ReThink Productivity Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Mark Channen Director at Herbert shares how they are helping retailers with complete solutions that aid staff productivity and an enhanced customer shopping experience. We focus specifically on Electronic Shelf Edge Labels (ESL), covering: Why is Europe much more advanced with ESL than the UK? How has technology advanced in the last few years? What incremental benefits other than...

Send us Fan Mail Jason Cotta CEO at Ole & Steen/Lagkagehuset tells us about the company background, the pursuit of better ingredients, better craftsmanship and better taste. The Ole & Steen unique propostion Future growth plans The Ole & Steen sustainability agenda  #theproductivityexperts Register for the 2026 Productivity Forum Download a copy of our first ReThink Productivity Retail...

Send us Fan Mail Orin Wilson & Will Clem Co-Founders of Bite Ninja tell us why they formed the company and the problems they are trying to solve.  They also cover: How Bite Ninja is helping to tackle the labour shortage Future market opportunities  #theproductivityexperts Register for the 2026 Productivity Forum Download a copy of our first ReThink Productivity Retail Report Connect to Simon o...

Send us Fan Mail Monzer Hijazi Co-Founder of ExeQut talks about how they are enabling organizations globally to apply digital transformation through futuristic web, software, and mobile applications. Monzer also shares: Common themes of digital transformation  Top tips to get the most out of your technology  #theproductivityexperts Register for the 2026 Productivity Forum Download a copy of our fi...

Send us Fan Mail Paul Strong Head of Central Operations at Magnet discusses the journey they are on to give time back to colleagues to deliver outstanding customer service The challenges and benefits of having 2 customer types (Retail & Trade) Things that Magnet are looking to deliver for colleagues and customers in the next 12 months  #theproductivityexperts Register for the 2026 Productivity...

Send us Fan Mail Martyn Jones Chief Commercial Officer at VoCoVo discusses the power of connecting store teams through voice.  Martyn and Simon also cover: Why retailers are choosing headsets for their stores  How retailers prove the value of adding headsets  Reducing shrink and tightening security Dunelm case study Product development plans and wider integrations  #theproductivityexperts Register...

Send us Fan Mail Toby Pickard Head of Innovation & Futures at IGD discusses what tech retailers & customers will be using in the future. Toby & Simon cover: What tech will these stores have? What education/investment into customers will retailers have to make? Will it all work?  #theproductivityexperts Register for the 2026 Productivity Forum Download a copy of our first ReThink Produc...

Send us Fan Mail Time to make sure you have listened to all the ReThink Productivity series before we release the next batch of podcasts with some amazing guests and topics. Have you listened to them all???? Series Links: Simms & Associates Rotageek Simplification Stories Customer Experience What is WFM? Work Jam Workforce Management  #theproductivityexperts Register for the 2026 Productivity...

Send us Fan Mail Nigel Fletcher Group Business Improvement Director at Pets at Home shares his experiences of joining Pets at Home at the start of the first lockdown, plus: How to ensure you have the right capability & capacity to maximise growth Colleague of the future - more service/selling orientated How do you build out capacity to retain the talent (ahead of the growth curve) Future plans...

Send us Fan Mail Every day, supermarkets slap yellow-stickers on hundreds of products, which ultimately end up as a landfill. Gander connects you in real-time to these savings, so you're never more than one tap away from delicious reduced food and offers. Steve Hewitt tells us more about Gander, the ecosystem they operate in and the exciting plans for the future to help reduce food waste  #th...

Send us Fan Mail Ian Pepall, Retail Business Transformation Project Lead, gives us an insight into the world of Heart of England Co-operative and the exciting productivity journey they are embarking on. Ian and Simon cover: The difference between the Co-operative Group (TCG) and individual Societies The drive to become more centrally controlled to reduce variance across stores  Focusing on people...

Send us Fan Mail Paul Frewin , Regional Sales Direct at Arco , discusses how the pandemic impacted a business that was already expert in PPE and safety. The challenges and benefits during this period and how it has shaped future Arco plans  #theproductivityexperts Register for the 2026 Productivity Forum Download a copy of our first ReThink Productivity Retail Report Connect to Simon on LinkedIn F...

Send us Fan Mail Joe Lau is a self-made entrepreneur. He has founded six companies and sold three of them resulting in multiple seven-figure profits. As a successful entrepreneur, speaker, and quality of life coach, Joe inspires and challenges people to connect with who they truly are so that they can have meaningful relationships and live a healthier and higher-quality lifestyle. Joe’s approach s...

