Embrace Technology With Heart and Mind

[00:00:06] You're listening to Retail Disrupted, a podcast that explores the latest industry developments and the trends that will shape how we shop in the future.

[00:00:16] I'm your host, Natalie Berg.

[00:00:30] Hello everyone and welcome to a special edition of Retail Disrupted.

[00:00:35] I'm here today in sunny Barcelona at the Manhattan Exchange.

[00:00:38] This is the annual European Supply Chain Conference for Manhattan Associates.

[00:00:42] Over the next couple of days, we're going to hear from L'Oreal, Adidas, Schneider Electric, Co-op, and many other retailers and brands who are going to tell us all about the latest supply chain innovations across Europe.

[00:00:56] Later in the week, Ben Sillito, who's the editor of Green Retail World and very much a friend of the podcast, Ben's going to be joining me on the show to bring you all of these highlights.

[00:01:07] So stay tuned because we are releasing not one, but two episodes this week.

[00:01:13] Now, for today's show, I am delighted to have the opportunity to sit down with Manhattan's own Peter Vandenbrugge to get his views on the retail landscape.

[00:01:23] Peter, welcome to the show.

[00:01:25] Hello, Natalie. Happy to be here.

[00:01:26] It's wonderful to have you here, Peter.

[00:01:28] I'm really glad we have the opportunity to sit down and talk all things retail and all things supply chain.

[00:01:34] Maybe just to get us started, can you share a few words about yourself and your role at Manhattan?

[00:01:38] Sure, sure.

[00:01:39] I'm a Belgian, married.

[00:01:42] I have a daughter of 29 years old.

[00:01:44] I have an engineering education.

[00:01:47] I am 30 plus years in the business and I've developed a career in supply chain and retail technologies.

[00:01:54] And my role at Manhattan is to work with customers and prospective customers to identify strategic opportunities to enhance their retail operations as well as their commerce performance.

[00:02:05] Now, I know as part of your role, you are regularly speaking to retail CIOs.

[00:02:10] And as a first question, I'd love to get your view on what they're thinking about.

[00:02:17] What are the things that are keeping them up at night?

[00:02:19] Yes, CIOs are obsessed in identifying how they can help the business with technology solutions.

[00:02:26] And businesses are challenged on the commerce side, on the customer side, as well as on the operational side of retail.

[00:02:32] And the expectations from consumers are changing at a very fast pace.

[00:02:38] Technology is getting more and more consumerized at an enterprise level.

[00:02:42] And consumers are really looking for experiences.

[00:02:45] On the other hand, retail operations face significant challenges.

[00:02:48] As you all know, we had some pandemics to deal with geopolitical instability, climate transition, rising costs.

[00:02:56] And the CIO has to be the solution for all of that.

[00:03:00] As I said, technology is consumerizing at a fast pace.

[00:03:03] And even our grandparents probably talk about Gen.ai.

[00:03:08] Yeah, you can't escape it.

[00:03:09] And I'm glad you mentioned Gen.ai and you alluded to all of the disruption impacting the sector.

[00:03:15] And I'd like to explore generative AI in a little bit more detail.

[00:03:19] It seems to me like retailers are discovering new use cases for Gen.ai.

[00:03:24] Just about every day there's something new.

[00:03:26] And it's impacting the whole value chain from product development right through to the post-purchase experience,

[00:03:33] which I know we'll come on to in a little bit.

[00:03:35] And I think there are two parts here, right?

[00:03:37] Because AI can help retailers to drive operational efficiencies,

[00:03:41] but it can also enhance the experience for the customer.

[00:03:45] Those two things are inextricably linked.

[00:03:47] But to keep things simple, let's first talk about how AI is helping retailers on the operational side.

[00:03:54] So how, Peter, in your view, is AI making retailers leaner, smarter, and more efficient?

[00:04:01] Great question, Natalie.

[00:04:04] So you mentioned Gen.ai, you mentioned AI.

