Marc Vicente, Group Digital Director at Kingfisher, joins Natalie for a comprehensive discussion around e-commerce, AI, marketplaces, retail media, and more.
They explore:
- Why omnichannel retailers are now embracing the marketplace model
- The role of physical stores in e-commerce
- Innovative partnerships: Deliveroo and the importance of speed
- The significance of Black Friday for Kingfisher and why it starts earlier every year
- Retail media: monetizing the marketplace and understanding the 3 stages of retail media implementation
- From chatbots to personalized recommendations and visual search, how is Kingfisher enhancing the customer experience with AI?
- The future of retail: what is Marc most excited about for 2025 and beyond?
Marc’s bio:
Marc leads the digital transformation and oversees the strategy and operations at one of the largest home improvement retailers in Europe – which has 82,000 colleagues across 2,000 stores in eight European countries, and a number of retail banners including B&Q, Screwfix and Castorama. Before Kingfisher, Marc spent 15 years delivering disruptive technology-based growth in senior international roles such as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Officer at Rakuten Europe and Chief Operating Officer at Cdiscount.com, the French e-commerce leader.
Connect with Marc on LinkedIn.
[00:00:07] 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.
[00:00:29] Welcome back to another episode of Retail Disrupted.
[00:00:32] You might have seen the news over on LinkedIn that the podcast has hit a pretty major milestone.
[00:00:37] It's now had over 10,000 downloads.
[00:00:40] To me, this kind of feels like a big deal when you consider that when I first started out, I recorded an episode where half of the episode I didn't realize that my microphone was on mute.
[00:00:54] So, yeah, I have come a long way.
[00:00:56] And I just want to say thank you to all of you, to all the listeners that continue to tune in each week.
[00:01:01] And, of course, thank you to my guests for coming on and making the podcast what it is.
[00:01:05] Thank you for contributing to the conversation and sharing your views on retail and its direction of travel.
[00:01:12] It's been so amazing to learn from you all.
[00:01:14] And, you know, every week I'm learning something new.
[00:01:17] The podcast is booked out now until March next year.
[00:01:21] And I'm finding that sometimes I'm even having to release two episodes a week just to stay on top of things because there's so much happening.
[00:01:28] There's so many interesting people to speak to.
[00:01:31] Definitely not short of content.
[00:01:32] What I am short of is time.
[00:01:35] And so I definitely won't be doing the whole two episodes a week on a regular basis because there are just not enough hours in the day.
[00:01:42] But from time to time, you will be getting some bonus content.
[00:01:46] And especially this time of year when there's just a lot to talk about.
[00:01:50] If you want to support the podcast, sharing an episode on social media or leaving a quick rating, ideally a five star one,
[00:01:57] leaving a quick rating on Apple or Spotify really makes a big difference.
[00:02:01] More than you realize.
[00:02:02] Finally, I will be sharing the details soon.
[00:02:05] But I wanted to announce that the Retail Disrupted newsletter is going live.
[00:02:11] I'm going to be launching a newsletter on Substack.
[00:02:14] There will be both a paid and free version.
[00:02:16] And I'm not going to say any more about that now.
[00:02:19] But watch this space.
[00:02:25] Now, for today's episode, I'm delighted to welcome Mark Vicente to the podcast.
[00:02:31] Mark is the Group Digital Director at Kingfisher, which, as many of you know, is one of the largest home improvement retailers in Europe.
[00:02:38] In his current role, Mark leads Kingfisher's digital transformation, and he also oversees strategy and operations.
[00:02:45] Prior to joining Kingfisher, Mark spent 15 years delivering disruptive technology-based growth in senior international roles,
[00:02:53] such as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer at Rakuten Europe,
[00:02:57] and Chief Operating Officer at the French e-commerce retailer, cdiscount.com.
[00:03:03] Mark, thank you so much for being here today.
[00:03:05] I just gave a brief introduction, but perhaps you can tell us a little bit more about yourself and your role at Kingfisher.
[00:03:13] Absolutely. And thank you for having me, Nathalie. It is a pleasure to be here with you today.
[00:03:17] So in terms of my background, first of all, I'm from Barcelona.
[00:03:21] I'm very lucky, and that's where I was raised.
[00:03:24] That's where I started studying, and that's where I had my very first job.
[00:03:28] But around 15 years ago, I left, and since then I've been traveling quite a lot.
[00:03:34] I lived in England for two times now.
[00:03:36] I'm based now in London.
[00:03:37] I've been in Germany.
[00:03:38] I've been in France, and I've been also in Czech Republic
[00:03:41] and dedicating quite a lot of periods of my career in the U.S., in Japan.
[00:03:44] And during that period, I did pivot a lot in between some major corporations,
[00:03:50] mostly within retail and e-commerce business,
[00:03:54] but also I did a lot of other startup business into gaming, travel, edtech, etc.
[00:04:03] And right now, since the last almost four years, I've been at Kimfisher.
[00:04:08] So I'm the group digital director at Kimfisher,
[00:04:11] and pretty much I'm in charge of four different areas.
[00:04:13] One, marketplace business model.
[00:04:16] Second, everything to do with e-commerce and the key elements within that part of the business.
[00:04:21] Three, retail media.
[00:04:23] And finally, everything to do with data, including AI analytics, etc.
[00:04:26] Fantastic.
[00:04:28] And I know we're going to dive into all of those topics in more detail.
[00:04:31] But before we do that, I think let's just take a step back and talk about Kingfisher for a moment,
[00:04:37] because it is an interesting business.
[00:04:38] And a lot of our listeners are based in the UK,
[00:04:41] so they will be familiar with B&Q and Screwfix.
[00:04:44] But you trade across eight European markets with six different retail banners.
[00:04:49] So in addition to B&Q and Screwfix, you have Castorama, Rico Depot, TradePoint,
[00:04:55] Kushtas.
[00:04:56] Just briefly, Mark, can you talk us through the rationale for having such a diverse set of banner names?
[00:05:02] Would you say the businesses are distinct enough to help you reach customers in different ways?
[00:05:07] We consider that one of our strengths.
[00:05:11] Our strategy, we call it Power by Kimfisher.
[00:05:15] And Power by Kimfisher aims to maximize the benefits of combining very different retail brands
[00:05:22] and with the skill and expertise that the group brings into them.
[00:05:26] So growing by building these different brands actually allow us to be very differential,
[00:05:32] because at the end of the day, we can target, as you say, different consumer segments.
[00:05:37] Simplifying a lot, we target three very different consumer segments.
[00:05:41] We have the discounter brands, such as Rico Depot.
[00:05:45] We have the big box banners, which they target mostly on the DIYers, people like you or me,
[00:05:51] which on the weekend we want to fix our garden.
[00:05:53] And here you have Castorama or you have B&Q.
[00:05:57] And then we have the brands that are more focused into trade,
[00:06:01] where you will recognize Screwfix or TradePoint that we have here in the UK.
[00:06:07] Somehow all of them can benefit from the same business availability,
[00:06:11] but at the same time, they allow us to target multiple consumers covering a much larger demand.
[00:06:16] Let's talk about e-commerce.
[00:06:18] I am a total retail geek.
[00:06:20] So before our conversation, I dug through some of your past annual reports.
[00:06:25] And I noticed that five years ago, just before COVID hit,
[00:06:28] e-commerce made up 8% of your total group sales.
[00:06:32] And correct me if I'm wrong here, Mark,
[00:06:34] but I imagine that the bulk of that would have come through click and collect rather than home delivery.
[00:06:38] Now, that penetration rate is currently at just under 20%.
[00:06:43] So you've obviously grown your online sales in that short space of time.
[00:06:47] And your goal is to reach 30%.
[00:06:50] So, Mark, what's driving this?
[00:06:54] Because obviously we had a pandemic, which accelerated the shift to digital.
[00:06:58] But the online home improvement sector is still going strong.
[00:07:01] So I wonder, are you seeing a more fundamental shift here in terms of technology and consumer behavior?
[00:07:08] Absolutely.
[00:07:09] And constantly.
[00:07:10] And as you well said, it has been a very interesting journey for us since this period over the last five years.
[00:07:17] Not only because all the progress we have made internally, which is a lot,
[00:07:22] but also because everything that has changed into the market and the consumer perspectives.
