Our Mission
The World Retail Forum is an international organization created for the sole purpose of providing the tools, the know-how, best practices with retailers and grocers throughout the world.
The World Retail Forum was created in partnership with global retailers, shopping centers, brands, investors, and architects. This year we are focused Latin America.
On the Frontline Archive
On the Frontline: is a half-hour periodic live event that focuses on overcoming the challenges of doing business and highlights new opportunities. These Tuesday discussions feature real-time reports from people in the retail and restaurant industries, who share their experiences. The program also includes advice from experts, who join us to discuss how businesses can function and thrive.
We feature on-the-ground reporting from the United States, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. On the Frontline: Reviews the lessons learned, best practices, and opportunities for businesses now.
WRF Journal
An in-depth editorial and helpful resources reporting on the current state of global retail.
We believe that retailers, restaurants and small businesses, whether they are one person or organizations consisting of thousands, can benefit from this level of cooperation and market insight.
About the Founder
Dan Hodges
Retail Technology Futurist
Founder & CEO
Retail Technology Futurist, Founder, and CEO of Consumers in Motion Group
Dan Hodges has distinguished himself as one of the world’s leading business futurists by accurately predicting and monetizing the profound ways in which technology has impacted consumer behavior during the last twenty-five years.
Dan began his business career in New York’s advertising industry, working with industry leader Irwin Gotlieb to manage the one-billion-dollar Procter & Gamble media buying and global investments account. However, foreseeing the impact that cable television would soon have on the television advertising market, Dan moved in 1992 to Discovery Communications, where he worked as a senior sales executive for seven years. During that time, Dan launched the company’s digital business, worked with Jay Chiat to develop the first interactive TV ad experience, and assisted founder and CEO John Hendricks in launching Discovery’s on-demand service. Over that same period, advertising revenue at Discovery soared from $100 million to $950 million.
Sensing the commercial opportunities that digital technology would soon make available, Dan worked for the next seven years as a consultant, helping forward-looking businesses transition into the digital marketplace.
As Dan’s reputation as a digital innovator grew, companies began approaching him to lead their innovation efforts. In 2006, he joined Enpocket, which at the time enjoyed a 47% share of the US mobile advertising market. When Nokia acquired the company a year later, Dan was chosen to lead the largest mobile advertising sales force in the world, and he spent the next decade reimagining the world of mobile advertising.
Currently, Dan runs CIM Tours (https://cimtours.co), a global strategic advisory firm that helps business leaders anticipate the future and innovate accordingly. He is also the founder and CEO of Retail Store Tours, which creates business and consumer programs for attendees at industry conferences and other themed events. These programs help attendees navigate and network the events while encouraging them to explore and engage with the technologies and trends driving the pace of change in retail today. Most recently, Retail Store Tours has been selected to provide the store tour program at The NRF 2020: Retail’s Big Show.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Consumers in Motion created the World Retail Forum (www.worldretailforum.com), which features global experts who share best practices for restarting retail. Each week international experts from Asia, Europe, North America, and Latin America come together to discuss how businesses can function and even thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dan holds an A.A.S. in biotechnology, and he subsequently earned a joint B.S. from Syracuse University and the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
Dan writes for Adweek, Luxury Daily, Media Village, Media Post, Retail TouchPoints, The Robin Report, and Wired: Innovation Insights. His speaking engagements have included appearances before audiences at CES, The World Bank, US Department of State, Harvard Business School Summit, GSMA Mobile World Congress, The National Retail Federation: Big Show, National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), South by Southwest, Internet Advertising Association, Mobile Marketing Association, Retail X, Retail Innovation Conference, and JD Power & Associates.
He is a guest lecturer at the NYU Stern School of Business MBA Program, LIM College, Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), and Texas A&M University.