RETHINK RETAIL

The Chatbot Hangover Is Over: The Future of Retail Customer Service

03 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Are basic chatbots hurting your customer experience? In this episode of the RETHINK Retail Podcast, guest host Christine Russo sits down with Antanas...

Shoptalk Europe 2026: Moving from AI Theory to Execution

19 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As retail leaders prepare for Shoptalk Europe 2026, the conversation is no longer centered on what AI could do. It’s shifting toward what AI in reta...

Insights from eTail Toronto 2026 (Part 2)

14 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The conversation continues! In the conclusion of our special two-part coverage from eTail Toronto 2026, host Jeremy Goldman sits down with four more i...

Relevancy Over Heritage: Stanley 1913’s Next Era

13 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Stanley 1913 has moved far beyond a single blockbuster product. Graham Nearn, Chief Product and Sustainability Officer, PMI WW Brands, LLC (Stanley 1...

Store to Door: Making E-commerce Operationally Viable

12 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Retailers have spent 25 years trying to make in-store picking profitable. Most are still struggling because fulfillment is managed as an afterthought....

B2B AI Secrets: How RS Group and Rezolve Ai Scale

11 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

B2B commerce is built on a foundation of extreme complexity. When a part fails in a 100 million dollar machine, the customer needs a solution, not jus...

Insights from eTail Toronto 2026 (Part 1)

08 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

We’re live from the floor of eTail Toronto 2026! In the first half of our special two-part coverage, we’re digging past the buzzwords to find out ...

How Australian Retailers Are Rethinking Store Systems

07 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Automation and Openness: Lessons from the Australian Frontline Australia has a 20-year head start on the self-service revolution. Kristie Longhurst f...

Precision as the New Competitive Advantage: Inside the Next Frontier of Grocery Operations

06 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Shrinking margins, labor shortages, and the complexity of omni-channel fulfillment are putting unprecedented pressure on grocery and convenience retai...

Agentic AI: The Realization Phase of Retail Commerce

04 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Beyond Vanilla AI: The Era of Agentic Commerce The retail industry has moved past experimentation. We are now in the realization phase where AI agent...

Crate & Barrel: Store Design for Digital Shoppers

02 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Store design used to be about defining a set path for the customer. Today, it is about providing a flexible canvas. Crate and Barrel's VP of Store D...

Digital Joy: Hershey’s Strategy for Retail Design

01 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Retail design is at a crossroads. As customer expectations rise, physical stores must offer more than just products: they must deliver animation, mean...

The Future of Food and Grocery: Trends, Technology & Global Best Practices

30 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On the latest RETHINK Retail Podcast, host Toby Pickard of the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) sits down with Aidan Mittra, Co-founder of Orde...

Data-Driven Sleep: Sari Deckelbaum on eCommerce Growth

30 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Data-Driven Sleep: Sari Deckelbaum on the Future of eCommerce eCommerce has moved past the era of growth at all costs. Today, the focus is on discipl...

The Future of Food and Grocery: Trends, Technology & Global Best Practices

30 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On the latest RETHINK Retail Podcast, host Toby Pickard of the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) sits down with Aidan Mittra, Co-founder of Orde...

Patagonia’s Purpose: Angela Clark on Digital Strategy

29 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Traditional retail is designed to drive the next transaction, but Patagonia is built to drive a movement. Angela Clark, VP of Digital at Patagonia, j...

How Bealls Inc. Builds Trust in Autonomous Agents to Transform Planning Operations

28 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The real bottleneck in retail planning isn't a lack of data; it's the time lost reconciling it. When planners spend the first half of their week manua...

Scaling Luxury: The Elizée Digital Playbook

28 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Emerging brands cannot outspend the giants. They have to out-think them. Avani Oswal, Head of Digital at Elizée, joins Marie Schwartz to share how t...

Loyalty and DTC Basics: Jennifer Peters on OLLY

25 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Innovation is often confused with complexity. In this episode, Jennifer Peters, Director of DTC and Martech at OLLY, argues that the most successful b...

Micro-Arbitrage: The New Retail Media Strategy

24 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The long waves of efficiency are over. If your brand waits 18 months to pivot, you have already lost the margin. Jason O'Toole, Head of Connected Com...