[00:04:07] So Gen.ai is a form of AI.

[00:04:10] And artificial intelligence has been around for decades, being applied actually in operations.

[00:04:15] It really started to be used in the World War II to mobilize troops, to schedule resources.

[00:04:21] And those existing and underlying models already exist for hundreds of years.

[00:04:27] So it has been used to help companies to make decisions in the world of constraints.

[00:04:31] A machine can only produce 100 bottles of champagne in an hour.

[00:04:35] Or a ship moving goods from China to the port of Barcelona, where we are today, is taking three weeks.

[00:04:43] So as retail operations are all about fulfilling demand of the consumer,

[00:04:48] we are dealing with many realistic, real-life, physical constraints.

[00:04:53] And at the same time, we are dealing with uncertainty.

[00:04:56] So AI is going to help to work around those constraints and make sure that at the right time,

[00:05:02] the product is getting into the hands of the consumer.

[00:05:05] Now, when we look at uncertainty, here AI and machine learning data science is going to make a big impact

[00:05:11] through data analysis and moving to a more predictable operation.

[00:05:16] Gen.ai, on its turn, can help making the difference in supporting operations.

[00:05:20] First of all, providing knowledge insights based on collective memory, documentation of systems,

[00:05:26] and helping operational engineers to design the right solutions for the business.

[00:05:31] Gen.ai then can assist people in building the solutions by taking over configuration tasks,

[00:05:36] testing tasks of the system, system testing tasks, even coding certain elements of the system.

[00:05:43] And eventually, it can help monitoring how your business is running

[00:05:47] and provide advice on how to make corrective action on your business operation.

[00:05:52] What about from the customer experience side?

[00:05:54] Because I think most of us have at least experimented with chat GPT by now, right?

[00:05:59] It's been around since the end of 2023.

[00:06:01] And I think many of us are just wowed by what generative AI can really do.

[00:06:06] But how is it going to impact our experience when we're shopping online or shopping in stores?

[00:06:11] Yeah.

[00:06:12] Let me first of all, Natalie, let's just make a distinction between the customer experience

[00:06:17] before a consumer places the order, at the moment that the order is placed,

[00:06:22] and also after the order is placed.

[00:06:25] And one can say that today, the customer experience is very much determined by the order and fulfillment experience.

[00:06:33] This is driven by marketplaces that are fulfillment experts, the big platforms, the Amazons,

[00:06:41] and retailers that may not be the Amazons.

[00:06:45] They have to kind of meet and retailers, others than the Amazons and those big marketplaces fulfillment providers,

[00:06:52] have to actually meet that benchmark of fulfillment.

[00:06:55] This is in a context where consumers are impatient,

[00:06:59] and they obviously do not want to have negative surprises.

[00:07:01] And when they change their minds or something went wrong, they want to be served immediately,

[00:07:07] ideally through self-service.

[00:07:09] And here comes the role of Gen.E.I. in this specific use case,

[00:07:13] where when you talk about a consumer going through a self-service experience,

[00:07:18] the consumer is actually speaking to a machine, a system.

[00:07:25] And Gen.E.I. is the technology that will help retailers to have meaningful and complex conversations

[00:07:34] with the consumer addressing their real concerns.

[00:07:39] Can you give us an example of that type of situation?

[00:07:43] At what point would Gen.E.I. come in and solve a customer problem?

[00:07:47] So the Gen.E.I. would come in.

[00:07:49] It's not labeled as Gen.E.I., but it's a chatbot that is visible and accessible for the consumer.

[00:07:55] And the consumer may ask,

[00:07:57] Hey, I bought something last week.

[00:08:01] When can I get that order delivered?

[00:08:03] So it's very natural.

[00:08:04] It's not saying it's order number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

[00:08:07] It is just a natural reference to an order you placed a week ago.

[00:08:13] And when can it be delivered?

[00:08:15] Or, Hey, what items were in there?

[00:08:17] Was it the blue shirt or a red shirt?