[00:07:26] I would say that our strategy from an e-commerce perspective is to focus on offering choice, speed, and also convenience to our consumers.
[00:07:35] And what we have seen is that these three axes combine very well with the expectations that these clients have,
[00:07:41] and they have evolved and mature over the last years.
[00:07:44] For choice, in our case, we saw that the best way to match the demand of the expectations of the consumer was to focus into delivering the marketplace business model,
[00:07:55] which allowed us to open our pipe to third-party vendors.
[00:07:58] And we can go more into detail into that later.
[00:08:00] And obviously, it has been a great adventure that we did focus on.
[00:08:04] In terms of speed, we did focus on a lot of elements connected to the last mile in terms of the consumer delivery,
[00:08:13] making it easier to do click and collect, but also striking some partnerships, as I want you to say, with Deliveroo more recently.
[00:08:19] But also, there are many other things that we have been doing,
[00:08:22] connecting our fulfillment capabilities to pickup points or lockers and stuff like that.
[00:08:27] But then convenience is all about how you combine these two things to a seamless experience for our consumers
[00:08:33] so they have the capability to choose the right times that they want to do, the pickings,
[00:08:39] the capability for them to choose if they prefer to go to the store or receive it at home.
[00:08:44] And these things combined have allowed us to increase traffic, increase conversion, increase repetition, and number of consumers.
[00:08:54] As I say, it has been a big journey.
[00:08:56] And I would say that investing in technology, investing on a proper omni-channel proposition has been the key elements that made this improve a lot.
[00:09:06] That's really interesting.
[00:09:07] And I'd like to drill down into some of the things that you've just touched on.
[00:09:11] So if we start with marketplaces.
[00:09:14] Now, historically, when we heard the word marketplace, a lot of us thought of Amazon or Alibaba or eBay.
[00:09:20] You know, these are huge platforms, millions of sellers, so much choice for the customer, you know, near infinite assortment, right?
[00:09:28] And usually pretty speedy delivery.
[00:09:30] That's the kind of model that comes to my mind when I hear the word marketplace.
[00:09:35] But today what we're seeing is more and more legacy retailers, those with both an online and physical store presence,
[00:09:41] are moving into the space and they're finding a lot of success.
[00:09:44] Yes. So just here in the UK, we've seen Tesco, Nex, M&S, and of course you guys at B&Q have launched third-party marketplaces.
[00:09:54] I'd love to get your thoughts on this, Mark.
[00:09:55] What is driving this trend and what are the benefits both for retailers but also for shoppers?
[00:10:02] It's an excellent question.
[00:10:03] In fact, if we go back to the origins of the success of the marketplace model, I think it has gone through three major stages.
[00:10:14] First, we saw a lot of generalist pure players that started at a given time to develop this kind of business model.
[00:10:23] Obviously, the Amazons of this world and many others.
[00:10:28] A few years later, it came the moment for the verticalization where not only generalists but especially players started to offer a curated experience
[00:10:38] based on specific categories and specific products, also combining the marketplace business model with the first-party model.
[00:10:46] And that's where you get, for example, Zalandos, a marketplace model, which is also very specific in one concrete category.
[00:10:53] Or Wayfair and Furniture as well.
[00:10:55] More recently.
[00:10:57] Exactly.
[00:10:57] Exactly.
[00:10:58] And what you have seen more recently and probably more recently, we can go back to the last five years,
[00:11:03] is that we are now getting into the era of the omnichannel marketplaces, which at a personal level,
[00:11:09] that's the experience I've gone at B&Q and it has been a great learning.
[00:11:13] Because when I joined Kim Fisher, my very first mission precisely was to help at building this marketplace capability.
[00:11:23] The very different element of the question was, well, we are not a pure player.
[00:11:27] We are not an active digital operator.
[00:11:30] We are a traditional retailer who wants to embrace new technology and new ways to do the business.
[00:11:37] So how can we win?
[00:11:39] So what we have seen, not only for us, but happening across multiple markets and industries,
[00:11:44] is that by developing a marketplace and connecting it to an omnichannel traditional retailer,
[00:11:49] you have several different challenges, obviously, but many other advantages.
[00:11:55] Some of the advantages are very simple.
[00:11:57] First, we are a trusted, reliable brand that consumers go to by default.
[00:12:03] We have millions of consumers who have been buying in our brands for many different years.
[00:12:07] Therefore, where suddenly you are increasing your supply, where you're increasing the offering and the proposition of the choice that you give to your consumers
[00:12:14] out of these brands into an integrated experience,
[00:12:19] the way you get traction is much faster than if you are starting from scratch,
[00:12:24] you're starting from a known, non-respected or well-known brand.
[00:12:27] The second element, which is interesting, is about the connection with the stores.
[00:12:33] You can connect the stores with the marketplace by allowing returns.
[00:12:38] You can buy a marketplace product that is shipped from a third-party seller or your own fulfillment capability if you have it,
[00:12:45] and allow the customers to return that product into the market, into the stores.
[00:12:49] In fact, at the very beginning, we actually, we did question,
[00:12:54] should we offer that possibility to our consumers?
[00:12:57] Should we offer them the possibility to return the product into our stores?
[00:13:00] Because that adds complexity.
[00:13:02] And we decided to do it because we thought that would be a competitive advantage.
[00:13:06] And at the same time, we thought that consumers will like it.
[00:13:10] And in fact, thank God we did it.
[00:13:11] Because no matter if you offer it or not, consumers by default will think that they can do it.
[00:13:16] Because they actually don't care if this is a third-party product or it's not a first-party product.
[00:13:21] They will by default think, well, this is something I bought at Castorama or at B&Q.
[00:13:25] Therefore, if there is a question, if I want to return it, I'm going to go to the store.
[00:13:30] So almost accidentally, you are forced to do it.
[00:13:33] So we did that on purpose, and that actually worked very well.
[00:13:37] The other thing that you can do, which we are still testing and we are planning to embrace very soon,
[00:13:43] is offer click and collect of the marketplace products into the stores.
[00:13:46] And that suddenly starts creating a proper omnichannel experience where customers can have access to this universe of, as you say, endless products,
[00:13:56] but at the same time have a very real experience in which they can go into a store and to pick up that product.
[00:14:02] Or you can also be navigating physically in the store trying to find the right product.
[00:14:07] And your colleagues there, they might advise you online through a tab, through a tablet,
[00:14:12] where perhaps the best product you can buy is this one that we have online,
[00:14:16] and you buy it here and you're picking up in a couple of days into the store.
[00:14:19] So I think this is just the very beginning for many people,
[00:14:24] experimenting how you can bring together these online marketplaces with the store experience.
[00:14:32] And the fact that we have done that from the very beginning quite well,
[00:14:36] I think it got really strong adoption from the consumers quite fast.
[00:14:40] And if you think about that situation, it's very hard to compete against that if you are a pure player,
[00:14:45] because it is way easier for B&Q or Castorama to replicate the online capabilities that pure players have,
[00:14:53] that for any online pure player to suddenly build a network of thousands of stores
[00:14:59] and a strong trust that consumers have over more than 40 and 50 years of buying into these brands.
[00:15:07] And I think that we have catch well this third wave,
[00:15:12] and we represent the new generation of these marketplaces.
[00:15:15] As you can see also, Walmart, who is doing that very well in the U.S.,
[00:15:21] which, of course, not that verticalized as we do it,
[00:15:25] which combine very well these two competing against the pure players.
[00:15:29] And we're still learning.
[00:15:30] We're at the very beginning of the curve on that one.
[00:15:33] Yeah, it's so interesting to hear what you're saying.
[00:15:36] And I think you're absolutely right.
[00:15:37] Customers, they just expect to be able to return an item in store.
[00:15:42] They don't see a distinction between first-party brands and third-party brands.
[00:15:45] So really interesting what you're doing there.
[00:15:48] Now, I'd like to explore the role of stores in a little bit more detail,
[00:15:53] because you've just touched on how they're supporting marketplaces through click and collect
[00:15:57] and by accepting returns.
