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Shoptalk: Retail Collaborations Paving the Way

Ketchum author James Peters

James Peters
March 1, 2019

Retail, boring? No way! Retail is innovative, engaging and customized as competitive retailers answer consumers’ calls for convenience, choice and cost.

This weekend, we head to Shoptalk in Las Vegas – a conference where retail experts and industry leaders discuss the latest trends, technologies and retail business models. One topic sure to dominate the conference floor is the recent, unexpected big brand collaborations – which is no surprise given that experiential collaborations are the new retail experience.jamey shop talk retail conference

From partnerships to in-store popups, retail collaborations are giving consumers new opportunities to interact with brands and offering diverse experiences not found elsewhere.

Take, for instance, the recent news of WW – the new Weight Watchers – partnering with a retailer to support wellness and healthy living. The partnership includes the debut of its first in-store WW Studio in Chicago to host Wellness Workshops for local WW members. There will also be the introduction of WW Healthy Kitchen™ products at select stores and online, as well as subsidized WW Freestyle™ program memberships for all store associates, all in an effort to empower families and communities to live healthier lives.

Also, other brands like Wendy’s are stepping up collaborations through technology partnerships. Partnering with a popular food delivery service, Wendy’s offered free Baconators with any order of $10 or more. The partnership highlighted Wendy’s commitment to finding new ways to reach their customer base around convenience and innovation.

More than ever, consumers – especially millennials and the Gen Z population – are focused on creating “Instagrammable” moments they can push out to their followers. Retail collaborations give consumers unique experiences; experiences we communicators can translate into snackable and shareable content.

At Shoptalk, and in the year ahead, we anticipate more retail collaborations that offer personalized, convenient, innovative retail. The more we embrace the new world in which we live, the more ways we will discover organic ways to capture consumers’ attention.


Ketchum author James Peters

Ketchum clients have trusted this communications leader for strategic and creative counsel since 2004 when he joined Ketchum. Today, as partner, managing director and portfolio leader, Peters leverages his 27 years of public relations experience in the ever-evolving retail sector by working with client teams to drive feet to store (brick and mortar) and clicks to sites (e-tail). Engagement ranging from product and brand launches, media relations, franchisee & employee engagement, store openings, corporate reputation & crisis management and path-to-purchase messaging.

Peters is a retail expert, having collaborated on projects in grocery, food service and dining, QSR, general merchandise stores, convenience and gas stations, home improvement, health and personal care, electronics and e-commerce.

Peters is a self-acclaimed barbeque connoisseur and chef. He and his wife do their best to raise their teens in Dallas, along with a wily five-year-old Catahoula hound dog.


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