RETHINK RETAIL
RETHINK Retail explores the evolution of retail in today's connected world, discussing the most recent trends and innovations in commerce.
Episodes
Hackers, Tariffs, and a $9.3 Billion Grocery Fight
Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup, your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce.
This week, Jeremy Goldman is joined by Kimberly Morgan (The Fashion Tech Exec), Zak Stambor (EMARKETER), and Doug Stephens (Retail Prophet) to discuss what’s squeezing traditional grocers, how connected store technology is becoming a security risk, and whet
Real-Time Loyalty: A Conversation with Evan Gaetano, Membership Strategy & Innovation at Sam's Club
Walmart sources produce from 10,000 American farms. Many shoppers who relied on Walmart for cereal and coffee had no idea, and crossed the street to buy fruit and vegetables from grocers they saw as more local.
Evan Gaetano, helped close that gap at Walmart and now works on membership strategy at Sam’s Club.
He joins Lavina Suthenthiran on this week’s Global Lens to discuss how retailers can pro
Retail Media’s $170 Billion Creative Problem
Retail media now draws $170 billion a year, more than TV and CTV combined, and much of that money buys ads few shoppers remember.
Lisa Zielinski (Ipsos) joins Jeremy Goldman on this episode of Media Mondays to unpack Creativity Over Clicks, Ipsos’s study of more than 21,000 simulated shopping trips on Amazon and Walmart, and what it means for brands and retail media networks.
INSIDE THE EPISODE:
Nike, P&G, and TikTok Fight to Keep the Customer
Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup, your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce.
This week, Jeremy Goldman is joined by Andrea K. Leigh (Allume Group) and, for the first time behind the Rethink mic, our own Chris Parsons to discuss how brands and retailers are fighting to keep their customers as loyalty fades and AI changes how people s
Lessons in Global Growth From Crocs and BioSteel
Leverage, local knowledge, and high margins. That's the recipe Andrew Nichols (Warroad Original Hockey Co.) has learned to grow a consumer brand across new channels and countries.
His perspective comes from more than 20 years in consumer brands, starting at Unilever, spending nearly a decade at Crocs in Canada, and growing BioSteel to a sale in 2019.
He joins Lavina Suthenthiran on this week's G
How Adyen Unified SharkNinja's Global Payments
Until 2024, SharkNinja ran its direct-to-consumer business on two separate tech stacks, one for North America and one for Europe. Every new market added more complexity just as the company wanted to grow faster.
So it rebuilt its storefront, order management, and payments on one global foundation, all while getting ready for a new kind of shopper: the AI agent that buys on a customer's behalf.
Retail Media and AI Agents Move at the Speed of Trust
Retail media moves at the speed of its people. Shopper habits, trust between retailers and brands, and comfort with handing work to AI all set the pace more than any piece of technology.
Travis Clinger (LiveRamp) joins Drew Cashmore (Vantage and Chair, MiR) on this episode of Media Mondays to unpack what that means for building a lasting retail media network.
INSIDE THE EPISODE:
SHOPPERS MOV
Amazon vs. Meta: Who Controls the AI Shopper?
Amazon believes in AI shopping agents. It just wants to decide whose agents get through the door.
Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup. This is your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce.
In this special edition, recorded live at Shoptalk Fall, Jeremy Goldman sits down with Christine Russo (What Just Happened Commerce Podcast), Charisma
How to Own the Grocery Customer and Keep Them
In online grocery, the delivery driver is often the only person a customer ever meets from the retailer. Whoever runs that delivery, and whoever holds the order data behind it, holds the relationship and decides whether the customer comes back.
That creates a tension in grocery right now. Retailers rely on delivery platforms to reach more customers, but those platforms want the customer data just
Missed Fiscal Regulations Can Close Your Stores Abroad
A retailer can get everything right in a new country and still be shut down over how it records a sale.
The culprit is fiscalization, the rules for how every transaction gets reported to tax authorities. More than 100 countries have these rules, and no two are the same. Most were written for the cash register and have been patched country by country as retail went digital.
A system that works in
Retail Media's $100B Question: Can You Prove It?
