The Retail Podcast

Walmart has started rolling out Apple Pay at select US Walmart and Sam's Club locations, with rollout to all US stores and clubs planned by the end of 2026.

Alex Rezvan and Jill Dvorak, Senior Vice President, Content at NRF, break down five US retail stories: Home Depot's nationwide three-hour Express Delivery, Lamine Yamal in American Eagle's back-to-school push, Best Buy certifying all 29 supply chain facilities as zero waste, and Ross posting 10% comparable sales versus 4% at TJX overall.

The Apple Pay share figure stated in the episode was not independently verified.

Sponsored by Sygnls.AI.

Newsletter: https://www.theretailpodcast.com/newsletter

00:00 Intro
00:54 Walmart adds Apple Pay
02:03 Home Depot Express Delivery
03:36 American Eagle + Lamine Yamal
05:23 Best Buy zero waste
06:57 Ross outpaces TJX

Why is Coach growing while Kate Spade declines under the same parent company?

And what does Target appointing a Chief AI Officer tell us about the next phase of retail technology?

In this USA edition of Five Things Friday, Alex and Jill unpack five developments shaping US retail.

Target brings Chandu Nair across from Lowe’s as Chief AI Officer, prompting a bigger discussion about whether AI should sit under one executive or be embedded throughout the organisation.

Foot Locker and Nike experiment with community-led retail through the Crenshaw Rec concept in Los Angeles.

Tapestry delivers a striking brand comparison: Coach grows 15% while Kate Spade declines 7%, while the group recruits more than 2.5 million new customers during the quarter — around 35% of them Gen Z.

Michaels looks for growth opportunities created by changes at Joann and Party City.

And research based on almost 19 million North American in-store interactions reports customer satisfaction of 93.4%, with Tuesday and Wednesday producing the strongest results.

A 14-minute briefing on AI, brand execution, physical retail, customer acquisition and the changing US retail market.

The Retail Podcast — retail intelligence without the noise.

What does Target appointing a Chief AI Officer tell us about the next phase of AI in retail?

In this USA edition of Five Things Friday, Alex and Jill examine five developments shaping the US retail market — and the strategic implications behind them.

Target has brought Chandu Nair across from Lowe’s as Chief AI Officer, raising a bigger organisational question: should AI sit under one executive responsible for governance and adoption, or should AI capability be embedded throughout the entire business?

Foot Locker and Nike are taking a different approach to physical retail with Crenshaw Rec in Los Angeles — combining retail with an open gym, local run clubs and year-round community programming. The discussion looks at whether stores can become genuine community spaces rather than simply places to transact.

Then comes one of the clearest retail comparisons of the week.

Coach grew 15% while Kate Spade declined 7%.

Both sit within Tapestry and operate against broadly the same economic backdrop.

Tapestry also recruited more than 2.5 million new customers during the quarter, with around 35% coming from Gen Z.

The question for retail leaders: when one brand grows while another declines in the same environment, is the consumer really the problem — or should we be looking harder at product, brand relevance, merchandising and execution?

Alex and Jill also look at Michaels, which is building on opportunities created by changes at Joann and Party City and experimenting with how categories, intellectual property and customer demand can be incorporated into future store formats.

Finally, they examine research based on almost 19 million North American in-store retail interactions or pieces of feedback, which reported a customer satisfaction rate of 93.4%.

Perhaps more interestingly, Tuesday and Wednesday produced the highest satisfaction levels — raising questions around footfall, staffing pressure and store operations.

• Target appoints a Chief AI Officer

00:00 — Five US Retail Stories This Week

The Retail Podcast brings together retail leaders and industry experts to examine the technology, strategy, brands and ideas reshaping global retail.

What should global retail leaders be paying attention to right now?

In this edition of The International Briefing, Jill Dvorak, Senior Vice President, Content at NRF, joins Alex Rezvan to unpack five developments from across the international retail industry.

Europe: What could the €3 charge on low-value imported parcels mean for SHEIN, Temu and cross-border ecommerce?

China: JD.com’s latest results raise questions about how we measure the strength of major marketplaces—and the growing importance of the ecosystem around the transaction.

India: Retail demand is strong, but quick-commerce platforms are putting pressure on established grocery models.

Global shipping: Higher costs, changing routes and supply-chain uncertainty remain major issues for retailers moving goods around the world.

Fabletics: With more than $1 billion in net revenue, the digital-first brand is continuing to invest in physical stores and international expansion.

Five stories with one purpose:

understanding what the headlines actually mean for retail.

Featuring Jill Dvorak, Senior Vice President, Content at NRF, and Alex Rezvan of The Retail Podcast.

The International Briefing examines five developments shaping retail around the world—and what they mean for industry leaders.

Jill Dvorak, Senior Vice President, Content at NRF, joins Alex Rezvan for this edition.