[00:15:59] And something I've said for a while now, and it sounds counterintuitive,
[00:16:02] but I really believe that the future of e-commerce is stores
[00:16:05] and that the physical store plays a huge role in helping retailers to achieve their e-commerce goals,
[00:16:11] both in that the store is a form of media,
[00:16:15] and shoppers might come into the store and then go buy online,
[00:16:18] and there's the whole halo effect,
[00:16:19] and we'll come on to retail media in a little bit as well.
[00:16:23] But also, as you've just touched on,
[00:16:25] how stores have become micro-fulfillment hubs in this digital era.
[00:16:30] So what are you doing at Kingfisher to meet customers' needs here?
[00:16:35] Absolutely.
[00:16:35] And you are very right that the stores are a key pillar of the e-commerce and digital strategic success at Kingfisher.
[00:16:46] So in many different dimensions, but going straight into your specific point,
[00:16:53] today, 93% of the orders that are bought online at Kingfisher Group are actually fulfilled by the stores.
[00:17:01] So the stores have become, by the facto, our fulfillment centers.
[00:17:08] And logically, because the stores have very strong capillarity across our geographies,
[00:17:13] this allows us to be much closer to our consumers.
[00:17:17] At the same time, we are already using the stores to stock the product that the consumers want to buy into the stores.
[00:17:23] Therefore, expanding the usage of the storage of the products for also the orders that are purchased online
[00:17:31] is not that a big leap somehow.
[00:17:34] So in a way, you are able to be closer to the consumer,
[00:17:38] get a more holistic experience for them in terms of what happened online and what happened into the store,
[00:17:44] and at the same time, makes it very effective from a cost perspective,
[00:17:47] because in a way, you need to use this space to store products for your own consumers.
[00:17:51] And this has been one of the key pillars of the power by Kingfisher strategy at operational level,
[00:18:00] and something that we have made a lot of progress over the last five years.
[00:18:04] And I think it has been one of the key elements of success of not only our efficiency,
[00:18:10] but also on the customer experience for sure.
[00:18:14] Then there are many other elements in how stores play a big role from an e-commerce perspective.
[00:18:19] As you say, they are our first branding.
[00:18:22] They are the first way that you position yourself into the market.
[00:18:27] While, again, only peer players have to spend a lot of money into the Googles
[00:18:32] and the methods of this world to be known, the stores do that work for us.
[00:18:38] And sometimes when you look at the store and you look at the store from a P&L perspective,
[00:18:42] it's hard to take that into account,
[00:18:45] but you need to consider the marketing that they are actually doing for you,
[00:18:49] and that marketing is money that you are saving from somewhere else.
[00:18:53] And in fact, the other way around,
[00:18:56] we are starting, all the omni-channel players are starting to become quite more effective
[00:19:01] at measuring the impact that this has through the Vopo effect,
[00:19:05] the people that make the research online and buy offline.
[00:19:09] And we have endless paths that consumers take.
[00:19:12] People who make the search online and they go to the store,
[00:19:16] and perhaps sometimes they go to the store,
[00:19:18] they look at what they want and they end up buying it with the app in the same store,
[00:19:23] or they end up buying it with the tablet when they are back home,
[00:19:26] or the other way around.
[00:19:29] So from a consumer perspective,
[00:19:31] the fact that we are mixing the logistics all into the same location with the stores,
[00:19:36] but at the same time that you are using them as another media channel,
[00:19:39] it helps us to create a lot of efficiencies.
[00:19:42] And it just makes a lot of sense.
[00:19:46] And in a way, I see it as the future of a proper omni-channel experience for consumers.
[00:19:56] It's not only what you face to the consumer,
[00:19:59] it's also how you manage your fulfillment,
[00:20:00] it's the offer of the clients, it's the pricing,
[00:20:04] everything combined into one single channel experience.
[00:20:07] Yeah.
[00:20:07] And recognizing, as you say, that that path to purchase is no longer linear.
[00:20:11] And today, there are so many touch points.
[00:20:14] So some shoppers might want to come in, research, as you say,
[00:20:18] or speak to a member of staff and then buy online,
[00:20:20] or someone might buy online and want to collect in store.
[00:20:22] And I can imagine as a retailer, it just must be so complex
[00:20:26] trying to meet the customers who just want to shop the way that they want to shop.
[00:20:31] So I don't envy you, I guess is the point.
[00:20:34] But I want to talk about your collaboration with Deliveroo
[00:20:38] and pick up on your point about getting closer to the consumer.
[00:20:43] I remember when this was first announced, I thought it was really innovative,
[00:20:47] just generally how Deliveroo is moving into non-food.
[00:20:49] And I thought particularly for DIY and also for gifting,
[00:20:52] I can totally see the use case.
[00:20:54] And I had Paul Wilkinson from Deliveroo on the podcast earlier this year.
[00:20:59] And he talked about this from Deliveroo's perspective
[00:21:02] and how their aim is to bring the high street to the customer, as he put it.
[00:21:07] So I'd love to get your take on this collaboration
[00:21:10] and just more generally how speed is important to your customers.
[00:21:16] Because I know for, I think it was even before Deliveroo,
[00:21:20] Screwfix was doing one hour click and collect,
[00:21:22] which again, having that store level visibility,
[00:21:26] that is the kind of holy grail, isn't it?
[00:21:29] So just maybe some words around the inspiration behind it
[00:21:33] and whether you feel that it's helping to differentiate from your competitors.
[00:21:36] I would say that everything we do, at the end of the day,
[00:21:40] we do it out of the perspective of choice, speed and convenience.
[00:21:45] And this is a great example about how we find something
[00:21:48] that we believe is worth testing based on focusing on speed and convenience
[00:21:51] because we constantly see why and how consumers demand and expect that from us.
[00:21:57] So when you think about the partnership with Deliveroo,
[00:22:00] it's just one additional channel that we have been using and testing
[00:22:06] in order to get closer to the consumers for the last mile.
[00:22:09] The same way that we launched Screwfix Sprint,
[00:22:13] where as you were saying,
[00:22:14] consumers can ask within 60 minutes to get something at home with a rider,
[00:22:18] or the same way we have been partnering up with Pudos
[00:22:21] in order to deliver our packages even closer to our consumers,
[00:22:26] either into pickup points, into lockers.
[00:22:28] So for us, Deliveroo is that partnership is about accessing a new channel
[00:22:34] in order to offer additional convenience and speed in our service
[00:22:40] because constantly we see that consumers expect that.
[00:22:43] They expect that based on their experiences that they have in many other players.
[00:22:47] They expect that based on what they have seen that, of course,
[00:22:53] Amazon, for example, got used to in everyone into the market.
[00:22:58] And the advantage we have is that the capillarity of our stores
[00:23:03] and how close they are to the consumers,
[00:23:06] but also to any warehouse solution that anyone may have
[00:23:09] in whatever this is a rider or directly deliverable,
[00:23:12] it allows us to make that connection quite quickly
[00:23:15] and bring these products at the right time,
[00:23:18] at the right place, very quickly.
[00:23:21] Mark, let's talk about the golden quarter
[00:23:23] because we're now in peak trading period
[00:23:26] and Black Friday, you know, it's no longer a one-day event, right?
[00:23:31] It's, we've been calling it Black November for a while.
[00:23:34] And you know what?
[00:23:35] I noticed this year it started earlier than ever before.
[00:23:38] On Halloween, Boots, John Lewis and Curry's
[00:23:41] were all pushing Black Friday.
[00:23:42] So here we are today, it's November 7th, we're recording,
[00:23:46] and I noticed that B&Q has joined the Black Friday party.
[00:23:49] How important is Black Friday to the home improvement sector?
[00:23:52] And how important is it to B&Q?
[00:23:54] It is important, it is growing,
[00:23:56] and it is fluctuating and changing a lot over the last year.
[00:24:00] So I remember Black Friday starting,
[00:24:03] I started to work for Black Friday in other industries
[00:24:05] a little like around seven, eight years ago
[00:24:10] when Black Friday was a thing that pure players used to focus on,
[00:24:14] or especially on high tech and electronics.
[00:24:17] And it was really like a weekend.
[00:24:19] But I remember that even at the time for that weekend,
[00:24:22] you could do 20% of the total yearly sales
[00:24:26] in that single period.
[00:24:28] Over the years, what just happened,
[00:24:31] what we have seen is that first,
[00:24:34] the period got expanded.
