Converse In Crisis, Target Trials ChatGPT Ads & C-Stores Push The In-Store AI Envelope | Fast Five

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Today is February 18, 2026.

I'm one of your hosts, Anne Mazinga.

And I'm Chris Walton.

And we're here once again to bring you all the top headlines making waves in the world of Omni Channel retailing.

And joining us again today for this show is J Recruiting Services founder and CEO back for her second appearance.

We are welcoming the lovely Jen Hahn.

Jen, we're so great to have you.

I'm excited because I get to join on this podcast.

But let's start off just giving those of us who maybe were on vacation last time you were here or, or joining and meeting you for the first time, give us a little bit of your background and, and how you're here to help us out at amitalk today.

Well, thanks for having me and, and thank you for joining us because it was very hard to, to be in your shoes last time.

So I appreciate that it's a full crew today.

Yeah.

So J Recruiting services.

We are niched in and around the retail industry is what we say.

So we're a firm and we serve retailers anywhere from small to, let's say they have a handful of U.S. locations to 2,500 plus U.S. locations.

But when we say in and around retail, what we mean by that is we also work with vendor partners.

So manufacturing, distribution, We've worked with SaaS products.

Right.

Anyone that's selling into retail, they'll work with us to build their executive teams or their sales teams as well because of our niche in the space and understanding the industry.

So that's what we do.

I have a little bit of retail background myself.

That's where I started.

And we say that our whole team as I've built out the national team, we're a team of operators rather than career recruiters.

So we sort of approach it a little bit differently with that expertise and hands on knowledge and industry intel rather than simply like let's go find resumes and try to figure out what this is.

We sort of have that knowing.

Which explains exactly why you're perfect for the omnitok podcast.

You're an operator at heart and you help people find the right talent who are also operators and experience.

Right Chris?

Yeah, 100%.

I mean I couldn't.

You couldn't have said it better myself.

And yeah, it's an operator.

We love operators here at OmniTalk and Jed Too.

Like Jen, you and I were joking on email a couple of weeks ago.

But like your podcast was very well liked by our audience and because of the insights you dropped in the operational knowledge that you have around the business, I think it's still the second most listened to Fast 5 of the year.

So kudos to you for that, I guess.

I guess.

And you and I should go on vacation more often.

I mean that's notes to ourselves, man.

There's a lot of talent here or.

Just me because I think what you're saying here, but yeah, no, no, no.

Hey, I need a vacation too.

I mean, my God.

So, you know, I'd love to do that as well.

And so with Jen in, in the, with Jen's insights that might actually be in the cards here for me at some point.

So.

All right, well, Jen, one of the reasons we love having you on this show every month is that you also are going to help us hand out our Omnistar, which again, we love because you are far closer to the ground in terms of knowing which retail executives are really making the grade at their organizations.

I mean, we meet people at conferences, but you really get an understanding because you're helping place talent of who's actually doing what you've hired, what they've been hired to do.

So for those new to the podcast, our Omnistar Award is the award we give out each month in partnership with Corso to recognize the top omnichannel operators out there.

Not the pundits, not the so called experts, but the real life retail operators making a difference in their organizations.

Corso's AI copilot coaches retail leaders to optimize store performance at every level, transform retail operations from data overload into data powered.

So, Jen, who is this month's Omnistar?

I'm pretty excited about this one.

The one, the only, Kristin Popp.

So Kristen is the executive vice president of Woodman's Food Market.

She is also the president of wga Women's Grocers of America.

And a few weeks ago, I think it was a few weeks ago now at the NGA show.

So the National Grocers association, they named Kristen Woman of the Year.

And I cannot think of someone more deserving.

I think she's a fan of the show.

Maybe you guys have talked to her?

Yeah, we talked to her at every conference.

Yeah, we always say hi and we've interviewed her as well.

Yeah, yeah, so you felt this too.

But while she has all of that on her resume and she's doing incredible things for not only Woodman's, which would qualify her for this award alone, but out in the industry, anytime you talk to her, it's like you're the only person she sees.

And I think that's the type of leadership like this industry really needs.

So Kristen is our Omni star.

Congrats.

Wow.

Congratulations, Kristen.

Can't wait to announce this on social media.

I hope it's going to be a big surprise for her and I think she'll really enjoy it and, and we're really excited to share it with, with, with our audience.

So.

All right, Jen, And Jen, are you ready to try to duplicate those numbers from your first appearance?

Is the second time going to be even better than the first?

Let's give it a shot here.

All right, in this week's Fast5, we've got news on co op launching a gender pay gap toolkit ahead of new UK regulations.

Target and Albertsons testing ChatGPT advertising.

American Eagle building its largest creator community yet with the rewards based program.

Independent convenience stores deploying AI voice insights across 5,200 locations.

And Stripe's Chief Revenue Officer of AI, Maya Jose Bakvili stops by to give us five insightful minutes on how retailers can set themselves up for success in the new world of agentic commerce.

But we begin today with some serious headwinds hitting Nike's Converse brand.

Ann.

All right, headline number one you2 Converse employees have been instructed to work from home ahead of layoffs and restructuring at the struggling Nike Inc.

Brand.

According to Bloomberg, Converse CEO Aaron Kane announced that the company quote, had had to make difficult decisions, end quote, which will include quote, saying goodbye to friends and teammates, end quote.

With multiple senior executives departing, converse revenue plunged 30% in the last quarter and sales are headed towards a 15 year low, making it one of the biggest pain points at Nike right now.

With alongside the greater China region, the brand has remained heavily reliant on its Chuck Taylor shoe while forays into other styles haven't quite taken hold.

Nike CEO Elliot Hill told analysts in December, quote, we're resetting the marketplace for Converse under new leadership, end quote.

Jen, we're going to you here to get your unique approach to this.

You really have, I think the best, you're the best person we could be asking about this.