Send us Fan Mail FoodRazor eliminates this problem of messy paperwork for restaurants and makes it easy for them to track food costs and stay on top of their restaurant spending Alf Molinas CEO of FoodRazor talks to Simon about: How FoodRazor was formed The data-driven operational efficiency insights FoodRazor can provide Future opportunities (optimal quantity orders, reduce waste, price sensitivi...

Send us Fan Mail Carl Boutet , Author, Founder and Chief Strategist (AKA the Retail Prescriptor) at StudioRX shares his thoughts with Simon around the Great Acceleration and race to Retail Resilience. They discuss: Does this mean a change in thinking about productivity? Setting the right attributes in a world that is becoming more automated Self Checkouts How the role of Customer facing Colleagues...

Send us Fan Mail Pieter K de Villiers , Co-founder and CEO at Macanta .  Pieter tells us all about the Macanta no-code solution to creating a custom CRM and process automation system as unique as your business  #theproductivityexperts Register for the 2026 Productivity Forum Download a copy of our first ReThink Productivity Retail Report Connect to Simon on LinkedIn Follow ReThink on LinkedIn 

Send us Fan Mail Anne Mezzenga , Co-Founder at Omni Talk shares her thoughts and insight into the move towards checkout-free stores, the impact this will have on customers and colleagues. Simon and Anne also cover: Is the amazon go/fresh model repeatable for others? How easy it is to go checkout-free? Will this have an impact on customer experience? Will we ever see a store with no colleagues e.g....

Send us Fan Mail After 10 intense years in digital marketing agencies in Seattle and London, plus another 6 years building marketing technology and analytics ventures, James Sandoval (Co-Founder & CEO) realized there must be a better way for business leaders to more easily and more quickly advance their use of SaaS and enterprise software systems, and to create more and better value from the m...

Send us Fan Mail The last in our 3 episode series with the team from Simms & Associates . Mal Breen, Michiel Lely & Fabio Rodriguez return to discuss the WFM Post Implementation Support. They cover: Defining the support structure internally, where it sits and who owns it? Superusers, what do they do, how important are they? Managing changes in the business that need to be reflected in WFM...

Send us Fan Mail The second in our 3 episode series with the team from Simms & Associates . Mal Breen, Michiel Lely & Fabio Rodriguez return to discuss the WFM Pilot & Rollout. They cover: Is it a pilot or phase 1 rollout? Who & how will support? How to choose pilot locations. What makes a good choice? How do you transition/plan from pilot to rollout? How do you know if your pilot...

Send us Fan Mail The first in our 3 episode series with the team from Simms & Associates . Mal Breen, Michiel Lely & Fabio Rodriguez join Simon to discuss the next steps after you have chosen your WFM Solution. They cover: How do you set up for a successful implementation? What can I expect in the first few weeks of the project? The importance of a good well managed project plan Is a chang...

Send us Fan Mail The last in our 3 episode series with  Rotageek . David Payne, Chief Product Officer discusses with Simon: The Rotageek journey from project kick-off through to deployment A case study of a Rotageek customer and some of the initial insights and benefits   #theproductivityexperts Register for the 2026 Productivity Forum Download a copy of our first ReThink Productivity Retail Repor...

Send us Fan Mail The second in our 3 episode series with  Rotageek . David Payne, Chief Product Officer discusses with Simon: The benefits of automating your employee scheduling Saving time from automating scheduling - is this really a benefit?  More than just a time-saver; how auto-scheduling teams have knock-on benefits in customer and employee NPS, conversion, basket size and ATV. Can you reall...

Send us Fan Mail The first in our 3 episode series with  Rotageek . David Payne, Chief Product Officer discusses with Simon: Why are retailers moving towards scheduling automation? What does this mean and what does it look like: Forecasting Auto scheduling How does this change in a post-Covid-19 landscape?  #theproductivityexperts Register for the 2026 Productivity Forum Download a copy of our fir...

Send us Fan Mail Greg Watts , Chief Executive Officer at Findr explains how they have created the worlds first matching platform for businesses which cuts through all the time and effort associated with creating partnerships by providing direct access to the right decision-makers in literally minutes and a couple of clicks. Simon and Gregg also cover: The challenges of starting a new company durin...