Inside the Factory of the Future: Food Manufacturing Tech in 2025

October 1, 2025

There’s another transformation unfolding in food and drink, this time behind the scenes. While consumers see new products, faster delivery and greener labels, the real shift is happening inside the factory.

Advances in food manufacturing tech are quietly rewriting how products are made, from smart factories powered by automation to AI tools cutting waste and re-shaping supply chains.

In our recent Food and Drink Digital Transformation blog, we explored how commerce and consumer experiences are being reinvented. Here, we turn to the factory floor –  the less visible but equally vital side of the story – to look at the technologies, investments and strategies redefining how food is produced, packaged and delivered in 2025 and beyond.

1. Automation and the Smart Factory

Automation is no longer an optional upgrade but a structural shift. Robots, IoT sensors and AI-powered systems are being woven into production lines to reduce downtime, improve yield and bring real-time visibility to operations. The latest wave of food manufacturing tech is enabling factories to adapt quickly to changing orders, predict maintenance before breakdowns occur, and model scenarios digitally before making costly physical adjustments.

Investment across the UK reflects this momentum. Marks & Spencer announced in August a £340 million fully automated distribution centre in Daventry, scheduled to open in 2029, equipped with robotics, automated cranes and advanced supply chain systems. Meanwhile, Pladis, the owner of McVitie’s, is investing £68 million in modernising UK factories, installing new chocolate moulding lines and ovens designed to cut 876 tonnes of carbon emissions annually. These projects illustrate how automation is now directly tied to both efficiency and sustainability.

 

2. Innovation Shaped by Consumers

Consumer demand has become the strongest driver of change. Shifting tastes toward plant-based diets, reduced sugar and protein-enriched products mean manufacturers must reformulate and launch faster than ever. Food manufacturing tech is central to this agility, helping companies analyse social trends, optimise recipes, and run smaller, more flexible production batches.

A good example comes from Nestlé’s AI trial with Zest, which reduced surplus edible waste by almost 87 per cent in two weeks at a UK site. Beyond the sustainability benefits, this freed capacity and resources for innovation, showing how AI can shorten product development cycles. With social platforms dictating the pace of food trends, such responsiveness is now a competitive necessity.

 

3. Sustainability and Compliance

In most sectors, it’s fair to say that sustainability has become inseparable from brand value. Stricter UK and EU regulations are demanding traceability, carbon reduction and more transparent labelling, while retailers and consumers are rewarding those who can demonstrate genuine progress. Food manufacturing tech is helping meet these requirements through advanced monitoring systems, energy tracking, and smart packaging innovations that extend shelf life and reduce waste.

The investments by Pladis highlight how sustainability is increasingly embedded in tech-led upgrades rather than bolted on afterwards. By integrating modern ovens and systems that reduce energy use, the company is aligning compliance obligations with cost savings (and reputational gains).

 

4. Supply Chain Resilience

Food manufacturing tech also extends into the supply chain, where resilience has become a strategic priority. The disruptions of recent years (geopolitical shocks, inflation and climate volatility) have forced manufacturers to rethink how they manage procurement and logistics.

According to Rockwell Automation’s 2025 report, over half of UK manufacturers are now using AI or machine learning in production, often applying it to demand forecasting and risk modelling. Tools like predictive analytics and digital twins are making it possible to anticipate shortages, model alternative sourcing scenarios and optimise stock levels in real time. Even Nestlé’s AI waste project shows how smarter factory systems can strengthen the wider supply chain, reducing unnecessary transport and downstream inefficiencies.

 

5. What to Watch Next (2026–2028)

The next wave of food manufacturing tech isn’t science fiction – it’s already in motion, with pilots moving steadily towards commercial adoption. Over the next three years, four areas in particular are set to gather pace:

  • Generative AI in product development
    Advances in AI are beginning to move from analytics into creation. Generative AI systems are being designed to suggest recipes, optimise ingredient substitutions and support reformulation in response to shifting consumer demand. This technology promises to shorten innovation cycles, reduce reliance on volatile commodities and make product portfolios more responsive to trends.
  • Edge computing on the factory floor
    Instead of sending all production data to the cloud, manufacturers are turning to edge computing to process information locally, right where it is generated. This enables faster responses, supports predictive maintenance and opens the door to more autonomous production lines, where machines can self-adjust in real time.
  • Blockchain for traceability and compliance
    The ability to prove provenance and monitor compliance across increasingly complex supply chains is becoming a commercial imperative. Blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies are moving beyond pilots into practical deployment, giving manufacturers and retailers the assurance of transparency from farm to fork.