Every number in retail media right now comes from someone grading their own homework. Retailers measure their own campaigns, and platforms measure their own inventory. Lindsay Pullins (Circana) says the fix is independent, standardized measurement that every retailer and platform gets held to, not just their own.
On this episode of our Media in Retail podcast, host Jeremy Goldman sits down with P
Costco Hands Off Delivery as Kroger Bets on AI
Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup. This is your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce.
In this special in-person edition, recorded live at Groceryshop, Jeremy Goldman sits down with Michelle Evans (Euromonitor International), Andrea Leigh (Allume Group), and Virginia Marsh (Fluent) to unpack the biggest grocery stories breaking both
TIARA Sells by Teaching Buyers, Not Pitching
Zuly Matallana's brand has the kind of unpaid advocacy most founders spend years chasing: a Dragon's Den investor who still posts about the product, a Good Morning America feature, a celebrity's on-camera endorsement. None of it replaced the sales work.
Matallana, Founder of TIARA, still sends samples to buyers herself. She still works trade show floors. She still cold-emails retailers with no gu
Retail Media's Investment Gap and How to Close It
A new Rethink Retail series going inside the real strategies, real numbers, and real people building retail media from the ground up.
In our debut episode, host Drew Cashmore, Chair of the Media in Retail Community, sits down with Austin Leonard, Vice President and General Manager of DG Media Network, to break down what it actually takes to build a retail media network and where this industry sti
AI's Existential Risk Debate Hits Retail's Radar
Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup. This is your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce.
In this week's episode, Jeremy Goldman sits down with Petr Lízner (Rohlik Group), Aidan Mittra (OrderGrid), and David Polinchock (Unified Brand Experience Lab) to unpack AI's growing safety debate, what it means to own the customer relationship as a
When Tariffs Hit, Calgary Co-op Doubled Down on Local
$27.6 billion in American goods now enters Canada facing a new tariff, 15%, 25%, or 50% depending on the product, as part of Canada's counter-tariffs on US goods. Dairy, general merchandise, and health and beauty are all caught in it, while Alberta's "Buy Alberta" campaign is pushing grocers to make Canadian products impossible to miss on the shelf
For most retailers, that's a scramble. For Calga
How Seamless Tech Powers Human Connection
Retail technology has automated the back office for years, but the store floor has lagged, still running on manual gap scans and disconnected systems that pull associates away from the guest.
Jerome Rose, SVP Strategic Sales at Vusion, and Mathew Toussaint, Vice President of Operational Processes & Labor, Guest Experience & Labor at The Fresh Market, join Jeremy Goldman to unpack how connected st
Tariffs Hit Canada as AI Reshapes Product Discovery
Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup. This is your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce.
In this week's episode, Jeremy Goldman sits down with Kimberly Morgan (CEO & Founder, The Fashion Tech Exec) and Ricardo Belmar (Founder, Retail Razor) to unpack the trade pressures, AI shifts, and brand loyalty questions reshaping retail this week.
China's Unichannel Model, Latin America's Opportunity
Unichannel isn't the next phase of omnichannel. It proves that omnichannel was never the finish line.
In this episode of the Global Lens podcast series, host Lavina Suthenthiran speaks with Michael Zakkour, Founder & Chief Strategist of 5 New Digital, about the unichannel model he pioneered in China, retail's next growth market, and what makes a merger actually work.
INSIDE THE EPISODE:
- Omnic
The Scale Playbook: How Sonic Turned Different Into $2B
Scaling a brand and protecting what makes it distinct aren't the same goal, and knowing the difference separates lasting growth from quiet erosion.
For 23 years as CEO of Sonic Corp, Clifford Hudson guided the drive-in chain through decades of growth and helped engineer one of the quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry's most successful digital reinventions.
Now co-author of Bricks and Clicks:
Amazon Doubled Apparel Share. Shein's IPO Fell
Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup. This is your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce.