[00:08:19] So these type of conversations can be generated and enabled by a Gen.E.I. agent

[00:08:25] because it's creating responses for the consumer that are contextually and factually correct.

[00:08:31] And happening in real time as well.

[00:08:33] I think that's key, isn't it?

[00:08:34] Exactly.

[00:08:35] It's happening in real time.

[00:08:37] If, for instance, not all the answers can be given by the Gen.E.I. system,

[00:08:43] the Gen.E.I. can summarize the conversation,

[00:08:46] pass it on to a real human being,

[00:08:50] and that human being can actually take forward the conversation

[00:08:53] without having to go through the questions again

[00:08:55] and actually wasting time of the consumer.

[00:08:58] So this is a very, very appropriate usage of Gen.E.I.

[00:09:02] and enhancing the consumer experience,

[00:09:04] not wasting their time and helping them with their real problems.

[00:09:08] Consumers do not want to be disappointed when they place an order.

[00:09:11] They want to have the product at the time that they actually ask for it.

[00:09:16] So when the consumer is placing that order,

[00:09:18] that consumer really wants to know what the delivery options are,

[00:09:22] the corresponding delivery times.

[00:09:24] And here, A.I. comes into the picture again by analyzing the order,

[00:09:29] the customer service expectations,

[00:09:31] the delivery complexity,

[00:09:33] inventory availability in the network,

[00:09:35] which could be a distribution center network,

[00:09:37] a supplier network,

[00:09:38] could be a store network,

[00:09:39] and making reliable promises based on data analysis

[00:09:42] through machine learning techniques.

[00:09:44] And I guess traditionally,

[00:09:46] as consumers,

[00:09:47] once we've placed an order,

[00:09:49] that's sort of it until that product arrives on our doorstep.

[00:09:52] You know,

[00:09:52] that you're kind of in this communications no man's land.

[00:09:55] Now,

[00:09:55] that is changing though,

[00:09:57] and I think it's really interesting

[00:09:58] at some of the work that you're doing with retailers

[00:10:00] around giving customers more control

[00:10:02] post-purchase

[00:10:03] and all the benefits that come with that

[00:10:05] from a customer experience perspective,

[00:10:08] from an operational efficiency perspective,

[00:10:12] and also making things a little bit

[00:10:14] more environmentally friendly as well.

[00:10:16] If you as a retailer,

[00:10:18] as a brand retailer,

[00:10:19] you can maintain that relationship

[00:10:22] with your consumer

[00:10:23] who placed an order

[00:10:25] till the very moment

[00:10:26] that the order is actually delivered

[00:10:28] in the hands of the consumer,

[00:10:30] not outsourcing it

[00:10:31] to a delivery organization

[00:10:33] which is not yours.

[00:10:35] So you can protect

[00:10:36] and guarantee the brand experience

[00:10:38] from start to finish.

[00:10:41] But also,

[00:10:42] like you say,

[00:10:42] operationally,

[00:10:43] there could be interesting scenarios.

[00:10:48] Assume now that the consumer

[00:10:49] wants to cancel the order,

[00:10:52] which happens from time to time.

[00:10:54] Then if you are still,

[00:10:56] as a retailer,

[00:10:58] owning the experience

[00:11:00] with the consumer,

[00:11:02] but also the operational execution,

[00:11:04] you can facilitate

[00:11:06] late order cancellations.

[00:11:07] Maybe even before

[00:11:09] the order is being shipped out,

[00:11:12] such that there is no waste

[00:11:13] of energy

[00:11:16] and planet consumption

[00:11:18] by shipping something

[00:11:19] which will have to be returned anyway.

[00:11:21] Another benefit this would bring,

[00:11:23] and it's just an example,

[00:11:25] is that the point

[00:11:27] at which the consumer

[00:11:29] is getting its money back

[00:11:32] is pulled forward

[00:11:35] so that the consumer is happy.