Is Nike taking the right approach here asking Converse employees to work from home ahead of layoffs?

Tell us your thoughts about this approach.

I'm missing some information, right.

So I don't understand entirely.

Is it the, the entire Converse leadership team that was sent home while they're deciding who's going to be laid off, is it a select group like hey here's 20% of our leadership team to go work from home?

Because that makes it pretty clear who's, who's getting cut.

But with what we have, I would say it depends, it depends on their long term intent here.

Some the people making these decisions that they didn't invite us to the executive meetings, right?

They should have but since they didn't, they know things that we don't.

Right.

So if the plan is everyone is getting cut, then I actually like the idea of saying hey, go ahead and work from home while you have the opportunity to explore your next career path.

Talk to the recruiters from the comfort of your living room or your home office.

It's sort of a signaling and a grace, if you will, to those.

Now, if the plan is 80% of these people are going to be asked to come back to the office, if only 20% of these executives, I mean, that's just bizarre.

In my, in my mind, I think they might unintentionally lose some of the talent they, they plan to bring back after saying, hey, go ahead and go home, probably search for jobs.

We're not sure which friends and team members are going to be let go.

So I would say, I hate to give you a gray answer here and, but it depends on some of the details I don't have.

If most of these people are going to end up back in office.

I think it could present some odd cultural and just weird vibes when they come back.

Yeah, right.

Well, that's, that's what I was wondering.

I mean, obviously you are.

We defer to you.

You're the expert on this.

But I feel like there's also a lot of fear and toxicity.

I think that happens when you're, when you are in person during this environment.

Like, are people actually getting work done?

When there's, when you get this news and it's like we're just looming for the next few weeks waiting for this to hit us.

So I wonder if I was thinking the same thing where you were saying, like, you know, can you be looking for jobs, for other jobs from the comfort of your own, not, like, trying to focus on doing work in the office and then also trying to search for other, you know, whatever your next, your next role might be.

So, yeah, I think, I think what you're saying there makes a lot of sense.

Chris, I'm curious, from your perspective, one, how do you feel about how they're handling these layoffs by asking people to work from home?

But also, I mean, what do you think this says about the future of the Converse brand and where Nike can take this if.

If anywhere?

Yeah, I think those are.

I think those are both great questions.

I think, I think, I think I disagree with how you guys are positioning this.

Although it feels like you're kind of both a little bit like, you know, kind of still questioning it, too.

But, like, I think, you know, from my perspective, I think it's a very drastic move and it could be very culturally demoralizing, as you both said, like, if they have to return to office.

That's not going to work.

So I'm kind of like, well, yeah, it might be nice for the employees to go home and have that free time, but like, but you lose that option of bringing them back.

And that's where I worry about the cultural impact here.

But, you know, so to answer your second question, Ann, about the brand, I mean, what this tells me, and we haven't brought this up yet, is I think it sounds like they are trying to ready the table to divest the brand and sell it off.

And they've probably been trying to do that already.

My guess is they haven't had any takers.

Either they haven't had any takers thus far or they are very close to closing the deal.

Because we've seen this before.

Like, I think about it, like when, you know, Spartan Nash and cns, you know, did their thing together, a lot of the Spartan Ash executives were, you know, you know, transitioned, you know, ahead of that deal.

So it makes me think something like that is in play.

So to Jen, the point I agree with is like, if, if that's what's in play here, then it probably is the right move.

But unfortunately we just don't have enough information.

But that is the typical pattern we've seen on this show.

Doing it for eight years when this sort of thing starts to happen.

Right.

Yeah.

I mean, I question some of the things that we're seeing Converse do.

They just started a relationship, a wholesale partnership with Target not too long ago.

So that's another question that I have is like, how, how wide are you spreading your retailer partners and what does that mean for the cachet of the brand?

I mean, especially Shay Gil, just Alexander, he's like the rep for Converse.

If he can't save the brand right now, he's like top of the top right now.

And if he's not, if it's not working for them with a rep like Shay, I don't, I just don't know, you know, how they continue to stay in, in this, this consideration set for the next generation of brands that they're going to want to be purchasing and getting involved with.

So that's, that's a big concern and hopefully somebody can come in through this restructuring and figure out what the next best move is for the brand, but more importantly for the people who are, have been working on that brand too.

Yeah, and you're right.

I mean, when you did the read too, when Chuck Taylor is one of the first things that gets announced, that's what always worries me because that's a very trend cyclical brand.

Like it's going to go up for periods of years and it's going to go down.

And they're in a period right now probably where it's down and to your point, they're not able to enliven it anywhere else.

All right, headline number two.

I'm really excited to get both of your opinions on this.

One UK supermarket chain Co op has collaborated with women in hospitality, travel and leisure.

The yhtl, that's the acronym and diversity in retail dir to unveil a new gender pay gap toolkit.

According to the Retail Gazette, the toolkit aims to close the gender gap by helping organizations pursue, quote, meaningful change and is designed to prepare companies for a strengthened gender pay gap action requirements coming into effect from 2,027 in the UK.

It provides guidances to businesses on how to identify key drivers of gender pay gaps, develop action plans and to improve recruitment and progression opportunities.

The toolkit brings together practical insights into areas such as menopause, menstrual health, inclusive hiring, mentoring, sponsorship and flexible working.

Tia Kolani MBE, founder and Chair of the yhtl, said Published, quote, said quote Publishing gender pay gap data is only the first step.

The requirement to publish in action plan rightly shifts the focus from transparency alone to meaningful change.

Jen, you're our guest, so of course you're going to get the A and M put you on the spot question of the week.

And here it is.

Please help explain what this toolkit means in practical terms.

And does it get a head nod, a golf clap or a standing ovation from you?

Okay, yeah.

So in the UK it's required by law to publish your gender pay gap data, which is different than here in the United States.

So that's one thing that I think is important to point out, like the data itself is not new or different or uncommon to see when it comes to the toolkit, what is it practically?

