The Doing Business in Bentonville Podcast
To create an ecosystem that connects leaders of all kinds – industry, community, student, educational, civic, investment and entrepreneurial – to help overcome Omnichannel Retail barriers through exclusive, insight-rich content.
The Doing Business in Bentonville Podcast
Ep. 103 - Street-Level Shelf Tours: One Man's 30-Country Retail Adventure
What if the future of retail is already happening somewhere else in the world? Nick Harbaugh, known to many as "The Retail Nomad," takes Scott Benedict on a fascinating journey through global retail landscapes, challenging American retail assumptions with every border he crosses.
Having traveled to 30 countries documenting retail at the street level, Nick shares eye-opening observations about how innovation flourishes in unexpected places.
From Bangkok's massive high-tech malls where traditional payment methods have been completely replaced by seamless "Just Walk Out" technology to Latin American markets where personal customer service creates intimate shopping connections, the conversation reveals how diverse retail can be around the world.
"I felt like Fred Flintstone walking into the Jetsons," Nick remarks about his experiences in Southeast Asian retail environments, highlighting how some international markets have leapfrogged the United States in retail technology implementation.
We explore how cultural differences significantly impact everything from store design to merchandising approaches—even the definition of "fresh food" varies dramatically across markets.
The discussion unveils ingenious solutions to unique market challenges: how retailers in Costa Rica overcome the absence of formal street addresses, or how Brazilian malls integrate supermarkets, post offices, and banks to serve populations without personal vehicles.
These necessity-driven innovations offer valuable lessons about customer-centric thinking that could benefit American retailers.
Nick emphasizes that forward-thinking about design, materials, and maintenance becomes crucial when operating internationally, and leaves us with a powerful insight about retail's future: those who fail to seamlessly integrate technology with exceptional customer experiences risk becoming "the Blockbusters or Radio Shacks of the world."
Join us for this global retail exploration and discover where tomorrow's innovations are already happening today.
Follow Nick's adventures on YouTube by searching for "The Retail Nomad" or connect with him on LinkedIn.
Hello Front Door. I'm Scott Benedict. During my career in retailing, I had the opportunity to spend four years in Walmart's international division, as well as traveling to see retail markets in a number of places around the world, and one of the great takeaways for me personally was the fact the learning, if you will, that not all great retailers or not all great retail concepts or ideas emanate from the United States. In fact, there are best practices in retail in a number of different places throughout the world. Places throughout the world, and traveling throughout the world and seeing different retail concepts has been, and always will be, a great learning experience. And, as it turns out, I'm not the only one who thinks that. I've come across some other folks who share that perspective and, in fact, that one of them is my guest today.
Speaker 1:Today, my guest is Nick Harbaugh. Nick is known to many as the Retail Nomad and through his YouTube series, nick has done a great job of documenting retail across a number of different countries 30 countries in fact capturing not only what's on the shelf but how retail feels, how it works and how it evolves in real time in markets around the world. And so, from Tokyo to Istanbul and from Santiago to Singapore, nick offers us, through this great video series, a firsthand look at how retail lives at the street level and what it means to those of us who are always wanting to stay ahead of the curve and learn about best practices from retail around the world. And so, nick, welcome to the Digital Front Door. We're happy to have you today.
Speaker 2:Scott, thanks much for having me here. I'm excited for today's call.
Speaker 1:As am I, as am I. Why don't we start for the benefit of the audience? Maybe that isn't familiar with your series, the Retail Nomad. What inspired you to develop this series and how has it evolved as content and YouTube and other platforms have become more popular with consumers both inside and outside of retail more popular with consumers both?
Speaker 2:inside and outside of retail? It's a great question, Scott. What I would like to, I guess giving a little backstory, with domestic US brands and clients that we had in the 1990s and in the early 2000s that I was able to travel internationally, and it started out going north of the US border and south, primarily Canada and Mexico. And it started out going north of the US border and south, primarily Canada and Mexico. And in doing that, I realized that, with technology advancements, at that point all I needed was my cell phone and an international plan. From that standpoint, I left the US in 2005.
