Retail OCD

Retailers spend billions trying to prevent theft. But what if theft is only a fraction of the loss they’re actually experiencing? In this episode, Russ Hawkins, CEO of Agilence, explains why retailers need to rethink “shrink” as total retail loss, a much broader problem that can include employee behavior, bad processes, stockouts, over-ordering, discount abuse, returns, loyalty programs, and the disconnect between physical and digital commerce. Hawkins shares how Agilence uses data and AI to identify patterns that are nearly impossible for humans to see across thousands of transactions, while also addressing the growing tension between loss prevention, customer experience, privacy, and emerging technologies. With retailers increasingly trying to connect POS, e-commerce, HR, loyalty, and other data sources, this conversation offers a provocative look at where the next generation of retail losses sit, and how to to recover them.

This episode goes inside the off-price business with two powerhouse leaders who've led this space for over two decades. Seth Marks, one of the industry's top off-price merchants, brings 32 years of off-price, closeout, liquidation and turnaround experience, while Bruce Millard brings the marketing and customer-growth perspective, including their time working together at Big Lots. Together, they unpack why the treasure hunt still works, why price and culture are so fundamental, what happens when an off-price retailer loses its way, why affluent shoppers are increasingly embracing discount, and why the real challenge is finding enough great merchandise to keep the right kind of hunt alive. It’s a candid conversation about what separates a compelling off-price proposition from a retailer that simply sells cheap merch.

One Retailer, two cities. Barney and DeAnn explore Marshalls with their honest field report, live from New York and Atlanta.

Every price increase disrupts someone else's plan: the retailer's budget, the consumer's trust, the manufacturer's margin. Jason Christensen, a 25-year sales and revenue leader who's built pricing systems for brands like Braun and Milwaukee, and a top seller to Ace Hardware, breaks down what actually separates a pricing "system" from a pricing "reaction." He walks through the diagnose-design-deliver playbook manufacturers use before ever bringing a number to a buyer, why shrinkflation is really a component problem in disguise, how the Robinson-Patman Act still shapes B2B pricing nearly a century later, and why AI is a great research assistant but too dangerous to set prices unsupervised. If you sit anywhere near a pricing decision, this is the conversation that shows you the mechanics behind the number on the shelf, and what to know for sure to come out with the best results.

Companies have more data and technology than ever, so why do they get marketing so wrong so often? In this episode of Retail OCD, one of the top fractional CMO's in the country, Bruce Millard (Empire Today, Big Lots, Safelite) and top e-commerce recruiter Harry Joiner break down what actually separates winning marketers and leaders from the rest. Topics include: the hidden job opening most CEOs miss when hiring a CMO, why your FAQ page is lying to your customers, the 80/20 math behind customer loyalty, and Warren Buffett's litmus test for spotting A-players. Bruce also previews his new book, Cutting Through the Bullshit: A Marketing Leader's Guide to Surviving and Thriving in Chaos.