In this episode, hosts Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden sit down with Andy Laudato, COO of *The Vitamin Shoppe* and author of _Fostering Innovation,_ to talk about the skill every retail leader needs but few master: *scaling innovation.*
Andy shares his real-world playbook for scaling innovation across stores, systems, and teams, starting with a simple definition: innovation is doing something unique and different to serve the customer, not chasing AI headlines to look cutting-edge. That distinction matters to retail leaders everywhere, because it shapes everything else in this conversation, from building the operational foundation that has to exist before any team tries to scale innovation, to creating the psychological safety that lets teams learn from failed pilots instead of burying them.
We get into the real numbers behind scaling innovation in retail: what happens when a $20K pilot needs to become a $20 million rollout, and why the technical and compliance considerations you can skip in a pilot (security, accessibility, closed captioning) become non-negotiable the moment you scale. Andy also makes the case for “off-Broadway” testing, proving new ideas in lower-volume stores before bringing them to the flagship, a strategy every retail leader can borrow, and walks us through The Vitamin Shoppe’s own vibe-coded, AI-powered customer touchscreen as a real example of composable commerce done right and innovation theater avoided.
If you’re a retail leader who wants a practical framework for scaling innovation instead of just chasing trends, this episode is for you.
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*The Retail Razor: Blade to Greatness S2E10*
*Released on July 3, 2026*
📡 *Blade to Greatness* is part of the *Retail Razor Podcast Network,* also home to *The Retail Razor Show, Retail Transformers,* and *Data Blades.*
📘 *Guest Info*
*Andy Laudato,* https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewlaudato/
*COO, The Vitamin Shoppe,* https://www.vitaminshoppe.com
Author, *Fostering Innovation,* available at Amazon: https://a.co/d/d7JxrfJ
*Chapters*
00:00 Preview
00:50 Show Intro
03:28 Welcome Back Andy Laudato
03:56 What Innovation Means
05:43 Foundation and Safety
06:54 Learning From Failure
08:13 Innovation for Everyone
09:20 Vibe Coding Prototype
10:40 Scaling Beyond Pilots
11:07 Cost and Tech Readiness
14:02 Off Broadway Testing
16:06 Avoiding Innovation Theater
18:05 Show Close
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