Joshua Ketter

Wayfair CFO zeros in on nimble forecasting. Wayfair needs a “nimble” finance team and forecasting model to hit its dual goals of keeping fixed costs down while reaching double-digit growth, CFO Kate Gulliver said. $W https://lnkd.in/e8Yb-zfG #tradeguard #receivableputoptions #arputs #receivableputs #tradereceivables #accountsreceivables

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Retail finance, when done right, isn’t back-office—it’s a front-row seat to how iconic brands are built. One of my go-to sources is the Acquired podcast hosted by Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal. Their deep dives—often 3 to 4 hours long—into enduring companies will sharpen and challenge how you think about finance's role in building brands, protecting margin, and scaling on a global stage. Their lens—shaped heavily by 7 Powers by Hamilton Helmer (also a highly recommended read)—focuses on what gives companies lasting strategic advantage. Not hype. Not luck. Real moats. Here are five episodes that stuck with me—and why: Hermès: Growth without compromise. Hermès never discounts, never over-distributes—and still outpaces the market. Their restraint proves that saying no is one of the most powerful brand investments you can make. Rolex: A masterclass in control. Rolex owns every part of its brand—from manufacturing to distribution—and uses scarcity as a feature, not a flaw. Brand strength becomes a financial asset, and discipline is what protects it. Finance professionals will especially appreciate this episode, as the hosts attempt to reverse-engineer Rolex’s financials and operating model—despite its private status. LVMH: The blueprint for building a house of brands. LVMH empowers creative freedom at the label level while scaling shared excellence across finance, supply chain, and real estate. Decentralized creativity backed by centralized discipline. Porsche: Engineering precision meets platform strategy. Porsche took one iconic product (the 911) and built a margin machine around it—without diluting its soul. Complexity scales when the platform is right and the brand stays simple and strong. Starbucks: Operational rigor and emotional connection don’t have to compete. Both matter when you scale—and both require strong financial architecture to support them. This episode is co-hosted with Howard Schultz, the former Starbucks CEO who built Starbucks into one of the world's most recognized brands. Schultz's commitment to and passion for preserving the brand experience at scale is an important lesson. I love these business stories—but they’re also instructive frameworks for building enduring brands and high-performance companies. Required listening for finance professionals who want to operate at the top of their game. #AlwaysOnOffense #FinanceLeadership #AcquiredPodcast #7Powers #ScalingWithPurpose #LuxuryRetail #BrandBuilding #TeamAlo

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What radical improvements become possible when you put AI at the center of change? That’s the really big question many of us should be trying to answer - and the answer is core to understanding how the potential of AI can be leveraged inside and organization. Take the Finance function as an example. For years, finance teams have been like skilled map readers! They used historical data, lots of spreadsheets, and hard-earned experience to navigate the roads ahead. This approach worked well until the world got bigger, faster, and more complicated! Today, Finance teams find themselves needing more than just a map! They need a GPS with real-time traffic avoidance, smart predictions for proactive course corrections. However, this is not a “snap your fingers” and you are there moment! Just as people evolved from using a “Road Atlas” to “Map Quest” to “Google maps” on their phones” – getting the "GPS" will take time. It will require a transformation of the data, technology and the ways of working landscape. So, where do you begin? Your first steps towards answering the big question should include some foundational activities that will provide the new map for your journey. First, define a simple vision for AI within your organization that will provide everyone with a destination for the journey. Second, formulate an AI focused strategy (i.e., the new map) that will provide the basic route structure you can follow to build AI capability smartly. Third, establish a clear set of guiding principles (see below) that will shape how AI will be used in your area. And finally, partner with IT to design and build the foundational data and technical architecture that will power your AI capabilities. Taking these first steps smartly and deliberately will provide you with a clear route map and initial waypoints to guide your AI journey.

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Over time, I’ve probably become more attentive to cash than anything else in a business. Revenue trends are important. Margin obviously matters. But cash has a way of cutting through the noise. In retail and consumer environments, especially, small shifts can accumulate quietly. Inventory builds a little faster than expected. Forecasts get slightly more optimistic. Payment cycles stretch at the edges. Nothing feels urgent. In fact, on the surface, things can look fine. But you can sense when conversion is slowing. And when that happens, the tone of conversations changes. Investment decisions become more deliberate. Priorities get re-examined. Optionality narrows. I’ve found that the strongest teams don’t wait for pressure to show up in the numbers. They build visibility early and treat working capital as something to manage actively, not retrospectively. It’s rarely dramatic. It’s usually subtle. And subtle is where most of the work sits. #CashFlow #RetailFinance #ConsumerBusiness #WorkingCapital #CFO

