Talks from the operating floor.
Sebastián Gebhardt is CEO of Yáneken, a Chilean multi-brand retail group with about 150 stores, and he builds the AI systems that run inside that operation. His talks start there: real cases, with numbers, on AI applied to retail, store experience and family business.
América Retail introduced him as "one of the most authoritative voices in the lifestyle and retail industry in Latin America" (translated from Spanish). América Retail ↗
Languages · Spanish, English and German.
- 01
AI in store operations, without six-month projects
How we put AI to work across about 150 stores over WhatsApp: photo-based visual merchandising checks, issues routed to the right team, and reviews answered on 196 Google listings. No app to install, no training. The channel before the model, and success measured by how many store managers use it without being reminded, not by accuracy.
Where he wrote it up - 02
AI agents in retail: what works in production
Nine systems built inside a retail group — in production, in pilot and in development. None died; some move slowly. What separates an agent the team actually uses from one that stays a demo.
Where he wrote it up - 03
Build vs buy in the age of AI
I replicated a full SaaS in five days. When building your own software pays, when it doesn't, and the maintenance cost almost nobody puts in the spreadsheet.
Where he wrote it up - 04
Store experience as a profitability lever
Bold Vespucio is the group's most profitable store, and Drops doubled its sales when we invested in real design. Why experience is not a cost, with the cases behind it — including reopening in a mall where we had already failed.
Where he wrote it up - 05
Succession and professionalising a family business
Third generation in a business that started with one store on Paseo Ahumada in 1985. What we changed to professionalise the company — ERP, ecommerce, planning, marketing, corporate governance — and why the family businesses that reach the third generation are the ones willing to break with what worked.
Where he wrote it up - 06
Why global retail fails in Chile
Five of the largest retailers on the planet failed in Chile over the last three decades. Not for lack of resources — for underestimating the operator who lives inside the market. What that teaches anyone competing from here.
Where he wrote it up - 07
Pricing, promotions and the discount trap
How retail trained its own customers never to pay full price again — why Cyber is eating itself — and how to compete on differentiation rather than on price.
Where he wrote it up
Long, recorded, public conversations — the best sample of how he talks about these topics.
The bio, the press photo (CC BY-SA 4.0) and the logos are in the press kit. To invite him, write with the date, the format and the audience.
Sebastián Gebhardt Rishmague is an AI builder and CEO of Yáneken, a Chilean multi-brand retail group (about 150 stores; Bold, Drops, Belsport, Hoka), founder of Andrea and co-founder of Menlo & Oak (menloandoak.com). Third-generation retailer, Stanford GSB MBA (Arjay Miller Scholar). He writes about retail, AI and building from Chile at sebastiangebhardt.com.