Episodes

Amid the ever-increasing omnichannel nature of our retail experiences, it can be difficult to know how best to solve customer issues when they arise. It isn’t as simple as just having great person-to-person customer service anymore. So Omni Talk is pleased to announce that Talkdesk’s Genesis Miranda Longo, Head of Industry Marketing for Retail and Consumer Goods, and Antonio Gonzalez, Head of Industries Research & Insights, join Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga for the latest installment of their...

What devices in your store could be working harder for you? That is the question we posed to Scandit CTO and Co-Founder Christian Floerkemeier in our latest Omni Talk Retail Spotlight Series Podcast. Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss with Christian: - How everything from an iPhone to a floor scrubber can become a smart data capturing device within a retail store - Tackling hiring and training challenges by capturing smart data on an employee's own or company provided mobile device - Remo...

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Retail Spotlight Series, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga sit down with Rafay's CEO Haseeb Budhani and HP's VP of Retail and Industry Solutions Cory McElroy to dive deep into the topic of what it takes to scale computer vision implementations across thousands of store locations. Together they discuss: - How computer vision has moved from a "science project" to a business necessity - In what areas retailers are most interested in applying computer vision - T...

In today's special Wednesday edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five podcast, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, and Sezzle, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga: - Discuss why IKEA's new store investment plans show just how smart of retailer IKEA is. - Laud Unilever for its bold move to deploy mobile ice cream stores with Robomart. - Grow skeptical of Adidas's all-in move with Foot Locker. - Debate whether Sweetgreen's new digital order pickup-only store is something more...

In this week’s Fast Five podcast, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, and Sezzle, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga: - Had a split opinion on Publix's new nano-fulfillment partnership with Instacart. - Both extolled the virtues of the one-stop shop and H-E-B's newest store concept down in Texas. - Praised Verizon for going all-in on 24/7 pickup lockers. - Tipped our caps to Target for once again getting omnichannel retail tech right, as evidenced by their recent pil...

In this week’s Fast Five podcast, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, and Sezzle, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga had a ball discussing: - Amazon’s newest suburban store Amazon Go concept, replete with made-to-order food, and whether it could one day soon evolve into “the gas station of the future.” - A really interesting new store concept from online retailer MorningSave down in Texas that promises to meld the beauty of the online treasure hunt with in-store reta...

In this week’s Fast Five podcast, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, and Sezzle, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga: - Gave their hot take on Andrew Jassy’s first-ever letter to Amazon shareholders - Had mixed feelings on Lululemon’s new subscription program - Took a second to bash the Yankees as they discussed Caper Counter at Fenway Park - Exhibited a high degree of skepticism around the new Champs store concept - And closed with a look at Pensa’s new deployment w...

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 Hemant Kalbag joined Anne as they debated: -An Earth Day Resale PR blitz from multiple retailers, including Target partnering up once again with ThredUP. -Zara’s new knockout high-tech, half-warehouse flagship store in Madrid finally enabling mobile self-checkout for apparel. - Meta giving creators the green light to sell virtual goods in the metaverse - Santa Mo...

Part of what makes the concept of omnichannel retailing so great is the idea that retail is now perpetual, i.e. always on and available to consumers whenever and however they want it. But, by definition then, doing it right requires unprecedented levels of flexibility within our retail supply chains. So Omni Talk is pleased to announce that Purolator’s Senior Director of Retail, Laurie Weston, joins Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga for the latest installment of their Omni Talk Ask An Expert Serie...

To understand the future of commerce and words like the “metaverse,” it is important to place things in the proper context. So Omni Talk is pleased to announce that Meta’s VP of its Commerce Business, Emma Rodgers, joins Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga for the latest installment of their Omni Talk Ask An Expert Series to give her firsthand perspective on how she sees the future of retail shaping up. Collectively the three of them go deep on: – Why “portability” and “dimensionality” are key ter...

In the latest Women's Retail Collective Podcast Anne Mezzenga sits down with Meijer's Group Vice President, Marketing & Customer Strategy: Retail Media, E-Comm, Own Brand, Data Insights at Meijer Amanda Mcvay You read that title right. Amanda wears a lot of hats and in fact, after 10 years at the company, Meijer created this job just for her. Amanda has diverse experience in everything customer-centric; from buying to product development to gathering consumer insights that have resulted in some...

A&M's Jonathan Sharp gets hit with tough questions from Omni Talk Retail, as he shares the most important insights from the A&M Consumer & Retail Group's latest installment of their ongoing Consumer Sentiment Survey in just five minutes! To read the full survey, head here: https://alvarezandmarsal-crg.com/insi... *Sponsored Content* This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

Instacart dropped a big bomb recently, devaluing the company while, at the same time, announcing a new “platform” approach to their strategy going forward, and to say Anne and Chris are skeptical of the move, as many of you know, is an understatement. So we are pleased to bring you our latest in depth discussion with 1010data's Chief Product Officer Jonah Ellin about his company's just released comprehensive report surrounding Instacart. In this podcast interview, Chris, Anne, and Jonah discus...

