Michael Klein

Michael Klein

Michael Klein is the Head of Retail, Travel & Hospitality Product Marketing for Talkdesk, a leader in Contact Center Software. Michael is a trusted executive advisor to enterprise brands and was named a 2025 Top Retail Expert by Rethink Retail for the second consecutive year. As a global business leader with deep expertise in the technology and consumer industries, he is known for authenticity and getting to the heart of the matter. He has a wealth of experience in marketing, merchandising, technology, customer experience, Ecommerce, and digital transformation. Prior to Talkdesk, Michael was the Global Director of Industry Strategy & Marketing for the Adobe Digital Experience Cloud, where he led the GTM strategy targeting retail, travel, and consumer goods clients. Michael’s retail expertise is vast. He was a senior merchant and marketer for specialty brands including William-Sonoma, Harry & David, Discovery Channel Stores, eLuxury.com (LVMH Group), Dean & DeLuca, and wine.com where he consistently delivered positive comp store sales and margin growth for these specialty retailers. As a thought leader in global commerce Michael regularly contributes to industry events. He is an active member of the NRF Digital Council and the Retail Cloud Alliance Advisory Council. Michael also sits on the board of Visional, a video commerce platform and AndesML, a retail media platform.
Shoppers Are Leaning Into AI: Here’s How Retailers Can Do the Same

Shoppers are used to opening their wallets during Black Friday, Amazon Prime Day, and the annual or semi-annual sales they’ve come to know. However, amid looming tariffs and ongoing economic uncertainty, shoppers are making changes to their usual patterns. In fact, 83 percent expect to adjust their shopping habits due to tariffs, according to a…

Driven by AI: The Evolving Roles of Frontline Retail Workers

Artificial intelligence (AI) is undeniably transforming the retail industry, streamlining operations and redefining the future of work. However, much of the conversation to date has centered on AI’s impact on supply chain logistics, marketing optimization, technology infrastructure and contact experience systems. One crucial segment, though, has remained largely absent from this discourse: frontline retail workers.…

Conversational Commerce for Better Customer Experience

Since Amazon Echo’s 2014 launch, conversational commerce has been a hot topic of conversation in retail (pun intended). The biggest question: How can conversational commerce improve shopping experiences? For the last decade, the answer seemed to be it doesn’t. Consumers struggled to leverage these tools to shop, unless they were reordering a previous purchase. Conversational…

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