Former Skype Co-Founder on Autonomous Delivery
Plus we cover AI, customer loyalty, and why fulfilment is the backbone of e-commerce
Here’s a stat that shouldn’t surprise you: 78% of store associates think that customers often know more than staff. Shoppers today are hyper-informed and demanding meaningful engagements when coming into a store. Is your frontline team equipped to keep up?
This is one of the topics I’ll be discussing in this Zebra Technologies / Retail Gazette webinar on 16 July at 2pm BST. Come join us!
From Skype to Starship: Ahti Heinla on autonomous delivery
What a pleasure to interview Ahti Heinla, Co-Founder and CEO at Starship Technologies. Ahti was also one of the founders and developers of Skype. He joins me on the podcast to discuss the rise of autonomous delivery and the future of grocery e-commerce.
We explore:
📞 Skype’s legacy in transforming modern global communications.
🥕 The future of grocery delivery: drones in the sky and robots on the ground?
💲 The economics of autonomous delivery: just how cost-effective is it for retailers to deliver by robot?
🍃 Are robots the most sustainable form of last-mile delivery?
🇬🇧 Following on from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recent encounter with a Starship robot, what kind of regulatory change would Ahti like to see in the UK?
🤖 The opportunities for humanoid robots: does Ahti agree with Elon Musk that robots will be babysitting our kids in the future?!
“I think there will be people doing deliveries, there will be robots on the ground doing deliveries in the same city and location, and I do believe that drones will also work for doing deliveries. But they have completely different sweet spots.
Lots of people think that [autonomous delivery] is a test or this is a pilot, but it's not really mass market. WE are actually mass market.” - Ahti Heinla, CEO of Starship Technologies
Also on the podcast, hear from:
Rosie Bailey, CEO and Co-Founder of Nibble, an AI negotiation chatbot which can agree deals in less than a minute on anything from luxury watches to your next broadband subscription.
Lisa Weaver-Lambert, Author of The AI Value Playbook, an essential handbook empowering non-technical business leaders to formulate a perspective on how to leverage AI.
James Hayes, Business Development Director at Whistl, one of the UK’s leading logistics providers.
Why being a loyalty laggard in 2025 is more dangerous than ever
And if you’re still hungry for more retail content, you can check out my opening fireside chat at LoyaltyLion’s Loyalty Connect. The full discussion is available on YouTube.