Paul Edney, Technology Director Channels at Primark, and Jeanette Copeland, Technology Director at Ann Summers, join Natalie to discuss lessons from their digital transformation projects. They explore:

• The rationale behind Primark's click & collect roll-out and how it's enabling the retailer to engage with new customers.
• How Ann Summers completed a 12-month transformation project in just four months.
• 2025 strategic priorities for both businesses.
• Working backwards from the customer, testing and learning, embracing failure – how digital transformation requires cultural change.
• The importance of speed to market while balancing cost and flexibility. Is WAgile (waterfall + agile) the new way of working?
• From virtual sizing tech to in-store payment innovation, which technologies are the retailers excited about for the future?

Today's episode is sponsored by PMC and was recorded live at the PMC customer event at Silverstone Museum.

From supporting end-of-life legacy systems through to providing the latest digital retail solutions, PMC helps you take control of your technology and drive your own agenda. PMC has proudly supported the commerce sector for over 20 years, and our specialist domain knowledge, experienced teams, and proactive approach makes us the partner of choice for delivering customer-centric transformations. For more, visit PMC.

Bios:

Paul Edney, Technology Director Channels, Primark Paul is a senior IT leader with 20+ years of experience, specialising in retail, ecommerce, and transformation. He excels at crafting strategies that enhance customer experience and operational efficiency. As Technology Channels Director at Primark, he leads global tech initiatives, overseeing system integrations, re-platforming, and business transformation to drive growth and innovation. Jeannette Copeland, Director of Technology, Ann Summers Jeannette leads the technology division at the iconic Ann Summers brand, spearheading digital innovation since 2022. With over 20 years of experience in IT, she has held key roles at Joules and Systemax Europe Ltd, specialising in ERP, data integration and business intelligence.

Natalie discusses the launch of Amazon Haul, the retailer's new Temu-like storefront where most items are under $10 and delivery takes up to two weeks. She also unpacks the reasons behind Vinted's success – what consumer needs is it tapping into and what are the implications for the wider retail sector? And, finally, Natalie shares her thoughts on the explosion of advent calendars. What is driving the trend and what can retailers learn from it?

[4:20] Is Amazon terminating its online grocery service in Germany?

[6:08] Amazon Haul launch

[9:00] Vinted and the rise of pre-loved

[15:10] Advent calendars - history and why retailers of all varieties are jumping on the advent calendar bandwagon

Links:

Episode 45: Amazon Must Disrupt Itself, July 2024. Natalie and Miya explore whether Amazon and Temu can co-exist and thoughts on the (then) rumoured plans to launch an ultra-low price storefront.

BBC: Are luxury beauty advent calendars a rip-off?

Marketplace: Luxury Advent calendars now in season

The Black Friday deals started as early as Halloween here in the UK (yes, really – see Boots, John Lewis, Currys) and mainland Europe isn't far behind. On today's episode, Natalie speaks to Sander Roose, CEO and Founder of Omnia Retail, the Amsterdam-based company behind Europe's first dynamic pricing software.

Sander and Natalie explore Black Friday 2024 trends in great depth as well as the Ticketmaster/Oasis disaster and why it's important to distinguish between dynamic and surge pricing, and finally what retailers need to do to optimize their pricing strategies.

More on Sander:

Sander Roose is a seasoned retail expert and entrepreneur with a wealth of experience in retail and e-commerce. He holds a MSc degree in Industrial Engineering & Management Science from the Eindhoven University of Technology, where he graduated cum laude. After starting his career at Procter & Gamble, Sander became an entrepreneur: Harvest (acquired by OLX, part of Naspers), Commerce Squared (e-com strategy consultant) and now Omnia Retail.

Visit Omnia Retail

Connect with Sander on LinkedIn.

Dave Mikita is the President of International and Retail Channels at GoTo Foods (formerly Focus Brands). He joins Natalie on the podcast to discuss how GoTo Foods has grown to become the world's #2 food & beverage licensor and what the company has in store for the future. They explore:

• Beyond buying power, what are the benefits for franchise partners? Dave discusses how GoTo Foods provides support on consumer insights, site selection, supply chain, new product development, menu innovation and more.
• How the GoTo Foods franchise model differentiates overseas.
• Bricks and mortar reinvention – how GoTo Foods is repurposing its QSR and fast-casual places.
• The symbiotic relationship between bricks & mortar locations and licensed retail products on grocery shelves.
• How to drive global growth while remaining locally relevant (from offering rolls with less sugar in Cinnabon Japan to cream cheese-filled pretzel sticks at Auntie Anne's in Hong Kong!)

