In episode 324 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Sarah Philips, vice president of marketing, and Tim Pitt, former senior vice president of marketing and merchandising, at Rent-A-Center, a rent-to-own industry leader. Philips and Pitt discuss how consumer behavior has shifted among Rent-A-Center customers in the last year-plus, how the business has reacted to those shifts with new offerings, and how a more diverse merchandise selection impacts customer loyalty and cross-category shopping.

In addition, Philips and Pitt share how the company focused marketing messaging around financial accessibility during the pandemic, and how Rent-A-Center handled supply chain headwinds and inventory pressure as consumers' increased time at home resulted in longer product rental times and less product returns. Philips and Pitt discuss the marketing channels Rent-A-Center is utilizing to capture increased market share, some of the growth opportunities the business is targeting in the near future, and the role of its retail stores going forward.

This episode was recorded at CRMC 2021 in Chicago.

Sarah Philips is an advertising and branding professional with extensive experience in retail, media and agency environments. She's a dedicated leader of both internal teams and external partners. Philips is agile to pivot between strategic road map initiatives and jump into the details. She's able to juggle multiple consumer channels and experiences across a company’s portfolio and encourages customer focus, innovative problem solving, efficiency and incremental return.

Tim Pitt is a highly focused marketing and business leader with experience directing growth for well-known brands. He has expertise in aligning brand strategy with transactions through a unique blend of hands-on know-how and strong strategic thinking. Pitt is an energetic leader, strong motivator, noteworthy communicator, and an exceptional innovator with superior business acumen.