Episodes

In this episode of Confessions Of Supply Chain Executives, host Chris Walton sits down with Amir Khoshniyati, Vice President at Wiliot, and Kay Irwin, National Practice Lead for Connected Assets & Smart Supply Chain at AT&T, to explore one of the biggest unsolved challenges in retail: inventory visibility. Despite decades of investment in supply chain technology, most retailers still struggle to know exactly where inventory is at any given moment. Products move through warehouses, distribution ...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by Duvo and Mirakl. In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Amazon commits $1 billion to a new Forward Deployed Engineering unit, embedding AWS engineers directly inside client businesses to compress AI deployment timelines from months to days. Albertsons works to fully scale an AI-powered merchandising intelligence platform, built with Databricks, across its grocery operations by the end of 2026. New Jersey pa...

It is that time of the year again! The time where Omni Talk and Placer.ai get together for their annual tradition of handing out mid-year grades across retail. Placer.ai's Chief Marketing Officer, Ethan Chernofsky, is back to give his mid-year report card assessment of which retailers are setting the pace, which ones are making impressive comebacks, and which emerging trends are shaping the future of retail. Using Placer.ai's industry-leading location analytics and foot traffic data, Ethan joi...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by Duvo and Mirakl. In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Kroger agrees to acquire Giant Eagle for $1.65 billion, with the Pittsburgh grocer keeping its name, headquarters, and myPerks loyalty program as a division of Kroger. Dick's Sporting Goods launches ScoreCard+, a $99-a-year paid loyalty tier offering $100 in quarterly rewards, free shipping, and exclusive perks. PlayStation announces it will end physic...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by Duvo and Mirakl. In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Target begins tracking unexcused absences and tardiness with a new points-based system launching this September, terminating workers who reach 12 points. Allstate partners with Macy's and Bloomingdale's to offer enhanced product protection plans at point of sale and online, covering furniture, fine jewelry, appliances, electronics, and more, with Allsta...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by Duvo and Mirakl. In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Saks Global exits Chapter 11 as "Exemplar Luxury Group," emerging with a dramatically smaller store footprint, sharply reduced debt, and a new strategic bet on full-price luxury. Amazon Prime Day 2026 logged $26.4 billion in U.S. online spend across four days — a new record — but Numerator data reveals declining average order sizes and household spend, ...

In this Retail Technology Spotlight series, Chris Walton sits down with Soroosh Seyhoon, Chief Revenue Officer at Zello, to explore how capturing and analyzing frontline voice data is transforming the way retailers understand and manage store operations. From AI-powered in-ear assistants to real-time operational intelligence, Soroosh explains why the conversations happening on the sales floor represent an untapped goldmine of data that most retailers are completely ignoring. Drawing from deploy...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by Duvo and Mirakl. In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Lowe's integrates its third-party marketplace into its My Red Vest associate software, putting thousands of marketplace products directly in the hands of store employees at over 1,700 locations. Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Keurig Dr Pepper roll out QR codes linking consumers to the American Beverage Association's Good to Know database. REI gets roasted onl...

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five lightning round covers a little bit of everything, from the passing of legendary Fed chairman Alan Greenspan at age 100 and the question of who deserves the title of favorite economist, to whether Chris and Jenn are Prime Day shoppers (spoiler: neither is exactly hitting refresh at midnight). They also weigh in on Jersey Mike's overtaking Chick-fil-A as Florida's favorite fast food chain and Jenn makes a strong case for the family-sized sub. Plus, in honor of the...

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment reacts to Target's decision to name fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi as its first-ever Creative Director at Large, a brand new role in which Mizrahi will advise on product design, mentor Target designers, and help the retailer reclaim its iconic cheap chic identity. Chris Walton and Jenn Hahn aren't exactly wowed. While they agree that creativity never hurts, both question whether a lack of design vision is actually what's holding Target back right now or wheth...

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment covers Bed Bath & Beyond's Legendary Coupon Hunt, a 21-day nationwide sweepstakes inviting customers to dig out their old iconic blue 20% off coupons for a chance to win a $100,000 home refresh. Chris Walton and Jenn Hahn don't hold back. With only around 22 Bed Bath & Beyond branded stores still open and a grand prize that signals the brand isn't exactly betting the house on this one, the duo rates this squarely at a 99 out of 100 on the gimmick scale. T...

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment tackles Kroger's Q1 fiscal 2026 earnings, where the grocery giant posted $46.1 billion in total sales and announced that its e-commerce business turned a profit for the very first time, ahead of schedule. Chris Walton and Jenn Hahn give credit where it's due, but push back hard on the feel-good narrative. With identical sales missing expectations, e-commerce growth lagging the broader market surge discussed in the previous headline, and CEO Ron Ferens adm...

