Though the name Fleet Feet may spur the image of a runner, the retailer is much more than a runner's shoe store. It outfits runners and other athletes with needed footwear, accessories and knowledge from over four decades in business.

Founded in 1976 by Sally Edwards and Elizabeth Jansen, the brand has been running strong ever since and just opened its 271st store.

In the latest episode of the CX Innovators podcast, Alex Tallman, director of retail experience and education at Fleet Feet, talks with RetailCustomerExperience.com editor Judy Mottl about the brand's 3D foot-scanning technology, the focus on store associate education and other customer experience strategies in play.

Making the customer experience fun is at least somewhat important for many online and physical retailers, but at Fun.com, it's absolutely paramount. Fun.com, an e-commerce retailer that sells a range of fun products — from Star Wars plushies to t-shirts from the latest Disney hit — as well as being the home of Halloween.com.

CX Innovator podcast guest Dianna Lyngholm serves as director of creative services and e-commerce for Fun.com. She directs brand, strategy and development for multiple departments. Her team handles everything from product photography to marketing campaign curation and video content productions, in addition to social media marketing, copywriting and graphic design.

In this latest podcast episode, produced by Networld Media Group, Lyngholm talks with RetailCustomerExperience.com editor Judy Mottl about customer experience strategy.

Don't forget to check out the ICX Summit taking place Sept. 9-11 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Early bird registration is still available.

Neely Woodson Powell knows shoes and she knows how important it is to engage with customers to get customers to slip their feet into her iconic shoe wear.

In this latest episode of the CX Innovator podcast, produced by Networld Media Group, Powell shares with RetailCustomerExperience.com editor Judy Mottl how customer engagement, and providing 'shoe joy,' has driven success for her national brand of versatile and fashionable footwear.

Powell also shares how she hurdled challenges, including COVID-19, to create a multibillion-dollar retail empire. The brand's shoe line, launched 27 years ago, is available online, in retail stores and over 800 boutiques. Charleston Shoe Company will soon open a location in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Powell will be a keynote speaker at the upcoming ICX Summit taking place Sept. 9-11 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Early bird registration is still available.

Banks have a lot of data to work with, especially customer data. However, having raw data is not enough, businesses and banks also need to turn that data into insights. But even with those insights, it can be a major challenge to turn them into actionable strategies to improve the customer experience. How can banks operationalize customer insights? This was a topic, ATM editor Bradley Cooper explored with Shelly Chandler, customer experience leader and strategist and founder of EvolveCX Consulting in this episode of the CX Innovators Podcast.

In the episode, Chandler covered this topic in great detail, with an eye for how organizations can bring their entire structure in for CX initiatives.

Ray Friedrich, chief strategy officer at East Street Business Advisors, joined Daniel Brown, editor of Digital Signage Today, for an exclusive audio interview to discuss the rise of automation, robotics and AI across vending, restaurants, and hospitality (among other categories).

As omnichannel shopping has expanded for nearly all product categories, how does a brand ensure the same level of customer satisfaction in self-service touchpoints as in attended environments?

Technology development continues to speed up, with new technologies like AI and robotics changing industries from the ground up. Combine that with global challenges like supply chain issues and new consumer behaviors, and it's hard for any operator to stay on top of things!