When people see my current work in digital strategy, automation, and performance marketing, they often assume I always worked in the online world. But the truth is that my foundation was built in retail. My early years at Hudson’s Bay Company shaped how I think about customers, branding, and the emotional side of marketing. Those lessons stay with me today, even as the industry moves deeper into data, personalization, and advanced automation.
Retail has changed a lot over the past decade, but many of the core ideas remain the same. When I worked at HBC from 2014 to 2017, the company was already navigating the shift from traditional retail to a more digital and omnichannel approach. Being part of that transition showed me how much customers value connection and consistency, no matter where they shop. Those lessons guide almost every strategy I build today.
Understanding the Customer Starts on the Sales Floor
One of the first lessons I learned at HBC was that real customer insight comes from listening. Retail stores are full of small moments that reveal what people want and how they make decisions. Even though I worked on digital campaigns and social media, I still walked the sales floor to observe and ask questions. Watching customers react to displays, checking what products they touched first, and hearing their conversations taught me more than any report could.
Today, I rely on data and automation tools, but the heart of personalization is understanding human behavior. A click on a product page is not that different from someone picking up an item in-store. A long scroll through a lookbook is similar to browsing a display table. When I look at digital behavior now, I try to connect it back to those real-life moments. It helps me build campaigns that feel natural and customer-centered.
The Power of Seasonal Campaigns
Retail runs on seasons. Holiday, back-to-school, spring refresh, summer clearance. Each season tells a story, and customers expect brands to guide them through it. At HBC, I spent countless hours helping with seasonal campaign rollouts. I helped prepare content for promotional events, assisted with email and social assets, and analyzed what messaging worked best during each cycle.
Seasonal planning taught me the importance of timing and relevancy. Not every message works at every moment. Customers are more likely to engage when the content aligns with what they need right now. In digital marketing today, this translates to lifecycle journeys and triggered emails. Whether I am building campaigns at Shopify or consulting on broader content strategies, timing is still one of the strongest levers for engagement. Retail trained me to think about the rhythm of the customer’s year, not just the goals of the business.
Learning the Art of Storytelling Through Products
Retail marketing is about more than selling something. It is about helping customers imagine how the product fits into their lives. At HBC, I worked on content for everything from fashion to home decor to luxury pieces in The Room. Each category required a different voice and approach. A luxury handbag needed emotional storytelling. A set of cookware needed practicality and inspiration. A winter jacket needed trust and reassurance.
This flexibility taught me how to adapt tone quickly. It taught me that every product has its own narrative, and that narrative becomes the anchor of any campaign. Today, when I work on content strategies or SEO planning, I still start by asking the same basic questions. What problem does this product solve? How does the customer want to feel when they use it? What story brings that emotion to life? Those early storytelling exercises still shape how I approach brand messaging across every channel.
Influencers Before Influencers Were Mainstream
One of my favorite memories from HBC was helping with early influencer collaborations. At the time, influencer marketing was still new. We were experimenting with Canadian personalities like Jillian Harris and exploring what authentic partnerships could look like. There were no established rules, and brands did not have long playbooks the way they do today.
This experience gave me a front-row seat to the power of community and social proof. When customers saw a real person use or style a product, they connected with it differently. Today, influencer marketing is a major part of my work, whether it is running creator collaborations, user-generated content contests, or social-first campaigns. I still use the same principles I learned at HBC. Choose the right partners. Prioritize authenticity. Let the creator’s voice shine. The platforms have changed, but the strategy has not.
Why Retail Roots Still Matter in the Digital World
Looking back, my time at Hudson’s Bay Company was one of the most valuable parts of my career. It taught me how to combine creativity with strategy. It taught me to respect the customer journey, whether online or in-store. And it taught me that marketing works best when it is anchored in real human behavior.
Today, when I build automated email series, design performance marketing funnels, or guide content planning, I am really applying retail lessons at scale. The tools are more advanced, the channels have expanded, and the analytics are more sophisticated. But the mindset is exactly the same. Customers want to feel understood. They want clarity. They want inspiration. And they want brands to meet them with the right message at the right time.
Retail showed me the heart of marketing. Digital gave me the tools to amplify it. Together, they shape the way I approach every campaign, every strategy, and every customer journey.