The Retail Podcast (Video Feed)

Can physical retail still outperform e-commerce? In this exclusive interview recorded live at NRF 2026: Retail's Big Show Asia Pacific, Steven S. Tan, President of SM Supermalls, explains why physical shopping centres continue to thrive by putting customers at the centre of every decision. SM Supermalls operates nearly 100 shopping centres across the Philippines and China, welcoming approximately...

The retail marketing stories that matter this week: why the brands winning Wimbledon aren't the official sponsors, Naomi Osaka's 350% search spike, Charlotte Tilbury lands in Boots, and Google's Head of Agencies UK reveals the World Cup ads topping YouTube's leaderboard. Google's Carl Read joins Alex and Simone Oloman (NIFT) to discuss the week's biggest marketing stories, including Wimbledon, Nik...

What does it take to build global brands in one of the world’s most dynamic retail markets? Sumeet Yadav, Head of Reliance Brands Limited, joins The Retail Podcast just before his keynote at NRF APAC 2026 in Singapore. Reliance Brands Limited is one of India’s most important platforms for global luxury and lifestyle partnerships, spanning fashion, lifestyle, eyewear, toys, home, and food and bever...

Retailers are facing a new discovery challenge: what happens when AI search becomes the layer between brands and customers? In this episode of World Retail, Alex is joined by Niamh and Ian from World Retail Congress to discuss what is top of mind across global retail. The conversation starts with one of the biggest concerns raised in a CEO survey: whether AI-driven search could reduce brand visibi...

This week on Five Things Friday UK Edition, Alex is joined by Simone Oloman, co-founder and CEO of For Tonight / Neft, a rapid delivery business for retailers, to unpack five retail stories from a quieter but still revealing week in UK fashion, lifestyle and consumer culture. From Lacoste transforming Selfridges into a tennis clubhouse to Ralph Lauren’s Wimbledon activity on Sloane Square, this ep...

Retail innovation continues to accelerate. In this episode of Five Things Friday USA, Joe and Jill explore five major stories shaping the future of commerce: • Meta's expanding partnership with Best Buy and the rise of AI-powered smart glasses • Walmart's aggressive drone delivery rollout targeting millions of Americans • Amazon Prime Day's expansion into a four-day retail event • Quince's transit...

What happens when brands can no longer rely on social media to reach younger consumers? In this week's Five Things Friday UK, retail expert Simone Oloman, Co-Founder and CEO of NIFT, joins us to discuss one of the biggest questions facing retail marketers today: how brands stay connected to youth culture as social media regulations evolve. We explore: ✅ The potential impact of proposed social med...

This episode of Five Things Friday explores major retail developments across APAC and global markets. Ruth Kewell and Alex discuss Pomelo's mobile-first retail model in Southeast Asia, the worsening retail conditions in Australia, and the international expansion of Chinese retail brands including Miniso, Urban Revivo, Temu and Shein. The conversation highlights how mobile commerce, changing consum...

Global retail is moving fast and this first international briefing looks beyond the US to track where the biggest growth stories are happening. In this episode, we cover Frasers Group’s reported $2 billion takeover bid for Hugo Boss, JD.com’s UK expansion through Joybuy and its summer Black Friday positioning, Lulu Retail’s ambitious store growth across the GCC, Dubai’s two-month summer shopping p...

Madrid is famous for tourism, culture, tapas and beautiful architecture. But walk through Gran Vía and another story starts to appear. In this episode of The Retail Podcast, we explore how Madrid is evolving from a tourist hotspot into a serious retail destination. From Sephora’s flower-led Mother’s Day activation to Calvin Klein’s floral fragrance launch, the streets of Madrid reveal how physical...

Recorded live at NRF APAC 2026, this episode features Toru Koyama, Executive Officer & Head of IT and Digital Promotion Group at H2O Retailing Corp., and Executive Officer & GM of Digital Innovation Division at Hankyu Hanshin Department Stores, Inc. In this conversation, Toru shares H2O Retailing’s transformation journey — from backend IT and ERP foundations to CRM, unified commerce, retai...

This episode reflects on being ranked number one on the Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Retail 2026 list, but shifts the focus to a bigger industry question: what should retail actually recognise as thought leadership? The episode argues that true influence should be measured by useful, visible, consistent contribution — not status, nostalgia, or network size. Being ranked number...

