What's Next for Retail? with Anne Mezzenga

Few people have experienced the retail industry from as many angles as Anne Mezzenga. With more than 25 years of experience spanning journalism, retail, marketing, and technology, she's held leadership roles at Target, co-founded the influential retail podcast Omni Talk, and now leads Retail Field Report, where she uncovers the people and ideas shaping the future of commerce.

In this episode, Anne joins Aliza Freud to discuss the rapidly evolving retail landscape, from AI-powered shopping and social commerce to the growing importance of authentic human connection. Together, they examine why creators are becoming indispensable to modern commerce, how brands can stay relevant in an increasingly fragmented marketplace, and what leaders should be doing now to prepare for what's ahead. Anne also shares lessons from her own entrepreneurial journey and why curiosity, authenticity, and trust remain the most valuable currencies in business.

Episode Highlights

• Preparing for the next era of commerce — Why AI, social commerce, and agentic shopping are redefining how consumers discover and purchase products.
• The human advantage in an AI-driven world — Why authentic experiences, trusted recommendations, and creator voices remain essential to building consumer confidence.
• How retail brands are adapting — From luxury retailers embracing "invisible AI" to brands navigating an increasingly complex mix of sales channels.
• Creators are becoming commerce engines — Why creator content is fueling retail media, product discovery, PDPs, and AI search in ways traditional marketing can't.
• From corporate leader to entrepreneur — Anne reflects on building Retail Field Report and creating a platform centered on meaningful conversations rather than headlines.
• The power of authentic storytelling — Why asking better questions, staying curious, and leading with empathy create stronger content and deeper connections.

Links and Resources
Connect with Anne Mezzenga on LinkedIn
Follow Retail Field Report on LinkedIn
Learn more about Retail Field Report

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Transcript

Values And The Weight Of Influence

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Continue to check yourself and check in with yourself and say, what is the impact of my influence? And does it align with your personal values, the way that you want to be remembered when your time is done? And this is a fleeting industry. So, like that stuff is going to be out there forever. Is are you saying the things that are 100% true to who you are, what your beliefs are at that moment in time.

Meet Anne Mizenga And Her Work

SPEAKER_01 0:48

So we are excited to share with you our episode with our great guest, Anne Mizenga. If you don't know Anne, I am really excited to introduce her to you. Anne is the founder and CEO of Retail Field Report. And you may know Anne if you are someone who's worked in the retail industry. You may know Anne from her time at Target, where she was head of marketing for the Store of the Future initiative at Target. But Anne has just a wealth of knowledge and experience, not just in the retail space, but also in the advertising and television news space. So I think her perspective is so unique. And also why her retail field report, which she recently launched, has built such strong momentum in such a short time. Retail Field Report is a media platform that is focused on uncovering the stories behind the people and the brands and the technologies that are shaping the future of retail and has an incredible perspective on this. She also was the co-CEO of Omnitoc, one of the retail industry's fastest growing podcasts, where she became a trusted voice on emerging trends and the future of the industry. In today's episode, we talk about how the industry is evolving, how retail is evolving, how shopping will change over time, and what the future of shopping looks like, how AI is reshaping retail, and how human influence is becoming more valuable than ever. I think that one of the reasons that Anne has such a strong perspective on this is because she herself has built a personal brand that is so strong, and it is definitely a testament to why her new retail field report is growing so quickly. I think this episode is chock full of great insights from Anne. I can't wait for you to hear it. We're gonna jump right into it. Here we go. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here. I am excited to have you on. We had the opportunity to be together. No. It feels like it was just yesterday, but it was like six months ago. It's Vegas time. It's Vegas time. It was like familiar.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Yes, I know. I feel like this you have no concept of time. Was it five years ago or was it five minutes ago? I know that is sure.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

That is true. But we are back in Vegas together. And I am so excited to be able to have you on the show to talk more about your really cool career and your expertise in this space. Cause I think people are gonna hear some really interesting things from our conversation. But why don't we first start? If you could talk just a little bit about what you're currently doing and just explain that to people so they