Europe’s €3 parcel charge

A new charge on low-value parcels entering the EU could change the economics of cross-border retail, particularly for lower-value orders.

The discussion looks at the implications for businesses such as SHEIN and Temu, smaller international sellers and the possibility of more inventory being held inside Europe.

JD.com

Following JD.com’s second-quarter results, Alex and Jill discuss why large marketplaces should not necessarily be judged only by merchandise sales.

As JD develops more capabilities around its wider ecosystem, the economics of B2B services become increasingly important.

India and quick commerce

Retail demand is growing strongly, but traditional retailers are simultaneously being disrupted by rapid-delivery platforms.

The conversation examines grocery, premium retailers, shopping missions and whether ten-minute delivery is genuinely something consumers need.

Global shipping

Jill discusses NRF’s Global Port Tracker, changing shipping routes, higher costs and the potential implications for retail supply chains and Q4 inventory.

Fabletics

Fabletics has reached more than $1 billion in net revenue and is continuing its move into physical retail.

Its international expansion includes markets such as Colombia, Peru, India and Central America, highlighting how digital-first brands continue to find value in stores.

The International Briefing is a global look at the developments retail leaders need to understand—not simply the headlines.

Featuring

Jill Dvorak — Senior Vice President, Content, NRF

Five Things Friday UK Edition is your fast briefing on the retail stories worth paying attention to this week.

Alex Rezvan and Simone Oloman break down the developments affecting retailers, brands and the wider industry.

This week:

Frasers buys Harvey Nichols — what could happen to the luxury retailer, its regional stores and its relationship with Flannels?

Poundland and value retail — why competing on price alone may not be enough, and why customer experience and merchandising still matter.

90-minute retail delivery — Simone explains how Need It For Tonight works, its 90-minute and same-day delivery model and its new 12,000 sq ft operation at Westfield White City.

Stores as fulfilment centres — could retailers use local inventory and physical stores to get products to customers faster?

IKEA enters the resale opportunity — why IKEA bringing second-hand furniture into its own marketplace could be a smart move, and where delivery and collection may create friction.

Hosted by Alex Rezvan of The Retail Podcast and Simone Oloman, co-founder of Need It For Tonight.

Follow The Retail Podcast for more conversations about the people, businesses and ideas changing retail

Alex Rezvan and AEON360 Managing Director Low Ngai Yuen go into operator mode at NRF APAC. Ngai Yuen has a live AI and product-data requirement—and two startups she first met in New York may have the answer. This is the buying journey: the brief, the meetings, the 50,000-SKU proof of concept and the reality of turning conference discovery into retail execution.

What does buying AI look like when a retailer has a real problem to solve?At NRF APAC 2026 in Singapore, Alex Rezvan joins **Low Ngai Yuen, Managing Director of AEON360**, on a live buying mission across the show floor.Ngai Yuen is not browsing demonstrations. She has a specific requirement: improve the quality, structure, localisation and usefulness of AEON’s product data before expecting AI to create value from it.The journey began at NRF New York, where she found two young product-data companies. In Singapore, she meets them again—this time with a clearer brief, real retail data and a route towards a proof of concept.The first conversation is with Lazuli, a Japanese product-data company whose location and market knowledge matter to AEON’s imported Japanese products and private brands.

The team discusses turning unstructured catalogues and PDFs into structured, searchable information, then enriching products with the right language, descriptions, categories and market context.The second meeting focuses on inconsistent supplier data, missing attributes and a proof of concept involving 50,000 SKUs.

The discussion shows why retailers need reliable information before adding generative or agentic AI—and why a product catalogue must keep changing as language, trends and customer search intent evolve.This is less a conference interview than a view inside the retail buying process: identifying a problem, finding potential partners, testing them on a real case and deciding whether the technology can scale.

In this episode- Why Ngai Yuen came to NRF APAC with a live buying brief- How relationships formed at NRF New York continued in Singapore- Why local Japanese market knowledge matters to AEON- How unstructured product information becomes searchable catalogue data- What inconsistent supplier data costs retailers- Why the team is testing a 50,000-SKU proof of concept- How a “living catalogue” responds to changing search intent- What innovation showcases can offer established retailers

This episode is forRetail CEOs, digital and data leaders, ecommerce teams, merchandising leaders, innovation teams, procurement leaders, retail technology founders and anyone responsible for taking AI from conference pitch to operational reality.

Subscribe to The Retail Podcast for retail intelligence from the people making the decisions.LinksLow Ngai Yuen / AEON360: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ngaiyuen/NRF APAC: https://nrfbigshowapac.nrf.com/The Retail Podcast: https://www.theretailpodcast.com/RetailNews.ai: https://www.retailnews.ai/Alex Rezvan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-rezvan/

Why are some retail markets able to adopt AI faster than Europe?

30% off an All Access Pass: ALEX30

NRF Registration page here: ⁠https://bit.ly/4vh5Iz5⁠.

