From Digital Retail Leader to Trusted Advisor, with Paul Rotella

East Coaster meets Western America’s Big Box Department Store

Having grown up in New Jersey, I found myself travelling the East Coast quite a bit, but barely explored the Midwest until moving to Cleveland for high school. After graduating from Miami University with a degree in Marketing, I decided to journey further west to Minneapolis which has become my home of the last 12 years. That move led me to my life of retail.

“Retail offered me an opportunity to operate a business - and do so holistically - rather than through one functional lens.”

My first role in retail was in store management at Aldi, where I quickly discovered I enjoyed learning about customer behaviors and buying habits: social tendencies, frequency patterns, and background factors influencing a purchase decision. Being a consumer with that view behind the curtain allowed me to quickly pick up on trends, a habit I have yet to kick.

?Aldi's sales mix would change throughout the month as food stamp recipients would stock up on dry goods and long-lasting produce within the first five days of the month; becoming our highest sales days, we often referred to this spike as first-of-the-month sales. From days six to thirty, sales would level off and purchases would gradually shift towards produce.

For example, Avocados were an end-of-the-month purchase for customers - if we bought avocados based on the end-of-the-month behavior for first-of-the-month sales, we would have had 4x what we needed...guac-ward...

Following my time at Aldi, I spent the next decade of my career with Target (US) in inventory management, merchandising, and eCommerce. My earliest responsibilities included managing fresh meat inventory during Target’s efforts to expand its fresh footprint in stores. Growing 30% year-over-year, we built scrappy tools and processes to manage inventory levels and support additional store counts, while keeping up our growing self-distribution network. With that momentum, I helped launch new store formats while in supply chain and merchandising roles and expanded the urban format to over 150 locations.

I saw eCommerce as the next growth opportunity and took a new role as a merchant for Target.com. Together with my team, we added over 100 new brands to the channel and launched partnerships with on-demand delivery providers; we leveraged new media measurement capabilities with 1st party data and expanded the ship-from-store network that improved our unit economics.

My tenure with Target ended as Senior Manager of Merchandising Strategy and Analytics where I was responsible for determining how to allocate more sales-floor space for fulfillment without cannibalizing in-store sales. The 2020 peak in eCommerce growth meant re-evaluating the amount of floor space needed for omni operations, re-thinking the role of the store for our customers, and determining which categories should be prioritized for space on the sales-floor.

I have always been inspired by retail’s constantly changing competitive environment and the evolving needs of the consumer. In retail, you’re in perpetual competition to bring new merchandise and value propositions to customers, both with the end goal of capturing more market share.

"To be the best, you must constantly listen to your customers and seek to understand if you’re delivering as much value as you hope you are."

The Decision to Lean In and Learn More

My career passion is helping leading retailers accelerate their digital channel growth, so the decision to join Tomorrow was an easy one. Knowing that I could continue to build my own eCommerce acumen and gain more global experience by working alongside some of the brightest minds in digital retail was the icing on the cake.

While my previous roles allowed me the experience of creating customer value propositions and managing an eCommerce merchandising P&L, Tomorrow's work has encouraged and pushed me to build on my understanding of new topics, in new contexts, in new markets. I knew Tomorrow’s value proposition—retailers helping retailers—would resonate with retailers since it resonated with me. All too often consultants have limited experience in retail, and they struggle to understand the consumer and the complexity of retail operations. Tomorrow’s group of consultants is different; having all worked in retail we know what it takes to help clients get to the finish line and breakthrough, and we have fun doing it! It has been so rewarding to be one of Tomorrow’s retailers helping other retailers.

Over the past year, I have supported clients on five continents with topics ranging from online grocery fulfillment optimization to B2B marketplaces. What’s surprised me the most is the variety of positions that each market and retailer can take on the eCommerce journey and how we must adapt best practices and learnings from different situations to what will best work for the client.

We’re entering another volatile time in retail that could be viewed with frustration, but I believe it brings opportunity. It’s time to lean in and listen to your customers and suppliers to best determine where you can add more value and differentiate yourself from your competitors. Volatile times tend to accelerate trends in the market, but our work at Tomorrow has proven time and again that starting on your digital growth journey today can provide big returns for tomorrow.

Behind-the-zoom-screen is a Green Thumb & Full Stomach

I am an avid cook and gardener— writing this during tomato season in Minneapolis, while enjoying the fruits of my labor (literally). I’ll read and cook my way through cookbooks - front to back - and am currently working through Mi Cocina by Rick Martínez… Let’s just say, homemade tortillas have been a game changer! I live in a 100-year-old bungalow in South Minneapolis with my husband, Spencer, and my 1-year-old dog Frankie. Taking her for walks around the Minneapolis lakes keeps us primed for another taco.