Building Retail Field Report In Stores

SPEAKER_01 3:43

understand.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

Yeah, sure. So I am the founder and CEO of Retail Field Report. And it's interesting, I think, to talk about influence because I really started it because I felt like I wanted to shift. I feel very fortunate to have built a good following over the last almost 10 years of doing this. We started doing a podcast when before a lot of the podcasts were coming online. And so it felt like the right time for me to take the influence to a more human-centered angle of like it we work in the retail space, but you know, why are people who have positions of authority in retail making the decisions that they are? What's on their to-do list? What's keeping them up at night, but also kind of using that as a way to just get to know them, like beyond the white LinkedIn background and who they are at their core. So retail field report focuses on speaking to retailers. There's another core component where I've actually gone to work in stores to get that perspective of what it's like to be an associate in stores and to work hands-on with customers. And then we also do some work in the technology space, talking to technology companies and then also to researchers or analysts in the industry as well.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

So, well, maybe we should start with

AI Anxiety And Keeping Talent

SPEAKER_01 5:02

this. Then, what is on retailers' minds right now?

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Obviously, how I would say maybe not so obviously, but the number one thing is how to integrate AI to help them run a more efficient business. But I would say the more challenging thing that's on their minds is how do you get a team together and a culture that's honestly approaching it as an aid to them and to the business and doesn't feel like it's going to replace them someday. I mean, there's some people that I've talked to at big organizations who have just done layoffs who have been told by their leadership like AI will replace the job that you're doing. And I feel like that's really, I don't know how these people are still coming to work the next day, but I hear this time and time again from retailers. It's we know that AI is really going to impact the business, where the business is going. But what they really want to make sure they're doing is retaining good talent and making sure that the talent that they have knows that, you know, these are meant to be tools to excel them further in their careers, further, not just the business or impact the business bottom line.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Yeah. I mean, and that is such an interesting thing when you think about someone who has built their career. Yeah. And you're being told, okay, these are your marching orders from whoever the higher ups are. Yeah. And it effectively is your own kind of self-destruction. Right. In a, in a way. Right. And do you do you think that this is across roles? Do you see it cutting into all types

Luxury Brands And Invisible AI

SPEAKER_01 6:40

of roles, or do you feel like it's relegated to a specific area?

SPEAKER_00 6:43

I think it's all roles. I mean, especially like the I feel like the marketing teams and creative teams are being hit really hard by this right now. I just did a session on stage talking to three luxury brands who, you know, luxury brands have kind of been the ones to stay away from AI, or they have this concept of invisible AI. We will use it, but we don't want our customers to know because it's such a hands-on experience. However, they are still using it to help with concepting, to help with product design and development, to help with, you know, aggregating what influencers are talking about, what trends are out there, and then kind of using that as a baseline before they start doing product development or campaign development or their influencer strategies and things like that. And so I do think that it's impacting all, without a doubt, all sectors of a company. But I do feel like the marketing teams were kind of the first ones to bear the brunt of what AI meant for their jobs and the future.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

That is so interesting. So even these luxury brands that are all about, in some ways, personalization. 100%. Right. That was the first thing we asked them about. Yeah. Personalization. Yep. Yep. And they said we can use AI to do a lot of that.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Yeah. And I would say like they certainly hedged because they wanted to make sure that people know that they're still going to be focused on the interaction. But it was how are we collecting data from our interactions in stores with clients? And how are we collecting information about like frequently asked questions? Like, how do I care for this piece of jewelry? Or how do I wash these, you know, these sheets that are a luxury product? So they're using AI for those types of things, but then they're also using it for clientele. Like maybe you have a black book as a as an associate of 10,000 people. Well, yeah, they're using AI to figure out who is the most likely person to take advantage of this promotion. And how do you kind of cull that list down to maybe 400 people that you're reaching out to from the 10,000? So you don't see this invisible AI. Like the customer doesn't necessarily see it, but they're definitely using it using it.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Interesting. So

