Not every Tom, Dick, and Harry can become a Forbes retail/wholesale contributor.
And not every contributor can stand out among his/her peers. One needs an extensive amount of experience, in-depth industry knowledge, and a proven track record.
In this article, we’re going to discuss ten retail/wholesale Forbes contributors who live up to these expectations and more. To get in contact with them, click on the links given below.
Now without any further ado, let’s just get into it.
1. Pamela N. Danziger
In her work, Pam (pameladanziger) informs businesses about the world’s most powerful consumers — the American Affluent. Representing only 25% of all U.S. households, they account for about 50% of all consumer expenditures. They are the ‘heavy-lifters’ in the consumer market today.
With a background in market research, Pam founded Unity Marketing in 1992 to provide brands with actionable insights into the minds of their most profitable customers. She is also a principal of the American Marketing Group helping brands penetrate the U.S. market and Retail Rescue, which offers focused and effective consulting, training and mentorship in retail management, marketing, sales and operations.
A prolific writer and blogger, she is a senior Forbes.com contributor in the retail space and The Robin Report. She is author of ten books, including Meet the HENRYs: Millennials that Matter Most to Luxury Brands and Shops that Pop! 7 Steps to Extraordinary Retail Success and she is currently working on a new book with Ken Rohl for mid-career professionals looking to launch an entrepreneurial venture entitled The Corporateneur Plan.
2. Richard Kestenbaum
Richard is a co-founder and Partner of Triangle Capital and has been an investment banker for over 35 years. Richard has a great deal of experience advising clients in merchandising businesses, particularly in the Retail & Consumer sector. Richard is an often-quoted expert on the retail and merchandising industries. He is a Contributor to Forbes.com where he writes a regular blog about trends in retail and consumer product businesses. He also appears regularly in print and other media as well as industry panels and speaking programs.
Before co-founding Triangle, Richard was a Managing Director at a boutique investment banking firm called Financo, Inc. While at Financo, Richard was responsible for a majority of the firm’s apparel industry transactions. Prior to joining Financo, Richard was a Partner and First Vice President at Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. At Drexel, Richard was responsible for a group of 14 professionals doing middle-market mergers and acquisitions around the world.
Richard is the co-author of three books on finance and computer programming. He is formerly an Adjunct Assistant Professor of International Business at the graduate program of the Stern School of Business at New York University.
Richard received a BS in Accounting from New York University and an MBA with a concentration in Finance from Harvard University. Richard is married and lives in New York.
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/rkestenbaum/
3. Warren Shoulberg
Warren Shoulberg knows the retail business.
He has been a regular contributor to The Robin Report, Forbes.com and The Business of Home as well as his own blog WarrensReport.com.
As a former editor in chief for several leading business-to-business publications specialising in home furnishings retailing he has chronicled the good, the bad and the ugly of the business in a career spanning four decades.
His award winning commentaries elicit both praise and complaints. He welcomes them both equally. He has guest lectured at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business and been honoured by the International Furnishings and Design Association and the Fashion Institute of Technology. He has been cited by the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, ABC News and other media as an expert in the field,
He expects to be doing this for the duration.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/warren-shoulberg-1693a96/
4. Elaine Pofeldt
Elaine, is an independent journalist who specialises in small business and entrepreneurship. She is the author of Tiny Business, Big Money for W.W. Norton & Co. (February 15, 2022), a look at how seven-figure businesses with small teams are reinventing the small business landscape, and The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business (Random House), a guide to how solopreneurs are breaking $1 million in revenue in businesses with no employees except the owners. Her (Elaine Pofeldt) work has appeared in FORTUNE, Money, CNBC, Inc., Forbes, Crain’s New York Business, and many other business publications. She has contributed to the Economist Intelligence Unit. She is also a ghostwriter/collaborative editor.
As a senior editor at FORTUNE Small Business, where she worked for eight years, Elaine was twice nominated for the National Magazine Award for her features and ran the magazine’s annual business plan competition. Elaine graduated from Yale University with a BA in English. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and their four children and in her free time enjoys taekwondo, yoga and kickboxing.
5. Catherine Erdly
Catherine is a small business retail expert, founder of The Resilient Retail Club, a Forbes.com contributor on the subject of starting and scaling a product business, a judge of the Good Retail Awards, on the Editorial Board of Modern Retail, featured as an expert commenter in national newspapers and radio, and a frequent writer and speaker on the retail industry at various trade shows and industry-led events across the country.
She was also recently voted the top sales adviser in the UK by Enterprise Nation, and named one of the top 100 retail influencers in the world by Rethink Retail.
