Episodes

27
May 29, 2024

Wayfair’s New Store, Google’s New Fit Tech & More High Praise For Walmart

In this week’s Omni Talk Retail Fast Five news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, Mirakl, and Sezzle, Chris and Anne discussed: What Wayfair has to get right in the opening of its first large-format store (Source: Chain Store Age) TikTok lowering the thresholds for creators to earn seller commissions (Source: Bloomberg) Walmart adding free pet telehealth to Walmart+ (Source: CNBC) Schnucks partnering with Ibotta (Source: Chain Store Age) And closed wit...
26
May 22, 2024

$199 Wegovy, Target Price Cuts & Walmart's Latest Neighborhood Grocery Concept

In this week’s Omni Talk Retail Fast Five news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, Mirakl, and Sezzle, A&M’s Truett Horne and Jeremy Levine joined Chris and Anne to discuss: The potential ramifications of Target’s decision to cut prices on roughly 5,000 items (Source: Retail Dive) Walmart’s two new (and much larger) Neighborhood Market grocery stores (Source: Grocery Dive) Gopuff’s decision to price match Aldi in the U.K. (Source: Internet Retailing) Leg...
25
May 15, 2024

Walmart Job Cuts, Best Buy’s New App & Something Called ‘Exchange Zones’ In Atlanta

In this week’s Omni Talk Retail Fast Five news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, Shoptalk’s Ben Miller stopped by to guest host with Chris and Anne as they discussed: Walmart’s reported job cuts and back-to-office push (Source: WSJ) The first-ever exchange zone in Atlanta from Harbor Lockers (Source: Harbor Lockers Press Release) Best Buy’s new mobile app features (Source: Best Buy Press Release) Diebold Nixdorf bringing automatic age ...
24
May 8, 2024

Starbucks' Mobile Order Conundrum, The New Insta Uber & Shein's Many Happy Returns

In this week’s Omni Talk Retail Fast Five news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, Chris and Anne discussed: Target expanding its wholesale relationship with Hudson’s Bay (Source: BNN Bloomberg) Instacart and Uber Eats’ intriguing new partnership (Source: Joint Instacart and Uber Eats Press Release) Walmart’s new in-store AI tools for produce and apparel (Source: CNBC) Happy Returns enabling Shein returns at Forever 21 stores (Source: Su...
23
May 1, 2024

Walmart's Health Hub Exit, Best Buy's CNET Partnership & Nordstrom's Marketplace Mirakl

In this week’s Omni Talk Retail Fast Five news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, Chris and Anne discussed: Walmart’s out-of-nowhere decision to shut down all 51 of its health centers (Source: Bloomberg) Best Buy’s “groundbreaking” new partnership with CNET (Source: Best Buy Press Release) Tesco bringing EagleAI’s gamification to its loyalty program (Source: Tesco Press Release) Walmart launching its first new private label food line in...
22
April 24, 2024

Amazon High Jinks, The Grocery War & Why The Bank Of Walmart Is Now Open For Business

In this week’s Omni Talk Retail Fast Five news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, Chris and Anne discussed: Walmart’s new BNPL offering (Source: CNBC) Grubhub’s Mercato partnership (Source: Chain Store Age) Amazon’s low cost subscription grocery delivery plan (Source: Reuters) Instagram getting AI-powered search (Source: Daily Star) And closed with a look at the WSJ report last week that Amazon was running a secret operation to gain in...
21
April 17, 2024

Canadian Walmart Stores Of The Future, Gopuff & Something New Called “Aldigo”

In this week’s Omni Talk Retail Fast Five news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, Chris and Anne discussed: Walmart Canada’s big store of the future reveal (Source: Canadian Grocer) Gopuff’s debut of “Powered by Gopuff” (Source: Chain Store Age) A NYC Chicken restaurant that has replaced its cashiers with Zoom (Source: 404 Media) Aldi retrofitting a store to become checkout-free with Grabango (Source: Chain Store Age) Their perspective...
20
April 10, 2024

Amazon’s Just Walk Out Noise, Target’s Self-Checkout Cameras & Why Kroger Spoke Too Soon