From Target To Media Platform

SPEAKER_01 8:55

let's take a step back quickly. Talk about your background. Yeah. And then you made the leap from the operating within companies to kind of move to build your own platforms. Yes. And I'm always fascinated by this. I think our audience is fascinated by this too. So talk a little bit about where you started and then making that.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Yeah, it's really bizarre. Um, I started my degrees in broadcast journalism. So I always thought I'd want to work in news. And so it's kind of weird that 30 years later I'm using my degree, but just in a really unusual way. Yeah. Um, and so OmniTalk Retail, which is what I started 10 years ago after leaving Target Corporation, was a platform that was really telling the story of what was happening in the industry, the key headlines that people should be paying attention to in the retail industry. And then looking at technology as it was starting to come out and really evaluating that technology from the perspective of someone who has been inside of a retailer and has had to evaluate all of these things at an enterprise level. And so I think that's really important as an influencer is like, what do you uniquely own or what experiences have you had that you can really provide a perspective on? That maybe there are 25 other people talking about that particular thing, but how do you really find your niche? And that's how we found our niche at Omnitalk was, you know, we could we knew what it was like to have that first conversation with a technology company, for example. And we tried to be the content to get that out of the way for our listeners and we listened to them too. Like people responded, we don't like this stuff, it's boring, or like we're sick of hearing pitches. And so we really worked to refine our content so that we could ask those questions that you're gonna ask in the first meeting sitting with a major brand.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

I love it. And then that helps them kind of cut through so that they don't necessarily have to have that if it's not relevant to them. 100%. I love that. And okay, so I'm so happy that you started talking about yourself in the context of influence, because I think so many people, even with their own platforms, do not necessarily think of themselves. Right. They think of themselves first as like a business person that started to like play a little bit with their platforms. So it's personal branding. Yeah, a hundred percent. If I if I tell you how many people, a business people who maybe have their own platforms who just talk about it as personal branding, yeah. Tell me a little bit more about your approach and thinking about going from a person who you were at Target, you were at you were that you were a corporate person. And you moved over to building your own platform. And you know, as a former corporate person myself, you almost are told, be small, do not like you always have to get approval for everything you say that's beyond the four walls of your office. It's

Personal Branding With Real Humanity

SPEAKER_01 11:58

really a very different world. Yes. And I wonder if that's what is the part of the mentality for people when they come from that environment to when they have their own platforms. What do you think they need to know and how should they be thinking about it?

SPEAKER_00 12:12

I would say, especially as someone who has an important role inside of a company, you have a lot more influence than you realize. I don't think that I honestly realized or would have considered myself an influencer until I started getting feedback about maybe some of the impacts of the influence that I had, which which honestly was a big reason why I had to rethink what my role was going to be and what kind of content I wanted to put out. Because you're totally right. We we came from this world of like, don't say anything. You have to run things by your comms team before you're gonna post it or post on your personal behalf and not your role at a company. And so all these things were coming into play. But I do think that one, be a human as much as you can. I think that's the hard part about putting content out. You have to be vulnerable and people will appreciate that you're giving them a real story. It's why retail field reports started. I want to be able to humanize people in those roles. So I think that's really important to do. And then what would you tell yourself? What are things that you are looking for other people to answer for you? And again, what's your unique experience or perspective on that component? You don't have to have this like grand bank of content. I think it's just like, what are you, what do people tell you that they like about meeting with you on a one-on-one? Or what do they admire about you, or say thank you for pointing that out in a conference sit setting? Like those those are things are the are what are core to you and I think what make your content unique. But realize it doesn't feel like there's a lot of people watching, but I would be like when we'd get our numbers back from our podcast, I'd be like, Oh my god, 10,000 people. I don't ever think about the fact that 10,000 people are listening to an episode of a podcast. And so I think that's the part where it's you record in such an intimate setting that then to think that this is being you're influencing all those people, like one way or another about you, your personal brand, the brand you represent, and then you know, your thought leadership too. So, what is one piece of advice?

SPEAKER_01 14:27

Because you already gave some really useful information about even thinking when you had to reassess what you were doing, what did you want it to be about? Yeah. So thinking about what your brand is in terms of what you're putting out. You said you're trying to humanize the retailer, like the person who's in that job. Right. That is a purpose. That is the goal of your content. And it really does do so much for you, I am sure, when you think about who do you want to have on, what do you want to ask them about, and how do you want to think about the target audience for consuming content? So if you could give people one really just like, okay, if I had to take away one thing from this conversation about really strong storytelling and how I think

Interview Like You Talk To Friends

SPEAKER_01 15:19

about what my platform's gonna be about. Yeah, what would that be?

