Women2Watch Conference Recap: RIC #RIC19

5/15/2019

Earlier this month, Remodista had a fabulous time at the Retail Innovation Conference (RIC), where we kicked off the event with a Retail Store Tour in Hudson Yards and looked at interesting business models and innovation in the front of the store and show rooms.

We also visited Brooks Brothers, B8TA, BATCHED, The Drug Store, Verizon, Lululemon, 3Den, Micro, and Neiman Marcus who take up the top 3 retail floors.

The architecture piece to the right is called the Vessel, a crown jewel that people can walk up and down.

Check out the fun gallery of photos from the retail tour. The building from the outside is amazing, and we loved the sequins wall - where you can create your own art.

Our panel focused on the strategies for strengthening businesses by empowering women leaders. Kelly Stickel, founder + CEO of Remodista moderated; and Amy Shecter, CEO of Glamsquad; Monika Tockstein, SM, PMO + QA at Retailwinds; and Lindsey Bleimes, Engineering director at Wayfair discussed the challenges and strategies businesses can use to develop and sustain a strong focus on female leadership and empowerment in three different business environments.

The message was clear that initiatives do need to come from the top down, and we need to include men in the process of creating diversity and inclusion, but ultimately we are all in charge of our path, so get on it!

Melissa Gonzalez, CEO of Lionesque Group and Women2Watch shared how pop-up shops can serve as real-world labs for cutting-edge technologies and the art of leveraging social media.

Monika Tockstein from Retailwinds also spoke on next generation payments + credit. She talked about how retailers can Increase sales + attract millennials with financing innovation.

Parinda Muley, VP of Innovation and Business Development from Macy’s and Women2Watch shared a keynote on day 2. Macy's is working hard to stay competitive, survive and thrive in today’s challenging retail environment. Parinda talked about The Market and the rise of Social Communities at Macy’s. She is creating innovative + impactful change.

Sarah Sheldon, Senior Director, Global eCommerce at Rebecca Minkoff talked about how he brand sees the opportunity to use purpose, community and brand story tied into that innovation.

Research and development is about more than just technology. Trusted community is the future too. With Rebecca’s Female Founder Collective at the top, the brand has built a pyramid of community activations through products, influencers and customers. Their #IAMMANY campaign replaced their runway show, and it was a big success with over 1.5 billion pr impressions.

#IAMMANY #W2W19 #RIC19

Stephanie Urban, VP of Digital Marketing and eCommerce at Tarte Cosmetics shared how experiential retail tactics, such as pop-up shops, in-store events, classes and product demos, allow brands to connect with consumers on a deeper level + cultivate a larger, highly engaged community. She shared the importance of AB testing to learn, and failing quickly.

Fun Moments

Check out the moments captured, new friends that we met during the event and some random moments of fun!

We had a cocktail reception with Moonshot at the Kimpton Muse and celebrated all of our awesome keynotes and panels at RIC.

So many of our Women2Watch are solving our Look Book predications while heading to the top. We are super impressed with our community of women leaders!