Episodes

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by A&M Consumer & Retail Group and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern discuss: – The latest statistics on and the now burning platform that is Walmart+ – Victoria's Secret getting back into swimwear – Poshmark getting into the pets business – Amazon's acquisition of Selz – And, P&G's off-the-wall plans to open Old Spice barbershops (seriously, WTF?) It's another podcast for the ages and one chock-full of 80's re...

For the latest episode of Omni Talk’s new Ask An Expert Interview Series for 2021, Chris Walton interviews Kevin Swanwick, Vice President Store Solutions at Manhattan Associates. The correlative relationship between service and margin is a fundamental axiom in business, and yet retail companies often overlook this relationship in evaluating what technologies are right for them. The flashiest answers may not be the best answers and could depend on whether your business is designed to move many ...

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by A&M Consumer & Retail Group and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern discuss: -- Instacart's ever-growing dominance across 25,000+ stores across America -- Target coyly and quietly building out its own same-day marketplace with brands that neither Amazon nor Walmart may carry -- Walmart hitting another snag on its quest for TikTok -- Walgreens and Uber's new partnership on free rides for vaccinations -- And, wha...

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by A&M Consumer & Retail Group and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern discuss: – Asos purchasing TopShop – Imagr's new checkout-free implementation in Japan and the ongoing debate on smart carts – The latest last-mile developments from Instacart and Uber – Lego making its own version of Tik Tok for kids – And, Jeff Bezos leaving Amazon and his legacies that will endure All that, plus Chris shares his latest Gins...

In the latest episode of the Omni Talk Spotlight Series, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga interview Marshall Kay and JP Kamel, or as those in the know call them, the RFID Sherpas. RFID is a topic that is rightly back en vogue of late as retailers race to meet the rapidly changing needs of the consumer amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Together in this podcast, Chris, Anne, and the Sherpas discuss all the ways RFID can unlock value across retail, including how it can deliver ROI through better inventor...

In the latest episode of Omni Talk’s new Ask An Expert Interview Series for 2021, Chris Walton interviews Ross Sabolcik, VP & GM Industrial & Commercial IoT Products at Silicon Labs. The episode marks what is the first interview in a multi-episode arc, in which Chris and Silicon Labs will delve deep into the smart retail technologies that will change physical retail experiences the most in 2021. Chris and Ross begin their discussion high level and then discuss five key areas on which their upc...

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern: – Laud Walgreens' new CEO choice, Roz Brewer – Explore the deep meaning behind Walmart's large-scale push this week into microfulfillment – Discuss what Godiva's store closings say about the state of "experiential" retail – Highlight Centennial reaching Phase II of its plan to make malls shoppable online with one consistent checkout expe...

Kristin started her retail career in the Macy's training program and in no time at all, began heading up the handbags and hosiery department. Now, Kristin is CEO at JOOR and is taking that company all the way to the top as they reinvent the traditions, events, and systems retailers, brands, and designers have leaned on to run their businesses. Join Anne Mezzenga as she gleans advice from Kristin's experience as a VP for the XO Group (The Knot, The Bump, etc.), where she helped to launch many si...

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern discuss: - Costco reversing course on its curbside pickup plans - Why Kroger's new "KroGO" smart cart may not be a smart move at all - The tell that will forever indicate if Macy's new small store concept is actually cool or just a further profit drain waiting to happen - Walmart forming a more perfect union with Western Union - And, why ...

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern talk: - Amazon getting ranked as America's preferred grocer - Lululemon's latest efforts to compete with Nike - The pros and cons of Walmart's new Fintech play - Toys R Us . . . uh, sorry, we mean Hudson deciding to license Amazon's 'Just Walk Out' technology for airports - And, why Walmart's latest play to save money on last-mile deliver...

For the latest episode of Omni Talk’s new Ask An Expert Interview Series for 2021, Chris Walton interviews Chris Shaw, Sr. Director Product Marketing and Analyst Relations at Manhattan Associates. Chris Walton has long believed that cloud-based order management systems are one of the fundamental three legs of the omnichannel retailing stool, so this week Chris goes right to one of the most credible sources around to learn all he can about how these systems have evolved where they might be going...

For the inaugural episode of Omni Talk's new Ask An Expert Series for 2021, Chris Walton interviews Azita Martin, NVIDIA GM Artificial Intelligence for Retail & CPG In this new series, Chris leverages his long retail experience to dig deep into the issues that are top of mind for today's retail executives, one of which is AI, and where it matters. Chris delves into Azita's long background in retail technology to understand where she, from her position as an expert, is seeing AI move the fastes...