Well, you shared that it offers insights into areas like menopause, menstrual health, inclusive hiring.

I think what it really comes down to is it's offering guidance on how to use the data because organizations are already required to report that data.

But how do you use that data to move yourself from where you are today to where you'd like to go?

So that might be action planning frameworks, that might be templates.

It can be a lot of leadership development.

Right.

So what does change management look like with your executive team?

If you really want to close that gap, how do you hire differently?

How do you motivate team members in different ways to make sure that you're closing that pay gap and you're promoting equally in the different genders.

And when it comes to their choice to share this publicly and not just share the data, but actually share the toolkit, it gets a minimum of a golf clap.

But I think I'm going to go standing ovation on my side.

Why?

Because here's the deal.

If they're sharing that publicly, they have a real motivation for change.

They're not looking to just fix the gap in their own company, but they're saying, hey, as an industry, as a country, right, like how do we close this gap?

And the only way to do that is to share best practices, share playbooks in the form of things like this toolkit.

So I think of it similarly to during COVID right.

We saw retailers reaching across the aisle, if you will, where typically things would be tight lipped and sharing, hey, how are you managing this?

How are you getting through this?

How are we going to make it from point A to point B?

So I think this is pretty incredible because it shows that they really want to change it for the industry at large rather than simply how do we check the box internally in our organization?

I 100% agree with you.

I think it's something that should be lauded.

I mean, I think back to my time as an executive at Target, being charged with making decisions in this arena and the more information that I can have, the better.

The more information the industry can have, the better.

And it just helps put my feet to the fire in terms of eating what I cook, in terms of trying to promote whatever is required of me as a retail executive for the benefits of the organization and everyone that works there.

So, yeah, I 100% agree with you.

And what do you think here?

Yeah, I mean, I, Jen, I really like the COVID call out because when I was thinking about this, I was taken back to like when early sustainability goals for companies were a thing where they were giving their plans for 2025 or even with some of the DEI initiatives that companies were trying to share with each other.

But most importantly, I think it's the suppliers who will benefit for those that are selling into co op.

Because my guess is that if this is truly something that co op is going to stand behind, they're going to start requiring some of these things of their suppliers and putting a toolkit out in front of them that they can access right now to say, this is how we're closing the gender pay gap.

To your earlier point, Jen, this is how we're thinking about hiring and bringing the right people on board.

Because I wouldn't be surprised if we see down the road this becoming a requirement or sharing some of the, these, these, this data of how their companies are working towards that goal becomes a requirement for selling into co op so that they can maintain this mission of, of really eliminating this gender pay gap.

So that to me is another reason why this is helpful to be able to say, hey, are you thinking about selling in co op stores?

Are you already a provider in co op stores?

These are what you need to be thinking about.

And here's the step by step way for you to do that.

Whether you're a small niche, you know, mom and pop brand coming into co op for the first time, or you know, your craft Heinz and you're, you've been selling in for, for decades.

I think that's the other part of this that I find really interesting and a good way to, or a good reason for them to be promoting this publicly.

All right, let's go on to headline number three.

Target and Albertsons are among the first retailers testing conversational advertising in Chat GPT through a new pilot program with OpenAI.

According to various sources, sponsored ads from Target's Roundel Retail Media and Albertsons Media Collective will appear alongside user shopping conversations in Chat GPT starting this month.

Ads are served based on keywords and a user's ChatGPT prompt, for example, asking about countertop cooking appliances that might trigger an ad for an air fryer.

OpenAI said that all ads will be clearly labeled, will appear separately from responses, and will not influence the answers ChatGPT provides.

Target reported that traffic from ChatGPT to its site is already growing 40% monthly on average.

The tests are both only for ChatGPT's free and go subscription tiers.

Plus Pro, Business, Enterprise and education tiers will all remain ad free.

Jen, are you buying or selling?

Retailers jumping onto the Chat GPT advertising train this early?

I see very little risk being a retailer and getting involved here.

But I see a lot of upside if it works in your favor.

And it sounds like 40% more traffic that Target is, is reporting shows that so far.

I mean, as a user, I don't love the idea of being flooded with ads if I'm asking it like, hey, how do I parent better at 9pm after bedtime was a wreck, right?

Like, I don't, I don't love being like, hey, here's all the things you should buy.

However, if it's 9pm and I'm dealing with a 5 year old that hates bedtime and they have a solution, I will probably buy it.

Right?

Like yes, give me the add to cart all of those and I'll be a better mom tomorrow.

So from the user side it's hard for me to say I want to be flooded with ads but from the retailer side I'm a big fan of it seems like just a natural next step from the Google search into AI search and retailers getting involved.

Again, I don't see a lot of risk they're spending this money elsewhere on ads if not.

Right, right, right.

And I think Jen, the other thing here is like the other follow up question to that would be do you hate the ads enough that you would pay for the next tier to go ad free?

Is that worth it to you?

Yeah, that is a good question.

And no, I'm not paying for that next level sometimes, but probably not.

Right.

I'm probably just going to learn to ignore the ads or like I said, I'm going to purchase from the ads because I'm asking a question for a reason.

So the one thing that you said that I'm not sure I totally buy into is that it won't impact search results at some point.

Right.

Like I don't know how all of this data is brought together and how Target or an Albertsons how they're paying and for what level of visibility.

I know it's starting this way, but will it eventually impact results?

I think that's yet to be seen.

Right, right.

Chris, where do you land on this one?

Yeah, I think Jed brings up a great point like let's be, let's be genuine and honest about.

Yeah, I mean if you're serving up ads in a search result or alongside a search result, it not actually impact the search result itself but it's definitely impacting behavior that you're going to take based on that research result.

So I think Jen's right.

I'm 100% buying.

And I mean I think this is, this one's no different than Google search advertising.

It's just a new form of it.

Right.