In this week’s episode, Jeremy Goldman sits down with Sky Canaves (Principal Analyst, EMARKETER), James Tenser (Storyteller-in-Chief, CPGMatters), and Lavina Suthenthiran (Senior Retail Analyst, RETHINK Retail) to discuss a shaky IPO, a widening app
Why Brand Loyalty Is Retail's Best AI Defense
Global retail leaders are adjusting their strategic playbooks as practical AI integration, localized omnichannel operations, and customer retention redefine competitive growth across worldwide markets.
On this special edition of Global Lens, Jill Dvorak (NRF) and Annabelle Serres (NRF Europe) sit down with host and Senior Retail Analyst Lavina Suthenthiran to unpack how overarching industry strat
The 30 Seconds at Checkout That Make or Break Loyalty
Retailers spend fortunes perfecting the store, then hand the whole experience over to 30 seconds at the counter.
In our latest episode, Senior Retail Analyst Lavina Suthenthiran sits down with Jessie Cole, Director of Strategic Planning at Effy Jewelry, and Sandra Ishak, Head of Marketing, Americas at Ingenico, to break down why the physical checkout moment carries as much weight as the first imp
FTC Cracks Down on Pricing as Amazon Bets $530M on Delivery
Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup. This is your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce.
In this week's episode, Jeremy Goldman sits down with David Polinchock (Brand Experience Lab) and Drew Cashmore (Vantage & Chair of MiR) to mark nine years since Amazon's Whole Foods acquisition, unpack the FTC's new scrutiny of personalised pricing
When Creative Becomes Software: Walmart Connect Product Leader Nishanth Kadiyala on Scaling AI
Global retail media expansion hinges on balancing localized AI-generated creative with brand integrity.
In this episode of the Global Lens podcast series, host Lavina Suthenthiran speaks with Nishanth Kadiyala (Walmart Connect) about how Walmart built an automated creative generation system handling nearly $1 billion in ad spend and how to scale generative AI across international borders.
INSIDE
Uscreen & BBM: Transforming Video into Community
Building a loyal audience takes far more than just posting on social media and relying on fickle algorithms. As creators and brands look for reliable growth, the real challenge is scaling reach without losing the direct, human connections that turn casual followers into long-term subscribers.
Jeremy Goldman sits down with Allison Yazdian, CEO of Uscreen, and Briana Christine, Founder of BBM Healt
David’s Bridal, Brooks Running, and Does Sustainability Matter?
Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup. This is your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce.
In this week’s episode, Jeremy Goldman sits down with industry experts Charisma Glassman (Genpact), Ricardo Belmar (Retail Razor Podcast Network), and David Polinchock (Brand Experience Lab) to examine Prime Day's impact on July sales, the boom in h
Global Lens: What Nike & Under Armour Got Wrong in China
Scaling an international brand isn't about flooding new markets with identical stores. It is about knowing exactly what to protect in your brand's DNA and what to rewrite on the ground.
In this week's episode of our Global Lens podcast, Senior Retail Analyst Lavina Suthenthiran sits down with global growth advisor Renee Hartmann (who has advised brands such as Armani, YSL, and Fendi) to explain w
eTail Recap: AI Returns, $95 Loyalty & GLP-1 Trends
In this special mashup episode of the RETHINK Retail Podcast, host Jeremy Goldman sits down with leaders from New York & Company, Elizée, Ross-Simons, and Paradise Naturals USA live from eTail Boston
We dig into the exact tactics driving retail performance today: turning product returns into upsells, replacing point systems with paid VIP perks, and adapting product lines for GLP-1 users.
INSIDE
Tariff Gold Rush, Kroger AI & Hot Topic's Buyout
Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup. This is your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce.
In this week’s episode, Jeremy Goldman sits down with industry experts Zak Stambor (EMARKETER) and Martin Bailie (MWB Advisory Limited) to examine the shifts redefining commerce.
Together, they analyze shifting consumer spending, the evolution of a
Vuori’s Blueprint for International Brand Growth
Scaling globally without losing the core identity and product quality that built early brand loyalty remains one of retail's hardest execution challenges.
In this episode of the Global Lens podcast series, host Lavina Suthenthiran speaks with Ashley Kechter, Global President of Vuori, about the mechanics of international expansion and how brands can scale globally while protecting their core DNA.
