Kroger Creates A New E-Commerce Power Seat, Best Buy Goes Small & TikTok Takes On Amazon | Fast Five

Hello and welcome to this week's OMNITALK Retail Fast 5, brought to you by the Omnitalk retail podcast network.

I'm fresh off a two week vacation and we've got a bevy of headlines to get to with this week's guest host, Jen Hahn of J Recruiting Services.

So producer Ella, let's get to today's show.

$20 Billion of GMV is coming through TikTok shop.

That's insane.

4.9 Billion in US sales in Q1 is nothing to take lightly.

Does he really have the operational chops to run a business as comp complex as Kroger?

I don't need to see 37 aisles of cell phones.

Would you like to save some money today?

We can print you a personalized savings list.

Wow, Jen, I 100% have to disagree with you on this one.

That's problematic in the long run.

Who would tip the scales?

It would be Amazon.

Jen Hahn of J Recruiting Services are residential.

Talent expert is back.

How are things up there in Michigan, Jen?

Things are wonderful in Michigan.

We are wrapping up a beautiful summer here in Michigan and ready for back to school.

So it's been a little while over the last week or so.

We start on Monday, but we're ready to rock.

Yeah, I would say before we started the podcast, actually, right after this I have to run over, get my, my son his haircut for his junior high school picture.

So, yeah, I hear you on the, I hear you on the back to school thing.

I got a big question for you though, Jen.

You know, I think inquiring Omni Talk listeners want to know the answer to this next question because.

And because you have on previous episodes where you've appeared with us, you've professed a love for Taco Bell.

So I'm curious, did you and your family survive the Taco Bell parasitic outbreak that, that took over Michigan over the last couple months?

I, I mean, we did, Chris.

We're doing just fine over here.

So I appreciate you, you know, reaching out and being concerned, but I think it's so funny I'm now known as like this Taco Bell fanatic because really, I think my point was like, it's a solid option if you're going fast food, Taco Bell is a solid option.

But I, I can't say I've even been all summer.

So we have survived.

I appreciate the sentiment for sure.

Did, I'm curious, did you know anyone personally affected?

Like, was there anyone in your community that was like, oh boy, you know, not, not good, not good.

Jed?

No, I didn't know anyone.

And again, I'm on some wood here because I have lots of kids and they bring things home and such, but I didn't know anyone affected by this, and I also didn't know anyone affected by the other.

What was it coming from?

Lettuce, right?

Yeah.

Well, I think so, Yeah.

I don't know that we know yet, but who knows?

I was never an answer, but I knew no one ate salads for a few months.

I didn't hear of anyone that I know personally impacted by that either.

But I did hear Michigan was a hot state for it.

Yeah.

You guys had, like, close to, like, 10,000 cases of it, which sounded horrendous.

So I want to make sure you were okay.

I actually, for those.

I said.

I said Jen and Eva, like, three weeks ago.

I was like, are you okay?

Like, how bad is it there?

She's like, it's fine, it's fine.

But it's good to know that you don't know anybody either.

Well, it was at the same time as the Canadian wildfires, and we were all told, like, just stay inside your homes because it's not safe to walk outside.

So it wasn't safe to walk outside.

It wasn't safe to eat lettuce.

And apparently you also couldn't go for Taco Bell, so, I mean, we were.

We were roughing it for a little while, but we made it through for sure.

Can't go outside.

You definitely can't have a Crunch Wrap supreme, so.

All right, well, Jed, we've got big news on the Omnitok front this week, too.

The Omnitok retail podcast network has officially expanded.

Yesterday, we launched a new weekly podcast focused specifically on grocery called Grocer Talk.

Yes.

Which will be brought to you each week by Ben Miller of Grocery Shop and Shop Talk fame.

So if you're in grocery, you're going to want to check it out and subscribe.

And like I said, the first episode just debuted yesterday as well, and it's already rolling up the charts.

