Omni Talk Retail

Live from the Vusion podcast studio at NRF Retail's Big Show Europe in Paris, Chris Walton sits down with Øistein Burøy Olsen, Head of Digital Customer Experience at REMA 1000 in Norway, to explore how the soft discounter is using digital to build a more connected in-store customer experience.

Øistein explains how REMA 1000 has evolved its app from personalized discounts into a broader relationship with customers, why the company is focused on hyper-personalization that genuinely helps shoppers, and how its Scan & Go experience lets customers scan, bag and pay in the app before leaving through a dedicated fast-track gate. He also looks at how REMA 1000 is using AI to prototype faster and build toward a more personalized shopping experience, including helping customers figure out what to make for dinner and remember what they need to restock.

In this episode:

• How REMA 1000 is approaching hyper-personalization

• Evolving from a discount app into a digital relationship with customers

• How REMA 1000's Scan & Go experience works

• Why a controlled exit is key to the Scan & Go experience

• Connecting the digital app experience to the physical store

• Using AI to prototype and test new customer experiences

• How AI could help shoppers plan meals and build shopping lists

• The future of digital customer experience at REMA 1000

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Live from the Vusion podcast studio at NRF Retail's Big Show Europe in Paris, Ben Miller sits down with Guilherme Cardoso, Head of E-Commerce at Continente, Portugal's largest grocery retailer and the food retail division of Sonae MC, to unpack the state of online grocery in Portugal and what it takes to build an e-commerce business that balances growth, profitability and customer experience.

Guilherme explains how Continente is balancing e-commerce growth, quick commerce and profitability while adapting to changing consumer expectations around delivery. He also looks at what's next, from AI and personalization to the lessons Continente has learned from operating its autonomous grocery store.

In this episode:

• Inside Continente & Sonae MC, Portugal's largest grocery retailer

• Balancing e-commerce growth, profitability and customer experience

• Why quick commerce is moving away from 15-minute delivery expectations

• What Portuguese consumers want from fast grocery delivery

• How Continente uses stores, warehouses and a Lisbon dark store for fulfillment

• The role of AI agents and personalization in Continente's e-commerce strategy

• Lessons from Continente's autonomous grocery store

• Why the autonomous store has evolved into a hybrid model

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Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by R&S Logistics, ZenlineAI, and Mirakl.

In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses:

• DoorDash acquires Wonder's Grubhub Campus Dining business as part of a $125 million investment in Wonder's Series D funding round.
• Meta Lab plans six new AI glasses stores in the coming months, nearly doubling its retail footprint.
• Target names former Hilton CMO Mark Weinstein as its new chief marketing and guest experience officer.

The Retail Daily Minute has been rocketing up the Feedspot charts, so stay informed with Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, your source for the latest and most important retail insights.

Live from the Vusion podcast studio at NRF Retail's Big Show Europe in Paris, Ben Miller sits down with Alexis Marcombe, CEO of Unlimitail, the retail media joint venture between Carrefour and Publicis.

Alexis explains how Unlimitail built an open, cross-border retail media alliance now spanning 40+ retailers and 21 countries, why in-store measurement remains the industry's biggest unsolved problem despite 70-98% of European sales still happening in physical stores, and why Unlimitail plugs into partners' existing tech stacks rather than forcing its own. He closes with a bold prediction for 2027: a massive RFP that could reshape in-store retail media across Europe.

In this episode:

• Inside Unlimitail: an open retail media alliance spanning 40+ retailers and 21 countries
• How CPG brands work with Unlimitail to solve specific sales problems
• Why in-store measurement is retail media's biggest unsolved challenge
• Balancing advertiser demand for performance with the case for brand-building
• A 2027 prediction: the massive RFP that could reshape in-store retail media in Europe

🎧 Subscribe to Omni Talk Retail for more conversations with the leaders shaping retail.

Live from the Vusion Podcast Studio at NRF Retail's Big Show Europe in Paris, Omni Talk's Chris Walton sits down with Matthew Shay, President and CEO of the National Retail Federation, for a candid look at where retail stands heading into the holidays.

Matt shares how NRF Europe is evolving alongside the flagship New York show and the fast-growing Asia-Pacific event in Singapore, why retail has become a truly global business, and what a resilient U.S. consumer means for the rest of 2026. He also previews NRF's holiday sales forecast, coming October 15.

In this episode:

• Building NRF Europe while preserving Paris's local character
• Three years of growth for NRF's Singapore show
• Why retail is now a global business, trade friction and all
• A state-of-the-industry read on U.S. consumer confidence
• NRF's outlook for the 2026 holiday season

🎧 Subscribe to Omni Talk Retail for more conversations with the leaders shaping retail.