Navigating AI and Strategic Partnerships in Grocery

24 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On the latest RETHINK Retail Podcast, host Fritz Finlay sits down with Jeannie Scarlet Freis-Terry of Albertsons and Aidan Mittra, Co-founder of Order...

Building on Solid Ground: Dataiku on Why Retail AI Is About to Have Its Reckoning

24 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The era of curiosity is over. Retailers are finding that moving from a flashy demo to a trusted, scalable production environment is much harder than a...

The Future of Grocery Retail: Consumer Behavior, AI, and the Case for Better Operations

23 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Consumer habits are shifting fast, and the pressure on grocery retailers to keep up has never been greater. On the latest RETHINK Retail Podcast, R.J...

Visibility to Action: Tom Meehan on RFID Strategy

23 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Here is the Spotify-optimized version for the Inventory Truth episode with Ted McCaffrey and Tom Meehan. I’ve focused on making those "Core Perspect...

Selling Without Sales: Ankur Goyal on Growth Strategy

22 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Most growth leaders spend their lives chasing the promotional calendar. Ankur Goyal spent his time building a brand that didn't need one. In this epi...

From Chore to Ritual: How quip Uses Agility to Disrupt Oral Wellness

21 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The era of "testing" AI is over. For retail leaders, the tension has shifted from theoretical potential to a mandatory operational overhaul. If you ar...

Scaling Community: Sarah Grosz on the Allbirds Blueprint

20 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Most brands treat influencers as a side project. At Allbirds, it is a unified revenue engine. Sarah Grosz joins Marie Chevrier Schwartz to discuss mo...

Why Most Companies Lose Their Edge as They Scale

18 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Most organizations break the same way: they get bigger, slower, and more rigid. Ujjwal Dhoot of Tractor Supply Company argues for the opposite approa...

Agentic AI in Luxury Retail: Making Personalization Work at Scale

17 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Top Retail Expert Joshua Rockoff was joined by Yuliya Samsonava from EPAM and Vic Miles from Microsoft onsite at Shoptalk Spring to explore how agenti...

Why Your Store P&L Is Lying to You

17 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

If your digital team and your store team are arguing over attribution, you don't have a measurement problem. You have a customer problem. Most retail...

Stress-Testing (Retail?) Vendors in the AI Era with Levain Bakery

16 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Most retail AI isn’t solving problems; it’s hiding them. The industry is currently addicted to "overlays" - cheap, automated layers that promise i...

Designed for Change: How Modular Architecture Is Rewiring Retail

15 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Central Nervous System: Rewiring Retail with Modular Architecture Diebold Nixdorf and Kitestring explain how modular architecture serves as the f...

Crossroads of Commerce: Scaling Beyond DTC

14 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) gave brands control over experience, data, and customer relationships. As brands grow, that model alone becomes limiting. Thi...

How to Sell When Bots are Your Primary Customer with Hanna Andersson

13 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Most retailers are still optimizing for a world where a human types a keyword into a bar. But at Hanna Andersson, Matt Ezyk is architecting for a real...

How Boot Barn Turns AI Into a Store Associate, Not a Chatbot

09 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What if the real problem with AI in retail isn’t intelligence—but expertise? Recorded live at Shoptalk Spring in Las Vegas, this conversation bre...

Unified Commerce: Bridging the Execution Gap

09 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Moving Beyond the Buzzwords Unified Commerce isn't a new term, but true execution remains the "Holy Grail" for enterprise retailers. In this episode,...

Turning 'Silent Boxes' into Living Stores: The Blueprint for In-Store Edge Intelligence

07 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The “Connected Store” has moved from concept to operational priority. In this episode, Pauline Monin (Vusion) breaks down how digital shelf techno...

AI Responsibility, Agentic Futures, and Transparent Retail Media — The Costco Way

06 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Recorded live at Shoptalk Spring, this episode of the AiR Podcast tackles the shift from AI experimentation to real-world accountability. Mark William...

The Compliance Playbook Every Global Retailer Needs

03 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Recorded live at Shoptalk Spring 2026, this podcast features Darko Pavic, CEO at Fiscal Solutions and Michael Zakkour from 5 New Digital, discussing a...

