Retail & Global Business Archives - Joshua Bellendir

From Concept to Checkout in 7 Weeks: How MishiPay Powered a Next-Gen POS Pilot in Airport Retail

Joshua Bellendir — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 05:29:37 +0000

From project kickoff to live transactions in roughly seven weeks, this POS pilot moved from concept to in-store reality. The solution is fully integrated with our merchandising ERP, with up-to-date pricing and promotions, returns, and e-receipts. Not your typical POS, the MishiPay platform launched with multiple operating modes including Scan & Go, Mobile POS, and Self Checkout.

The timing could not have been better. This capability helped us scale effectively during peak demand around the F1 race weekend in Las Vegas, especially across high-traffic airport locations.

Huge credit to the MishiPay team and the WHSmith North America IT team for the focus, collaboration, and execution under tight timelines. Very proud of what the teams were able to accomplish.

This is what strong partnership and disciplined delivery looks like.

Special shout-out to Carl Woo, Steve Baltzer, Ron Silverio, Don Chaney, and Gary Yu for going above and beyond to make this successful.

Click here to see the device in action and read MishiPay’s LinkedIn post for a behind-the-scenes look at the pilot.

Read the full WHSmith Case Study here.

#RetailTech #POS #DigitalTransformation #Teamwork #F1 #AirportRetail #NewLaunch

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From Vision to Reality: Uniqlo’s Record Growth and Global Momentum

Joshua Bellendir — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 06:38:48 +0000

Having been part of Fast Retailing / Uniqlo’s global journey, it’s incredible to see the company continue to reach new heights. I still remember Yanai Shacho speaking about the goal of reaching ¥5 trillion back in 2014 — amazing to see that vision coming to life.

Uniqlo posted record results — ¥3.4 trillion ($22 B) in revenue and ¥443 B ($3 B) in net profit — putting them in a strong position to overtake H&M for the #2 global spot in the year ahead. Let’s see!
https://lnkd.in/gD9W6zZV

And just recently, Tadashi Yanai, Chairman & CEO of Fast Retailing, was honored with the Malcolm S. Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his visionary leadership and impact on global retail.
https://lnkd.in/ge9YycSf

A powerful example of what’s possible when clear purpose, disciplined execution, and long-term thinking come together. Truly inspiring leadership and performance.

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From Dream to Launch: Woven City Reaches a Major Milestone in Innovation

Joshua Bellendir — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 17:24:00 +0000

Otsukaresama deshita, Team Woven! What an incredible milestone for everyone who helped turn this bold vision into reality.

Back in 2020, Woven City started as an ambitious dream — a futuristic city at the base of Mount Fuji. Today, it comes to life as a living testbed for the future of mobility, powered by “Kakezan” — the multiplication of diverse ideas and talents.

I had the privilege of working briefly with some of these brilliant minds, and it’s inspiring to see their hard work culminate in this launch. Now begins the next chapter of co-creation. 頑張ってください

If you haven’t seen it, check out Akiko Toyoda’s presentation at CES in 2020:
https://lnkd.in/g2E3gv6M

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Proud to Have Worked at Three of Japan’s Top 10 Most Valuable Brands

Joshua Bellendir — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 18:11:00 +0000

Proud to see the 2025 Interbrand ranking of Japan’s most valuable brands

I’ve had the privilege of working at three of the top 10 on this list—each experience provided invaluable lessons in leadership, innovation, and operational excellence. These insights continue to shape how I approach transformation and growth today.

Grateful for the best practices I learned, the teams I had the honor to lead, and the opportunities to contribute to these world-class organizations.

Below, is the most recent 2025 Top 100 brand value ranking of Japanese companies published by Interbrand. Toyota, Honda and Sony remain top 3 most valuable brands in Japan.

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Aptos Cloud: A Major Milestone in Our Digital Transformation at WHSmith North America

Joshua Bellendir — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 21:51:00 +0000

I’m proud to share a significant milestone for our team at WHSmith North America: the successful launch of our new cloud-based merchandising, sales audit, analytics, and warehouse management systems. These platforms are now fully live across our business, marking a major step forward in our digital transformation journey.