These innovations are not speculative either – they build directly on the investments and infrastructure already being made today, and by 2028 many will no longer be experiments but standard expectations across the sector.

 

Final Thoughts

Food manufacturing tech is now the engine of resilience and growth, not just a toolkit for efficiency. The sector’s leading players – from M&S to Pladis and Nestlé – are proving that automation, AI and sustainability investments bring both operational benefits and competitive advantage.

The challenge for manufacturers is to treat these advances as part of a wider transformation, rather than isolated upgrades. Those who can integrate smart factories, respond rapidly to consumer trends, embed sustainability into production and strengthen supply chains will not only weather uncertainty but also set the pace for the industry.

Food manufacturing has always been about scale and safety. In 2025 and beyond, it will increasingly be about agility, transparency and trust, and the companies who harness technology most effectively will be the ones to lead.

Simply Commerce is a specialist in technology recruitment and consulting across commerce, digital and data. If you’re scaling your tech team and need deeper insight or access to talent, we can help.

Written by:

Josie Stanton

Contract Team Lead- Senior Appointments

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Beyond the Basket: How Digital Commerce Is Reinventing UK Food & Beverage

September 4, 2025

There’s a subtle revolution unfolding across the UK’s food and beverage landscape. While boardrooms remain focused on margins and supply chains, the real transformation quietly reshaping the sector is happening within digital product teams; those cross-functional groups blending strategy, tech, and consumer insight to meet expectations head-on.

Executive Summary

UK food and drink companies face intensified pressure: consumer tastes are shifting fast, digital channels are redefining convenience, and supply chains remain fragile. To keep pace, businesses are moving away from occasional digital projects and instead investing in integrated, agile teams capable of pivoting operations, delighting consumers, and proactively growing market share.

Why the Pressure Is Increasing

Three developments are changing the rules:

  1. Changing Tastes Outpace Traditional PlanningA 2025 report reveals that 33% of UK food and drink manufacturers identify shifting consumer preferences as their biggest external challenge, surpassing inflation and regulation.
  2. Margin Squeeze Meets Digital ExpectationGrocery sales may be up 5% in early 2025 – but that gain comes from inflation, not volume. Consumers demand swift, affordable experiences. Asda’s £1 billion “Project Future” IT overhaul underscores this urgency, enhancing digital ordering, search, and delivery tracking. But it’s also caused temporary disruptions that highlighted just how mission-critical a reliable digital infrastructure has become.
  3. Digital Visibility Remains a BottleneckAlthough cloud and purpose-built systems promise agility, many F&B firms are still navigating legacy ERP landscapes. The shift to cloud – as a foundational, not accessory, strategy – is crucial.

Four Pillars of Digital Maturity in F&B

Across leading businesses, four pillars are forming the backbone of modern food and drink commerce:

  1. Digitising from Production to Plate 

    Moving ERPs to the cloud is table stakes; modernising every workflow – from ingredient forecasting to omnichannel fulfilment – is what real transformation looks like.

  2. Removing Friction from Delivery Experiences 

    Online grocery innovations like real-time tracking and predictive replenishment are nothing short of battlefield tactics in 2025, especially post Project Future.

  3. Staying Ahead of Food Trends 

    Fast-moving brands are tapping AI and trend analysis tools to turn social media’s next big food craze into swift test-and-scale campaigns.

  4. Operationalising Sustainability and Traceability 

    Consumers now expect to trace their food back to its origins. For example, seafood ventures led by chefs like Mitch Tonks jumped from boat-to-door digital platforms during Covid. And, even now, continue growing through traceability and direct engagement with end consumers.

