Episodes

In this special OmniStars of the Omni Talk Retail Spotlight Series, brought to you in partnership with Quorso, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga sit down with Walgreens VP of Digital Commerce and Omnichannel Stefanie Kruse to discuss what it takes to help a pharmacy retailer like Walgreens continue to meet rising consumer expectations around service. Together they discuss: - The rollout of nationwide 2 hr delivery from Walgreens - The unique omnichannel dynamics of pharmacy operations - The evolv...

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Spotlight Series, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss next generation warehouse fulfillment and automation with KNAPP VP Sales Consultancy, Bill Stenger. Together they discuss: - KNAPP's role in Walmart's new next generation fulfillment center plans - The market for centralized vs. decentralized automated warehousing solutions - The changing consumer preferences coming out of the pandemic and how they are shaping last mile innovation. Music by hooksou...

In today’s Omni Talk Retail Fast Five Podcast, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, Sezzle, and Groceryshop, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga: - Shared mutual distaste for Walmart’s new rewards program for Walmart+ members - Were somewhat split on Bloomingdales second “Bloomie’s” store - Discussed what the Meta and Jio WhatsApp partnership in India could mean for the future of text commerce in the U.S. - Questioned what again seems like a desperate IPO-incented move...

In today’s Omni Talk Retail Fast Five Podcast, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, Sezzle, and Groceryshop, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga: - Did some massive Peloton pontification around their recent Amazon news - Looked long and hard at whether Apple is talking out of both sides of its mouth when it comes to advertising and privacy - Praised Gap for its own “frenemy” supplier platform approach - Discussed Walmart’s latest acquisition of gig delivery management ...

Supply chain. Supply chain. Supply chain. The topic is certainly top of mind of late, but what about it is really on the minds of your average retail executive? So Omni Talk is pleased to announce that Microsoft’s Director of Retail & Consumer Insights Paula Beckel and Blue Yonder’s Corporate VP of Global Retail Industry Strategies Shannon Wu-Lebron joined Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga for the latest installment of the Omni Talk Retail Ask An Expert Series to answer that very question. Is it ...

In today’s Omni Talk Retail Fast Five Podcast, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, Sezzle, and Groceryshop, A&M’s David Brown and Abhinav Chandra joined Anne and Chris to discuss: - Their big takeaways from this week’s earnings announcements - Whether Walmart executives were boasting way too much about their new - Paramount+ streaming partnership - The rumors of Ahold Delhaize acquiring Albertsons and its two private jets - Facebook partnering up with DoorDash fo...

Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga sit down with Alviere CEO Yuval Brisker to understand why it is only a matter of time before embedded finance, i.e. the idea of retailers becoming their own banks, takes the retail industry by storm. Music by HookSounds.com *Sponsored Content* This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

In today’s Omni Talk Retail Fast Five Podcast, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, Sezzle, and Groceryshop, Chris Walton and Mezzenga: - Question whether Walmart partnering with a streaming service will do anything to boost Walmart+ subscriptions (short answer: no) - Blast Kohl’s for the hubris it is showing in its new self-pickup rollout - Debate the merits of mall-based retailers using Amazon to fulfill same-day orders - Call for an immediate halt to Walmart’s ...

Omni Talk Retail, in partnership with Talkdesk, welcomed Chris McShane, the Senior Vice President of Customer Experience at Serta Simmons, and Amber Scott, the VP of Customer Experience at Serta Simmons, to provide their expert opinions on how to think about the future of customer service and loyalty. Collectively the four of them go deep on: – How changing consumer expectations around service have impacted retail and, particularly, the mattress industry. – What they each think are the key in...

Signifyd's SVP of Operations and Corporate Development, Bennett, gets hit with the tough questions from Omni Talk Retail, as he shares the most important insights from his company's newly released State of Commerce Report for 2022 in just five minutes! For more information on Signifyd, and to get the report, head here: https://www.signifyd.com/state-of-commerce-report-2022/?utm_channel=Paid&utm_medium=content_syndication&utm_source=Red-Archer&utm_campaign=WW_WEB_State-of-Commerce-Report-2022 M...

In today's Omni Talk Retail Fast Five Podcast, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, Sezzle, and Groceryshop, A&M’s Hemant Kalbag and Jonathan Sharp joined Anne and Chris to discuss - All the stats and figures from Prime Day - Whether Macy’s taking Toys R Us to all stores will have any real long-term significance - Kroger’s plans to expand its Boost membership program nationwide - The big (some might say massive) revelation from a Google exec that 40% of young peop...

In today's Omni Talk Retail Fast Five Podcast, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, Sezzle, and Groceryshop, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga: - Praised Walmart for their purchase of 4,500 electric delivery vehicles from Canoo. - Examined all the reasons why Amazon is still investing in smart carts and is now planning to roll out the Dash Cart to Whole Foods. - Discussed why retailers, like Walmart and others, should and should not participate in Prime Day. - Gave C...

