SISTIR is a coffee-originated gifting brand, that grew from a sisterly conversation (SIS) about coffee (Stirred) around the ideal '3am blend' to power parents through that mid-night wake-up moment for a crying baby. SISTIR's founder, Georgie Janion-Shaw, joins us in the studio and we hare about the brand's beginnings and how the combination of branding savvy, punning and the availability of a gifting channel in NotOnTheHighStreet allowed them to start. Over time - and through experimentation, optimisation, product development efforts - the product range and channels grew. Georgie share with us ..read more

Our studio chat with Kieron (Digital Director at Blackwells, part of the Waterstones group of booksellers) had a number of firsts... Not only the first podcast of 2024 (Happy New Year to one and all!) but also the first time that Georgia and I had been given gifts. In our prep for the studio session Kieron had asked us what were the last three books we'd read. He used this to predict a book for each of us and wrapped them for us to give in the studio! Utterly thoughtful, but more importantly gets to the heart of Kieron's focus upon data AND intuition. In our conversation we talk about the hist ..read more

Ntola and Raine joined Georgia and me in the studio and reminded us just why a roundtable discussion is so much fun and enlightening! Raine - the head of digital at New Look (www.newlook.com) - talks us through how to connects with the 'moments' in customers' lives, and of course the planning, data, heuristics and approaches needed to deliver that at scale. We hear about her experiences ranging from luxury and digital (Farfetch) to high street (Arcadia), fast-moving digital (Boohoo.com) to more 'considered' retailers. Ntola - trading director at Emma Bridgewater - picks up on the themes of dat ..read more

Paddy joined us in the studio with "time" clearly on his mind. Throughout our zinger-filled, high-protein chat, Paddy returned to the theme of "if you find a fix for time, you'll see the sales". B&Q is the £4bn-ish turnover DIY retailer that is now part of the Kingfisher PLC group (which also includes in its portfolio the trade-focused Screwfix, plus Castorama and Brico Depot in France and Koctas in Turkey. During our conversation it was clear that Paddy's broad experience (financial services, department stores, logistics and final mile) has created an omnivorous approach to references and ..read more

Tony Preedy is a bit of a legend at Etail Towers and has one of the most rounded and in-depth knowledge of e-commerce performance (brand, digital marketing, CRM and business models) that we know. Having run through Tony's CV, we focus on Fruugo - its history, operation and market position. With a blend of incisive wit and deadpan humour, Tony talks about the importance of relevance and focus at scale ("We're not a marketplace, we're a very good marketing machine"), and how a combination of AI and human care can present 140 million SKUs in 40 markets - a combinatorial challenge resulting in c6b ..read more

Some 'summer listening' in this episode, where we take as our theme "retailers and the arts". There's a long and illustrious history of retail professionals swapping the stores for galleries, but with our current digital dimension there's still a consumer/customer/visitor/individual connection. In the studio today we have Ros Lawler, COO of the National Portrait Gallery, fresh from a multi-year reworking of the space, the interpretation and the visitor facilities. Widely hailed as a triumph, Ros reflects on an extremely varied career that spans music, publishing, retail and the arts - all, how ..read more

Molly Dobson is the MD of Currys Business, the B2B operation of the long-established Currys brand, that covers white goods to smart devices via outdoors electricals and gaming... basically anything with a plug or voltage! See www.currys.co.uk. Molly explodes into our studio like a positive force of nature, and takes us at a gallop through the business, the service approach, and how expertise, people, systems and great service come together into the B2B offering. We hear of Molly's career and how the data+customer obsession has been a connective line through her roles. Molly takes us through ho ..read more

Recorded on site at the inaugural SubX World conference held in London this May. Avalara’s Sacha Wilson, SMOL’s Neil Campbell and Chargebee’s Tarmo van der Goot launch this brand new look at the subscription economy.  DeliveryX editor Katie Searles asks the SubX World speakers and sponsors their experiences in this fast evolving market ..read more

In this episode we will hear from natural deodorant company Wild who aim to transform the bathroom with a range of refillable products. Origin Coffee are also back to describe how physical stores (or coffee shops) can play their part in this refillable revolution ..read more

A dress for a special occasion, a designer handbag, even curated wardrobes - this episode will look at how retailers are renting their fashion out. But it is not simply apparel that is rentable, we are joined in the studio by The Bike Club’s founder James Symes ..read more