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Retail Disrupted

Natalie Berg

Learn from the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail.

Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg, Retail Disrupted® is a weekly podcast exploring the biggest trends in retail, e-commerce, and consumer behavior. Join us as we dive into the future of shopping — from AI-powered experiences and omnichannel strategy to reimagined stores, sustainability, social commerce, and more.

We explore how technology is reshaping retail, how shopping habits will evolve in the future, and what brands need to do to stay relevant in this digital era. Each episode offers practical insights, sharp analysis, and big-picture thinking to help you navigate the evolving retail sector with confidence.

Based in London, designed for a global audience.

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#141
July 30 · 18 min
Kingfisher's Group Digital Director: AI Is Bigger Disruption Than E-Commerce & Mobile
AI is a bigger wave of disruption than e-commerce or mobile because it isn't just changing how consumers behave; it's fundamentally changing how businesses operate. Romain Roulleau, Group Digital & E-Commerce Director, Kingfisher, joins Natalie Berg to unpack how Kingfisher — the £13 billion home improvement giant behind B&Q, Screwfix, Castorama, and Brico Depot — is at the forefront of this next retail transformation. In this episode, Romain reveals how Kingfisher's marketplace now drives 50% of e-commerce GMV, why they're betting on AI-powered conversational commerce with Google Cloud's Vertex AI, and what "agentic commerce" means for the future of retail. Romain also unpacks the store-centric marketplace model that's become a differentiator against pure players — including click-and-collect and in-store returns for third-party products — and explains why 78% of Kingfisher's business still happens in physical stores, making expert advice the next frontier for AI. If you're a retail leader navigating the shift from omnichannel to AI-powered commerce, this is your briefing. 🤝 This episode is brought to you by Manhattan Associates and was recorded in Barcelona at Shoptalk Europe. https://www.manh.com/ ABOUT OUR GUEST As Group Digital & E-Commerce Director at Kingfisher, Romain is responsible for leading all marketplace, retail media, e-commerce and innovation activity within the Group and its banner brands. Prior to his current role, Romain spent five years as Chief Marketing, Digital & Customer Officer at Castorama, one of the leading home improvement retailers in France, driving the brand's digital strategy and e-commerce growth. He has also previously held a number of senior digital and e-commerce roles within the travel industry globally, over the course of more than a decade, including as SVP, Digital & E-Commerce at AccorHotels, one of the world's largest hotel groups. ABOUT THE PODCAST 🎙️ Retail Disrupted is a Top 5% Global Podcast with the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail. Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg. 👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/retail-disrupted/id1676107321 👉 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5H0TALn63ov2VAIJPNi3FM 👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/ 👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com
#140
July 28 · 31 min
The Trust Crash: Why Consumers Don't Believe Brands Anymore
Your brand believes it's trusted. Your customers disagree. Dr Amna Khan is a renowned retail and consumer behaviour expert with a PhD in trust development from Alliance Manchester Business School. She's observed the trust contract between businesses and consumers unravel in real time. She joins Natalie Berg to unpack what this means for retailers and brands. 📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g02sjV7Kako&t=1827s What you'll learn: Why emotional trust builds resilience. Why founder-led brands like P. Louise are flourishing and how transparency strengthens trust when things go wrong. How Gen Z discover products through creators, not advertising — and how that permanently rewires the path to purchase. The imperfection advantage. AI-generated content is flooding every channel. Human flaws — typos, rough edges, unscripted moments — are becoming the new trust signals. Where AI helps vs where it hurts. Holland & Barrett uses AI to free up staff for personalised advice. But when AI generates flawless, homogenous content, consumers trust it less — not more. What AI agents will do to your brand if you haven't built trust by 2027. CONNECT WITH DR AMNA KHAN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dramnakhan/ ABOUT THE PODCAST 🎙️ Retail Disrupted is a Top 5% Global Podcast with the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail. Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg. 👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/retail-disrupted/id1676107321 👉 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5H0TALn63ov2VAIJPNi3FM 👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/ 👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com
#139
July 24 · 35 min
Why This Luxury Founder Tells Customers NOT to Buy – Marc-Antoine Barrois Strategy Briefing
