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Seth Godin, bestselling author of more than 20 books, visionary, friend of the po and the inventor of email marketing, returns to Remarkable Retail Episode to discuss his new book, The Knot. Seth reframes the Gordian Knot legend: Alexander didn't cut it, he pulled out the hidden pole at its centre and then untied it. The lesson? Every place we feel stuck has hidden entanglements, and the way through is to name them. Seth explains how wanting two incompatible things at once keeps people and companies frozen, and why struggling retailers are often defending real estate rather than embracing their purpose: creating delight worth more than what customers pay.
Drawing on Kodak, Netflix, Blockbuster and Google, he tackles the sunk-cost fallacy with a memorable first-class-to-Dubai analogy, explains how status, affiliation and fear shape boardroom decisions, and offers practical advice for anyone whose boss won't let them change: run small experiments, share the credit, own the blame. Seth also warns that AI is turning every remaining employee into a manager, an identity shift for people trained since childhood to ask for the right answer. His challenge to retail leaders is to trade golf for surfing, tell the truth about where their time actually goes, and get close enough to customers to rediscover the empathy that makes great merchants.
Before we get to Seth, Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc celebrate Steve's hat trick as an NRF Top Retail Voice, then it's into the tail end of earnings season. Costco is Exhibit A for retail's great concentration, posting net sales up 11.2% and a 9.4% comp, with digitally enabled sales up nearly 20%, though higher fuel prices flatten the numbers by a couple of points. J.C. Penney illustrates the collapse of the unremarkable middle, with sales down 8% and net income cut by more than half. And in a return of the Wobbly Unicorn Corner, Stitch Fix's turnaround looks stalled as active clients slip and weak guidance sinks the shares.
We finish with Steve unpacking Adobe's forecast of 6.7% growth in November and December online spending, and why margins, not comps, will be the real holiday story. He also marks the closing of the storied Neiman Marcus downtown Dallas flagship, home of the Zodiac Room, and shares a fun fact: Home Depot is the top-returning S&P 500 stock of the past 45 years. On the radar screen, Steve examines AI's mood swing as data-centre pushback grows and consumer adoption slows. At the same time, Michael looks at the halt of Canadian beer and spirits exports to the U.S., and at U.S.–China retail, from Luckin's rise to Walmart's roughly $30 billion business in China.
Registration is open for a special webinar featuring Steve in conversation with Placer AI's Head of Analytical Research RJ Hottovy. From changing shopping patterns to emerging market opportunities, shifting consumer demand continues to reshape the industry. So don't miss this data-driven session unpacking the most important trends defining today’s marketplace and the strategies leading brands are using to win retail's future. It's all brought to you by Placer.AI and It all happens on Tuesday September 29 at 1pm ET..
Register here today:
https://www.placer.ai/discover-events/discover-shifting-consumer-demand
About Us
Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling author of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.
Michael LeBlanc is a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail, The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast. He has been recognized by the NRF as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2026 and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.