Speaker 2:I moved to Costa Rica and I still was able to travel, and basically what I've done over that time is I've intertwined my passion for travel and learning with our current industry of retail, which it's retailers everywhere. You know, if you think about it, there's only a handful of countries in the world that technically don't have retail stores, and it's more bartering, if you will. And then, coming out of COVID in 2021, I believe it was I penned out a route to go around the world, 12 countries, 12 months, and in doing so, I'm part of a few associations and networking groups and organically and naturally, folks would say Nick, can you show me what our stores look like in Singapore or Bali or Colombia, in Singapore or Bali or Columbia? And based off multiple requests it morphed into, you should start a YouTube channel and just showing us what retail is like around the world the similarities and yet the differences. Hence the development of the Retail Nomad.
Speaker 1:That's so neat and it's so interesting how some wonderful ideas sometimes start on accident or in ways that we don't anticipate, and yours is certainly a story like that that maybe you didn't set out to do this, but it ended up being a benefit of your career path and now you've had such wonderful opportunities with it, right with it right, absolutely.
Speaker 2:It's been exciting, it's educational, it's informative and it still keeps me connected, with my finger on the pulse of the retail industry.
Speaker 1:Awesome. So I'm curious across all these different markets that you've had the opportunity to visit, are there maybe one or two markets that we really surprised you, either because of how advanced that they are or how differently than they operate than we do here in the US?
Speaker 2:I guess, if I was to break it down based off region, if you will, the thing that I feel when I return to the US and I only make it back to the US, maybe once a year, if you will, but let's say Latin America I feel that they have better customer service, they still engage right and it's a small vendor or retail shop mentality. Costa Rica, for example, we do have Walmart, but I think there's 15 Walmart stores in the country. So the majority of retail sales I would say are small vendors, small shops, and you get that one-on-one experience and I truly feel that we're lacking and we miss in North America these days. So let's talk a little bit about consumer behavior. Are there some key differences? You've for me to see how advanced technology-wise Asia was, my first trip there was truly eye-opening.
Speaker 2:Thailand, I think Thailand in my mind prior to going for the first trip, I'm thinking Jungle Beach, I go to Bangkok and some of the largest malls in the world. I don't know if you've been there, but you can walk to like three of some of the largest malls in the world. One mall really blew me away. It's called Siam Discovery. You know six, seven story mall, huge mall, and you know, in the States we've got, you know, a few years back, came out with Amazon's Just Walk Out technology. The entire mall was like that. You know, just walk out technology. The entire mall was like that you couldn't pay with cash or credit card. I'm like what, really? It was really eye-opening. I mean, it was very futuristic for me. I felt like taking me as Fred Flintstone and I felt like I was walking into the Jetsons, you know that is so neat.
Speaker 1:So I'm interested in some of the things that you talk about on the digital nomad. Around the retail nomad, excuse me, has been areas of store design and merchandising. Are there some maybe some of the most visually or operationally innovative formats? What are some of the best practices, or maybe some of the neatest ideas that you've seen in your travels?
Speaker 2:I guess, thinking at the creativity, right when you get out of the brand, you experience, right, and you know that, more uniqueness, you know. So it's like the stores become like a thumbprint and and their own entity, uh, the one that comes to mind. You know, I loved one store. Uh, actually, I was in thailand as well, chiang Mai. I happened onto a store. It was a three or four story store, beautiful location, only a few years old, and it felt as if somebody took Harley Davidson blended with the Gap, blended with an antique dealer and the uniqueness, you know, a 1950s coca-cola machine that sold jeans inside of it. It was just so unique and I love the authenticity of that and the uniqueness really jumped out. It was very compelling.