GoTo Foods is the owner of seven iconic brands: Auntie Anne's, Carvel, Cinnabon, Jamba, McAlister's Deli, Moe's Southwest Grill, and Schlotzsky's. For more, visit: www.gotofoods.com

Bio

Dave Mikita is the President of International and Retail Channels at GoTo Foods (formerly Focus Brands). In his role, Dave leads both the Company's Retail Channels business as well as its International Franchise business unit. The company's Retail Channels business, currently ranked as the #2 Food & Beverage Licensor in the world, drives over $1.5 billion in retail revenue globally, and the International Franchise business includes over 2,000 franchised locations operating in 60+ countries. Prior to this role, Dave served as the President of Retail Channels, bringing over 20 years of operations, marketing and business development experience in both Retail and Foodservice Industries. Dave has been at GoTo Foods (previously Focus Brands) since 2012, assuming increasing levels of responsibility within the Retails Channels team, and in 2017, he assumed complete responsibility for all functions of the business unit while leading the group to double-digit growth. Before GoTo Foods, Dave held leadership roles at The Coca-Cola Company, The Home Depot, and several early-stage, high growth businesses. Dave received his undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University and his Master's in Business Administration from The University of Virginia. He resides in Atlanta with his wife and three children.

Connect with Dave on LinkedIn

Did you like this episode? Leave us a message on Retail Disrupted.

Live from Barcelona, Green Retail World's Editor Ben Sillitoe joins Natalie on the podcast to share what they learned at Manhattan Exchange this week. They explore how generative AI chatbots are going to revolutionize customer service, why the days of frontline staff being told to "sell, not think" are over and what sustainability looks like for retailers in 2025.

If you missed the episode with Manhattan Associates' Pieter Van den Broecke, you can catch up here.

Links:

Manhattan Associates Green Retail World

Live from Barcelona, Pieter Van den Broecke, EMEA Leader, Supply Chain Commerce Strategies at Manhattan Associates joins Natalie to discuss:

• Europe's retail CIOs - what's keeping them up at night?
• Generative AI – what are the opportunities and challenges?
• Customer experience - how to service your customers in real-time and learning to trust AI to be the first port of call.
• Why giving shoppers greater control post-purchase is a win for retailers, customers and the planet.
• Unified commerce – what does this look like in practice and where are the opportunities going forward?
• Why Pieter believes the digitization of physical retail isn't over.

More on Manhattan Exchange.

Faire is the largest global b2b marketplace for independent retailers. In this episode, Faire's UK General Manager Charlotte Broadbent joins Natalie to discuss:

• How Faire is disrupting the wholesale sector and benefits for SMEs
• Opportunities and challenges facing independent retailers today
• How indies can up their game with AI
• Values-based shopping and why 'Not on Amazon' is Faire's most popular filter
• Black Friday - should indies take part or is it a race to the bottom?
• Women in tech – breaking down barriers and advice for the next generation of female leaders

Charlotte's bio:

Charlotte joined the Faire team as UK General Manager in 2022, at an exciting and unique time when the US-founded b2b marketplace was pivoting to focus on international expansion. During her time at Faire she has led major category expansion, go-to-market strategy and partnership projects. Prior to this, she served as the COO of an international fine jewellery brand and retailer, Tamara Comolli. Here, she worked closely with the founder to solve the daily challenges in business, running a retail business through a pandemic and the wholesale aspects to retail. Charlotte started her career in private equity at Terra Firma Capital partners where she assessed and delivered new investments but also grew the value of those businesses through operational levers, focused on the retail and consumer sectors. It was during this time that Charlotte came to the realisation that she wanted to roll up her sleeves to be more involved in the operational side of leading a business, particularly through digital transformation. This passion led to her role at Faire today.

Connect with Charlotte on LinkedIn.