In this week’s Fast Five video, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, and Sezzle, Chris and Anne discuss: - Target accepting food stamps online - Farfetch’s investment in Neiman Marcus - JOOR and something called “Automated Attribution” - Kroger giving the restaurant supply business a go down in Texas - And closed with a hot debate over Alexa giving advanced notification on deals There’s all that, plus Lizzo karaoke, how to screw up a burrito, and why we could nev...

In this week’s Fast Five podcast, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, and Sezzle, Chris and Anne discuss: - Using BNPL at the gas station - Instacart’s downright laughable new strategic positioning - Red Wing Shoes smartly getting ahead of the fit tech curve - Adidas giving Nike a lesson in long-tail marketplace influencer commerce - And close with a “good on ya” to Kath McLay at Sam’s Club for suing BJ’s and protecting the hell out of her scan-and-go turf There...

In this special Shoptalk edition of the Omni Talk Spotlight Series brought to you through the support of Meta, Anne Mezzenga sits down with DoorDash VP of Global Partnerships to dive deep into the DoorDash headlines the retail world has been buzzing about for the past year including: - The future of DashMart - Express Grocery Delivery with Albertsons Co. - DoorDash Returns Pickup - And an exciting, first-of-its-kind partnership for the delivery provider and a popular East Coast merchant. Anne ...

Lululemon dropped its new shoe line last week, and none of that would have been possible without the help and support of Volumental's proprietary fit data, gleaned from millions upon millions of scans of people's feet. So Omni Talk is pleased to announce that one of the pioneers of fit technology in the shoe industry, Volumental's Chief Marketing Officer Brent Hollowell, joins Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga for this special Shoptalk Edition of their ongoing Spotlight Series brought to you in pa...

Food waste, and particularly waste from fresh meats and vegetables, is a continued drag on grocers' bottom lines. So Omni Talk is pleased to announce that Afresh CEO Matt Schwartz joins Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga for a special Shoptalk Edition of the their ongoing Spotlight Series brought to you in partnership with Meta to share how his company plans to help grocers solve this problem. Collectively the three of them discuss: – All the factors that can contribute to better demand forecasti...

There is probably no topic more on the mind of retailers than what do with online returns. So Omni Talk is pleased to announce that Narvar CEO Amit Sharma joins Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga for a special Shoptalk Edition of their ongoing Spotlight Series brought to you in partnership with Meta. Collectively the three of them go deep on: – Why returns are now the "first-mile" of a new retail experience - What it takes to pick up returns directly from customers' homes - How a smooth returns p...

In this week’s Fast Five video, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, and Sezzle, Chris takes a break from 2022 Walton Family Spring Break to join Anne to discuss: - Kohl’s multiple acquisition offers, their potential buyers, and why two wrongs don’t make a right. - Pickup-only grocer Fresh Street doing grocery orders in 30 minutes with no fee and if it’s a model that will stick? - Amazon’s baller move opening their first net-zero carbon emission Fresh store in Sea...

In this week's Fast Five, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, and Sezzle, A&M’s David Ritter and Michael Prendergast joined Chris and Anne as they debated: - All the news out of Starbucks this week, but most specifically its plans to roll out its community store concept to 1,000 locations by 2030. - Who made the bigger waves this week – DoorDash with its returns pilot or Uber hinting at becoming a retailer? -Whether Macy’s website overhaul means anything and if t...

Livestreaming is quite the hot topic now that everyone from Walmart to Amazon is doing it which means many of you have likely been asked by your bosses or your boss’s boss to livestream something as part of your 2022 content strategy. So to make sure you avoid the three mistakes so many people make when designing their livestreaming strategy, Omni Talk is pleased to announce that one of the foremost experts in the world of livestreaming and digital content creation, Firework’s Co-Founder and CE...

Long have we talked about Visual AI as the most important technology that will shape retail over the next decade. So Omni Talk is pleased to announce that ViSenze Chief Commercial Officer Brendan O'Shaughnessy joins Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga for the latest installment of their Omni Talk Spotlight Series to share his knowledge on the most practical applications of Visual AI in the here and now: Collectively the three of them go deep on Visual AI's value and applicability: - Product recomm...

In this week’s Fast Five podcast, sponsored by Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, and Sezzle, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss: - Amazon's shrewd move and likely "deke" to close 68 physical stores. - Lululemon finally getting into footwear. - Dollar General trying to become everyone's new local bank. - Walmart's extremely disappointing new fit technology it unveiled this past week. - And close with a look at why Ryan Cohen's letter to the Bed Bath & Beyond Board of Dir...