The, the, the question, I question if it's really growing as fast as Target says It is because 40% sounds really paltry to me given how much we're talking about AI and the transition to AI searches.

But honestly that could say more about target than ChatGPT at the end of the day.

So you know, advertising goes where the eyeballs are.

The searches are likely gonna convert higher.

So it's a no brainer to experiment here.

But I think when I put this in context of the things we talk about on the show very regularly, you know, while we can all, I think we'll all agree that this is a smart experiment, I think it's a much better experiment than say, like approximating your mobile app experience inside of ChatGPT like Target did back in November.

So like, I think this is the right move, but I question some of the other moves that have been happening in the LLM AI search space.

Yeah, I mean, I think the other thing about this that is important is ChatGPT is also the most well known and arguably one of the most highly utilized AI search platforms right now.

And so I think that if I think it's smart for Albertsons and Target to be testing this, like Jen said, I don't think you really have anything to lose, but you have a lot to gain in terms of figuring out what can happen from this experiment.

What can happen when you're on one of the largest search platforms and then refine how you're going to serve up ads in a more specialized search platform like a Perplexity or even a Gemini or even on your own site.

How are you going to be thinking about something selling that, those spaces or that ad space on your own site to your brand partners so that you know how, how and where the right moments and the right prompts are?

Hopefully not at 9pm telling Jen that she needs 15 parenting self help books.

Although I've been there, Jen and I've purchased them.

When the Google search comes up, it's like, we'll try this one.

Seems like you might have a right.

Idea and I thought I would have had it figured out, but it'll just be serving me like melatonin gummies probably right?

And I'd be like, just have those delivered.

I think that's the easy button.

Let's do it.

The other point about this too is that I think is really interesting, which we don't have time for today.

But I think to bring it up to the audience too is, you know, if, if, if it starts to move in this direction, this hurts Amazon's first product search that is usually happening on their site.

So that advertising revenue that Amazon has been claiming it could start to get chipped away here over time.

And to that point.

Now let's bring in Maya from Stripe to talk even more about the state of AI and agent E commerce.

Joining us for today's five insightful minute segment is Maya Joseph Bakvili.

Maya is the chief revenue officer of AI at Stripe and she is here to discuss what she is really hearing from retailers as it pertains to agentic commerce.

Maya, let's start with this.

Tell us about your role as CRO of AI.

What exactly does that mean?

It's the best job I've ever had.

Well, first of all, thanks for having me.

Really happy to be here.

Of course.

At Stripe, we're building economic infrastructure for AI.

So in my role as the CRO of AI, I help both startups and enterprises navigate their AI journey.

So whether that's partnering with the likes of OpenAI, Anthropic and Cursor on their growth needs, or working with the Fortune 100 or other retailers on using AI and specifically unlocking agenda commerce, I get to help partner with all these types of customers and retailers on their journeys.

Well, Maya, I think some of our listeners might be familiar with Stripe as it relates to a payments platform, but let's elaborate on that.

What does agentic commerce mean to you and how do you define it?

And how does Stripe kind of fit into all of that?

Absolutely.

Stripe is so much more than a payments platform.

We're really here to build the most merchant friendly infrastructure to help our retailers on their full journey.

So when we talk about attentive commerce, there's really two forms.

The first is AI assisted, like buying inside of a chat interface.

And the second is what we'd say, AI delegated, where an agent can purchase for you.

The industry really tends to talk about attentive commerce with both terms and, and so we, you know, we use that too for both of them.

I'd say in the conversations I have with major retailers, Most see the ChatGPT style interactions as, you know, their first priority right now within the agentic landscape.

Our goal is to help merchants with all of that.

And so we're not here to debate the definition, we're just here to help our merchants across that whole journey.

So Maya, go deeper into that for me because I'm curious, like what are the concerns you're hearing from merchants or what are the needs they're helping you that you're helping them with as they try to navigate this agentic AI commerce landscape.

It's been so fascinating.

Six months ago when I talked to retailers, it was really a sentiment of I'm not sure I want this to happen.

I don't know if I'm going to participate.

Fast forward six months, it has been a complete 180.

Everyone's mindset from the board to the C suite is, well, obviously we need an agenda commerce strategy.

So you know, what are we going to do?

But now, even with that said, there's still some concerns that everyone has.

I'd say it really comes down to four major things.

The first one is control.

Brands want to maintain control of the customer relationship and stay merchant of record.

The second one is discoverability.

How do you make sure that your products show up when consumers are searching?

And how do you make sure your product catalog is agent legible?

That's been one of the biggest conversations I've heard.

The third one is fraud.

We've all spent 20 years blocking bots and now we're saying actually bots come by all the things.

So it's a real mindset and technology shift.

And then the fourth one is the checkout.

Again, we've spent so much time optimizing for conversion and optimizing the checkout.

What does the new flow look like when you have agenda commerce?

How do you handle payments?

What's the conversion flow?

How do you handle disputes?

All of those questions.

The good news is these are all addressable and we're partnering really closely with retailers and with AI companies to tackle them.

So I'm optimistic that we're going to figure this one out.

Well, let's go deeper on that then, Maya.

I mean, how are you helping these merchants figure out how to get control, you know, discoverability, fraud and checkout kind of in line?

Where does stripe come in and how are you uniquely positioned to help them do that?

What I like to say in conversations with retailers is, look, we build it so you don't have to and you can focus on what you do best.

It starts with what we launched this past fall, which is the Agent Commerce Protocol.

We launched that in partnership with OpenAI.

And the idea here is that it gives us all a shared technical language between AI agents and businesses so that we can make the transactions all happen a lot easier.

It's live today in instant checkout with ChatGPT.

And we have brands like Etsy.

Several Shopify merchants like Glossier and Spanx and Walmart since joined as well.

It's also now live in Microsoft Copilot, which is called Copilot Checkout.

And there we have brands like Urban Outfitters, Free People, Anthropologie and Etsy.