[00:24:36] So it's not anymore Black Friday or even Black November.
[00:24:39] It's somehow, it feels like a bridge
[00:24:41] between where we are and Christmas.
[00:24:43] In our case, as you say, this year,
[00:24:45] we are already starting progressively
[00:24:46] to open up the different offers for the Black Friday.
[00:24:50] And what we have seen over the years
[00:24:52] is that it has become more and more important
[00:24:54] in our industry.
[00:24:55] Because I think that if you go back four or five years ago,
[00:24:58] it wasn't part of more specialist retailers, I would say.
[00:25:02] The other thing that just has changed a lot for us
[00:25:04] is the opening of the marketplace.
[00:25:07] The opening of the marketplace
[00:25:08] and now suddenly having access to millions of products
[00:25:12] from thousands of sellers
[00:25:13] who are used to operate through Black Friday,
[00:25:16] they are the ones coming to us
[00:25:19] and actually asking us to offer the possibility
[00:25:23] to celebrate the Black Friday
[00:25:24] and be way more aggressive
[00:25:25] because they are willing to come with offers.
[00:25:27] So in the past,
[00:25:29] you could have a Black Friday operation
[00:25:30] where you would offer 500 SKUs
[00:25:32] at the discount rate to beat the market.
[00:25:36] Now, you may have hundreds of thousands of SKUs
[00:25:40] that allow you to go to the market
[00:25:41] to be heavily, heavily competitive.
[00:25:44] So what we see is longer times,
[00:25:47] we see more aggressivity
[00:25:48] and more people expecting it
[00:25:49] in every single one of the different categories.
[00:25:51] And for sure, for us, it's an important period of the time
[00:25:54] and every year is getting more important, I would say.
[00:25:56] Mark, I want to move on now to talk about retail media.
[00:25:59] I presume that if you have a third-party marketplace,
[00:26:03] then this is a natural next step
[00:26:05] as a way to monetize that platform
[00:26:07] and bring in alternative revenue streams.
[00:26:10] But also, I guess, from a customer point of view,
[00:26:12] to offer more personalization,
[00:26:14] more relevance for the customer.
[00:26:15] So can you tell us a little bit about the work
[00:26:18] that you're doing at Kingfisher
[00:26:20] in regards to retail media
[00:26:21] and how you're differentiating
[00:26:23] from your competitors in this space?
[00:26:24] So I would say that for us,
[00:26:26] the retail media journey,
[00:26:27] simplifying it a lot,
[00:26:28] it started around 18 months ago.
[00:26:31] So that's when we started to develop
[00:26:33] our own capabilities in terms of this area
[00:26:35] where, just to simplify a lot,
[00:26:37] what we do is to expose our traffic impressions
[00:26:39] impressions and customer to sellers
[00:26:43] who want to position themselves in order to be seen.
[00:26:46] So we sell advertisement.
[00:26:48] So what we have seen about retail media
[00:26:51] and what I'm very excited about
[00:26:53] is that retail media creates two effects.
[00:26:57] So number one, obviously, it improves revenues.
[00:27:01] It makes margins stronger for obvious reasons.
[00:27:04] The second thing that is more exciting
[00:27:08] and that one I didn't expect it
[00:27:09] is that retail media, well done,
[00:27:11] it actually improves conversion.
[00:27:14] Because as you were well saying,
[00:27:16] when you connect retail media to a marketplace,
[00:27:18] a marketplace creates competition.
[00:27:23] But when there is competition,
[00:27:24] you want to create the right tools.
[00:27:26] You want to bring the right tools to the sellers
[00:27:27] for them to be able to compete
[00:27:28] to offer the best proposition to the consumers.
[00:27:32] So sellers are fully aware
[00:27:34] that retail media gives them a chance
[00:27:37] for them to get better visibility.
[00:27:40] But because what we offer is based in performance,
[00:27:43] it's not only about how much
[00:27:44] they are going to be willing to pay.
[00:27:46] It's about how good the offer is,
[00:27:48] how fast they're going to ship,
[00:27:50] how good is the description
[00:27:51] and the number of images
[00:27:53] and the quality of the images they put.
[00:27:55] So for them to be more effective,
[00:27:57] for them to have better rewards
[00:27:59] on the money they invest into retail media,
[00:28:01] they just need to be better.
[00:28:03] That creates more competition.
[00:28:05] And that competition,
[00:28:06] at the end of the day,
[00:28:08] it benefits consumers.
[00:28:09] So the beauty of that retail media proposition
[00:28:13] that I'm discovering
[00:28:14] is that it's not only something
[00:28:16] that impacts our margin,
[00:28:17] but it also impacts the consumer experience
[00:28:19] if you do it right.
[00:28:21] What I think we have done very well
[00:28:23] is that very quickly,
[00:28:26] we have integrated,
[00:28:27] we partnered up with a market leader
[00:28:28] in retail media capabilities,
[00:28:31] which is Citrus Ads,
[00:28:32] that allows us to take a lot of learning from them.
[00:28:34] And we quickly opened that possibility
[00:28:36] to first-party vendors,
[00:28:38] but at the same time,
[00:28:39] also third-party marketplace.
[00:28:40] And because we were quite effectively
[00:28:42] building the marketplace a couple of years ago,
[00:28:44] today we have thousands of mature sellers
[00:28:47] with a lot of appetite to come in,
[00:28:49] to invest into the retail media.
[00:28:51] So it's good for the sellers
[00:28:52] because we give them another tool
[00:28:54] for them to improve their performance.
[00:28:56] It's good for us
[00:28:57] because obviously we are improving our margins.
[00:28:59] And it's good for consumers
[00:29:01] because we create this competition
[00:29:02] that at the end it takes them
[00:29:03] to a better reposition.
[00:29:05] Looking at the possibilities
[00:29:06] of where this can go
[00:29:07] and how much this is going into the market,
[00:29:10] I think we are just at the very beginning
[00:29:11] of the maturity in retail media,
[00:29:14] not only for us,
[00:29:15] which we have done a good progress,
[00:29:16] but in general into the market.
[00:29:18] In fact, we believe that
[00:29:20] over the long term,
[00:29:22] retail media will represent a few percent
[00:29:24] of the total revenue
[00:29:26] that we create across the digital channels.
[00:29:28] And that's clearly a very good ambition to have.
[00:29:32] Yeah.
[00:29:33] So how do you see this evolving in the future?
[00:29:35] Do you think we'll see more retail media
[00:29:37] in our stores with things like digital screens,
[00:29:40] for example?
[00:29:43] I think that there are three stages
[00:29:44] into a proper retail media implementation.
[00:29:46] And everyone is kind of following
[00:29:49] very similar paths, I would say.
[00:29:52] So the first thing you can do
[00:29:54] is activate your own traffic,
[00:29:58] your own consumers,
[00:29:59] your own impressions
[00:30:00] that you have across your own online channels,
[00:30:03] your website and your mobile app
[00:30:05] to offer advertisement.
[00:30:08] We have around 1 billion yearly visits
[00:30:13] across the entire group.
[00:30:14] So that's quite a lot of people
[00:30:15] which is interested to buy these products.
[00:30:18] And therefore,
[00:30:18] that allow us to offer
[00:30:20] a good distribution,
[00:30:22] but at the same time,
[00:30:23] very good draws
[00:30:23] toward consumers.
[00:30:26] We are right now
[00:30:27] offering an average
[00:30:30] of between 600 and 700 draws
[00:30:32] on all the investment
[00:30:33] that third parties and suppliers
[00:30:36] get when they invest
[00:30:37] into retail media
[00:30:38] for different brands.
[00:30:40] What normally you will expect
[00:30:41] will happen later
[00:30:42] is that we will co-partner up
[00:30:45] in order to do co-advertisement
[00:30:47] into external channels,
[00:30:49] so off-site advertisement.
[00:30:50] What this means is that
[00:30:53] you and a third party,
[00:30:55] and so one of our brands
[00:30:57] and one of third parties
[00:30:58] that sell into our marketplace
[00:30:59] or first-party brands,
[00:31:00] we partner up together
[00:31:02] to do advertisement
[00:31:03] into external channels
[00:31:04] still digital,
[00:31:05] which is Google,
[00:31:07] Meta, etc.