So stay tuned because this may not also be.

Jen, just as a little tease here, this might not also be the only expansion news we have coming your way, loyal Omnitok fans, as we get through the rest of 2026.

All right, with that out of the way, this is also the month where we hand.

This is also the week of the month where we hand out our Omnistar Award.

And 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.

All right, Jen, would you do the honors?

I always love when you do when you're on the show to present this award because you are so much closer to the ground than even I or Ben or even producer Ella are day to day.

So who is this month's award winner?

Jen?

Yes.

We are pleased to announce that this month's Omnistar goes to the one and only Ralph Woodward.

So Ralph has spent, I think it's four decades in retail.

Today he is the senior vice president of retail operations for Bashas, which includes Food City, AJ's tribal stores.

And he just has some of the best stories.

He is that true legacy ops leader.

A loyal fan of Omnitalk, I believe as well.

But you know, we actually hosted him on our podcast recently too and talked about his career journey and the stories he has of just sheer resilience.

And I mean, think of all the changes in the last 40 years and he's like, I am staying in it.

Like he's a die hard ops guy.

So well deserved for him.

Yeah, it's great.

You know, Jed, I didn't tell you this too, but Bash's is actually is my hometown grocer, like growing up in the 70s and it was the grocer right around the corner from my house.

And so yeah, to say, see how long he's been in the industry and how the grocery landscape has changed, particularly in the Phoenix Tempe Chandler area.

It's, it's pretty impressive.

And Bashes has kind of, you know, stood the test of time to, during, during that entire run.

So kudos to Ralph, man.

Congratulations.

And they went through some ownership changes right.

Over the last couple decades as well.

And Ralph is just like his stories about like some of the conversations he had with leaders and what they said to him and then he was like, okay, I hear you and I'll improve.

And then he just like kept moving forward.

It's, it's so fun.

I mean he talked about bulls in Madrid, he talked about, he's just, he's such a cool guy and I think the industry is just really lucky to have him.

That's awesome.

Yeah, we need more operators like Ralph for sure.

All right, Ralph, kudos to you, man.

All right, let's get to this week's Fast 5, which is of course brought to you with the help and support of the A and M Consumer and Retail Group, Miracle Corso, Ocampo Capital Block and RNS Logistics.

In this week's Fast 5, we've got news on Best Buy's incoming CEO saying the path to growth.

Growth starts with going smaller.

Ahold is expanding its savings station discount kiosk to giant food.

Amazon customers reportedly embracing Alexa for shopping TikTok testing a prime like paid membership and Zenline AI's Arbor.

Sadie joins us for five insightful minutes to discuss how merchandising teams should think about deploying agentic AI with within their organizations.

But we begin today with a major C suite move at KRoger.

Headline number one is of course brought to you all with the help and support of the A and M Consumer and Retail Group.

The A and M Consumer and Retail Group is a management consulting firm that tackles the most complex challenges and advances its clients, people and communities toward their maximum potential.

CRG brings the experience, tools and operator like pragmatism to help retailers and consumer products companies be on the right side of disruption.

All right, Jen, headline number one, here we go.

Kroger is named Nate Foust, a former Walmart and Jet.com executive, as its first ever chief e commerce officer.

Effective September 1, according to Grocery Dive, Faust will become Kroger's executive vice president and chief e commerce officer, which is a newly created role for the company.

And he brings more than two decades of e commerce experience, including co founding Jet.com and serving as senior vice president of Walmart's e commerce supply chain.

Faust also helped start Olive, a sustainable e commerce logistics company.

And his resume includes an executive stint@diapers.com, which Amazon acquired in 2020 10.

Jen, I thought people were moving towards more of an omnichannel.

Org structure.

So I find this, I find this announcement kind of curious.

Does the move to create an e commerce head at Kroger strike you at all as odd or are you seeing other grocers take this approach?

Hmm.

I think there has definitely been a move towards sort of erasing the distinction between e commerce and stores.

