In this episode of AI Afterhours: Signals & Noise, Sean Fleming sits down with Bob Ntuaremba Leyo, Harsha Varun, and Varun Vemula to break down what margin protection at scale actually looks like in retail.

This conversation goes beyond markdowns and promotions to get at the real issue. Margin erosion starts much earlier with poor allocation decisions, centralized planning assumptions, disconnected execution, and delayed action across merchandising, pricing, and supply chain. Bob grounds the conversation in the business reality, showing how retailers lose margin through inventory misplacement, costly transfer corrections, and spray and pray promotions that discount purchases customers would have made at full price.

Harsha explains why retailers ne ...