By Scot Meyer, MARCH 17, 2025 || A Publication of MMR (Mass Market Retailers)
Wendy Liebmann: Pioneering the Future of Retail
NEW YORK — Wendy Liebmann, founder, chief executive officer, and chief shopper at WSL Strategic Retail, is a globally recognized expert in shopper insights and retail strategy. Her consultancy helps companies anticipate and implement change based on a deep understanding of shoppers.
Liebmann’s guiding philosophy is simple yet transformative: If you want to see the future of retail, follow the shopper. “It’s never been more important for executives to get away from their desks and out of their aisles to understand what’s really going on with shoppers,” she says. “Those who don’t do that are doomed to fail.”
Since founding WSL in 1986, she has helped businesses rethink their approach to consumer shopper engagement through data-driven insights. Central to her work is the firm’s signature research initiative, How America Shops. This national survey has tracked shopper behavior and retail trends since 1990, providing a predictive lens into where the market is headed.
Retail executives turn to Liebmann and WSL for a fresh perspective on how shifting consumer behaviors shape the competitive retail landscape — physical or digital. As one leading retailer put it, “Wendy is never afraid to tell us when we are not being bold enough.”
Liebmann regularly shares her views on such platforms as Bloomberg’s Last Call, Fortune, The New York Times and WWD. She also moderates WSL’s Future Shop podcast, where she discusses the ever-changing world of retail with industry leaders. She has been recognized by the National Retail Federation as one of The Influencers Shaping Retail’s Future and serves on advisory boards for institutions like the Fashion Institute of Technology and Cosmetic Executive Women, and she has long been a champion for women in business, including through her work with WE, and with Win (formerly Women in Need).
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In its March issue, MMR recognizes 75 women who are among the best and brightest leaders in the retail industry today. This year, for the first time, we are putting outstanding executives from the supplier community in the spotlight along with their counterparts at retail companies. What all of the leaders profiled in the issue have in common is talent, hard work and a dedication to advancing their businesses by addressing the needs of their immediate customers and the end consumers.
View the full list of MMR’s 2025 Women of Influence, here.