Retailers and brands

Asif Aziz, retail director, EE/BT Group

Asif Aziz OBE has been tasked with executing EE and BT Group’s ambitious new retail strategy to provide customers with more experiential offerings. At the heart of the strategy is the store format ‘studio’, a tech-led concept that debuted at Westfield London in June 2023, promising no two store visits would be the same. Visitors can immerse themselves in experience zones, areas with sofas and gaming chairs, and suites where customers can try out new tech over a cup of coffee and receive help setting up their connected ‘home of the future’.

Aziz joined the group in January 2023 and boasts significant store-level experience, having held responsibility for more than 1,200 stores and pharmacy operations as Boots’ director of southern stores and UK airports. He has also built a reputation as a strong omnichannel operator having recently led the development of a digital-centric strategy to transform and grow Boots’ healthcare business, when he was made an OBE for his services to pharmacy during the pandemic.

Looking to the year ahead, Aziz will be taking the best aspects of the studio concept and rolling them out across EE’s 450-plus UK store estate.

Paula Bobbett, chief digital officer, Boots

Paula Bobbett has had a transformative effect on Boots’ digital capabilities in the space of just four years. Since joining from Dixons Carphone in 2020 as director of Boots.com, Bobbett has set about streamlining the retailer’s omnichannel presence with strategic digital investments.

In 2023 alone, Boots invested in more than 25 technical upgrades to make the Boots.com website more efficient and stable, and to enhance the customer experience. Improvements in personalisation have continued under Bobbett’s command, with Boots now possessing the capability to pull data from multiple sources, including its website, social channels and Advantage Card scheme, to serve customers with relevant, timely offers.

Bobbett has also sought to better leverage the retailer’s vast store estate by scaling up on-demand delivery partnerships with Deliveroo – expanding to 125 UK stores last August, Uber Eats, and testing drone delivery of prescription-only medicines in July 2022. The planned 2023 launch of digital platform, Boots Marketplace, was put on ice last September in favour of expanding the retailer’s range of emerging brands and new products through existing programmes such as dropshipping, which allows its third-party brands to directly deliver to customers.

Amy Gershkoff Bolles, former global head of digital and emerging technology strategy, Levi Strauss & Co 

Dr Amy Gershkoff Bolles is the leader behind one of the most innovative, but also contentious, retail tech innovations of the last year. In March 2023, Levi’s announced the trial use of AI-generated avatars on its ecommerce channels in what was described as a move to increase the diversity of models in its marketing.

Created by start-up LalaLand, the avatars are intended to supplement the use of human models by adding a greater mix of body types, ages and skin colours. Some critics have accused Levi’s of trying to minimise the cost of tackling issues of representation and potentially pushing professional models out of their jobs. However, Bolles said the new technology would enable customers to see more models that look like themselves, thereby creating a more personal and inclusive shopping experience. 

And it’s an innovation that has been Bolles’ parting gift to Levi’s. She stepped down in August and, while her next move in the world of tech is not known, she’s a name the industry needs to have their eye on. With an eclectic CV spanning politics, advertising and academia, Bolles is currently a board advisor for American homewares retailer Havenly, is a founding member of American female leadership group Chief, and is chair of yacht and boat marketplace Boats Group, where she advises on areas such as technology and growth strategy.

Lex Bradshaw-Zanger, chief digital and marketing officer SAPMENA, L’Oréal

In the fiercely competitive field of beauty technology, Lex Bradshaw-Zanger’s role is to try to keep L’Oréal ahead of its competition. In December 2022, when Bradshaw-Zanger served as CDMO for the UK and Ireland before taking up a position heading up the Asia, Middle East and Africa market last May, L’Oréal announced a major partnership with Sainsbury’s. The partnership enabled the grocer to offer AI-powered skincare consultations using its ModiFace technology, a face scanner that provides suggestions for skincare products based on wrinkles, pores, hydration levels and pigmentation. 