Inflation is impacting retail business across the board, from gasoline to groceries, and historically the go-to solution has been to cut costs wherever you can, but perhaps there’s an alternative? In Omni Talk Retail’s latest Spotlight Series, Anne Mezzenga explores with Upside’s VP of Retail Tyler Renaghan how retailers should take this time as an opportunity to grow revenue, instead of cutting costs to battle inflationary pressures. In this interview Anne and Tyler discuss: - How retailers ...

In today's Omni Talk Retail Fast Five Podcast, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, and Sezzle, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discussed: - The aftermath of Kohl’s proposed deal with the Franchise Group falling through - The curious case of what look like egregious share buybacks at Bed Bath & Beyond - TikTok reportedly getting out of livestream commerce in the U.S. and the U.K. - Ulta Beauty’s new pop-up inside of Allure’s SoHo store - And closed with a look at A...

In today's Omni Talk Retail Fast Five Podcast, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, and Sezzle, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga: - Took another victory lap on their long held position that Mark Tritton’s tenure at Bed Bath & Beyond would be short-lived. - Highlighted the importance of Trigo’s second autonomous grocery store implementation with Rewe in Berlin, which places it squarely in the lead as the “non-Amazon” option in the battle for checkout-free grocery re...

Cannes, one of the biggest events for marketers around the world, just held its annual festival doling out awards to the best and brightest in the industry and Omni Talk Retail is bringing you a full recap, minus the super yachts, of course. Omni Talk Retail asked Firework’s Chief Revenue Officer Jeff Lucas to provide a recap, and more importantly, his advice for retail marketers on making Cannes-worthy creative for the latest installment of our Live Ask An Expert Series on LinkedIn. Chris Wal...

In today's Omni Talk Retail Fast Five Podcast, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, and Sezzle, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga had a blast: - Taking a victory lap on Amazon’s price positioning in Amazon Fresh stores. - Opening our minds to GNC's new food delivery service. - Lauding Simon, after slagging it last week, for something it is calling “Simon Search.” - Sounding alarm bells (that likely only our loyal Omni Talk fans will hear) on Amazon’s second Style ...

In this week’s Fast Five podcast, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, and Sezzle, A&M's Chad Lusk and Truett Horne join Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga to debate: - The significance of Walmart's new automated fulfillment centers - Target's recent earnings warning - Simon's new "National Outlet Shopping Day" - Sam's Club charging regular old Sam's Club members for curbside pickup - And Amazon trying to one-up Walmart with its own drone announcement this week There...

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Retail Spotlight Series, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga sit down with Talkdesk's VP Global Industry Strategy for Retail & Consumer Goods and fellow Top 100 Retail Influencer Shannon Flanagan. Together the three of them discuss: - The role of retailers to provide great product and great service - The dwindling use of the "secret shop" - Creating experiences that make your customers happy, when pre-purchase customer service is now just as important as post-...

In today's Omni Talk Retail Fast Five Podcast, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, and Sezzle, Anne Mezzenga and Chris Walton went deep on: - Dollar General’s self-checkout only pilot - Brookfield and Sephora’s new “curbcierge” service - UPS acquiring Delivery Solutions - Tortoise’s remote-controlled store on wheels at the Mall of America - And closed with a look at Old Navy’s decision to cut back on its more inclusive sizing strategy There’s all that, plus ...

In today's take no prisoners Omni Talk Retail Fast Five Podcast, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, and Sezzle, Anne Mezzenga and Chris Walton: - Give their very early take on Amazon's new Amazon Style store. - Lambast Walmart from the high heavens for its drone announcement this week. - Laud Firework for its recent $150 million investment round, as it continues to push the boundaries and lead the way in livestream commerce. - Question whether Wayfair chose t...

Livestreaming, and specifically Firework, was the #1 hot topic coming out of Shoptalk this year. So Omni Talk Retail invited Firework CEO and Co-Founder Vincent Yang back to provide his mid-year report on the state of livestreaming across retail for the latest installment of our Ask An Expert Series. Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga get Vincent’s thoughts on: - What changes he is seeing in retailers’ approaches to livestreaming - Whether retailers are heeding his past advice of streaming on the...

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Retail Spotlight Video Series, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga sit down with Signifyd’s CMO Indy Guha to learn all they can about the latest fiendish effort being used to defraud consumers, aka Account Takeover (or ATO, if you are in the know). Together they discuss: The rise of e-commerce and the increasing strain placed on fraud prevention What account takeover is and why it is so much more sinister than just using someone’s credit card number And why a ...

In today's episode of the Omni Talk Retail Fast Five podcast, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, and Sezzle, David Ritter and Michael Simoncic join Chris and Anne to discuss: What to make of Target and Walmart’s earnings this week How warm and fuzzy we should feel about Instacart’s IPO plans Whether Peloton planning to sell through third-party retailers for the first time ever makes strategic sense Why Zara’s move to charge U.K. customers for returns feels like ...