Retail Disrupted

Natalie Berg

Learn from the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail. Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg, Retail Disrupted® is a weekly podcast exploring the biggest trends in retail, e-commerce, and consumer behavior. Join us as we dive into the future of shopping — from AI-powered experiences and omnichannel strategy to reimagined stores, sustainability, social commerce, and more. We explore how technology is reshaping retail, how shopping habits will evolve in the future, and what brands need to do to stay relevant in this digital era. Each episode offers practical insights, sharp analysis, and big-picture thinking to help you navigate the evolving retail sector with confidence. Based in London, designed for a global audience.

  1. 1 day ago

    How TikTok Drives People Back to Shops

    TikTok is sending shoppers back to stores, not away from them. Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg, this episode features Paul Mears, Group Vertical Director of Retail and E-Commerce at TikTok, on why discovery on TikTok is driving footfall and sales to independent shops, cafes, and restaurants. We open with analyst reaction to the Primark news: Primark plans to launch home delivery in the UK after years of resisting online. Read Natalie's comments on the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c89jdl0j5x4o  Paul then shares new data on TikTok's £10 billion contribution to the UK economy, why TikTok live shopping doesn't need to be overly produced - just authentic - and what retailers can learn from sellers winning beyond beauty and fashion. Even butchers and veg box suppliers are finding success on the platform. Listen to the end to hear how TikTok plans to use AI to enhance the customer experience.  You can also watch this discussion on YouTube  Mentioned in this episode: 📄 Transporeon Whitepaper: Retail Logistics Trends & Transportation Solutions 📺 Webinar with Tesco: Managing Retail Logistics in the Era of Uncertainty

    How TikTok Drives People Back to Shops

  2. 10 Sept

    Kraft Heinz Chief Growth Officer on Power of Partnerships

    How does Kraft Heinz decide what shoppers actually want next — from a viral vodka pasta to zero sugar, zero salt ketchup? Karen Owen, Chief Growth Officer, Europe & Pacific Developed Markets, at Kraft Heinz, joins Natalie Berg to discuss how to turn consumer obsession into commercial growth — from spotting viral trends and building true brand partnerships to testing flavour and creative with AI as one tool in a bigger innovation engine. A playbook for commerce leaders on reading shoppers and scaling what works. 📺 Watch on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXchNfFHWyU  WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: • How Kraft Heinz reads consumer signals — Gen Z, singletons and QSR inspiration — before committing to launch • Inside the Ocado test-and-learn partnership: joint consumer data, co-developed ranges, and Ocado's role testing pack, range and on-shelf execution • From viral to bestseller: How Gigi Hadid's vodka pasta led to the creation of Heinz x Absolut tomato vodka pasta sauce — #3 in UK supermarkets at launch and Kraft Heinz's best-selling limited edition — and why Heinz Tomato Ketchup Zero is now +26% YoY • Where AI saves hundreds of hours (flavour profiling, creative pre-testing) and where human insight still leads, plus early signals on agentic commerce ABOUT OUR GUEST Karen Owen oversees innovation, marketing and brand strategy for Kraft Heinz' European and Pacific Developed Markets, united by the company's crown jewel, Heinz - a global brand icon with roots in Karen's hometown of Wigan, where her love for the billion-dollar brand began. A seasoned CPG executive with a passion for building high performing teams, Karen has a track record of spearheading innovation and creativity to drive top and bottom-line growth for global brands like LIPTON Teas and Infusions, where she served as Chief Marketing Officer prior to joining Kraft Heinz. Karen has also held leadership roles at Diageo, Coty Beauty and P&G. ABOUT THE PODCAST 🎙️ Retail Disrupted is a Top 5% Global Podcast. Every week, retail analyst Natalie Berg speaks with the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail.   👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted  👉 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/retail-disrupted/id1676107321   👉 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5H0TALn63ov2VAIJPNi3FM   👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/  👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com