Bradshaw-Zanger, a globetrotting marketeer whose CV includes spells with Facebook, McDonald’s and WPP, has described ModiFace as a “key enabler” in the development of services that “help create the future of beauty”. Under his digital leadership, L’Oréal has also piloted the use of ‘grab and go’ checkouts using RFID tags at an Armani Beauty pop-up in Düsseldorf in November 2022. It has also invested in QR codes on its product packaging and in-store displays to offer information about a product including how to use it and what it contains.

Stacia Carr, vice-president fashion customer experience, Zalando

As high return rates continue to eat into the margins of online fashion brands, German etailer Zalando has been investing heavily in technology that helps consumers buy the right size. Stacia Carr, former director of engineering for size and fit at Zalando, now heads up the fashion customer experience team, which is piloting a virtual fitting room across Zalando’s 25 markets. Customers can use a 3D avatar created using their height, weight and gender to see how clothes will fit them - a heatmap on the avatar shows where the item is tight or loose. The latest pilot follows a successful trial with clothing from Puma and Zalando’s private label Anna Field.

Customer service has been another key priority for Carr; in April 2023, Zalando announced the launch of a new virtual fashion assistant powered by ChatGPT. The technology allows customers to ask questions using their fashion terms and words, helping them navigate through Zalando’s large assortment more intuitively to find the products most suitable for them. With Zalando reporting a decline in group revenue in November – down 3.2% to €2.27bn (£1.98bn) in its third quarter – Carr’s work will have a significant role in helping the business turn things around. 

Chris Conway, ecommerce director, Co-op

Chris Conway is playing a key role at the Co-op as it seeks to capture 30% of the quick convenience market by 2027. Executing a successful digital strategy is central to the group’s transformation plan, underpinned by a compelling loyalty programme and the offer of fast and flexible fulfilment options.

The Co-op estimated that, by the end of last year, 80% of the UK population was able to access its groceries online through a mixture of third-party partnerships with the likes of Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats and via its own website – all initiatives that Conway is leading.

In July, Co-op started offering rewards for its members – and their local communities – who shop via the Uber Eats delivery platform.

Conway, a former Morrisons and Asda executive, has also expanded the use of Starship Technologies’ autonomous delivery bots. They were first trialled in 2018 and a scaled-up service was rolled out to customers in Leeds in May and Greater Manchester in March 2023. With former Ocado Solutions boss Luke Jensen joining the Co-op’s board this January, Conway will likely be tapping into his automation insights to further strengthen the business.  

Guus Dekkers, chief technology officer, Tesco

Under the technology lead of Guus Dekkers, Tesco is arguably setting the gold standard for driving customer loyalty in the grocery sector.

A former Volkswagen and Siemens executive, Dekkers joined Britain’s biggest retailer from Airbus in April 2018 with the brief of developing innovative solutions for its customers. Having previously operated with a large degree of independence, the technology team now sits within the customer team, putting a laser-like focus on how tech can improve the customer experience, in particular through greater personalisation and integration. Clubcard and the rich data contained within it are central to this ambition.

In its interim half-year results for 2023/24, published in October, Tesco increased its Clubcard sales penetration across its UK customer base to 80% with 12.8 million Tesco app users in the UK and a 62% increase year on year in customers using its digital Clubcard at the till (7.5 million). It comes after Tesco integrated its Clubcard app into the main Tesco app, meaning that within the same app users can redeem vouchers and rewards, place and track orders on on-demand service Whoosh, create shopping lists, order online or shop frictionlessly at GetGo. 

Looking ahead, increased personalisation and improving digital capabilities are the focus for Dekkers. The grocer is trialling personalised in-store shopping experiences via Scan As You Shop, improving its online performance – which continues to outpace the market, up 71bps year on year – and is strengthening its online availability and fulfilment. Its availability was 97.6% at the time of its interim results and in the six months from February 2023 to October 2023, Tesco opened three new fulfilment centres, increasing its yearly order capacity by 1 million.  

Hervé d’Halluin, leader, RFID and referent interactive sport products, Decathlon

Hervé d’Halluin is the driving force behind Decathlon’s investment in RFID technology to deliver a more frictionless in-store experience.