[00:31:10] Because connecting the two brands
[00:31:12] and together
[00:31:12] into one single advertisement proposition,
[00:31:15] it delivers better rewards
[00:31:16] that I view it by separated.
[00:31:18] So this is the second stage
[00:31:19] where we will go
[00:31:20] and we are actually starting
[00:31:21] to test in some of the brands
[00:31:23] on that approach.
[00:31:23] The third stage,
[00:31:25] which is kind of natural,
[00:31:26] but it requires,
[00:31:28] I would say,
[00:31:29] heavier technology
[00:31:30] and investment
[00:31:32] is when you do that
[00:31:33] directly connected
[00:31:34] to the stores.
[00:31:35] Whatever this is,
[00:31:36] digital displays,
[00:31:38] like TVs,
[00:31:39] screens, etc.,
[00:31:40] or this is physical presence
[00:31:43] into the store,
[00:31:44] into a specific corner,
[00:31:45] etc.
[00:31:46] So this is,
[00:31:47] for me,
[00:31:47] the ultimate goal.
[00:31:49] Something that we are starting
[00:31:50] to test,
[00:31:50] but we still need
[00:31:51] to go a little beyond
[00:31:52] on the possibilities
[00:31:54] because at the end of the day,
[00:31:55] if you want to offer
[00:31:56] a proper omnichannel experience,
[00:31:57] it also needs to be
[00:31:58] omnichannel
[00:31:59] from a retail media perspective.
[00:32:01] So for sure,
[00:32:02] next year,
[00:32:03] we will be starting
[00:32:05] to test
[00:32:05] the three ways
[00:32:06] to operate
[00:32:06] across retail media.
[00:32:08] Perhaps
[00:32:10] there is a four element.
[00:32:12] It's something
[00:32:12] that you can do
[00:32:13] at any of the stages
[00:32:14] in terms of maturity,
[00:32:15] which is
[00:32:16] powering
[00:32:17] and activating
[00:32:18] your customer data
[00:32:20] through CRM
[00:32:21] to also target
[00:32:23] consumers
[00:32:23] for specific offers
[00:32:25] in a personalized manner.
[00:32:26] So we have invest
[00:32:28] a lot
[00:32:28] into personalization
[00:32:29] and into customization
[00:32:31] of what the consumers see.
[00:32:32] If we connect that
[00:32:34] with retail media
[00:32:34] through email,
[00:32:36] WhatsApp,
[00:32:37] whatever channel
[00:32:38] you can reach
[00:32:38] to consumers
[00:32:39] and you have
[00:32:40] through CRM,
[00:32:41] then it's when
[00:32:42] you can target
[00:32:43] advertisement
[00:32:43] through email marketing
[00:32:45] and create
[00:32:47] another source
[00:32:47] of revenue
[00:32:48] and another
[00:32:48] good,
[00:32:48] pleasant experience
[00:32:49] for the consumers
[00:32:50] if you do it right.
[00:32:51] So interesting
[00:32:52] and it's moving
[00:32:53] so quickly as well.
[00:32:54] So really interesting
[00:32:56] to hear your thoughts
[00:32:57] on that.
[00:32:58] I have two more questions
[00:32:59] I'd like to ask you.
[00:33:00] One is about AI.
[00:33:02] As group digital director,
[00:33:04] I can't let you get away
[00:33:05] without getting
[00:33:05] your thoughts on AI.
[00:33:07] And then I want to wrap up
[00:33:08] with a quick question
[00:33:09] on the future of retail
[00:33:10] and where you see it going.
[00:33:11] So I've given you
[00:33:12] a little bit of notice
[00:33:13] there, Mark.
[00:33:15] Every day it feels
[00:33:16] like we're discovering
[00:33:16] new use cases
[00:33:18] for AI.
[00:33:20] And I think it's
[00:33:21] going to radically
[00:33:22] improve the customer
[00:33:23] experience,
[00:33:24] but it's also going
[00:33:24] to radically drive
[00:33:25] operational efficiencies
[00:33:27] for retailers
[00:33:27] and we're seeing
[00:33:28] that already.
[00:33:29] So how are you
[00:33:30] using AI
[00:33:31] at Kingfisher
[00:33:32] and where do you
[00:33:33] see the big opportunities
[00:33:34] for retail?
[00:33:36] It's important
[00:33:37] to clarify
[00:33:37] what we stand for
[00:33:38] in terms of AI
[00:33:39] because people used
[00:33:40] to connect AI
[00:33:40] with general data
[00:33:42] and then there is
[00:33:43] one thing which is AI
[00:33:44] and gen AI,
[00:33:45] et cetera, et cetera.
[00:33:46] So we have been working
[00:33:49] in order to
[00:33:50] utilize our
[00:33:52] data capabilities
[00:33:53] for a long period
[00:33:54] of time now.
[00:33:55] And that means
[00:33:57] that since
[00:33:57] a few years ago
[00:33:58] we invested
[00:33:59] to build
[00:34:00] our own
[00:34:01] internal data platform
[00:34:03] which we call
[00:34:03] Nucleus.
[00:34:05] And that took
[00:34:06] quite a long time
[00:34:07] and we are still
[00:34:08] going through.
[00:34:08] in order to
[00:34:10] identify
[00:34:10] all the key
[00:34:11] data sources,
[00:34:12] connect them
[00:34:13] all together
[00:34:13] and bring the data
[00:34:15] in a manner
[00:34:15] that it can be
[00:34:16] comparable,
[00:34:17] measure
[00:34:17] and utilize.
[00:34:20] That
[00:34:21] is the most
[00:34:22] important piece
[00:34:22] of work
[00:34:23] that we have done
[00:34:23] because if you
[00:34:24] don't have that
[00:34:25] you can do
[00:34:26] nothing with AI.
[00:34:26] You can do
[00:34:27] nothing with
[00:34:27] anything else
[00:34:28] connected to data.
[00:34:30] So for a long
[00:34:30] period of time
[00:34:31] we did focus
[00:34:32] into building
[00:34:33] these foundations.
[00:34:34] use.
[00:34:35] That
[00:34:35] more recently
[00:34:36] has allowed
[00:34:37] us
[00:34:37] to now
[00:34:38] starting to
[00:34:39] activate
[00:34:40] this data
[00:34:40] for a lot
[00:34:41] of different
[00:34:41] business
[00:34:42] purposes.
[00:34:42] And one
[00:34:43] of them
[00:34:43] is of course
[00:34:44] to start
[00:34:44] testing into
[00:34:45] AI capabilities
[00:34:46] more specifically.
[00:34:47] Of course
[00:34:48] we are
[00:34:50] as excited
[00:34:51] as everyone
[00:34:51] else about
[00:34:52] the AI
[00:34:52] capabilities.
[00:34:53] But at the
[00:34:54] same time
[00:34:55] AI is one
[00:34:56] of those
[00:34:56] things where
[00:34:57] you can
[00:34:57] easily try
[00:34:57] to buoy
[00:34:58] the ocean
[00:35:00] by shooting
[00:35:01] at everything
[00:35:02] that moves.
[00:35:03] So what
[00:35:03] we decided
[00:35:04] to do
[00:35:05] last year
[00:35:06] is to create
[00:35:07] a very single
[00:35:08] framework in
[00:35:08] which we
[00:35:09] want to test
[00:35:09] AI and
[00:35:10] we need
[00:35:11] to be very
[00:35:11] humble because
[00:35:12] it's still
[00:35:12] a test and
[00:35:13] learn approach
[00:35:14] where we
[00:35:15] need to
[00:35:15] discover
[00:35:15] what are
[00:35:16] the big
[00:35:17] benefits.
[00:35:18] We need
[00:35:18] to discover
[00:35:19] what are
[00:35:20] the big
[00:35:21] use cases
[00:35:21] because it's
[00:35:23] so easy
[00:35:23] to define
[00:35:24] 3,000
[00:35:25] use cases
[00:35:26] where you
[00:35:27] will implement
[00:35:27] AI but
[00:35:28] you need
[00:35:28] to prioritize
[00:35:28] and you
[00:35:29] need to
[00:35:30] decide
[00:35:30] where you're
[00:35:31] going to
[00:35:31] target
[00:35:31] first.