[00:11:38] Maybe the product

[00:11:39] is not physically returned yet,

[00:11:41] but they're refunded immediately.

[00:11:44] But there's a caveat

[00:11:45] that if they refund something

[00:11:46] which is not to be refunded,

[00:11:47] then they will have to

[00:11:48] give the money back.

[00:11:49] But you can actually have

[00:11:51] an earlier refund.

[00:11:53] And also for the retailer,

[00:11:55] there's a big win

[00:11:56] because the faster

[00:11:57] the product is back

[00:11:58] and available,

[00:12:00] commercially available,

[00:12:01] you can sell it again.

[00:12:03] So there is really

[00:12:04] a win for the consumer,

[00:12:05] a win for the planet,

[00:12:06] and a win for the retailer.

[00:12:08] Before we move on,

[00:12:08] what would you say

[00:12:09] are the main challenges

[00:12:10] with generative AI

[00:12:11] as it exists today,

[00:12:12] and how might this be tackled

[00:12:14] in the future?

[00:12:14] Yeah, I think obviously

[00:12:17] this is an intelligent system,

[00:12:20] and you can only become,

[00:12:21] well, you need to have

[00:12:22] some basic intelligence,

[00:12:23] but in terms of systems,

[00:12:24] you need to learn

[00:12:25] the intelligence.

[00:12:26] So you need to learn

[00:12:27] the system,

[00:12:27] you need to learn the model.

[00:12:29] And so making sure

[00:12:31] that the Gen AI

[00:12:33] is acting with accuracy,

[00:12:34] is not hallucinating,

[00:12:35] is definitely

[00:12:36] the key challenge today.

[00:12:38] Especially in the world

[00:12:39] of retail,

[00:12:40] where you're dealing

[00:12:40] with consumers,

[00:12:41] or dealing with operations,

[00:12:42] you can't hallucinate.

[00:12:45] It needs to be

[00:12:45] factually correct,

[00:12:46] it needs to be

[00:12:47] making sense.

[00:12:48] So we're going to move on now

[00:12:49] and talk about omnichannel,

[00:12:51] or as many of us

[00:12:52] are referring to it today,

[00:12:54] unified commerce.

[00:12:56] And I think it's,

[00:12:57] I think consumers today,

[00:13:00] I mean,

[00:13:00] retailers are pretty

[00:13:01] well-versed in the world

[00:13:03] of all things omnichannel,

[00:13:04] and they absolutely understand

[00:13:06] that shoppers today

[00:13:07] want to shop on their terms,

[00:13:09] and they need to provide

[00:13:11] that seamless experience

[00:13:12] for the customer

[00:13:13] across the many touchpoints

[00:13:14] that exist today.

[00:13:15] But I'd love to get

[00:13:17] your views

[00:13:18] on this phrase,

[00:13:20] unified commerce.

[00:13:21] What does unified commerce

[00:13:22] mean to you?

[00:13:23] it's a very good question,

[00:13:26] Natalie.

[00:13:27] So what's critically important

[00:13:29] is that the consumer

[00:13:30] is in the center

[00:13:31] of the whole buying

[00:13:32] retail brand experience.

[00:13:35] And consumers are not really,

[00:13:37] they do not want to think

[00:13:38] in channels.

[00:13:39] Maybe he or she

[00:13:40] is forced to think

[00:13:41] in channels

[00:13:42] because the retailer

[00:13:43] is forcing that on them,

[00:13:45] but that should not

[00:13:47] be the case.

[00:13:48] So therefore,

[00:13:50] unified commerce

[00:13:51] is enabling

[00:13:52] this consumer-centric

[00:13:53] approach to the fullest.

[00:13:54] You know,

[00:13:55] a completely seamless,

[00:13:57] frictionless experience

[00:13:59] where,

[00:14:01] I will give an example here.

