The Better Retailing Podcast

BETTER RETAILING PODCAST SEASON 3, EPISODE 6 “Brands need to wake up to what independent convenience can offer”   We're joined this episode by Retail Futures Senior Partner at the IGD, RN magazine columnist and non-league football fan Bryan Roberts, to talk about the future of convenience retail. We talk with Bryan about what he's learned from his travels to stores across the globe and what h...

BETTER RETAILING PODCAST SEASON 3, EPISODE 5 Support, stigma and soccer   “Call for help – you’re entitled to it!”   It’s a serious topic this week – covered in the BR Pod team's usual light-hearted manner. To mark Mental Health Week we are delighted to be joined by Kieran Hemsworth, CEO of industry charity GroceryAid. GroceryAid support anyone – from packers to delivery drivers, from st...

Better Retailing Podcast: Season 3, Episode 3 "Can I lock a criminal in my shop for two weeks?" For episode four of season three we have a brilliant conversation about the ongoing menace that is retail crime, prompted by the comments from the M&S Retail Director last week. While we may not know what to do to solve it, we do know the human every day impact of it and how important it is to solve...

Better Retailing Podcast: Season 3, Episode 3 "There's nothing else I'd want to do. I, I love it" For episode three of season three we are privileged to be joined by Thomas Ennis, CEO of The Thomas Ennis Group. Thomas joins us from Dublin and talks over his journey from the butchers' counter to running 13 - soon to be 14 - Spar, Eurospar and Maxol stores across Ireland. It is a fascinating chat th...

Better Retailing Podcast: Season 3, Episode 2 "If you waited until April to have your chest infection, you could have got sick pay from day one" On the second episode of season three, the team ploughs on despite the loss of Aman, who is busy selling condos in Dubai instead of beans in Coventry. It's an interesting episode that covers crime prevention and how a back to basics approach might help ad...

Better Retailing Podcast: Season 3, Episode 1   “January doesn't have 31 says in retail, it has 200” Welcome to Series three of the Better Retailing podcast! We start the year with the five of us, but with some sad news - it's Aman's last ever podcast with us as part of the full-time BR Pod team. Go well, Aman. That might be sad, but we do have the official unveiling of Atul's Big Pot to get...

Better Retailing Podcast: Season 2, Episode 9   “Starting arguments is the best way to start a following” Welcome to Episode 9 of Series 2 of the Better Retailing podcast. We are delighted to be joined this week by Amit Patel, formerly of Go Local in Sandiacre but now a man with more than 240,000 TikTok followers and, in his own words, a legion of “fans” online for his social media coverage....

Better Retailing Podcast: Season 2, Episode 8   “Get someone else to peel the spuds”   Welcome to Episode 8 of Series 2 of the Better Retailing podcast! Aman is in jail this week, so Atul, Natalie, Stefan and Louise hold the fort for an energised chat about some of the biggest issues of the day. Natalie tells us about why she has removed her parcel service – a move which has helped impro...

Better Retailing Podcast: Season 2, Episode 7   “You’ve really opened a can of worms here”   Welcome to Episode 7 of Series 2 of the Better Retailing podcast! Natalie is unfortunately away this month, but don’t worry – Atul and Aman have more than enough chat to go around. Rather brilliantly, to make up for Natalie’s absence we’re joined by multiple-award winning retailer Julie Kaur. In...

Better Retailing Podcast: Season 2, Episode 6   “We don’t judge!”   Welcome to Episode 6 of Series 2 of the Better Retailing podcast with award-winning retailers Natalie Lightfoot, Aman Uppal and Atul Sodha. In this episode we talk about three things that have kept the team busy in the last month. Aman reflects on his experiences judging award entries, and how adding retailers to the pro...

Welcome to Episode 5 of Series 2 of the Better Retailing podcast. This week, the expert retail panel of Natalie Lightfoot, Aman Uppal and Atul Sodha are joined by Sandeep Bains, of Welcome Faversham. The team touches on the recent protests against Dhamecha and News UK, talk about what’s going on in their stores right now, and then delve deeply into some key topics ·     &n...

“I sold the man cabbage water!” Welcome to Episode FOUR of Series 2 of the Better Retailing podcast. This week, the expert retail panel of Natalie Lightfoot, Aman Uppal and Atul Sodha talk about an extraordinary number of topics. We touch on Aman’s latest foray into journalism; Nat’s refit (and how she trapped a customer in the store behind her new fridge); have a great debate about price-marked p...

Welcome to episode three of Series 2 of the Better Retailing podcast. No guest this week, but a big announcement from Aman about the future of him – and his store. The story of how and why he’s selling up is talked about in the second half of the pod, and there’s some great advice and guidance for any retailers thinking of selling their store to move on. Elsewhere, the argument about whether we ke...

It’s Series 2, Episode 2. And it’s an emotional one. This week the team - Atul Sodha, Natalie Lightfoot and Aman Uppal – are joined by Amrit Singh, Walsall retailer, wholesale entrepreneur, forward-thinker and brilliant human. We hear from Amrit about his journey from a speculative call about babyfood sales to becoming an award-winning convenience store retailer, and the trials and tribulations of...

Happy New Year! In the first episode of 2025, the team - Atul Sodha, Natalie Lightfoot and Aman Uppal – talk to us about Christmas, Easter, community, hampers, jacket potatoes and, of course, stacks. With Christmas sales down year-on-year, we hear how retailers are moving into new areas - air fryers, fragrances and wax melts, to name but three - and how the build-up to Easter is now the really exc...

The latest issue of the Better Retailing Podcast is a real “get to know you” episode. Our retailer panel - Atul Sodha, Natalie Lightfoot and Aman Uppal – talk to us about the good, the bad, and all the bits in between, that they have experienced in store. It is a real podcast of two halves – in the first, we learn who metaphorically nearly killed a customer, who Arnold, Axe and Ann are, who has cu...

The second episode of the Better Retailing Podcast sees our retailer panel - Atul Sodha, Natalie Lightfoot and Aman Uppal - talk with Chris Noice, Communications Director of the Association of Convenience Stores, about the recent General Election results and what they might mean for independent convenience retailers. What can retailers expect from a new "business focused" Labour government, and wh...

The first episode of the Better Retailing Podcast sees our retailer panel – Atul Sodha, Natalie Lightfoot and Aman Uppal – talk with Andrew Pheasant of Hell Energy and tackle this week’s biggest issues. How can retailers make the most of the Euros – and use space or promotion to drive sales around big events in-store and online? As we enter Award Season, we talk about whether entering awards is wo...