Scaling Assisted Wellness: Building Member Loyalty
Standing out in the $2.1T wellness market takes more than running social ads. As people seek real solutions for chronic pain and mobility, growing brands have to figure out how to scale nationally without losing the personal, in-person connection that keeps clients coming back.
Jeremy Goldman sits down with Lindsey McFadden, CMO of Stretch Zone, to talk about how the assisted-stretching pioneer b
Grocery, Surveillance Pricing & Should Brands Go Public?
Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup—your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce.
In this week’s episode, Jeremy Goldman sits down with industry experts David Polinchock (Co-Founder & President at Unified Brand Experience Lab) and Aidan Mittra (Co-Founder at OrderGrid) to examine the operational and regulatory forces redefining the indust
Beyond Translation: Standardize Globally, Adapt Locally
The platforms change, but retail’s core rules stay the same. Whether you're entering new international markets or integrating AI into fulfillment, lasting growth comes down to standardizing global foundations while unlearning local habits.
On this episode of Global Lens, Senior Retail Analyst Lavina Suthenthiran joins Jim Fielding (former CEO of Claire’s and former President at Disney Stores Worl
Beyond the Search Bar: AI Agents in Retail
AI is changing what search means in e-commerce. Shoppers are no longer just typing keywords and scanning static results. Conversational agents are shaping discovery, addressing objections, and guiding purchases like digital salespeople. Brands must look beyond traditional SEO and design for both human shoppers and AI-driven journeys.
Jeremy Goldman sits down with Sean Whitehead, VP of Digital Pro
Retail Roundup: Luxury Split, TikTok Shop & Heritage
Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup—your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce.
In this week’s episode, Jeremy Goldman sits down with industry experts Charisma Glassman (Genpact) and RETHINK Retail's very own Tanya Thorson to examine the shifts redefining commerce.
Together, they analyze shifting consumer spending, the evolution of soc
Why Global Demand Is Outpacing Operations
“The hard part isn’t going global. It’s staying operational once you’re there.”
Senior Retail Analyst Lavina Suthenthiran unpacks the newest Global Lens report in a new podcast series exploring the forces reshaping global retail. Over the coming weeks, she dives deeper into the data, case studies, and market dynamics behind one central conclusion: cross-border growth has shifted from a demand pro
Retail Roundup: Retail’s End to Safe Plays
Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup—your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce.
In this week’s episode, Jeremy sits down with Martin Bailie (MWB Advisory) and Kimberly Morgan (The Fashion Tech Exec) to break down how three major retail moves signal a definitive shift away from safe, superficial trends toward bold execution.
INSIDE THE
The Omnichannel Execution Gap
Most retailers have the tools, platforms, and channels. The problem? They don’t talk to each other. Simply offering apps, delivery, and pickup options is no longer enough—the real challenge is connecting those systems seamlessly underneath the surface.
In an upcoming report, Jeremy Goldman (VP of Editorial and Insights) outlines this exact issue: the omnichannel execution gap. Ahead of the releas
Retail Roundup: From Reaction to Retail Restructure
Welcome to another addition of Retail Roundup.
Your weekly brief to help retail leaders decode the biggest news in retail, AI, and commerce—and understand what those developments mean in practice.
In this week's episode, VP of Editorial & Insights Jeremy Goldman joins Zak Stambor (EMARKETER) and Richard Kestenbaum (Triangle Capital LLC) to highlight how retail giants are shifting from reaction t
Instacart’s Connected Store Strategy
Instacart is shifting from a basic delivery app to a complete digital operating system that runs grocery stores from top to bottom.
Ryan Hamburger, Chief Commercial Officer at Instacart sat down with Yael Kochman, Chair of AiR, to break down how the platform is bundling hardware, software, and AI tools that help grocers manage everything from smart shopping carts to automated inventory tracking.
Retail Roundup: AI, Leadership & Retail Media
Welcome to the Retail Roundup.
Your weekly brief to help retail leaders decode the biggest news in retail, AI, and commerce—and understand what those developments mean in practice.
