Episodes

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by ZenlineAI and Mirakl. In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Amazon unveils a 12-day Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday event with record exclusives and an AI-powered Alexa for Shopping that can track deals and auto-buy products. Gopuff becomes the first company to offer full in-chat shopping and checkout inside Grok Bot, with delivery in as fast as 15 minutes. McDonald’s brings real-time earned wage access...

The holiday shopping season is officially kicking into high gear, and retail is getting interesting! Chris Walton welcomes two first-time Fast Five guest hosts, former Patagonia VP of Digital Angela Clark and former Chief Merchant at Petco and 7-Eleven Jack Stout, for a packed episode covering Amazon's new text-to-shop experience, CVS Health's big breakup, Ahold Delhaize USA's technology overhaul, Disney's TikTok Shop holiday push, and DoorDash's growing ambitions as a full-fledged retailer. Sp...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by ZenlineAI and Mirakl. In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Uber Eats rolls out “Shop for me,” letting customers order from local stores that never signed up unless those stores opt out. Dollar General and pOpshelf go live on Instacart across roughly 20,000 stores, completing DG’s delivery partnerships with all three major aggregators. DeCicco & Sons expands Simbe’s Tally shelf-scanning robots chainwide af...

There's never a dull moment in grocery retail, and this week, Ben Miller welcomes back GrocerTalk's very first returning guest, Stewart Samuel, Director of Retail Futures at IGD. With Ben fresh off a week of retail media dinners, industry awards, and an exclusive Instacart interview, and Stewart diving into global retail trends for 2027, the two have plenty to catch up on. Sponsored by Instacart Enterprise, Portager, Vusion, and Sifter Solutions, Ben and Stewart take a broader look at what it t...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by ZenlineAI and Mirakl. In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Zipline raises $1.5 billion at a $21.5 billion valuation to scale U.S. drone manufacturing, as Walmart adds 300 more Zipline delivery sites. McDonald’s names Uber Eats its preferred delivery partner for orders in the McDonald’s app and links its rewards program to Uber rides, as Uber responds to DoorDash’s deal to buy Instacart. Kroger aims to sou...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by ZenlineAI and Mirakl. In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Amazon lets shoppers text Alexa for Shopping, turning a text thread into an AI agent that can search, compare and buy on their behalf. Under Armour cuts another 25% of SKUs, pushes full-price product into outlets and licenses its youth business as revenue falls 7%. Walgreens opens its 15th robotic micro-fulfillment center in Allentown, Pennsylvani...

Which retailer deserves its long-awaited championship moment? If you could spend one extra hour inside any store, where would you go? And with Instacart pulling the plug on Caper Carts, what's the next most overhyped piece of in-store technology? Chris Walton puts Kelly Carey in the hot seat for this week's Fast Five Lightning Round, covering everything from underrated retailers and dream shopping trips to questionable retail technology investments. Plus, Halloween may be over, but the candy de...

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says Wall Street may be overlooking Amazon's retail progress, pointing to fresh groceries and everyday essentials growing three times faster than the rest of its stores business. However, Amazon's online store sales increased just 2% in Q3. Is Amazon quietly becoming a bigger threat to traditional grocers, or are its retail results less impressive than Jassy suggests? Chris Walton and Kelly Carey examine the difference between full grocery trips and smaller add-on purchase...

Walmart has officially launched Walmart+ in Mexico for MXN $89 per month, bundling free shipping and delivery with streaming, mobile data, and healthcare benefits. The expansion follows Walmart+'s recent launch in Canada as the retailer looks to grow its membership program internationally. Could Mexico become the blueprint for Walmart+'s next phase of global expansion? Chris Walton and Kelly Carey discuss the potential of a lower-cost membership model, how Walmart can drive customer loyalty and...

Starbucks reported a 7.7% increase in U.S. comparable sales in Q4, driven by a 5.2% increase in average ticket and 2.4% transaction growth. The results signal progress under CEO Brian Niccol's Back to Starbucks turnaround strategy. Is Starbucks' performance proof that its turnaround is working, or should slowing traffic growth be cause for concern? Chris Walton and Kelly Carey offer different perspectives on the results and discuss how mobile ordering, store operations, and the traditional coff...

Instacart is winding down its Caper Cart smart shopping cart business, five years after acquiring Caper AI for $350 million. The company cited slower-than-expected retailer adoption as the reason for ending its investment. Does Instacart's exit signal the end of the smart cart altogether, or will the technology eventually make a comeback? Chris Walton and Kelly Carey debate whether retailers should be investing in smarter shopping carts or focusing on the mobile technology customers already car...

DoorDash has agreed to acquire Instacart for approximately $17 billion, or $65 per share, combining two of the biggest names in restaurant and grocery delivery. The deal faces regulatory review and isn't expected to close until late 2027 or early 2028. Is this a major opportunity for DoorDash to expand its grocery and retail media capabilities, or could the deal benefit DoorDash even if it never closes? Chris Walton and Kelly Carey explore the potential synergies, the implications for grocery r...