And what's great here is consumers can go through the whole entire discovery and purchase journey all within the chat without never leaving.

Now, that was step one.

That was the shared language.

We then launched what we call the agenta Commerce Suite, which is our solution to help businesses get ready to sell through various AI agents with one integration and without changing and here's an important one without changing their existing commerce system, the suite helps our retailers 1 make their products discoverable to AI agents 2 handle the checkout, the payments and fraud protection importantly while maintaining their merchant of record and 3 pick which AI agents they want to sell through from the Stripe Dashboard.

And it's been really great.

We're working with brands like Coach, Kate Spade, Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, these ones I named, and e commerce platforms as well like Wix and BigCommerce and WooCommerce and Squarespace.

Wow.

Great stuff Mai.

I can't wait to have you back.

Great perspective.

Thanks for having me and thanks for everything you guys are doing for the industry.

It is a wild, wild time right now, so getting your insights all the time really helps.

Headline Number four American Eagle has launched the AE Creator Community, a nationwide ambassador program with rewards based systems for content creators.

According to Marketing Dive, creators can earn points by completing weekly and monthly challenges such as posting styling videos and redeem accrued points for products, gift cards and other rewards.

Points are valued at $1 for every 1,000 accumulated and creators can earn them through challenges like posting TikTok videos or Instagram stories featuring American Eagle products.

The program is open to US consumers 18 years and older who have at least 1,000 followers on one social platform.

The goal is to amass a large number of micro influencers versus a smaller number of macro influencers.

Since launching on February 2nd 911, I believe that's an exact number.

911 creators signed up to participate with over 200 migrating from American Eagle's previous live your Life affiliate program.

Jen, I know this one is of interest to you, at least that's my hunch.

How unique is American Eagle's approach to micro influencing?

And now now have you seen other companies try to organize themselves structurally around this influencer trend?

Or how have you seen them try to do that?

I'm the furthest from an influencer just to be clear here.

However, we do hire marketing professionals for these brands and so we need to know enough about what they might need to know if they're coming in and affiliate programs are part of the plan.

So this reminds me of Rep Nation.

Do you guys know what Rep Nation is?

It's this like college rep College Ambassador program that used to be big and when I was in college at the greatest university there ever was, Michigan State University, I was a Rep Nation brand ambassador for Ford Motor Company and it was set up very similar to this.

So the pay wasn't huge, but it was fun.

It was gamified.

I was earning points.

There were competitions between college campuses and, you know, who knows what we won, but something I was really excited about at 18, 19 years old, right?

So I like what they're doing with this program because I think that's, that's what they're adding.

I don't think it's wildly different than other influencer programs, but they're gamifying it.

They're adding the point system.

Who knows what they could earn?

But maybe it's even a trip to Florida, right?

And that's still a whole lot less than American Eagle was paying a major influencer.

Right?

But these micro influencers are feeling like they're at the top of the, the world, right?

Like they're, they're being flown off to Florida for this, this experience.

So I think it's smart.

There are certainly other micro influencer programs out there.

I haven't seen one as specific as this.

Points based and sort of gamified.

You know, the younger generation, they don't want to screw up their streak.

So think of Snapchat like they've got these streaks with people, right?

And my workout app, I have a streak now.

Just, just so you know, I'm totally in.

I always thought they were crazy with their Snapchat streaks, but I am motivated by that streak.

And I think that's what American Eagle is trying to do here, right?

They're trying to say, hey, keep your streak alive.

Like, keep sharing the jeans.

Share something this month.

That's more fall.

Share something this month.

I think it's cool for that college age.

It looks like you have to have a thousand followers, but I feel like most young people can get to that number and they have it structured in a way that it's easy to get started.

And then they'll see that customer lifetime value, or I should say influencer lifetime value increase if these people stick around.

Could also be cool for, let's say a stay at home parent that has a little bit of time on their hands and wants to get involved, but couldn't be that major influencer.

I think I, I trust my neighbor down the street to talk to me about her jeans and her American Eagle products a whole lot more than Gwen Stefani or I don't know who might be out there that might be a major influencer.

Right.

The trust level is there.

Good to know you don't trust Gwen Stefani.

I mean, I didn't mean to do that to you.

Gwen I probably trust you with anything.

Shots fired.

Shots fired.

She came to mind.

She came to mind.

No, but you're bringing up a great point, Jen.

I mean, it's kind of why the long tail of E commerce works in the way that it does.

And also I do want to point out that it hurts me every time you, Michigan, you mentioned Michigan State to me because it brings back the, the horrible memories of the Rose bowl when you defeated my beloved Stanford Cardinal.

So, so yeah.

So I'm.

So thank you for that.

I'm going to take a step back, give and the floor here now to see what she thinks as I recollect myself.

Well, I think there's a great, I would point our audience to a really great study that business of fashion just put out.

Diana Pearl, one of the editors there, talked explicitly about this new creator marketplace and what this looks like and why brands are going directly to these micro influencers versus putting a huge focus on the macro influencers that we've seen for years and years.

And one of the best things that Diana said in that report, or at least one that stuck with me, is that you get more quality engagement and reach with somebody who has 10,000 followers than you do a celebrity or influencer with millions of followers.

And the way to think about that is the difference between getting engagement from purchasing a very expensive super bowl spot and having a lot of awareness but not a lot of actual purchasing happening versus looking at that 10,000 follower creator who you see real results.

You have, you know, orders coming in from that person because it is the more authentic and reputable person like Jen just talked about down the street who she'd rather get gain confidence in her purchase from.

But I think these brands are very smart in how they're approaching this because all they have to do is put these challenges out.

That costs them nothing to put together these challenges and look at all the content that they're getting.

And they only in some cases are having to pay for that content when a sale is made.

Because all of these are set up in a variety of different affiliate manners that really, you know, all they're, all they're getting is the upside of this.

