Our very first edition of Spilled! Retail Tea Time made waves in London this week! 🌊 Roland Butler, Head of Product Content at Zalando, offered an inspiring deep dive into the future of eCommerce and what it really means to own AI-first content. Then he joined our expert panel consisting of Emily Godfrey (Amplience), Phill Gillespie (Mindera), and Julian Jansen (ABOUT YOU) to share real industry insights on: 🤖 AI enhancing customer experiences 📈 Scaling content without losing your brand identity 💰 Where AI delivers real value Plus, we spilled the beans on our latest product addition TAYLA, our virtual photo studio empowering retailers to produce AI photo shoots at scale. Try it here 👉 https://www.trytayla.ai/ Big thanks to our partners Zalando, Amplience, and Mindera – and everyone who joined us for great conversations, networking, and a fantastic evening by the water. Missed this one? Don’t fret! The next Spilled! Retail Tea Time is coming your way this September. ☕️ #SCAYLE #retailinnovation #AI #ecommerce

Great to see Mindera's own Phill Gillespie on the panel at the inaugural Spilled! Retail Tea Time in London this week. The conversation around AI in retail and eCommerce is maturing fast - it's less about what's possible, more about what actually works at scale. It's a topic Phill knows well through his work helping retailers close the AI engagement gap - a challenge where AI tools are made available to staff but their motivation to use them is low. Good to be in the room for it alongside Zalando & Amplience. Roll on September's edition. ☕

We live in fascinating times. Retail isn’t evolving, it’s being restructured in real time. Discovery, decision-making and value creation are all shifting at once. Here are 5 changes shaping retail in 2026: 1. AI is starting to impact the business From pricing to inventory to customer service, AI is moving from assistant to operator. Amazon is automating supply chain and demand forecasting end-to-end, while Walmart is rolling out AI copilots and agents across merchandising and store ops. 2. One system is replacing many Unified commerce is becoming the foundation, not a strategy. Inditex (Zara) has fully integrated store and online inventory globally, and Target’s same-day fulfillment (Drive Up, in-store) is powered by a single, connected system. 3. Stores are becoming media and experience hubs Physical retail is shifting from transactional to experiential and content-driven. Apple continues to lead with flagship experiences, while Nike Live and Lululemon stores blend community, events and retail into one environment. 4. Retail media is becoming a profit engine Retailers are monetising attention, data and physical space at scale. Amazon built the category, Walmart Connect is scaling fast, and Kroger Precision Marketing is turning first-party data into a high-margin business. 5. The middle is disappearing Retail is splitting between value and premium, with pressure on mid-market players. Costco, Aldi and Shein dominate on value and efficiency, while Hermès and LVMH win through brand, scarcity and experience. The real question: If AI integrates discovery and the market splits in two where do you play? Early, or already behind? Retail Doctor Group - We Build Transformative Retail

Interesting thinking presented by Brian Walker on the current state of retail. My question is what's the impact on privately held retailers and SME's? If the retail industry is splitting between value and premium - what is the future for consumers seeking convenience and bespoke shopping experiences. It's interesting times ....

Right now, the most interesting shift in retail isn’t about better models or more data... it’s about how decisions are made. Most organizations are still structured for accountability within functions, not alignment across them. That may have worked in a more stable environment, but it doesn’t hold up under constant volatility. Retail needs a coordinated approach to decision-making, where planning, pricing and supply chain are continuously connected rather than periodically aligned. This shift will define the retailers who thrive in the next decade. How is your organization preparing? #RetailInnovation #FutureOfRetail #RetailOperations #RetailStrategy #DecisionIntelligence #RetailLeadership

Danielle Fairfield, our VP of Retail, on how AI is reshaping buying, from instinct-led decisions to data-driven intelligence. Clean, centralized product data is key to moving faster, optimizing assortments, and collaborating more effectively across teams, as demonstrated in our partnership with Boozt. Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/eQw2Eb54.