Right.

To organize under that Omnichannel customer, as you're alluding to here.

So you're definitely right there.

However, I think, and I could be wrong here, but I think Dave Gugina's role at Walmart in 2025 was actually this.

It was executive vice president and chief e commerce officer for Walmart.

And so that that's interesting, right?

Because we've seen where Walmart has gone and the success that they' in the seat he's in today now.

Right.

What is interesting for me as I was reading through this headline and as you're sharing some of the facts here is that this is right for Kroger right now because they just recently, I think I was on your show when we announced that they just recently turned a profit in E commerce for the first time.

Right.

So if they just recently turned a profit, you could read that as hey, things are going swimmingly.

They finally figured it out.

But in this case, putting this specific role to me says, hey, we're going to lean in here.

Like we may have figured out some things and we know the high margins that are available with retail media and such inside of E commerce but we actually want to put someone in seat that wakes up every single day focused on E commerce and E commerce only.

And because of his background, I think you mentioned he was part of Olive.

Right?

He was also jet.com and diapers.com.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SVP of Walmart supply chain I think in the past as well.

Very supply chain logistics focused background here.

So if I had to make an assumption, Kroger is saying, hey, we need someone to figure out the fulfillment and the logistics around E commerce and his background sets him up nicely to do that, I would say.

I don't think the entire industry is going this way by any means.

But I do think this is an interesting move.

I don't hate it if it's right for them right now to get it right.

I also think, you know, thinking about them compared to the competitors or in the landscape here, it might show that they're a year plus behind Walmart.

Again.

I don't, I don't know, they could have replaced Dave Guginas but they've sort of, everyone else is sort of moving towards Omnichannel, but it's almost like we're not ready to move towards omnichannel until we have enough figured out in this E commerce.

If that makes sense.

Yeah, it does, it does.

The David Eugenia, the David Gina example is interesting too.

Like, like I think that was also partly like, hey, let's have him do this because we know he's going CEO here in a few months, you know, in a few, in a year.

So let's get him the, let's get him the taste of something outside of supply chain.

So it's a little bit of a different situation than saying like and the E commerce business at Walmart was on fire at the time already.

So it's a little bit of a different situation, you know, than what's happening at Kroger.

I think you're right, Jim.

I mean, number one, this is a signal.

And you and I talked about on the podcast, like, despite them touting that, you know, e grocery was profitable, it didn't seem like it was growing as fast as it probably should have been.

In fact, it looked like they were losing market share when you look inside the day data.

But you know, for me, I.

You said before we got started, you think we're gonna disagree a little bit today.

I think I disagree.

I think this is a really bizarre move.

I think one I one I'm always a little curious of the backgrounds, like someone like Mr. Faust has, like jet.com diapers.com.

You spent two years at Walmart after the acquisition.

How much did you really do?

There's a lot of coattail riding on that and what you could argue was kind of ludicrous VC investment driving those businesses too, because those businesses both don't exist now.

So does he really have the operational chops to run a business as complex as Kroger?

I don't know.

He wouldn't have been my first pick, I'll tell you that much.

But the other thing I don't like about this too, Jen, is like, we.

And it's kind of in the way I asked the question.

The organizational structure is really odd to me.

I mean, I've never, I, I guess, I guess until you just mentioned that one case, I had never heard of a chief e commerce officer.

And then also Kroger currently has a chief digital officer.

So what the heck is going on there?

That's very strange.

And then what happens if there's a disagreement between the merchant and the chief e comm officer?

Who wins, who should win, who, who, who wins that argument in the boardroom?

Like, is Greg foreign aligned with this guy?

Because he seems like he's giving him the keys to the kingdom.

So it seems like he's going to hold a lot of sway.

So I don't like it and I don't like the emphasis on e commerce either because I don't think that's where Kroger's necessarily going to win.