[00:14:02] you could have heard

[00:14:04] about a concept of

[00:14:05] Omnicart,

[00:14:06] which is a shopping basket,

[00:14:09] which could be

[00:14:10] filled digitally,

[00:14:11] online,

[00:14:12] or via your mobile device,

[00:14:14] your smartphone.

[00:14:15] You may have opted

[00:14:16] to pick up

[00:14:17] the goods in store.

[00:14:19] Then,

[00:14:20] you as a consumer,

[00:14:21] you go into the store

[00:14:22] to pick up the goods.

[00:14:23] But then,

[00:14:24] actually,

[00:14:25] that Omnicart,

[00:14:26] that digital shopping basket,

[00:14:28] continues its own life

[00:14:29] as a physical basket.

[00:14:31] And it doesn't really matter

[00:14:33] whether now

[00:14:33] you're carrying

[00:14:34] a physical basket,

[00:14:35] but there's also

[00:14:35] this online basket

[00:14:37] somewhere,

[00:14:38] maybe already

[00:14:38] with physical products

[00:14:39] waiting for you

[00:14:40] to be picked up.

[00:14:41] And what is really

[00:14:43] interesting here

[00:14:44] is that

[00:14:44] if you take

[00:14:45] this unified commerce

[00:14:46] where the consumer

[00:14:47] is in the center,

[00:14:48] promotions is a big thing

[00:14:50] in retail

[00:14:50] and will always

[00:14:51] be the case.

[00:14:52] So,

[00:14:53] what I've traditionally seen

[00:14:55] is that promotions

[00:14:55] are very channel-specific.

[00:14:58] Now,

[00:14:58] if you have now

[00:14:59] this concept

[00:14:59] of an Omnicart,

[00:15:02] the promotion

[00:15:03] that you want to promote

[00:15:04] as a retailer

[00:15:05] to your consumer

[00:15:07] should not be

[00:15:08] channel-specific

[00:15:09] and it can be applied

[00:15:10] on the content

[00:15:11] of your Omnicart.

[00:15:14] So that

[00:15:14] if you would have

[00:15:15] bought something online

[00:15:16] with 5% discount,

[00:15:18] you still get it

[00:15:19] if you would buy

[00:15:19] that same product

[00:15:20] in the store.

[00:15:21] But also,

[00:15:22] if you then add something

[00:15:23] to your physical basket

[00:15:24] in the store

[00:15:25] and there's a promotion

[00:15:26] buy 3, pay 2,

[00:15:27] that this promotion

[00:15:28] is also applied

[00:15:29] regardless whether

[00:15:30] one of the products

[00:15:32] is bought online

[00:15:32] and the other product

[00:15:33] is actually bought

[00:15:34] in the store.

[00:15:35] And I thought

[00:15:36] this is a really nice

[00:15:37] example of

[00:15:37] stretching people's minds

[00:15:39] on what unified commerce

[00:15:41] really means

[00:15:42] to the,

[00:15:42] should mean to,

[00:15:43] could mean to the consumer

[00:15:44] today.

[00:15:45] Yeah,

[00:15:45] that's interesting

[00:15:46] because I think

[00:15:46] when we think about

[00:15:47] Omnichannel,

[00:15:49] again,

[00:15:50] we think about

[00:15:50] that seamless experience

[00:15:51] whether that's online

[00:15:52] or in-store

[00:15:53] and of course

[00:15:54] it's not as simple

[00:15:55] as just one physical channel

[00:15:57] and one digital channel

[00:15:58] because you can,

[00:15:58] there's so many ways

[00:15:59] to shop today

[00:16:00] whether that's,

[00:16:01] you know,

[00:16:01] through Instagram

[00:16:02] or TikTok

[00:16:02] or,

[00:16:03] you know,

[00:16:04] there's just this,

[00:16:05] there's been this

[00:16:06] proliferation of choice

[00:16:07] for the customer

[00:16:08] and it continues

[00:16:09] and I think

[00:16:10] it can be hard

[00:16:10] for retailers

[00:16:11] to know

[00:16:12] where they need to be.