Retail AI: Closing the Reality Gap

03 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Most AI projects die in the boardroom because they ignore the person holding the handheld scanner. In this episode, Sharon Gai, Matt Redwood, and Paul...

Winning in The Agentic Era: The Commerce Roadmap for Success

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Your product data wasn't built for AI agents. Here's why that's a problem. In the latest episode of RETHINK Retail's award-winning AiR (AI in Retail)...

Retail 2026: Magic, Data, and Human Connection

25 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the RETHINK Retail podcast, Julia Rogers Vargas, VP and GM, Identification Solutions at Avery Dennison and Sasha Wallinger, contrib...

Solving Fashion Supply Chain Overdevelopment

24 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Liza Amlani (Retail Strategy Group) and Aimee Heuschkel (Lectra) joined RETHINK Retail at NRF to discuss why the industry is currently making too much...

Gen Z 2026: Navigating the New Trend Cycle

20 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Marie Schwartz caught up with MaryLeigh Bliss from Ypulse at NRF to talk Gen Z in 2026. The old marketing playbooks? They’re history. The 20-year t...

Experential Retail: The Permanent Jewelry Boom

19 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, RETHINK Retail host Marie Schwartz sits down with Jake Randolph and Adel Cruz from LINKED Permanent Jewelry to discuss the explosive ...

Pragmatic AI: Solving the Retail Data Gap

18 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Retailers often chase AI for its own sake instead of solving specific operational problems. In this session of Retailer Tech Tips, Thaddeus Segura fr...

Shoptalk Spring 2026 Preview: How AI Is Transforming Retail

17 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As Shoptalk Spring 2026 approaches, one theme is shaping the conversation across the retail industry: AI is moving from experimentation to real-world ...

Ecommerce Now: Elevating Shopper Experience and Discovery

17 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the RETHINK Retail Podcast, Digital Shelf Institute Executive Director Lauren Livak joins Paul Murphy to discuss what’s shaping t...

rethink retail Joe & Fritz Shoptalk Podcast March 2026

17 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Retailers often chase AI for its own sake instead of solving specific operational problems. In this session of Retailer Tech Tips, Thaddeus Segura fr...

Intelligence at the Edge: Powering the Store of Tomorrow

16 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Is Your Store Ready for What's Next? Modern retail is about more than just selling products. It’s about being fast, reliable, and smart right when ...

Luxury Retail Strategies: AI and Human Connection

14 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Luxury Retail: High-Tech Meets High-Touch In a market saturated with options, true luxury is defined by the depth of the experience. In this episode...

The Future of AI and Human-Centric Retail

13 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Human Heart of Retail Innovation The message from NRF 2026: Retail's Big Show was clear: Technology is the tool, but humanity is the strategy. I...

From Aisles to Insights: How People-First AI Is Rewriting Retail Operations

10 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Is your AI strategy solving problems or just building more dashboards? Retailers are drowning in data, yet most still struggle to move the needle on ...

Is Your Tech Strategy Lighting Money on Fire?

09 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

At a time when "agents" and AI dominate every conversation, it is easy to forget that the ultimate channel is the consumer. In this RETHINK Retail ep...

Redefining Fashion Through Process Innovation

07 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Is Your Supply Chain Your Biggest Competitive Advantage? We often hear about "the art of the merchant," but rarely do we discuss the unsexy mechanics...

Scalable Omnichannel Expansion Strategies

06 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Is Your Brand Built to Last or Just Built to Sell? Most brands treat retail as a "shiny" trophy, but the reality is that expansion often breaks your ...

AiR x NRF Podcast Dec 2025

06 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How do brands scale AI governance without slowing down innovation? In this episode, Yael Kochman sits down with NRF leaders Christian Beckner and Car...

The Shift to Intelligent Retail: Beyond Digital

05 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Future of the Store Isn’t Digital. It’s Intelligent. Are we drowning in data but starving for results? Recorded on the ground at Euroshop, ho...

Elevating Frontline Retail Strategy for 2026

03 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

People have been declaring “the store is dead” for years. They were wrong. What’s actually dying is lazy retail. Stop leading from the top down...

Beyond the Pilot: The Shift to Applied AI in Retail

02 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Generative AI is moving beyond the lab and into the production environment. But for many enterprises, "pilot fatigue" is becoming a major bottleneck t...