Modern retail is globally efficient but emotionally bankrupt. Marc-Antoine Barrois, founder of the luxury fragrance house MARC-ANTOINE BARROIS, and architect Antoine Bouillot join Natalie Berg to discuss their shared belief: a store should prioritize emotion over the transaction. In this episode, they reveal how they design flagship spaces in London, Paris, and New York that deliberately increase dwell time, why sales associates are trained to tell customers to leave without buying, and how they were inspired to create the "IRL is Better" campaign. 📺 Watch on YouTube to see inside Marc-Antoine Barrois stores: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pub_PiUReKA We discuss: ▶ Why efficiency has stripped retail of emotion — and how to put it back ▶ The architectural toolkit for deceleration: treasure-hunt layouts, suspended furniture, and materials built to last ▶ Sales advisors, not salespeople: training staff to prioritize connection over conversion ▶ "IRL is Better" — inside the anti-social media campaign that doubled down on real-world intimacy ▶ How handwritten notes and personal emails extend the flagship experience online ABOUT THE PODCAST 🎙️ Retail Disrupted is a Top 5% Global Podcast with the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail. Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg. 👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/retail-disrupted/id1676107321 👉 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5H0TALn63ov2VAIJPNi3FM 👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/ 👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com
#138
July 20 · 29 min
California Pizza Kitchen's Rick Rosenfield on Innovation, Reinvention & the CPK Comeback
In 1985, two federal prosecutors walked away from their careers and mortgaged their homes to open a pizza restaurant in Beverly Hills. They wound up inventing an entirely new dining category. Rick Rosenfield, co-founder of California Pizza Kitchen, joins Natalie Berg on Retail Disrupted to share the unfiltered story: the one menu hit that redefined casual dining, the culture that made CPK somewhere people genuinely wanted to work, how it beat the odds to survive bankruptcy and the reinvention chapter that followed. Rick shares lessons from his new book: The California Pizza Kitchen Story: How Two Federal Prosecutors Changed the Way America Eats Pizza. https://amplifypublishinggroup.com/product/nonfiction/business-and-finance/leadership-and-management/the-california-pizza-kitchen-story/ This is a masterclass in innovation, differentiation, and ethical leadership for anyone building a brand, scaling multi-site retail, or navigating private equity-backed growth. What retail leaders take away: How two lawyers created upscale casual dining at shopping centers with zero restaurant experience How BBQ chicken pizza became the brand's defining product Why CPK became the first national chain to go non-smoking — and what it reveals about culture-led decisions The private equity warning: what founders lose when new owners sideline the vision How CPK is diversifying into packaged goods and airport retail to future-proof the brand Watch this episode on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8WT_w571no&t=790s ABOUT OUR GUEST Rick Rosenfield is a former federal prosecutor and defense attorney. He is the co-founder of California Pizza Kitchen, the restaurant brand that helped redefine how America eats pizza and reshaped modern casual dining. Before entering the restaurant business, Rosenfield began his legal career at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, DC, where he worked on cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Courts of Appeals. In the mid-eighties, Rosenfield and his partner, Larry Flax, made the unconventional decision to leave the law field and open the first California Pizza Kitchen in Beverly Hills. What began as a single restaurant grew into a global brand while maintaining a distinctive culinary vision and culture. ABOUT THE PODCAST 🎙️ Retail Disrupted is a Top 5% Global Podcast with the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail. Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg. 👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/retail-disrupted/id1676107321 👉 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5H0TALn63ov2VAIJPNi3FM 👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/ 👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com #CaliforniaPizzaKitchen #CPK #RestaurantStrategy #BrandBuilding #RetailDisrupted #RetailPodcast #FoodBrand #FounderStory
#137
July 15 · 28 min
The UK's 3rd Biggest Fashion Retailer Owns No Inventory — An OC&C Strategy Briefing
The UK's third biggest fashion retailer doesn't own a single store, design a single garment, or hold a single unit of inventory. Natalie Berg sits down with Olivia May, Partner at OC&C Strategy Consultants, to deliver the strategy briefing retail leaders need on the resale revolution. In this episode: ▶ Why Vinted overtook established names to become the UK's #3 fashion retailer ▶ The data advantage first-hand brands hold over pure-play resale platforms ▶ Why luxury resale is harder to scale than it looks — from retail theft to $78 item processing costs ▶ Vinted vs Depop: what separates a platform winner from a challenger ▶ The "say-do gap": why the same customer shopping resale is also buying Shein For retail leaders evaluating their own resale channel — or trying to understand where their margin is going — this episode is for you. 