What This Means for Consumers

Transformation isn’t about flashy tech, as with most things, it’s about experiences:

  • Trend hits hit shelves in days, not months
  • Next-level delivery reliability, even amid peak demand
  • Meal suggestions picked up from browsing habits or diet preferences
  • Traceable, sustainable labelling visible right at checkout

These experiences are the result of long-lived product teams working across supply chain, tech, marketing, and compliance, not isolated IT projects.

The Business Case for Product-Led Teams

Modernising food and beverage through product-led structures isn’t about chasing the latest technology fad; it’s about creating tangible commercial return. Agile planning gives companies the ability to adjust production in near real time, cutting down waste and squeezing better margins from leaner operations. Trend-responsive teams, plugged into live data and social signals, are seizing market share by capitalising on consumer fads before they fade. And the brands that can demonstrate traceability and sustainability throughout their supply chains are building not just loyalty, but also premium positioning in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

More than ever, food and beverage CEOs are recognising that fast, product-focused commerce isn’t a nice-to-have – it’s the engine of resilience and growth.

The People Behind the Transformation

None of this is driven by platforms alone. The real shift comes from people; the product leaders agile enough to launch a TikTok-inspired promotion in days rather than months, and the engineers who can weave together POS systems with supply-chain APIs to make it happen. Data scientists are taking centre stage too, modelling spoilage rates, predicting demand spikes, and even optimising delivery routes to reduce costs and emissions. Alongside them, UX designers and sustainability specialists are shaping customer journeys that don’t just make buying easier, but also foster trust through transparency and purpose.

These multi-disciplinary squads are no longer judged purely on whether they hit deadlines; they’re measured by impact. From higher conversion and larger basket sizes to stronger retention and reduced waste. In a sector where margins are tight and consumer loyalty is fleeting, those outcomes matter far more than the delivery of any one project.

What’s Next (2026–2028)

Looking ahead, the innovations on the horizon feel less like science fiction and more like inevitable extensions of what’s already in play. Generative AI systems are being developed to suggest recipes based on the contents of your fridge, linking meal planning directly to commerce platforms. Smart packaging is emerging that can detect spoilage and trigger a discount or replenishment order automatically. E-commerce dashboards are evolving too, moving beyond price and promotions to surface carbon footprints, provenance, and ethical sourcing data alongside product details. And the very idea of “food as a service” is gaining traction, with subscription-based models, recipe-driven commerce, and flash-sale meal kits entering the mainstream.

These innovations won’t come from isolated R&D labs. They’ll be delivered by agile product teams iterating daily on user feedback, translating technology into experiences that resonate with consumers and generate measurable business value.

Final Thoughts

At Simply Commerce, we know that transformation isn’t about installing new software — it’s about assembling the teams that make commerce seamless. Whether you’re a heritage coffee brand modernising operations or a fast-growth meal-kit business competing on convenience, digital product capability is no longer optional. It is the competitive edge.

The question for leaders is simple: do you have the right mix of product thinking, technical expertise, and commercial focus within your teams? Because in food and beverage, those who can shape commerce at pace, on trend, and with purpose won’t just keep up with consumer demand. They’ll define the future of the sector.

Written by:

Josie Stanton

Contract Team Lead- Senior Appointments

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Precision, Personalisation, People: How Digital Product Teams Are Reinventing UK Insurance

August 14, 2025

There has been a subtle yet powerful shift across the UK insurance sector. While much of the conversation continues around regulatory changes, claims ratios, and financial performance, true strategic innovation is happening quietly, led by digital product teams.

Executive Summary 

In 2025, UK insurers face increasing pressure: aging tech stacks, demands for real-time personalisation, and rising competition from Insurtech disruptors. To compete, firms are reimagining their structure. Long-lived, cross-functional digital product teams ,  combining product, engineering, data, UX, and compliance ,  are replacing project-based IT silos. These teams are not only building modern platforms, they are defining customer experiences, accelerating innovation and shaping business models fit for the digital age. 