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Albertsons’ Four Big Bets Put AI at the Core of Growth Key Points • CEO Susan Morris outlined four transformation priorities: Digital Customer Experience, Merchandising Intelligence, Empowering and Managing Labor, and Optimizing the End-to-End Supply Chain. • “Ask AI” search is delivering a 10% increase in basket size among users. • New agentic AI shopping assistant launched in December across banner websites (Albertsons AI, Safeway AI, Vons AI, Jewel-Osco AI and more) to cut shopping time to as little as four minutes. • Workforce upskilling accelerates in 2026 through a Microsoft partnership that includes Copilot immersion, prompt coaching, unlimited certifications and GitHub Copilot training. • Q3 context: identical sales up 2.4% and digital sales up 21%, with leadership emphasizing retail media scale via Albertsons Media Collective. What It Means ✅ Enterprise scale, not pilots: Embedding AI across customer, merchandising, labor and supply chain functions positions Albertsons to compound benefits rather than chase isolated tools. ✅ Clear CX payback: Measurable lifts like a 10% basket increase signal tangible revenue impact from search, recommendations and assistant-driven journeys. ✅ Margin and execution levers: Merchandising intelligence and AI-driven scheduling can improve price, promo and labor productivity while sustaining on-shelf availability. ✅ Retail media as a profit pool: Deep loyalty data and omnichannel reach strengthen partner ROI and create monetization beyond core grocery. ✅ Capability moat: The 2026 skilling program helps frontline and corporate teams adopt AI workflows at scale, reducing change friction across 2,243 stores. Progressive Grocer | https://lnkd.in/gsHS9_KQ #retail #AI

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Supply chain planning should move as fast as retail. But for most, it doesn't. In this NRF interview, Ryan Gifford breaks down why batch-based planning and siloed teams are holding retailers back. He shares the shift that happens when planning and execution operate on one unified, real-time inventory plan. A straightforward look at how bidirectional flow turns plans into action. ▶️Watch the interview. #NRF2026

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Two giants just merged. What does this mean for every grocery shelf in America? C&S Wholesale Grocers is picking up 200 stores from SpartanNash - along with their wholesale business. This is not a small deal. When two of the biggest grocery wholesalers join forces, the whole supply chain shifts. Here’s what I’m watching: - 200 stores move to C&S. That’s a lot of shelves, a lot of brands, a lot of local jobs. - SpartanNash gets to focus on its core, at C&S. C&S doubles down on scale. - Every independent grocer who buys from these giants is about to see new options-and maybe new pressures. When wholesalers get bigger, they can negotiate harder with brands. That changes which products get space, how fast new trends hit small towns, and what prices land at checkout. But scale cuts both ways. → Bigger buying groups can sometimes mean better prices for stores. → Local brands might find it harder to get in the door. → Small operators could see more competition, or more support-depending on how C&S plays it. I’ve worked with grocers, brands, and tech vendors for years. These moves ripple out fast. They shape what shoppers see, what gets promoted, and even what tech shows up at point-of-sale. We all know the margin game is tough in grocery. When giants shift, every operator feels it. Are you expecting more choice, or less, on your next shopping trip? (Link to coverage: https://lnkd.in/gErAcVgj)

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Every dollar allocated to Q4 operations must demonstrate clear ROI. The greatest financial risk during peak retail is not stock levels, but execution failure on the sales floor. Our latest brief outlines the financial imperative for strategic staffing. Investing in expert In-Store Brand Ambassadors for Holiday Retail shifts this function from a variable expense to a quantifiable revenue driver by: Mitigating Revenue Loss: Expert staff prevents sales walk-offs caused by poor service or lack of product knowledge. Optimizing Spend: Leveraging external specialists ensures certified expertise without permanent overhead. Driving AOV: Trained ambassadors excel at upselling and cross-selling complex, high-margin products. We need operational solutions that guarantee performance and protect the bottom line. Review the data on how this strategic shift impacts your profit and loss statement. Review the strategy for maximized financial performance: https://bit.ly/48vem57 #FinanceExecutive #ROICalculation #RetailFinance #RiskManagement #OperationalEfficiency #TROC

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Though I advocate tech to be enabler for effective Supply Chain my belief remains in the people who make it work. In any of the operating models of warehouses, eCom fulfillment, and last mile, I’ve watched one pattern unfold seamlessly: Systems scale only when teams scale first. You can buy a WMS, install RF guns, automate a sorter, even launch a dark store in record time but if your supervisors aren’t confident, your planners don’t trust the numbers, and your frontline feels unheard, the performance will always leak. Whether I’m setting up a new fulfillment operation, optimizing routes, or stabilizing a go-live, I focus on the same basics 1. Recruit for attitude, train for skill 2. Make leaders on the floor, not only in meetings 3. Coach daily, not yearly 4. Fix the process, but protect the people My simplest advice to youngsters I come across learn fast, listen deeply, lead by example. Relationships beat rigid SOPs every time.

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