SPEAKER_00 15:23

I think this feels like really generic advice, but I feel the most confident in my conversations with people when I do this. And that is to talk to somebody like they are your best friend. What do you want to know about them? How vulnerable can I be in the questions that I'm asking? Even as much as like you used an acronym, and what is that? You would never hesitate to say, like, I don't know what you're talking about to your best friend. Yeah. I think it it helps us to be a little bit more humble in our approach, and you don't always have to be the expert. Sometimes there's a lot that you can learn that the person you're interviewing can learn when you don't have this air as though you have expertise or you're the smartest person. I think how would you treat your best friend if they were asking you a question or they didn't understand something or they, you know, wanted to learn more about something that you're interested in? I genuinely try to do that in my interviews, and I think people can feel that content. It's a reason that people talk to you all the time. You make them feel comfortable, and you'd be surprised what people are willing to share when you set a comfortable and compassionate and humble environment.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

I love that. And that's great advice too. Just thinking about the conversation as if you're talking to a friend. I think that was one of the best pieces of advice I got early in my career when I was starting marketing. So I want to talk now a little bit about the role you're playing in, and you came from the retail side. You are now focused on that intersection between brands and retailers. What do you think the biggest challenges are that are facing brands today as it relates to retail?

SPEAKER_00 17:15

I think that the thing that I've heard from brands most often is because of how pervasive omnichannel has become for brands. We're seeing a lot more brands testing wholesale relationships within retailers. They'est testing marketplaces within retailers. They have their own stores now. They're selling in an independent brand, they might be selling in their own store and then and all these other places. So I think that it's really hard right now to kind of figure out okay, what's

Omnichannel Brand Voice Under Pressure

SPEAKER_00 17:49

the value proposition for my customers for each of these channels? And then as a brand, what's my brand voice and how do I continue to serve them with that voice and those values, especially when I'm kind of scattered all over? I think it's a really difficult time right now. And especially as a gentic commerce becomes more and more prolific, I think when they're searching using an agent, I think that the first things they're going to start to look at in most cases are price and convenience or availability. And that might not be from the brand themselves. So how do I as a brand still maintain my authenticity, my voice, my brand vision from start to finish for that consumer when I don't have that relationship where my hands are kind of off of that, or I've set product and gave Ulta my, here's my dream of what the set looks like in the store, but I can't go to all thousand or two thousand Ulta stores or whatever plus and and check that. So I think that's a hard thing as a brand, especially, you know, as a as a still a founder-led brand too.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

And so that's a big brand challenge. Ensure that they can really have their brand come through in all of these places that they are showing up and want to show up for people to buy their products. What do you think the biggest retailer challenge is?

SPEAKER_00 19:14

I mean, I feel like there's a similar challenge for retailers as there is for brands, in that it used to be that if you needed makeup, you went to the department store or you went to a Walmart. Now you have a TikTok shop. You have a Gentic Commerce. And we've had all these announcements this week at Shop Talk about all these retailers starting to sell their products directly through these discovery agents. I think for retailers, it's becoming harder and harder to figure out how to stay relevant, how to think about hospitality and how you

Retailers Fight For Relevance And Hospitality

SPEAKER_00 19:53

treat your customer, that relationship with the customer, as a core reason for why they're choosing you over another outlet and how you make that all pencil. Because the ways of doing that the right way, the places we really enjoy going invest so much in the store experience and the hospitality experience. And that's not an easy thing to do or to scale. And so that is, I would say, what retailers are really struggling with right now.

SPEAKER_01 20:22

Interesting. So you've now mentioned the agentic commerce a couple of times. You've got relation to the brands, relation to the retailer. What do you think is going in turn if you think about the evolution? Yeah. You can't even look past like three months, right with AI. I mean, things are changing so quickly. Three months is almost like three years, right? So, but what do you think is gonna happen over the course of the just the next couple of months that you think is going to be a really important thing for people to know and to look out for as it relates just to brands and retail?