They have tons of content being put out so that they're discoverable on any platform from Google to the LLM search that we were just talking about.

And all they have to do is put these challenges out there and see what comes to them.

My only question is how long this trend will last.

Because I do, I mean, like we just talked about, we were all in on Kim K and all the macro influencers, now we're going micro.

What does this platform look like?

And how long is this side hustle kind of sustainable for the brands?

And how long, like, what should their strategy be on how much they invest in this micro influencer trend?

But Chris, what, where do you land here?

Where would you add on to?

Well, I think to your last point, I think, I don't think this trend's going anywhere.

In fact, I wrote about it as one of my big takeaways from the super bowl commercials.

I couldn't believe the amount of technology companies that were advertising basically to this community like, like, come start your website with us.

Wix and you know, Squarespace.

Everybody was like all in on that.

So I don't think this is going anywhere.

And AI is just going to only make it easier because it enables you to not have the startup costs to do it anymore.

Like you can build your brand with imagery and everything at no cost where before that used to cost you thousands of dollars.

So I don't think it's, I don't think it's slowing.

Going to slow down, you know, one bit.

The other point that you guys both brought up to me, which I hadn't thought about before this conversation, which is why I love doing the shows.

I remember back in my days, you know, heading up home furnishings for target for target.com and, you know, just remembering the huge licensing fees we would pay to these celebrities to have them endorse our towels, for example, you know, and you get a lot of fanfare from it in the beginning, and then after a couple years you'd be like, jesus, why are we paying these royalty commissions to these guys?

Like, how much is it really worth to us?

So, you know, I think this helps ameliorate you falling into that trap or into that position.

And so my only question to this from an executive standpoint is, you know, the more people you bring into anything, the harder it becomes to manage.

But I think the way E commerce works, technology can make that pretty easy.

So for me, from an executive standpoint, it comes down to three things.

You gotta make somebody accountable for the program.

Number two, you have to assess the roi and then three, commit the right amount of resources to it over time.

And if you do that and you do that effectively, I think it's an idea that many, many, many more retailers should all get behind, quite frankly.

All right, let's go to headline number five.

Independent convenience stores are deploying AI powered voice insights across 5,200 locations through a partnership between The Strategic alliance for Affiliated Store Owners of America and In Store AI.

According to C Store Dive, the technology captures interactions between cashiers and customers and feeds that data into dashboards where team members can monitor how employees greet customers, mention loyalty programs and attempt to upsell.

Jagar Patel, VP of SaaSoa USA, said, quote, by capturing and analyzing the everyday conversations at the counter, In Store AI gives our retail members clear transparency into what's working and what isn't.

End quote.

The rollout began this month and will continue through the year with implementation support, best practice playbooks, and access to insights for leaders at various organizational levels.

Chris, I'm going to go to you first on this one.

You remember we interviewed J. Bleszinski, the founder of In Store AI, back at Naps a few years ago.

We were really impressed by the technology and so I congrats to Jay.

This is a big, big announcement for you and the team.

But Chris, I wonder what your thought is now in 2026.

How should operators balance the operational benefits of this technology with the potential employee privacy concerns, if any?

Yeah, I mean this was a really tricky, tricky question in today's environment, but it's also one, you know, to your point, when I was super pumped when we interviewed him because this concept is near and dear to my heart.

And so for that I'm going to tell you a little story like so when I was a district manager at Target, there was a big push to have our stores and our cashiers specifically to sell red cards.

And getting compliance for that was really tough.

And so I ended up coming up with this system where I created a spreadsheet and I required all of my managers of the cashiers to send it to me every evening to update me on how their cashiers were performing in terms of selling red cars cards.

And you know what, it worked.

But at the end of the day, it worked so well that we actually were like became one of the best selling region, best sellers of red cards in the entire west coast region of Target.

Like that's how well it worked.

But the thing is, for me, I took no satisfaction in that because it was incredibly time consuming and a huge pain in the butt for me.

But most importantly for my stores, I didn't want them having to waste time recapping data for me that's completely inefficient.

So a system like this that could monitor it in real time to understand like did the cashier offer a red card to that person?

Did somebody sign up off that offer?

All that, all that data should now be coordinated and could be analyzed as an executive or as the managerial staff in the store to help improve things.

So, so for that reason, I, I love this, and that's just one example.

But you can go into all kinds of different things, like upsells, like you talked about.

But, you know, the question is the privacy.

But I don't think that's as.

I don't think that's a.

As big of a concern as the media would like us to believe.

I mean, first of all, they're employees.

They're not shoppers.

And you already have cameras trained on the cashiers anyway.

So this is just a further step in compliance, which also probably helps you at the end of the day, pick up on some other things too, which could be, you know, illegal activities, which wasn't talked about in the article.

You know, if they're letting their friends come by and their friends are like, hey, can you give me a deal on this?

You know, don't.

Don't swipe the yogurt today, Fran.

You know, whatever it is.

But, like, that stuff happens too.

So, so, yeah, so, net.

Net.

I like this.

I'm, I'm less concerned about it from a privacy standpoint and think it has real legs here in the long run.

Yeah, I, I, Especially in a convenience store.

I mean, cameras are core to a convenience store store, especially with their lean labor that they already have.

Like, things are already being tracked.

So I, I don't buy the privacy component to this.

And I actually think this is something that's a win across the board for everyone.

Think about your, your cashier working at the convenience store by themselves.

Like, no one's there to track their progress, to incentivize them, to reward them, to be like, yes, you did a great job.

Look at all the stuff that you accomplish, accomplish, you know, while you were working there and continue to promote, you know, esteem among your staff that's working in these stores most of the time independently.

Then I think you look at all of the data that you now are able to provide both your retail partners, the owners of the convenience stores, and the brands that are running these promotions.

And that's one of the things that Jay told us back when we interviewed him at NAX was that, you know, now they can give concrete information and say, no, you know, Gatorade.

