The Retail Podcast

It’s almost Christmas and this week’s Five Things cuts straight through the noise.

Alex and Simon break down what really happened this Black Friday, why the numbers matter less than the format shift, and what live shopping and brand activations tell us about where retail is heading next.

From muted UK retail sales and changing Black Friday behaviour, to why Ralph Lauren’s activations are quietly best-in-class, this episode focuses on...

This year, NRF is turning the dial up on everything: AI, interactivity, speakers and scaling a 40,000‑person global audience.

In this episode, I sit down with Jill from NRF to unpack how the team is bringing the 2026 global theme “The Next Now” to life at the Big Show in the US – and why this could be one of the strongest speaker lineups yet.

We dig into how what’s next is already here for retail – from AI‑driven shopping jou...

In this episode, recorded at MAPIC in Cannes, we sit down with Shane Eldstrom, CEO of United Developers, the company behind Place Vendôme in Qatar – a project that has already become the #3 shopping centre for high-end fashion in the entire Middle East, just a few years after opening.

Shane breaks down what makes Qatar’s retail market so distinctive, how Place Vendôme has scaled from opening to regional leader, and what interna...

Black Friday isn’t a day anymore. Singles’ Day now stretches across weeks. Quick commerce promises groceries in 15–30 minutes. In this APAC edition of Five Things Friday, co‑hosts Ngai Yuen Low & Ryf Quail break down how peak season is changing across China, Southeast Asia, Australia and Japan – and what it really means for consumers, retailers and retail property.Joining from WP. Kuala Lumpur and the Greater Sydney Area, Ngai ...

Recorded live at MAPIC 2025 in Cannes, this episode features a rare deep-dive with Ian Sandford, President of Eurofund Group, one of Europe’s most influential retail property operators. With more than €2B in assets across Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany and the UK, Eurofund sits at the centre of the sector’s biggest shifts.

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*Welcome to the official  channel of THE RETAIL PODCAST, the leading community for global retail l...

Black Friday isn’t a day anymore. It’s a month-long pressure cooker – and it’s forcing retailers to rethink everything from promotions to product pages.

Correction note: In the episode I mention a jumper with 7% wool – the actual composition was 8% wool.

Why Black Friday has morphed into “Black Month” – and what that constant promo pressure does to margins, teams and customer expectations

How John Lewis is investing £800m to turn “stu...

Julia Paulsen, Director of Ecommerce Nordics at Elkjøp Nordic (part of Currys plc), unpacks how to win when your store has two customers: the human and the AI assistant. We cover data quality, MACH, omnichannel execution, and the culture that turns OKRs into commercial outcomes.

🌐 Visit Retail News.AI, your premium destination for the most relevant, cutting-edge information in the retail sector: https://retailnews.ai/

💬 Which of th...

Coupang is finally profitable. China’s KKR Group is redefining offline lifestyle retail. APAC’s consumer landscape is shifting fast.

In this Five Things Friday — APAC Edition, Ryf Quail and Low Ngai Yuen unpack:
• Coupang’s record revenue and margin transformation
• Logistics innovations powering same-day delivery
• How Rocket WOW locks in customer loyalty
• China’s KKR Group and its explosive offline store growth
• T...

​ @RitualsCosmeticsGlobal  has opened its newest flagship at 297 Oxford Street, London. And it’s unlike anything the brand has built before.In this exclusive tour and interview, Alex Rezvan sits down with:• Annemarie Forsyth — Managing Director UK & Ireland• Richard Lems — Executive Director Format & DesignTogether, they reveal the design philosophy, customer-experience thinking, community strategy and the technology mindse...

How do you transform thousands of frontline colleagues from overloaded and under-informed to connected, confident, and AI‑enabled, without breaking the stores?

In this episode of The Retail Podcast, Alex sits down with Chris Chandler (Head of Store Support, Midcounties Co‑op) and Mark Williams (Managing Director, WorkJam EMEA) to unpack a full frontline transformation: from paper, WhatsApp groups and scattered comms… to a single dig...