SPEAKER_00 21:00

I'm really curious. I've heard more about TikTok shop in the last, I don't know, two weeks than I have ever. And so I'm really curious to start to see how brands really play in that space and what comes of that. I think a lot of brands are still hesitant because they don't know the fate of TikTok or what will happen. However, I'm starting to see more brands start to dabble. Maybe not full product catalog, but I think that they're starting to look at like this is something we're at the point where we should probably test and see what comes of it. And then I think the other thing that I would say we're kind of on the precipice of is how customers are going to use these agentic shopping tools, what that actually looks like. There's a lot of announcements happening. There's a lot of

TikTok Shop And Agentic Checkout

SPEAKER_00 21:53

testing going on of now, I can check out in Chat GPT at Sephora and I can still get my Sephora points. My loyalty points and like all these components that they're like things are moving forward slowly and slowly. I still don't know that the experience is 100% there. So I'm really gonna be watching like what evolves and changes, what deals do, you know, the Googles, the OpenAI cities start to make with retailers to get more. I mean, you need more retailers on the platform for this to really start to take hold. So I think as a retailer brand, it's like, how do you figure out all the channels that you're gonna be on as they're changing so much to your point? And where am I having the best connection with my customer to maintain my brand in all those channels?

SPEAKER_01 22:38

Right. And it in some ways it almost begs the question about brands having that direct relationship. And historically, a lot of CPG brands, let's say, who maybe sell in Sephora or sell at the local Walmart, do not have the direct relationships with their shoppers, right? They just don't have those relationships. And I feel like if you've just looked at the last 15 years, we've gone through phases of like brands want to have communities. No, they don't. They want to like it just kind of do you think that this is maybe the tipping point where brands start to realize they are well served to have that relationship with their end buyer?

SPEAKER_00 23:25

I yes, but I don't know yet how that will transpire.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

You know, it's really interesting to think, though, too, okay, well, what about then the manufacturers, these national brands, and how they're thinking about alternate channels besides just the brick and mortar and the retail, yeah, the digital part, the online part of that. Do we think that they're going to do more with TikTok shop?

SPEAKER_00 23:52

What are they going to do? No, they can tag the product in Instagram and a creator can be a direct salesperson. I actually think that when you think about the distribution channels, I would say that's the biggest area where retailers and CPGs are having to think differently. They have their wholesale relationships with the grocers and the mass retailers. They have their own channels, and then a lot of them don't have their own stores. But we think about agentic commerce and social commerce as this third channel. And now, you know, Shabani can sell directly to people because they had an influencer who got their product top of mind for people. And now they have another option, which is great for them. It's great for the customer, and it's great for their wholesalers and their grocery and retail partners too, because that it's growing awareness overall and giving consumers as many options as they want to obtain the product. And I think that's even going to be even more prolific when we continue to see these spikes in trending products. Like when you see the peelable candies that were like flying off the shelves or at five below, right? They're not set up to be like hit with this influx of demand when these spikes come from a product going viral. And I think when you look at it from a manufacturer's perspective, if you're not just limited to what's available for sale to your customers through five

Social Commerce As A Third Channel

SPEAKER_00 25:26

below, but instead you could send people, you can immediately take those creators and have them shift the links in their content to order directly from the brand. There's companies out there who are able to help in real time show which stores have which inventory so that you can get the consumer to that product and they're not stuck in this like total demand loss because they can't get the product in their hands. So I feel really strongly that because of social commerce and agentic commerce, adding these other channels to a CPG's mind, to a retailer's mind, it's going to force them to think about okay, how do we support the customer across all of these places and how and when they get the product versus just the traditional like we sell to the stores, we sell through e-commerce. That's it. That's where they're really having to double down on both AI to help make processes more efficient, but then also to make their human workforce be able to work faster, more nimbly and more efficiently.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

So when you think about it from the retailer perspective, yeah, where do you think the retail media networks kind of fall into all of this? Because that's an opportunity to drive revenue, right, for them as a business, but also to create more demand that drives back to them and to their stores. And right now, a lot of the manufacturers are funding that, right? Because they're that they are investing in their the retail media networks to drive volume for their products. So, where do you see these retail media networks going as we move forward?

