There’s No Better Time to be a Change Agent Than Now, with Paul Acito, CEO at Lyftbridge Innovation

Bonus Episode! Tune in to hear the themes and takeaways from this year's Grocery Shop 2026 in Las Vegas, live from the show floor.

Paul Acito has spent decades leading transformation at global giants like Medtronic and 3M, and now is running Lyftbridge Innovation, helping enterprises use AI to drive transformation and measurable business impact. Paul discusses how the merging of human leadership capabilities with transformational technology is the great unlock to generate sustainable, profitable growth in this next era.

Winning in the New Omnichannel - a shopping journey that careens across the physical, digital, and now agentic shelf - takes a massive cross-functional effort that is continuously measured and optimized. Especially when it comes to the beverage category. Ben Galvin, with career stops at ABInbev, Constellation Brands, and now as Sr. Director Omnichannel Retail Sales & Ecommerce at Monster Energy, has built an always-on flywheel playbook that he continues to refine in order to drive incremental growth and lifetime customer value.

Selling at Walmart? Then this podcast is for you, with two of the sharpest brains in the ecommerce business, Russ Dieringer, Founder and Claire McBride, VP of Research and Education from Stratably. All the latest data on their quarter and the trends, pressures, and opportunities that are coming your way out of Bentonville.

What started as a way to order dinner has evolved into one of the fastest growing channels in Australian retail. Consumers are now buying everything from groceries and beauty products to hardware and home essentials, expecting delivery in minutes rather than days. As shopper expectations shift, retailers are expanding into new categories, new partnerships are emerging, and brands are rethinking how they engage consumers in a convenience-first world. In this episode of Unpacking the Digital Shelf – APAC Edition, Teresa Sperti is joined by Matt McGinley, Head of CPG and Retail at Uber Advertising ANZ, to unpack what's driving the rapid growth of quick commerce and what it means for brands. Together they explore how shopper behaviour has changed over the past 12 to 18 months, why retailers are investing in convenience and rapid delivery, what the best-performing brands are doing differently, how to approach quick commerce as part of a broader commerce strategy, and the metrics that matter, from incrementality to new-to-brand customers. Whether you're just beginning to explore quick commerce or looking to maximise your existing strategy, this episode offers practical insights into one of retail's fastest-evolving channels. Uber’s Quick Commerce Trend Report: https://www.uber.com/au/en/blog/quick-commerce-trends-what-cpg-brands-need-to-know/

As the squished funnel of the AI shopping conversation continues to proliferate, we are seeing strong data that indicates conversion rates are higher than traditional search-based journeys. And with studies showing that 60% of consumers blame the brand itself, not the site or retailer they got the information on, the stakes for getting answer engine optimization right are rising. So Jing Feng, Co-founder and COO at AI marketing platform Bluefish joined us to share best practices and the cross-organizational orchestration required to win the recommendation.

In this episode, hosts Jamie Clapper and Lauren Livak Gilbert are joined by Nick Pericle, founder and owner of Tenexity, for a deep dive into the real-world application of AI in B2B e-commerce, distribution, and manufacturing. Drawing from over a decade of experience helping industrial businesses digitize and grow, Nick cuts through the hype to address why many organizations remain stuck in "planning mode" and how forward-thinking teams are escaping "pilot purgatory" to drive tangible ROI. From managing team mindsets and rethinking traditional job descriptions to building unified data layers that power future AI automation, Nick shares actionable insights for leaders ready to elevate their business ambition and leverage AI as a true competitive advantage.

Elise Barry has observed the shopper's growing control over their journey firsthand, moving from her early days managing spreadsheets on the agency side of ecommerce to her current role leading digital capabilities at Royal Canin. This evolution has placed urgent pressure on brands and retailers to transform the people, processes, and technology needed to support shopping journeys that can range from a single touchpoint to 17. On the podcast, Elise shares her perspective on the transformations necessary to prepare current and future generations of commerce organizations to thrive in this dynamic environment.

AI is already rewriting how consumers find products, and brands that aren't paying attention are going to feel it. Ideen Rahvar, Manager of Ecommerce Data and Analytics at Beiersdorf, saw it happen in real time: a live conference demo of ChatGPT recommending sunscreen skipped right over Coppertone. That moment became his wake-up call, and he's spent the time since decoding how AI evaluates brands and teaching the rest of his organization to do the same. Ideen joins the podcast to unpack why search is the golden metric of e-commerce, how AI is upending it, and what brands need to do now to stay visible.

The consumer journey is under one of the greatest transformations since, well, ecommerce. As AI and agents enable consumers to ask their individual questions, it is the challenger brands that are adapting to meet the moment and steal market share across many categories. Organizational silos are one of the greatest impediments to serving the consumer how, when, and where they want it. Lynsey Sweales, International Consultant & Facilitator, Founder of Cognitive Union, has found a solution that has transformed the operations of many brands. You all need to talk to each other. It’s the power of education and empathy, centered on the consumer, that has successfully brought silos down. Lynsey explains it all to us.