WooCommerce is live at Shoptalk Europe in Barcelona, and the team is bringing open-source ecommerce conversations, enterprise growth strategy, and a local Barcelona touch to the show floor. In this episode, we cover WooCommerce’s presence at Booth B30, where attendees can meet the Woo team, speak with developers and specialists, and explore how open-source ecommerce can support online store growth...

Retail AI is moving quickly — and this episode looks at what that means for retailers, ecommerce platforms, brands, and technology leaders. In this discussion, the hosts cover a range of retail and commerce stories, including Currys in the UK, European retail activity, Hasbro, TikTok influencers, Rep AI, Claude, Debenhams, and the wider shift toward AI-powered retail platforms. The episode also to...

Unauthorized sellers can quietly destroy retail margins. In this episode of The Retail Podcast, Alex speaks with Megan Harman, founder of Thorn Crest, about how unauthorized sellers, counterfeits, dupes, broken case packs, copycat products, and weak reseller agreements can erode brand profitability. Megan explains why online pricing problems do not stay online. A small marketplace undercut can aff...

Why is Asia becoming the world's most influential retail innovation hub? In this NRF APAC 2026 Day 1 keynote conversation, Jill Dvorak, Senior Vice President at the National Retail Federation, speaks with Isabelle Allen, Global Head of Consumer, Retail & Leisure at KPMG. They explore the major forces reshaping retail globally, including: • AI adoption in retail • Consumer behavior shifts • The...

Ryf Quail joins Alex to walk through the NRF 2026 APAC agenda just before the show opens in Singapore. This episode is a practical guide to the sessions, speakers and themes shaping this year’s event, from AI-powered supply chains and retail media to omnichannel, luxury, malls, content commerce, Japan-style transformation and the rise of APAC as a global retail growth engine. Ryf explains why this...

In this episode of Five Things Friday UK, Alex and Simone discuss major shifts across UK and European retail. Topics include Ocado’s growing role as a grocery technology platform, Lidl overtaking Morrisons, M&S’s staff safety initiative with WalkSafe, and the role of store experience in building modern retail communities. The episode also explores Coach’s Selfridges pop-up, Rituals’ House of R...

Retail is no longer just competing for customer spend. It is competing for attention. In this episode of Podcast Sessions, Richard Fisher, Head of Store Design at Holland & Barrett, joins us live from the EuroShop floor to explore how physical retail is changing in the attention economy. Richard explains why retailers now compete with Netflix, Disney, sport, and other entertainment platforms f...

AI is forcing a complete rethink of ecommerce, retail operations, and digital commerce architecture. In this episode, Kelly Goetsch — President at Pipe17 and one of the most influential voices in modern commerce technology — explains why the “status quo is no longer acceptable” in the age of AI. Drawing on experience across Oracle, ATG, commercetools, and modern AI-driven commerce systems, Kelly b...

This week on World Retail Signals, the team explores one of the most important emerging battles in AI commerce: Amazon vs Perplexity and the future of autonomous AI shopping agents. The episode also covers: The changing expectations of the future retail workforce WHP Global’s acquisition of Marc Jacobs Why brand licensing is becoming central to retail strategy Greggs’ evolving retail formats The g...

Why are heritage fashion brands suddenly winning again? This episode explores how M&S, Topshop, H&M, Vogue and Laura Ashley are using experiential retail, collaborations and nostalgia marketing to reconnect with younger audiences. Topics include: M&S’s Ibiza runway activation Topshop x Vogue H&M x Laura Ashley Slow fashion retail trends Carnaby Street expansion brands Gen Z retail...

AI is reshaping commerce. Retailers are investing in stores again. And organized retail crime has become one of the industry’s biggest policy priorities. This week, Jill Dvorak from the National Retail Federation joins Five Things Friday - USA Edition to discuss: The latest organized retail crime legislation Amazon vs Perplexity and the implications for retail AI Why physical retail expansion is a...

Private label retail in APAC is entering a major growth phase — and AI may accelerate the shift dramatically. This episode explores: Retailer-owned brands and consumer adoption AI-powered product recommendations Beauty retail competition in Australia Mecca vs Sephora The growing importance of customer data and personalization Why algorithms are replacing traditional retail gatekeepers The conversa...

Jason Cottrell, CEO of Orium and President of the MACH Alliance, explains how AI agents and composable commerce are reshaping enterprise retail and digital infrastructure. In this episode, we explore: AI agent ecosystems Human-in-the-loop AI governance Enterprise AI architecture Composable commerce AI-driven workflows QA automation Retail transformation The future of enterprise operations Jason sh...