To kick us off, VP of Editorial & Insights Jeremy Goldman, CEO Marie Chevrier Schwartz, and Senior Retail Analyst Lavina Suthenthiran break down a massive structural shift: the transition from tech experimentation to
Moving Retail Tech Beyond the Pilot Phase
Retailers rarely manage to scale new storefront technology beyond a basic pilot phase.
Demo modes simulate perfect conditions, but they completely ignore the chaotic reality of a live store. This operational gap kills widespread rollouts.
Mark Propes, Chief Business Development Officer at Vusion, and Hitha Herzog, Chief Retail Analyst at H Squared Research, join Jeremy Goldman to pinpoint exactl
Next Phase of Retail AI: Agents & Infrastructure
AI is becoming embedded in retail operations, shifting the conversation from experimentation to scalable, sustainable execution.
At Shoptalk Europe, Azita Martin (VP & GM of Retail, CPG & QSR AI at NVIDIA) joined Yael Kochman, Chair, AiR (AI in Retail) to explore what leadership looks like in this next phase. The discussion focuses on how leading organizations are approaching ownership, cost, and
Media in Retail: Why Community Matters
Welcome to Media in Retail
Today, RETHINK Retail officially launched Media in Retail (MiR), a new community built for the people shaping the future of retail media.
To mark the launch, Community Chair Drew Cashmore joins Jeremy Goldman to discuss why the industry needs a dedicated space for connection, collaboration, and candid conversation.
WHY MIR EXISTS:
- Retail media has grown quickly, bu
Cracking the E-Grocery Code of Same-Day Delivery
Most grocers can launch same-day delivery. The real challenge is building a model that keeps customers happy while still protecting margins at scale.
In this RETHINK Retail Podcast episode recorded at Shoptalk Europe, Top Retail Expert Sharon Yourell sat down with Rohlik Group leaders to break down how they built a profitable in-house same-day delivery operation across five markets.
The conversa
How Retail Innovation Is Shaping Grocery Operations in 2026
On this special crossover episode between RETHINK Retail and Retail Razor, guest host Ricardo Belmar — founder of the Retail Razor podcast network — sits down with Aidan Mittra, Co-founder of OrderGrid, to explore how retail innovation is reshaping grocery operations, tackling margin constraints, and leveraging data to unlock the massive opportunities presented by AI and retail media networks.
Ke
How to Win with RFID: Master the Intelligent Store
The Intelligent Store: Revolutionizing Fashion with RFID
Real-time item visibility is the ultimate cornerstone of modern customer service. Drew Ehlers from Zebra and Matt Redwood of Diebold Nixdorf sit down with Top Retail Expert Marshall Kay to unpack the massive scale of RFID adoption.
Inside the Episode:
- Eliminating Audits: Moving to 99 percent stock accuracy to end painful annual manual c
The Retail Shift: From AI to Lived Experience
In an era of AI-driven information overload, consumers are moving away from pure search queries and toward trusted, human-centered proof.
“People want answers that are grounded in human experience.”
David Trencher, Managing Director of Reddit (UK & EMEA), sat down with Lavina Suthenthiran to break down how consumer trust is actively shifting away from polished brand messaging and moving toward p
Preserving Human Ownership: The Key to Measurable AI Success in Retail
As retailers scale AI across their operations, a clear picture is emerging of exactly where automation elevates the business and consumer experience, and where it creates friction.
For Eyebuydirect, success came by optimizing technology to enhance human ownership and streamline pain points throughout the buyer's journey.
In this episode, Eyebuydirect CEO and President Sunny Jiang sits down with
AI in Retail: Operational Enabler, Not a Strategy
While agentic AI is reshaping operations, retail still runs on its core fundamentals: great products, strong brand identity, exceptional service, and operational excellence.
In this week's episode of Retail Therapy, Top Retail Experts Ricardo Belmar, Brandon Rael, and Marie Driscoll break down why AI matters most as an operational enabler, not a creator of customer demand.
“Keep the focus on the
AI Is Changing How We Shop. Are Retailers Ready?
“Ultimately, it's the people that determine the success or the failure of technology, not the technology itself.”
The latest report by Arktic Fox and Six Degrees dives deep into why brands and retailers will only win in retail media, personalization, and AI if they pair rising investment with stronger data foundations and better product content.
