Retail Tech Podcast - 2025 in review
When I look back at 2025, what stands out most is how much less theoretical retail tech has become.
The conversations this year weren’t about big ideas in the abstract — they were about what’s actually breaking, what’s working, and what people are really shipping.
I talked with CEOs running commerce platforms, operators dealing with inventory and labor, founders building AI agents instead of dashboards, and investors trying to separate signal from noise. Again and again, the same themes came up: AI is moving into the core of how retail decisions get made, search and discovery are being rewritten, and none of it matters if it can’t survive the realities of stores, supply chains, and people on the ground.
This review is a snapshot of those conversations and a look at where retail technology is right now and what builders are learning as they go.
1. AI, Agentic Systems & the Path Toward AGI
A defining through-line of 2025 was the move from “AI features” to AI systems, agents, and autonomy.
This shows up clearly in conversations with:
Arthur Yao, Deputy CEO of Rezolve AI
Michael Klein (Conversation Engineer, NRF 2025 framing)
Peter Voss, AGI pioneer (foundational intelligence, not just tooling)
Brian Sathianathan, CTO of iterate.ai
Max Bennett, Founder of Alby (Agentic commerce)
Art Lawida, on AI strategy and DEI
Collectively, these interviews move the podcast beyond retail buzzwords and into systems thinking: decisioning, orchestration, trust, and the boundaries between automation and human judgment — a theme that strongly overlaps with your own work on agentic commerce.
2. Commerce Platforms Are Being Rewritten (Not Extended)
Another dominant 2025 signal is that commerce platforms themselves are being re-architected, not merely augmented.
This is reinforced through interviews with:
Oren Inditzky, GM Online Stores at Wix
Mariano Gomide de Faria, CEO of VTEX
Raj De Datta, CEO of Bloomreach
Bob Howland, Chairperson of MACH Alliance
The recurring theme here is clear: Search, personalization, content, and AI decisioning are collapsing into the core commerce layer, forcing platforms to rethink what “commerce” even means.
3. Search, Discovery & Media Convergence
Search appears in 2025 not as a feature, but as infrastructure — deeply tied to media, AI, and monetization.
Key voices include:
Nate Barad from Algolia
Drew Cashmore from Vantage
Jon Schulz, CMO of Viant
Retail media networks, programmatic TV, and on-site discovery are increasingly discussed as one continuous system, not separate channels — a notable evolution compared to even two years ago.
4. Operations, Inventory, Logistics & Supply Chain
Unlike many retail podcasts that stay digital-only, your 2025 interviews consistently return to physical execution — where strategy meets reality.
This includes:
Tom Schmitt, CEO of Radial
Alex Yancher, CEO of Passport Global
Ryan Esteb, VP Sales at Shiftlab
Devadas Pattathil, CEO of OnePint
These conversations anchor the more futuristic AI discussions in labor, inventory accuracy, supply chain resilience, and executional truth — a balance that gives the podcast credibility with operators, not just technologists.
5. Consumer Experience, Loyalty & Engagement
Another strong 2025 pillar is how brands engage customers across increasingly fragmented surfaces.
Highlighted through:
Lin Dai, CEO of Superlogic
Wayne Liu, US President of Perfect Corp
Here, loyalty is framed less as points and more as experience, immersion, and relevance, aligning with broader shifts toward live, visual, and contextual commerce.
6. Capital, M&A & the Business of Retail Tech
Finally, 2025 doesn’t ignore the money layer — how all of this gets funded, acquired, and scaled.
Smriti Jayaraman Kekre, Principal at Corazon Capital
Chris Erwin, Founder of RockWater
These discussions frame retail tech not just as innovation, but as an investment and consolidation landscape — crucial context as platforms mature and categories compress.
7. Business, Consulting and agency
Jessical Leitch of Frog on trends redefining retail
Interview with Steve Dennis on Retail Transformation and Leadership
8. Data and analytics
Interview with Tejas Manohar Co-CEO of Hightouch on the Evolution of CDP in Retail.
9. Resale and circular economy
Evolution of Electronics Resale in the AI age - an Interview with PayMore.
Special 2025 Research Initiatives
In addition to interviews, formal research continues especially around topics like AI shopping agents and live commerce. These reports dig deeper into structural shifts, offering frameworks and analysis useful for enterprise strategy, product teams, and investors.