In-store Innovation Helps the Road Runner Sports “Con-SHOE-mer” Go the Distance: LIVE from eTail Palm Springs

Future Commerce Podcast: eCommerce, DTC and Retail Strategy

With so many tech options, understanding how brands can use technology in a way that humanizes the customer experience while not being afraid of “getting behind the curve” can be a delicate balance. How do you use it to grow and develop and be more knowledgeable in your space and serve your customers well both in-store and online? Road Runner Sports is a brand that is serious about navigating this balance. Listen now to hear Sean Peterson share how their in-store experience is paving the way for a better online experience for their customers as well.

In the Customers’ Shoes

• {00:04:20} Road Runner has a very high-touch, tech-forward in-store experience, and they customize shoe insoles, for example, helping the customer get exactly what they need in a shoe
• {00:05:22} Road Runner is taking a brick-and-mortar first approach to technology, which is actually going to dictate how they will do things online
• {00:20:13} We can buy more and more and more technology today than ever before that can solve all these problems, but it comes down to a lot of intuition and understanding of the customer journey and the people that make sense of that.
• {00:09:21} Computer learning is shaping the future of search
• {00:12:57} It’s important to both provide customers with what you’ve learned they want and like but also help them explore new potential options in a way that makes them feel known as a customer
• {00:24:41} How will brands take advantage of this future out how to inform the algorithm what their differentiators are because people are already using ChatGPT to discover their next pair of shoes or their next purchase?

Thanks to WB Research and eTail Palm Springs for making this interview possible. eTail is one of our favorite retail and eCommerce industry events. Plans are already underway for their Boston show, happening in August. Get more information and register right over here.

Associated Links:

• Learn more about Sean Peterson and Road Runner Sports.
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• Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce

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