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Encuentros Retail | Pascual Campos: The Soul of Retail Still Lies in People

In the second episode of Encuentros Retail, Pascual Campos, CEO of Plaza Supermercados, champions an idea that runs throughout the conversation: retail is much more than an economic activity, it is, above all, a relationship between people.
Rather than focusing on technology or the latest industry trends, Pascual places the spotlight on what he believes truly sets retailers apart: team culture, day-to-day execution, and the ability to create meaningful customer experiences.

Rediscovering the Essence of Retail

The episode reflects on what gives a store its identity in an increasingly competitive and standardised marketplace.

For Pascual Campos, the greatest value of retail still lies in the physical store. It is where customer experiences are created, relationships are built, and brands prove whether they truly deliver on their promises.

Leadership, Culture and Excellence in Execution

His perspective begins with a simple principle: a store can only deliver an outstanding customer experience if the people working there experience that same sense of purpose and commitment.

That is why he advocates for building teams that are engaged, empowered, passionate, and proud of their work. Technology, operational processes, and marketing initiatives all play an important role, but none of them can replace the attitude and dedication of the people who welcome customers every day.

Pascual also highlights the importance of execution. In retail, strategies only create value when they are translated into thousands of small actions carried out consistently: listening, smiling, solving problems, and maintaining high standards every single day.

Making Customers Feel Something

The episode’s central reflection is that retail should aspire to achieve far more than completing transactions.

The goal is not simply to sell products, but to create experiences that make customers want to return because they felt heard, recognised and genuinely cared for. That emotional connection is what transforms occasional shoppers into loyal customers.

From this perspective, Pascual Campos advocates for a supermarket model that retains the “soul of a traditional marketplace”, one where product quality, personal relationships and the human experience remain the greatest competitive advantages, even in an increasingly automated world.

His message is especially timely as the retail industry embraces artificial intelligence, automation, and new technologies. The future of retail, he argues, will continue to depend on people who can turn an ordinary shopping trip into a memorable experience.

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From Customers to Advocates, from Employees to Brand Ambassadors

Building trust, adaptability and engagement in a BANI environment

Roundtable reflections – Retail Street Talent 2026

Retail is no longer defined solely by product, price, location or service. Increasingly, the brands that stand out are those that build genuine connections with people. Customers want to trust the brands they choose, feel part of something meaningful and know there are genuine people behind every interaction. More often than not, that connection begins internally — with the people who bring the business to life every day.

In this roundtable discussion, Carmen Afán (Business Development Director, Grupo Pedro Jaén), Rocío Capel (People & Organisation Director, Casa del Libro) and Carolina García (Founder, HUG&CLAU) shared their views on how organisations can place people at the centre while navigating an increasingly unpredictable world.

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The Invisible Design

As part of the ninth edition of the Madrid Design Festival, I had the chance to attend “Design in use”, an exhibition created by André Ricard, one of the true pioneers of industrial design in Spain. Ricard has transformed the way products are designed by placing the user’s needs at the heart of the problem, always asking: “How can I make their life a little easier?”

The exhibition itself reflects that philosophy. There are no display stands or museum showcases. Instead, you move through a series of familiar spaces, a dining room, a kitchen, a studio, where each object sits exactly where you’d expect to find it, revealing how every design decision was made with purpose.

Ricard has spent decades designing everyday objects: the Clipper lighter, cleaning products, lamps…Things we all recognise, yet never stop to question. We simply know they work, and that they make life that bit simpler. When something works as it should, we stop noticing the object itself; we focus entirely on what we’re doing. The design fades into the background, and all that remains is the experience, one that, if it feels right, will bring people back.

As a UX designer, I found this deeply fascinating. Ricard was practising user-centred thinking long before anyone coined terms like engagement or user-first. The vocabulary didn’t exist yet, but the understanding did. He already knew what actually mattered.

The same principle plays out in digital products every day. When an employee opens their work platform because they genuinely want to. When a customer returns because a brand adds value to their life. When a student finishes a module without anyone nudging them along. That’s good design, not because it’s clever or visible, but because it adapts quietly into people’s routines and makes them work better. Ricard calls it design in use. We now call it user-centered design. Different words, same truth.

Great design ideas travel across disciplines and across decades. And real loyalty, whether to a physical product or a digital one, is the kind that goes unnoticed. The kind that simply becomes part of people’s lives, making them just a little bit better.

 

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It’s Time To Focus on the Experience

Engagement hasn’t declined so much as it has stalled, and that matters more than it might initially appear. Stagnation is easy to overlook because it rarely announces itself, instead, it shows up gradually in the background, through slowing momentum, weaker connection and a growing sense that despite repeated effort, little meaningfully changes.