Three easy operations things you can do now to get ready for a spikey future   Nothing stays the same in ecommerce. Last week I participates on a panel at the Leaders in Logistics conference in Brussels. We discussed operational complexity that comes with constant change. Here are three low‑cost, simple ideas that came up in the discussion and you can implement:   1 - Build a scenario‑planning tool (AI can help) Not a dusty old spreadsheet, but a tool for regular use. Model a few volume scenarios, like “What happens if we’re 20% over forecast next Tuesday?” Look at the impact on labour, cut‑offs and carrier capacity. Rehearsing likely scenarios keeps the team calm, effective, and out of firefighting mode.   2 - Treat inventory placement as a strategy This is more than heat‑maps (do those too though!). Floor spotting pallets of true best sellers by packing stations. Spread best sellers across multiple locations so lots of people aren’t queueing to pick the same SKU. Put items that commonly sell together next to each other. In higher‑volume global operations, consider multiple or forward stock locations e.g. UK AND EU.   3 - Make your spikes flow Split personalisation orders into their own flow Keep returns processing separate and put returned stock into its own zone so it’s prioritised back into pick Limit marketing material options or turn them into pickable SKUs Pre‑build as much packaging as possible, and use runners to replenish pack benches during spikes   Designing for your busiest day, not your quietest doesn’t always require robots, big capex or perfect forecasts. In any case, the only guarantee in a forecast is that it’s wrong! If you’re an ecommerce brand thinking about the future, feel free to get in touch. 😊 #leadersinlogistics #Logistics #SupplyChain #Fulfilment #Ecommerce #OperationalExcellence #InventoryStrategy #AIInLogistics #Omnichannel #SupplyChainStrategy Monish Malik Petra Dobrocka Rob Conijn Martin Seidel

Zalando just made a move most warehouses aren’t ready for. They’re rolling out up to 50 AI-powered picking robots across their European fulfilment centres. Not a pilot. Not a concept. Live operations. These aren’t basic pick-and-place bots either. They’re using AI + computer vision to: • recognise different products in real time • adjust grip based on shape and material • pick, scan and feed items straight into sortation systems The pilot already hit serious scale: -100,000 picks per day across test units. So this rollout isn’t a gamble. It’s based on proven throughput. The uncomfortable truth? Most DCs aren’t built for this. Layouts, processes, even WMS logic were designed around human pickers. Drop AI picking into that without redesign… and you create new bottlenecks instead of removing them.

The apparel sector is navigating significant margin pressure as outdated forecasting, volatile demand, and inventory imbalances challenge profitability. Vertical AI offers brands a powerful opportunity to anticipate customer shifts, optimize inventory strategies, and build more agile, resilient supply chains for 2026 and beyond. 👚📊✨ To help brands scale confidently, Jillamy provides marketplace fulfillment, precise order handling, packaging workflow optimization, and streamlined operational support that strengthens performance across every channel. 📦✨ #EcommerceStrategy #MarketplaceFulfillment #VerticalAI #DemandForecasting #SupplyChainInnovation #OperationalExcellence #Jillamy

Heading to MODEX 2026 in Atlanta next week. Looking forward to connecting with operators, retailers, and technology leaders who are thinking about how fulfillment networks evolve from site-based models to more connected, utilization-driven systems. I’m particularly interested in discussions around: • Operators who have insourced fulfillment and deployed automation (e.g., Brightpick or similar systems) and are rethinking scale, utilization, and network design • Retailers with automated apparel or soft goods networks who may have excess capacity and are exploring how to better leverage those assets • 3PL leadership teams scaling Shopify+ and omnichannel customers, and evaluating how orchestration layers (e.g., Pipe17) and emerging agentic AI models may reshape onboarding, integration, and operations Connecting with past partners and current team members from: NXTPoint Logistics, GEODIS, NFI Industries, Kenco Group, Saddle Creek Logistics Services, Mallory Alexander International Logistics, Custom Goods Logistics, Radial Inc., Archway Marketing Services, QuickBox Fulfillment, GXO Logistics, Inc., ShipBob, ShipMonk, ODW Logistics, along with teams at Passport and regional parcel carriers such as LaserShip, UniUni, and similar networks. If you’re attending and thinking about network utilization, automation deployment, or scaling modern commerce operations—let’s connect. For my many existing friend feel free to message me directly to coordinate time. See you in Atlanta.