[00:16:14] They don't,

[00:16:14] I don't think they need

[00:16:14] to be in every single channel

[00:16:16] but to your point,

[00:16:17] that experience

[00:16:18] needs to be

[00:16:19] joined up

[00:16:21] in real time.

[00:16:22] I think that's the distinction

[00:16:23] here,

[00:16:23] isn't it?

[00:16:24] And really further

[00:16:25] breaking down those barriers

[00:16:26] between the physical

[00:16:27] and digital world

[00:16:28] so I think it's clear

[00:16:29] there's still some ways

[00:16:30] to go.

[00:16:31] Ways to go

[00:16:31] and I would say

[00:16:33] that the only way

[00:16:33] to get

[00:16:34] to that

[00:16:37] level of retail

[00:16:39] performance

[00:16:39] is that

[00:16:40] as a retail organization

[00:16:42] whether you're

[00:16:42] in operations

[00:16:43] in commerce

[00:16:46] operations,

[00:16:47] store operations

[00:16:47] is that

[00:16:48] you really

[00:16:49] think from the

[00:16:50] ground up

[00:16:50] with a unified

[00:16:52] commerce mindset

[00:16:53] but also

[00:16:54] that you embrace

[00:16:55] technology

[00:16:56] with your heart

[00:16:57] and mind.

[00:16:58] It's not an

[00:16:59] afterthought,

[00:17:00] it's really

[00:17:01] your digital core

[00:17:02] has to be there

[00:17:03] at any level

[00:17:05] of the organization

[00:17:05] in any department

[00:17:07] of the organization

[00:17:08] with the consumer

[00:17:09] in the center.

[00:17:10] Yeah,

[00:17:11] and there's no

[00:17:11] end date

[00:17:12] for any of this.

[00:17:13] I think that's another

[00:17:14] important point

[00:17:14] when it comes to

[00:17:15] digital transformation.

[00:17:16] I think retailers

[00:17:17] do need to

[00:17:18] adopt this mentality

[00:17:19] of perpetual innovation

[00:17:21] continuing to evolve,

[00:17:22] continuing to adapt

[00:17:23] and that's

[00:17:24] no easy thing.

[00:17:27] Because one innovation

[00:17:28] is triggering

[00:17:29] another innovation

[00:17:30] because it's only

[00:17:31] through experiences

[00:17:32] that you can discover

[00:17:33] maybe this is now

[00:17:34] the next thing

[00:17:35] we can experiment with

[00:17:37] and you need to go

[00:17:37] through those phases

[00:17:38] but you have to

[00:17:39] experiment that.

[00:17:40] So you don't

[00:17:41] want to be afraid

[00:17:42] of technology,

[00:17:43] you embrace it,

[00:17:43] you test it out

[00:17:44] but always with

[00:17:45] the consumer

[00:17:47] focus.

[00:17:48] Okay, Peter,

[00:17:49] I always love to

[00:17:50] we're almost done.

[00:17:52] It's not my final

[00:17:53] question but I always

[00:17:54] love to kind of end

[00:17:55] on a little glimpse

[00:17:58] into the future

[00:17:58] if we can.

[00:17:59] So I'm going to put

[00:18:00] you on the spot here

[00:18:01] and ask you

[00:18:03] retailing in 2035,

[00:18:05] not 2025,

[00:18:06] 2035,

[00:18:07] what does it look like

[00:18:08] and how different

[00:18:10] will it be?

[00:18:11] So you're asking

[00:18:12] a question

[00:18:12] how I will shop

[00:18:13] when I have been

[00:18:14] retired.

[00:18:15] So I would say

[00:18:18] no more carrying

[00:18:19] of bags,

[00:18:22] experimental shopping,

[00:18:23] I will have time

[00:18:24] for that

[00:18:25] and I want to make

[00:18:25] time for that.

