Philosophy
Julia Brunzell - Director, Retail Development & Brand Experience, Arc’teryx
Hear how one retailer developed their new flagship and the components they identified as critical for success. Discuss:
  • The types of immersive elements to include in your store
  • Determining the right location for your flagship
  • How to make your flagship experience feel exclusive 

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Julia Brunzell

Director, Retail Development & Brand Experience
Arc’teryx

Track A: Designing For The Next Gen Customer

3:35 pm - 4:10 pm Future Stores Tonight: Your Store Strategy Of The Future
As stores in traditional malls shutter their doors, where are retailers going next? What do these new store formats and footprints look like? In this discussion, hear how different retailers are managing real estate migration and discuss ideas for:
  • Understanding shopping behaviors to select your next location and store strategy
  • What is the investment strategy and how can you best support it?
  • What does store closures and also opening new footprints mean for managing P&L and technology?
  • How do you hire and recruit when you are expanding your footprint
  • The role of eCommerce in determining your physical store strategy

Track B: Bridging The Digital-Physical Divide

1:30 pm - 1:40 pm Chairperson’s Afternoon Address

Track B: Bridging The Digital-Physical Divide

1:40 pm - 2:10 pm Case Study Remix: Bringing Social Into Your Stores To Drive Engagement
Bridging social media with your brick and mortar stores is essential in today’s retail environment, especially given that the majority of shoppers use social media for inspiration and to drive their purchase decisions.
Discuss ideas for:
  • Using social to extend your reach and virility
  • Creating a consistent experience/brand feel as the customer shifts from social to the physical store
  • Encouraging staff to use social at the store level not just the corporate level
  • Providing unique content that drives your customers to engage
  • What are people doing to build out the social media component, what technology is involved (screens, ipads, etc)?

Track B: Bridging The Digital-Physical Divide

2:10 pm - 2:30 pm The Digital-Physical Divide Is Obsolete In Customer Driven Retail
Jon Duke - VP, Research, IDC Retail Insights
Retail of the future is customer-driven and analytically robust, but many retailers lack a clear understanding of exactly what this looks like, or what the path to achieving it entails. Build a better understanding of how to transcend your organization’s focus on the transaction and the channel and build rigorous customer-driven business model. In this session you will:
  • Learn about the next set of challenges to tackle in order to create long-term competitive advantage.
  • Discover how intelligence and innovation aimed at  your associates, vendors, customers, and industry partners will drive future success
  • Understand the critical technologies in your roadmap that will impact your ability to deliver the future of retail vision.
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Jon Duke

VP, Research
IDC Retail Insights

Track B: Bridging The Digital-Physical Divide

2:30 pm - 3:00 pm Panel Remix: The Digital-Physical Convergence—How Do You Really Get There?
Jillian Bertone - Sr. Director, Store Experience, Sephora
The topic on the mind of every retailer these days is--How can I seamlessly integrate my digital and physical experiences? The customer is constantly moving between channels, so how are you accommodating them at every touch point. You will learn:
  • How to bridge your strategies and get the digital and store teams on the same page
  • Ideas for bringing eCommerce technology into the physical environment
  • How to connect with social channels in the store
  • Ways to ensure your branding and marketing strategy is seamless from online to offline
  • Bridging online and offline customer data to get a holistic customer view
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Jillian Bertone

Sr. Director, Store Experience
Sephora

Track B: Bridging The Digital-Physical Divide

3:00 pm - 3:35 pm Case Study: How To Leverage Influencers and Brand Ambassadors In Your Stores
Retailers are working with celebrity, micro and employee influencers on online and through their social channels, but how are you using them in the physical store? This panel will take a closer look at how this huge trend is playing out at the store level.
Discuss ideas around:
  • The role influencers during in-store events and activities
  • Identifying and incentivizing internal (employee) brand ambassadors
  • Weighing in on the true value and potential risks of influencer marketing
  • Creating an influencer strategy that works for your brand and your customer
  • Measuring the impact of influencers on purchasing behavior