Why This Shift Is Now Critical 

Three forces are reshaping the insurance landscape: 

  1. First, legacy digital infrastructure is unsustainable. Allianz UK has announced the elimination of 650 roles as part of a dramatic restructuring—despite reporting a 52% rise in operating profit (£368m). The insurer plans to reinvest heavily in digital, aiming to simplify operations, strengthen pricing capability, and deliver future-ready platforms. (Insurance Times). 
  2. Second, consumers expect instant, mobile, first experiences. A 2025 review of Insurtech trends underscores AI, driven quoting, claims automation, and embedded policies as the new normal—pushing incumbents to modernise fast or risk losing relevance. (Fintech Times). 
  3. Third, generative AI and automation are upending traditional operations—from underwriting to claims. Deloitte analysts warn legacy systems and poor data integration now pose key barriers to transformation. (Deloitte/WSJ) 

The Four Pillars of Modern Insurance Commerce 

Across the UK and Europe, insurance leaders are building digital maturity around four strategic pillars: 

AI-powered Claims and Underwriting 

Tools like Tractable’s computer vision AI are enabling near real-time damage assessment and claims decisioning, reducing operational burdens and accelerating payouts.  

Personalised Pricing 

Usage-based and telematics policies, powered by granular customer data, are transforming risk models. But with personalisation comes regulatory scrutiny – especially around fairness and transparency. (Wolters Kluwer). 

Embedded Interfaces & API Platforms 

Forward-thinking insurers are delivering insurance at point, of, sale—from bookings to retail—via API, first platforms, favoured by product-led teams. 

Intelligent Self, Service 

Claim portals and AI-powered chatbots now resolve routine queries autonomously, improving efficiency and freeing human teams for higher value interactions (Davies Group). 

How This Affects Policyholders 

The impact of these changes is tangible at every touchpoint: 

  • Unified experiences. Whether quoting, purchasing or navigating a claim, customers no longer tolerate disjointed journeys across digital and offline channels. 
  • Real-time personalisation. AI-powered assistants now recommend policy changes or upgrades—based on usage and lifecycle data—with far greater contextual relevance. 
  • Claims in minutes. Instead of waiting days or weeks, simple claims are closed in hours using image-based assessments and automated decision-making. 
  • Embedded loyalty. Policyholders receive proactive prompts, like weather warnings or safe driving bundles—delivered contextually through the product lifecycle. 

These experiences are not designed by matrixed IT functions. They are governed, iterated, and refined by dedicated product teams with real-time feedback loops. 

The Commercial Imperative 

The business case for investing in modern, product-led teams is growing stronger by the month. According to a 2025 analysis by BCG, insurers embracing digital product strategies have the potential to cut claims costs by up to 20%, accelerate resolution times by 50%, and boost customer satisfaction through improved Net Promoter Scores (BCG). 

This isn’t theory. It’s already happening. Allianz UK, for example, is investing £200 million annually in digital transformation as part of a wider strategy to streamline operations and reduce complexity across its UK business units (Insurtech Digital). 

At a national level, the UK government’s 2025 AI Growth Plan signals strong intent to accelerate innovation in insurance. With a focus on supporting emerging Insurtech partnerships, the plan positions AI as a core lever for transformation across underwriting, claims, and customer experience (InsurtechInsights). 

Together, these forces point to one conclusion: insurers that invest in modern product talent and evolve their operating models will not only improve agility and reduce cost but also strengthen loyalty in a market where expectations have never been higher. 

The Talent Behind the Transformation 

Digital transformation in insurance isn’t just about platforms or AI models. It’s about the people who bring those systems to life, and the operating models that support them. 

Today’s product leads are expected to combine entrepreneurial vision with regulatory fluency. They must navigate compliance constraints while still delivering fast, iterative value to users. Engineers, too, are evolving. Full-stack teams are building modular front ends that connect seamlessly – often via APIs – to legacy systems still critical to core operations. 

Behind the scenes, data scientists and machine learning engineers are operationalising underwriting models, flagging anomalies, and automating fraud detection at scale. At the same time, UX designers, compliance experts and operational analysts are working side by side to balance customer experience with governance and business performance. 

This shift isn’t just structural, it’s cultural. Across the market, insurers are moving away from short-term project-based delivery toward long-lived, multidisciplinary squads. These product teams are now benchmarked against digital-native norms, held accountable for outcomes like retention, claims resolution rates, conversion, and FTE cost efficiency. 

