In this webinar, we heard from Lauren Bitar, the Head of Retail Consulting at RetailNext. She discussed the general retail landscape, such as traffic, sales trends, and categories, as well as considerations going forward due to COVID-19. Johnny Stoddard, MarketDial's Chief Data Scientist also joined to discuss effects of testing on the retail landscape.

Lauren Bitar is the Head of Retail Consulting at RetailNext. She is responsible for partnering with retailers to help them understand store performance and make data-driven decisions. Her engagements primarily focus on retail labs, where Lauren and her team use advanced analytics to answer the most complex questions about the in-store shopper journey.

With over 12 years of retail experience, Lauren has worked in both online and bricks and mortar, and on the retail and wholesale sides of the business. Lauren has worked for retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy's, Juicy Couture and Sephora, concentrating on Buying, Planning and Retail Operations. Prior to RetailNext, she consulted for Kurt Salmon (now part of Accenture) in their Consumer Group practice, with engagements ranging from process and organizational transformation to distribution center design.

Lauren has a Bachelors of Science in Marketing and a minor in Retailing from the University of Florida, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, with a concentration in Marketing and Operations Management.

Johnny Stoddard is the Chief Data Scientist and Co-founder at MarketDial. While working as a management consultant for McKinsey & Co., Johnny saw a huge problem in retail: most retailers either failed to test initiatives before investing in them or they tested with flawed methodology, leading to inaccurate results. Intending to solve the problem, Johnny co-founded MarketDial, a platform for A/B testing in the brick-and-mortar world. Johnny serves as the Chief Data Scientist at MarketDial where he directs MarketDial's statistical development and client success. When not crunching numbers or advising clients, Johnny spends his time running ultramarathons or hiking with his two kids.