SPEAKER_00 27:12

I think what's been really remarkable about the retail media networks is that they've been able to put more content in more places for retailers, more relevant content. They're superpowered basically to get to the right people for that retailer at the right time and multiple touch points, not just the one time. It used to be just like when I'm in the Walmart store and I see a shelf talker saying 50% off, or this was this is beauty product was an allure, best of. Okay. So you have that first experience. And I think retail media has now taken this into when I'm like out researching about a product, I'm

Retail Media Networks Need Creators

SPEAKER_00 27:55

going to Marie Claire's top 25 beauty products, and I'm looking at that. And now I can get that product in that moment of intent, which I think just has not been something that retailers have ever been able to do on their own. Brands haven't been able to do on their own. It's always kind of been this slower-moving vehicle. And now retail media is allowing this to happen much more fluidly. But then I think the other thing that's really important to think about is the content creators. You, as content creators, are so important to these retailers and brands because they don't have the content machine. Even with AI coming into the fourth, some retailers and brands are going to use it. Some have spoken out saying we absolutely will not use it. But I think it's really important to pay attention to that because you are their success in this world of ongoing content. The more that you're creating, the more that can go on their PDP pages, the more that can go into retail media buys, like all of this stuff that you're doing is supplementing what they're able to do as a brand. And so I think it's really important because that's what's going to drive their visibility in an agentic commerce search, in a TikTok shop search, in all these places. You as creators are really fundamental to that whole strategy because you're providing content that the retailers and brands just will not be able to do on their own. I still think we're seeing this huge move, as I'm sure you talk about often, is these micro influencers. I mean, I worked when I worked at Target, I worked on influencer marketing. And it was like we hired the biggest people with the biggest following. And it was all about like, can we get this person on our platform? And now I feel like brands are realizing it's about that. Again, like, how are you talking to your best friend about the product? How do I, as a brand, capture your affinity, right? Make that connection so that you're gonna tell your text thread of all the moms from soccer about this, you know, overnight cream that you just, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:57

Yeah. Yeah. And it and it's interesting because it's almost, I think of the value of influencers as there's two distinct parts to it. Yeah. There is the content, and that's assuming that the influencer who you are working with can create a good piece of content. There's a lot of conversation like, what's the difference between an influencer and a creator? Yeah. The way I think about it, you can be an influencer who is also a good creator, meaning you create good content. But that's not always the case. But it's assuming, and I think about the value as an influencer can give you some, if you have the right person, they can create a really good piece of content that they know will motivate their audience because they understand their audience. That's really smart. The second part, though, is the media part of that influencer. And what's happened over time is that the media part in some cases has gotten less and less because of the platform algorithm that changes. But you then need to get smart about okay, how do I do paid amplification of this great piece of content I got, knowing what target audience I'm going after. So you still have both components. How do you get a really good piece of content? Yes. And then how do you distribute that, make sure it's distributed and seen from a media perspective, whether that's organic media or paid. And I think that those two pieces are the parts that really are valuable from an influencer perspective.

Micro Influencers And Real Affinity

SPEAKER_01 31:33

I wish more brands knew exactly what you just said. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:37

I think that's really helpful.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

It is a good way to think about it, but it's interesting because I don't necessarily know that a lot of brands who are investing in influencer really understand what they can get out of that relationship. And so what they're doing is they are leaving so much ROI on the table from that investment. And it's a matter of opening up their minds to understanding. I used to work on some deals with some of the big media companies like an NBC, or when you're doing a big integrated piece of content and media. But you can do that now at scale. Right. Yeah, that was rare before. It was rare before and it was a huge investment. Now it's not as big an investment, and you can do it at scale in terms of speed to market, cost, and the efficiency associated.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

And AI is helping us do that even more quickly now. I think that's the other thing or two, is just even the concepting phases of things is that timelines are being condensed, or even like when you think about, you know, both of us having been in these collaboration scenarios where it's like, oh, we can just like put an idea into our agent and it can put together a concept for us to just react to and work off of and like tweak in the moment that was never something that was available to us. And it's just been so interesting to see how you know you can take even an A and B concept and test those things in a matter of minutes versus weeks and months and versioning too.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

I mean, there's there's just so much opportunity there. So I want to ask you because um you have a very good sense of influence and what influence is all about, I'm curious if you can talk about how that definition of influence has really changed in retail over the last few years.

