RETHINK Retail is expanding its executive-community strategy under Canadian CEO Marie Chevrier Schwartz, appointing Canadian retail executive Chris Parsons as its first Vice President of Audience as the company develops new programming and industry partnerships.
The appointment comes as RETHINK Retail broadens its business beyond traditional industry media, connecting editorial content, research, events and professional networks through specialized communities focused on artificial intelligence, retail media and supply-chain operations. The company is also expanding in Canada, where it is bringing together retail executives and technology leaders to address challenges facing the industry.
Parsons, who helped launch Walmart.ca and spent six years working on e-commerce and omnichannel initiatives at Home Hardware, joined RETHINK Retail in September. His newly created position focuses on strengthening relationships with industry professionals and encouraging ongoing participation across the company’s platforms.
Chevrier Schwartz said the strategy reflects an opportunity to connect executives facing similar challenges, particularly as retailers invest in technologies that require greater coordination between departments and organizations.
Building a Community-Focused Retail Business
RETHINK Retail has established an international presence through industry journalism, podcasts, research and events. Its evolving strategy emphasizes professional communities where retail executives can exchange experiences, discuss operational challenges and help shape research and industry programming.
“Retail doesn’t have an information problem,” Chevrier Schwartz told Retail Insidew. “There’s no shortage of research, conferences, newsletters or opinions about where the industry is headed. What’s often missing is the voice of the people actually doing the work: the operators running stores, building retail media networks, rewiring supply chains and putting AI into production.”
The organization has developed communities focused on AI in Retail, Media in Retail, Supply Chain in Retail and Top Retail Experts. These bring together retailers, brands, technology providers and industry specialists around issues affecting multiple parts of the retail business.
“Telling their stories was powerful. Connecting them to each other was even more powerful,” Chevrier Schwartz said.
The strategy follows organizational changes at RETHINK Retail, including its acquisition by Rethink Holdings in November 2025, according to the company’s published history. Under its current approach, discussions among community members help inform editorial coverage, research, podcasts and events, while relationships are intended to continue beyond individual gatherings.
Chevrier Schwartz brings experience in Canadian entrepreneurship and professional community development. She founded Toronto-based product-sampling technology company Sampler in 2013 and was involved with TechTO, a Canadian technology community that she said brought together more than 60,000 people across the country.
That background has influenced how she approaches executive engagement, particularly the importance of giving members opportunities to contribute and discuss problems openly.
“Attendance and engagement are two very different things. You can fill a room with impressive people and still accomplish very little,” she said.
Chevrier Schwartz believes successful communities depend on trust and continuity, particularly when executives are discussing initiatives that have encountered difficulties. Members are encouraged to share experiences, contribute to discussions and help determine the direction of future programming.
Chris Parsons Brings Retail Operating Experience
Parsons has more than 25 years of experience in retail technology, e-commerce and customer engagement. In addition to his work with Walmart Canada and Home Hardware, his career has included positions with Newegg and Ren’s Pets.
His experience at Home Hardware involved developing digital and omnichannel initiatives within a network of independently owned dealers, where individual stores serve markets with different customer needs and operating conditions.
“When you’ve operated a retail business, you know the distance between a good idea and something a store team can actually deliver,” Parsons told Retail Insider. “A campaign can look fantastic in a boardroom. But if the inventory is wrong, the associate hasn’t been briefed or the customer can’t collect the order, that promise falls apart.”
Parsons said that experience shapes the questions he asks about retail technology and business strategy. He considers what an initiative means for customers, whether store teams can deliver it and what needs to happen operationally for it to succeed.
He wants RETHINK Retail’s content, events and communities to provide information and professional connections that participants can apply within their own businesses.
A retail executive might first encounter the organization through an article or podcast, attend an event and eventually join a specialized community. Parsons wants those experiences to build on one another, giving participants reasons to return and remain involved.
“I think about it the way a retailer thinks about a store,” he said. “Getting someone through the door matters, but did they find what they needed? Did we give them a reason to return? Would they recommend us to someone else?”
His mandate includes increasing audience engagement, encouraging repeat participation and strengthening relationships among members. Parsons said he also wants to see evidence that those connections are helping retail professionals solve problems and develop their careers.
He continues to publish Retail Rewired, a weekly newsletter examining retail technology, customer behaviour and industry developments. The publication complements his work at RETHINK Retail by providing another forum for practical discussions about retail operations.
Retail Media and AI Create New Challenges
RETHINK Retail’s specialized communities address areas where retailers are making technology and operational investments while confronting challenges that extend across individual departments.
