All Podcast Episodes
The Interview: Majid Al Futtaim – Retail, CEO Hani Weiss
The Interview: Majid Al Futtaim: In this episode, host Karl McKeever is joined in conversation by Hani Weiss, Chief Executive Officer of Majid Al Futtaim – Retail, the exclusive partner of choice for international hypermarket and supermarket brand, Carrefour.
The last few years have brought profound, powerful change to retail. The critical factor holding everything together is Leadership. Hani’s own career began at Majid Al Futtaim - Retail in 2001, as a Section Manager at Carrefour in City Centre Deira, the firm’s first hypermarket in the region. Today, as its CEO, Hani leads a business of 37,000 colleagues, operating over 450 Carrefour stores across 16 countries in the region, and serving more than 750,000 customers a day.
We sat down with him to explore the story behind the Majid Al Futtaim Retail business; the challenges of operating a successful grocery retail franchise business in the Middle East, and to hear his thoughts on what great leadership looks like today and, more importantly, for the future.
Recorded at Shoptalk Europe 2022.
The Special: Ukraine Crisis
The Special: Ukraine Supply Chain Crisis. In this special episode, we look at one of the biggest challenges to affect both retail and global food supplies, in decades. With the pressure is on to find a solution, we discuss the recently launched ‘EU Ukraine Solidarity Lanes’ action plan, and how retailers and logistics providers can get involved to help open up freight corridors.
The Interview: LIFVS, co-founder and COO Daniel Lundh
The Interview: LIFVS: In this episode, host Karl McKeever is joined by LIFVS co-founder and COO Daniel Lundh to explore the story behind Europe’s largest unstaffed grocery chain; why it classes itself as a technology start-up first and retailer second; and how its business model could teach others a thing or two about how to enjoy retail success in low traffic areas and rural communities. Recorded at Shoptalk Europe 2022.
Event Review: Retail Week Live 2022 Roundup
Event Review - Retail Week Live 2022: In this latest episode of The Retail Exchange podcast, Karl McKeever and Mark Faithfull bring you highlights from the annual Retail Week Live festival, as we pick our way through some of the topics, insights and conversations that are inspiring and challenging the retail ecosystem, and that interested us the most. In partnership with Inkpact.
The Interview: Unilever, Chief Customer Officer Claire Hennah
The Interview - Unilever: in this special episode of The Interview Series, as we look ahead to Retail Week 2022 later this month, host Karl McKeever sits down with in conversation with Unilever Chief Customer Officer Wellbeing, Beauty and Digital Commerce, Claire Hennah.
She explains why, when it comes to how consumers goods companies go to market, digital is changing everything. We also look ahead to Retail Week Live 2022.
Event Review: World Retail Congress 2022 Roundup
Event Review - World Retail Congress 2022 Week: In this latest episode of The Retail Exchange podcast, Karl McKeever and Mark Faithfull report from World Retail Congress in Rome. As the event makes a welcome return to the industry calendar, we hear from retail leaders, exhibitors and attendees at the global flagship retail conference.
The Interview: Little Moons, CEO & co-founder Vivien Wong
In this episode of The Interview series, host Karl McKeever sits down with Little Moons CEO and co-founder Vivien Wong. As children growing up in their parents’ bakery in London, Vivien (and her brother Howard) were surrounded by a passion for creating amazing food.
In 2010, they set up Little Moons; making a Japanese-inspired dessert called "mochi”. After enjoying steady growth, the company set up a Little Moons TikTok account and began posting videos… and then things began to get really interesting.
The Interview: Joe & Seph’s, Director & co-founder Paul Sopher
In this episode of The Interview series, recorded at Spring Fair 2022, host Mark Faithfull is sits down with Joe & Seph’s co-founder Paul Sopher as he shares the intriguing story of how a trip to the US led to the transformation of the UK popcorn category, his experience of life in a fast-growing family business, and advice for wannabe entrepreneurs.
Despite the company's success and expanding range of product lines, it remains singularly committed to one thing: creating the best tasting popcorn possible. That focus has helped to reinvent a category, taking the word of popcorn far beyond simply being a moorish movie treat.
The Interview: Green & Black’s, co-founder Jo Fairley
In this episode of The Interview series, recorded at Spring Fair 2022, host Karl McKeever is joined by Green & Black’s co-founder Jo Fairley as she shares her experience of founding a business during a recession and discusses the importance of staying true to her core belief that doing good for your people and the planet simply makes good business sense.
The Special: Moveable Feast
The Special - Moveable Feast: Grocery retail has stepped up to the plate in 2020. In the final episode of ‘The Special’ from The Retail Exchange podcast, we discuss this year’s explosive growth in eCommerce across the sector, as shoppers ready themselves to shop online for their festive food favourites.
The Interview: Hotel Chocolat, CEO and co-founder Angus Thirlwell
The Interview - Hotel Chocolat: In our latest episode, we sit down with Angus Thirlwell, CEO and Co-founder of Hotel Chocolat. He talks to Martin Popplewell about the business response to the global pandemic, the realities of ‘Retail Darwinism’ and its growing online sales and global appeal.
The Special: Feed the Nation
The Special - Feed the Nation: In the first in our new series of ‘The Special’, we explore how the pandemic is affecting food retailers. Our guests try to make sense of the volatile, fast moving and hugely complex situation facing grocery retail.
In Focus: Rethinking Supermarkets
In Focus - Grocery Retail: In this episode, we explore what the future could look like for our supermarkets. As the hunger for change in the sector grows, assumptions that have underpinned the business models of the big grocery retail players for so many years no longer hold true.
The Interview: Ahold Delhaize
The Interview: Ahold Delhaize: In this episode, host Ben Bland talks to Jason Breazeale, Director of Innovation for Ahold Delhaize. He discusses the challenges of grocery retail as the direction moves away from being simply functional transactions to delivering a seamless, life-orientated retail experience for the shopper, regardless of channel.