SPEAKER_00 33:28

You know, the founder of Reddit at Shop Talk this week said something yesterday that I've been thinking

Influencer ROI Content Plus Distribution

SPEAKER_00 33:34

a lot about. He said agents are great for recommending products, but agents can't try on a t-shirt and tell you what it feels like. Agents can't wear shoes on a hike and tell you if their feet got sweaty in them. And so I think there's this reality that while, again, like agents can be very helpful tools for all of us in our businesses, but there's still value in an influencer perspective or a product reviewer rating where I see myself or my experience in that influencer or in that review. They're hitting on keywords of, you know, I'm a mom of two and I need to, we're going on a family trip. I need three suitcases, Max. How what are the best ones that I should pick for my kid who, and I have to bring my, you know, recording gear or whatever it is. Like you can get so specific now. And yes, you can have that variety, but what do we all go to on the comparison page? It's like, what are the reviews? And it's it's that human connection, that human lived experience that I think retailers still really and brands really have to prioritize still. And that's where the gold in influencer partnerships or review partnerships or UGC on PDP pages, I think will never go away because it's just so valuable in giving someone the confidence to push by or add to cart. Oh my God, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 35:06

All right. Well, my last question for you, Anne: what is the best piece of career advice you've ever received? And it could be maybe something personal that impacted your career, but what's the best piece of advice you've received? And what do you think that people who are working in this ecosystem need to think about from a career standpoint with all of these technologies and advancements that we've been discussing?

SPEAKER_00 35:31

Yeah, wow. I think the best piece of career advice that I still feel like is most relevant to me today came from Karen Stuckey. She used to be an SVP at Walmart. And she's a mom. She is a driven career woman. And what she told me was, you know, you don't have to pick. And I think it's a common misconception for women in the industry, especially, you don't have to pick being a career person. It's okay for your career to be something that you really embody and that feeds you and fills you. And I just, it's just giving that permission to say, like, I'm gonna focus on my career. And this is gonna be the time where I really give this my all. Because I think it's really hard as a woman to feel like you have to be the mom, the daughter, the caretaker, all these things. And so for me, it was that permission, you know, it was like you keep

Why Human Reviews Still Win

SPEAKER_00 36:27

going on this path. And so that's probably still one of the best pieces of career advice because it it gave me, gave me the permission to go ahead with my career and then figure out how I still hold all of these roles. Like I can get, I can be all of these things, but it's okay to give my career my full attention when I want it to be there. So that I think is really important to hear. I think in terms of this next generation of shopping, of commerce, of social engagement, of brands infiltrating our personal life and communication and becoming more and more integrated into our lives. I think it's been really important for me and for people who are creators or influencers in the space to remember that you have influence. I think it's hard when we're sitting in front of our own cameras or, you know, we're sitting in our one-on-one. There's a lot of solo time as a creator. And I forget sometimes the power and the influence that I have because I'm sitting in my office with a microphone. And so I think you have to continue to check yourself and check in with yourself and say, what is the impact of my influence? What is the impact of your influence? And does it align with your personal values, the way that you want to be remembered when your time is done? And this is a fleeting industry. So, like that stuff is gonna be out there forever. Is are you saying the things that are 100% true to who you are, what your beliefs are at that moment in time? And let that guide your curiosity for what you're following or the direction you want to take your business. Because I don't think that you will ever be wrong if you are following your own independent North Star when it comes to who you are and the content you're creating. And that's how it is

Career Advice And Staying Aligned

SPEAKER_00 38:24

the most authentic kind of content creation, is because you truly at your core, every time you turn the microphone on, you believe in what you're saying. So I would say that's that's my learned advice.

SPEAKER_01 38:35

I think that is such great advice. And and you know, it's interesting because I hear so many people about how we are not maybe sometimes aware of what our North Star is. You talk about the North Star. And I think we get caught up in that. I think what we need to do instead is just say, what feels right for me, what feels intuitive, what feels good and aligned, you know when something does not feel like it's serving you. And so even if you couldn't say, okay, this is my North Star at the moment, even if you can't articulate, go with what your your kind of your gut and your instinct tell you. Um, because I do think that they tell us a lot. Well, Ann

Where To Follow Anne

SPEAKER_01 39:26

thank you so much for spending this time with us. If people want to follow you, what is the best way for them to do that?

SPEAKER_00 39:32

Uh, you can find me on LinkedIn. That's where I am spending most of my time these days at Ann Mazenga or at Retail Field Report. You can also follow our content on YouTube at Retail Field Report or retailfieldreport.com. And thank you so much. Thank you.