It wasn't the, the problem isn't that we're not asking people.

We are asking people.

They just, the offer is not good enough or we have to rethink how we're approaching this.

And they've never had that data.

It's all been based on, you know, the Gatorades had all the power in this up to this point because they're like, you're not performing.

But now they can both be be looking at the same data and really figuring out how to solve these problems together.

So I, I, I think this is a really great move.

I'm hopeful we see more C store retailers and other retailers exploring this type of technology as we kind of continue out and, and the workforce changes so much.

And Jen, I'd love to have you wrap us up on thoughts here with that changing workforce and, and also answering your kind of thoughts about the privacy element of this and what, what employees should expect.

I agree with both of you.

I think privacy concerns aren't a real issue when they're in the store.

Clocked in.

Right.

Like, we're not monitoring their conversations outside of the store when it comes to privacy concerns.

Things people are talking about and employees are talking about is more what can I put on social media and what can't I like, like, where do I represent this brand and where am I?

Just a human speaking my mind.

So in this case, I don't see that being an issue.

They're in the store, they're clocked in.

I think it's fair game.

I see implementation of this as long as it's geared towards.

This is a coaching and development opportunity for you.

I see it being a win win if it's pushing too much on.

We need to upsell, we need to upsell.

And it's causing these cashiers to have inauthentic conversations like, hey, I gotta mention Gatorade.

You're buying coffee and donuts.

You want to Gatorade with that?

I don't know, like, could it have some negative implications?

Maybe.

But I think really the opportunity here is how to coach and develop even the most basic things.

It was mentioned, like greeting the customer.

You don't know how many or we do.

Right?

As consumers and customers.

How many people miss the art of just starting a conversation and the way that that actually builds loyalty in a lot cheaper fashion than a loyalty program.

So if, if the person at 711 says, hey, how are you today?

I saw you're getting a donut.

Can I interest you in coffee?

That's a real opportunity.

And I think if this is used as a coaching and development tool and if, if the leadership uses it in that way, there, there are huge opportunities here.

It's a cool technology.

It's like, it's almost like smart house and and all of technology.

Right.

Like, it's really cool unless it goes too far.

But I, I think there's a lot of upside.

Yeah.

And I think you call it a really important point of the, the wins here too, and that's the customer.

I mean, who's expecting to have a positive experience when you go into a convenience store?

Pretty much no one.

So this, this really enables that.

Even just saying hello and greeting somebody.

But, Chris, close us out here with your thoughts.

Yeah, I think I love how Jen said, like, it should be used first and foremost as, like, a training tool, you know, And I think of the other element of training too, are there are things that stores have to comply with from a regulation standpoint as well.

So, like, you know, I think convenience stores, I think of alcohol, tobacco sales.

Like, are your, are your employees asking to see IDs, for example, and training them and coaching them if they're not?

Like, that's valuable.

Valuable data points for retailers, you know, in the long run.

And, and the other point I make too, is like, you're dead on, like, convenience store industry, man, they're rushing after AI.

And you can see why, because they're, they're, they're resource constrained in their stores.

I mean, if I use that district manager example at Target, it's, it's exponentially more difficult as a district manager for a convenience store because you're operating even more of them and they're spread out even more across a region.

So, yeah, 100%.

This is a great idea.

All right, let's go to the lightning round, you two.

Jen, you get the first question.

I cannot wait to hear what your response is.

Dark romanticism, structured tailoring, and grunge core are a few of some of my favorites, I guess, of the noteworthy trends coming out of New York Fashion Week, if you had to outfit your 2026 wardrobe in one of those trends, which style would you choose?

Okay, I like this.

I'm gonna go with structured tailoring.

Okay.

So grunge core, I think like, a lot of black.

I'm a fan of black, but I'm probably not going grunge.

Dark romanticism.

I don't know what that is, but I have a feeling if I don't know, I'm probably not in on it.

It's like goth dark, really dark hues.

Lace.

Yeah.

Like, we're look, we're going back to, like, this think, like, Twilight, like, twilight inspired color.

Okay.

So I'm gonna stick with structured tailoring.

Yeah.

Right, right.

Yep.

So I, I, I mean, I love A good pleat in my pants.

I can wear a structured button down.

I think that's what we're.

We're leaning in on there.

And I will have to hire someone to do all that ironing, but I'm in unstructured tailoring.

Amazing.

Amazing.

Big, big dry cleaning bills coming up in 2020.

I hope the dry cleaners are listening.

You guys should get on that and start advertising structured tailoring as the next trend.

All right.

And I get to ask a lightning round question here.

So the Internet says 2016 is the new 2026.

I'm sure you've seen this trend.

What is one thing that was actually better in 2016 that you might bring back?

I would say that I would bring back the Rihanna and Drake relationship because they made some incredible music together in 2016.

And we're talking one dance.

We're talking work.

Like, one of my favorite Rihanna song's work came out in 2016, and I was like, this.

This is it.

This is it.

We need you two back together just for a collaboration.

I doubt it's happening.

She has now three or four children, I think with.

With her current partner.

So not.

Not gonna.

Not gonna go forward.

But it's okay.

We'll.

We'll just reminisce and listen to.

Listen to work on replay this week.

Like, work, work, work, work, work.

That's the one, right?

Yeah.

Yep.

Yeah, I. I hear you.

I didn't know where you were gonna go with that question, but I like it.

Want them back together just for a collaboration.

If you're listening, just do it for Ann.

Yeah.

Another reason I like doing this show because, like, would ask what would make my life better.

If we could go back to 2016.

The last thing on my mind would be Rihanna and Drake.

But, hey, whatever works for you.

And that's great.

All right.

Robert Duvall passed away on Monday.

Janet, age of 95.

What is your Mount Rushmore of Robert Duvall films?

Good question.

I don't know if this is going to be a shocker, but I was not a big Robert Duvall fan to the point where I would know most of his movies.

