The Retail Podcast

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...

Simone Oloman joins Alex Rezvan to unpack how authenticity, community, and creativity are rewriting retail influence — from Prada’s cinematic London takeover to Morrisons’ 1-hour grocery promise.

1️⃣ The new face of influence — Why real voices, not million-follower celebrities, are shaping consumer trust.

2️⃣ Campus culture meets commerce — Hollister, the University of Texas, and how student-athletes are becoming micro-media brands.

3...

Alex (The Retail Podcast) and Ryf Quail (Director, NRF APAC) break down this week’s APAC headlines: Galeries Lafayette launches in Mumbai (with Delhi next), a surge of Chinese F&B brands expands into Singapore, and Porsche reports a Q3 delivery dip led by China and North America amid intensifying EV competition. They also explore lululemon Singapore’s retail-meets-wellness studio concept and why experiential formats are resetti...

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💬 Which of these trends do you think will shape the future of retail the most — and why? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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🌐 Visit Retail News.AI, your premium destination for the most relevant, cutting-edge information in the retail sector: https://retailnews.ai/💬 Which of these trends do you think will shape the future of retail the most — and why? Share your thoughts in the comments below!✅ Subscribe now and never miss a new episode of The Retail Podcast.   / @theretailpodcast  --------🎧 Listen to The Retail Podcast on your favorite platform:Spot...

AI, upskilling, and the future of intelligent supply chains — live from NRF Europe.
At NRF Europe, Jill Dvorak sits down with Best Buy’s Executive Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer, Mark Irvin, and Alex Rezvan from The Retail Podcast to explore how artificial intelligence, personalization, and collaborative learning are redefining the global supply chain.

Mark reveals how Best Buy is upskilling teams for the AI era, partn...

Retail is moving faster than ever—AI, private labels, and the holiday promo wave are reshaping how we shop. In this episode, Alex and Joe go live across YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitch to unpack the week’s biggest stories:

⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 – Intro: First live broadcast
00:40 – Shopify unlocks ChatGPT checkout for 1M merchants
01:23 – Etsy stock jumps, what it means for marketplaces
02:27 – Prime Big Deals + Target &...

Five Things Friday UK Edition with Simone Oloman & Alex.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro cold open

00:17 Roll credits & setup

00:54 Boots fragrance-only boutique (Broadgate)

01:52 Boots’ beauty play & premium push

03:13 Hand-off

03:26 Designers at Debenhams returns (Kim Cattrall, Ashish)

05:09 High street needs a little “zhuzh”

06:00 Festive trading season set-up (Prime Day → Christmas)

06:46 Søstrene Grene: UK standout performance

08:00...

This week on Five Things Friday, Alex and Simon unpack the retail stories shaping headlines and boardrooms:

Shein sparks backlash with a London pop-up designed for independents

Amazon Fresh shutters physical grocery stores—pivoting tech into airports and e-commerce

UK retail sales decline for the twelfth month straight, according to the CBI

Starbucks retrenches: closing UK stores while doubling down on experience-led formats

Primark tri...

Welcome to Five Things Friday APAC Edition (yes, on a Monday this time!). In this episode, we unpack the big signals shaping retail and consumer markets across the region and beyond.

Here’s what we cover:

1. Shanghai Fashion Week SS26 – momentum, buying power, and why global buyers are watching China again.

2. India’s luxury beauty boom – $800M today, $4B by 2035, and why retailers are planting seeds now.

3. Recession Glam – consumers tradi...

In this episode of The Retail Podcast, Alex Rezvan sits down with Connie Kwok, Vice President of Quick Commerce at Glovo, to unpack the future of on-demand retail.

From groceries and electronics to medicine and AirPods, Glovo has become one of Europe’s most dynamic marketplaces—operating in 23 countries and redefining convenience beyond speed.

Connie shares her perspective on:

• What “quick commerce” really means for today’s custom...

London Fashion Week’s smartest activations, Tala’s next store move, circularity brought to life, Apple’s youth brief, and why brands are making TV.

Episode Summary
It’s Five Things Friday, UK Edition. Alex and co-host Simone Oloman break down five stories shaping retail and culture this week:

1. British Vogue’s concept café during London Fashion Week and why mindfulness-led micro-experiences restore relevance;

2. Tala doubling down o...

London Fashion Week’s smartest activations, Tala’s next store move, circularity brought to life, Apple’s youth brief, and why brands are making TV.

Episode Summary
It’s Five Things Friday — UK Edition. Alex and co-host Simone Oloman break down five stories shaping retail and culture this week:

1. British Vogue’s concept café during London Fashion Week and why mindfulness-led micro-experiences restore relevance;

2. Tala doubling down ...

In this special episode of The Retail Podcast, Alex Rezvan sits down with Jill Dvorak (SVP Content, NRF) and Ryf Quail (Managing Director, NRF APAC) for a behind-the-scenes look at NRF Europe’s inaugural show in Paris.

From global connectivity to the future of retail leadership, the conversation spans:

• Why Europe needed its own NRF “Big Show”

• The pace of retail innovation and technology adoption

• Retail as a people and emotional bus...

Five Things Friday (UK) with the incredible Simone Oloman —

• Adaptive fashion at Asda

• JLP’s H1 turnaround plan

• AI trolleys at Morrisons

• Barbour × FARM Rio

• Oxford Street car‑free day

This week we break down five UK retail stories shaping the Golden Quarter: George at Asda’s 28‑piece adaptive clothing line (inspired by the late Nicky Newman), John Lewis Partnership’s H1 results and investment push, Instacart’s Caper smart...