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment breaks down the explosive June 2025 e-grocery data from Brick Meets Click and Mercatus, which showed a 28% year-over-year surge to $9.8 billion, with delivery, pickup, and ship-to-home all posting gains of 25% or more. Chris Walton and Jenn Hahn dig into what's really driving the growth, from the rise of the free delivery era to why time-starved consumers are leaning on online grocery harder than ever. Chris makes the case that regional grocers shouldn't ...

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment examines Ahold Delhaize's decision to appoint former Amazon Fresh executive Claire Peters as CEO of Ahold Delhaize USA and what the hire could mean for one of the largest grocery retailers in the U.S. Chris Walton and Jenn Hahn discuss why Ahold Delhaize looked beyond traditional grocery talent, what Claire Peters' experience at Amazon, Woolworths, and Tesco brings to the role, and whether an unconventional leadership hire is exactly what the company need...

In this Omni Talk Retail interview, recorded live from the Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit 2026 in Vienna, Chris Walton sits down with Ayla Ziz, Chief Commercial & Customer Officer and SVP Sales Europe at Danone, to discuss how AI, sustainability, and industry collaboration are shaping the future of consumer health. Ayla shares how Danone is integrating AI into its commercial operations, why the company views AI as an enabler rather than a threat, and how skills-based workforce development i...

In this Omni Talk Retail interview, recorded live from the Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit 2026 in Vienna, Chris Walton sits down with Pablo Perversi, President of EMEA at Danone, to discuss how one of the world's leading food companies is navigating the growing consumer focus on health, nutrition, and sustainability. Pablo shares how the rise of GLP-1 medications is influencing consumer behavior, why protein has become one of the most important growth drivers in food, and how Danone is inve...

In this Omni Talk Retail interview, recorded live from the Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit 2026 in Vienna, Chris Walton sits down with Wesley Wilson, Regional Director, North America at the Consumer Goods Forum, to discuss the biggest trends shaping the future of retail and consumer goods. One year into his leadership role, Wilson reflects on how the Consumer Goods Forum is expanding its innovation initiatives ahead of the 2027 Global Summit in San Francisco. He explains why AI is becoming a...

In this Omni Talk Retail interview, recorded live from the Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit 2026, Chris Walton sits down with John Ross, President & CEO of IGA, as the organization celebrates its 100th anniversary and reflects on the evolving role of independent grocers around the world. Ross explains how IGA's network of more than 8,000 independent stores across 30+ countries is helping local retailers compete at scale while preserving their community-first approach. He also shares why colla...

In this Omni Talk Retail interview, recorded live from the Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit 2026 in Vienna, Chris Walton sits down with Rhiannon Thomas, Global Lead of Consumer, Retail, and Luxury at Kearney, to discuss how retail and consumer goods companies are redefining value creation in an AI-driven world as Kearney celebrates its 100th anniversary. Rhiannon explains why traditional scale advantages are becoming less important than category expertise, how leading organizations are creati...

In this Omni Talk Retail interview, recorded live from the Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit 2026 in Vienna, Chris Walton sits down with Sharon Bligh, Director of Health and Sustainability at the Consumer Goods Forum, to discuss the evolving intersection of consumer health, sustainability, food waste, climate action, and AI. Drawing on insights from CGF's latest Healthier Lives report, Sharon explains why global attitudes toward health and well-being are rapidly changing, how retailers and man...

In this Omni Talk Retail interview, recorded live from the Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit 2026 in Vienna, Chris Walton sits down with Özgür Tort, Migros Türkiye Group CEO, to discuss how one of the world's most advanced grocery retailers is combining e-commerce, automation, AI, and omnichannel operations to serve consumers across Türkiye. Özgür Tort, Migros Türkiye Group CEO, shares how Migros began experimenting with e-commerce as early as 1997, why digital commerce now accounts for more t...

In this Omni Talk Retail interview, recorded live from The Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit 2026 in Vienna, Chris Walton is joined by Alex Holt, Chief Sustainability Officer at Ahold Delhaize, and Christine McGrath, SVP & Chief Impact and Sustainability Officer at Mondelēz International, to discuss how collaboration is reshaping sustainability across the consumer goods industry. Alex and Christine share how the CGF CSO Forum has quickly become a valuable platform for sustainability leaders to...

In this Omni Talk Retail interview, recorded live from the Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit 2026 in Vienna, Chris Walton is joined by Darren O'Brien, Chief Corporate and Government Affairs Officer and Chief Cocoa Officer at Mondelēz International, to discuss the global cocoa crisis and what it will take to build a more resilient cocoa supply chain for the future. Darren shares how Mondelēz responded to unprecedented disruptions in cocoa production, why the company created the role of Chief Co...

In this Omni Talk Retail interview, recorded live from the Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit 2026 in Vienna, Chris Walton is joined by Ruth Lewis, Senior Manager at Bain & Company, to discuss the findings from Bain's new State of Food Habits report and what retailers, brands, and food manufacturers need to understand about the future of consumer eating behaviors. Ruth shares insights from Bain's latest research into how consumers across the U.S., U.K., France, and Germany are preparing meals, ...