Top 10 Retail Influencers 2024
Nowadays, it is easier than ever to find sources of professional information thanks to platforms like LinkedIn. They give us access to opinions and information from CEOs, executives, employees, and even retired professionals. But which ones are truly valuable? Here’s a list of our recommendations!
1. Bob Phibbs
Known as the founder of The Retail Doctor, Bob Phibbs is a business strategist, customer service expert, sales coach, marketing mentor, and author of three books. He specializes in advising retailers that operate through physical establishments. He has been working in the industry for 25 years and was named top retail influencer in 2018.
2. Doug Stephens
The founder and CEO of Retail Prophet, Doug Stephens is known as one of the leading futurists in the retail industry. His creativity and work have influenced the strategies of global brands such as IKEA, Nike, Coca-Cola, Louis Vuitton, and L’Oreal.
In 2021, Stephen published his third book, “Resurrecting Retail: The Future of Business in a Post-Pandemic World”, in which he explores the impact of the pandemic on the global retail industry and compares the situation with other historical events to highlight the opportunities that have arisen for the future.
3. Oliver Dauvers
After being chief editor of the specialized magazines Linéaires and Rayon Boissons, Olivier Dauvers, with his 30 years of experience in the world of consumer goods, founded his own communication platform, Edition Dauvers.
It offers daily content that features an uncompromising view of the latest news and developments in the world of retail through its newsletters, short articles, videos, and podcasts.
4. Laureano Turienzo Esteban
Laureano Turienzo is a renowned analyst in the area of retail, technology, and consumer trends.
As an advisor, he observes consumers and studies consumer trends, and regularly shares his knowledge in his Forbes column and through his books. He’s also savvy with social media and his LinkedIn articles received over 15 million views in 2021 and the platform considered him one of the most influential people in retail in Spain. If you are a Spanish speaker, you’ll want to check it out!
5. Steve Dennis
Before founding and chairing SageBerry Consulting, Steve Dennis was the Chief Strategy Officer for the Neiman Marcus Group, where he also led the company’s customer insights and engagement activities and omnichannel marketing. He is also a Forbes contributor and co-host of the Remarkable Retail podcast. It specializes in customer segments, distribution formats, and organization sizes.
6. Ian Jindal
Ian Jindal is an eCommerce and multi-channel retail consultant, editor, and advisor who has worked with brands such as IKEA, Disney, and Selfbridges. He also was head of operations at the BBC. Additionally, he is the co-founder and editor of InternetRetailing, a platform that provides information and analysis related to the industry to European and multichannel retailers.
7. Anne Mezzenga y Chris Walton
Please welcome the first woman on the list, Anne Mezzenga, along with Chris Walton. Between them they have around 40 years of combined experience in marketing and retail. Having held senior positions in most areas of retail, Anne met Chris while working as director of marketing and program operations for Target’s Store of the Future project, where he was vice president.
Together, Anne and Chris founded Omni Talk in 2017 and quickly became one of the fastest growing blogs in the retail industry. Today, they have a loyal community made up of industry professionals, who support them on their blog, on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, and on their podcast, making them one of the leading independent sources in the industry.
8. Paul Bessant
Following a successful career in retail, Paul Bessant founded Retail Knowledge in 2002 to launch the Retail Risk conference. It is free, high quality. and designed for decision makers and influencers of large retailers.
In its 20 years, Retail Risk has become one of the largest conferences, with annual events on 5 continents and the highest number of visitors of any event in the industry.
In addition, every week, Paul publishes a new episode of his podcast, Retail Risk, nominated the 7th most influential podcast in the industry by Feedspot and 1st in risk management in retail.
9. Melissa Campanelli y Jennifer Pascuale
Women in Retail Leadership Circle was founded by Melissa Campanelli and Jeniffer DiPasquale when both of them, after speaking with female leaders in the industry, detected that, despite the growing number of women in the industry, the presence of women in senior positions was decreasing. Before launching WIRLC, they tried holding the annual Women in Retail Leadership summit in spring 2014. The event was so successful that they decided to move forward with the idea of forming WIRLC.
10. Pilar Riaño
Pilar Riaño, with more than 10 years of experience in fashion journalism and having been Director of Communications at Mango, is the founder and director of Modaes.es, a reference portal for professionals in the fashion industry in Spain. She herself has a wide portfolio of national economic publications.
She is also the organizer of several fashion-related conferences, such as the Barcelona Fashion Summit and the Madrid Retail Lab, in addition to being a speaker at several conferences. During her career, she has received several awards such as the Pedro Morillo Textile Journalism Award and, in 2014, she was awarded the National Fashion Award in its first edition.
In short, these are our favourite retail influencers. We also talk about retail on Kendu’s LinkedIn – check it out!