🤝 This episode is sponsored by OC&C Strategy Consultants. https://www.occstrategy.com 📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN3rfoutHxc ABOUT OUR GUEST Olivia May is a Partner in the Global Retail Practice at OC&C with a particular focus on developing winning strategies and game-changing customer propositions for apparel businesses, marketplaces and digital native brands. Olivia has over 14 years of experience working closely and collaboratively with retailers and brands to both develop customer-centric strategies and help put them into action in a way that transforms and future-proofs client businesses. In particular, she works closely with platforms, brands and investors looking to participate and win in recommerce markets. ABOUT RETAIL DISRUPTED Retail Disrupted is a Top 5% Global Podcast with the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail. Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg. 👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/retail-disrupted/id1676107321 👉 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5H0TALn63ov2VAIJPNi3FM 👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/ 👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com
#136
July 9 · 22 min
Online Grocery Is a Decathlon — Ocado's European President on Making E-Commerce Profitable
Gregor Ulitzka (President, Europe at Ocado Group) makes the case that online grocery isn't a sprint — it's a decathlon. The path to profitability requires retailers to master logistics, availability, pricing, last-mile, customer experience - the works! From Ocado's origins as the UK's first pure-play online grocer to a technology platform and solutions business powering e-commerce for some of the world's biggest grocers — this is a masterclass in what it actually takes to make online grocery work. Gregor and Natalie discuss: The "detail, detail, detail" principle behind sustainable online grocery profitability Shifting consumer habits & the 2-hour delivery myth Global partnerships: from Alcampo to Asda (hot off the press) In-store solutions vs CFCs: the infrastructure decisions Where AI genuinely adds value in grocery (and where human beats algorithm every time) Retail 2036: will AI agents be doing all the grocery shopping for us? 🤝 Today's episode is brought to you by Manhattan Associates https://www.manh.com/ ABOUT OUR GUEST Gregor is president of Europe at the Ocado Group. As the first person to hold this role, he is responsible for the growth and operations of Ocado Solutions across the region. Prior to joining in 2023, Gregor built and scaled the vendor-facing supply chain at Amazon for over 10 years, with his most recent role for the business being director of supply chain and inventory management for Europe. ABOUT THE PODCAST 🎙️ Retail Disrupted is a Top 5% Global Podcast with the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail. Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg. Subscribe: 👉 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/retail-disrupted/id1676107321 👉 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5H0TALn63ov2VAIJPNi3FM 👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/ 👉 Newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com
#135
July 6 · 14 min
Vuori Global President: Cracking DTC, Physical Retail & International Expansion
Most DTC brands struggle to make the leap from online-only to physical retail. Vuori didn't just make the transition -they're now scaling stores across Europe, Asia, and beyond. Recorded live at Shoptalk Europe, Global President Ashley Kechter shares the playbook behind the California athleisure brand's retail expansion, international growth, and what's required to scale a modern consumer brand. Ashley explains why Vuori's stores function as community hubs and customer acquisition engines — not just sales floors — and how international markets act as early-warning systems for product trends before they hit the US. Key topics covered: Vuori's brand DNA: how does it stand out in a crowded market? The "density within markets" approach: clustering stores before diversifying geographically How e-commerce data in 30 countries pinpoints the next store location Why international markets are Vuori's trend-forecasting advantage Balancing global brand consistency with hyper-local community activations The role of stores in acquiring omnichannel customers who still value the opportunity to "touch and feel" the product 🤝 This episode is sponsored by Manhattan Associates - the unified foundation for global supply chains and commerce. ABOUT OUR GUEST As Vuori's Global President, Ashley Kechter is responsible for overseeing the brand's global business strategy, driving the financial process, and overseeing retail, eCommerce, planning and wholesale internationally and domestically. Prior to joining Vuori, Kechter served as global president of eComm, retail, wholesale and International for Fabletics, and previous roles include Chief Business Officer and GM for Banana Republic, and Chief Merchandising Officer and GM of Merch, Planning, eCommerce, Sourcing, Inventory Management, and Product Development at Restoration Hardware. ABOUT THE PODCAST 🎙️ Retail Disrupted is a Top 5% Global Podcast with the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail. Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg. 👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/ 👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com
#134
July 2 · 22 min
The Future of Quick Commerce: Wolt's Marianne Vikkula on Affordability, AI & Retail