Modernizing our retail technology stack has been a key strategic priority as we work to enable innovation, simplify operations, and support our store teams across more than 340 retail locations. This cloud foundation strengthens our ability to scale, respond quickly to business needs, and deliver exceptional experiences to the customers who rely on us every day.

This achievement would not have been possible without the dedication and collaboration of our teams and partners. I’m deeply grateful to our colleagues at Aptos Retail, Makira, and Atmosera, as well as the many individuals across the business who brought expertise, hard work, and persistence to this effort.

A special thank you goes to Vaishali Gupte, whose leadership was instrumental in guiding this project from planning through an exceptionally smooth go-live. Her ability to unify teams and keep the program on track was a major factor in its overall success.

I’d also like to recognize the outstanding partnership from our business stakeholders, including:
Sara Wyant, Chris Backhouse, Shelly Clausen, Richard Fortner, Melissa Turner, Greg Morgan, Chris Brooksbank II, Sophia Rossi, David Luashvili, Louise Sur, Janine Walton, Chris Burns, Terrie Phillips, and many others who played a vital role along the way.

And, of course, my deepest appreciation goes to our IT team. Their grit, determination, and technical excellence made this transformation possible. Thank you to Mackenson Emile, Ron Silverio, Bruce Field, Terence Robles, Robert Sellinger, Don Chaney, Gary Yu, Wayne Tiu, Raul Andrade, Steve Baltzer, Swathi Bangalore Rama, and the many others who contributed to this successful launch. Leading this team continues to be one of the great privileges of my career.

For more details, you can read the official press release here:

https://www.aptos.com/news/whsmith-north-america-modernizes-its-retail-tech-stack-with-aptos

Onward and upward as we continue building the future of retail technology.

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Celebrating Takahiro Tambara’s Forbes Japan CIO Award

Joshua Bellendir — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 23:18:00 +0000

I’m thrilled to congratulate Takahiro Tambara on being selected as a winner of the Forbes Japan CIO Awards 2024–2025. This recognition is incredibly well deserved and highlights the transformational work he and his team have led at Fast Retailing.

I still remember sitting together in a large conference room at our Midtown Tower headquarters as Takahiro kicked off the pilot project, surrounded by all the partners involved. At that time, the vision was bold and ambitious—some might have even questioned whether it could be achieved. Yet that ambition is exactly what set the foundation for what Fast Retailing would later accomplish.

Today, UNIQLO and Fast Retailing are recognized globally as the industry standard for RFID-powered self-checkout, a milestone that has transformed the customer experience and influenced retailers worldwide. What began as a forward-thinking concept has now become one of the most impressive examples of innovation in modern retail.

For those interested in learning more, here are a few helpful resources:

A Forbes Japan article detailing the award announcement (Japanese):
https://lnkd.in/gbyQvq-u
A related Forbes feature on UNIQLO’s self-checkout technology (English):
https://lnkd.in/g9ztPNym

Congratulations again to Takahiro and the entire Fast Retailing team on this remarkable achievement.

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Woven City: A Visionary Project Moving Closer to Reality

Joshua Bellendir — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 23:20:00 +0000

It has been inspiring to watch the steady progress of Woven City, Toyota’s ambitious vision for a fully connected, human-centered city of the future. Today at CES in Las Vegas, Akio Toyoda reflected on the five-year journey since announcing this groundbreaking concept—a living testbed in Japan designed to push the boundaries of mobility, IoT, robotics, energy, and urban innovation.

Reaching this latest milestone is a testament to the dedication and creativity of the Woven by Toyota team. What began as a bold idea has evolved into a tangible project that continues to capture global attention and excitement.

I want to extend my congratulations to the entire team driving this work forward, including Jack Yan, Andrew Lee, Kishore Kondragunta, Toshiro Hikita, Dahai Wang, Takehiro Takahashi, and many others behind the scenes. Their commitment to building the future—one experiment and iteration at a time—is truly inspiring.

I’m excited to see what comes next as Woven City continues to grow, evolve, and redefine what a next-generation urban ecosystem can look like.