It’s now been a week since the news was officially confirmed that DoorDash has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Instacart. We learned a lot in the deal announcement, and since then analysts right across the industry have shared their views on the $17bn deal. But what has the response been within Instacart? What does the proposed deal mean for Instacart’s existing marketplace and enterprise customers? Why will it have such a long time to close, and what happens in the meantime? In a po...

In this episode, Chris Niesen is joined by Dave Glaza, CEO of DIGITS Agency, to discuss October’s Target, Walmart, and Amazon deal events, from what I saw in stores to how retail media and digital are reshaping them, and how Trader Joe’s seasonal merchandising works with no deals and no digital playbook. Making Space Real Time is presented by the Association of Retail and Consumer Professionals in partnership with the Omni Talk Podcast Network. If you enjoyed this episode, a like, a subscribe ...

Despite inflation, rising gas prices, and continued pressure on household budgets, consumers are still showing up at stores. But where they're shopping, how often they're visiting, and what they're willing to spend on are telling a much bigger story. So, which retailers came out on top in 2026, and what can we expect heading into 2027? In the latest Omni Talk Retail Ask An Expert Series, Chris Walton welcomes R.J. Hottovy, Head of Analytical Research at Placer.ai, to break down the biggest reta...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by ZenlineAI and Mirakl. In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: CVS Health plans to split into two public companies, separating Aetna and Caremark from its 9,000 retail pharmacies in a stunning strategic reversal. Amazon launches the Shop Direct Merchant Workspace, letting any eligible retailer list products in Amazon search and Alexa for Shopping, free of charge. Marks & Spencer will deploy Vusion's Connected...

Retail news came in by the truckload this week! Chris Walton is joined by Kelly Carey, Senior Director at the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, for a packed Fast Five covering DoorDash's $17 billion Instacart acquisition, the end of Caper Carts, Starbucks' comeback, Walmart+'s international expansion, and whether Wall Street is sleeping on Amazon's retail business. Sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Quorso, Manhattan Associates, and SmartScout, this week's epis...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by ZenlineAI and Mirakl. In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: The Children’s Place prepares for a possible bankruptcy filing, weighing bids from both investors and liquidators as sales and its stock price plunge. Amazon launches a $25 Thanksgiving meal deal that undercuts Walmart’s on price, but with fewer items and no word on how many it feeds. Disney hosts its first-ever TikTok Shop Super Brand Day, Nov. 4...

DoorDash and Instacart are joining forces, Amazon is taking its fresh grocery ambitions global, and smart carts might be on their way out. There's A LOT to unpack this week on GrocerTalk, and Ben Miller is joined by Neil Saunders, Managing Director of Retail at GlobalData, to make sense of it all. Sponsored by Instacart Enterprise, Portager, Vusion, and Sifter Solutions, Ben and Neil debate whether DoorDash's $17 billion acquisition of Instacart can stand up to antitrust scrutiny, why Amazon's ...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by ZenlineAI and Mirakl. In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Walmart adds six new capabilities to its Sparky AI shopping agent, including a feature that lights up shelf labels to guide shoppers in-store. DoorDash unveils its holiday playbook, headlined by a nationwide rollout of $7.99 at-home Dasher Returns, consumer catering, and $12 meal boxes. Ahold Delhaize USA begins a multi-year rollout of NCR Voyix’s...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by ZenlineAI and Mirakl. In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Starbucks beats Q4 earnings expectations with 7.7% U.S. comps and positive traffic as “Back to Starbucks” shifts from turnaround to growth plan. Circana data shows online grocery sales up 15.5% while in-store sales fell 2.8%, deepening the squeeze on traditional supermarkets. Walmart+ launches in Mexico, bundling delivery, streaming, wireless data...

It's Halloween week on the Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, and Chris Walton and guest host Martin Bailie are getting into everything from Irish sports to some seriously scary retail experiences! Chris puts Martin on the spot with the ultimate Irish sports debate: Gaelic football or hurling? Then the two get into Halloween costumes inspired by retailers, the greatest horror movies of all time, and a real-life retail nightmare from Chris's career. Between Martin's Irish perspective and Chris's storie...

David's Bridal is planning to spin off Pearl, its AI-powered wedding planning and vendor marketplace platform, into a publicly traded company through a SPAC transaction. The proposed deal values Pearl at approximately $350 million and includes a $75 million private investment in public equity, with David's Bridal retaining its physical stores and a stake in the new company. Pearl would also acquire the David's Bridal brand and intellectual property, with the transaction expected to close in the ...

Gap Inc. is expanding its AI-powered recruiting assistant, Bridgette, to help manage an expected 200,000 seasonal job applications during the holiday hiring rush. Built on Paradox's AI recruiting platform and integrated with Workday Recruiting, Bridgette has already engaged nearly 45,000 candidates and scheduled more than 7,000 interviews during its pilot across over 100 stores and six distribution centers. The technology handles scheduling and candidate communication while store managers retain...