Shrinking margins, labor shortages, and the complexity of omni-channel fulfillment are putting unprecedented pressure on grocery and convenience retailers. On the latest RETHINK Retail Podcast, recorded live at EuroShop, Renee Hartmann, Top Retail Expert, sits down with Zsuzsa Hordai of SPAR International and Aidan Mittra of OrderGrid to unpack these operational pressures, and what they demand from retailers next. KEY TAKEAWAYS - Margins and workforce are the defining pressures: Declining profits and difficulty retaining staff at every level of the organization remain the industry's most urgent challenges. - Technology should amplify people, not replace them: The best implementations automate low-value tasks so associates can focus on customer engagement and high-value work. - Real-time data drives better decisions: Moving beyond lagging back-office systems gives retailers the visibility to act on out-of-stocks, expiring inventory, and margin risks before they escalate. - Out-of-stocks damage more than revenue: In an omni-channel world, stockouts erode customer trust and long-term loyalty. - Practical automation is already here: Computer vision, RFID, and human-in-the-loop systems are being deployed today to improve shelf availability and operational efficiency. This episode explores how a real-time data foundation can reduce friction for shoppers and staff alike, and position the physical store as a driver of lasting growth.

Beyond Vanilla AI: The Era of Agentic Commerce The retail industry has moved past experimentation. We are now in the realization phase where AI agents deliver frictionless, store-like expertise to digital channels. Vic Miles from Microsoft and Crispin Lowery of Rezolve AI join Jeremy Goldman to discuss why the early adopter advantage is now a requirement for brand survival. Key Discussion Points: - The Expertise Bridge: How agents bring the nuance of an in-store associate to the digital checkout. - The Tesla Analogy: Why retail tech is shifting from rigid engineering to fluid, software-first experiences. - Personalization as a Killer App: Using AI to move from broad demographics to solving singular problems for individual shoppers. - Choosing the Right Foundation: Why no-hallucination platforms and transparent brand voice control are the new vendor table stakes. Stop managing metrics. Start mastering the human experience.

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 Design, Nicholas Effler joins Top Retail Expert Cynthia Ortiz to discuss how Crate & Barrel balances historic architecture with the high-tech expectations of the modern shopper. Inside the Episode: - Digital Echoes: How the pace of app-scrolling translates to physical shopping behavior. - Associate Centricity: Why clearing out menial tasks through design is the fastest way to boost sales performance. - Right-Sizing the Fleet: The transition from homogenous 40,000 square foot "cathedrals" to contextual, localized footprints. - Architectural Restraint: The discipline required to modernise historic buildings without losing their soul. Stop building static spaces. Start designing for the fluid shopper.

Retail design is at a crossroads. As customer expectations rise, physical stores must offer more than just products: they must deliver animation, meaning, and connection. Steve Calhoun and Andy Hunt, from The Hershey Company, join Top Retail Expert Elisa Servais to discuss how Hershey’s uses technology to amplify nostalgia and joy without overstimulating the shopper. Inside the Episode: - The Digital Interface: Moving beyond multichannel silos to make the mobile phone an integral part of the store journey. - The AR Sandbox: Using spatial computing and AR to field-test "blue sky" merchandising concepts before they hit the sales floor. - Inclusive Innovation: Why Hershey’s implements "calm hours" at Chocolate World to accommodate neurodivergent visitors. - The Invisible Tool: Ensuring technology serves the "moment of goodness" rather than distracting from the brand markers. Stop building stores. Start designing experiences.

On the latest RETHINK Retail Podcast, host Toby Pickard of the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) sits down with Aidan Mittra, Co-founder of OrderGrid. They explore how real-time inventory technology is transforming store efficiency, supply chain management, and the future of grocery retail. KEY TAKEAWAYS: - Location and expiry awareness is now essential: Retailers need to know exactly where items are and whether they are sellable, not just whether they exist in the system. - A real-time data layer connects the dots: Bridging ERP and POS systems gives retailers full visibility across the front of house and back room. - Better data means better orchestration: Precise item location reduces picker search time, improves staff deployment, and enables automated replenishment. - Hybrid fulfillment is redefining store design: OrderGrid's patented approach blends traditional retail with a micro-fulfillment dark store component, dramatically reducing picking times. - Emerging technologies are raising the bar: RFID, 2D barcodes, and computer vision are set to transform expiry traceability and strengthen sustainability across the supply chain. - The hyper-connected store is within reach: AI-empowered physical retail spaces are creating better experiences for staff and shoppers through improved availability and operational transparency. This episode explores how a clean, real-time data foundation positions retailers to compete in an increasingly connected grocery landscape.