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern talk: - Now former CEO Jill Soltau's ouster at JCP - Macy's new chief merchant hire - The degree of excitement we should feel around Afterpay's holiday results - Amazon's decision to call it quits on its partnership with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan - And, we close with a new game we call "Do We Care If They Go Away," where we ask whether it matters if 15 re...

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Spotlight Series, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga interview Skipify CEO and Founder, Ryth Martin. At a time when e-commerce is growing as fast as ever and when automated email communication is becoming an ever more important conversion tool, Ryth Martin and Skipify are breaking new ground in terms of how email can be used as an actual commerce platform. Fresh off a recently announced partnership with Google, Ryth explains just how important of a channel em...

In the latest Omni Talk Spotlight Series, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga interview one of their favorite people in retail technology, Kristin Savilia, CEO JOOR. Chris and Anne discuss with Kristin how she and her company are moving the buying and planning experience from countless spreadsheets, in person showroom events, and endless sampling to simple, real-time digital interactions that make buying easier. Nowhere was JOOR revolutionary work more evident than during this year's Fashion Week, ...

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern hand out their annual retail awards for 2020. Awards up for grabs include: - Retailer of the Year - CEO of the Year - Headline of the Year - Worst Retailer of the Year - Technology of the Year - And, more! Plus, they reveal their top "Ah-ha!" from the year along with what movie 2020 reminds them of the most in their last Fast Five of the year. To learn more ...

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Anne, Emma the Intern, and I talk: - Walmart's new legion of TikTokers - Bed Bath & Beyond's sale of Cost Plus World Market - DoorDash's IPO - Robomart and "store hailing" - Amazon's new custom T-shirt program (there's also a demo of it on LinkedIn from Anne that you have to check out) - And, slap chops. Yes, slap chops, and even some pocket hoses. All that, plus we ask Emma where she ranks in the great Amer...

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Anne, Emma the Intern, and I talk: – Walmart smartly (and finally) shutting down its doomed from the start Store No 8 VR experiment – Social commerce, by way of WhatsApp Shopping – Stripe and Shopify linking up for banking – The opening of Amazon's 5th Fresh grocery store in Illinois (which is getting to be a pretty common occurrence in the Fast Five) – The death of the IKEA catalog – And, breaking the sound ...

Ace Hardware Chief Marketing Officer Kim Lefko and Anne Mezzenga sit down to talk about Kim's career in retail in the latest edition of the Omni Talk exclusive, Women's Retail Collective podcast series. Kim was uniquely positioned for her current role, having most of her experience, prior to Ace, on the other side of the table, selling into retailers for companies like Graco, Black & Decker, DeWalt, and Weber grills. Kim shares how she and her team rolled out curbside pickup - overnight - at 4...

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern talk: – How Sephora just gave Kohl's a She's All That-style makeover – Why Black Friday and Cyber Monday felt like a tree falling in the woods – Another in a long list of smart moves by Best Buy over the last six months – The opening of Amazon's 4th Fresh grocery store - A cool new startup called HungryPanda - And, Minnesota-adjacent states. Yes, we spread som...

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern talk: – Target and Walmart's wild sales results – TJX reversing course on e-commerce – Instagram updating its home page for shopping – Instacart inking a head scratching deal with Best Buy – Simon malls new return bars – And, roosters. Yes, roosters. Urban ones to be exact. All that and more in this week’s happy and optimistic edition of the Omni Talk Fast Fi...

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern talk: – Target's new partnership with Ulta – Alibaba and Singles Day – J.C. Penney's court approved sale – Autonomous delivery – Molson Coors' new direct-to-consumer play, Revl – And, Laurence Olivier Yes, Laurence Olivier. All that and more in this week’s extra special safe edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five! To learn more about FastSensor, visit: www.fasts...

Any brand considering business in China should watch this interview -- it is a perfect illustration of how to work smarter and not harder. Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga of Omni Talk interview Tony Shan, Head of Tmall Global -- Americas about his company's Overseas Fulfillment Program. Tmall, for those unfamiliar, is Alibaba's B2C marketplace in China. Thousands of brands sell products to the huge Chinese market every single day on Tmall. We at Omni Talk have long been supporters of American c...

Karyn Schoenbart joins Anne Mezzenga to discuss her career, both as CEO of NPD Group and as author of the book MOM.B.A. This podcast is full of great advice, as Karyn shares some incredible lessons learned, including how a lateral move can actually propel your career forward, how to fight imposter syndrome, and how you can never go wrong asking someone "What can I do for you?" This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy Chartable - h...