Track B: Bridging The Digital-Physical Divide

3:35 pm - 4:10 pm Future Stores Tonight: Harnessing Data To Get The Full Customer Picture
Understanding customer behaviors across channels is a daunting task, especially with unlimited paths to purchase. With more data available than ever before, how can you truly harness all of the critical customer information that you have while maintaining customer privacy? Discuss:
  • Ideas for piecing together anonymous data points to understand how to link information across channels
  • How are guest data and analytics informing your decision making
  • Data management platforms that can pull everything together in one place to get a full picture of your guest
  • Using data to better understand the path to purchase
  • Gaining deeper insights into customer behavior to better serve your guests

Track C: Retailer Only Connections

1:30 pm - 2:30 pm Campfire Story: Streamlining Store Operations To Enhance The Customer Experience
Thomas Narr - Director, Retail Operations & In-Store Services, Best Buy
Before you begin upgrading your store concepts, it is first necessary that you have streamlined, consolidated and optimized operations. Technology updates, changes to workforce management, and even physical reconfigurations in your store will be difficult if not impossible to implement unless your operations are in order. This session will explore best practices for:
  • Selecting the right technology partner(s) for streamlining 
  • Synthesizing your operating systems to bring your POS, CRM, and workforce management processes under one roof to eliminate system incompatibility
  • Ensuring compatibility between all elements of your store’s operations systems (or doing it in-house)
  • Analyzing customer data as well as your workforce to accurately anticipate and plan for changes in all areas of your store operations

Thomas Narr

Director, Retail Operations & In-Store Services
Best Buy

Track C: Retailer Only Connections

2:30 pm - 4:10 pm Women In Retail Panel & Cocktails
Jennifer Matanin - Director of Retail Operations, Cole Haan Dana Brown - VP, Retail, The Walking Company
Listen and be motivated by an accomplished group of fierce femmes, enjoy a glass of wine and cultivate new friendships and future contacts.

Hosts:
  • Jennifer Matanin, Director, Retail Operations, Cole Haan 
  • Dana Brown, VP, Retail, The Walking Company

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Jennifer Matanin

Director of Retail Operations
Cole Haan

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Dana Brown

VP, Retail
The Walking Company

4:10 pm - 4:55 pm Afternoon Networking & Refreshment Break In The Innovation Lab

4:55 pm - 5:40 pm Retailer-Only Roundtables

At Future Stores, you’re in control! Get involved in our unique, peer-to-peer roundtables for the best discussions you’ll have all year. Talk about your key challenges and hear how other brands are overcoming them. After 30 minutes, you’ll rotate to a new table and tackle a new topic with a new expert host. Use this time as a unique opportunity to dive into a niche topic of your choosing in an informal and intimate setting. Leave the event with new ideas you can put into action as soon as you return to the office. 
Proposed Topics:

1.Topic Pending
Moderator: Ben Rosenfeld, SVP, Stores, Sur La Table 

2.The New Drivers of Associate Retention
Moderator: David Hillenbrand, Director, Retail Operations, Harry & David 

3.Sustainability in Retail: Rising To The Challenge 
Moderator: Raleigh Johnston, Visual Merchandiser, Tuft & Needle 

4.Topic Pending
Moderator: Callie Micek, Director, Visual Merchandising, The Container Store 

5.Best Practices For Hiring Your Retail Team For A New Store Concept/Direction

6.Focusing in on Inclusion and Diversity In The Store Environment

7.Tightening Up Your Online To Offline Integration

8.How To Make Smarter, More Long Term Tech Investments For Your Store

9.Gen Z Expectations For Shopping And The In-Store  

5:40 pm - 7:10 pm Future Stores Reception At SPIN Seattle

Join us for cocktail, apps and test out your skills at this iconic 10000 square foot ping pong social club in the heart of downtown Seattle