It might help them keep up with the Joneses, but it's not going to be the panacea to long term differentiation that Kroger's needs.

So if the chief merchant is going to be fighting and battling it out internally with whatever the e Commerce guy wants to do that's problematic in the long run.

So yeah, I mean, long way of saying, Jen, I don't like this move, but you get the last word today.

I hear you on some of those points.

I don't know that, that, that Kroger is set up to really be differentiated in the marketplace on E commerce.

So I hear you on that.

They must, I just think Greg Foreign must see enough of an opportunity here where he says I need someone to fix it because there's, you know, X opportunity.

Right?

Yeah.

I mean I think, yeah.

I think the last time I was on talking about this headline to Chris, we talked about the fact that their stores are not in great shape.

That was the same headline, am I right?

Yeah, yeah.

Right.

So I definitely think again this, this move could make sense.

I think it signals a few things, I don't know again that I would say, hey, great idea for everyone.

I think it signals, signals a few things about where Kroger's at, but I hope that it's not replacing the work they need to do out in the stores because that's really where you make your connection in the grocery industry.

Right?

Yeah.

And my hunch is Mr. Foreign and Based on how he talked about that for those that remember, he, he's, he's very focused on the stores too.

So, so maybe that's what he's thinking is like I'm going to be the where the buck stops with the stores potentially to ameliorate what I was talking about.

So that's a good point.

All right, let's keep moving.

Headline number two.

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Headline number two, Best Buys.

Incoming CEO Jason Bonfig, who takes over from Corey Berry on November 1, says his growth plan starts with opening smaller format stores in markets.

In markets the retailers traditional big box locations could never Support.

According to CNBC, Best Buy's new small format stores run 12,000 to 15,000 square feet compared to medium sized locations at 20,000 to 25,000 square feet and a traditional Best Buy footprint near 40,000 square feet.

The company opened two examples this month.

A return to Jonesboro, Arkansas after a tornado destroyed its earlier location and a 28,000 square foot store in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Bonfig was explicit that the smaller stores add to the fleet rather than replace it, describing them as a way to reach customers and markets.

Best Buy simply wasn't in before.

Jen, are you buying or selling Best Buy's new CEOs plans for growth via smaller format stores?

As a customer, I'm buying 100%.

So yes, 100%.

I, I love a smaller format as a customer.

Right.

I think it's just more efficient when I walk through those big Best Buy locations.

And again, I'm only visiting my local stores, so this isn't representative of the entire nation.

Right.

But I feel a ton of waste.

Maybe it's the ops girl in me, but it just feels like our local Best Buy, like it's never popping.

With this unreal amount of foot traffic, you don't need that amount of aisle there.

There are so many different sections, right.

And you have to have a specialist in each section because you can't even see the other corner of the store.

I'm a fan of tech and electronics in a smaller format.

So think of like an Apple Store, right?

They're squeezing those into mall formats and that's not a huge space, but they're doing a ton out of those Apple Store locations and I think it's that hands on piece.

So from a business perspective that's as a customer, I just like to be more efficient.

I like, like just tell me what I need, help me out.

I don't need to see 37 aisles of cell phones.

Right.

I just, I don't need it.

But from a business perspective, I like it for a few reasons as well.

I think getting in front of those markets that they haven't been able to is key because again, think of like the, the mid sized cities that haven't been serviced by a Best Buy in the past or maybe rural communities.

Right.

Being in those locations and being able to say I have someone to consult with me about my new tech to help me set it up to offer this Geek Squad service on the back end.

I realize again, we're moving towards this digital customer and you can do all that online in some cases.

But to me do it with Best Buy.

But to me those are compelling reasons to actually go into the store and have someone take care of my tech for me and have someone service my Geek Squad computer right in person.

So I like that it will allow them to reach these new markets and I like that it could allow them to simplify.

I think it's a cool test.

Again, he didn't really announce it as a test.

He said it's going to add to the fleet.

But of course, everything is test and learn.