D’Halluin trained as a software engineer and has specialised throughout his career in the field of microelectronics. He joined Decathlon in 2017 by which point the retailer was already using RFID technology, which digitally tracks the movement of goods, as an anti-theft measure and to enable improved inventory management and better availability of goods.

Since then, D’Halluin has spearheaded a new phase of Decathlon’s RFID programme aimed at delivering fast, frictionless payment services. Decathlon customers shopping in-store are now able to scan and pay for items on their smartphones via an app, with security tags automatically deactivated, allowing them to exit the store without waiting at the checkout.

RFID has also been used to speed up self-service checkouts – invisible tags on products allow shoppers to drop items into a box at the checkout and be served an itemised bill, without the need to scan products individually.

Ron Faris, vice-president and general manager, Nike Virtual Studios, Nike

Ron Faris is pioneering the use of the metaverse to engage customers in virtual spaces and drive long-term loyalty. In April 2023, the sportswear giant launched Our Force 1, its first virtual collection of trainers, on its platform Swoosh. The collection was co-created by Swoosh members, who can purchase and open a digital box to discover which of the designs it contains, learn about its features and unlock utilities in the coming months for special access to physical products and experiences.

Faris has described Swoosh as “a marketplace of the future with an accessible platform for the web3-curious”. The focus on building a virtual community is especially significant from a brand loyalty perspective, with Nike members encouraged to co-create digital collections. And the messaging resonates – in October, Faris’ first Swoosh sneaker collection surpassed $1m (£786.4m) in sales. 

Faris is also leading Nike’s multi-year partnership with Fortnite-owner Epic Games; the pair launched Airphoria on Fortnite last June, which is described as a “first-of-its-kind immersive gaming experience”.

Faris joined Nike in 2016 when it acquired Virgin Mega, the start-up he founded at Virgin Group, for an undisclosed amount. He has since been responsible for running Nike’s SNKRS app, the platform on which the brand releases its most sought-after shoes.

Alia Gogi, president Asia, Sephora

Rival beauty retailers will be looking on with interest to see how Sephora’s store of the future is received by customers. Alia Gogi was responsible for leading the development of the concept store in Shanghai, which opened in June and which she says showcases the retailer’s “obsession for experiential retail”. The store boasts AI-generated make-up recommendations, skincare analysis and RFID sensors that can tell consumers about products and enable them to access reviews. It also houses a Beauty Live studio hosting exclusive events and masterclasses.

Now 12 years into her Sephora career, Gogi’s current responsibilities span 12 countries, including the key Chinese market.

Online shoppers in Asia can use Sephora’s virtual make-up artist feature to try items before they purchase. Gogi also led the launch of Sephora’s first store of the future in Singapore in September 2022 which, with its range of digital and personal touchpoints, was a forerunner for Shanghai.

David Guggina, executive vice-president, supply chain operations (US), Walmart

Walmart is at the cutting edge of supply chain technology, which makes automation expert and former Amazon operations leader David Guggina a significant and influential figure in global retail.

Greater automation as part of a re-engineered supply chain is at the heart of the grocery giant’s future vision, to increase the throughput of goods and improve cost efficiency – by the end of the 2026 financial year, Walmart is planning for 65% of stores to be serviced by automation and 55% of volume in fulfilment centres to move through automated facilities. This includes the use of autonomous forklifts that unload cases of goods from trucks and AI-enabled robots that sort and select goods inside distribution centres.

Guggina is also spearheading the adoption of drone delivery. Walmart has stolen a march on Amazon by establishing rapid delivery partnerships with autonomous delivery start-ups DroneUp, Flytrex, Wing and Zipline. The retailer had made more than 20,000 drone deliveries by the end of 2023. In January, Walmart revealed it would be making drone delivery accessible for up to 1.8 million households in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the largest drone delivery expansion of any US retailer.  

William Hewish, chief information officer, Pets at Home

William Hewish is playing a starring role in delivering Pets at Home’s vision of building “the world’s best petcare platform”. The retailer is in the middle of an ambitious programme to allow customers to move seamlessly between buying products, booking services and seeking expert advice, all on one fully integrated platform.