Speaker 1:So, you know, one of the things you and I were talking about previously is is that when I had the opportunity to visit stores in places like China and Japan. I'm from a general merchandise background but I'm always fascinated by fresh food and I know that in some Asian markets the definition of fresh is it's still alive when you purchase it and take it home, whereas here in the US, fresh is it died recently, and I think the definition of what a consumer in this example, in fresh food considers fresh is very different from one market to the next. Have you seen that?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And I think when you cross those international borders, you know what we're accustomed to in North America is quite different. You know, in a global perspective, you know, just Latin America, mañana, you know, may not, it probably doesn't mean tomorrow, you know, even though, and that's just those cultural differences that we see, and it rolls out into as well, store layout, design, merchandising as well. So it's very interesting to see from an international, global perspective.
Speaker 1:Right. One of the things that is clearly part of everyday conversation here in the US is omni-channel and integrating physical and digital channels into one, which you hope is a seamless experience for a customer. I know in my experience that there are other markets that probably led in that area, and the UK jumps out in my mind, but I'm curious do you have any, maybe things that stand out to you, stand out markets or examples where you've seen retailers blend their physical and their digital touch points together in a way that really serves a customer well?
Speaker 2:Well, one example I could give is just, you know, costa Rica, again, we don't have. We don't have addresses, right. So I mean, how do you deliver a package you know to a location without a physical mailing address? We're just now in San Jose getting street names and it's got the numbers and so forth. But my point in all that is think back when Bopas came out. You out buy online pick up in store.
Speaker 2:I believe I was in Brazil Ari Konduva Mall, one of the largest malls in South America, and what I like about Latin America is they will tie the supermarket into the mall. Just think, you know, 10, 20, 30 percent of the population may not have a car. So what they do? They take public transportation to the mall. You do everything there Banking. The take public transportation to the mall. You do everything they're banking. The post office is at the mall and this I love it. It's like literally one-stop shopping at the mall. And what I, what I learned was you could purchase online pick up in the store, because I don't believe that they had the ability to deliver to a lot of these remote towns and villages and mountain aspect. It's easier for the consumer to come to them. They know the public transportation routes, pick up their items and goods in the store. It seemed to be very prevalent on that buy online pick up in store aspect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, I've seen that as well, particularly in markets in the early days of e-commerce in China, just as one example, where they don't have the UPS or the FedEx that we're used to, or, in our case here in the US, the US Postal Service bringing things to your door, because the system of last mile delivery, as we call it here, is not as far along At least it wasn't at that time. So it really creates a need for different customer experiences, and understanding your customer seems to be something that translates across borders. It's just how you do. It is different from one market to the next, right.
Speaker 2:Exactly. I thought it was very forward-thinking because the fact that they didn't have that last-mile ability, they enhanced and flipped the coin, if you will, knowing the consumer is going to come to them, they purchase their goods and a nice locker system up on entry into the stores. You pick up your goods and it's still allowed for speed and efficiency for the consumer to get what they needed.
Speaker 1:I mean watching some of your videos. I've seen that you walk the aisles of everything from a convenience store to a luxury flagship, and you've mentioned some examples of that. I'm curious in your opinion, what role does local culture play in shaping the retail experience? Does local culture play in shaping the retail experience, and are there things that US retailers can learn from some of the best practices? Maybe that you've seen retailers adapting to local customs or local culture.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean one example I could give from a US perspective, a US-based cosmetic provider and international. I happened into Singapore during their grand opening of Store of the Future. That tying into what's new and it blended well with the high-tech expectation of the Asian market. I, if I would have bet you a $1 bill if I was going to purchase goods at this store that day when I, prior to going in, I would have probably said no. I had no anticipation to purchase any goods. The technology that they had it showed my skin and the quality of it poorly and I ended up buying about a 50 or a hundred dollars worth of products. But it was based off the technology right, really forward thinking. I was really blown away and impressed with the technology that Sephora had brought to the consumer market there.