As Deloitte succinctly puts it: without the right digital talent in place, even the most ambitious tech strategy risks becoming an exercise in financial waste, not performance (Deloitte via WSJ). 

What’s Next: 2026–2028 

Looking ahead, the next wave of insurance innovation will be driven by teams that move fast, measure relentlessly, and learn in real time. 

By 2026, we expect to see: 

  • Generative AI powering quote generation and product upgrades, based on real-time user intent. 
  • Embedded insurance flows seamlessly integrated into retail, wellness, or mobility ecosystems. 
  • Behaviour-linked dashboards using smart home or wearable data to shape pricing in real time. 
  • Sustainability scoring woven directly into policy journeys, helping consumers understand and reduce their carbon footprint as part of their cover. 

What’s notable is not just the tech – but where it’s being built. These aren’t IT-led rollouts. They’re the output of agile product squads, iterating quickly based on user feedback, commercial performance, and a changing regulatory landscape. 

Final Thoughts 

At Simply Commerce, we work with insurers, insurtechs and platform partners to build the teams that power real transformation. Not just developers or product owners, but end-to-end squads who can iterate fast, navigate regulation, and deliver impact sustainably. 

Insurance innovation doesn’t come from buying off-the-shelf tools. It comes from investing in people – people who can ship meaningful products, at pace, with purpose. 

So, the question is: does your team have the product mindset, AI fluency, and commercial agility to lead from the front? 

Written by:

Josie Stanton

Contract Team Lead- Senior Appointments

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The Seven-Year Shift: How Digital Commerce Teams Left Projects Behind

July 18, 2025

Over the last five years, digital commerce product teams have undergone a quiet revolution. Teams that were once built around fixed-scope projects have evolved into long-lived, product-focused squads. For organisations serious about agility and customer experience, this hasn’t been a gradual drift – it’s been a deliberate pivot.

 

At Simply Commerce, we’ve seen first-hand how delivery models, team structures, and hiring expectations have all shifted. Today’s leading businesses aren’t measuring success by deadlines and budgets. They’re tracking product adoption, customer satisfaction, and long-term resilience. And as this shift plays out, it’s reshaping the way people work, the roles that matter, and the qualities that define a standout hire.

 

The Decline of the Traditional Project

Back in 2019, most engineering work was still structured around projects. Teams would form, deliver against a static set of requirements, and then disband. Budgets were approved annually, and departments operated in silos – development, QA, ops – each with its own agenda and priorities.

That picture looks very different today. The leading approach now is continuous value delivery, where long-lived, cross-functional squads are responsible for the end-to-end health of a product. These teams don’t just build features; they evolve services over time, guided by real user data and live performance metrics.

This isn’t just theory either. According to Gartner, 80 percent of large engineering organisations will have adopted internal platform-as-a-product models by 2026 – up from just 45 percent in 2022. But while the model is catching on, it’s not always easy to implement. The 2023 Project-to-Product report by Team Topologies revealed that only 2 percent of organisations had fully matured in this space. Culture, more than tooling, continues to be the hardest thing to change.

 

How Teams Are Built Has Changed

With the rise of product-led delivery, the anatomy of software teams has changed too. Where once you’d find rigidly defined roles and clear lines between departments, today’s high-performing teams are flatter, more integrated, and much more autonomous.

Full-stack engineers now work shoulder-to-shoulder with QA, DevOps, and platform specialists. Funding models have adapted too. Instead of ring-fenced annual budgets, many teams receive ongoing investment tied to real-world impact – things like customer retention, NPS scores, and adoption metrics.

A lot of this shift has been influenced by the thinking behind Team Topologies, which championed the use of platform and enablement teams. These groups focus on internal developer experience and compliance, helping product teams move faster without being bogged down by infrastructure or red tape.

 

Front-End and Full-Stack Roles Are in Demand

One of the clearest shifts in hiring over the past couple of years has been the rising demand for engineers who can work across the stack. In particular, front-end and full-stack roles have surged, often outpacing traditional back-end requirements.

This change reflects a broader truth about today’s digital commerce landscape: the front-end matters more than ever. Whether customers are shopping, browsing or returning an item, every click is compared to best-in-class experiences from the likes of TikTok, Airbnb, and Figma. That bar has risen fast, and businesses are investing in the skills that help them meet it.