In November, it was revealed that Pets at Home is to unveil an upgraded app and website this year with more intuitive design and incorporated features, such as visibility of customer vouchers and improved recommendations wrapped up in an overall better customer experience. Under Hewish, the changes should also help advance Pets’ growing subscription business. With 1.7 million subscribers, it saw its subscription penetration increase by 2% in the first half of 2023.  

Hewish joined Pets at Home in 2019 and is leveraging the valuable experience of major digital transformation gained from his previous role leading the technology, data and business change teams at water supply company United Utilities. He has also previously held senior tech roles in Lloyds Pharmacy, DeVere Hotels and Booker.

Paul Hornby, digital customer experience director, The Very Group

The Very Group is in the midst of a technology transformation and Paul Hornby is one of the driving forces. By the end of this year, the etailer plans to have migrated most of its app and website to its new Skyscape platform, which will allow it to add new technology and features seamlessly and quickly, giving customers a fresh, consistent, easy-to-use experience. The app is also getting a facelift, with a redesigned home screen that carries more personalised features such as tailored product recommendations.

Hornby has spent almost his entire 17-year retail career with The Very Group, bar a three-year stint as Matalan’s director of ecommerce. He is particularly excited about the potential of the group’s new product discovery platform, powered by tech partner Constructor, which is currently being rolled out and combines AI, natural language processing, machine learning and data to give customers faster, more personalised results.

Going forward, a priority for Hornby and his team is to be recognised as “one of the UK’s leading AI-powered retailers”. In November, Very partnered with Amazon Web Services to launch a Gen-AI Innovation Lab that will trial generative AI-powered retail solutions to transform the way customers shop on the platform. 

Kirsty Keoghan, global general manager of fashion, eBay

Kirsty Keoghan is on a mission to make buying pre-loved fashion more accessible. Celebrated among Retail Week’s Future Leaders in February 2023, Keoghan has worked her way up the ranks during a 12-year career at eBay and was most recently promoted to her current position from senior director of UK trading in December 2022.

She sprang to the attention of the wider retail industry when she, along with eBay head of pre-loved fashion Lucy Peacock, led the hugely successful tie-up between eBay and TV show Love Island in May 2022 that saw contestants given a wardrobe of preloved clothes to promote sustainable fashion. The partnership was renewed in 2023, the latest series driving a 1,400% increase in eBay searches for pre-loved fashion, according to the marketplace platform, which also reports that it sells a pre-loved item every second.

Keoghan has emerged as an influential advocate for how digital innovation can help brands embrace more sustainable and circular business models. The former Brand Alley and TK Maxx buyer and M&S range merchandiser played a central role in its July acquisition of Certilogo, a provider of AI-powered digital IDs and authentication, which is intended to help eBay build consumer confidence in pre-loved items. The platform enables users to confirm a garment’s authenticity and access reliable information about branded items.

Óscar García Maceiras, chief executive, Inditex

Digital innovation remains at the heart of Inditex’s strategy, making the boss of the fashion giant a hugely influential player in the retail tech world. The company has been rolling out a range of tech-focused innovations in recent years that marry the online experience with immersive, high-tech stores.

Many of these technologies are on display at the revamped Zara store at London’s Westfield Stratford City, which opened last May. Click-and-collect orders are fulfilled by a robotic arm, which collects trays and organises the packages optimally according to their size, delivering orders to customers in seconds. The store also features automated returns, while customers can use the Zara app to search for products in store and reserve fitting rooms.

Maceiras joined Inditex in March 2021, having previously held roles in financial institutions such as Santander and Sareb. With Inditex reporting a 12.3% hike in gross profits to €15.2bn (£13bn) and increasing EBIT 24.3% to €5.2bn (£4.48bn) in its interim 2023 nine-month results, rivals will be paying close attention to which technologies Maceiras chooses to invest in next.