I would be really interested to see if they can do more with less here.

Wow.

Wow, wow.

Jen, I 100% have to disagree with you on this one.

Right out of the way.

You're right.

You said we're gonna disagree today.

Yeah, no, I, I, I, I mean, I think what you, what I heard you, I heard you say a couple things.

One thing you're getting at was like, you think it's probably just a more productive box, which may, may in fact be the case.

Like, they just don't need a box the same size that it once was.

Probably because you're not selling DVDs and things anymore, you know, or video games even.

So, like, that's probably true, but that's a scary thought when you think about it.

And so, so I did some math.

I did some math.

I brought some math into today's podcast, Jen.

According to Google's Gemini search, a search I did on Gemini, Best Buy's annual US volume is just shy of $42 billion.

Best Buy operates approximately a thousand stores in the US give or take.

So the math is easy.

You can assume $40 million, give or take, per average store.

So now Best Buy is going to open stores that are 60% smaller than its typical box.

So let's, let's take that 40 million down by, let's say half.

And maybe you're right, Jen.

Maybe they can still stay productive.

But let's say $20 million per average store.

So by that math, it's going to take 50 stores, 50 new stores a year to generate a billion dollars in revenue.

That's a tough get.

I was there when Target tried to do a very similar thing with smaller stores.

They said smaller stores were there path to growth, and look how that played out.

They had to pull back because the math simply doesn't pencil like.

It's just, it doesn't.

You can't put that many small stores throughout the country in places where Best Buys don't already exist.

So there's going to be a cannibalization effect as you get to a higher store count.

So for all that, all those reasons, I throw the caution flag out again on this one.

I threw it out on the first headline.

I'm throwing it out on this one.

I'm back from vacation, everybody.

I had time to think, I had time to do some maths.

So.

But to get meaningful growth out of stores from the long, small stores that are long term, you've got to build a Lot of them.

And it's just, it's not going to work.

And I feel like if you look back at the retail landscape, particularly as I have over the last 10 years, you're going to see a lot of people go in this direction and then end up pulling back.

Like, Macy's was talking about this for a while.

They're not talking about it anymore.

Bloomingdale's was talking about it for a while.

They're not doing it anymore.

Target's not doing it anymore.

It just doesn't work to the degree that you think it's going to when you're promising growth to the street.

That's my take, Jen.

Perhaps.

And I like your math there.

I think one of the things that could, and I'm just thinking about this now, as you mentioned Target and Macy's and some of the other examples, I wonder how much apparel and the type of inventory that just changes over seasonally and regularly is different than electronics.

Right.

Like once the new phones are out or laptops are out, like, we don't have to keep the old ones around.

We don't need seven sizes of that, we only need two.

Like, it is a different game.

So I would be interested if any industry or any space inside of retail if it could work in electronics and if we're playing with numbers here, again, I'm not a real estate expert, but there's a significant savings if you need to enter a market and you could build a 12,000 square foot location versus market for sure.

Yeah, 100.

Right.

And so there's a, there's an upfront savings which I realize isn't huge comparatively to what a store could produce long term.

But if you think about it like, do they need to staff less?

Do they have different utilities?

Right.

The cost of occupancy is different in smaller locations.

So there could be some savings on the expense side as well.

But I hear you on the thought of like more space to sell from.

And I think that's what we do in retail.

So it'll be really interesting to see.

But I for one, Best Buy, if you put one in my area, I'm going to be there and I'm going to be so happy that you made it smaller.

Because I'm like, what are we doing with this mall here?

When I'm in a Best Buy, I'm like, this is too, too big.

Yeah.

And you know, I want Best Buy to succeed there.

You know, I'm in Minneapolis, local company, you know, but I'm skeptical of this one.

But hey, I Guess you know Jen.

Jen Hahn, Best Buy fan, folks, is one of your biggest fans right now.

All right.

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Headline number three.