    Kraft Heinz Chief Growth Officer on Power of Partnerships

  3. 1 Sept

    Inside Diageo's Digital Strategy: AI, Amazon Discovery & 15-Minute Delivery

    70% of whiskey shoppers in Germany start on Amazon — even if they don't buy there.  It's a powerful reminder that digital commerce is about more than the transaction; it's about discovery, inspiration and brand-building - important for a category like alcohol where just 6-7% of sales take place online. In this episode of Retail Disrupted, Natalie Berg sits down with Danson Huang, Global Vice President of Connected Commerce at Diageo, to explore how AI, quick commerce, retail media and digital discovery are reshaping the consumer journey. 📺 Watch this episode on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS1z5pMKVAg&t=239s  Danson and Natalie discuss: • Why consumers are prioritizing occasion-led thinking over product-led search • How brands should optimize for recommendations from LLMs and shopping agents • Why agentic commerce may make sense for some purchases (the weekly Guinness order) but not others (the single malt whiskey gift) • How quick commerce can turn live moments — from football wins to Eurovision — into real-time, relevant shopping occasions • The role of retail media in quick commerce and why brands needs to improve relevance here • The foundational data and organizational challenges holding AI projects back and why businesses should focus on outcomes — not "AI for AI's sake" 💡One of the key takeaways from Danson: "Consumers don't live in their CHANNELS. They live with their NEEDS." 🤝 This episode is part of our Shoptalk series, sponsored by Manhattan Associates. https://www.manh.com/   ABOUT OUR GUEST Danson Huang leads Diageo's global B2C digital transformation across pure-play, e-grocery, quick-commerce, D2C platforms, and brand ecosystems. With over 20 years of experience spanning China, Singapore, the US, France, and the UK, he has built and scaled digital commerce, innovation, and omnichannel growth capabilities across global consumer brands. Danson is recognized for his work in connected commerce, MACH-enabled transformation, and the integration of technology, data, and consumer experience to drive sustainable growth. ABOUT THE PODCAST 🎙️ Retail Disrupted is a Top 5% Global Podcast. Every week, retail analyst Natalie Berg speaks with the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail.    👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/retail-disrupted/id1676107321 👉 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5H0TALn63ov2VAIJPNi3FM 👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/ 👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com

    Inside Diageo's Digital Strategy: AI, Amazon Discovery & 15-Minute Delivery

  4. 30 Jul

    Kingfisher's Group Digital Director: AI Is Bigger Disruption Than E-Commerce & Mobile

    AI is a bigger wave of disruption than e-commerce or mobile because it isn't just changing how consumers behave; it's fundamentally changing how businesses operate. Romain Roulleau, Group Digital & E-Commerce Director, Kingfisher, joins Natalie Berg to unpack how Kingfisher — the £13 billion home improvement giant behind B&Q, Screwfix, Castorama, and Brico Depot — is at the forefront of this next retail transformation.  In this episode, Romain reveals how Kingfisher's marketplace now drives 50% of e-commerce GMV, why they're betting on AI-powered conversational commerce with Google Cloud's Vertex AI, and what "agentic commerce" means for the future of retail. Romain also unpacks the store-centric marketplace model that's become a differentiator against pure players — including click-and-collect and in-store returns for third-party products — and explains why 78% of Kingfisher's business still happens in physical stores, making expert advice the next frontier for AI. If you're a retail leader navigating the shift from omnichannel to AI-powered commerce, this is your briefing. 🤝 This episode is brought to you by Manhattan Associates and was recorded in Barcelona at Shoptalk Europe. https://www.manh.com/  ABOUT OUR GUEST As Group Digital & E-Commerce Director at Kingfisher, Romain is responsible for leading all marketplace, retail media, e-commerce and innovation activity within the Group and its banner brands. Prior to his current role, Romain spent five years as Chief Marketing, Digital & Customer Officer at Castorama, one of the leading home improvement retailers in France, driving the brand's digital strategy and e-commerce growth. He has also previously held a number of senior digital and e-commerce roles within the travel industry globally, over the course of more than a decade, including as SVP, Digital & E-Commerce at AccorHotels, one of the world's largest hotel groups. ABOUT THE PODCAST 🎙️ Retail Disrupted is a Top 5% Global Podcast with the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail. Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg.   👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted  👉 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/retail-disrupted/id1676107321   👉 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5H0TALn63ov2VAIJPNi3FM   👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/  👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com