[00:35:32] So what
[00:35:33] we did
[00:35:33] first is
[00:35:34] to select
[00:35:34] three key
[00:35:35] themes that
[00:35:36] for us
[00:35:37] would be
[00:35:37] important in
[00:35:37] order to
[00:35:38] focus on
[00:35:38] effort.
[00:35:39] One is
[00:35:40] everything about
[00:35:41] internal
[00:35:41] productivity
[00:35:42] gains,
[00:35:43] where we
[00:35:43] can see
[00:35:43] internal
[00:35:44] productivity
[00:35:44] gains,
[00:35:45] and I
[00:35:45] know they
[00:35:45] are very
[00:35:46] general
[00:35:46] terms but
[00:35:46] they help
[00:35:47] us a lot.
[00:35:48] Second,
[00:35:50] where we
[00:35:50] can see
[00:35:51] dramatic
[00:35:52] improvement
[00:35:52] in terms
[00:35:53] of sales
[00:35:53] growth,
[00:35:54] and three,
[00:35:55] where we
[00:35:56] can see
[00:35:58] effective
[00:35:58] improvement
[00:35:59] into our
[00:36:00] margin.
[00:36:01] Out of
[00:36:02] that,
[00:36:03] what we
[00:36:03] started to
[00:36:03] do is
[00:36:04] to start
[00:36:05] testing and
[00:36:05] learning into
[00:36:06] different
[00:36:06] capabilities.
[00:36:07] So I can
[00:36:09] say that
[00:36:09] today after
[00:36:10] a lot of
[00:36:10] tests,
[00:36:11] learn,
[00:36:11] and different
[00:36:12] capabilities
[00:36:12] development
[00:36:13] that we
[00:36:14] have gone
[00:36:14] through,
[00:36:15] we found
[00:36:16] really good
[00:36:16] best practices
[00:36:17] that we
[00:36:18] are ready
[00:36:18] to invest
[00:36:20] and to
[00:36:20] scale.
[00:36:21] First of
[00:36:22] all,
[00:36:23] we have
[00:36:25] used and
[00:36:25] we are
[00:36:25] using AI
[00:36:26] for chat
[00:36:27] bots in
[00:36:27] terms of
[00:36:28] having a
[00:36:28] direct
[00:36:28] conversation
[00:36:29] with our
[00:36:29] consumers to
[00:36:30] help them
[00:36:30] make decisions
[00:36:31] about their
[00:36:32] shopping experience.
[00:36:33] We launched
[00:36:34] HelloCasto a
[00:36:35] few months
[00:36:36] ago.
[00:36:37] HelloCasto is
[00:36:37] a chat bot
[00:36:38] in Castodama
[00:36:39] where consumers
[00:36:41] can have a
[00:36:42] very normal
[00:36:42] conversation
[00:36:43] where they
[00:36:43] can try to
[00:36:44] identify
[00:36:45] products that
[00:36:46] they don't
[00:36:46] know the name
[00:36:47] or they
[00:36:48] can try to
[00:36:48] identify how
[00:36:49] to fix a
[00:36:50] specific problem
[00:36:50] such as I
[00:36:51] want to paint
[00:36:52] a ball and
[00:36:52] I really don't
[00:36:53] know what
[00:36:53] the steps I
[00:36:54] need to
[00:36:54] follow or
[00:36:55] you need
[00:36:56] the product
[00:36:56] that compares
[00:36:57] to another
[00:36:57] product or
[00:36:58] you need
[00:36:58] to know how
[00:36:59] two things
[00:36:59] work together.
[00:37:00] So you
[00:37:01] can now
[00:37:01] combine these
[00:37:02] things to have
[00:37:03] a very natural
[00:37:04] conversation with
[00:37:04] that system
[00:37:05] that takes
[00:37:05] you through
[00:37:06] the process
[00:37:06] to understanding
[00:37:07] what service
[00:37:08] and product
[00:37:09] you need to
[00:37:09] buy in a
[00:37:11] way that you
[00:37:12] really feel
[00:37:12] that someone
[00:37:13] is actually
[00:37:13] supporting you.
[00:37:15] There what
[00:37:15] we have seen
[00:37:16] is you
[00:37:17] a huge
[00:37:17] adoption
[00:37:17] by consumers
[00:37:18] we're still
[00:37:19] even if we
[00:37:20] launched it
[00:37:21] six months
[00:37:21] ago we're
[00:37:22] still testing
[00:37:23] and learning
[00:37:23] but we are
[00:37:24] having more
[00:37:24] than 100,000
[00:37:25] consumer
[00:37:26] conversations
[00:37:26] every month
[00:37:27] with that
[00:37:28] system and
[00:37:28] we see a
[00:37:29] clear impact
[00:37:29] in terms of
[00:37:30] customer
[00:37:30] lifetime value
[00:37:31] conversion rate
[00:37:33] etc.
[00:37:34] The other
[00:37:35] area where
[00:37:36] we have seen
[00:37:37] a huge
[00:37:37] impact is
[00:37:38] about
[00:37:39] customer
[00:37:39] personalization.
[00:37:41] So we
[00:37:42] started developing
[00:37:43] our own
[00:37:44] internal
[00:37:45] algorithms
[00:37:46] for
[00:37:47] consumer
[00:37:47] recommendations
[00:37:48] and
[00:37:48] personalization
[00:37:49] and they
[00:37:50] can go
[00:37:50] into
[00:37:50] multiple
[00:37:51] directions.
[00:37:51] It can be
[00:37:52] about
[00:37:52] frequently
[00:37:53] products
[00:37:54] both
[00:37:54] together
[00:37:54] when you're
[00:37:55] trying to
[00:37:55] buy
[00:37:56] something
[00:37:56] and what
[00:37:56] do you
[00:37:57] recommend
[00:37:57] customers
[00:37:57] to buy
[00:37:58] to
[00:37:58] in terms
[00:37:59] of what
[00:38:00] you would
[00:38:00] buy
[00:38:00] next
[00:38:01] so you
[00:38:01] make a
[00:38:01] prediction
[00:38:02] about what
[00:38:02] the
[00:38:02] consumer
[00:38:03] would buy
[00:38:03] next
[00:38:03] based on
[00:38:04] their
[00:38:04] behavior
[00:38:04] so you
[00:38:16] is that
[00:38:17] the
[00:38:17] conversion
[00:38:18] of these
[00:38:18] systems
[00:38:19] compared to
[00:38:20] legacy
[00:38:20] capabilities
[00:38:21] that we
[00:38:21] had before
[00:38:21] from third
[00:38:22] parties
[00:38:22] have
[00:38:23] doubled
[00:38:23] the
[00:38:25] conversion
[00:38:25] rate
[00:38:25] so the
[00:38:26] benefit
[00:38:27] it
[00:38:27] has
[00:38:27] been
[00:38:28] huge
[00:38:28] because
[00:38:28] we're
[00:38:29] not only
[00:38:30] saving
[00:38:30] money
[00:38:30] from using
[00:38:31] third
[00:38:31] party
[00:38:31] capabilities
[00:38:32] but with
[00:38:33] a kind
[00:38:34] of a
[00:38:34] moderate
[00:38:34] amount
[00:38:35] of
[00:38:36] resources
[00:38:36] we are
[00:38:37] able to
[00:38:37] create
[00:38:38] significantly
[00:38:38] amount
[00:38:39] of
[00:38:39] cells
[00:38:39] in the
[00:38:40] last
[00:38:40] six
[00:38:40] months
[00:38:40] we got
[00:38:41] more than
[00:38:41] 60 million
[00:38:42] cells
[00:38:42] generated
[00:38:43] just by
[00:38:44] these
