Customer experience is intricately linked to, reliant on and powered by retailers’ frontline associates. Why, then, do retailers struggle to empower them with the right tools, training and incentives?

Companies considered employee experience leaders outperform the broader stock market, enjoy higher customer metrics, productivity, sales and profitability. Why, then, do only 1 in 10 adequately enable their frontline workforce with tools and training?

Retail innovators are redefining the role of brick and mortar stores in the context of their overall business model and customer experience. Here’s a look at 4 retail upstarts, and the lessons they offer larger retailers weighed down by legacy.

Notes from my visit to Apple’s latest “town square” in Chicago, and from experiencing the launch of the world’s most anticipated “mass-luxury” product.

If the cumulative experience I’ve acquired at the retail industry’s largest tradeshow were an actual person, it’d be a rebellious teenager. That teenager has stuff to say.