Joan Verdon

CONTRIBUTOR

About Joan

Joan Verdon has been covering business and retail news for the past 25 years. She has covered trends in tech, manufacturing, real estate and retail, first for The Record of North Jersey and USA Today, and now for CO—. She is a senior contributor, retail, for Forbes.com. Her passion is reporting on how Americans buy and sell. She has covered the birth of billion-dollar companies and the evolution of 100-year-old brands. Previously, she has been an education, general assignment and investigative reporter for The Grand Rapids Press and Buffalo Courier-Express. She spent a year working on Capitol Hill as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow.

Latest—
GOOD COMPANY » THE LEAP

How Albertsons’ Supermarkets Improved Its Digital Business to Feed the Growing Appetite for Online Shopping

The chief digital officer of one of the country’s largest grocery operators shares lessons learned during the company’s digital transformation.

GOOD COMPANY » THE LEAP

How Online Mattress Pioneer Saatva Plans to Take Its Sales to the Next Level

Saatva set out a decade ago to disrupt the luxury mattress space and became a $400 million-plus company. It now wants to disrupt the luxury mattress store.

GOOD COMPANY » THE LEAP

Shipt Leans Into Personalized Same-Day Delivery Trends

The delivery startup now owned by Target expanded its store reach by 40% and is looking to add local favorites to its roster to serve consumers’ post-pandemic demands.

GOOD COMPANY » LAUNCH PAD

Headspace Health, Talkspace and Noom Target Employee Support Programs to Drive Growth

Pandemic-triggered mental health issues and worker burnout have dramatically increased demand for employer-backed behavioral health programs, said executives from the telehealth startups.

GOOD COMPANY » THE LEAP

5 Licensing Lessons from The Multimillion-Dollar Smiley Company CEO

Nicolas Loufrani, who gave the iconic Smiley Face brand—now feting its 50th anniversary with designer collections in major department stores—a second life, shares insider tips to winning at licensing.

GOOD COMPANY » THE LEAP

Yelp Adds Keyword Boosting Tool to Help Businesses Target Ads

The online review site’s new feature lets restaurants, service providers and other businesses direct their ad dollars at consumers who are the most likely to make a purchase.

GOOD COMPANY » LAUNCH PAD

Retail Tech Innovations Aimed at Pandemic-Changed Shoppers

While big retailers are taking the lead in testing drones, driverless vans and other innovations, the goal of the startups behind the tech is to become essential for businesses of all sizes.

GOOD COMPANY » THE LEAP

How Everyday Humans Went From Startup to 700 Target Stores

The founder of Everyday Humans reveals the critical lessons learned while making the transition to big-box retail.

GOOD COMPANY » LAUNCH PAD

Slow Fashion Trend Creates Opportunities for Entrepreneurs

A movement that started as a backlash to disposable fast fashion has expanded to include made-to-order and made-in-the-U.S. manufacturing.

GOOD COMPANY » LAUNCH PAD

5 Consumer Trends to Know in 2022

The pace of change triggered by the pandemic isn’t slowing down, retail leaders say. Survival depends on knowing what customers want, and reacting quickly.