Watch on YouTube Live from Shoptalk Luxe: https://youtu.be/vNIJJmgD3Fg

Amit Keswani is the Chief Omnichannel and AI Officer at the Chalhoub Group, a leading luxury retail group in the Middle East, where he leads customer, technology, loyalty, and AI transformation across a portfolio of hundreds of brands. In this episode recorded live in Abu Dhabi, we discuss the reality of omnichannel in luxury retail, how AI is being implemented in practice, and why the future of commerce will be driven by discoverability on LLMs and conversational shopping experiences.

Topics covered:

• The Chalhoub Group business model across luxury retail, owned brands, and franchise distribution
• What omnichannel really means in practice and how to build seamless customer journeys
• How AI is being applied today: predictive analytics, agentic AI, and conversational commerce
• Why discoverability on LLMs and conversational shopping will reshape ecommerce
• Career advice, risk-taking, and the balance between data-driven decisions and gut feel

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fM2vQFxOF9M

Recorded live from CES, Daniel sits down with Monique Perlmutter from Marriott's Riott Media Network to discuss the rise of travel media as a new frontier within commerce media. Monique shares her career journey through digital media, Amazon Ads, and retail media before moving into travel media, where Marriott is building one of the first hotel media networks. The conversation explores how traveler psychology influences spending behavior, how brands can reach consumers throughout the travel journey, and why travel media presents a major opportunity for CPG and brand advertisers.

Topics Covered:

• Monique's career journey from digital media to Amazon Ads, Roundel, and Marriott Media
• Why travel media is a new and fast-growing segment of commerce media
• The travel journey and how consumer mindset changes from booking to the trip itself
• Marriott Media channels: on-site digital, in-room media, Wi-Fi portals, and off-site advertising
• Case study example of a Gatorade campaign targeting youth sports travelers
• The importance of measurement, incrementality, and proving media effectiveness

• Why retail media in the US and Europe has evolved differently, from market structure and GDPR to e-commerce penetration and offsite capabilities
• Agentic shopping and how AI-driven discovery could disrupt onsite retail media and reduce valuable shopper signals
• Why retail media must sit close to the trading function and how internal stakeholder management is often the hardest part
• Iceland's retail media opportunity: a loyal customer base, 9 million weekly transactions, and a major in-store digital screen and analytics rollout
• Measurement, creativity, private label vs branded investment, and the ethical questions retailers will increasingly face as retail media expands into new categories and formats

More

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/

Audio Mixing by Modest Ferrer
Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the individual guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The FMCG Guys (Dwyer Partners SL) or its partners. The FMCG Guys make no representations or warranties about the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of any information discussed, and accept no responsibility for any decisions or outcomes based on this content. Listeners are encouraged to seek their own professional advice before acting on any of the topics covered.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZWWZAjWjuRI

Consumers are increasingly using AI tools like ChatGPT and other Large Language Models (LLMs) to discover and evaluate products. This shift is beginning to transform the traditional path-to-purchase, with recommendations now being generated by algorithms rather than search results alone. This makes the digital shelf more important than ever. Product information no longer influences only search results on retailer websites; it increasingly feeds the datasets and content ecosystems that power AI recommendations.

To do this, your hosts Christine and Daniel are accompanied by Beyza Kapu, Global Ecom Tech & Data Analytics Director at L'Oréal and Salim Bachatene, SVP Global Sales, eCommerce at NielsenIQ.

We discuss:
• Why AI discovery is becoming a new front door for commerce
• How this shift is reshaping the path-to-purchase
• Where AI gets its product information from—and why digital shelf execution matters
• What brands should do today to ensure their products are visible, accurate, and recommendation-ready

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlInEn6P_RI

Sandie Dilger is the CMO at Proper Snacks, the fast-growing UK snacking company behind Proper and Eat Real. In this episode, she joins Daniel Torres live from London to discuss how Proper is redefining snacking through better-for-you ingredients, bold creativity, culturally relevant branding, and fast-paced innovation, while also sharing lessons from her unconventional journey into FMCG leadership.

Tune in to hear about:

• Reinventing snacking as an act of positive well-being
• Making healthier snacks mainstream through taste, fiber, and better ingredients
• Using creativity, design, and cultural relevance to build standout brands
• Competing with bigger players through speed, innovation, and challenger thinking
• Career lessons from moving across FMCG, agencies, and leadership roles

More

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/

Audio Mixing by Modest Ferrer
Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the individual guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The FMCG Guys (Dwyer Partners SL) or its partners. The FMCG Guys make no representations or warranties about the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of any information discussed, and accept no responsibility for any decisions or outcomes based on this content. Listeners are encouraged to seek their own professional advice before acting on any of the topics covered.

Richard Jones is the Global Go-to-Market Director at iconic beer leader Carlsberg. One of the pioneers of Digital in FMCG, he's now leading Sales Digitalization at the Danish group. He joins Daniel to speak about the evolution of FMCG and how he's exporting his Digital experience to accelerate the "physical" mainstraeam business.

Tune in to hear about:

• The evolution of eCommerce in FMCG since he started in the function in 2011
• Leading a team through the pandemic when he was based in the US
• Digital's role in an FMCG today and how it's more than digital commerce
• How he's applying his eCommerce experience in his current Route-to-Market role by, for example, empowering sales reps
• Customer behavioural changes

More

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/

Audio Mixing by Modest Ferrer
Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the individual guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The FMCG Guys (Dwyer Partners SL) or its partners. The FMCG Guys make no representations or warranties about the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of any information discussed, and accept no responsibility for any decisions or outcomes based on this content. Listeners are encouraged to seek their own professional advice before acting on any of the topics covered.

Watch the visit to Matt's Private Collection here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWxOrGQlp4I

Matthew Lee is the Founder of Retail Media Leader SMG, the operator of some high-profile Media Networks like Boots, ASDA, Deliveroo or WHSmith. He's also a Guinness Record Rolling Stones collector and one of the most well regarded, as well as colourful, personalities in our industry. He welcomed us in his private collection, where we wondered at all the memorabilia and spoke about his career and Retail Media as a whole.

Tune in to hear about:

• How he became obsessed with the Rolling Stones and the connection with Retail Media
• Pioneering targeted coupons and brand-funded promotions using shopper data
• Going entrepreneurial and the Toblerone idea that catapulted his business
• Scaling the business and going all-in with Retail Media and Digital, to growing the business to 500+ employees and working with some of the top names in British Grocery and beyond

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/S7WBXNRaBJc

Stacia Carr is the Chief Technology and Product Officer at second-hand Luxury Online Retailer Vestiaire Collective. As someone who grew up personally and professionally in the Bay Area, she brings a different energy to European business, probably pairing the best of both worlds, both from a technical and cultural perspective.

We sat down with her at the inaugural Shoptalk Luxe in Abu Dhabi to learn about:

• How she brings together business and tech
• Building a luxury online second-hand marketplace
• Her prior experience in the Bay Area and then in Europe at the likes of SoundCloud and Zalando
• The vision for Vestiaire Collective's website and consumer experience
• How they are implementing new tech like AI while enhancing the customer experience

More

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/

Audio Mixing by Modest Ferrer
Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the individual guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The FMCG Guys (Dwyer Partners SL) or its partners. The FMCG Guys make no representations or warranties about the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of any information discussed, and accept no responsibility for any decisions or outcomes based on this content. Listeners are encouraged to seek their own professional advice before acting on any of the topics covered.