React remains the dominant framework in most enterprise environments, but newer tools like Astro, Svelte, and Solid are pushing things forward in terms of performance and developer ergonomics. Serverless platforms such as Vercel and Cloudflare Workers are also reducing the need for heavy back-end infrastructure, which means developers with front-end fluency and API integration experience are increasingly valuable.

We’re seeing this play out in our own data too. Across Simply Commerce roles in 2024 and 2025, front-end and full-stack engineers consistently make up the bulk of new vacancies, particularly in businesses moving to headless or composable architectures.

 

A Flatter Structure, Fewer Layers

Alongside technical change, many large organisations are rethinking their management structures.

Over the last 18 months, companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have all cut layers of middle management. Microsoft’s restructure in May 2025, for example, saw more than 6,000 roles removed in a bid to streamline reporting lines and widen manager spans of control.

For product squads, this has meant fewer approval gates and quicker decision-making. But it also means senior engineers are taking on more leadership responsibilities; mentoring team members, supporting delivery, and handling stakeholder engagement. The traditional team lead has evolved into a more strategic, hybrid role.

This isn’t about removing leadership altogether. It’s about shifting it closer to the work. In many teams, the most effective leaders are those who combine technical depth with soft skills and a strong product mindset.

 

What About the Back-End?

It would be easy to assume that back-end roles are in decline, but the reality is more nuanced. There’s still strong demand for engineers who can manage complex domains like payments, data pipelines, and real-time analytics. What’s changed is that generic CRUD-based work is increasingly being absorbed by platforms and managed services.

Engineers working in back-end environments today are often wearing additional hats – platform, data engineering, or infrastructure – rather than building isolated microservices. The work is more specialised, and often more strategic.

 

AI, Agent Assistants, and What’s Next

No conversation about delivery trends is complete without mentioning AI. Over the past 18 months, generative tools have moved from novelty to necessity. GitHub Copilot, Google Gemini, and similar products are now part of daily workflows across enterprise teams.

In fact, Google has said that over 25 percent of its new code is now AI-generated. Within the startup ecosystem, the figure is even higher. Y Combinator reports that 25 percent of its Winter 2025 cohort are generating more than 95 percent of their code using AI.

The implications for teams are significant. In the next two to three years, we expect most product squads to be supported by agent “sidekicks” – AI tools that can open pull requests, triage bugs, and run automated tests. These agents won’t replace engineers, but they will reshape the work engineers do. Governance, ethics, and quality assurance will take centre stage as more of the mechanical work is automated.

And as these tools mature, they may further reduce the need for manual reporting and coordination – accelerating the trend towards flatter, faster teams.

 

What This Means for Hiring

These changes have real implications for how teams are built and how people are hired. Technical versatility is more valuable than ever. Engineers who can flex across disciplines, especially front-end, platform and infrastructure, are commanding premium salaries. Hays recently listed platform engineers among the top ten roles for salary growth in the UK, with a median of £80,000 in London in 2025.

Soft skills also matter more. In flatter structures, engineers often step into mentoring and decision-making roles earlier. Product thinking has become a baseline expectation, not a niche skill. And fluency with AI tooling is fast becoming a requirement, not an advantage.

For hiring managers, this means looking beyond CVs and job titles. The best candidates may not come with a traditional path, but they’ll have the adaptability and mindset to thrive in modern delivery environments.

 

Final Thoughts

What we’ve seen over the past five years is more than a shift in methodology. It’s a full reimagining of how software gets delivered in a fast-moving, customer-led world.

Organisations are moving away from fixed deliverables and handovers, and towards continuous product ownership. At the same time, developers are being asked to own outcomes, learn new tools, and build user experiences that meet an ever-rising bar.

At Simply Commerce, we sit at the heart of this evolution. We help clients build delivery teams that are not just technically strong, but strategically aligned to product success. And we support candidates as they adapt to new roles, frameworks and ways of working.

The delivery landscape has changed, and for those ready to evolve with it, the next few years offer exciting opportunities to lead, shape and redefine what great software teams look like.