Speaker 1:It is. It's neat, and I think that one of the things that has always occurred to me is that the search for best practices and great ideas doesn't always happen in logical places or logical ways. In some cases, you may stumble upon a great idea that maybe you have to adapt it somewhat to fit the US market, but it's still a wonderful idea, and the leverage of technology, I think, is one of those great examples. Would you agree?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I think it depends on the local market, right? I mean, taking that same technology to Latin America, depending on where you are, may not work right. Yeah, I would say Asia is so much further advanced on technology even in the US Really eye-opening for me to see how far advanced the Asian sector was from US standards.
Speaker 1:Neat. One of the things we've noticed about our viewers and our listeners to the program is that in many cases, they either work at retail chains, including a certain large one here in northwest Arkansas, or they sell into retail chains, and I'm curious from that lens, what lessons maybe can you draw from your experiences, especially as it relates to maybe a new product launch or bringing something to life in a store? What ideas or best practices maybe have you come across in your travels that you would want some of those folks to know about?
Speaker 2:The one thing I would think that's been eye-opening for me on that global footprint is forward thinking on the design or the maybe even material selection right you get outside on that world footprint and maintenance, the ability to maintain and repair and fix, keeping the visual aesthetics up to expectation, domestic US. It's pretty easy for us to fix and repair this fixture widget, this millwork you get, you know, a continent away. How are you going to ship that 10 foot piece of whatever it is you know type of thing? So those type of forward thinking aspects excuse me, it can really be cost. It can be cost prohibitive or you're losing the visual look and feel that you want to maintain in that store you'll look and feel that you want to maintain in that store, Right?
Speaker 1:No, and I think that makes a lot of sense, the fact that things that you take for granted you can get done with a phone call and email here in the US are not necessarily as easy on another market. In some cases it may be faster, In some cases it may not be practical, and that's part of the challenge. I think that you have translating your business approach from market to market, Would you agree?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I mean, if you just think domestic, us, we could pick up the phone or make an email quickly and get a fix it right. Two, three, maybe a week you get a technician or an installer to go fix and repair. You do that in Thailand and the manufacturers and the manufacturers in Wisconsin, you know. Now you're looking at cost. Do we? Do we air freight? Do we? I mean it's, you know it's eight feet long, you know, do you sacrifice the look and image of the store or do you pay $2,000 to, you know, to expedite it? You know type of thing. So it's, there's some decision capabilities that can be considered on the front end, the design, you know. And then you look at climates, look at climate difference, the humidity, the moisture, the dryness, sun, you know these type of aspects. It's really interesting to see, you know, on a world footprint.
Speaker 1:You know it's interesting. As you're talking, I'm reminded of an experience I had working with the team. I was with Sam's Club at the time Sam's Club team we had in Puerto Rico and I noticed and I think you'll love this example that they're what we would call a floor care category. So vacuum cleaners and things of that nature was not very robust both in assortment and in sales in Puerto Rico. And I asked the team about that because overall they did far more volume per location than a US club did, but this category horribly underperformed. And they said well, scott, we don't have carpeting in our homes. Most of our homes are tile and maybe have area rugs and that sort of thing. So we don't really have a floor care category here like you do in the US.
Speaker 1:And I said, well, okay, I said, do your homes have floors? And they said yes. And I said do they get dirty? Yes, they said yes, and then they go oh, in other words, okay, maybe you don't carry the same product, but you still have a need for floor care. It's not a big Tyson $600 vac, it may be a floor sweeper, it may be something else, but it's still a category. And they went back and really looked for things and found items that were appropriate for their market, and now they have a floor care category.
Speaker 2:Nice, nice.
Speaker 1:The thing is, in some cases, how best practices from here translate to other markets just require you to kind of have an open mind whether the idea is going that way or coming back this way, right.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And think of that Latin America. Not many dryers are sold, you know. Look at the washer dryer category. Washers are sold and I would say, you know, 10, 20% of more modern locations will, obviously, but maybe they're selling clotheslines and clothespins versus the dryer, you know, type of thing that we're accustomed to in North America, you know we're 95% of the homes have one.
