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In this edition, you'll find:
- Retail Solutions AI Panel
- Designing the Future of Hospitality & Retail 2026 Conference
- Baker Retailing Trek to KOP
A Note From Our Academic Director
After nine years having the privilege of serving as Academic Director of the Baker Retailing Center at Wharton, I will step down from this role on June 30th and return to research and teaching.
It has been an honor to work alongside founder Jay Baker, Managing Director Mina Fader, our esteemed industry partners, and our professional staff to advance the Center’s central missions. I believe that we have strengthened Baker’s position as a preeminent forum for new retail knowledge, candid dialogue, and unique retail educational learning opportunities for our students.
Through events such as our annual C-Suite Summit, which gathers senior retail leaders for thoughtful discussion on issues affecting the industry; the Baker IDEATHON, our 24-hour competition, which challenges talented students across Penn to develop creative solutions to real-world retail challenges; and our Lunchtime Speaker Series, which allows students to engage directly with prominent retail executives on topics of strategy, innovation, and emerging trends, the Center has created a vibrant community. I am grateful for the shared accomplishments that have made my time with the Center so meaningful.
I am very pleased to announce that Professor Jagmohan Raju will succeed me as Academic Director of the Baker Retailing Center.
Raju is the Joseph J. Aresty Professor of Marketing at Wharton and a highly respected scholar in the areas of pricing, retailing, and marketing strategy. Throughout his distinguished career, he has served in several leadership positions and has earned an international reputation for his research and teaching. His work on retail management, competitive strategy, and consumer markets has been especially noteworthy, and he has advised organizations across a broad range of global industries.
Equally important, Raju brings thoughtful leadership, intellectual curiosity, and a collaborative spirit that will allow the Baker Retailing Center’s initiatives to thrive under his direction.
Thank you for your partnership throughout my tenure as Academic Director. It has been a pleasure to serve in this important role.
Thomas S. Robertson
Academic Director
Jay H. Baker Retailing Center
Joshua J. Harris Professor, Professor of Marketing
Co-hosted by the Baker Retailing Center and Paul Hastings LLP
On a bright April morning, Tangen Hall felt less like an academic building and more like a meeting point for a wide mix of ideas. The inaugural Designing the Future of Hospitality and Retail 2026 conference, co-hosted by The Wharton School’s Jay H. Baker Retailing Center and Paul Hastings LLP, convened a cross-disciplinary group of hotel developers, retailers, brands, wellness leaders, club operators, and sports-district planners to examine the evolving nature of the spaces where people stay, socialize, shop, eat and aspire.
Click below to watch the recap on our Youtube channel!
A Fireside Chat with Peter Fader & Alex Schultz- CMO & VP, Analytics, Meta
The Baker Retailing Center was pleased to host Alex Schultz, Meta’s CMO & VP of Analytics, in conversation with Wharton’s Peter Fader at Wharton SF. The event featured a discussion of Schultz’s new book, Click Here: The Art and Science of Digital Marketing and Advertising, and provided attendees with an insider’s perspective on nearly two decades of leadership in digital marketing, analytics, and brand strategy.
Participants enjoyed breakfast, networking, and the opportunity to take home a signed copy of the book, while gaining key insights on topics including targeted marketing, AI in advertising, customer lifetime value, and building high-performing teams.
Alice & Olivia, Warby Parker, SPREEAI & Palantir
The Wharton School’s Baker Retailing Center hosted a dynamic and forward-looking panel on Penn’s campus, bringing together leaders who are actively reshaping how the world designs, operates, and experiences retail through artificial intelligence.
Moderated by Eric Bradlow, Vice Dean of AI and Analytics, Professor and Chair of the Marketing Department, and longtime member of the Wharton community, the conversation explored AI from three interlocking vantage points: back-end and infrastructure, in-store and experiential technology, and brand, product, and creativity. Eric framed the session
around Wharton’s strategic goal: to be the world’s leading business school in the application of AI and data science to business and society. He emphasized that retail is one of the most exciting and consequential arenas for that mission.