[00:38:44] recommendation
[00:38:45] engines
[00:38:46] for
[00:38:47] internal
[00:38:47] capabilities
[00:38:48] there are
[00:38:48] a lot
[00:38:49] of
[00:38:49] sometimes
[00:38:50] small
[00:38:50] practices
[00:38:51] that
[00:38:51] have
[00:38:51] a
[00:38:51] huge
[00:38:52] impact
[00:38:52] so for
[00:38:52] example
[00:38:53] we
[00:38:54] recently
[00:38:54] launched
[00:38:56] and
[00:38:56] developed
[00:38:56] compliance
[00:38:57] agent
[00:38:57] so
[00:38:59] in the
[00:38:59] past
[00:39:00] and still
[00:39:00] today
[00:39:01] because we're
[00:39:01] in the
[00:39:01] process
[00:39:01] to run
[00:39:02] it
[00:39:02] out
[00:39:03] as a
[00:39:04] major
[00:39:04] listed
[00:39:04] company
[00:39:05] there's
[00:39:05] a lot
[00:39:05] of
[00:39:05] compliance
[00:39:06] to
[00:39:06] follow
[00:39:07] up
[00:39:07] by
[00:39:07] all
[00:39:08] team
[00:39:08] colleagues
[00:39:09] and
[00:39:10] these
[00:39:10] team
[00:39:10] colleagues
[00:39:10] constantly
[00:39:11] have
[00:39:11] questions
[00:39:12] doubts
[00:39:13] things
[00:39:13] that
[00:39:13] they
[00:39:14] want to
[00:39:14] know
[00:39:14] better
[00:39:16] and
[00:39:16] they
[00:39:16] go to
[00:39:17] compliance
[00:39:17] team
[00:39:18] and they
[00:39:18] ask
[00:39:18] about
[00:39:18] this
[00:39:19] what
[00:39:19] is
[00:39:19] the
[00:39:19] policy
[00:39:19] for
[00:39:20] this
[00:39:20] what
[00:39:20] do
[00:39:20] we
[00:39:20] do
[00:39:20] for
[00:39:21] that
[00:39:21] and
[00:39:22] there
[00:39:22] is
[00:39:22] hundreds
[00:39:23] of
[00:39:23] thousands
[00:39:24] of
[00:39:24] pages
[00:39:24] of
[00:39:34] data
[00:39:34] in
[00:39:35] an
[00:39:35] internal
[00:39:35] chat
[00:39:37] bot
[00:39:37] and
[00:39:38] we
[00:39:38] roll
[00:39:39] out
[00:39:39] this
[00:39:39] tool
[00:39:40] to
[00:39:41] what
[00:39:41] we're
[00:39:42] doing
[00:39:42] right
[00:39:42] now
[00:39:42] to
[00:39:43] our
[00:39:43] colleagues
[00:39:43] for
[00:39:44] them
[00:39:44] to
[00:39:44] be
[00:39:44] able
[00:39:44] to
[00:39:45] ask
[00:39:45] that
[00:39:45] directly
[00:39:45] to
[00:39:46] an
[00:39:46] Asian
[00:39:47] to
[00:39:48] get
[00:39:49] an
[00:39:49] immediate
[00:39:49] response
[00:39:50] what
[00:39:51] pretty much
[00:39:51] you get
[00:39:52] is that
[00:39:52] suddenly
[00:39:53] a bunch
[00:39:54] of
[00:39:54] a lot
[00:39:54] of
[00:39:54] people
[00:39:54] in
[00:39:55] compliance
[00:39:56] who
[00:39:57] needed
[00:39:57] to
[00:39:58] dedicate
[00:39:58] a lot
[00:39:58] of
[00:39:58] time
[00:39:59] into
[00:39:59] answering
[00:40:00] manual
[00:40:00] questions
[00:40:01] from
[00:40:01] colleagues
[00:40:04] to
[00:40:04] dedicate
[00:40:04] to
[00:40:05] more
[00:40:05] to
[00:40:06] calculate
[00:40:08] the
[00:40:09] return
[00:40:10] of
[00:40:11] building
[00:40:12] a
[00:40:12] capability
[00:40:12] like
[00:40:13] this
[00:40:14] just
[00:40:14] to
[00:40:14] give
[00:40:15] you
[00:40:15] another
[00:40:15] example
[00:40:15] one
[00:40:17] of
[00:40:17] the
[00:40:18] tools
[00:40:19] that
[00:40:19] we
[00:40:19] are
[00:40:19] very
[00:40:19] proud
[00:40:20] that
[00:40:20] we
[00:40:20] are
[00:40:20] testing
[00:40:20] is
[00:40:21] what
[00:40:21] we
[00:40:21] call
[00:40:21] LEMS
[00:40:22] which
[00:40:22] is
[00:40:22] our
[00:40:22] visual
[00:40:22] search
[00:40:23] engine
[00:40:23] we
[00:40:24] built
[00:40:24] the
[00:40:24] visual
[00:40:25] search
[00:40:25] engine
[00:40:25] in
[00:40:26] collaboration
[00:40:27] with
[00:40:27] Google
[00:40:28] which
[00:40:29] allows
[00:40:29] anyone
[00:40:30] through
[00:40:30] our
[00:40:31] app
[00:40:32] to
[00:40:32] scan
[00:40:34] the
[00:40:34] app
[00:40:34] camera
[00:40:35] and
[00:40:36] automatically
[00:40:36] identify
[00:40:37] what
[00:40:37] product
[00:40:38] is
[00:40:38] this
[00:40:38] into
[00:40:39] our
[00:40:39] catalog
[00:40:40] and
[00:40:40] what
[00:40:41] other
[00:40:41] similar
[00:40:41] products
[00:40:42] we
[00:40:42] may
[00:40:42] have
[00:40:43] and
[00:40:45] that's
[00:40:45] actually
[00:40:45] very
[00:40:46] cool
[00:40:46] and it
[00:40:46] works
[00:40:46] very well
[00:40:47] we tested
[00:40:47] it in
[00:40:48] 11 stores
[00:40:49] just with
[00:40:49] our
[00:40:49] colleagues
[00:40:50] and
[00:40:50] consumers
[00:40:50] we saw
[00:40:51] that
[00:40:51] it has
[00:40:52] a very
[00:40:52] good
[00:40:52] adoption
[00:40:53] and now
[00:40:53] we are
[00:40:53] working
[00:40:54] to
[00:40:54] implementing
[00:40:54] into
[00:40:54] the
[00:40:55] app
[00:40:55] so
[00:40:56] again
[00:40:56] the
[00:41:04] specific
[00:41:04] you
[00:41:05] want
[00:41:05] to
[00:41:05] achieve
[00:41:06] otherwise
[00:41:06] it's
[00:41:07] very
[00:41:07] easy
[00:41:08] to
[00:41:08] boil
[00:41:08] the
[00:41:08] ocean
[00:41:08] and
[00:41:09] not
[00:41:09] get
[00:41:09] P&L
[00:41:10] impactful
[00:41:12] topics
[00:41:13] and that's
[00:41:14] what we're
[00:41:14] trying to
[00:41:14] do
[00:41:14] focus
[00:41:15] less is
[00:41:16] more
[00:41:16] and elements
[00:41:17] that really
[00:41:17] impact
[00:41:17] consumers
[00:41:18] and
[00:41:18] P&L
[00:41:18] so
[00:41:19] so
[00:41:20] interesting
[00:41:20] and especially
[00:41:21] in a
[00:41:21] category
[00:41:22] like yours
[00:41:22] where
[00:41:23] you know
[00:41:24] if you're
[00:41:24] trying to
[00:41:24] reach
[00:41:25] a customer
[00:41:25] like
[00:41:25] me
[00:41:26] who
[00:41:26] dabbles
[00:41:27] in DIY
[00:41:28] but is
[00:41:28] you know
[00:41:29] certainly
[00:41:29] not an
[00:41:29] expert
[00:41:30] that education
[00:41:31] piece
[00:41:31] is huge
[00:41:32] so
[00:41:32] having
[00:41:33] those
[00:41:33] chat
[00:41:33] bots
[00:41:33] having
[00:41:34] that
[00:41:34] visual
[00:41:34] search
[00:41:35] and
[00:41:35] personalized
[00:41:36] suggestions
[00:41:36] I think
[00:41:37] all of
[00:41:37] that
[00:41:37] really
[00:41:38] does
[00:41:38] help
[00:41:38] to
[00:41:38] elevate
[00:41:39] the