But in his passing, it did come up with my husband.

And so I have been informed he was one of the coolest actors to ever live.

So if I had to name my four, I will go Lonesome Dove.

It's a cowboy movie.

Okay.

Yeah, you can count that.

It's a TV movie, but TV miniseries.

But we'll count it.

We'll count it.

Oh, okay.

Well, it's about the Cowboys, Right?

I know his.

I know his face and his sideburns, I think, from that phenomenon.

Okay.

Oh, wow.

All right.

Four Christmases.

Because any Vince Bond movie is good in my book.

And Days of Thunder days.

Okay, okay.

We've got a Vince Vodafile in our.

In our midst.

All right, all right.

Oh, man.

And produce, I'm sure producer Ella.

Producer Ella's smiling in the background here before we bring her on, because I've always asked her all these movie questions, and she has no idea any of the references I make, but those are some solid picks, Jen.

Those are kind of far afield of where I expected you to go.

Did I miss one?

That's, like, your top.

Well, the one he's most hallowed for is the Godfather, of course.

Yeah.

And then the one that I actually hold a sweet spot in my heart for is To Kill a Mockingbird, because he plays Boo Radley in that.

It's one of his first.

First ever movie roles.

All right, Chris, I get to ask you one now.

So with the Winter Olympics in full swing, curling is having a moment.

At least at my house, it is.

What's the most Minnesota winter season sport you've ever, ever taken part in?

Yeah, I mean, believe it or not, for me, it's actually curling.

I did that once, and it was actually.

It was pretty fun.

I mean, you're in Michigan.

Have you ever curled?

Jen, I'm curious.

And also, did you see the fracas between the Canadians and the Swedish team?

That was.

If you haven't seen that on social media, everybody take a look at that.

Like, there were F bombs exchanged between them.

It's pretty.

It's pretty intense.

I have not curled.

I've seen, like, curling things when it's winter here, and I just walk by them and smile.

But my.

My youngest was watching it with us, and she was like, mom, they're cleaning.

Look at them.

They're cleaning again.

So it was fun in our house to learn a little bit about the scoring and such.

They're sweeping.

Sweeping.

Producer Ella, have you ever curled?

You're from Minnesota.

You've probably curled, right?

You haven't curled either.

I've never.

You curled?

Oh, yeah.

You have to.

There used to be a curling club in St. Paul.

So back, like, a few years ago, I think it came.

It came like something in vogue to be doing, but it was not good.

I. I just skipped right to hockey.

No, curling.

That was.

That was actually the girls equivalent that they suggested when I was in high school was, well, we're not gonna Have a hockey team for women.

So try curling.

See how that goes.

It was not the same at all.

But the hockey gender gap that I.

See, yes, there's a hockey gender gap.

100.

Not anymore, but back then, yeah, it.

Became like the default, like company activity for a period of time.

Right.

And like a lot of companies were having their like annual parties at the St. Paul, like curling rink or whatever it's called.

But.

All right, well, good to know that two of us have curled and two of us have not.

All right, Producer Ella, what headline or discussion today won the week for you?

Yeah, well, as the resident Gen Z voice, I think I'm obligated to talk about creators and influencing an American eagle.

I think you are too.

Yeah.

So the micro influencer wave, I think it's so fascinating right now because so many people my age, I mean, some older, younger, they want to be creators and like the lifestyle of posting and building this personal brand is really glamorous, even to myself.

So it's incredibly smart for retailers to lean into the smaller creators who are actively looking for something to post or ways to earn rewards.

And I think you're tapping into those people who want to create.

So it's kind of like a marketer's dream because these people are putting in the effort because they want to grow their brand or they want to find that niche audience.

And Even if just 10 out of those 900 creators who just signed up are in that sweet spot of small audience with strong engagement, I mean, I think it's worth it because those are the people who are going to drive the influence.

I think it's funny, Jen too, because every time you're on, we're talking about genes.

So hopefully these influencers can help us find the right genes.

I almost made a jeans pun earlier, but I was like, no, let's leave it in the last episode.

I think we talked enough about those jeans.

Well, I'm still looking for answers, so let me know.

You taught me.

You said, I think wide legs are last year.

And I was like, that's what I'm wearing.

Great, great.

It's okay, Jen.

I'm still wearing the same pair of jeans I've had for like eight years.

So, you know, you're doing okay.

You're doing better than me.

That's a good point though too because, you know, I didn't think like even like the baby business particularly, there's so much that you take when you're a first time mom from the people that you feel like, understand you and are an advocate for you and, like, so if I was doing.

If I was in the baby business, like, I'd be all in on this trend.

That's a really interesting angle I hadn't thought about before.

All right, well, great show today.

Remember, if you can only read or listen to one retail blog in the business, make it Omnitok.

You know what?

I forgot to do the birthday, so I'll have to hit that up next week as well because, I don't know, for some reason I just left that out today.

But we'll hit that next week.

We'll give you double of the happy birthdays, so stay tuned for that.

But remember, if you can only read or listen to one retail blog in the business, make it Omnitok, the only retail media outlet run by two former executives from a current top 10 US retailer.

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Please remember, like and leave us a review wherever you happen to listen to your podcast or on YouTube, you can follow us today by simply going to YouTube.com omnitalkretail Jen, if people want to get in touch with you, you know, pick your brain about anything, what's the best way for them to do that?

Yeah, they can find me on LinkedIn.

Jen Hahn, h A H N or the company.

They can find us at our website, jrecruitingservices.com and there's a company page on LinkedIn as well.

Being in the recruiting world, we kind of live on LinkedIn, so.

Yeah.

And as we joked about in your first inaugural episode, that's Jen with two N's, in case.

That's right.

J E N. Yes.

All right, well, on behalf of Jen with two N's and producer Ella and myself and all of us at Omnitok Retail, as always, be careful out there.