From Monitoring to Knowing: How Owlet Is Redefining Infant Health at Retail

Relevance Is More Than Just Recognition: In Conversation with Victoria’s Secret CMO Elizabeth Preis

Victoria’s Secret is one of the most recognizable brands in the world, but recognition alone does not guarantee relevance. In this episode of Retail Refined, host Melissa Gonzalez sits down with Victoria’s Secret CMO Elizabeth Preis to explore how an iconic brand evolves while remaining grounded in the heritage, emotional connection, and customer relationships that made it powerful in the first place. Preis shares how Victoria’s Secret and PINK are shifting from promotion-led marketing toward product, emotion, and community. She explains the progression from awareness to relevance to resonance, the importance of giving each brand a clear identity, and how initiatives such as Angels Among Us are transforming customers from an audience into active participants. The conversation also examines how leaders can amplify what is already working, establish consistency across fragmented customer touchpoints, and build teams around what Preis calls the “two T’s”: talent and trust. From redefining what it means to feel sexy and confident to setting audacious goals and cultivating curiosity, Preis offers a practical look at what it takes to keep a globally recognized brand meaningful to a new generation. Learn More: Retail Refined: https://marketscale.com/shows/retail-refined/ [https://marketscale.com/shows/retail-refined/] Victoria’s Secret: https://www.victoriassecret.com/us/ [https://www.victoriassecret.com/us/] Connect with Elizabeth Preis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-preis-a2994a1/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-preis-a2994a1/]

Made to Last, Designed to Belong: In Conversation with Kara Carter

Hanna Andersson has built one of the strongest emotional connections in children's apparel, and on this episode of Retail Refined, Kara Carter, Chief Product Officer, joins Melissa Gonzalez to unpack why. As Kara puts it, "anyone can make cute product, but not everyone will put the amount of intention and investment in the actual quality and construction of the product that we do." Kara's path to the C-suite is anything but linear. A former competitive basketball player, she credits the sport with teaching her grit and teamwork before a career-ending injury sent her looking for direction. She and a friend later launched a high-end children's resale concept years before secondhand shopping caught on ("we were ahead of our times," she says), and that early lesson in resale would resurface decades later at Hanna Andersson. She joined the brand in 2014 and now oversees merchandising, design, fabric R&D, sourcing, technical design, and quality across the entire product organization. The conversation digs into what actually makes a "Hanna" a Hanna: fabric weight, flatlock seams, a 60-wash durability test, and details like roomy cuffs designed so pajamas grow with the child. Kara also shares the evolution of Hanna-Me-Downs, the brand's peer-to-peer resale platform. Customers can cash out or take a Hanna gift card for their old pieces, and nearly 80% choose the gift card, then spend more than double its value back on the site, a cycle Kara calls "our love letter to our customer." The episode closes on where children's apparel is headed: more self-expression, more mixing and matching, more kids driving their own style earlier than ever. And in a rapid-fire moment, Kara shares a story about her daughter's "I am" poem, an exercise from grade school revisited in college, that ends with the line "I am family holiday pajamas," a moment Kara calls proof that Hanna Andersson creates more than clothes; it creates core memories. Connect with Kara Carter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kara-connolly-carter-5a45266/ Learn more about Hanna Andersson: https://www.hannaandersson.com/

From Power Shopping to Place-Making: Tanger’s Stephen Yalof on the New Outlet Experience

For decades, the outlet trip had a familiar rhythm: get in the car, drive beyond the city, hunt for deals and come home with bags full of discounted finds. But that old model is giving way to something more layered. As retailers reinvest in store experiences to give consumers more reasons to visit, outlet centers are being reimagined as open-air destinations where food, wellness, entertainment and discovery sit alongside the promise of value. Tanger’s recent acquisition of The Town Center at Levis Commons in Perrysburg, Ohio — its fourth open-air lifestyle center — puts that strategy into focus. For a company founded in outlet retail 45 years ago, the move signals how Tanger is expanding its portfolio, from refreshed outlet centers to full-price lifestyle destinations. What happens to the outlet model when shoppers still want value, but also expect food, entertainment, discovery and community? In this episode of Retail Refined, host Melissa Gonzalez speaks with Stephen Yalof, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tanger. Their conversation explores how Tanger is “lifestyling” its outlet centers, why food, beverage, wellness and entertainment are becoming central to the shopping experience, and how recent acquisitions — including Town Center at Levis Commons in Ohio — reflect Tanger’s broader vision for open-air retail. What you’ll learn… * The outlet experience is shifting from transaction to destination. Yalof explains that outlet centers were once built around “power shopping,” but changing demographics and consumer expectations now require better food, entertainment, services and community-driven experiences. * Physical retail and digital engagement are working together. Tanger uses loyalty, social media, digital messaging and local influencer partnerships to meet younger consumers where they are, while still giving them the in-person experience of seeing, feeling and trying products. * Tanger is expanding its role in open-air, lifestyle-oriented retail. Through acquisitions such as Bridge Street Town Centre in Huntsville and Town Center at Levis Commons in Ohio, Tanger is applying its brand relationships, leasing, marketing and operations platforms to grow its presence in full-price lifestyle centers. Stephen Yalof is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Tanger, where he leads a portfolio of outlet and open-air lifestyle centers across the United States and Canada. He has spent his career at the intersection of retail and real estate, with leadership roles at Simon Premium Outlets, Ralph Lauren and Gap. He also serves as a Trustee of the International Council of Shopping Centers and sits on advisory boards for the Real Estate Roundtable and George Washington University’s Center for Real Estate Studies.

Physical Retail’s Next Infrastructure Layer: Item-Level Intelligence with Radar

Physical retail is under pressure to become as measurable and responsive as e-commerce. While retailers have spent years optimizing digital channels with real-time data, store teams have often had to make decisions with incomplete inventory visibility and delayed operational signals. That gap matters because stores still account for 80% of U.S. retail sales, making better store-level intelligence a revenue, margin, and customer experience issue — not just a technology upgrade. As RFID adoption matures and AI raises the stakes for cleaner operational data, item-level visibility is becoming a more important layer of retail infrastructure. Radar, a retail technology company that recently raised $170 million in Series B funding at a billion-dollar valuation, reflects that shift, pointing to renewed confidence in tools that help retailers understand not only what inventory they have, but where it is, how it moves, and how associates can act on it in real time. The shift is being driven by a practical question for retailers: if stores remain central to the business, how can they operate with the same speed, accuracy, and intelligence as digital channels? On this episode of Retail Refined, host Melissa Gonzalez speaks with Spencer Hewett, founder and CEO of Radar, about how retailers can make physical stores more measurable, responsive, and operationally intelligent. The conversation explores how Radar’s ceiling-mounted sensors and software platform help retailers track inventory in real time, locate products inside stores, support omnichannel fulfillment, and use item-level data to improve store operations, merchandising, demand planning, and customer experience. Key highlights from the talk… * Radar’s role in closing the store data gap: Hewett explains how the platform counts inventory continuously and locates items in real time, giving retailers a clearer view of what is available, where it is, and how products move throughout the store. * Why inventory accuracy is foundational: The discussion highlights how inaccurate inventory can create out-of-stocks, fulfillment issues, missed sales, and flawed demand planning. Hewett argues that improving inventory accuracy gives retailers better data for decision-making and future AI applications. * How store intelligence supports associates and operations: Gonzalez and Hewett discuss how item-location data can help associates find products faster, fulfill buy online, pick up in store orders more efficiently, and spend more time serving customers instead of searching for merchandise. Spencer Hewett is the founder and CEO of Radar, a retail technology company building RF sensing technology to automate inventory, analytics, and checkout in physical stores. Since founding the company in 2013, he has led its evolution from an autonomous checkout concept into a broader platform for item-level intelligence, working with retailers representing more than $100 billion in annual sales. Hewett is also a Thiel Fellow and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, with earlier experience in RFID localization, signal processing, e-commerce technology, and startup development.

From Monitoring to Knowing: How Owlet Is Redefining Infant Health at Retail

Baby monitors have long promised parents the ability to see and hear their child from another room. But as connected health devices become more normalized in everyday life, from smartwatches to sleep trackers, parents are beginning to expect more than visibility. They want insight. For Owlet, that shift matters because its wearable monitors track critical infant health metrics like pulse rate and oxygen level, bringing hospital-grade technology into the home and turning baby monitoring into a more data-informed experience. As infant monitoring moves beyond seeing and hearing, how can technology help parents truly understand their baby’s well-being, and how should that reassurance show up across the retail journey? In this episode of Retail Refined, host Melissa Gonzalez welcomes Elizabeth Teran and Jennifer Billington from Owlet Baby Care for a discussion on how infant health technology is reshaping the way parents discover, evaluate, and shop for baby care products. The conversation explores Owlet’s FDA-cleared wearable monitoring technology, the role of physical retail in high-trust purchases, the importance of speed and availability for new parents, and how data, AI, and connected devices are reshaping expectations around early parenthood. Top insights from the talk… * Why infant monitoring is moving beyond audio and video. Teran explains that Owlet’s approach is built around “hearing, seeing, and knowing,” using a wearable sock to track pulse rate and oxygen levels in real time and alert parents if readings fall outside preset ranges. * Why retail availability matters after the baby arrives. Billington notes that while 60% of Owlet customers buy before birth, 40% purchase after the baby is born, often following a rough night, illness, or health scare. That makes in-store availability, curbside pickup, same-day delivery, and omnichannel retail partnerships central to Owlet’s strategy. * How data can empower, not overwhelm, parents. Teran says the opportunity is not just to show parents more information, but to help them understand what the data means, why it matters, and what they can do with it. Owlet has monitored more than two million babies and is building subscription and telehealth experiences designed to add context to infant health data. Elizabeth Teran serves as Chief Parent Officer at Owlet Baby Care, where she leads product management, design, customer experience, and marketing with a focus on translating parent insights into products and experiences that build confidence and peace of mind. Since joining Owlet in 2020, she has held senior roles across product marketing, brand strategy, and executive marketing leadership, including Chief Marketing Officer and SVP of Marketing. Before Owlet, Teran spent nearly a decade at Skullcandy, where she led product marketing, consumer research, retail training, go-to-market strategy, and data-driven product positioning. Jennifer Billington serves as the Head of Retail at Owlet, where she leads revenue strategy and execution with a focus on sustainable, profitable growth. Over the past five years, she has held increasingly senior sales roles at Owlet, including Director of Retail Sales, Vice President of North America Sales, SVP of Sales-Americas, and Chief Revenue Officer, overseeing domestic and international sales strategy. She brings more than 18 years of sales and channel leadership experience from the Coca-Cola system, where she managed major retail accounts, built strategic partnerships, led high-performing teams, and drove revenue growth across convenience, mass, drug, value, and foodservice channels.