A third of shoppers now expect grocery delivery within two hours. That's a huge shift in customer expectations – and one that Wolt is well placed to meet. The Helsinki-based delivery platform (owned by DoorDash / sister company to Deliveroo) is now the #1 delivery app outside China and among the top 10 online grocers in Europe. Marianne Vikkula, Head of Wolt, joins Natalie Berg to unpack the strategy behind one of Europe's leading local commerce platforms. And it's no longer just about takeaways and groceries - retail now makes up more than 25% of Wolt's global sales. Marianne shares how Wolt+ has evolved from a subscription that waived delivery fees to a lifestyle membership program, why baskets are a third larger when they include a promotional item, and why the average Wolt order travels under three kilometres. 📺 Watch the episode on YouTube. Key themes: → Why quick commerce isn't just about speed (selection, quality, and affordability are essential) → How Wolt's hyper-local model - 200,000+ merchants, sub-3km radius - unlocks categories beyond groceries → The role of AI, autonomous delivery, and logistics tech in making quick commerce profitable → What retailers get wrong about platform cannibalization — and why these channels are "much more incremental than many retailers fear" ABOUT OUR GUEST Since joining Wolt in 2018, Marianne has led the company's expansion from 6 to more than 30 countries across EMEA, while launching new businesses including Wolt Market and Ads. She oversees a cross-functional team of over 15,000 people. Previously, she was CEO of Slush, helping grow it into one of the world's leading tech and investor events. Marianne also serves on the boards of Slush and Marimekko. ABOUT THE PODCAST 🎙️ Retail Disrupted is a Top 5% Global Podcast with the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail. Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg. 👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/ 👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com
#133
June 29 · 38 min
How AI Agents Will Rewrite Retail Payments – Spreedly CEO
What happens if customers never reach the checkout page at all? Justin Benson, CEO of Spreedly — the payment orchestration platform trusted by BMW, The New York Times, HBOMax, Getty, Warner, and Il Makiage — joins Retail Disrupted to unpack why payments become more critical, not less, in an agentic era. His framing: "Agentic commerce is like Google Search and Apple Pay had a love child." Instead of shoppers moving from discovery to checkout, AI agents may increasingly arrive pre-authorized and ready to buy which raises a few urgent questions for retail leaders. IN THIS EPISODE • Payment orchestration as an "operating system" and why flexible payment infrastructure is now mission-critical • The checkout page rewrite — how AI agents will assess loyalty programs, BNPL options, and delegated preferences without a human in the loop • Identity vs. fraud — why distinguishing human from agent transactions is the next big challenge for retail fraud teams • Marketplace vs. niche — whether AI search could be a net negative for Amazon and a tailwind for merchants like Etsy • Three priorities for retailers — payment stack flexibility, identity management, and AI-readable product catalogs DISCLOSURE: This episode is sponsored by Spreedly. All views and analysis are Natalie Berg's own. ABOUT OUR GUEST Justin Benson is the CEO of Spreedly, a leading global open payments platform serving customers in over 100 countries. Since joining in 2011, Justin has led the company through a phase of rapid expansion, including securing $75 million in financing from Spectrum Ventures to drive Spreedly's growth. Justin began his career in the Bay Area and joined Intraware as its first technical support employee. He rose through the ranks into sales and senior leadership as the company scaled from 40 to 400 employees, completed a successful IPO, and achieved a strategic exit. He later served as Vice President of Sales for the Americas at SafeNet, an information security company. ABOUT THE PODCAST 🎙️ Retail Disrupted — a Top 5% Global Podcast with the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail. Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg. 👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/ 👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com
#132
June 24 · 15 min
Inside Instacart's $110 Basket Strategy | Ryan Hamburger, Instacart CCO
Instacart's average basket is $110 - the highest in quick commerce. In this episode, Natalie Berg sits down with Ryan Hamburger, Chief Commercial Officer of Instacart, at Shoptalk Europe to unpack how the company is evolving from delivery platform to omnichannel technology partner. With over 25 million consumers served, 1.6 billion orders fulfilled, and coverage of 98% of US and Canadian households, Instacart is betting that smart carts, unified experiences, and AI-powered personalization will define the next decade of grocery retail. Ryan reveals why retailers with online-offline pricing parity grow 10–15% faster than those with markups, how activating a single digital order lifts share of wallet by 30%, and why Instacart is betting that the future of grocery isn't delivery-only — it's technology that makes every touchpoint, from phone to aisle to checkout, completely seamless. We also cover retail media as a margin engine, the sticky threat of competitor switching, and more about Instacart's venture into Europe (currently operating in France and Spain with Costco and in the UK with their Caper Cart trial at Morrsions). 🤝 Today's episode is brought to you by Manhattan Associates https://www.manh.com Prefer to watch? This episode is also available in full on YouTube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=-0cj5FIai7w And if you enjoy the show, please hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. Your subscription genuinely helps us grow.