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A Major Step Forward: Our Oracle Retail XOCS v24 Upgrade Is Now Complete

Joshua Bellendir — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 23:07:00 +0000

Major Milestone Achieved!

I couldn’t be prouder of my incredible team for successfully completing the Oracle Retail XOCS (Xstore Office Cloud Service) v24 upgrade! This cloud-based transformation not only strengthens our retail operations but also opens the door to exciting innovations.

The benefits are immense:

Reduced system maintenance, allowing us to stay ahead with targeted updates.
Seamless integration with strategic partners (e.g., Avalara).
Access to the latest POS features and enhanced user experiences for cashiers and customers alike.
Enhanced security and new selling capabilities, such as fully mobile stores, streamlined Self-checkout experiences, and additional tendering options for enhanced customer service.

Special thanks to Oracle Retail and our partner, BTM Global, for their support throughout this journey! Their efforts going above and beyond helped us complete this complex upgrade seamlessly, with no impact to our customers or stores. This upgrade positions us for even more success and agility in the future. Here’s to the next chapter of innovation!

Well done John Varcho and team!

A big shoutout and kudos to John Varcho, Raul Andrade, Giuseppe Greco, Vaishali Gupte, Robert Sellinger, Brittany Mulvihill, Trent Thomas, Istiaque Khan, Kimberly Berneck, Subramaniyan Ramakrishnan, Kyle Wittet for their incredible work on this project.

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Showcasing the WHSmith and Oracle Partnership at Oracle Cloudworld

Joshua Bellendir — Sat, 21 Sep 2024 06:25:19 +0000

A big thank you to Rose Spicer and the Oracle Retail team! You guys did a fantastic job with the booth at Cloudworld, effectively showcasing our partnership and the recent solutions we’ve implemented at WHSmith North America (e.g., Oracle Cloud MFP and Oracle Cloud EPM).

Vaishali Gupte, John Varcho, and I, also had the pleasure of running into our Oracle System Integrator, BTM Global, while visiting our booth on the expo floor. Pictured are BTM’s CEO, Kimberly Berneck, and Co-founder/CTO, Andy Huynh.

BTM played a vital role in the successful rollout of Oracle Xstore across our North America business in just 100 days. Additionally, our partner RetSci supported the deployment of Oracle MFP in just 16 weeks. We’ve built an impressive track record with Oracle, achieving rapid deployments for our North American business!

Thanks again for the opportunity to showcase our partnership, Rose! I look forward to seeing you, the Oracle Retail leadership team, and our industry peers at Oracle #CrossTalk next month!

#WHSmith #Oracle #Cloudworld #Travel #Retail #Xstore #MFP

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Fireside Chat @ Oracle Retail’s 2023 Cross Talk Event

Joshua Bellendir — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 19:11:27 +0000

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of speaking at Oracle Retail’s Cross Talk event. During this engaging fireside chat with Jason Gautereaux, I had the opportunity to share the remarkable journey of how our business and IT teams deployed the Oracle Merchandise Financial Planning solution. Impressively, we achieved this feat within a span of just 16 weeks!

It wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work, dedication, and collaboration between our business/IT teams and our partners RetSci and Columbus Consulting International. A big shout-out to Shelly Clausen, Serena Scibilia, Scott Bornstein, Alan Reyes, Don Chaney, Gary Yu, Jeff Fisher, Bill Zacher, De’Korey Sanders, David Floum, and Cindy Hitt.

As a first-time participant and speaker at Cross Talk, I was pleasantly surprised by the event’s format and the exceptional quality of the sessions. The content presented was laser-focused on retailers and was thoughtfully delivered by industry experts who share our retail perspective. The connections forged during the event were truly invaluable, and I look forward to attending next year!

If you weren’t able to attend the session, you can watch the full recording here: Fireside Chat Recording

You can also access the full collection of sessions and materials from Cross Talk 2023 here. Please note that this page is available only to Cross Talk attendees.

#WHSmith #WHSNA #Oracle #oraclecloud #merchandiseplanning #AI #oracleMFP #aifoundation #BusinessSystems #planners #retail

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