Gary Kusin, co-founder of GameStop and Laura Mercier Cosmetics, joins Natalie on the podcast to discuss:

• GameStop's origins: what inspired Gary and James McCurry to launch the world's first video game store in the early 80s?
• Successes and missed opportunities: what would Gary have done differently?
• The pivot to makeup: Gary discusses how a conversation with former Macy's Chairman Terry Lundgren sparked the idea for Laura Mercier.
• Continuous improvement versus continuous change.
• Customer centricity: why so many brands today fail to get this right.
• Kinko's: Gary shares how, as Kinko's CEO, he turned the loss-making business into to a highly profitable enterprise that was later acquired by FedEx.
• Meme stocks: Gary shares his views on the GameStop stock market frenzy.

Gary's bio:

Gary Kusin is a mentor, investor, entrepreneur, business advisor, and author of the forthcoming book Always Learning: Lessons on Leveling Up from GameStop to Laura Mercier and Beyond [April 2024]. He today advises an array of public and private companies, large and small, on strategy, management and growth issues. In addition, Kusin continues his full schedule of mentoring and has mentored well over 1000 individuals during the course of his career. Kusin co-founded two companies, Babbage's, operating today as GameStop (NYSE: GME), and Laura Mercier Cosmetics, both of which are well-known global brands. Gary spent 13 years as a senior advisor to the global private equity firm TPG, including a large amount of his time mentoring CEOs of TPG portfolio companies. He served from 2001-2006 as President and Chief Executive Officer of Kinko's, today operating as FedEx Office. Kusin was responsible for the turnaround, strategic growth and transformation of Kinko's and oversaw the ultimate sale to FedEx, directly reporting to Fred Smith, founder of FedEx, for the 2 years required to integrate Kinko's into FedEx and be renamed FedEx Office. Kusin is an Inc. Magazine "Entrepreneur of the Year" award winner and has served on the boards of many public and private firms both in America and abroad including names such as Electronic Arts, Petco, Sabre, and Myer Department Stores in Australia. Kusin has been very involved in Dallas community activities throughout his career. A representative sample of organizations and positions include the St. Mark's School of Texas Board of Trustees, Dallas Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) chairman, Dallas Citizen's Council Board of Directors and the Southwestern Medical School Foundation. A member of the University of Texas McComb's School of Business Hall of Fame, Kusin earned a BA from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

From the rise of Temu and Shein to immersive digital commerce - and not to mention the resurgence of good old-fashioned bricks & mortar retail - Amazon certainly isn't short of competitive threats.

Miya Knights and Natalie Berg, co-authors of Amazon: How the World's Most Relentless Retailer Will Continue to Revolutionize Commerce, reconnect on Amazon's 30th anniversary to explore what comes next for the online retailing giant and whether it has what it takes to stay relevant in the future.

They discuss:

• How Amazon became the most influential retailer of the 21st century.
• Whether Jeff Bezos' belief that most large companies only last around 30+ years still rings true.
• How AI and technology more generally is enabling retailers to level the playing field and future-proof their store estate.
• Temu – how it differentiates from Amazon, whether they can co-exist and what do the authors make of Amazon's plans to launch a Temu-style storefront?
• The future of digital commerce – we don't browse on Amazon! How the rise of TikTok, Roblox and other immersive platforms will require action by Amazon to avoid being perceived as too transactional and one-dimensional.

Connect with Miya on LinkedIn and don't forget to subscribe to her Retail Technology magazine!

For more, visit NBK Retail.

*THE PODCAST IS NOW PAUSING FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST. HAVE A GREAT SUMMER BREAK AND SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER.*

This week, Natalie is answering the questions rather than asking them!

She speaks to Rishad Tobaccowala who is the former Global Strategy and Growth Officer at Publicis Groupe and host of the What Next? podcast.

They explore:

• Natalie's move to the UK nearly two decades ago.
• How the need for flexibility led her to set up her own business as an independent retail analyst.
• The rise of the digital store.
• How online shopping will evolve in the future.
• What it takes to succeed in the current retail climate.

A big thank you to Rishad and his team for inviting Natalie on the podcast and permission to share their discussion on Retail Disrupted.

You can listen to the original episode and subscribe to What's Next? with Rishad Tobaccowala here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/podcastwhatnext/episodes/Disrupt-or-Be-Disrupted-The-Future-of-Retail-e2m7vrk/a-abemdkg

More about Natalie: www.nbkretail.com