The Engage for Success 2025 report reflects this reality. Engagement levels remain broadly flat, inclusion gaps continue to widen and despite sustained investment in listening approaches, many organisations still struggle to convert feedback into visible and meaningful action. Most employees are not asking for more mechanisms to share their views, they are looking for evidence that their voice leads to change.

At the centre of the report are four established drivers of engagement: a clear strategic narrative that gives people direction and purpose, managers who lead with consistency and humanity, a genuine employee voice that influences decisions rather than merely informing them, and organisations that deliver on what they say they will do. These are not new ideas and there is little disagreement about their importance. The challenge lies in consistent execution rather than conceptual understanding.

Where organisations tend to fall short is in sustaining the principles over time. Feedback is often collected with good intent, analysed carefully and  shared across the organisation, yet the loop frequently ends without employees seeing what has changed as a result. Over time, this creates a subtle but significant erosion of trust, as people begin to question whether speaking up makes any real difference.

This is where belonging becomes particularly important. The report reinforces what many in employee experience already observe: engagement is increasingly shaped by whether people feel they truly belong within their team and organisation. When belonging is strong, individuals are more likely to contribute energy, commitment and ideas. When it is weak, even well-designed initiatives struggle to create meaningful impact.

It is therefore useful to understand engagement not as an intervention or programme, but as a response to the everyday experience of work. It is formed through the accumulation of consistent, ordinary moments: whether people feel trusted to do their work, whether managers provide steady and supportive leadership, whether recognition feels genuine and timely, whether individuals can clearly connect their work to organisational purpose, and whether they feel able to speak up, develop and progress.

From this perspective, engagement is not a standalone goal but an outcome of how work is experienced in practice.

For those working in employee experience, this shifts the focus away from engagement as a metric to be improved and towards the design of work itself. The key question becomes whether the conditions of work consistently enable people to perform at their best. That includes whether managers are properly equipped to lead, whether feedback loops are closed transparently, whether hybrid and dispersed teams remain connected and whether employees continue to feel a sense of pride and meaning in what they do.

The central challenge highlighted by the data is not a lack of knowledge or intent, but a lack of consistency in execution. Until organisations address that gap, engagement will remain something they measure, rather than something people reliably experience.

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Loyalty in Uncertain Times: Why Customer Engagement Matters More Than Ever

The UK high street and hospitality sectors are once again facing a period of economic uncertainty.

Several established brands and household names are closing stores or disappearing from the high street entirely. Brands such as River Island, BrewDog, QUIZ Clothing, GAME, Revolution and TGI Friday’s have all made headlines in recent months, and these stories are becoming increasingly common.

For employees, communities and customers, these closures are about more than business performance. They represent jobs, memories and long-standing institutions that have shaped the British high street for decades.

From a personal perspective, these are brands I’ve connected with as a customer, partnered with professionally, or even worked for (if we include a short period at GAME during my university days.)

While it may be tempting to point to a single cause, the reality is more complex. Businesses are navigating a combination of economic pressure, structural industry shifts and rapidly evolving consumer expectations.

So how can brands respond and position themselves for long-term success?

 

A Challenging Economic Landscape

Consumer-facing industries are currently operating in one of the most challenging environments in recent years.

Operational, staffing and rental costs continue to rise. At the same time, global uncertainty, including geopolitical tensions, tariffs and supply chain disruption, is driving volatility in energy prices and logistics.

Meanwhile, many households are still feeling the effects of the cost-of-living crisis. As disposable income tightens, consumers are becoming more intentional in their purchasing decisions. They are comparing options more carefully, prioritising value, and increasingly choosing brands they trust. More importantly, this doesn’t mean consumers stop spending, it means spending becomes more deliberate.

So how does this effect marketers in particular?

Reduced Marketing Budgets

As costs increase and revenues come under pressure, marketing budgets are often one of the first areas to be reduced.

Marketers are now expected to deliver stronger results with fewer resources, while every investment decision faces increased scrutiny.

As one senior marketer recently told me: “Every pound is now a prisoner.”

Changing Customer Expectations

Consumers still want to shop, dine and enjoy experiences, but they are becoming more selective.

Today’s customers prioritise brands that feel reliable, trustworthy and worth the investment.

For marketers, this means that simply increasing promotions or discounting is no longer enough. Customers are not just looking for lower prices, they are looking for confidence in their choices.

Rising Cost of Customer Acquisition

The cost of acquiring new customers continues to increase.