    Kingfisher's Group Digital Director: AI Is Bigger Disruption Than E-Commerce & Mobile

  5. 28 Jul

    The Trust Crash: Why Consumers Don't Believe Brands Anymore

    Your brand believes it's trusted. Your customers disagree. Dr Amna Khan is a renowned retail and consumer behaviour expert with a PhD in trust development from Alliance Manchester Business School. She's observed the trust contract between businesses and consumers unravel in real time. She joins Natalie Berg to unpack what this means for retailers and brands. 📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g02sjV7Kako&t=1827s  What you'll learn:  Why emotional trust builds resilience.  Why founder-led brands like P. Louise are flourishing and how transparency strengthens trust when things go wrong. How Gen Z discover products through creators, not advertising — and how that permanently rewires the path to purchase. The imperfection advantage. AI-generated content is flooding every channel. Human flaws — typos, rough edges, unscripted moments — are becoming the new trust signals. Where AI helps vs where it hurts. Holland & Barrett uses AI to free up staff for personalised advice. But when AI generates flawless, homogenous content, consumers trust it less — not more. What AI agents will do to your brand if you haven't built trust by 2027. CONNECT WITH DR AMNA KHAN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dramnakhan/  ABOUT THE PODCAST 🎙️ Retail Disrupted is a Top 5% Global Podcast with the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail. Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg.  👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/retail-disrupted/id1676107321 👉 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5H0TALn63ov2VAIJPNi3FM 👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/ 👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com

    The Trust Crash: Why Consumers Don't Believe Brands Anymore

  6. 24 Jul

    Why This Luxury Founder Tells Customers NOT to Buy – Marc-Antoine Barrois Strategy Briefing

    Modern retail is globally efficient but emotionally bankrupt. Marc-Antoine Barrois, founder of the luxury fragrance house MARC-ANTOINE BARROIS, and architect Antoine Bouillot join Natalie Berg to discuss their shared belief: a store should prioritize emotion over the transaction. In this episode, they reveal how they design flagship spaces in London, Paris, and New York that deliberately increase dwell time, why sales associates are trained to tell customers to leave without buying, and how they were inspired to create the "IRL is Better" campaign. 📺 Watch on YouTube to see inside Marc-Antoine Barrois stores: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pub_PiUReKA  We discuss: ▶ Why efficiency has stripped retail of emotion — and how to put it back ▶ The architectural toolkit for deceleration: treasure-hunt layouts, suspended furniture, and materials built to last ▶ Sales advisors, not salespeople: training staff to prioritize connection over conversion ▶ "IRL is Better" — inside the anti-social media campaign that doubled down on real-world intimacy ▶ How handwritten notes and personal emails extend the flagship experience online ABOUT THE PODCAST 🎙️ Retail Disrupted is a Top 5% Global Podcast with the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail. Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg.  👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/retail-disrupted/id1676107321 👉 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5H0TALn63ov2VAIJPNi3FM 👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/ 👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com

    Why This Luxury Founder Tells Customers NOT to Buy – Marc-Antoine Barrois Strategy Briefing

  7. 20 Jul

    California Pizza Kitchen's Rick Rosenfield on Innovation, Reinvention & the CPK Comeback

