S6E2 The Retail Growth Strategy Retailers Need for 2026 with Today’s Economic Realities, Tariffs, Fed Moves, and Consumer Shifts

In this powerful episode of The Retail Razor Show, Dr. Rebecca Homkes, London Business School lecturer, Duke faculty member, high‑growth strategy advisor, and author of Survive, Reset, Thrive: Leading Breakthrough Growth Strategy in Volatile Times, joins Ricardo and Casey to break down what retailers must understand about the economic outlook in 2026, shifting consumer behavior, and the strategic moves that separate winners from laggards.

Rebecca explains why uncertainty is not a threat but a catalyst for growth, and how her Survive, Reset, Thrive (SRT) framework helps leaders stabilize quickly, reset strategy intelligently, and execute a retail growth strategy that works even in volatile conditions. She also unpacks the realities behind sticky inflation, tariffs, the no‑hire/no‑fire labor market, and the rise of the K‑shaped consumer economy.

If you want to build a retail growth strategy that thrives in the face of market shocks, this episode gives you the playbook.

What We Cover

• Why the economic outlook in 2026 is full of contradictions, and what that means for retail
• How the SRT loop helps leaders stabilize, reset, and thrive
• Real‑world examples of companies using SRT to turn crises into growth
• Why averages hide the truth about consumer sentiment
• The rise of the K‑shaped economy and the death of the “everyman” consumer
• Value vs. price: why consumers will still pay more for what they truly value
• How retailers should think about store formats, assortment, and experimentation
• The must‑win battles for 2026
• Where AI actually moves the needle in a retail growth strategy

Key Takeaways

• Uncertainty is the best time to grow: because customers, partners, and employees are more honest about what they value.
• Value ≠ price. Consumers want their dollar to go further, not necessarily cheaper products.
• The middle of the market is the danger zone. Retailers must choose: differentiated premium or true value leadership.
• Retail growth strategy in 2026 requires testing, iteration, and abandoning legacy assumptions.
• Economic outlook in 2026 signals a decoupling between GDP strength and consumer reality: leaders must plan accordingly.

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About our Guest

Rebecca Homkes, https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-homkes/

https://www.rebeccahomkes.com

Author, Survive, Reset, Thrive: Leading Breakthrough Growth Strategy in Volatile Times. https://a.co/d/0aXECIB2

Rebecca Homkes, is a high-growth strategy specialist, CEO and executive advisor. After more than a decade of advising her clients on developing, executing and innovating on strategy, Rebecca is sharing her proven and practical playbook in Survive, Reset, Thrive: Leading Breakthrough Growth Strategy in Volatile Times. She is a Lecturer at the London Business School, Faculty at Duke Corporate Executive Education, Advisor and Faculty at the Boston Consulting Group focused on AI and Climate and Sustainability, and a former fellow at the London School of Economics Centre for Economic Performance. A global keynote speaker and recognized thought leader, she is also the global Faculty Director of the Active Learning Program with the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), leads several fintech accelerators, and serves on the boards of many high-growth companies. She earned her doctorate at the London School of Economics as a Marshall Scholar and is now based in Miami, San Francisco, and London.

Chapters

00:00 Teaser

01:10 Show Intro

04:40 Welcome Dr Rebecca Homkes

05:46 The Survive Reset Thrive Framework

08:04 Real World SRT Success Stories

12:55 Macro Economic Outlook for 2026

17:38 Understanding the K Shaped Economy

19:39 Value vs Price Strategy

24:06 Differentiation and Competitive Advantage

26:41 Store Strategy and Expansion

30:37 Consumer Experience and AI

32:34 B2B Software Experience Gap

34:04 Financing and Inventory Strategy

36:28 Supply Chain Robustness

38:10 No Regret Moves

40:40 Defining Right to Win

43:45 Hard Reset Strategy

45:51 Strategic Center of Gravity

48:24 Must Win Battles

49:34 Closing and Contact Info

51:36 Show Close

Meet your hosts

Helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:

Ricardo Belmar is an NRF Top Retail Voice for 2025 and a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2021 – 2026. Thinkers 360 has named him a Top 10 Thought Leader in Retail, a Top 25 Thought Leader in AGI and Careers, a Top 50 Thought Leader in Agentic AI and Management, and a Top 100 Thought Leader in Digital Transformation and Transformation. Thinkers 360 also named him a Top Digital Voice for 2024 and 2025. He is an advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformationand the Retail Cloud Alliance. He was most recently the partner marketing leader for retail & consumer goods in the Americas at Microsoft.

Casey Golden, is the North America Leader for Retail & Consumer Goods at CI&T, and CEO of Luxlock. She is a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2023 - 2026, and Retail Cloud Alliance advisory council member. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, Casey is obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer and is slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech! 

Music

Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Overclocked, and E-Motive from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.