Traditional retail is designed to drive the next transaction, but Patagonia is built to drive a movement. Angela Clark, VP of Digital at Patagonia, joins Marie Schwartz to discuss leading a digital organization where activism is a primary KPI and short-term conversion is never the goal. Activism as a Metric: Why Patagonia treats a local cleanup sign-up with the same weight as a high-value product purchase. The Used Gear Edge: How side-by-side "New vs. Used" product pages have transformed customer acquisition and brand transparency. Membership vs Loyalty: Why the brand ditched the points-and-coupons model for a community-led experience guided by a company philosopher. Authentic Transparency: Moving beyond "greenwashing" by openly discussing the challenges of global manufacturing and carbon-heavy supply chains. Stop building for the next quarter. Start building for the next generation.

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 manually pulling reports, they aren't strategizing—they're just catching up. The tension for 2026 is moving past "Black Box" AI that demands blind faith to Agentic AI that provides actionable transparency. Karen Beebe, CTO of Bealls, Inc., details how a 111-year-old retailer scales innovation by integrating AI directly into their core business strategy. Rather than treating AI as a standalone project, Bealls uses autonomous agents to automate data-gathering drudgery. KEY INSIGHTS: - Automating the Monday Morning Grind: Bealls utilizes agents for Agentic Evaluation & Optimization (AEO). The system reconciles disparate data sources automatically, delivering a recommendation and its justification simultaneously so planners can act immediately. - Trust as a Technical Requirement: Transparency is the antidote to the "Black Box." By exposing the logic behind AI outputs, Bealls allows human experts to validate anomalies and local nuances, ensuring the machine learns from human intuition. - Integrated Innovation: AI use cases at Bealls are tied to the specific flow of off-price retail. This ensures technology serves the primary goal—inventory efficiency—rather than chasing technical novelties for their own sake. In the era of autonomous retail, trust is built on visibility. If your merchants don't understand the "why" behind the data, they shouldn't execute the "what."

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 they build trust for a high-price product in a market dominated by legacy names. THE HIGH-LEVEL INSIGHTS: - The Margin Trap: Why focusing on contribution margin is the only way to build a sustainable luxury business. - The Discovery Layer: Moving beyond SEO to win the race for Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). - Creative Velocity: Using technology to 5x your content output without losing the luxury human touch. - Double-Duty Dollars: Why the wall between "brand building" and "performance marketing" has to come down. Value isn't found in the algorithm. It is found in the connection.

Innovation is often confused with complexity. In this episode, Jennifer Peters, Director of DTC and Martech at OLLY, argues that the most successful brands in 2026 are the ones that execute the fundamentals with relentless consistency. They move past the hype of custom builds to focus on what actually moves the needle for a modern wellness brand. WHY YOU SHOULD LISTEN: - The Headless Trap: Why the trend of overly complicated, custom builds is fading and why almost no business is as "unique" as they think. - Beyond the $10 Coupon: How OLLY uses receipt scanning to build a unified view of the customer across Walmart, Target, and D2C. - Boring AI: Why the real power of AI lies in "un-glamorous" tasks like catalog enrichment and data hygiene rather than creative prompts. - AEO is the New SEO: How the role of the brand site is shifting from a revenue driver to a discoverability hub for Answer Engines (LLMs). THE TAKEAWAY: Stop sinking costs into flashy trends. Start investing in a site that actually converts.

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 Commerce & Media at Gildan, and guest host Spencer Lian-Thornton, VP Growth & Partnership of Mindgruve, discuss why the "Fail Fast" culture is now a requirement for survival. INSIDE THE EPISODE: - The ROAS Trap: Why high returns often hide cannibalization and how Gildan focuses on incremental growth instead. - Test and Learn: Placing experimentation at the center of the operating model to find the 3% of initiatives that actually scale. - The Final Differentiator: As AI automates the grunt work of reporting, strategy becomes the only competitive moat left. Stop managing channels. Start managing the consumer footprint. Watch the full episode here.

On the latest RETHINK Retail Podcast, host Fritz Finlay sits down with Jeannie Scarlet Freis-Terry of Albertsons and Aidan Mittra, Co-founder of OrderGrid, to discuss how grocers can modernize their technology stack. They explore building lasting vendor relationships and laying the operational foundation for an AI-driven future in the grocery sector. KEY TAKEAWAYS: - Great partnerships solve big problems: The best vendor relationships go beyond a single solution, enabling capabilities retailers could not build independently. - Modernization is a journey, not a switch: Given legacy system complexity, a phased deployment approach is far more practical than a full rip-and-replace strategy. - AI needs a solid foundation: Effective AI deployment requires trusted, real-time data. Without it, even the most sophisticated tools will underdeliver. - Pilots should be focused and measurable: Testing in five to twenty locations over four to six weeks allows retailers to prove value without overcommitting to full integration. - Feedback from the floor matters: Input from associates and customers early and often surfaces insights that data alone cannot capture. - Small-scale experimentation beats hesitation: Retailers who embrace controlled testing learn faster, fail cheaper, and build stronger strategies over time. IN SUMMARY: This episode explores how grocery retailers can move from legacy constraints to a modern, partnership-driven model built for the demands of today and the opportunities of tomorrow.