#131
June 16 · 17 min
Retail's Tech Problem Isn't Invention. It's Mastery.
At Shoptalk Europe in Barcelona, Miya Knights — Retail Technology publisher and 3x retail author — cut straight through the AI hype with a blunt diagnosis: if you don't know your business and your customers, you're "stabbing in the dark" at which technology fits, and no AI tool fixes broken basics. Get the foundations right and the biggest early wins won't be the flashy customer-facing ones — they're in the back end (supply chain, operations, associate enablement) where AI quietly makes you faster, cheaper or smarter. Pick one, not all three. And on agentic AI? The guardrails and playbooks aren't in place yet — and most retailers aren't ready for the handoff that's coming. THE FUTURE OF SHOPPING — what retail leaders will take away: The one question to ask before investiong in AI (most retailers skip it) The "pick one, not all three" rule that separates real AI gains from vendor hype How to spot AI slop before it erodes customer trust The agentic AI handoff that's coming — and the guardrails needed before it lands You can watch this episode here. ABOUT OUR GUEST Miya Knights has over 25 years of experience as a retail technology analyst, editor, author, and consultant. She owns and publishes Retail Technology magazine and has co-authored two bestselling books on Amazon and Omnichannel Retail. Miya also consults for and advises various technology companies and is a member of the Retail Influencer Network, Customer Strategy Network, and KPMG Retail Think Tank. Miya regularly appears as a retail technology expert on news and current affairs television programmes, is quoted in the press, and moderates, chairs, or keynotes at various industry events. She also judges the European Retail Technology Awards by EHI, The Grocer Gold Awards, and the eCommerce Awards. The Black British Business Awards recognised her as their 2021 Arts & Media Senior Leader, while RETHINK Retail has consistently acknowledged her as one of the top retail influencers each year. Miya holds a Master's in English Literature and Language from the University of Oxford. Her new book, The Future of Shopping: Using Digital, Data and AI to Win with Customers, will be published by Kogan Page on 3 September 2026 and is available for pre-order: https://www.koganpage.com/marketing-communications/the-future-of-shopping-9781398627925 ABOUT THE PODCAST 🎙️ Retail Disrupted — a Top 5% Global Podcast with the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail. Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg. 👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/ 👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com
#130
June 11 · 13 min
Inside Amazon's 30-Minute Grocery Strategy | Amazon VP Mariangela Marseglia
A protein bar delivered in 4 minutes in India. A full grocery shop delivered in 17 minutes in London. Mariangela Marseglia, Amazon's VP of European Stores, explains why this kind of speed is no longer a premium — it's the new baseline. Mariangela sits down with retail analyst Natalie Berg at Amazon's "Delivering the Future" event to explain why sub-same-day delivery — now as fast as 30-minute groceries via Amazon Now — and the race to reduce the shopper "cognitive load" are quietly redrawing the competitive map for every retailer operating in Europe. 📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybcjA9WsDP8 In this Strategy Briefing, filmed inside Amazon's Dartford fulfilment centre, we cover: ▸ Sub same-day delivery — why "two days" no longer excites anyone, and how proximity + automation get orders to customers in under 30 minutes ▸ The 17-minute grocery shop — Amazon Now, "crisis missions" vs top-up shopping, and the protein bar delivered in 4 minutes in India ▸ The next battleground — why cutting friction isn't enough anymore and how reducing cognitive load becomes the real differentiator ▸ Amazon's grocery ambition — doubling down on e-commerce and consolidating grocery + non-food into a single basket (yes, "a hairbrush and some hummus") ▸ What "today's innovations become tomorrow's norms" means for every retail leader planning ahead for 2027 ABOUT OUR GUEST Mariangela Marseglia is the Vice President of European Stores at Amazon, where she leads the company's retail business across the region. She joined Amazon more than 14 years ago, overseeing the Media & Books and Hardlines categories before helping expand Prime Now across Europe and Asia-Pacific. In 2018, Mariangela was appointed Vice President and Country Manager for Amazon Stores in Italy and Spain, a role she held prior to stepping into her current position in 2025. ABOUT RETAIL DISRUPTED Retail Disrupted is a top 5% global podcast, hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg, founder of NBK Retail and co-author of Amazon: How the World's Most Relentless Retailer Will Continue to Revolutionize Commerce. 🔔 Subscribe for weekly episodes with the leaders shaping global retail. 👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/ 👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com
