Paula Rosenblum is co-founder of RSR Research and has consistently been recognized as one of the industry’s top retail technology analysts over the past decade. She is frequently quoted in major media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Washington Post, LA Times, NPR Marketplace and many others. She serves on the advisory boards of several retail technology vendors. Previous to her years as an analyst, she spent over 20 years as a retail technology executive and CIO at companies including iParty, Hit or Miss, Morse Shoe, Domain Home Fashions and others. Paula received her MBA in 1991 from Northeastern University, with a major in management of High Technology firms and was nominated to the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society. She’s active in a variety of organizations supporting human growth and development. Paula lives in Miami, Florida.
Recently, in an exclusive interview with CXO Outlook Magazine, Paula shared her professional trajectory, insights on the role of data analytics and AI in retail technology, the secret mantra behind her success, future plans, pearls of wisdom, and much more. The following excerpts are taken from the interview.
Hi Paula. What drives your passion for the retail industry, and how has your perspective evolved over the years?
I’ve been in retail quite literally my whole life. My father was an independent clothing retailer and I used to go buying with him in the New York garment district (dating myself a bit here), and I’d also work in his store, and help him fill out his marketing postcards. So it’s fair to say that I’ve been soaking in retail for as long as I can remember. Of course, on a separate track, I studied programming and ended up as director of development in a mid-sized retail chain. That’s when I saw how much technology can help the industry. There is the obvious: buying and selling merchandise, but there’s also the whole distribution process, the algorithms to decide what goes where and the financial processes, which are rather enormous in a large organization.
What do you love the most about your current role?
Well, as an analyst I don’t have to sing the glories of any one technology, I keep my finger on the pulse of the industry, help distinguish the real from the “bright shiny object” and best of all, I’m not involved in implementing anything. Believe it or not, I occasionally miss being close to the action in stores, but mostly, I enjoy opining and separating the wheat from the chaff. I love being an advisor whose interests are solely for the company as a whole.
What role do you think data analytics and AI play in retail technology, and how can retailers effectively leverage these tools?
Data is one of a retailer’s most valuable assets and should be treated as such. Analytics have been critical for well over a decade. With Point Of Sale data in near real-time and more powerful computers, we can anticipate trends along with following them. At my company we have analyzed business intelligence for years and noted that the best performing retailers make the most use of analytics. Analytics tend to go viral in a company. You bring them in for one use case, and people start to find value and actually ask for more kinds of analytics as you go.
AI is another topic. Beyond machine learning, which has been used in the supply chain for some years, I truly believe AI is over-hyped in retail. On the customer facing side, I do believe satisfactory human to human interaction is really important. If AI was more mature, maybe our interactions with bots and scripted outsourced employees would be better. As it is, they’re a stumbling block to a good customer experience. I have often said if you want to get a sense of the real state of AI, call the customer service department of a company that claims its experience is powered by AI. You quickly learn it is not (reboot my modem again? Seriously???)
How do you advise retailers to approach digital transformation, and what steps can they take to get started?
As with all projects, it’s a good idea to start small, with projects that can be accepted by employees and don’t give the retailer too much risk. It’s time to get rid of those old COBOL and 4 GL languages for more extensible and flexible solutions. So, as with any project, start small and get some wins under your belt. This will build enthusiasm. I don’t think anyone loves the processes associated with eCommerce returns, customer service issues and lost inventory. So rather than going with “a big bang” go incrementally with, of course, cross-functional teams. Don’t let any one group dominate the conversation or the implementations. If you don’t have an IT Executive Steering Committee now, start one. It’s imperative and really did contribute to my success. The CIO must be relevant, and the management team should be walking in lockstep. This will help the rank and file get into it. Don’t assume that the IT team is any more forward thinking than anyone else. Definitely find a coalition of the willing. All my successes came when I lured people into a project with success and enthusiasm. All my failures came when people just weren’t interested. Cultural failures are real things, and they can destroy any project’s hope for success.
What are your thoughts on diversity and inclusion in your field? How important is it to have authentic conversations with leaders, professionals, and changemakers to create more acceptance across the globe?
It’s very hard to talk about DEI without getting political instantly. I want to try to avoid that here. I will say, it’s shocking for me that it’s even a conversation. There’s no doubt that we need to get more women involved in all kinds of STEM work. The political environment isn’t lending itself to that these days, but this observation comes from a childless cat lady who decided a long time ago that I couldn’t have it all. And business was where I wanted to focus. Do I think we need some form of quotas, or at least some form of data on how much diversity and inclusion we have in our organizations? Absolutely.
You were recently recognized as one of the Top Retail Experts of 2025. Our readers would love to know the secreta sauce behind your success.
My company (RSR Research) likes to call itself the candid voice in Retail. I certainly fit in that category and have never been afraid to do 2 things: 1) call out technology as over-hyped and not useful to business overall and 2) avoid acronyms, insider terms and over-complicated explanations. The same skills that made me successful as a practitioner have made me successful as an analyst: candor, honesty, speaking in plain English and genuinely caring about the clients I’m working with.
If you could have a one-hour meeting with someone famous who is alive, who would it be and why?
I would love to have a meeting with Brian Greene, a physicist and author who has written spectacularly about attempts to reconcile the physics of the very large (relativity) with the physics of the very small (quantum mechanics). I can’t say it would help me in my career particularly, and I know I can’t do the math, but the concepts are mind-boggling. I love being reminded that in this universe, we are neither the largest or the smallest entity. These are notions that keep me somewhat humble, and Mr. Greene writes and speaks in a way that the layman can understand. I really honor him. As you’ve probably figured out, I think we need to be well-rounded people!
Is there a particular person you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are?
I guess there are three in total. My father, who taught me the basics of retail by doing, rather than by teaching, my first retail CIO, Ray Benoit, who taught me how to manage and how to accept success, which was harder than I would have imagined, and finally, the late, great John Fontanella, who hired me as an analyst after I walked away from the world of being a CIO. I wasn’t buttoned down, or otherwise consultant-like for the traditional analyst role. But he knew the depth of my knowledge of retail and hired me over some other objections in the organization. It is sad to me that he passed on some years ago.
How do you keep your mind healthy and stay resilient? And how do you motivate your team?
I have been practicing meditation for over half a century, and it really does help me. I’ve also discovered that love and kindness go a long way. I don’t have a team per se at the moment, but these were things that always helped me and also helped me as an individual contributor. As an example, I had an employee who adored her horse. The horse died and I gave her many days off to recover. My boss was furious at me, but I gained loyalty I might not otherwise have achieved.
Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
Mostly retired, though I’ve been asked a lot of times about writing a book about retail and the successful use of technology. I think about that a lot and it could well happen. I’ve certainly written enough shorter articles that I could collate into a book with some amplification. And I know the industry as well as anyone….so putting that into an easy-to-understand book would be really valuable, I think. I just have to do it!
What advice would you give to aspiring leaders looking to make a meaningful impact in the retail industry?
This may sound trite, but my best advice is to stay human. Be accessible, be kind, but on the other hand, don’t take any nonsense from anyone. And…as a practical matter, spend some time working in every department you can. You will never understand someone else’s pain unless you’ve experienced it. So, work with the merchants, do a stint in distribution centers, and perhaps most importantly, work in a store a few times. I know it’s a pain to do that, but you learn things you otherwise never would. There just is no substitute for living what employees and managers live. You’re far less likely to recommend what I call “magic bullet technologies” if you understand the real issues these people face. It shocks me how many people don’t do that anymore.