Ajo Delez USA is expanding its saving station discount kiosk beyond Stop and Shop, rolling them out to every Giant food location across the Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. according to chain store Age.

And as loyal fans of the show will likely remember, the In Store kiosks, which are located near store entrances, let customers scan their loyalty card or enter their phone number to instantly load weekly digital coupons and activate personalized rewards offers with all eligible discounts automatically applied at checkout.

Customers can also print a customized savings list.

Yes, print a customized savings list, enroll in Giant's loyalty program, and access seasonal recipes and family friendly principal activities directly from the kiosk.

Aho Delez USA first piloted the kiosk at Stop and Shop in 2023 and completed the rollout across all its locations in 2025 and is now extending the concept to Giant.

As I mentioned before, Jen, with grocers under real pressure to prove their value proposition right now, is a physical kiosk still the right tool for digital savings in 2026?

Or is AJO Delez solving yesterday's problem?

You know, I hate to be so agreeable because I feel like you've got to have some disagreement, but I like this too.

You do?

Yeah, I do.

So there are different types of shoppers, right?

I don't think we're solving yesterday's problem.

I think we're really creating a bridge.

But when I'll come back to the different types of shoppers first and I'll get back to that bridge in grocery especially anyone in the grocery industry that's anywhere near marketing customer service operations knows there are a lot of customers that still like their print ad.

They are upset if their ad doesn't come in the Sunday newspaper.

I mean, there's just this, like, tradition involved in grocery shopping.

They have their local grocer, right?

Or their grocery store they go to.

And with those customers, customers, this is such a great opportunity to get them involved in your loyalty program and using, you know, whatever type of perks you want to offer them in their customized savings list.

And you're meeting them where they're at.

Right.

With loyalty programs and apps and things, that's maybe the way of the future.

But I think we're often asking customers to proactively go to a site and download something in advance or remember their password or clip a digital coupon.

We're just asking for a lot of activity outside of the physical store where this allows us to say, hey, welcome.

Welcome to the store.

Would you like to save some money today?

We can print you a personalized savings list.

And I can see some customers that will just be pretty wowed by that and they'll actually take advantage of the loyalty program.

Where before if you said, like, you can sign up online and download an app, they wouldn't have been into it.

So, again, I don't think it's solving yesterday's problems.

I think it's somewhat removing friction in the moment that the customer is most likely to engage.

And I would be really interesting, like this added layer that it could create for merchants and ops, people engaging with those customers, like, what actually changes their behavior, what gets them to add to the basket.

If you have inventory that needs to turn quickly.

If your avocados came into ripe, I don't know.

Yeah, yeah.

Like, can you get that on everybody's personalized list?

It's so interesting to me to see how this could work and be that bridge.

Personalized.

It could be.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And be that bridge between.

To come back to my bridge analogy between the physical grocery shopper and all of the digital personalization and sort of data points that we're leaning into in the future of grocery.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, man, Jen, I can't believe we're going to go.

We're about to go three now.

We're not.

We're not.

I'm going to agree with you on this one.

I'm not going to go through on this disagreement.

Yeah, no, no, no.

I mean, I think you're saying the right points.

I mean, I think if you step back from this story, there's no doubt that the kiosk is in a lot of ways analogous to trying to improve the typewriter.

It just is.

I mean, you know, when you think about it, if you think about grocery 50 years from now.

But does that make it a silly investment?

I don't think it does, not one bit.

I mean, you can do both if you do them smartly.

To your point, you give the customers the solution who need this and want this added service, and you still are investing to become more digitally forward.

So net net, I like it.

Provided One big caveat, you're still trying to become more digitally forward, but this is a great example of my, in my opinion, of omnichannel retailing, because, Jen, you're bringing up great things.

There's, there's cool ways to personalize this too, in, in ways or ways, shapes or forms that we haven't even thought about.

I never thought about that until you even said that.

