The Retail Perch Podcast from Birdzi: Celebrating One Year of Sharing Industry Insights for Grocers, Retailers and Startups

Birdzi, the supermarket industry's most comprehensive customer engagement ecosystem, is proud to announce the successful first year of its podcast, "The Retail Perch." The podcast, hosted by Birdzi CEO Shekar Raman and Birdzi's trusted advisor and CEO of Center for Advancing Retail & Technology (CART) Gary Hawkins, was created in August of 2020 to help retailers make sense of industry news and retail technology advancements. Forty-two episodes later, the Retail Perch podcast has welcomed guests from across the retail industry to facilitate a welcoming and engaging show for retailers. As well, Feedspot has ranked The Retail Perch third in the "Top 15 Grocery Industry Podcasts to Follow" list.

Retailers faced never-before-seen levels of disruption in 2020 and the information available to combat the chaos was confusing and constantly changing. The goal of the Retail Perch podcast is to provide retailers with a fresh perspective and a framework for how grocery retail should be viewed. Every Monday, the hosts virtually collaborate to share supermarket analysis, personal stories about their industry expertise, opinions on current events in the retail landscape and insights into anything related to retail, grocery and artificial intelligence or machine learning.

"There is so much information coming at retailers today, and it's easy for grocers to get lost," said Shekar Raman, CEO, Birdzi and Host, The Retail Perch. "Gary Hawkins and I believe knowledge is power and we've greatly enjoyed learning from our guests and sharing this combined knowledge with retailers as they make big moves in the industry."

Unlike other retail and retail technology podcasts, The Retail Perch is centered around the grocery industry. Episode topics have included interviews with experts, deep dives into important retail technology investments like customer intelligence platforms, loyalty programs and digital engagement services, and semi-regular retail roundup sessions that touch on recent industry news.

Fun for the hosts, the guests and the listeners, The Retail Perch is conversational and engaging. "I loved being a guest on The Retail Perch, said Douglas Madenberg, Principal, The Feedback Group. "Shekar and Gary have such a wealth of knowledge, they don't need to script the questions. With their focused curiosity, the conversation naturally lands on the most interesting implications of our research."

By listening to the podcast throughout this year, viewers have had a chance to learn from industry experts, including:

• Mary Scimone, FMCG Retail Technology & Data Strategist, Scimone Advisors
• Manil Uppal, Founder, Delivery Solutions
• Ron Bonacci, VP of marketing and advertising, Weis Markets
• ShiSh Shridhar, Global Retail Lead, Microsoft Startups
• David Matthews, Managing Director, RevTech Ventures

To learn more about The Retail Perch, visit www.theretailperch.com/ or listen in to the entire catalogue of episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcast, YouTube, iheartradio or wherever you get your podcasts.

To learn more about Birdzi and its customer engagement platform, contact [email protected].

About Birdzi

Birdzi was founded with a vision to make the shopping experience "Smart, Personal and Seamless" for the shopper, while empowering retailers and brands to easily and intelligently connect with the shopper at the right time and place with the right message. For more information, visit: https://www.birdzi.com.