Kash Mahmood, ecommerce and marketing director, Next

Kash Mahmood has emerged as a hugely influential figure in UK ecommerce. He has responsibility for running Next’s entire online operation, including its pay-as-you-go digital platform for third-party brands Total Platform.

A computer science graduate who began his career in consultancy, Mahmood was hired as Next digital director in 2016. He joined from Boots where he headed up the BetaLab digital solutions programme. In his early years at Next, Mahmood was credited with building a team of AI experts from the ground up. He now oversees Next’s ecommerce operation with investment priorities including advanced personalisation and faster fulfilment.

Perhaps his most influential role with respect to the wider retail sector is director of the Total Platform. Mahmood and his team are currently in the process of transferring Fat Face’s online operation to the platform – following its acquisition by Next in October – while a more general focus is on speeding up the process for onboarding future new partners. Mahmood also sits on the Meta Client Council, a business forum convened by the Facebook and Instagram parent company.

Zak Mian, chief transformation and technology officer, John Lewis Partnership

Zak Mian may have come to retail later in life, but he is now playing a leading role in the future of one of the sector’s biggest names. Mian has spent most of his 34-year career at Lloyds Banking Group, latterly as group transformation director. He joined JLP in November 2022 to take responsibility for leveraging the latest technology to help deliver the five-year Partnership plan.

The role marked the group’s first executive-level appointment focused solely on transformation and technology, highlighting the retailer’s focus. Mian was the driving force behind signing a £100m agreement with Google Cloud in August as part of a strategy to cut the retailer’s data storage costs, boost its artificial intelligence (AI) efforts and offer customers more tailored and personalised experiences. JLP plans to launch an AI customer service bot later this year and augmented reality (AR) services are also in development, according to reports.

The Google agreement came hot on the heels of the July launch of its fashion rental business try-on service, which allows customers to enter their photo and body measurements to get a generated image of what they would look like wearing the garment.

Susie Moan, chief data officer, Currys   

Susie Moan has developed a formidable knowledge of customer insight over two decades working at the sharp end of the data world. The Oxford graduate cut her teeth at Tesco’s Clubcard provider Dunnhumby and has also headed up Nectar relationships with key partners including Sainsbury’s and Homebase.

Moan joined Currys as chief data officer in 2021 with responsibilities spanning loyalty, analytics and data-driven marketing. Her most recent focus has been driving collaboration with suppliers and third parties to take a more forensic approach to understanding the data behind consumer decision-making. 

In August, Moan headed up the launch of Currys Tech Insights, a partnership with insights provider Circana. It will provide the retailer’s supplier partners with a 360-degree view of shopping behaviour powered by the integration of customer and transaction data.

Meanwhile, in December, Moan and her team introduced a suite of products through Currys’ new retail media network – Currys Connected Media – to enable businesses such as Samsung and Acer to leverage first-party customer data and act on customer insights. 

Jordi Álex Moreno, chief information technology officer, Mango

Jordi Álex Moreno is the former telecommunications executive leading the development of Mango’s new ‘phygital’ ecosystem, aiming to bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds. Moreno joined the fashion retailer in 2018 to lead its digital transformation and has since set about harnessing the power of technology to elevate the customer experience to new heights.

AI is a particular focus for Moreno and his team. In October, Mango launched AI tool Lisa – Mango’s own internal conversational generative AI platform – which will make improvements from the development of collections to its after-sales service. It comes a year after Mango launched Inspire, a generative AI platform of images to help the company’s design and product team seek inspiration by viewing different concepts and enabling them to co-create prints, fabrics, garments and so on.

Elsewhere, to optimise its supply chain, the retailer is rolling out RFID technology, which enables it to have an omnichannel, real-time vision of stock by tracing individual garments from manufacture and logistics right through to their arrival in stores. 

Clodagh Moriarty, chief retail and technology officer, Sainsbury’s

Sainsbury’s veteran Clodagh Moriarty has been making strides in developing the grocer’s technology strategy this past year. Moriarty has been with the retailer since 2010 – in roles including chief digital officer and retail and digital director – and is laser-focused on developing Sainsbury’s and Argos’ retail prowess. The latter is reaping the rewards, with Argos among the fifth most visited UK websites in the run-up to Christmas 2023.  

