If there’s anything that the last few years have taught us in retail, it’s that brick-and-mortar chains have to innovate or die.
So I’m thrilled that the CEOs of two large American retail chains who are aggressively reimagining their businesses will join Recode onstage for our two-day Code Commerce summit on September 17 and 18 in New York City.
When Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette took over the top role at the iconic department store chain last year, it was at a crossroad. Since then, his teams have invested in reimagining the in-store experience with brand pop-ups, virtual reality and mobile checkout technologies, while shuttering underperforming locations. We’ll discuss this, plus the large obstacles the company still faces online as Amazon gobbles up more market share in apparel.
We’ll also be speaking with Crate and Barrel CEO Neela Montgomery, whose home furnishings chain is partnering with tech startups to bring 3-D capabilities to its design services, and investing in supply chain enhancements to help boost an online business that already accounts for almost half of all revenue.
She’ll be onstage alongside Zola CEO Shan-Lyn Ma, an entrepreneur whose company has already reimagined the wedding registry for the millennial generation, and has recently raised $100 million in new financing to take on the wedding-planning industry as a whole.
These three will join a slate of speakers that already includes Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke, Instagram product chief Vishal Shah and Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta.
Code Commerce sold out last year, and prices will increase next week. So register today to join me, Kara Swisher and your smartest peers across retail and e-commerce in September.