Live from the Vusion podcast studio at NRF Retail's Big Show Europe in Paris, Ben Miller sits down with Eric Meulien, General Manager of Digital Retail at Al-Futtaim Group, to talk agentic commerce and what it actually takes to support it.

Eric explains why AI shopping assistants demand much richer product data than color and size ever captured, walks through the internal Gen AI tool his team built to find and close those content gaps, and shares how Al-Futtaim keeps 200+ brands across 20 countries consistent with a centralized "Atomic Design" system. He also details Blue, the region's loyalty program powering personalization across every division.

In this episode:

• Inside Al-Futtaim: 200+ brands across 20 countries, including IKEA, M&S, and Toys R Us
• Why agentic commerce demands richer product data
• The internal Gen AI tool built to close product content gaps
• Keeping brand identity consistent with a centralized "Atomic Design" system
• Inside Blue, Al-Futtaim's loyalty program and single customer view

🎧 Subscribe to Omni Talk Retail for more conversations with the leaders shaping retail.

Live from the Vusion podcast studio at NRF Retail's Big Show Europe in Paris, Ben Miller is joined by Audrey Ceuppens, Global Head of Grocery and Retail at Bolt Food, to unpack how quick commerce is evolving.

Audrey walks through Bolt’s path from mobility to food delivery to grocery and retail across 50 global markets. She explains why speed has become table stakes while reliability is the new differentiator, and how Bolt balances a global playbook with local nuance, from cash payments in Africa to sustaining grocery partnerships in Ukraine. She also shares what’s next, including Bolt’s newly launched in-app replacement feature.

In this episode:

• Bolt's evolution from mobility to food delivery to grocery and retail
• Why speed is now the baseline and reliability is the new differentiator
• Balancing a global operating model with local nuance
• The value delivery marketplaces bring retail partners
• What's next: Bolt's new in-app replacement feature and widening shopping missions

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Live from the Vusion Podcast Studio at NRF's Big Show Europe in Paris, Omni Talk's Chris Walton sits down with Aleksandra Olszewska, Global Commercial and Digital Director at Desigual, for a candid conversation on brand reinvention and where digital and store leadership meet.

Aleksandra traces her path from studying literature to leading digital, CRM, and now commercial strategy at Desigual, explains why a digital-first background makes the move into store easier, and walks through Desigual's five-year brand reinvention — including the "diet phase" that came before the brand's bold return. She closes with what's next: balancing growth and profitability, and putting AI to real use.

In this episode:

• From studying literature to leading digital, CRM, and commercial strategy
• Why it's easier to move from digital into store than the reverse
• Inside Desigual's five-year brand reinvention and its return to boldness
• The results: double-digit sales growth and a younger customer base
• What's next: growth vs. profitability, and putting AI to work

🎧 Subscribe to Omni Talk Retail for more conversations with the leaders shaping retail.

Live from the Vusion podcast studio at NRF Retail's Big Show Europe in Paris, Ben Miller sits down with Ruth Andrade, environmental partner at Lush, for a conversation that trades the show's usual AI talk for something different.

Ruth shares the origin story of Lush's Earth Care team, which she's led since becoming the company's first environmental officer in 2004, and explains how employee ownership and an ethical charter shape decisions across the business — including Lush's decision to leave social media entirely after Meta whistleblower revelations. She closes with practical advice for building an ethical culture without a founder-backed mandate.

In this episode:

• Inside Lush: unpackaged, handmade, fresh cosmetics in 51 countries and 900+ stores
• How the sales mix has shifted from bath bombs to fragrance
• The origin story of Lush's Earth Care team
• Why employee ownership and an ethical charter shape Lush's decisions
• The decision to leave social media, and why Ruth calls it "no regrets"
• Advice for driving change without a founder-backed mandate

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Live from the Vusion podcast studio at NRF Retail's Big Show Europe in Paris, Ben Miller sits down with Mariusz Kwiatkowski, Head of Supply Chain Transformation at Pets at Home, for a candid conversation on modernizing retail's supply chain.

Mariusz walks through the two big investments behind Pets at Home's recent transformation — a purpose-built automated distribution center in Stafford and a rebuilt planning and execution stack powered by proven "quantitative AI" — and draws a clear line between that track record and the hype around agentic and generative AI, which he sees as still stuck in pilot mode. He also shares why supply chain jobs are evolving rather than disappearing, and his "magic wand" fix for retail's biggest structural blind spot.

In this episode:

• Inside Pets at Home: 460 stores, omnichannel, and the one-stop-shop vision
• The two big investments behind its supply chain modernization
• Separating proven "quantitative AI" from the hype around agentic and generative AI
• Why supply chain jobs are evolving, not disappearing
• Mariusz's fix for retail: breaking down silos between supply chain, commercial, finance, and logistics

🎧 Subscribe to Omni Talk Retail for more conversations with the leaders shaping retail.