In this week’s Omni Talk Retail Fast Five news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, Chris and Anne discussed: The real reasons why Amazon would pull its Just Walk Out Technology out of its Fresh grocery stores and Whole Foods stores (Source: Payments Dive) Target installing cameras above its self-checkout machines (Source: Bloomberg) Kroger closing its three e-commerce facilities (Source: Grocery Dive) Costco offering Ozempic to some of i...
19
March 27, 2024

TikTok Search Commissions, Walmart+ Self-Checkout & Something From Shein Called ‘SCaaS’

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five retail news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, A&M’s Abhinav Chandra and Ben Lowden joined Chris and Anne to discuss: TikTok paying creators commissions based on how well their content shows up in search (Source: The Verge) The serendipitous position Walmart+ affords Walmart in regards to self-checkout (Source: Supermarket News) Nike’s refocus on wholesale (Source: Retail Dive) Shein introducing its “S...
18
March 22, 2024

Live from Shoptalk: Macy's New Strategy, Target Wholesaling, & Walmart Keeps Kicking SaaS

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five retail news roundup, recorded live from Shoptalk in Las Vegas, and sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, Chris and Anne discussed: Macy's launching their "Bold New Chapter" strategy (Source: Retail Dive) Target going wholesale with their Cat & Jack line at Hudson's Bay (Source: Retail Dive) Walmart launching another SaaS play for retailers, "Route Optimization" (Source: Investing.com) Whether or not Simon's Southd...
17
March 13, 2024

Aldi Expands, Wayfair Rebrands & The Early Bird Literally Gets The Worm At Walmart

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five retail news roundup, recorded live from Lululemon at the Mall of America, and sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, Chris and Anne discussed: Walmart expanding express delivery into the wee hours of the morning (Source: Chain Store Age) Aldi’s aggressive U.S. expansion plans (Source: Fox Business) Kohl’s new partnership with Babies R Us (Source: CNBC) Michaels bringing its online maker marketplace alive in store (...
16
March 6, 2024

Target’s Big Circle Perk, Wendy’s Surge Pricing Backlash & Whole Foods Gets Smaller

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five retail news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, Chris and Anne discussed: Wendy’s about face on surge pricing (Source: KTLA-5) Target’s new paid membership program, Circle 360 (Source: CNBC) The RealReal’s store expansion plans (Source: WSJ) Sam’s Club’s new design thinking studio (Source: Chain Store Age) And closed with an examination of whether Whole Foods’ plan to open smaller stores is, first, a g...
15
Feb. 28, 2024

Macy's Store Closures, Amazon Scheduled Deliveries & How Do You Say ChatGPT In French?

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five retail news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, Chris and Anne discussed: Macy’s bold decision to close 150 stores (Source: CNBC) Why Amazon’s move to offer scheduled grocery delivery could be one of the most important headlines of the year (Source: Chain Store Age) Microsoft's decision to fortify its Gen AI position by investing in Mistral AI (Source: Fast Company) Schnucks breaking ground on its smart...
14
Feb. 21, 2024

Starbucks Extends Its Loyalty Reach, Target Debuts A New Brand & Walmart Buys A TV Maker

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five retail news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, A&M’s Joanna Rangarajan and Cassie Ryding joined Chris and Anne to discuss: Why in the world Walmart would acquire Vizio (Source: CNBC) Whether Target’s new brand, “dealworthy,” is actually noteworthy (Source: PR Newswire) Starbucks new loyalty partnership with Bank of America (Source: Chain Store Age) Hasbro’s drastic decision to cut 50% of its skus (Sour...
13
Feb. 14, 2024

Receipt Gates At Safeway, Paid Memberships At Target & Why 2025 Is The Year Of The Robot

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five retail news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, Avalara’s Kris Rabideau stopped by for 5 Insightful Minutes on 2024 tax changes, and Chris and Anne discussed: The rumors that Target will roll out a paid membership program (Source: Bloomberg) If IKEA’s use of generative AI indicates that generative AI-based search may be more applicable to home furnishings shopping than to other categories (Source: Chain S...
12
Feb. 7, 2024

