Laura Phillips on Sustainability and Retail

In this episode, Andy is joined by longtime retail and sustainability expert, Laura Phillips. Laura spent over 2 decades at Walmart where she served as SVP for Corporate Sustainability as well as SVP of Global Sourcing. Andy and Laura explore the evolution of sustainability, in-store challenges in an omnichannel world, and answer questions from Walton College of Business students. Big thank you to Molly Rapert, Katie Fowler, Arthur Cummisky, Megan Maciulski, and Kendall Wentworth for their questions!Questions and Topics00:00 Welcome to the Show00:50 Introducing Laura Phillips03:28 How do consumers view sustainability?6:01 The impact of personal sustainability8:30 How can supplier collaboration generate innovation?10:47 How can merchants be customer-centric?13:54 The power of observation15:24 How important is the in-store space in an omnichannel world?18:00 How can packaging impact the in-store effectiveness of a product?21:17 Questions from Walton College of Business students22:10 The role of curiosity in career growth24:30 How can corporations regain consumer trust regarding sustainability?26:29 What is the most unexpected challenge faced in sustainability?28:00 How can young adults lead a sustainable lifestyle?29:07 What is one thing you wish you knew entering the workforce?30:39 How a positive approach to difficult challenges can lead to success32:43 What the future looks like for Laura PhillipsShow LinksLaura Phillips: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-phillips-5412a52/Andy Murray: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewlmurray/CCLI: https://www.linkedin.com/company/customer-centric-leadership-initiative-sam-m-walton-college-of-business/bigQUEST: https://www.bigquest.comStudent Profiles:Katie Fowler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-fowler-144989248/Arthur Cummisky: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arthur-cummisky/Megan Maciulski: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganmaciulski/Kendall Wentworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendall-wentworth/