For Moriarty, Nectar has been a top priority. Last year, Sainsbury’s launched and rolled out Nectar Prices across all supermarkets in store and online, which resulted in 3 million new digital customers between April 2023 and September 2023 alone.  

Under Moriarty, supply chain tech investments are also on the agenda. In its interim results for the 28 weeks to September 16, Sainsbury’s revealed that efforts to enhance its logistics operations and consolidate its data centres were beginning to “modernise, simplify and future-proof" its tech estate. 

Savvy partnerships are proving powerful, too. Sales through on-demand tie-ups with Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Just Eat and the grocer’s very own Chop Chop service continue to grow, increasing by 50% in the second quarter.

Sustainability is also paramount. In January, the grocer made its greatest standalone plastics removal, switching its own-brand mushroom punnets from plastic to cardboard to save more than 775 tonnes of plastic a year. 

Krista Nordlund, chief digital product officer, Marks & Spencer

Krista Nordlund was appointed Marks & Spencer’s first-ever chief digital product officer at the start of 2022, charged with taking the retailer’s omnichannel proposition to the next level.

Formerly chief product officer at US digital rental marketplace RentPath (now Rent), Nordlund boasts a depth of product experience from businesses including BookIt, USA Today, Expedia and US Airways. At M&S, Nordlund is responsible for driving digital product transformation across the company’s online and offline channels, with a particular focus on the M&S app, Sparks loyalty scheme and website, to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty, and accelerate business growth. 
 
Nordlund plays an especially key role in the context of M&S’ shift to a digital-first mindset. While the business reported a strong first half for the six months to October 2023 with omnichannel growth, stores outperformed online (6% compared with 4.5%) and boss Stuart Machin said there was “more to do to drive online growth”. 
 
With 40% of M&S’ clothing and home online sales generated through its app in the half – up from 34% last year – Nordlund will be building momentum. M&S is working to improve the app experience with greater personalisation, including making better use of customers’ data to target them with offers. 

Simon Palmer, former group information technology director, Frasers Group

Experienced technology professional Simon Palmer had been transitioning Frasers Group to a new data platform to help turbocharge its mission of becoming a global multichannel player.

Last May, a partnership with cloud solutions provider Sada was announced to migrate Frasers Group’s legacy data management system to Google Cloud’s BigQuery platform. At the time, Palmer said Frasers Group “needed to play catch-up in the data space” and that shifting to the cloud would help the Sports Direct owner scale data visibility and report quickly and efficiently across all its retailers.

Praised by colleagues for his impressive technical and analytical mind, Palmer joined Frasers Group in 2021 following a long career in IT and technology spanning sectors including logistics and financial services. 

Palmer left Frasers in December 2023 to start his own IT consulting and services business Palgorithm. The business' goal is to "empower businesses to navigate complex technological landscapes, optimise operations and achieve sustainable growth in the digital age". 

Parag Parekh, chief digital and technology officer, Ingka Group

Parag Parekh is tasked with driving the digital transformation of Ikea owner Ingka Group, a retailer that until recently played mostly in the physical world. A Harvard alumnus who worked for seven years at General Electric before spending 13 years at Adidas in senior digital roles, Parekh joined Ingka in 2021. His priorities range from the transformation of the physical store environment to deliver more immersive experiences to the provision of digital services to enhance people’s home lives.

AR technology was first rolled out online for Ikea customers in 2017, allowing them to place virtual furniture into any space via their mobile. And the innovations have kept on coming. Last April, Parekh and his team piloted an immersive in-store concept in France, which allows it to project how a room would look with a customers’ choice of furniture.

Ikea’s supply chain is also benefiting from tech investment following the purchase of US-based software brand Made4Net for an undisclosed sum last May, which will bring greater automation and efficiency to fulfilment. Meanwhile, an AI bot called Billie has handled 47% of Ikea’s customer enquiries over the past two and a half years since its launch, freeing up its staff to retrain as interior design advisers.

