Deepening Consumer Engagement in Retail with Phillip Raub of Model No.

Nov 14

Phillip Raub is CEO at Model No., an on-demand sustainable furniture brand that’s on a mission to make homes healthy for people and the planet.

In this episode of Let's Talk Limbic Sparks, Phillip reveals what matters most in retail to deepen engagement with consumers. He shares how and why the future of retail will be led by brands that embrace a combination of emerging technology and human interaction to be most successful. We talk about the best ways to learn about what customers desire, the biggest technological advancements that are revolutionizing retail, and the most important considerations to create incredible in-store experiences.

Throughout our discussion, Phillip shares his approach to strategic brand management that he’s learned and applied at brands like The Gap, Nintendo, Google, Nest and b8ta.

Key Takeaways and Soundbites:

"When you walk into a physical space, you want to feel that the space embodies a brand that you can appreciate – something that gives you an emotional connection when you walk in. That's critical."

"You can have an amazing visual sense of things, there can be an amazing aroma, the sound captivates you, and then you have a personal experience with someone who works there that is terrible and it just kills the whole experience. That is the piece that can make or break an experience. It's the emotional connections we have with one another.”

"When I met my co-founders and we started b8ta, everyone was saying physical retail was dead. We did't believe that. We believed that the model and the way things were working had to change.”

"At Model No., we're looking at an industry like furniture and saying "What's wrong with it?". The industry is fraught with issues, and part of it is that they didn't embrace technology enough. How do you start to look at on-demand manufacturing, shorting supply chains and creating more customization. These are thing things that consumers want."

“Some of the biggest technological advancements that have happened are things we don't necessarily see.”

“Retailers have not valued the staff enough...Talk to them. Give them opportunities to provide feedback, because they're more in tune with the consumer and can provide you with more research than you'll ever get through a paid research company."

“You have to know who your customer is. Go after that consumer with all of the fury and passion that you have... Today, you can’t just look at your customer as a demographic. They're not just male or female between an age range. It's more of a lifestyle. ... we need to look at what a brand stands for from a lifestyle perspective.”

Here are some fun facts about Phillip…

Phillip is the CEO of Model No. an on-demand, sustainable furniture brand. Prior to Model-No., Phillip was the President and co-founder of b8ta where he patented the Retail as a Service business model, growing the business to over 30 global locations. While at b8ta, the team acquired the US rights to Toys R Us, with Phillip as its co-CEO. Additionally, Phillip has held various Sales & Marketing leadership roles at Nest/Google, Nintendo and Gap.