#128
June 3 · 23 min
Home Delivery Is Fundamentally Broken — Bloq.it Co-Founder Miha Jagodic on the Last Mile Fix
E-commerce may have promised convenience, but increasingly consumers are experiencing something very different — missed deliveries, porch piracy, and what many are now calling "parcel anxiety." In fact, 25% of first-attempt home deliveries fail and nearly 2 million parcels are stolen or go missing daily in the US. In this episode, Natalie Berg sits down with Miha Jagodic, Co-founder and CEO of Bloq.it — Europe's fastest-growing provider of smart locker networks technology. They unpack why home delivery is fundamentally broken and what must replace it. You'll learn: → Why home deliveries fail on the first attempt — and the true cost of re-delivery → How out-of-home parcel volume is growing faster than home delivery globally → Why Western Europe is short 600,000 lockers → The density effect: why the more lockers you deploy, the more demand you create → How Vinted Go is using lockers to make low-value fashion purchases economically viable → Why we should look to Poland and the Nordics for inspiration → Locker use cases: click-and-collect, returns, in-store foot traffic, retail media ABOUT THE GUEST Miha Jagodic is the Co-founder and CEO of Bloq.it. Founded in Lisbon in 2019, the company provides end-to-end solutions comprising hardware, software and operational services to logistics and retail giants across the globe. Its partners include online marketplace Vinted and logistics multinationals DHL and GLS. As CEO, Miha oversees the overall strategy of the business alongside his co-founders, with special attention to areas such as Finance, Talent, and Legal. Miha holds a degree in Business Administration and Management from the University of Ljubljana, School of Economics and Business. In 2023, he made history as the first Slovenian to feature on a Forbes list in technology and innovation, when he was recognised in the Forbes 30 under 30. ABOUT RETAIL DISRUPTED Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg — co-author of Amazon: How the World's Most Relentless Retailer Will Continue to Revolutionize Commerce — Retail Disrupted™ is a Top 5% Global Podcast exploring the trends reshaping the future of shopping. 👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/ 👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com
#127
May 28 · 32 min
Why Developing Markets Are Beating Europe at Quick Commerce – Foodora's Chief International Officer
Customers don't actually want ultra-fast grocery delivery. What they want is an easy solution for their daily, weekly, and monthly shopping missions. So what does this look like? Giuseppe Randazzo is Chief International Officer for foodpanda, foodora, and Yemeksepeti - all owned by Delivery Hero which operates in around 65 countries across four continents, with a mission to deliver anything, straight to your door. Giuseppe joins host Natalie Berg to map the next decade of quick commerce: from food and groceries to health, beauty, and pets; and from search bars to AI agents that predict your next order before you make it. In this episode, you'll learn: → Why developing markets are winning at quick commerce. Bangladesh and Pakistan are more advanced than Northern Europe. Why? They never had the legacy retail infrastructure to unlearn. → Why groceries are just the start — health & beauty, pharma, pets, flowers are ripe for growth. Will q-commerce verticals will eventually be as large as food delivery itself? → Why "quick" commerce won't exist in 10 years. It'll just be called... commerce. Speed becomes tablestakes. The next battleground? AI-powered personalization. We also got into robot delivery, agentic commerce, and why the brands winning aren't competing on speed — they're competing on cognitive load reduction. 🎥 Full episode is also available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ARxkGRAWHmo?si=YTr_Hl5T94tc1LYP Retail Disrupted is a top 5% global podcast. 👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/ 👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com
#126
May 18 · 38 min
China's Trojan Horse & Europe's Trust Crisis