Teresa Sperti, Director at Arktic Fox, sits down w
Beekman 1802: Beating Content Slop with Creative AI
In an already competitive market, Beekman 1802 is maintaining steady growth through human connection and is using AI to do it.
David Baker, Chief Revenue Officer at Beekman 1802, sits down with Jeremy Goldman to discuss how his team is cutting through industry traffic and content using human creativity and emotional brand building.
"AI is not coming for our jobs. People who know how to use AI wi
Build for Omnichannel Success: Partnerships, AI, & Clean Data
As the path to purchase continues to splinter over multiplying channels, brands need to be everywhere their customers are.
Suzy Davidkhanian, Vice President of Retail Insights at eMarketer, sits down with Jeremy Goldman to discuss why long-term retail success depends on a multichannel model and durable partnerships, despite the rise of generative AI.
Inside the Episode:
- The Omnichannel Busine
The Chatbot Hangover Is Over: The Future of Retail Customer Service
Are basic chatbots hurting your customer experience?
In this episode of the RETHINK Retail Podcast, guest host Christine Russo sits down with Antanas Bakšys, CEO and Co-Founder of Ace Waves, to discuss the massive transformation happening in retail CX.
Antanas shares insights from his 15 years in ecommerce, explaining how retail customer support is shifting from rigid software into an elite auto
Shoptalk Europe 2026: Moving from AI Theory to Execution
As retail leaders prepare for Shoptalk Europe 2026, the conversation is no longer centered on what AI could do. It’s shifting toward what AI in retail is already doing, where it is creating measurable value, and what it takes to move from pilots to profit.
In this episode of the RETHINK Retail Podcast, Jeremy Goldman, VP of Insights at RETHINK Retail, sits down with Joe Laszlo, Head of Content at
Insights from eTail Toronto 2026 (Part 2)
The conversation continues! In the conclusion of our special two-part coverage from eTail Toronto 2026, host Jeremy Goldman sits down with four more industry experts to explore the shifting dynamics of modern retail and what it takes to stay ahead in an increasingly automated landscape.
Featured in this episode:
- Janet Ihm (Vice President, Channel Strategy & Digital Experience, Ontario Cannabis
Beyond Viral Trends: Stanley 1913’s Strategy for Lasting Relevancy
Stanley 1913 has moved far beyond a single blockbuster product.
Graham Nearn, Chief Product and Sustainability Officer, PMI WW Brands, LLC (Stanley 1913), sits down with Jeremy Goldman to discuss how a brand with a century of history stays absolutely relevant in a trend-driven market.
Inside the Episode:
- The Credibility Ladder: Why every expansion must pass the four filters of quality, origin
Store to Door: Making E-commerce Operationally Viable
Retailers have spent 25 years trying to make in-store picking profitable. Most are still struggling because fulfillment is managed as an afterthought.
In this episode, Top Retail Expert Vinny O'Brien sits down with Xavier Pym, Partnerships Development Manager at Vusion and Kristofer Browall, Head of Solution Sales at StrongPoint, to bridge the gap between digital strategy and operational reality.
B2B AI Secrets: How RS Group and Rezolve Ai Scale
B2B commerce is built on a foundation of extreme complexity. When a part fails in a 100 million dollar machine, the customer needs a solution, not just a search result.
Carl Holt, Director of Digital Product and Transformation at RS Group plc, sits down with Howe Gu, Group SVP, Customers and Partners at Rezolve AI, and Evan Burgess, Global Sales Director at Rezolve AI.
They discuss the leap from
Insights from eTail Toronto 2026 (Part 1)
We’re live from the floor of eTail Toronto 2026! In the first half of our special two-part coverage, we’re digging past the buzzwords to find out what is actually driving retail innovation in 2026.
Host Jeremy Goldman sits down with three industry leaders to discuss everything from boardroom AI mandates to the digital rebellion of the next generation of consumers.
Featured in this episode:
- Da
How Australian Retailers Are Rethinking Store Systems
Automation and Openness: Lessons from the Australian Frontline
Australia has a 20-year head start on the self-service revolution. Kristie Longhurst from Diebold Nixdorf and Top Retail Expert Nick Harbaugh discuss why automation is the only viable answer to the global labor crisis and rising operational costs.