[00:41:39] customer
[00:41:40] experience
[00:41:40] so
[00:41:40] really
[00:41:41] really
[00:41:41] interesting
[00:41:41] to hear
[00:41:42] what you're
[00:41:43] doing
[00:41:43] in that
[00:41:43] space
[00:41:43] now
[00:41:44] we've
[00:41:45] covered
[00:41:46] so much
[00:41:46] ground
[00:41:47] I just
[00:41:47] want to
[00:41:47] ask you
[00:41:47] very
[00:41:48] briefly
[00:41:48] what
[00:41:49] are
[00:41:49] you
[00:41:49] most
[00:41:50] excited
[00:41:50] about
[00:41:50] when
[00:41:51] we
[00:41:51] think
[00:41:51] about
[00:41:52] the
[00:41:52] future
[00:41:52] of
[00:41:52] retail
[00:41:53] there's
[00:41:54] so
[00:41:54] much
[00:41:54] happening
[00:41:54] we've
[00:41:55] talked
[00:41:55] about
[00:41:55] AI
[00:41:55] we've
[00:41:56] talked
[00:41:56] about
[00:41:56] retail
[00:41:56] media
[00:41:56] is there
[00:41:57] anything
[00:41:58] in particular
[00:41:58] that
[00:41:59] you're
[00:41:59] personally
[00:42:00] pretty
[00:42:01] excited
[00:42:01] about
[00:42:01] when we
[00:42:02] start
[00:42:02] thinking
[00:42:02] about
[00:42:02] how
[00:42:03] we
[00:42:03] might
[00:42:03] shop
[00:42:03] in
[00:42:04] 5-10
[00:42:04] years
[00:42:04] time
[00:42:05] it's
[00:42:06] so
[00:42:06] much
[00:42:06] to
[00:42:07] pick
[00:42:07] that
[00:42:07] makes
[00:42:08] me
[00:42:08] super
[00:42:08] excited
[00:42:09] I
[00:42:09] think
[00:42:10] first
[00:42:11] not to
[00:42:11] sound
[00:42:11] repetitive
[00:42:12] but
[00:42:13] AI
[00:42:14] it will
[00:42:14] change
[00:42:15] it all
[00:42:15] I
[00:42:16] think
[00:42:16] we
[00:42:16] are
[00:42:17] not
[00:42:17] aware
[00:42:17] of
[00:42:18] how
[00:42:19] huge
[00:42:19] of a
[00:42:20] revolution
[00:42:20] this is
[00:42:21] going
[00:42:21] to be
[00:42:21] at
[00:42:21] the
[00:42:22] same
[00:42:22] level
[00:42:22] that
[00:42:23] internet
[00:42:24] was
[00:42:24] at
[00:42:24] the
[00:42:24] time
[00:42:25] and
[00:42:25] we
[00:42:26] are
[00:42:26] just
[00:42:26] day
[00:42:27] not
[00:42:27] day
[00:42:27] one
[00:42:28] we
[00:42:28] are
[00:42:28] day
[00:42:28] zero
[00:42:29] we
[00:42:29] keep
[00:42:30] discovering
[00:42:30] new
[00:42:31] business
[00:42:32] cases
[00:42:32] out
[00:42:33] of
[00:42:33] existing
[00:42:33] capabilities
[00:42:34] which
[00:42:34] anyway
[00:42:35] will be
[00:42:36] way
[00:42:37] better
[00:42:37] in
[00:42:38] just
[00:42:38] six
[00:42:38] months
[00:42:38] so
[00:42:39] I
[00:42:39] truly
[00:42:40] believe
[00:42:40] that
[00:42:41] AI
[00:42:41] will
[00:42:42] change
[00:42:42] the
[00:42:42] way
[00:42:42] we
[00:42:43] consult
[00:42:44] we
[00:42:44] experience
[00:42:45] we
[00:42:46] interact
[00:42:46] and
[00:42:47] internally
[00:42:47] we
[00:42:48] manage
[00:42:49] operations
[00:42:49] second
[00:42:51] I
[00:42:56] matching
[00:42:56] the
[00:42:57] customer
[00:42:57] expectations
[00:42:58] in
[00:42:58] terms
[00:42:58] of
[00:42:59] a
[00:42:59] real
[00:43:00] omni
[00:43:00] channel
[00:43:00] experience
[00:43:01] where
[00:43:02] you
[00:43:02] have
[00:43:02] multiple
[00:43:03] channels
[00:43:05] zillions
[00:43:06] of
[00:43:06] consumer
[00:43:07] paths
[00:43:08] but
[00:43:09] you
[00:43:09] want
[00:43:09] to
[00:43:09] make
[00:43:10] sure
[00:43:10] that
[00:43:10] they
[00:43:10] all
[00:43:10] connect
[00:43:11] with
[00:43:11] one
[00:43:11] single
[00:43:12] proposition
[00:43:12] while
[00:43:14] I
[00:43:14] think
[00:43:14] we
[00:43:27] marketplace
[00:43:28] is
[00:43:29] about
[00:43:29] marketplace
[00:43:30] I
[00:43:31] don't
[00:43:32] think
[00:43:32] marketplace
[00:43:32] as a
[00:43:33] business
[00:43:34] model
[00:43:34] is an
[00:43:35] alternative
[00:43:35] retail
[00:43:36] model
[00:43:36] for
[00:43:37] digital
[00:43:37] sales
[00:43:38] I
[00:43:39] think
[00:43:39] marketplace
[00:43:40] is the
[00:43:41] new
[00:43:41] e-commerce
[00:43:41] is the
[00:43:42] new
[00:43:43] digital
[00:43:43] model
[00:43:43] and
[00:43:45] if
[00:43:45] you
[00:43:45] look
[00:43:45] at
[00:43:45] locations
[00:43:46] like
[00:43:46] China
[00:43:47] more
[00:43:48] than
[00:43:48] 80
[00:43:49] even
[00:43:49] in
[00:43:57] marketplace
[00:43:57] is here
[00:43:58] to stay
[00:43:59] and
[00:43:59] it's
[00:43:59] just
[00:43:59] at the
[00:44:00] very
[00:44:00] beginning
[00:44:00] on
[00:44:00] how
[00:44:01] retail
[00:44:01] embraces
[00:44:02] that
[00:44:02] capability
[00:44:02] and
[00:44:03] then
[00:44:04] how
[00:44:04] curated
[00:44:05] you
[00:44:05] want
[00:44:05] to
[00:44:05] be
[00:44:05] how
[00:44:06] do
[00:44:06] you
[00:44:06] connect
[00:44:07] that
[00:44:07] to
[00:44:07] your
[00:44:07] proposition
[00:44:08] how
[00:44:08] do
[00:44:08] you
[00:44:08] bring
[00:44:09] that
[00:44:09] together
[00:44:09] to
[00:44:09] your
[00:44:10] stores
[00:44:10] there
[00:44:10] are
[00:44:11] multiple
[00:44:11] different
[00:44:11] ways
[00:44:12] to
[00:44:12] approach
[00:44:12] it
[00:44:13] and
[00:44:13] that's
[00:44:13] how
[00:44:14] the
[00:44:14] people
[00:44:14] have
[00:44:14] to
[00:44:14] look
[00:44:15] into
[00:44:15] that
[00:44:15] in
[00:44:15] order
[00:44:15] to
[00:44:16] differentiate
[00:44:16] but
[00:44:17] I
[00:44:17] also
[00:44:17] believe
[00:44:17] that
[00:44:18] this
[00:44:18] is
[00:44:18] the
[00:44:18] beginning
[00:44:19] of
[00:44:26] for
[00:44:26] coming
[00:44:26] on
[00:44:26] the
[00:44:26] show
[00:44:27] thank
[00:44:34] you
[00:44:34] for
[00:44:34] listening
[00:44:34] to
[00:44:35] Retail
[00:44:35] Disrupted
[00:44:36] if
[00:44:36] you
[00:44:36] enjoyed
[00:44:37] this
[00:44:37] episode
[00:44:37] and
[00:44:38] would
[00:44:38] like
[00:44:38] to
[00:44:38] support
[00:44:38] the
[00:44:38] podcast
[00:44:39] please
[00:44:40] leave
[00:44:40] a
[00:44:40] rating
[00:44:40] or
[00:44:40] review
[00:44:41] or
[00:44:41] share
[00:44:42] it
[00:44:42] with
[00:44:42] others
[00:44:42] it
[00:44:43] really
[00:44:43] makes
[00:44:44] a
[00:44:44] difference