[00:18:27] I think we will

[00:18:29] have moved on

[00:18:29] on the energy

[00:18:30] transition,

[00:18:31] climate transition

[00:18:32] so a lot of respect

[00:18:33] for circular economy

[00:18:35] will be top of mind.

[00:18:37] Probably more usage

[00:18:38] than ownership,

[00:18:39] not only for me

[00:18:40] as a retired person

[00:18:42] but I think also

[00:18:43] for the younger generation.

[00:18:44] They don't want

[00:18:45] to own something,

[00:18:46] they want to use something

[00:18:47] so retailers

[00:18:48] will have that

[00:18:49] as a key model

[00:18:51] and you know

[00:18:52] there will be

[00:18:52] physical stores

[00:18:53] for the experience

[00:18:54] but they will have

[00:18:56] to be fully

[00:18:57] digitized

[00:18:57] and sentient.

[00:18:59] Sentient in the sense

[00:19:00] that like today

[00:19:02] retail organizations

[00:19:04] can really understand

[00:19:05] how consumers

[00:19:07] are browsing

[00:19:07] on their websites,

[00:19:09] on the mobile phone,

[00:19:11] what products

[00:19:12] is interesting to them,

[00:19:14] what styles they like,

[00:19:16] etc.

[00:19:16] And that kind of

[00:19:18] sensing of consumer

[00:19:19] behavior

[00:19:20] should also be

[00:19:22] actually transcended

[00:19:23] to the stores

[00:19:24] and there are

[00:19:25] technologies out there

[00:19:26] today where

[00:19:27] you could actually

[00:19:28] measure as a retail

[00:19:29] organization

[00:19:29] what merchandise

[00:19:31] in which corner

[00:19:32] of the store

[00:19:33] is getting engagement

[00:19:35] and then leverage

[00:19:36] that to sell more

[00:19:39] to your consumer

[00:19:40] or maybe even

[00:19:41] target your consumer

[00:19:42] more and service

[00:19:44] them better.

[00:19:45] So the fully digitized

[00:19:46] store that is sentient

[00:19:48] to what is going on

[00:19:49] is I think

[00:19:51] going to be

[00:19:52] the retail of 2035.

[00:19:54] That's really interesting

[00:19:55] because there has been

[00:19:56] a lot of progress

[00:19:56] around digitizing

[00:19:57] the physical store

[00:19:58] but what I'm hearing

[00:19:59] from you is that

[00:20:00] there's actually

[00:20:00] an opportunity

[00:20:01] to go even further

[00:20:02] and maybe more

[00:20:03] personalization

[00:20:04] especially when we

[00:20:05] talk about

[00:20:05] we talked a lot

[00:20:06] about AI

[00:20:07] during this conversation.

[00:20:08] Now I think

[00:20:09] the future sounds

[00:20:10] exciting but also

[00:20:11] maybe a little daunting

[00:20:12] if you're a retailer

[00:20:13] and you need to keep up

[00:20:14] with all of this

[00:20:15] disruption.

[00:20:16] What is one thing

[00:20:17] retailers can do

[00:20:19] one immediate action

[00:20:20] they can take

[00:20:21] after listening

[00:20:21] to this episode?

[00:20:23] Identify the biggest

[00:20:24] friction that you

[00:20:26] as a retailer

[00:20:26] create for your consumer

[00:20:27] and start addressing

[00:20:29] this tomorrow.

[00:20:30] Fantastic.

[00:20:31] Peter it's been so great

[00:20:32] to have you on the podcast

[00:20:32] thank you for your time

[00:20:34] and I hope you have

[00:20:35] a great couple of days

[00:20:35] here in Barcelona.

[00:20:36] Thank you.

[00:20:37] My pleasure.

[00:20:43] Thank you for listening

[00:20:43] to Retail Disrupted.

[00:20:45] If you enjoyed

[00:20:46] this episode

[00:20:46] and would like to

[00:20:47] support the podcast

[00:20:48] please leave a rating

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[00:20:50] or share it with others

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[00:20:53] a difference.