Dobo Radichkov, chief data officer, Holland & Barrett

Holland & Barrett is exploring how the use of data science and AI models can ensure the optimum match between consumer demand and product availability. Dobo Radichkov, who is responsible for leading the retailer’s data strategy, said in June 2023 that the health retailer had a “few use cases” for generative AI it is looking to trial, one of which is within demand planning to maximise stock availability.

Radichkov joined the business in 2021, having spent the previous seven years working in senior data roles for OLX Group, a developer of online marketplaces.

A former director of analytics for market research firm Kantar, Radichkov is also heavily involved in Holland & Barrett’s strategy to extend its reach beyond retail through the creation of personalised wellness solutions. Last May, the retailer announced the acquisition of Avie for an undisclosed amount. Avie is a fit-tech start-up that uses health and activity data and behavioural science to help users achieve their health and wellness goals.

Michael Smith, chief information officer, Estée Lauder

Few leaders in this list can boast the depth of technological experience of Estée Lauder’s CIO. Michael Smith started his retail life as a software engineer for Nike in 1990 and by the time he moved on in 2012, he oversaw all CIOs within the global Nike business and affiliate brands.

Since joining Estée Lauder in 2017, Smith has consistently championed the importance of digital innovation to the company’s success. His team has pioneered investments in AR and AI, including virtual try on across ELC’s house of brands. Smith has also overseen the development of a voice-enabled makeup assistant app, which was launched in January 2023 and creates a more accessible beauty experience for visually impaired people by using AR and AI to offer an audio guide and feedback on make-up application. Most recently, Smith has led the company in leveraging emerging technology such as generative AI to create the highest quality products and deliver engaging, relevant, and personalised consumer experiences to consumers.

Most recently in March 2023, Estée Lauder under Smith launched The Clinique Lab, an immersive experience hosted in the metaverse that allows customers to create their own avatars and access videos, chat with a Clinique consultant and collect product discounts by completing games.

Tomasz Suchański, chief executive, Żabka

Poland’s largest convenience chain Żabka is proving the business case for checkout-less stores under the leadership of Tomasz Suchański. At its fully autonomous Nano stores, of which Żabka has rolled out more than 50 to date, customers use the app or their credit card to enter and AI-enabled cameras track the items they pick up, either individually or placed within their bag. Once finished, customers simply walk out and within minutes receive a receipt in their app and via email.

The stores use technology developed by California-based company AiFi, which also has applications at the back end – stores receive a notification when products are running low to prevent out-of-stocks and help optimise the product mix.

Suchański has been leading Żabka’s digital transformation since 2016. Having been involved in the grocery sector his entire career, notably with the Jerónimo Martins group, he may now be pointing the way towards the future of convenience retail. Indeed, in November 2023, it was revealed the business had sold “close to 2 million products using autonomous technology over the last year”.  

Jeyandran Venugopal, chief technology officer, Flipkart

Over the past two decades Jeyandran Venugopal has become a leading figure in India’s ecommerce revolution. Having interned at Amazon as a software development engineer in 2000, Venugopal was part of the team that established Amazon’s presence in India in the mid-2000s.

Now he finds himself leading the technology strategy for its main competitor in India – Walmart-owned ecommerce platform Flipkart, having joined the business in 2019. Considered a world class IT engineer with huge technical knowledge, Venugopal’s responsibilities range from creating engaging user experiences to developing cutting edge IT systems and data science applications.

Significant recent innovations include Spoyl, Flipkart’s new app-in-app fashion destination for GenZ customers, and a new decision assistant chatbot that uses generative AI to answer customer queries. Ever keen to stay ahead of the technology curve, a key current focus for Venugopal is leading the transition from the centralised Web 2.0 to Web 3.0, an umbrella term for the decentralisation of the internet through adoption of technologies such as blockchain, with the aim of revolutionising customer engagement and brand marketing on the Flipkart platform. Venugopal’s efforts are set to be buoyed by fresh investment; in December 2023 it was revealed that Walmart is set to inject $600m (£471.6m) into Flipkart.