Retail is back in force. Alex reports from Cannes at MAPIC on why capital is returning to physical retail. Simone unpacks the new John Lewis Christmas advert and how sentiment sells. We cover CBRE’s data, MINISO’s Bond Street bet, retail parks’ quiet surge, and why athleisure keeps compounding.

The 5 stories

1. John Lewis Christmas advert 2025: Why nostalgia + vinyl is the most effective emotional shortcut this season.

2. MAPI...

Asia’s retail landscape is evolving faster than anywhere else on Earth—and this episode brings you the inside view.

Host Alex Rezvan sits down with Ryf Quail, Managing Director of NRF APAC, and Low Ngai Yuen, former Chief Merchandise & Marketing Officer at AEON Malaysia, board member at GDEX and OCK Group, and award-winning creative leader, to explore:

• The rise of Chinese retail expansion across Southeast Asia

• Why super ...

AI, Merchandising & the Next Era of Retail with Noah (何诺亚) HerschmanAI isn’t replacing retail jobs — it’s enhancing them. In this episode of The Retail Podcast, host Alex Rezvan speaks with Noah (何诺亚) Herschman, Retail & Ecommerce Senior Executive and Global AI Strategist, about how artificial intelligence is transforming merchandising, pricing, and product lifecycle management.Noah has shaped ecommerce since the 1990s, wit...

Alex Rezvan and Jill Dvorak (NRF) open with Rosalía’s “Berghain” — a genre-bending track with Björk and Yves Tumor that shows how culture still drives commerce. Then come the hard numbers: Amazon’s plan to cut ≈ 30 000 corporate jobs (Reuters) and what it signals for hybrid work, efficiency, and morale.

Next, Calvin Klein’s Reels-first storytelling proves how emotional minimalism beats perfection in branding. They examine TikTok...

Topshop leans into Millennial nostalgia with Cara Delevingne; New Look fires up “Club New Look,” targeting scale with a £30m digital push; and ASOS takes a ten‑day Carnaby Street pop‑up mainstream with 200+ curated pieces and partner brands.

Bonus: a culture lens on Rosalía’s “Berghain” and what her fashion‑first storytelling means for retail discovery.

Related video mentioned: Rosalía — “Berghain” (Official): https://youtu.be/htQBS...

Rituals’ Richard Lems reveals how the brand designs slow shopping at scale—lighting, layouts, and refits that reuse ~60% of furniture—plus the Oxford Street flagship and Mind Oasis.

About this episode

We cover global consistency, the system of rolling improvements, sustainability baked into fixtures, and creative leadership habits you can steal tomorrow.

Guest: Richard Lems, Executive Director, Format & Design — Rituals.

Five Things Friday — Gap’s London Comeback, Morrisons’ ESL Rollout, AllSaints Pop‑Ups, DFS x Pinterest, Gen Beta

Today’s agenda: five moves reshaping UK retail—and what to do next.

NEWS FLASH LINE‑UP

• Gap returns to London with three stores (Covent Garden, White City, Wembley) before Christmas.

• Morrisons partners with VusionGroup to digitise pricing across all 497 supermarkets using ESLs.

• AllSaints opens three UK pop‑ups (Bristol C...

This episode dives into the mechanics of AI-powered personalization with Cédric Chéreau, Co-Founder of Eagle AI (ex-Untie Nots). Eagle AI’s platform delivers scalable, signal-based personalization that predicts behaviour and nudges loyalty — generating 7:1+ ROI and unprecedented digital engagement.

Cédric and Alex discuss:
• What personalization really means in 2025
• How gamification boosts engagement without gimmicks
• Wh...

In this USA edition of Five Things Friday, Alex Rezvan and Jill Dvorak, SVP of Content at NRF, decode the five major stories shaping the retail landscape—from Target’s nostalgic fashion comeback to Walmart’s partnership with OpenAI. A rapid-fire discussion of innovation, curation, and AI’s growing role in everyday retail.

Topics Covered:
• Target x Woolrich collaboration
• Ulta Beauty + Mirakl’s curated marketplace
• Walmar...