Retail Disrupted

98% of product discovery will happen through AI by 2030, Pieter Van den Broecke tells us. Most retailers are not ready for it. Retail Disrupted host Natalie Berg is joined by Pieter Van den Broecke, EMEA Leader, Supply Chain Strategies, Manhattan Associates to explore how AI disrupting search and dicovery - and why foundational data accuracy and inventory visibility will separate retail's winners...

Retail made shopping frictionless. Now shoppers want it to feel meaningful again. In this episode of Retail Disrupted, host Natalie Berg speaks with Susannah Schofield OBE, Director General of the Direct Selling Association, to discuss the future of direct selling.  It's come a long way since the Tupperware days! Susannah discusses the importance of trust, community-led selling, and human connecti...

What if your store is turning away loyal customers without realizing it? Accessibility isn't just a social responsibility — it can directly impact customer loyalty, spending and retail revenue. In this episode of Retail Disrupted, Natalie Berg speaks with Mark Webb, former retail leader and disability advocate, about living with multiple sclerosis and what retailers can learn from his experiences...

AI deployed into fragmentation does not create intelligence; it amplifies complexity. Recorded at Manhattan Exchange in Milan, this episode features regular guest Ben Sillitoe to break down what retail leaders shared on the ground about moving beyond AI pilots. Exchange is Manhattan Associates' flagship European event. Last year, the emphasis was on "unleashing the agents". 12 months on, what have...

Your store is no longer just a place for transactions – it's your best marketing channel. Jack Stratten, Director of Insider Trends, sits down with Natalie Berg to explore how to repurpose stores for a digital era. Jack shares what he is seeing on the ground, from Gentle Monster building stores where marketing is a main KPI to brand takeovers in Sephora Barcelona where, alongside traditional sales...

The Body Shop is in transformation mode. Two years after its rescue from administration, the globally renowned ethical beauty business is moving from stabilization to its next phase of growth under Mike Jatania - Co-Founder of Aurea Group and CEO & Chairman of The Body Shop. Mike joins Natalie Berg to discuss what it takes to revive one of the world's most recognizable and purpose-driven brands. ...

A £40 TikTok Shop order turned into £10,000 a week in wholesale. Manny Malik from Malik Butchers joins Natalie Berg on Retail Disrupted to share how a third-generation halal butcher from Wolverhampton became one of the UK's most recognisable halal brands through TikTok. He speaks to Natalie at TikTok's live shopping event in Covent Garden. Manny explains the Halal Family Series that hit up to 9 mi...

Live every day for 18 months: how Cheeky Wipes turns awkward questions into sales on TikTok. In this mini episode, Helen Rankin, founder of Cheeky Wipes and Cheeky Pants, shares how daily TikTok Lives build community and remove barriers to buy. She speaks to Natalie Berg at TikTok's live shopping event in Covent Garden. Cheeky Wipes and Cheeky Pants is a reusable hygiene brand founded by Helen Ran...

TikTok is sending shoppers back to stores, not away from them. Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg, this episode features Paul Mears, Group Vertical Director of Retail and E-Commerce at TikTok, on why discovery on TikTok is driving footfall and sales to independent shops, cafes, and restaurants. We open with analyst reaction to the Primark news: Primark plans to launch home delivery in the UK af...

How does Kraft Heinz decide what shoppers actually want next — from a viral vodka pasta to zero sugar, zero salt ketchup? Karen Owen, Chief Growth Officer, Europe & Pacific Developed Markets, at Kraft Heinz, joins Natalie Berg to discuss how to turn consumer obsession into commercial growth — from spotting viral trends and building true brand partnerships to testing flavour and creative with AI as...

70% of whiskey shoppers in Germany start on Amazon — even if they don't buy there.  It's a powerful reminder that digital commerce is about more than the transaction; it's about discovery, inspiration and brand-building - important for a category like alcohol where just 6-7% of sales take place online. In this episode of Retail Disrupted, Natalie Berg sits down with Danson Huang, Global Vice Presi...

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...

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:  http...

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...

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 somewher...

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 advanta...

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...

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. A...

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 strat...

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 o...

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 household...

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...

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 groc...

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 Blo...

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, strai...