Chevrier Schwartz identified retail media as one example. Retailers have developed advertising businesses using their digital platforms, customer information and physical stores, but she said measurement practices and organizational structures have not always kept pace.
“I think the biggest gap is alignment, particularly around how retail media creates, measures and shares value,” she said.
Retail media involves merchandising, marketing, technology and customer experience teams, which may operate with different budgets and performance objectives. Chevrier Schwartz said the industry needs greater consistency in determining whether advertising activity generates additional business or shifts spending between existing channels.
RETHINK Retail’s Media in Retail community includes founding members from Costco, Ulta Beauty, The Home Depot and Dollar General, according to Chevrier Schwartz. The initiative focuses on collaboration around industry standards, measurement challenges and the development of retail media talent.
Artificial intelligence presents similar organizational challenges. Chevrier Schwartz said retailers sometimes introduce new technology before establishing the data quality, workflows and accountability needed to use it effectively.
Parsons believes AI could change how retailers interact with customers, particularly as consumers increasingly use conversational tools to research purchases and solve problems.
He has developed a framework called AIMOD, or AI Moment of Discovery, examining how shoppers may begin with a question about a situation instead of searching for a particular product.
A customer preparing a backyard for summer, for example, might ask an AI assistant what work needs to be done before deciding which products to purchase. Parsons believes retailers should consider how their merchandise information and expertise can support those interactions.
The concept is already relevant to Canadian retailers. Recent Retail Insider reporting on Canadian Tire’s MOSaiC retail intelligence platform described how the company is using customer information alongside weather, seasonality and local events to identify shopping occasions and improve merchandising decisions across its banners.
Parsons also sees opportunities to use existing customer information more effectively. A home improvement retailer might combine location data with weather conditions or housing characteristics to offer relevant advice, provided the information is handled appropriately and recommendations are tested.
He pointed to persistent weaknesses in conventional personalization. A shopper might research a barbecue across several websites, purchase one in a physical store and continue receiving advertisements for barbecues because the various retailers have no knowledge of the completed purchase.
For retailers, addressing these issues requires coordination between customer data, digital platforms, marketing and store operations. Parsons encourages companies to begin with manageable applications, measure the results and improve their underlying systems before pursuing larger initiatives.
RETHINK Retail Expands in Canada
Canada is becoming a more prominent part of RETHINK Retail’s executive-community programming, with the organization establishing a dedicated Canadian presence for its AI in Retail initiative.
In August, the company announced that James Baskin, founder and CEO of ZeroStone, would chair the Canadian chapter of AI in Retail. The initiative is intended to support local programming, executive workshops and collaboration among Canadian retail and technology leaders.
Chevrier Schwartz said Canadian retailers are being encouraged to help determine which issues should receive attention as the community develops.
“Start with a shared problem, not a membership target,” she said.
Parsons believes Canadian retailers face challenges related to the country’s geography, smaller population and distribution costs. Long distances between markets can complicate logistics and technology investments, particularly for retailers serving smaller communities.
His experience with Home Hardware also demonstrated the advantages of local decision-making. Independently owned dealers can adapt their assortments, services and operating practices to the needs of individual markets.
Parsons noted that Canadian divisions of American retailers may benefit from access to larger technology platforms and investment resources, although Canadian priorities can compete with those of their parent organizations.
He encourages Canadian retailers to learn from developments in other markets while testing their relevance to local customers and operating conditions. Improvements to legacy systems, data quality and internal processes remain important as companies consider new technologies.
Industry Partnerships Support Further Expansion
RETHINK Retail is extending its programming through partnerships with established retail industry organizations.
On January 9, 2027, the company is scheduled to participate in Commerce Media Saturday, developed in partnership with the National Retail Federation during NRF Retail’s Big Show programming in New York. The event will take place at Lavan Midtown and will focus on issues including retail media measurement, artificial intelligence and the relationship between advertising and commerce.
Additional programming during NRF week will address AI and supply-chain challenges, bringing together participants from RETHINK Retail’s specialized communities and the broader international retail industry.
Chevrier Schwartz said the company wants those gatherings to contribute to relationships and discussions that continue throughout the year. Its research and future programming are also intended to reflect issues identified by community members.
For Parsons, success will ultimately depend on whether participants can apply what they learn.
“We’ll measure audience growth, repeat engagement and participation,” he said. “But I also want to hear, ‘I met someone through Rethink who helped me work through a problem,’ or ‘We tested something after that conversation.’”
Twelve months into his new role, Parsons hopes more members will be having those experiences and introducing their peers to the organization. That will be a practical measure of whether RETHINK Retail’s community-focused strategy is creating lasting value for the industry.
