The definition of a retail company has changed. For decades, retailers and manufacturers stayed in their own lanes. Increasingly, technology, and information available to consumers through technology, have blurred the lines and the lanes will continue to merge, forevermore. Consumers are in the driver’s seat.

As part of our series about the future of retail, I had the pleasure of interviewing Bill Sternoff a national correspondent for NBC News and anchored newscasts for many years in Washington D.C., Seattle, Denver, and Los Angeles. In 1998, he became the CEO of Body Glide.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I tried to think of a new consumer product to sell in my teens, but took an entry level job for barely $1.00 an hour answering phones in a Seattle radio newsroom. From one of the calls, I was hired as a freelance reporter for a leading group of all-news stations including 1010 WINS in New York and KFWB in Los Angles, and it opened doors to tv and a decades long career anchoring local news in Seattle, Denver, Washington DC and Los Angles, and becoming an NBC News correspondent reporting in the US and abroad.

In 1995, I was approached for seed money to back a Los Angeles startup that came upon a technically advanced consumer skin protection product that we branded Body Glide. When a minority owner filed a nuisance suit against the company and everyone left, I relaunched the business, discovered what it means to be an entrepreneur and built an appreciation for consumers and retail.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

N/A — We have let Yitzi know that Bill did not answer this question.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson or takeaway you learned from that?

N/A — We have let Yitzi know that Bill did not answer this question.

Are you working on any new exciting projects now? How do you think that might help people?

We have been working on new products and this may be the year one comes to market that will also fill a consumer need; so stay tuned.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

This is a great question.

Curiosity is in my DNA and should be in yours. It’s the basis of learning and doing. Nothing is static. Everything is evolving and moving faster than at any time in history, and history is as recent as last year, last month, yesterday. If you are curious, your mind will be recharged by what you discover, and you will thrive. If you are not curious, either step aside or retire.

Curiosity in business is no different than in journalism. Train yourself to consciously consider and pursue answers to who, what, where, when, why and how. Who is doing what? What do you need to know? Where will you find this or that? When can you or should you do this or that? Why and how will it be of impact? And so on. And for inspiration, look into people, places and things that may seem irrelevant. Be curious about everything including art, business, politics, and trends in culture and law in countries around the world, as the world is flatter than you think.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

Jim Bellows was a legend in journalism, a managing editor of major US newspapers in NY, Washington DC and LA, then in tv. I learned about self-reliance working for Jim at USA Today.

I was preparing a story that would say trash tv shows were on tv because they were cheap to make. Trash tv, then, is what we now call reality tv.

Jim read my story and said it needed something. Instead of telling me what it needed, Jim said, “you’re a smart guy, you’ll figure it out,” and it left me mystified and troubled.

The next morning it hit me that the existence of trash tv was not simply because it was cheap to make, and I changed the end to say: “Why does it exist? Because we watch it!”

I said nothing when I handed the story back. Jim didn’t read through it. Instead he jumped right to the last page, looked up, smiled and said, “let’s go to lunch.”

His process was a tremendous boost to self-confidence, self-awareness and self-reliance. He effectively said, “yes you can”.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

Time will tell and others will judge according to how they define goodness and it can be defined in many ways. I am my biggest critic and I am not perfect. My word is good. I am fiscally responsible, socially conscious, and charitable. It is my observation that greed kills, and I act accordingly.

Ok super. Now let’s jump to the main question of our interview. Can you share 5 examples of how retail companies will be adjusting over the next five years to the new ways that consumers like to shop?

The next five years is now. Consumers want speed and savings and increasingly buy direct. In one way or another, everyone including the consumer is a seller.

The definition of a retail company has changed. For decades, retailers and manufacturers stayed in their own lanes. Increasingly, technology, and information available to consumers through technology, have blurred the lines and the lanes will continue to merge, forevermore. Consumers are in the driver’s seat.

First — the definition of a retail company is expanding at lightning speed. Retail companies are everyone.

Second — any person or company selling to end user consumers is a retailer: in their own physical stores or online; through someone else’s physical or online store; or as an online marketplace seller.

Third — it may not be seen clearly in North America, but the world is pulling us in the direction of anti-competitive law. It’s in the EU and the majority of markets outside North America. Manufacturer minimum advertised prices are legal here, but not out there where laws generally forbid price controls. Margin is up for grabs. Laws around the world barely distinguish the position of a distributor. Instead, a distributor is considered in law to be any person or entity that sells anything. Think about that!

Fourth — a retailer is anyone selling at any price, anywhere. Don’t think so, ask yourself: how many consumers who buy on Amazon care, much less notice whether Amazon actually bought and resold the product, or it was listed on Amazon by the manufacturer or a third party, or even under a fictitious name?

Fifth — how consumers shop will continue to be disruptive.

Many brand stores will grow in number and will thrive multichannel or just online. But those with little to distinguish themselves, if seen as commodities, will struggle.

Distribution companies that sell wholesale to traditional retailers will struggle to stay in the loop as manufacturers and brands take advantage of logistics efficiencies to sell direct to consumers.

Amazon and its competitors in the world are the premiere retail logistics companies, and consumers can thank technology for that.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

I appreciate the power of social media, but I am not the product.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!


The Future of Retail Over The Next Five Years, With Bill Sternoff of Body Glide was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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