Starbucks Overnight, Zac Posen & Amazon’s Rufus Has Us Barking Like A Dog

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five retail news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, Chris and Anne were live from Manifest as they discussed: Amazon’s new AI-assistant Rufus Grabango’s large scale autonomous store installation with Aldi near Chicago Gap Inc.’s hiring of Zac Posen Lowe’s and J. Crew's recent Apple Vision Pro endeavors And closed with a look at Starbucks new late night delivery partnership with Gopuff There’s all that, pl...
11
Jan. 31, 2024

$400K Walmart Store Salaries, Surprising Self-Checkout Stats & Instacart Gamification

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five retail news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, Shoptalk VP of Original Content & Strategy Ben Miller joined Chris and Anne to discuss: The rash of recent layoffs across retail and what they mean for how the average retail executive is thinking about 2024 Walmart’s big announcement this week that its store managers can make over $400K per year Some absolutely startling statistics on self-checkout from Ev...
10
Jan. 24, 2024

Sephora Kids, Store No. 8 & What Wayfair's CEO Should Do To Remove The Egg On His Face

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five retail news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, A&M's Michael Prendergast and Manola Soler joined Chris and Anne to discuss: If Macy's made the right move rejecting its buyout offer this week Whether innovation labs, like Walmart's Store No. 8, are ever a good idea How Wayfair's CEO can ever get the egg off his face in light of recent leaks and layoffs Estimated the viability of IKEA's new plan and orde...
9
Jan. 17, 2024

NRF Wisdom, Sam’s Club Receipt Checks, And Why Walmart Should Keep Droning On

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five Podcast, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, Chris and Anne discussed: Walmart’s new Gen AI search announcement at CES Amazon implementing its Just Walk Out technology at hospitals Walmart’s Texas drone expansion plans CVS closing “dozens” of pharmacies inside Target stores And closed with a look at Sam’s Club’s brilliant new use case for computer vision, i.e. for exit receipt checks There’s all that, plus gro...
8
Jan. 10, 2024

Your Own Cups At Starbucks, Mammograms At Walmart & Carts That Suggest Dinner Pairings

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five retail news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Wiliot, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, Chris and Anne: Discussed Instacart serving up advertisements on its smart carts Split on Peloton and TikTok’s new partnership Lauded Starbucks for allowing customers to bring their own cups Debated the merits of fit tech through the lens of Amazon's new fashion AI enhancements And closed with another salute to Walmart for piloting mammograms in a Delawar...
7
Dec. 20, 2023

Walmart’s Big & Bold BNPL Push, Macy’s Buyout & CNBC’s Pointed Criticism Of Target

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five retail news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Firework, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, Chris and Anne discussed: Walmart’s bold and beautiful move to put BNPL via Affirm at self-checkout Amazon’s confounding decision to test an additional $9.99 per month fee on top of Amazon Prime for grocery delivery Why Macy’s shareholders should take a hard look at their buyout offer on the table Google’s second brilliant move over the last two months i...
6
Dec. 14, 2023

Our 2023 Annual Retail Awards Show

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five podcast, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Firework, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle,, David Ritter and David Brown, from the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, stopped by to help Chris and Anne hand out this year’s retail awards. All told, they gave out awards across 10 categories and also made some predictions for 2024, including: Retailer of the Year Headline of the Year Retail Technology of the Year Retail Person of the Year Most Overhyped Retail T...
5
Dec. 6, 2023

A Walmart Store Of The Future, A Big Get For DoorDash & NRF’s Organized Crime About Face

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five retail news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Firework, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, Chris and Anne: Discussed what really could be impacting shrink in light of NRF’s softening on its previously stated impact from Organized Retail Crime Disagreed about whether the world really needs Uber Store Pickup Lauded DoorDash for once again fortifying the strength of DashPass with its new Best Buy relationship Showed tempered enthusiasm for Walmar...
4
Nov. 29, 2023

Allbirds & Amazon, Foxtrot & Dom's & The Secret Is Out On A New 'Store Of The Future'

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five retail news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Firework, Avalara, TGW, and Sezzle, Chris and Anne discussed: Discussed why Etisalat’s new telecom store with Trigo is such an important mark in the evolution of retail Got excited for the merger between Foxtrot and Dom’s Threw shade at Allbirds for its apparent attitude and timing in selling on Amazon Explored what Nuuly is getting right in the rental and resale market And closed with a ...