About Simply Commerce:

Simply Commerce is a specialist recruitment partner for digital commerce businesses, helping brands build high-performing, product-led teams. Contact us for a no-pressure chat whether you’re looking at your next career move, or focused on growth for your team and need to hire.

Written by:

James Hodges

Director of Client Engagement

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S7 | The Fatal Flaw: Why Tech-Led Projects Fail with Simon Hamblin

April 30, 2025

We’re excited to announce the launch of Season 7 of The FODcast! This season brings you fresh insights from top industry leaders, innovators, and experts. As always, we’re exploring the latest trends, strategies, and challenges in the digital commerce space.

Our global audience continues to grow, with listeners tuning in from across the UK, the United States, Germany, Brazil, and even places as far afield as Japan and Australia. Whether you’re in retail, tech, or any industry at the intersection of digital transformation, this latest season will have something for you.

New Episode: Simon Hamblin on the Secrets of Successful Digital Transformation

To kick off the new season, we sit down with Simon Hamblin, co-founder of fusefabric, Shopify’s largest enterprise partner in Europe, to discuss why technology-led projects fail so often and what it takes to get digital transformation right.

Simon’s career is nothing short of impressive, with past roles such as scaling ASOS technology during its billion-pound growth phase, leading global technology at Emirates Group, and overseeing 30 travel brands worldwide. He brings invaluable experience from his work in diverse industries, including retail, travel, and finance.

In this episode, Simon explains why business leadership, not technology, must drive transformation. He highlights the importance of aligning technology with business needs and dives into the discovery process that sets successful projects in motion.

Simon also shares how fusefabric’s approach, including the rapid migration of a multi-million-pound business to Shopify in just eight days, challenges conventional thinking and ensures digital transformations succeed where others fail.

Don’t miss this insightful conversation packed with actionable takeaways.

Written by:

James Hodges

Director of Client Engagement

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S6 | Turning Intuition into Growth: Martijn Wijsmuller on Navigating E-Commerce Success

January 21, 2025

What if you could transform your career from corporate to entrepreneurial success? Martin Wijsmuller did just that, leaving his role in Communications at Heineken, to co-found Shopify agency, Ask Phill.

In this episode of The FODcast, Martin shares his inspiring entrepreneurial journey—from cutting his teeth in his uncle’s fashion business in Australia to finding business inspiration in China’s vibrant markets.

Martin reveals how his sharp focus on Shopify for niche industries powered the growth of Ask Phill across Europe and the US. Plus, we learn more about his approach to juggling multiple ventures; trusting his intuition in decision-making, and the crucial role of working with passionate partners to drive success.

💡 We also chat some more about:

  • The early challenges of building Ask Phill from the ground up
  • Why targeting the right market is essential for scaling a business
  • The power of collaboration with skilled partners
  • How agility and strategic hiring fuel business growth

🎙️ Don’t miss out on Martin’s invaluable insights—tune in now to learn the secrets behind his success and how you can apply them to your own entrepreneurial journey.

Written by:

James Hodges

Director of Client Engagement

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S6 | Building Customer Loyalty in the Digital Age: Insights from Fiona Stevens

January 14, 2025

Can simple loyalty strategies really make a difference in today’s competitive landscape?

In the latest episode of our podcast series, The FODcast, we’re joined by Fiona Stevens, Director of Marketing at LoyaltyLion, to explore the power of loyalty programs in digital commerce.

Fiona shares how focusing on customer loyalty early on can set brands apart, even without the resources of giants like Amazon. We dive into actionable insights that can help transform how your customers interact with your brand and drive lasting retention and growth.

💡 What’s in this episode?

  • The stages of building a successful loyalty program and tailoring rewards to customer journeys
  • How personalisation and gamification enhance customer engagement
  • Success stories from brands like The Inkey List and AU Vodka, and how they integrate loyalty into their digital strategies
  • The power of data in shaping loyalty programs and boosting conversion rates Emerging trends like omnichannel experiences and sustainable fashion in loyalty marketing

🎙️ A must-listen for anyone curious about the impact of loyalty programs on customer engagement and business growth.

Written by:

James Hodges

Director of Client Engagement

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