Annabelle Serres, Director of Events for NRF Retail’s Big Show Europe, discusses the barriers created by legacy infrastructure, the lessons Europe can take from APAC and why retailers now need to accelerate implementation.

The conversation also covers what executives can expect in Paris, from keynote sessions and practical case studies to startup innovation, the Innovators Showcase and peer networking.

For retail leaders working across technology, operations, transformation and customer experience.

Five retail stories. Less than ten minutes. And several signals about where global retail could be heading next.

In this international edition of Five Things Friday, we examine five developments across retail, commerce, technology and consumer engagement.

First, Fraser’s Group and its position in Hugo Boss — and why the premium market could be ripe for further change. The conversation then moves to Tesco and Uber Eats, as quick commerce increasingly becomes part of retailers’ last-mile strategies.

Next, we look at Nike in China. After shifting aggressively toward direct-to-consumer and later rebuilding wholesale relationships, Nike is again refining its channel strategy, concentrating on selected platforms alongside its own direct business.

Then we head to Singapore and Fair Price’s Store of Tomorrow, where smart carts, RFID, digital shelf labels, in-store navigation and health-focused experiences provide a glimpse at one possible direction for the physical grocery store.

Finally, attention turns to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games and what brands can learn from major global sporting events when planning consumer engagement and activation strategies.

In this episode:

• Fraser’s Group and Hugo Boss
• Tesco, Uber Eats and quick commerce
• Decathlon and last-mile delivery
• Nike’s evolving China retail strategy
• Direct-to-consumer versus wholesale
• Fair Price’s Store of Tomorrow
• Smart carts, RFID and digital shelf labels
• Retail health and wellness experiences
• LA 2028 Olympic brand activations
• Marketing around major global sporting events

Who should watch or listen:
Retail executives, brand leaders, retail technology teams, marketers, commerce professionals and anyone tracking the evolution of physical and digital retail.

Subscribe to The Retail Podcast for global retail intelligence, interviews and analysis.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-rezvan/

How can a global retailer maintain consistency across markets without losing local relevance?

In this episode of The Retail Podcast, Katherine Melchior Ray examines why international brand strategies often break down—not because executives reject localisation, but because organisations underestimate how differently trust, value, service and quality are interpreted across cultures.

The conversation explores the strategic and commercial decisions behind global brand localisation: what should remain non-negotiable, what local teams should be allowed to change, who should hold decision-making authority and how leaders can determine whether adaptation is creating genuine customer value.

Katherine also explains why the cost of entering a market incorrectly can be substantially greater than the cost and complexity of adapting properly.

Katherine Melchior Ray is a global CMO, speaker, consultant, author and international marketing and management faculty member at UC Berkeley Haas.

Her international experience spans Japan, Europe and the United States, with more than 25 years working across markets and categories. The episode discusses her experience with brands including Louis Vuitton, Nike, Gucci, Nordstrom, Hyatt and Shiseido.

She is the co-author, with Natalie Kelly, of:

Brand Global, Adapt Local: How to Build Brand Value Across Cultures

• Why apparently universal concepts such as trust, speed, performance and value are expressed differently across cultures.
• How global brands can separate their enduring identity from the products, experiences and communications that should evolve.
• Why Louis Vuitton’s heritage in travel, quality and innovation allows the brand to expand into new categories without losing its identity.
• How trust between global headquarters and local leadership creates permission for meaningful innovation.
• Katherine’s “freedom within a frame” model for balancing global governance with local autonomy.
• Why failed market entry can be more expensive than local adaptation.
• What Airbnb’s experience in China reveals about trust, payments, reviews, housekeeping and cultural assumptions.
• Why AI can accelerate translation and content production but still requires human context, judgement and interpretation.

Global brand localisation, international retail expansion, cultural intelligence, global marketing strategy, local market adaptation, retail governance, headquarters and local-team relationships, brand consistency, Louis Vuitton, Airbnb in China, Nike in India, AI localisation, customer trust, cultural context and international leadership.

This episode is relevant to:

• Retail CEOs and executive teams
• Global and regional marketing leaders
• International expansion teams
• Brand and customer-experience leaders
• Retail technology providers
• Strategy consultants
• Business-school students
• Executives managing global and local teams

Katherine argues that brands must become explicit about the elements of their identity that cannot change. Local teams can then innovate within a clearly defined strategic frame.

She describes trust as being built through three elements:

1. Shared values
2. Open, bilateral communication
3. A history of promises kept

This trust gives local leadership the authority to make the brand relevant without fragmenting it.

The discussion also examines AI’s role in localisation. AI can support research, translation and analysis, but culture depends on context. As Katherine explains, insight does not simply exist in the data; it emerges through interpretation.

Where should global brand consistency end and local decision-making begin?

Share your perspective in the comments.

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