Humanizing Retail Digital Transformation in 2026

27 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As artificial intelligence and immersive technologies dominate the headlines, the core of the industry remains unchanged: the human connection. In th...

Where Retail AI Delivers ROI Today

26 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

AI is now a core requirement, not a side project. In this episode of the AiR Podcast, Top AI Leader Kimberly Morgan sits with Sameer Sharma and CK Wa...

Real-Time Inventory Management in Grocery

23 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Real-time inventory management is reshaping how grocery retailers manage availability, labor, and store execution. On the latest RETHINK Retail Podca...

Turning Retail Into Unforgettable Experiences

20 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Physical retail isn’t just surviving, it’s thrilling, immersive, and unforgettable! In this episode, Sandi Danick, SVP at Triple Five Group, shar...

AI Checkout, Shrink Reduction, and the Future of Front-End Optimization

18 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Frictionless checkout has become one of the most discussed topics in retail technology. But for enterprise retailers, the real question is not whether...

Gen Z Marketing Strategy with Sourabh Sharma

17 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What does it really take to win over Gen Z and Gen Alpha in 2026? Aliyah Flowers, B2B Community Manager at RETHINK Retail, connects with Sourabh Shar...

Marie Schwartz on AI, Community and Retail

14 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

At NRF 2026, April Sabral, Founder of April Sabral Leadership & Ask April AI, spoke with Marie Schwartz, CEO of RETHINK Retail, about leadership, comm...

Hammitt Retail Strategy in Modern Luxury

12 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

From garage startup to global cult following. During NRF 2026, one thing really stood out in this conversation between Marie Schwartz and Jennifer Sp...

Moving past pilots: What enterprise AI actually takes

10 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Enterprise AI doesn’t fail because the models aren’t ready. It stalls when operating models, data foundations, and decision paths can’t keep up....

Retail Therapy Podcast: NRF 2026 Debrief

09 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

There is a reason NRF is called Retail’s Big Show. Each year, it generates an unmistakable buzz across the retail industry. What matters most, howev...

Retail Media Measurement: Top NRF 2026 Insights

06 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Recorded live at NRF 2026: Retail’s Big Show, The RETHINK Retail Podcast features Fritz Finlay, Head of Production at RETHINK Retail, in conversatio...

Brand Growth Insights: Marketplaces & Ecosystems

03 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Unlock the Future of Brand Growth Discover what’s changing fastest in how brands grow today, straight from industry leaders who are shaping modern ...

Branded Calling ID in Retail

02 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Recorded live at NRF 2026: Retail's Big Show, this episode of the RETHINK Retail Podcast features Michelle James, Vice President at CTIA, in conversat...

Winning in The Agentic Era: The Commerce Roadmap for Success

02 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Your product data wasn't built for AI agents. Here's why that's a problem. In the latest episode of RETHINK Retail's award-winning AiR (AI in Retail)...

Scaling Human Connection with AI: Live at NRF 2026

30 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Can technology actually make shopping feel more personal? Recorded live at NRF 2026, this RETHINK Retail Podcast moves past the AI hype to focus on t...

AI in Luxury Resale: NRF 2026 Insights

28 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Recorded live at NRF 2026: Retail's Big Show, the RETHINK Retail Podcast dives into how Rebag is using conversational AI to transform luxury resale. ...

Agentic AI and the Future of Retail Execution

27 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Retail AI is evolving — and the biggest breakthroughs are happening after the sale. In this episode of the Rethink Retail Podcast, host Michael Zak...

From Insight to Impact: Intelligent Retail Podcast

26 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Recorded at NRF 2026: Retail’s Big Show, this episode of the RETHINK Retail podcast explores how retailers are translating data into more informed d...

How AI Is Reshaping Retail Payments and the Checkout Experience

15 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

AI is transforming how retailers manage payments, prevent fraud, and deliver seamless checkout experiences. In this episode of the Rethink Retail podc...

NRF Big Show 2026: The Countdown to the Future of Retail

05 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

🌟 Can you feel the anticipation? Together we rise! The countdown to NRF big show 2026 has begun! This year promises new activations and global in...