Inside the Episode:
- The Demographic Surprise: Why the elderly are embracing self-che
Precision as the New Competitive Advantage: Inside the Next Frontier of Grocery Operations
Shrinking margins, labor shortages, and the complexity of omni-channel fulfillment are putting unprecedented pressure on grocery and convenience retailers. On the latest RETHINK Retail Podcast, recorded live at EuroShop, Renee Hartmann, Top Retail Expert, sits down with Zsuzsa Hordai of SPAR International and Aidan Mittra of OrderGrid to unpack these operational pressures, and what they demand fro
Agentic AI: The Realization Phase of Retail Commerce
Beyond Vanilla AI: The Era of Agentic Commerce
The retail industry has moved past experimentation. We are now in the realization phase where AI agents deliver frictionless, store-like expertise to digital channels.
Vic Miles from Microsoft and Crispin Lowery of Rezolve AI join Jeremy Goldman to discuss why the early adopter advantage is now a requirement for brand survival.
Key Discussion Point
Crate & Barrel: Store Design for Digital Shoppers
Store design used to be about defining a set path for the customer. Today, it is about providing a flexible canvas.
Crate and Barrel's VP of Store Design, Nicholas Effler joins Top Retail Expert Cynthia Ortiz to discuss how Crate & Barrel balances historic architecture with the high-tech expectations of the modern shopper.
Inside the Episode:
- Digital Echoes: How the pace of app-scrolling tra
Digital Joy: Hershey’s Strategy for Retail Design
Retail design is at a crossroads. As customer expectations rise, physical stores must offer more than just products: they must deliver animation, meaning, and connection.
Steve Calhoun and Andy Hunt, from The Hershey Company, join Top Retail Expert Elisa Servais to discuss how Hershey’s uses technology to amplify nostalgia and joy without overstimulating the shopper.
Inside the Episode:
- The D
The Future of Food and Grocery: Trends, Technology & Global Best Practices
On the latest RETHINK Retail Podcast, host Toby Pickard of the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) sits down with Aidan Mittra, Co-founder of OrderGrid.
They explore how real-time inventory technology is transforming store efficiency, supply chain management, and the future of grocery retail.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Location and expiry awareness is now essential: Retailers need to know exactly whe
Patagonia’s Purpose: Angela Clark on Digital Strategy
Traditional retail is designed to drive the next transaction, but Patagonia is built to drive a movement.
Angela Clark, VP of Digital at Patagonia, joins Marie Schwartz to discuss leading a digital organization where activism is a primary KPI and short-term conversion is never the goal.
Activism as a Metric: Why Patagonia treats a local cleanup sign-up with the same weight as a high-value produc
How Bealls Inc. Builds Trust in Autonomous Agents to Transform Planning Operations
The real bottleneck in retail planning isn't a lack of data; it's the time lost reconciling it. When planners spend the first half of their week manually pulling reports, they aren't strategizing—they're just catching up.
The tension for 2026 is moving past "Black Box" AI that demands blind faith to Agentic AI that provides actionable transparency.
Karen Beebe, CTO of Bealls, Inc., details how a
Scaling Luxury: The Elizée Digital Playbook
Emerging brands cannot outspend the giants. They have to out-think them.
Avani Oswal, Head of Digital at Elizée, joins Marie Schwartz to share how they build trust for a high-price product in a market dominated by legacy names.
THE HIGH-LEVEL INSIGHTS:
- The Margin Trap: Why focusing on contribution margin is the only way to build a sustainable luxury business.
- The Discovery Layer: Moving be
Loyalty and DTC Basics: Jennifer Peters on OLLY
Innovation is often confused with complexity. In this episode, Jennifer Peters, Director of DTC and Martech at OLLY, argues that the most successful brands in 2026 are the ones that execute the fundamentals with relentless consistency.
They move past the hype of custom builds to focus on what actually moves the needle for a modern wellness brand.