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This spring, the Baker Retailing Center’s Executive Speaker Series energized campus, drawing Penn students eager to hear directly from retail’s top founders, CEOs, and innovators. Sessions were packed, discussions dynamic, and the students’ enthusiasm made every event truly memorable.
Georges A. Kern, CEO, Breitling: You need to create a story, this is what you're selling. You're not selling a function, you're selling an emotion.
Melissa Mash (WG12), Co-founder & CEO, Dagne Dover: There is no guidebook on how to do things, you have to make every decision on your own. That’s why learning to pivot and adjust to a new reality becomes a critical muscle worth exercising.
Amanda Baldwin (WG06), CEO, Olaplex: Blue ocean strategy means going to the blue waters rather than competing in the red. If you see possibility in something no one else sees, that’s opportunity—not risk. You have to know what you have a stomach for and it takes a stomach of steel to face it but always do the thing that pushes you outside your comfort zone, because you will always learn more.
Oliver Chen (WG06), Managing Director & Senior Analyst, TD Securities: Barriers for entry are low, but to scale is very high. Founders who achieve a breakthrough do so because they have a unique idea that has “change the world” potential, and the ones who stand out bring a distinct point of view to both brand and product. That said, operations, execution, and finance is equally important to see long-term success.
Matthew Seigel (C02), Co-founder, Lantern Real Estate: Aspiring real estate entrepreneurs should identify where their edge lies and stay narrowly focused on that advantage—whether that means specializing in distressed assets, luxury, or another niche.
Bulgari, Netflix House, Eataly, Simon Property Group, LaFayette 148 & Breitling
Inside one of the largest and most dynamic retail destinations in the United States, the Baker Retailing Trek at King of Prussia Mall offered a masterclass in what modern retail can be. At a moment when the industry has spent years debating the fate of physical retail, King of Prussia stands as a compelling answer: not a relic of the past, but a reinvention of it. The mall has evolved well beyond its traditional roots, strategically weaving in immersive entertainment, world-class dining, and experiential concepts that give today’s consumer something a screen simply cannot replicate. Simon Property Group has been deliberate in curating a tenant mix that transforms KOP into a destination people seek out in its own right — and it is precisely this shift, from transactional to experiential, that made it the ideal backdrop for the Trek. Students connected with executives from globally recognized brands including Bulgari, Netflix House, Eataly, Simon Property Group, Lafayette 148, and Breitling, some of whom traveled from their New York offices to meet with and mentor the group.
Student Retail Initiatives
WGRC Conference & Marketing 1010 NYC Trip
The Wharton Graduate Retail & Consumer Club (WGRC) hosted its 20th annual conference, Beyond the Basket: Reimagining Retail & Consumer Life. The event brought together more than 100 attendees from Wharton, partner schools, and across the broader industry, along with over 20 influential leaders shaping the future of retail and consumer sectors. Discussions focused on how brands are being built and redefined, how leaders are navigating rapidly evolving and dynamic markets, and how companies are transforming the ways they connect with consumers.
The Baker Retailing Center brought the classroom to New York City, co-hosting an exclusive industry immersion trip with the top-performing undergraduate winners of Marketing 1010's retail simulation, Pivot or Perish.
Students connected with leaders at LVMH, Sotheby's, and the Madison Avenue Business Improvement District, stepping beyond Penn's campus and into the rooms where real retail decisions are made!
Baker Retail Challenge
This semester we reviewed some impressive submissions for our monthly Baker Retail Challenges that we host on our Instagram (@BakerRetailCtr), giving students the chance to tackle real retail topics all in 25 words or less!
Congratulations to our winners: Emily Leung-Kaplan, Ria Kokkengada, Jackie Chen and Satvika Kumar.
There's a memory Jessica Zhu has carried with her for a long time.She's a kid again, sitting in her grandfather's kitchen in Hangzhou, China. He's at the stove, taking the simplest ingredients and making them deeply satisfying. When she asks him his secret, he smiles.
"鲜," he said. Xian. The Chinese word for a deep, savory, richness — what we call umami which is one of the five basic tastes alongside sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.
She didn't know it then, but that answer would follow her across an ocean, through a new language, and into the halls of the University of Pennsylvania — where it eventually became a company. ZenBroth, a premium umami seasoning brand with a simple mission: to complement everything you eat with authentic, whole-food umami.