New Customer Expectations: What Retailers Need to Know

18 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of RETHINK Retail, Top Retail Experts unpack how much customer expectations have accelerated and expert tips for retailers trying to c...

Retail Leaders Share 2026 Predictions: AI, Omnichannel, Trust & the Future of Commerce

18 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As the retail industry heads into 2026, innovation is no longer theoretical — it’s operational. In this special episode of the Rethink Retail Pred...

The Connected Store: How Real-Time Data Is Powering the Future of Retail

17 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of Rethink Retail, host Martin Bailie is joined by Jerome Hamrit, Senior Vice President for Data and Retail Media at VusionGroup, and ...

Beyond the Store: Building the Business Case for Video AI in Retail

16 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What if store cameras were one of retail’s most underused growth assets? In this episode, Martin Bailie (Advisory Board, RETHINK Retail) sits down ...

AI-Powered Consumer Insights for the New Retail Era

12 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when survey-based consumer research gets replaced by real-time, AI-orchestrated insight? At GroceryShop 2025, host Kirat Anand sits down...

The Zero Proof: The Business of Going Alcohol-Free

09 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How do you scale one of the fastest-growing beverage categories in retail? In this episode, host James Tenser sits down with Sean Goldsmith, Co-Found...

Beyond Compliance: The New Language of Retail Resilience

04 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Cyber threats aren’t evolving, they’re accelerating. 🚨 In this new AiR Podcast episode, Renee Hartmann sits down with Kenneth Ogami, Industry ...

How PepsiCo Is Accelerating Innovation & Growth

01 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How is PepsiCo reshaping its future while staying true to the brands consumers love? In this episode, host Matt Mueller sits down with Michael Del Poz...

It’s Skinny – “Building a Modern Food Brand”

26 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of “Building a Modern Food Brand,” host Christina Downey sits down with Matthew Newman, CCO at It’s Skinny, to talk about the ha...

Rohlik Group: Leading Online Grocery Growth

26 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when strategy, speed, and innovation collide in the grocery industry? In this episode of RETHINK Retail: Global Leaders, host Theo Schwe...

Retail Therapy – Redefining Value in Retail

26 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Value isn’t just about low prices anymore. As shoppers become more intentional and economic pressures rise, retailers are shifting their strategies—...

Engineering the Future of AI and Customer Experience

25 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when technology meets true customer empathy? In this episode of Rethink Retail: Global Retail Leaders, host Alex Baker sits down with Ut...

Inside EuroShop 2026: What’s Next for Global Retail

24 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

EuroShop only happens once every three years — and every edition sets the pace for the future of global retail. In the latest RETHINK Retail Podcas...

From NYC Bakery to National CPG: The Rise of Elisa’s Love Bites

21 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this Rethink Retail podcast episode live from Groceryshop, David Weinand (Incisiv) speaks with Elisa Lyew, founder of Elisa’s Love Bites, on tran...

Retail’s Secret to a Sellout Holiday Season

14 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Join Timm Henderlight, Lead Strategy Consultant at Perficient, and Rick Olson, Consult Partner at Kyndryl, as they reveal how predictive analytics and...

Building Community, Innovation, and the Future of Connected Fitness

13 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when passion, purpose, and technology collide on water? In this Rethink Retail: Global Leaders episode, host Ninaad Acharya sits down wi...

Ep. 1: Are Ecommerce Sites Dead in the Age of AI?

12 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to Omnichannel Reimagined: A new RETHINK Retail & VTEX Video Podcast Series giving senior retail leaders an insider’s edge on the trends, te...

Crafting Luxury, Connection, and Intelligent Growth

07 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How does a century-old luxury lingerie brand balance craftsmanship, connection, and cutting-edge technology? In this Rethink Retail episode, Cathy Mc...

Self-Disruption in CPG: Harnessing Data, AI & Cloud to Shape the Future

30 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The shelf era is over—and the rules of CPG growth are changing fast. 🛒💡 Join host Bryan Gildenberg and PwC experts Carla DeSantis & Remzi Ura...

Silk the Rich: Luxury, Sustainability & AI in Retail

23 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How does a Japanese brand turn 150-year-old silk into a global haircare phenomenon? Alex Baker sits down with Kodai Takahashi, co-founder & CEO of Si...