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The Doing Business in Bentonville Podcast
To create an ecosystem that connects leaders of all kinds – industry, community, student, educational, civic, investment and entrepreneurial – to help overcome Omnichannel Retail barriers through exclusive, insight-rich content.
Episodes
156 episodes
From the Vault: Winning the AI Shopper
Friction in the shopping experience is a profit killer. As consumer search behavior shifts from typing keywords into a search bar to conversing with artificial intelligence, waiting to adapt means handing market share directly to your competito...
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Ep. 153 - AI Readiness: Fixing Your Broken Business Data
Pushing a business past the point of structural failure because you refuse to let go is the fastest way to kill it. The skills required to launch a startup are rarely the exact same operations needed to scale one, making the transition period c...
Ep. 152 - Scale Retail Collaboration: The One-Company Model
The fastest way to grow a business relationship isn’t more meetings; it’s better trust built through real work. Andy Wilson sits down again with Tom Muccio, former P&G leader and author of Collaborative Disruption, to explain how the Walmar...
Ep. 151 - Win at Walmart: Strategy Over Empty Motion
Most brands are not losing because they lack hustle. They are losing because they mistake motion for strategy, then wonder why the shelf stays quiet. We’re joined by Allisha Watkins, founder and CEO of Paradox Retail Marketing Agency, for a gro...
Ep. 150 - Shelf Space Strategies: Tasha Tandy’s 19-Year Walmart Journey
Profitability in grocery retail isn't built on a whiteboard; it is won or lost in the margins of everyday execution. Scaling categories to fit a multi-billion-dollar footprint means solving immediate customer problems before they become massive...
Ep. 149 - Curiosity Over Comfort: The New Framework for Modern Teams
Leadership longevity requires constant evolution, yet most executive training programs rely on standard, outdated checklists that ignore human behavior. When organizations focus solely on tactical metrics, they alienate their teams and fall int...
Ep. 148 - AI and People: Balancing Tech and Talent | DBB Event Recap
Uncertainty is the only constant when technology moves faster than traditional business cycles. For many leaders, the fear of "being replaced" isn't just a headline—it’s a silent barrier to innovation that stalls progress before it even begins....
Ep. 147 - Growth Strategy: Preserving Northwest Arkansas’ Soul with Nelson Peacock
Northwest Arkansas is growing fast, and the stakes are getting real. Traffic is heavier than it used to be, housing costs are climbing, and the green space people love can disappear one subdivision at a time. So how do we head toward nearly 1 m...
Ep. 146 - Google & Walmart: AI-Powered Retail Evolution
AI is moving so fast that pretending you “have it handled” is the quickest way to fall behind. I’m joined by Erika McCourt, a Google account executive dedicated to Walmart, for a grounded conversation about what actually matters when technology...
Ep. 145 - Retail Leadership Shift: Walmart, Target, and Kroger’s New Era
Walmart just crossed a trillion-dollar valuation and is openly positioning itself as a tech-driven retailer. That milestone raises a bigger question we all care about: what has to change inside a company when the future is AI, omnichannel retai...
Ep. 144 - Bentonville At A Tipping Point
Bentonville is one of the few places where a “small city” problem set collides with a truly global business footprint. We’re joined by Brandom Gengelbach, President and CEO of the Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce, to unpack what that collis...
Ep. 143 - Food For Less: The Walmart Grocery Secret
Walmart didn’t become a grocery powerhouse by accident. A big part of that story starts in Northwest Arkansas with a family-run grocery operation, Food For Less, and a relationship built on trust with Sam Walton and the early Walmart leadership...
Ep. 142 - The Customer's Choice: Why Loyalty is Dead
Shoppers aren’t loyal to logos anymore, they’re loyal to getting exactly what they want, exactly when they want it. When the shelf is empty, the phone in their hand becomes your fiercest competitor. We sit down with retail veteran Michael Graen...
Ep. 141 - AI & Supply Chain: The War for Speed
Headlines love humanoid robots, but the real wins in supply chain are happening on the warehouse floor, pallet by pallet, move by move. We sit down with Dr. Matt Waller, Brian Nachtigall from ArcBest Vaux , and Brad Umphres from Deloitte to unp...
Ep. 140 - Retail Survival 2026: Why Mid-Tier Brands are Faltering
Retail is sprinting into 2026, and the finish line keeps moving. We sit down with Deanah Baker and Scott Benedict to chart where the next big shifts will land: AI that actually clears friction, merchants who think across channels, and retailers...
Ep. 139 - 2026 Retail Trends: Adapt or Fall Behind with Scott Benedict and Deanah Baker
Blink and the shopper has already moved on. We sat down with fellow DBB hosts Deanah Baker and Scott Benedict to map the retail shifts that will define 2026, where AI turns shopping into solution-finding, value stretches beyond price, and healt...
Ep. 138 - Winning Retail Media with AI | DBB Event Recap
Shoppers don’t think in channels, they remember how your last interaction made them feel. We sit down with leaders from Google, Hershey, AdFury, and HashKu to show how AI can meet that rising bar by turning messy data into crisp experiences acr...
Ep. 137 - This Program Helps Arkansas Entrepreneurs Scale
Retail is hungry for fresh products, but getting from a beloved local item to a national shelf spot is a steep climb. We sit down with the University of Arkansas Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the team at Act Two to unveil the Oz...
Ep. 136 - 2025 Recap: Fear, Failure, and Forward Motion
What happens when a community decides to solve retail’s toughest problems together? From the floor of the Shewmaker Center, we sit down with logistics pros, educators, product builders, and Walmart leaders to map the real pathways into CPG, the...
Ep. 135 - Weaponizing Supply Chains to Crush Competition
What if your supply chain could both thrill customers and quietly kneecap competitors? We sit down with Rod Thomas, Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management and former retail operator, to unpack how logistics design becomes a decisive com...
Ep. 134 - Don’t Let Your Business Die with You
Too many great local businesses fade not from lack of customers, but from lack of a plan. We sat down with Doug and Anne, buyer-operators on a mission to preserve the heart of their community by acquiring small businesses. We explored how owner...
Ep. 133 - Trust, Data, and the AI Shelf War
The retail playbook just changed: shoppers still click and scan, but AI agents now browse, compare, and buy on our behalf. We brought together leaders from academia, CPG, platforms, and agencies to break down what that means for brands selling ...
Ep. 132 - When Success Fails, Grace Wins
How does one go from a challenging childhood to a thriving career and a life of purpose? Join DBB as Ron Acosta, a former Walmart executive-turned-Chick-fil-A owner-operator, shares his transformative journey with host Andy Wilson. Wit...
Ep. 131 - AI That Works: Slalom’s Strategy in Action
AI doesn’t win because it’s shiny; it wins because it shortens the path from data to decision. We sit down with Slalom’s Andrew Fano, Jack Rudelic, Erika Pflueger, and Marco Kilongkilong to dig into how generative AI is transforming retail and ...