Wealthy Consumers Are Heading to Dollar Store
Jessie Handbury, Gilbert and Shelley Harrison Associate Professor, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Higher-income consumers are increasingly turning to dollar stores as inflation reshapes spending behavior. Once seen primarily as destinations for lower-income shoppers, these retailers now appeal to a broader audience seeking value on everyday purchases. This trend reflects a broader “trading down” dynamic, in which consumers cut costs in certain categories while maintaining overall spending. The shift signals a redefinition of value and presents both growth opportunities and brand positioning challenges for retailers.
Top Leadership Experts Sound the Alarm On the AI Doomsday: Bosses Are Choosing Tech Over People
Eric T. Bradlow, K.P. Chao Professor of Marketing; Chairperson of the Marketing Department; Vice Dean of AI & Analytics, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
This article examines the growing “human design gap” in AI adoption, where companies invest heavily in technology but fail to redesign how people work alongside it. While organizations prioritize AI tools and systems, far less attention is given to workforce training, workflow integration, and leadership readiness. This imbalance creates operational challenges, particularly for managers responsible for implementation without sufficient support. The findings suggest that successful AI adoption requires rethinking roles, processes, and team structures to fully realize the value of these investments.
Will Shoppers Receive Any Savings From Tariff Refunds? Experts Explain
Morris A. Cohen, Panasonic Professor Emeritus of Manufacturing & Logistics, and Professor Emeritus of Operations, Information and Decisions, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Tariff refunds are being issued to companies following a Supreme Court ruling that invalidated certain import taxes, but consumers are unlikely to see direct financial relief. While businesses paid these tariffs upfront, much of the cost was passed on to shoppers through higher prices over time. Even as companies receive refunds, there is no requirement for them to lower prices or pass those savings on to consumers. This dynamic highlights how pricing decisions are driven by broader market forces, meaning most shoppers are unlikely to recover the costs they previously absorbed.
How Successful Retailers Prosper in Tough Times
Marshall L. Fisher, UPS Professor Emeritus in the Operations, Information, and Decisions Department, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Marshall Fisher explains that retailers who succeed during economic uncertainty focus on operational discipline and customer demand signals. Companies that maintain flexible supply chains and optimize inventory levels are better positioned to adapt to shifting consumer behavior. The article highlights how data-driven decision-making and operational agility help retailers navigate challenging market conditions.
Industry Reports
The Jobs AI Is Likely to Boost—and Those It May Disrupt
Researchers used AI displacement scores developed by International Monetary Fund economists to measure AI complementarity—the extent to which AI can augment human workers, automating some tasks while still requiring human judgment, creativity, and interpersonal skills. Telephone operators, insurance claims clerks, and bill collectors face the highest substitution risk. By contrast, roles such as education workers, judges, and construction managers offer the highest AI augmentation potential. Overall, AI has raised the unemployment rate by 0.1 percentage point, where the loss of jobs from AI replacing workers is being partially offset by rising employment where AI augments human labor.
Generation Alpha Survey 2026: The Youngest Chief Influence Officers
When asked what makes them want to buy something, 61% of Gen Alpha respondents point to social media—a figure that’s larger than peer influence (56%) and significantly outpaces traditional channels like TV advertising (48%) or in-store browsing (53%). Even among the youngest children surveyed, 7- to 9-year-olds, 57% say social media influences what they buy. The data shows that it is increasingly important for retailers to meet kids where they are: If your brand isn't on social media, gaming platforms, and streaming services, you’re likely invisible to this generation.
How Agentic AI Transforms Retail Merchandising
Agentic AI is poised to reshape retail merchandising—from handling pricing analysis and assortment diagnostics to drafting vendor materials. Instead of relying on static weekly decision cycles, AI agents can continuously adjust assortments, pricing, and promotions while delivering real-time insights. By offloading manual tasks, merchants are estimated to be able to reclaim up to 40% of their time to focus on things like product discovery and vendor negotiations. Still, 61% of retailers say their organizations are not prepared to scale AI across merchandising, highlighting the gap between the technology’s full potential and industry readiness for the change.