The trust crisis in retail is real — only 1 in 3 consumers today believe what brands say about themselves. Philippe Gelder, President & CEO of Voted Product of the Year Worldwide, reveals how consumer trust became retail's most fragile asset — and why Europe is uniquely vulnerable just as Chinese retailers enter their third wave of expansion. 📺 Prefer video? Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/v8HtbhYqpd0?si=shlaGT-KK7aoZ7PN In this episode, Philippe and Natalie Berg explore: • Why social media and AI are eroding brand trust — and what replaces it • Europe's "perfect storm": regulation, energy costs, and no narrative • The third wave of Chinese retailers: JD/Joybuy and the Trojan Horse strategy • China's "involution" problem — why they need Europe • De minimis exemption: why blocking parcels won't work • Why "e-commerce" should disappear as a concept • The collaboration imperative for brands and retailers Philippe Gelder is President & CEO of Voted Product of the Year Worldwide, the world's largest consumer-voted award for products, brands and retailers. Trusted by 4.5 billion consumers across 40+ countries. Retail Disrupted is a top 5% global podcast. 👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/ 👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com
#125
May 6 · 33 min
30 Years, £100 Million: What Asda's Tickled Pink Teaches Every Retailer
Asda's Tickled Pink campaign has raised a whopping £100 million over 30 years. This isn't just fundraising — it's embedding a cause into the culture of a business. 🎗️🩷 In this episode, I sit down with the team behind it all — Emma Betts (Asda), Rachel Carrington (Breast Cancer Now), and Jo MacSween (CoppaFeel!) — to unpack why this partnership why been so successful, both socially and commercially. What retail leaders will take from this: → Why long-term charity partnerships outperform short-term campaigns — commercially and culturally → How supplier involvement turned a cause into a £2.5M fundraising engine → The "phygital" future: combining physical and digital channels to drive awareness and donations → Why £1.8M came from self-checkout tills alone — and what that tells us about micro-donations → How CSR strategy can drive measurable shifts in customer behaviour and brand perception This is a fabulous feel-good story. It's also a masterclass in purpose-led retail strategy. 🫶 🎙️ Guests: Emma Betts — Head of Tickled Pink Partnership, Asda Rachel Carrington — Head of Principal Partnerships, Breast Cancer Now Jo MacSween — Director of Fundraising, CoppaFeel! Retail Disrupted™ is a Top 5% Global Podcast hosted by retail analyst and author Natalie Berg. New episodes explore the trends reshaping the future of shopping. 🔔 Subscribe to our YouTube channel for weekly retail insights https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted
#124
April 21 · 23 min
5 Things the Morrisons CEO Taught Me + River Island on Fashion's New Pace
What does the CEO of Morrisons actually think about AI, shopper loyalty, and the pace of change? Retail analyst Natalie Berg shares five direct learnings — then River Island's Tech Director reveals how fashion is fighting the same battle. In this episode of Retail Disrupted, Natalie shares frontline intelligence from the Richmond Retail and eCommerce Directors' Forum, including rare direct access to Rami Baitieh, CEO of Morrisons (and former CEO of Carrefour France). Then Meriel Neighbour, Director of Technology at River Island, unpacks how fashion retail is navigating Gen Z's demand for speed, the returns crisis, and AI's real-world role on the shopfloor. From Morrisons: Why Rami believes "the bigger the store, the bigger the problem" How AI personalisation is driving Morrisons' e-commerce growth "Customers are loyal to their pocket" — what shopper promiscuity means for grocery and beyond The £200m+ tax burden threatening retailer pricing power and long-term planning From River Island (starts at 11 min): How social commerce and Gen Z's "I need it now" mindset are making speed-to-market a survival strategy The returns crisis: why inconsistent sizing across brands is the root cause — and how virtual try-ons could fix it River Island's internal AI platform that cut service desk calls by 80% Meriel's bold vision: AI that spots a mannequin on the street, adds the outfit to your basket, and has it at your desk before you arrive For retail leaders navigating disruption — this is essential listening. 🎙️ Retail Disrupted is a Top 5% global podcast hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg, co-author of Amazon: How the World's Most Relentless Retailer Will Continue to Revolutionise Commerce. 👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com
#123
April 16 · 26 min
