Remarkable Lifestyle Merchandising with Anu Narayanan, President, Anthropologie

We wrap up a month of episodes featuring remarkable women retail leaders with another fascinating interview recorded at the Wizeline remote podcast studio/beach cabana at Mandalay Bay during Shoptalk 2023. Our special guest is Anu Narayanan President, Anthropologie Women's, Beauty & Wedding.

Anu drops a ton of leadership, strategy, and merchandising wisdom accumulated during a storied career at several top brands. In particular we go deep into what it means to be a lifestyle fashion brand and how she and her team bring that strategy to life at Anthropologie. We also delve into the innovation process at Anthropologie, what it means to "edit to amplify," and how smart calculated risk taking can accelerate growth. We close learning about how technology can be leveraged for far greater merchandising agility.

But we kick things with the latest in retail news, including another sale by Walmart as they appear to be winding down their digitally native brand experiment. We take a short detour into Elon world discussing his rapid unscheduled disassembly event and before mourning the loss of Steve's blue checkmark. Ikea's sets its sights on explosive growth (ha!), while David's Bridal and Bed, Bath & Beyond seem headed in the opposite direction.Then we touch on Lululemon's massive Mirror write-down, layoffs at Best Buy and (yet again) Amazon, and what Hermes' stellar results may portend for luxury retail more broadly.

About Anu

Anu Narayanan joined Anthropologie Group as President of Women’s, Beauty, & Weddings in the Summer of 2018. Anu is passionate about the Anthropologie brand and bringing an incredible product assortment to their deeply loyal customer.

Anu has profound experience within the women’s retail category and prior to joining the Anthropologie brand, Anu spent over 20 years focused on Trend Analytics, Merchandise Planning, Buying & Design at other industry leading brands such as Talbots, Ann Taylor, LBrands and Gap Inc.

Anu is a strong merchandising professional with a BS in Finance & Marketing from Boston College of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts at the Carroll School of Management.

On a personal note, Anu loves to spend time with her family, vacation in the Bahamas, bake, indulge in anything on Bravo and is attempting to learn the guitar.

About Us

Steve Dennis is an advisor, keynote speaker and author on strategic growth and business innovation. You can learn more about Steve on his website. The expanded and revised edition of his bestselling book Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption is now available at Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior contributor and on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also check out his speaker "sizzle" reel here.

Michael LeBlanc is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus Global eCommerce Leaders podcast, and The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. You can learn more about Michael here or on LinkedIn.

Be sure and check out Michael's latest venture for fun and influencer riches - Last Request Barbecue, his YouTube BBQ cooking channel!

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling author of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail, The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast. He has been recognized by the NRF as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2026 and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.