Rick Helfenbein is an Independent Consultant on matters of retail, fashion, trade, and government relations. He is also a Special Advisor to Sorini, Samet & Associates in Washington, DC.
6. Rick Helfenbein
Rick is the former Chairman, President and CEO of the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA), a national trade organization that represents more than 1,000 brands in the apparel, footwear, and accessories industry.
Under his leadership, AAFA went under a complete rebranding as they moved to a new website and upgraded the management systems.
A veteran of the apparel, footwear, and accessories industry, Rick is recognized as one of the creators of the original Le Tigre brand.
He was instrumental in Izod's split from Lacoste and helped introduce Burlington Industries to the apparel market. Furthermore, he has decades of experience manufacturing products in the United States, Asia, and Latin America.
7. Rhett Power
Rhett (Rhettpower) is a Forbes columnist and was recently named the Best Small Business Coach in the US, is a member of the Marshall Goldsmith's 100 Coaches, and was named the #1 Thought Leader on Entrepreneurship by Thinkers360. He is a Co-founder of Courageous Leadership and hosts the popular LinkedIn show Power Lunch Live.
8. Marie Swift
President & CEO, Impact Communications, Inc.
Marie Swift is President and CEO of Impact Communications, a full-service PR and marketing communications firm that works solely within the financial services industry.
A prolific writer, Marie’s articles have been published by Barron’s, MarketWatch, Forbes, WealthManagement.com, NAPFA Advisor, RIA Intel, Financial Planning, Financial Advisor, ThinkAdvisor.com, Morningstar Advisor, and more. She has been quoted in respected publications such as The Wall Street Journal, RIABiz,com, and Investment Advisor magazine.
Marie is in demand as a speaker at conferences for financial services professionals including TD Ameritrade LINC, Pershing Insite, Fidelity’s Inside Track, Schwab Regional Advisor Symposiums, the Financial Planning Association, the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, the Alliance of Comprehensive Planners, InvestmentNews’ Women To Watch, Financial Planning’s Women Advisors Forum, Bob Veres’ Insider’s Forum, Securities America, United Planners, Transamerica, Cetera, and other independent broker/dealer conferences.
In 2021, Impact Communications earned recognition from WealthManagement.com in their annual "Wealthies" awards competition, and ThinkAdvisor.com named Marie to their Luminaries Class of 2021. Her Swift Chat podcast/video series is at www.MarieSwift.com, and she’s @MarieSwift on Twitter.
More information about Impact Communications is available at www.ImpactCommunications.org.
9. Jim Stirewalt
Jim Stirewalt is a market maker with over 25 years’ experience in building and executing go-to-market strategies for small to very large enterprises. He has a distinguished career of developing teams that exceed annual sales and revenue budgets by forging tightly aligned and motivated organisations, explicitly focused on driving customer success.
Jim became President of Marketplacer US in February 2021. Previously, Jim was Global Chief Revenue Officer for the Enterprise Content Management provider, CoreMedia Corp, running all go-to-market and revenue for the company and playing a role in the equity sale to OpenGate Capital in 2019. Jim retains a leadership role within CoreMedia as a member of the Advisory Board.
Prior to CoreMedia, Jim was head of Worldwide Sales for IBM Watson Customer Engagement (which included WebSphere Commerce, Order Management, Marketing Automation and Supply Chain). Prior to IBM, Jim held positions as Vice President of the Fashion & Retail business at SAP where he grew the business by 247%, and Global Workforce Management Solutions team at Kronos Incorporated.
Previous to his executive roles leading software and technology businesses, Jim had a lengthy entrepreneurial career in advertising, branding and graphic design, which included starting and selling an award-winning advertising agency.
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jimstirewalt/
10. Mark Faithfull
Mark Faithfull, CEO of Retail Unwrapped, is a long-standing contributor to Forbes.com, covering news and analysis of the global retail sector. He is the editor-in-chief for international retail property event MAPIC and editor for annual global retail conference World Retail Congress, while he also organises, speaks at and chairs conferences and seminars all over the world – with a focus on how people’s behaviour and priorities are changing and what that means for the retail, food & beverage and leisure businesses that serve them. Mark writes for a variety of retail-specific platforms, while he has also contributed to business publications including The Economist Intelligence Unit, The Times, CNBC European Business and FTSE Global Markets.
Starting your own retail/wholesale business is a great idea as long as you know how handle it properly.
Already running an established business? If you want to grow it, there's no better option than to consult with the top Forbes contributors.
Here I've shared the top Forbes contributors for the retail/wholesale industry.
It doesn't matter if you're running a business or have decided to start one, these contributors will make your life so much easier.
If you are stuck on ideas and need more help in starting your own business, you can also look for small business ideas.
I hope this helps you.
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