The CPG Guys, Sri & Peter, are joined this week by Coleman professor at Texas A&M Center for Retailing Studies - Venkatesh (Venky) Shankar to discuss retail analytics in a transformative era.Questions that Sri & Peter pose to Dr. Shankar:Your career has primarily anchored around marketing and the research surrounding its applicability to retail. Decompose this for our audience.What is the latest research yielding? Is the so-called retail apocalypse here? Is this really doomsday for the store model?  Amazon is obviously taking most of the attention in retail in 2020. Why have brands been so hesitant to embrace it & how do you advise them now?eCommerce is a balance between short term and long term based on shopper analytics & insights. How do you balance both and what is the focus for long term analytics? Who are the type of brands or retailers you work with and what’s a typical project? Who is the beneficiary?What is your advice for brands and retailers wishing to significantly advance their journey on digital transformation?Walmart has been in a race in 2020 with their own transformation and now the announcement of Walmart+. What’s your outlook here? Are they on the right path? Retail digital transformation requires capital on an already wafer thin margin ecosystem unlike brands. How do you advocate for this knowing this with a healthy respect to the P&L?You have come from the instore world like us, how are you transforming your thinking digital focused? What’s the unlock?What happens go forward with retail given the unusual outcomes from the pandemic? Does foot traffic ever go back to it’s Jan 2020 highs?To learn more about Dr. Shankar, click here.To learn more about Sri & PVSB, visit http://cpgguys.comPlease review our podcast here: http://ratethispodcast.com/cpgguysCPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast.