
The RETHINK Retail Top 100 Retail Influencers is an annual list featuring the world’s most instrumental influencers in retail.
This list is comprised of retail experts, consultants, analysts, academics, journalists, and thought leaders who are making an impact in retail in 2021.
Awardees are selected by RETHINK Retail’s staff and listed in no particular order of rank.
Academia
Gautham Vadakkepatt
Mina Fader
Sandrine Crener
Scott Galloway
Analysts
Dana Telsey
Deborah Weinswig
Emily Pfeiffer
Greg Buzek
Leslie Hand
Marie Driscoll
Maureen Hinton
Michelle Evans
Neil Saunders
Nigel Fenwick
Paula Rosenblum
Sucharita Kodali
Associations
Diane J. Brisebois
Ellen Davis
Helen Dickinson
Kyle Monk
Matthew Shay
Experts
Andrew Busby
Andrew Smith
Emily Pfeiffer
Bob Phibbs
Brandon Rael
Carl Boutet
Carol Spieckerman
Cate Trotter
Cathy Hotka
Chris Ressa
Christine Russo
Daniel Burrus
Ian Shepherd
Jason Goldberg
Jason McNary
Jeff Roster
Jim Roddy
Kasey Lobaugh
Kevin Graff
Line Tousignant
Melissa Gonzalez
Michael LeBlanc
Miya Knights
Micah Solomon
Natalie Berg
Nicole Leinbach Reyhle
Oliver Banks
Peter Cohan
Ricardo Belmar
Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender
Richard Kestenbaum
Ron Thurston
Sanford Stein
Sarah Hofstetter
Shannon Ryan
Shep Hyken
Stacey Widlitz
Steve Dennis
Steve Dresser
Tony D’Onofrio
Trevor Sumner
Veronika Sonsev
Media
Alicia Esposito
Andria Cheng
Anne D’Innocenzio
Ashley Armstrong
Barbara Thau
Cale Weissman
Chris Walton
Courtney Reagan
George Anderson
Ian Middleton
Imran Amed
Jason Del Rey
Jennifer DiPasquale
John Ryan
Jordyn Holman
Julia Raymond Hare
Khadeeja Safdar
Kristen LaFrance
Krystina Gustafson
Laura Heller
Lauren Thomas
Phil Wahba
Phillip Russo
Robin Lewis
Sapna Maheshwari
Sarah Butler
Sarah Halzack
Sarah Nassauer
Shelley E. Kohan
Susan Reda
Suzanne Kapner
About Our List
How do we define retail influencers and categories?
We recognize influencers for their activity within the online retail community. Influencers frequently comment on retail trends or news stories, share industry insights and join thought leadership discussions. These influencers take on many roles. We selected executives from academia, media, consultancies and analyst firms.
Often times, influencers wear multiple hats spanning professions. We identified 5 categories most common in this cohort:
Academia: university educators leading retail-related courses or programs
Analysts: industry research firms tracking the latest trends
Associations: retail trade associations
Experts: retail authors, consultants, advisors, futurists, speakers
Media: editors, journalists, podcast hosts, bloggers, content creators
How did we identify the Top 100?
Our team used a variety of sources to select our Top 100, including: third-party listings, primary research within our own network of influencers, recent award winners and tools such as Buzzsumo.
We considered factors such as social presence, articles, speaking engagements, awards and authority to verify each awardee included in our non-ordered listing of the Top 100 Retail Influencers 2021.
How can you be considered for future lists?
Yes. If you’re actively sharing insights, publishing your writing, speaking at industry events and engagement with the media, we would love to consider your nomination.
If you’d like to be considered or nominate someone, let us know in the form here.