Retail Disrupted

Gregor Ulitzka (President, Europe at Ocado Group) makes the case that online grocery isn't a sprint — it's a decathlon. The path to profitability requires retailers to master logistics, availability, pricing, last-mile, customer experience - the works!
From Ocado's origins as the UK's first pure-play online grocer to a technology platform and solutions business powering e-commerce for some of the world's biggest grocers — this is a masterclass in what it actually takes to make online grocery work.
Gregor and Natalie discuss:
The "detail, detail, detail" principle behind sustainable online grocery profitability
Shifting consumer habits & the 2-hour delivery myth
Global partnerships: from Alcampo to Asda (hot off the press)
In-store solutions vs CFCs: the infrastructure decisions
Where AI genuinely adds value in grocery (and where human beats algorithm every time)
Retail 2036: will AI agents be doing all the grocery shopping for us?
🤝 Today's episode is brought to you by Manhattan Associates https://www.manh.com/ 
ABOUT OUR GUEST
Gregor is president of Europe at the Ocado Group. As the first person to hold this role, he is responsible for the growth and operations of Ocado Solutions across the region. Prior to joining in 2023, Gregor built and scaled the vendor-facing supply chain at Amazon for over 10 years, with his most recent role for the business being director of supply chain and inventory management for Europe.
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:
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Most DTC brands struggle to make the leap from online-only to physical retail. Vuori didn't just make the transition -they're now scaling stores across Europe, Asia, and beyond.
Recorded live at Shoptalk Europe, Global President Ashley Kechter shares the playbook behind the California athleisure brand's retail expansion, international growth, and what's required to scale a modern consumer brand.
Ashley explains why Vuori's stores function as community hubs and customer acquisition engines — not just sales floors — and how international markets act as early-warning systems for product trends before they hit the US.
Key topics covered:
Vuori's brand DNA: how does it stand out in a crowded market?
The "density within markets" approach: clustering stores before diversifying geographically
How e-commerce data in 30 countries pinpoints the next store location
Why international markets are Vuori's trend-forecasting advantage
Balancing global brand consistency with hyper-local community activations
The role of stores in acquiring omnichannel customers who still value the opportunity to "touch and feel" the product
🤝 This episode is sponsored by Manhattan Associates - the unified foundation for global supply chains and commerce.
ABOUT OUR GUEST
As Vuori's Global President, Ashley Kechter is responsible for overseeing the brand's global business strategy, driving the financial process, and overseeing retail, eCommerce, planning and wholesale internationally and domestically. Prior to joining Vuori, Kechter served as global president of eComm, retail, wholesale and International for Fabletics, and previous roles include Chief Business Officer and GM for Banana Republic, and Chief Merchandising Officer and GM of Merch, Planning, eCommerce, Sourcing, Inventory Management, and Product Development at Restoration Hardware. 
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
👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/
👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com

A third of shoppers now expect grocery delivery within two hours. That's a huge shift in customer expectations – and one that Wolt is well placed to meet.
The Helsinki-based delivery platform (owned by DoorDash / sister company to Deliveroo) is now the #1 delivery app outside China and among the top 10 online grocers in Europe.
Marianne Vikkula, Head of Wolt, joins Natalie Berg to unpack the strategy behind one of Europe's leading local commerce platforms. And it's no longer just about takeaways and groceries - retail now makes up more than 25% of Wolt's global sales. 
Marianne shares how Wolt+ has evolved from a subscription that waived delivery fees to a lifestyle membership program, why baskets are a third larger when they include a promotional item, and why the average Wolt order travels under three kilometres. 
📺 Watch the episode on YouTube.
Key themes: 
→ Why quick commerce isn't just about speed (selection, quality, and affordability are essential) 
→ How Wolt's hyper-local model - 200,000+ merchants, sub-3km radius - unlocks categories beyond groceries 
→ The role of AI, autonomous delivery, and logistics tech in making quick commerce profitable 
→ What retailers get wrong about platform cannibalization — and why these channels are "much more incremental than many retailers fear" 
ABOUT OUR GUEST
Since joining Wolt in 2018, Marianne has led the company's expansion from 6 to more than 30 countries across EMEA, while launching new businesses including Wolt Market and Ads. She oversees a cross-functional team of over 15,000 people. Previously, she was CEO of Slush, helping grow it into one of the world's leading tech and investor events. Marianne also serves on the boards of Slush and Marimekko.
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 
👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/ 
👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com

What happens if customers never reach the checkout page at all?
Justin Benson, CEO of Spreedly — the payment orchestration platform trusted by BMW, The New York Times, HBOMax, Getty, Warner, and Il Makiage — joins Retail Disrupted to unpack why payments become more critical, not less, in an agentic era.
His framing: "Agentic commerce is like Google Search and Apple Pay had a love child." Instead of shoppers moving from discovery to checkout, AI agents may increasingly arrive pre-authorized and ready to buy which raises a few urgent questions for retail leaders. 
IN THIS EPISODE
• Payment orchestration as an "operating system" and why flexible payment infrastructure is now mission-critical
• The checkout page rewrite — how AI agents will assess loyalty programs, BNPL options, and delegated preferences without a human in the loop
• Identity vs. fraud — why distinguishing human from agent transactions is the next big challenge for retail fraud teams
• Marketplace vs. niche — whether AI search could be a net negative for Amazon and a tailwind for merchants like Etsy
• Three priorities for retailers — payment stack flexibility, identity management, and AI-readable product catalogs
DISCLOSURE: This episode is sponsored by Spreedly. All views and analysis are Natalie Berg's own. 
ABOUT OUR GUEST
Justin Benson is the CEO of Spreedly, a leading global open payments platform serving customers in over 100 countries. Since joining in 2011, Justin has led the company through a phase of rapid expansion, including securing $75 million in financing from Spectrum Ventures to drive Spreedly's growth. Justin began his career in the Bay Area and joined Intraware as its first technical support employee. He rose through the ranks into sales and senior leadership as the company scaled from 40 to 400 employees, completed a successful IPO, and achieved a strategic exit. He later served as Vice President of Sales for the Americas at SafeNet, an information security company. 
ABOUT THE PODCAST
🎙️ Retail Disrupted — 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
👉 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-disrupted/
👉 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://retaildisrupted.substack.com

Instacart's average basket is $110 - the highest in quick commerce. In this episode, Natalie Berg sits down with Ryan Hamburger, Chief Commercial Officer of Instacart, at Shoptalk Europe to unpack how the company is evolving from delivery platform to omnichannel technology partner. With over 25 million consumers served, 1.6 billion orders fulfilled, and coverage of 98% of US and Canadian households, Instacart is betting that smart carts, unified experiences, and AI-powered personalization will define the next decade of grocery retail.
Ryan reveals why retailers with online-offline pricing parity grow 10–15% faster than those with markups, how activating a single digital order lifts share of wallet by 30%, and why Instacart is betting that the future of grocery isn't delivery-only — it's technology that makes every touchpoint, from phone to aisle to checkout, completely seamless. We also cover retail media as a margin engine, the sticky threat of competitor switching, and more about Instacart's venture into Europe (currently operating in France and Spain with Costco and in the UK with their Caper Cart trial at Morrsions).
🤝 Today's episode is brought to you by Manhattan Associates https://www.manh.com 
Prefer to watch? This episode is also available in full on YouTube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=-0cj5FIai7w 
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