Paid search, social media advertising and digital channels are more competitive than ever. At the same time, privacy regulations, cookie restrictions and evolving algorithms are making targeting and attribution more complex.

As a result, many organisations are seeing steadily rising customer acquisition costs (CAC).

In this environment, growth strategies that rely heavily on acquisition are becoming less sustainable. Instead, brands must focus on maximising the value of existing customers.

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Why Customer Loyalty and Engagement Matter More Than Ever

This is where customer loyalty programmes and engagement strategies become critical.

While loyalty initiatives are not a guaranteed solution to economic challenges, they can play a significant role in strengthening relationships between brands and their customers.

Customers who feel recognised, valued and understood behave differently. They are more likely to:

  • Make repeat purchases
  • Recommend the brand
  • Stay loyal even during price increases or economic downturns

At its core, customer loyalty is not just about points, rewards or discounts. It is about building emotional connection, trust and long-term relationships.

During periods of economic uncertainty, these factors become a powerful competitive advantage.

While customer acquisition remains important, customer retention and engagement provide a more stable and predictable revenue foundation.

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How Brands Can Strengthen Customer Engagement Today

While businesses cannot control external economic conditions, they can control how they engage with their customers.

Here are four key focus areas:

  1. Build Stronger Customer Relationships: Deepening relationships with existing customers should be a top priority. This includes, delivering more relevant and personalised communication, recognising and rewarding loyal customers and creating meaningful, non-transactional engagement.
  2. Clearly Communicate Value: In uncertain times, clarity is essential. Customers respond to simple, transparent value propositions. Loyalty programmes and rewards should be easy to understand and genuinely beneficial.
  3. Leverage First-Party Customer Data: First-party data is becoming increasingly valuable in a privacy-first world. Brands that understand their most valuable customers, and what drives their behaviour, can allocate marketing spend more effectively and deliver more personalised experiences.
  4. Invest in Employee Engagement: Employee experience has a direct impact on customer experience. Empowered, engaged employees are more likely to deliver the level of service that builds trust and long-term loyalty.

While brands cannot control economic uncertainty, they can control how they invest in relationships. For many organisations, this means placing greater emphasis on customer engagement, loyalty and retention strategies. When consumers are spending more carefully, trust, recognition and emotional connection often determine where they choose to spend.

The brands that invest in these relationships today will be the ones best positioned to navigate the uncertainty of tomorrow.

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We’re here to help 

Every brand is different. The most effective customer loyalty and engagement strategies are never one-size-fits-all,  they should reflect your brand’s goals, values and audience expectations.

At Motivait, we specialise in delivering complex, omnichannel and multinational loyalty and engagement solutions.

If you’re exploring how to strengthen your customer engagement strategy, we’d love to start a conversation.

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Encuentros Retail | Veronika Nikolaeva: E-commerce Is Not About Selling More, It’s About Building Trust

Encuentros Retail Episodio 1 con Veronika Nikolaeva

In the first episode of Encuentros Retail, Veronika Nikolaeva, Director of E-commerce at Alcampo, shares a vision of online retail that goes beyond technology and focuses on a much more important goal: building lasting relationships of trust with customers.

The Challenge of E-commerce in Grocery Retail

The conversation explores one of the biggest challenges facing retail today: making online grocery shopping a reliable, seamless experience that customers return to time and again.

Veronika explains that the growth of digital channels is not simply about adding new features or expanding product assortments. Instead, it depends on solving an enormous amount of operational complexity without the customer ever noticing it.

Data, Personalisation and Operational Excellence

Her approach brings together two elements that are often discussed separately.

On one hand, she highlights the intelligent use of data. For Veronika, analytics only create value when they help businesses better understand customers and make decisions that genuinely improve their experience. Data is not the end goal, it is a tool for delivering more relevant, personalised service.

On the other hand, she emphasises the importance of flawless execution. Customer loyalty is built by consistently delivering on promises: ensuring product availability, meeting delivery expectations, maintaining reliable processes and creating frictionless experiences. In grocery retail, where trust is particularly fragile, even small mistakes can have a significant impact on customer retention.

Trust Is the Real Competitive Advantage

The central message throughout the conversation is that successful e-commerce makes complexity invisible.

While customers simply expect to receive exactly what they ordered, an immense logistical, technological, and operational effort takes place behind the scenes. The true success of e-commerce lies in making that complexity disappear from the customer’s perspective.

Beyond digital transformation itself, Veronika offers a broader reflection that is especially relevant for today’s retail landscape: technology only creates value when it improves people’s lives. Personalisation, data intelligence, and automation are not objectives in themselves—they are tools to build trust, simplify shopping, and create long-term customer relationships.