Gen Z's Digital Changing Room – Rachel Levy, Head of Retail & Lifestyle, Snapchat
Snapchat is no longer just a messaging app — it's Gen Z's discovery engine, digital changing room, and social shopping hub, and it's transforming how forward-thinking retailers must think about the purchase funnel. 90% of UK Gen Z are on Snapchat. Only 5% describe themselves as impulsive shoppers. And 73% still visit a physical store at least once a week. If those numbers challenge what you thought you knew about the next generation of consumers, this episode is required listening. Natalie Berg sits down with Rachel Levy, Head of Retail & Lifestyle at Snapchat, to decode the Gen Z shopper — and what every retail leader needs to understand about augmented reality, authentic advertising, and why the changing room is going digital. In this episode: Why Gen Z are budget-conscious and considered, not impulsive (the data will surprise you) How AR virtual try-ons are reducing returns and building purchase confidence The "changing room becomes Snapchat" thesis — and what it means for physical retail Why Gen Z don't mind ads (as long as you're not faking it) How to structure a full-funnel Snapchat strategy across all tabs Social commerce strategies: the first step every brand should take Connect with Rachel Levy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-levy-48450414/ About Retail Disrupted Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg, co-author of Amazon: How the World's Most Relentless Retailer Will Continue to Revolutionize Commerce. Retail Disrupted is a Top 5% Global Podcast for leaders navigating the future of shopping. 👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com
#122
April 2 · 41 min
ROI Reimagined: The 11 Metrics Every Retail Leader Needs Now
Traditional ROI is broken. If you're still measuring success with quarterly numbers and like-for-like sales, you're flying blind into the next decade of retail. In this episode, host Natalie Berg is joined by Martin Newman — "The Consumer Champion", author of ROI Reimagined, and a 40-year retail veteran who has shaped strategies for brands like Burberry, Harrods, and Ted Baker. Together, they dismantle the "96% Problem" (why 96% of website visitors don't buy) and introduce the ROI Reimagined framework — a set of 11 critical metrics designed for the future of shopping, where innovation and failure are inextricably linked. In this episode, you will learn: The 96% Problem: Why retailers are obsessed with conversion rates but ignore the massive opportunity in those who leave empty-handed. CX vs. CC: The strategic difference between Customer Experience (what happens to the customer) and Customer Centricity (what the business must do to deliver it). The 11 Future Metrics: A breakdown of the "new" ROI, including Return on Integrity, Inclusion, Inspiration, and Innovation. The "Monday Morning" Challenge: A simple framework to re-energize your leadership meetings and shift focus from reporting to problem-solving. Tech-Led Trade-Ins: Lessons from brands like Suit Supply and CDLP on bridging the gap between digital and physical retail. 🔔 Subscribe to the Retail Disrupted YouTube Channel: Watch the full video version here 👉 Follow Natalie Berg on LinkedIn: Natalie Berg | Retail Analyst Retail Disrupted™ is a Top 5% Global Podcast for retail leaders. If you found this episode valuable, please rate and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
#121
March 25 · 37 min
Holland & Barrett CFO: Why Boring AI Beats the Hype
This CFO doesn't care about ROI. Instead, Vineta Bajaj (Holland & Barrett CFO) believes we should be asking: How will the customer's life change? Will they get a better assortment? Will they get better pricing? Will they get dynamic pricing? Will they get better personalization? If I invest this in tech, will my frequency go up? Will my conversion go up? Will my AOV go up? Will they keep coming back? Long-term compounding beats short-term justification. Every time. Vineta also breaks down: Holland & Barrett's omnichannel transformation Why grocery e-commerce is structurally brutal - and why most retailers are playing it wrong (pre-H&B, Vineta was the CFO at Rohlik Group and she also spent 10 years at Ocado so the perfect person to help us demystify this) Whether quick commerce is here to stay What her LinkedIn cat memes 🐈 tell us about her leadership style Why all retail leaders need to be on TikTok The case for "boring AI" 📺 Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for the full video episode of our conversation with Vineta + exclusive clips from the podcast every week: https://youtu.be/iUwAGCfc5NU?si=gMRnCdsJaHHCoCtd

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