Speaker 1:And that's just part of my training as a buyer is that if you start with a customer and work backwards, you'll understand the right products to carry or how to run the right store or what services to provide. If you start with a customer, since they're really the purpose behind our business, if we're in retailing right, Exactly, and it's totally based off cultural, cultural expectations, demand and how different we are around the world.
Speaker 2:So I can only imagine categorically looking at the numbers and shaking out from your background. It's going to be very, very interesting.
Speaker 1:It is. So I'm curious, for, for all of your travels, is there a market or a place that you have not been to yet that you're kind of itching to visit, either because you've you've seen something about it or heard something about it? Is there someplace that the retail nomad has not yet been a really wants to go to?
Speaker 2:There is. That's a great question and I don't know if you caught, but at the beginning of the year I was on another one world tour this year and I had to tap the brakes. I had surgery about six weeks ago so I had to tap the brakes, but I was scheduled to go to Vietnam and I'd never been to Vietnam, nor Cambodia and Laos. So those those are on my bucket list for multiple reasons. You know culture, culture and the markets, right, and how different they are. You know it's so eye opening to see these huge, thriving markets. You know some some of my favorite videos. You know the Grand Bazaar in Turkey, you know, was one of my favorite videos. The Grand Bazaar in Turkey was one of my favorites. I mean it's like 10 Disneylands put together. It's the largest market in the world. I mean it's overwhelming but yet in such an intriguing, educational way. So Vietnam, laos, cambodia are on my top three, that's neat.
Speaker 1:So the last thing I was going to ask you is if you could maybe wave a magic wand and bring one idea back from another market here to the US, whether that's a format, a practice, a mindset. If there's any one best practice or learning you could take from your travels and share it with those of us in US retail, what do you think that would be?
Speaker 2:That's a loaded question, right. I would say, taking technology's advancements, blending it with experience. Those that don't use that ability to magnetizing and capture the customer experience I feel are going to lose over time. The younger generation, tech is driving brick in my summary and those that don't adapt will be the blockbusters or the radio shacks of the world. Awesome.
Speaker 1:Nick, this has been fascinating and it reminds me of the wonderful experiences I had traveling in international markets in my retail career and I have to confess I'm a little jealous of you.
Speaker 1:Getting to do this and then to capture it through a YouTube channel and share it with others I think is really neat.
Speaker 1:It's been kind of fascinating to see a little of that through your eyes, to see a little of that through your eyes, and I'm always fascinated by the fact that innovation doesn't always start in Silicon Valley or even here in Bentonville or Northwest Arkansas. In some cases it's a store or a mall or an experience in all the different places that you've mentioned that one can capture great ideas. I can recall from my Walmart history that the idea behind the Supercenter that was part of Walmart's business today was from Mr Sam visiting stores in other parts of the world, both in South America and Europe. In some cases those great ideas end up being something that we now take for granted here in the US. But the idea didn't start here and great ideas came from other places, and so I'm kind of curious if our listeners wanted to follow your journey and see some of these places for themselves and wanted to learn more about the Retail Nomad. Where should they go?
Speaker 2:The first place I would suggest would be YouTube and they could just search three words the retail nomad, the retail nomad. And if they would like any more personal information on myself or my history background on LinkedIn it's my personal name, just Nick Harbaugh.
Speaker 1:Awesome, well good, and we'll put a link to that in our show notes before we put this out, nick. So thank you so much, and to our audience and our listeners if you've enjoyed Nick's global perspective, we hope you'll subscribe to the Digital Front Door and share it with your colleagues about where retail is going, and we love it when we have great guests like Nick. Join us. Nick, thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 2:Scott thanks much for having me here. It's been exciting. Enjoy the time Enjoyed it.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Nick. So for the Digital Front Door, I'm Scott Benedict. Thanks for listening.