As retail continues to evolve toward increasingly omnichannel experiences, this episode reminds us that innovation only matters when it ultimately strengthens the human experience.

Encuentros Retail is a podcast by InfoRETAIL in collaboration with Motivait, a space for conversation with retail leaders that explores, episode by episode, the biggest challenges facing commerce today: digital transformation, customer experience, loyalty and the future of e-commerce. Each episode offers a close, honest look from inside Spain’s leading retail and consumer goods brands.

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The “Special” Relationship: Why Customer Experience Depends on Employee Engagement

Reflections from the Panel

The connection between Employee Experience (EX) and Customer Experience (CX) is often discussed, yet rarely fully understood. Across sectors – from hospitality and sports to financial services and transport -leaders are discovering a simple truth: investing in employees isn’t just about engagement. It directly impacts the quality, consistency and emotional resonance of the experiences customers receive.

Drawing on insights from industry leaders, several key themes illuminate how EX drives CX, and how organisations that prioritise their people ultimately enhance the experience of everyone they engage with.

Read the full article to find out more:

Reflections from the panel. How employee engagement shapes customer experience. Read the full article

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Protecting Customer Information Builds Real Loyalty

Loyalty programmes are more than points and rewards – they’re about people. Every time someone interacts with a brand, they’re sharing something personal: their preferences, shopping habits and contact details. How a brand handles that information directly shapes whether the customer will stay engaged or walk away.   

In today’s digital environment, where breaches and cyberattacks happen all too often, protecting personal information isn’t just about ticking a box, it’s about giving people confidence that their data is safe and showing them that their privacy and needs are taken seriously.  

Trust is fragile and data plays a big role 

Customers are more aware than ever of how their information is used. We are increasingly suspicious of cookies, targeted advertising, and the ways our browsing habits are tracked. While personalised offerings can be valuable, it’s uncomfortable to feel constantly watched. 

So then, news of a single breach or misuse of data can quickly erode years of brand credibility. We’ve seen brands loose customer confidence overnight because personal details were exposed, sold without consent or handled carelessly.  

On the other hand, brands that are transparent about how they collect and protect data often see the opposite effect. When customers understand why information is being collected and feel confident it’s being handled responsibly, trust deepens. That trust becomes a foundation for long-term loyalty, not just repeat transactions.   

What customers expect from brands today  

Modern customers don’t expect perfection, but they do expect responsibility. When it comes to loyalty programmes and customer data, people increasingly look for: 

  • Transparency: Clear communication about what data is collected and how it’s used  
  • Control: The ability to manage preferences or opt out without friction  
  • Security: Strong systems that protect personal information in the background 
  • Perceived Value: A clear benefit in exchange for sharing data, such as relevant offers or improved experiences. 

 

Why giving customers a safe space pays off 

When customers feel their information is respected and protected, it has measurable impact:

Why your technology partner matters

Protecting customer data isn’t just about having the right policies in place – it’s about the technology that supports them. Loyalty platforms need to be designed with security and privacy built in. 

Our approach focuses on creating loyalty solutions that keep information secure, respect customer privacy and help brands build meaningful, long-term connections. When the technology works quietly and securely in the background, brands can focus on what matters most: delivering value and strengthening relationships. 

Want to learn more?

Watch our video on what brands need to get right
to make customers feel safe sharing their data.    

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How to Turn Customers into Brand Ambassadors: The 6 Stages of the Customer Journey

Explore the interactive carousel to learn more about each phase of the customer journey: click on each stage to discover how your brand can support, nurture, and strengthen customer loyalty every step of the way.

From the first point of contact to becoming true brand ambassadors, the most successful companies focus on designing memorable customer experiences, creating inspiring environments, and evoking meaningful emotions that build engagement and long-term loyalty. 

Below, we explore the key stages of the customer journey, a process that transforms consumers into genuine brand advocates: 

  1. Awareness – Capture the attention of your target audience and make a great first impression. 
  2. Consideration – Provide value, relevant content, and trust to influence the purchase decision. 
  3. Enrolment – Turn interest into commitment through a seamless and consistent experience. 
  4. Participation – Foster ongoing interaction through personalized experiences and valuable content. 
  5. Retention – Strengthen the customer relationship with continuous value, recognition, and effective communication. 
  6. Advocacy – Inspire satisfied customers to share their experiences and recommend the brand. 

Each of these stages plays a key role in building lasting relationships, helping brands evolve from simple interactions to authentic and sustainable connections. 

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