Charting the Course of Retail’s Future: Insights from Carlos Castelan of the Navio Group on the Nexus of Experience, Technology, and Sustainability

Today’s guest is Carlos Castelan, Founder and Managing Director of the Navio Group. In today’s interview, he shares his thoughts about the future of the retail experience, how it’s been affected by the pandemic, and where retail is headed in the future. Listen in to hear Carlos talk about the origin of his firm and where they got their name, what sort of long-term changes are coming to the retail space, and what technologies Carlos is excited to see more of. Topics Discussed in Today’s Episode:

✔ The origin of The Navio Group

✔ Where the word Navio came from

✔ Biggest changes Carlos has seen in customer and consumer behavior

✔ Whether the COVID-related changes will be the new norm

✔ Long-term changes that are coming to retail

✔ The importance of sustainability

✔ What retailers get wrong when it comes to creating online and offline experiences

✔ Advice to retailers when opening back up post-COVID

✔ Things that retailers should avoid doing right now

✔ Carlos’s favorite in-store experience ✔ Key takeaways for retailers to help them build their in-store experience

✔ Technologies that are being adopted at a faster pace than Carlos anticipated

✔ Technology that Carlos is excited about

✔ What Carlos sees for the future of retail

Resources: Carlos Castelan

QUOTES:

“The word Navio really comes from the old explorers that would use ships to go out and chart new courses.” “I think if we start to look at what’s happening outside the US, I think that probably serves as a decent model for what will happen on the back end.” “I do think that this whole process is going to necessitate the acceleration of any sort of e-commerce investments.”