    In 1985, two federal prosecutors walked away from their careers and mortgaged their homes to open a pizza restaurant in Beverly Hills. They wound up inventing an entirely new dining category. Rick Rosenfield, co-founder of California Pizza Kitchen, joins Natalie Berg on Retail Disrupted to share the unfiltered story: the one menu hit that redefined casual dining, the culture that made CPK somewhere people genuinely wanted to work, how it beat the odds to survive bankruptcy and the reinvention chapter that followed. Rick shares lessons from his new book: The California Pizza Kitchen Story: How Two Federal Prosecutors Changed the Way America Eats Pizza. https://amplifypublishinggroup.com/product/nonfiction/business-and-finance/leadership-and-management/the-california-pizza-kitchen-story/  This is a masterclass in innovation, differentiation, and ethical leadership for anyone building a brand, scaling multi-site retail, or navigating private equity-backed growth. What retail leaders take away: How two lawyers created upscale casual dining at shopping centers with zero restaurant experience How BBQ chicken pizza became the brand's defining product Why CPK became the first national chain to go non-smoking — and what it reveals about culture-led decisions The private equity warning: what founders lose when new owners sideline the vision How CPK is diversifying into packaged goods and airport retail to future-proof the brand Watch this episode on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8WT_w571no&t=790s  ABOUT OUR GUEST Rick Rosenfield is a former federal prosecutor and defense attorney. He is the co-founder of California Pizza Kitchen, the restaurant brand that helped redefine how America eats pizza and reshaped modern casual dining. Before entering the restaurant business, Rosenfield began his legal career at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, DC, where he worked on cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Courts of Appeals.  In the mid-eighties, Rosenfield and his partner, Larry Flax, made the unconventional decision to leave the law field and open the first California Pizza Kitchen in Beverly Hills. What began as a single restaurant grew into a global brand while maintaining a distinctive culinary vision and culture. ABOUT THE PODCAST  🎙️ Retail Disrupted is a Top 5% Global Podcast with the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail. Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg.   👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted  👉 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/retail-disrupted/id1676107321   👉 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5H0TALn63ov2VAIJPNi3FM   👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/  👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com   #CaliforniaPizzaKitchen #CPK #RestaurantStrategy #BrandBuilding #RetailDisrupted #RetailPodcast #FoodBrand #FounderStory

    California Pizza Kitchen's Rick Rosenfield on Innovation, Reinvention & the CPK Comeback

  8. 15 Jul

    The UK's 3rd Biggest Fashion Retailer Owns No Inventory — An OC&C Strategy Briefing

    The UK's third biggest fashion retailer doesn't own a single store, design a single garment, or hold a single unit of inventory. Natalie Berg sits down with Olivia May, Partner at OC&C Strategy Consultants, to deliver the strategy briefing retail leaders need on the resale revolution. In this episode: ▶ Why Vinted overtook established names to become the UK's #3 fashion retailer ▶ The data advantage first-hand brands hold over pure-play resale platforms ▶ Why luxury resale is harder to scale than it looks — from retail theft to $78 item processing costs  ▶ Vinted vs Depop: what separates a platform winner from a challenger ▶ The "say-do gap": why the same customer shopping resale is also buying Shein For retail leaders evaluating their own resale channel — or trying to understand where their margin is going — this episode is for you. 🤝 This episode is sponsored by OC&C Strategy Consultants. https://www.occstrategy.com   📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN3rfoutHxc  ABOUT OUR GUEST Olivia May is a Partner in the Global Retail Practice at OC&C with a particular focus on developing winning strategies and game-changing customer propositions for apparel businesses, marketplaces and digital native brands. Olivia has over 14 years of experience working closely and collaboratively with retailers and brands to both develop customer-centric strategies and help put them into action in a way that transforms and future-proofs client businesses. In particular, she works closely with platforms, brands and investors looking to participate and win in recommerce markets. ABOUT RETAIL DISRUPTED Retail Disrupted is a Top 5% Global Podcast with the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail. Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg. 👉 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildisrupted 👉 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/retail-disrupted/id1676107321 👉 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5H0TALn63ov2VAIJPNi3FM 👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/ 👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com

    The UK's 3rd Biggest Fashion Retailer Owns No Inventory — An OC&C Strategy Briefing
See All (141)

4.8
out of 5
41 Ratings

About

Learn from the leaders and disruptors shaping the future of retail. Hosted by retail analyst Natalie Berg, Retail Disrupted® is a weekly podcast exploring the biggest trends in retail, e-commerce, and consumer behavior. Join us as we dive into the future of shopping — from AI-powered experiences and omnichannel strategy to reimagined stores, sustainability, social commerce, and more. We explore how technology is reshaping retail, how shopping habits will evolve in the future, and what brands need to do to stay relevant in this digital era. Each episode offers practical insights, sharp analysis, and big-picture thinking to help you navigate the evolving retail sector with confidence. Based in London, designed for a global audience.

Information

  • Creator
    Natalie Berg
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    141
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026
  • Show Website
    Retail Disrupted

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