WHY YOU SHOULD LISTEN:
- The Headless Trap: Why
Micro-Arbitrage: The New Retail Media Strategy
The long waves of efficiency are over. If your brand waits 18 months to pivot, you have already lost the margin.
Jason O'Toole, Head of Connected Commerce & Media at Gildan, and guest host Spencer Lian-Thornton, VP Growth & Partnership of Mindgruve, discuss why the "Fail Fast" culture is now a requirement for survival.
INSIDE THE EPISODE:
- The ROAS Trap: Why high returns often hide cannibaliza
Navigating AI and Strategic Partnerships in Grocery
On the latest RETHINK Retail Podcast, host Fritz Finlay sits down with Jeannie Scarlet Freis-Terry of Albertsons and Aidan Mittra, Co-founder of OrderGrid, to discuss how grocers can modernize their technology stack.
They explore building lasting vendor relationships and laying the operational foundation for an AI-driven future in the grocery sector.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Great partnerships solve bi
Building on Solid Ground: Dataiku on Why Retail AI Is About to Have Its Reckoning
The era of curiosity is over. Retailers are finding that moving from a flashy demo to a trusted, scalable production environment is much harder than a slide deck makes it look.
In this episode, op Retail Expert & AI Leader, Charisma Glassman sits down with Mark Abramowitz, CMO of Dataiku, to discuss how leaders can hit their performance targets before the 2026 budget reckoning.
WHY YOU SHOULD LI
The Future of Grocery Retail: Consumer Behavior, AI, and the Case for Better Operations
Consumer habits are shifting fast, and the pressure on grocery retailers to keep up has never been greater.
On the latest RETHINK Retail Podcast, R.J. Hottovy of Placer.ai and Aidan Mittra, Co-founder of OrderGrid, discuss the state of the industry and how retailers can adapt to modern demands.
THE KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Shoppers are more fluid than ever: Consumers are moving freely across in-store,
Visibility to Action: Tom Meehan on RFID Strategy
Here is the Spotify-optimized version for the Inventory Truth episode with Ted McCaffrey and Tom Meehan. I’ve focused on making those "Core Perspectives" pop so listeners can quickly see the technical value of the conversation.
The Optimized Spotify Version
Copy and paste this text directly:
DESCRIPTION
Retail transformation fails in the gap between corporate data and the sales floor. In this e
Selling Without Sales: Ankur Goyal on Growth Strategy
Most growth leaders spend their lives chasing the promotional calendar. Ankur Goyal spent his time building a brand that didn't need one.
In this episode, Marie Schwartz sits down with Ankur Goyal, the man who helped lead Coterie to a major acquisition. They move past the standard "growth hacks" to reveal the discipline required for true innovation.
THE GROWTH BLUEPRINT:
📊 The Data Foundation:
From Chore to Ritual: How quip Uses Agility to Disrupt Oral Wellness
The era of "testing" AI is over. For retail leaders, the tension has shifted from theoretical potential to a mandatory operational overhaul. If you aren't actioning data within 24 hours, you’re already behind.
Recorded at Shoptalk, quip CEO Meredith Glansberg joins Kimberly Morgan, a Top AI Leader, to dismantle the hype surrounding retail tech. Glansberg argues that AI isn't a "point solution"—it
Scaling Community: Sarah Grosz on the Allbirds Blueprint
Most brands treat influencers as a side project. At Allbirds, it is a unified revenue engine.
Sarah Grosz joins Marie Chevrier Schwartz to discuss moving the brand beyond ad-hoc product seeding to a 3,000-plus member network that drives predictable ROI.
THE CORE STRATEGY:
🛑 The Problem: The Ad Plateau: Traditional paid channels hit diminishing returns as spend increases. An influencer ecosystem
Why Most Companies Lose Their Edge as They Scale
Most organizations break the same way: they get bigger, slower, and more rigid.
Ujjwal Dhoot of Tractor Supply Company argues for the opposite approach: if you want to scale, you have to build like water—not like a box.
ADAPTABILITY OVER RIGIDITY:
💧 Build Like Water: Scaling doesn’t mean chaos; it means fluidity. The best teams know when to standardize—and when to flex.
🏗️ Structure Without Co
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