And so, you know, it's just about placing the bets in the right spot and being smart and not getting over your skis on any one thing.

But I think you still have to be evolving digitally.

But, you know, for all intents and purposes, it looks like they're seeing the return on this because it worked it stop and shop.

And now they're rolling it out, so.

So I like it.

He asks for all kiosks for all.

Yes.

I don't know that I would go that far.

Yeah, no, let's not say that.

No, this is actually one use case where kiosk may actually make sense.

You know, generally speaking, I hate digital kiosk, but for lots and lots of reasons, as many people on the show will know, Jen.

All right, well, let's, let's welcome Arbor onto today's show.

Joining now for five insightful minutes is Arbor Sadie, the CEO of ZenLine AI.

And Arbor is here to discuss with us how merchandising teams should think about deploying agentic AI within their organization.

Arbor, let's start with this.

You said something to me at Shop Talk, something that quite frankly, I'm never going to forget, and I've talked to everyone I can about it.

You said an AI agent is like your new employee on day one.

What exactly did you mean by that statement?

Chris, first of all, thanks for having me.

The concept is quite easy, right?

Your Harvard educated graduates, they come to your company on day one.

And what you'll see is that on day one, they aren't productive.

And the question is, why is someone who has 13 years of education, five years of graduate and postgraduate education, why aren't they productive on day one?

They are highly intelligent, highly capable, and the answer is context.

We'll get to the concept of context engineering, but the answer is context.

They don't know the terms of your company, they don't know the abbreviations, they don't know which products you already offer.

They don't know what the processes are, what is the workflow to actually come to an assortment recommendation.

They have to learn.

And then this is basically why you have junior positions, then mid positions and Then senior positions, and then at some point you'll be ahead of merchandiser planning.

And what will happen is that over time you'll accumulate context, or how we call it now, learnings.

And these learnings are what agents need.

So an agent basically starts on day one.

They don't know nothing about your organization.

And what you need to do is you basically need to understand what are the learnings that a head of category management or merchandise planning makes across these four, five, six, seven years throughout the promotions and try to build basically a company brain.

And we call this context engineering around so that whenever the agent gets a question, can answer the question by looking at, okay, embedded in the knowledge and in the context of the company.

And then they will be as productive as a senior merchandise planner would be after a few years.

That is such a great analogy because I can tell you, as a, as a former Harvard mba, as much as I wanted to think I knew everything going into my job day one at Target, I had no idea what I was doing, absolutely zero.

And so I'm curious, like context engineering, like what is your background that helped you arrive at that being kind of how to think about the problem at hand?

My background is basically I'm right in between engineer and business guy.

I studied engineering at ETH in Zurich.

I did half a year of research on AI, but then I wanted to basically dive into the business world and into three years of consulting at the Boston Consulting Group, where basically the entire work that we did was how do you bring technology, AI into business processes, into the strategy?

How can the company make faster decisions and basically, yeah, become more digital?

And what you learn when you're an engineer, the way you think as an engineer is very technical how to solve this problem technically.

And BCG always had this concept that basically every business transformation, every Digital transformation is 80% processes and people and only 20% tech.

And I think this is the main advantage.

When we then started zenline that I understood that, hey, as good as your tech can be, you look at Claude, you look at the GPT models.

As good as these models are, if you don't have the proper context of how the organization works, there's no way to actually improving the organization.

Yeah, that's a great proving ground too because a lot of ways a consultant is the same thing as an, as an employee on day one.

Like the consultants coming in, they have no contextual knowledge of how the organization works.

The consultant has to learn that as well.

So it makes sense as your proving ground.

So you mentioned Zenline AI.

So what is it and what are you trying to do in regards to it in terms of contextual engineering and improving retail?

My last few years at BCG I was working on commercial excellence programs for retailers.

And we always say the two most important questions are what do my shoppers want, which products do they want to purchase and what are they willing to buy?

But these questions are answered and solved in a very, very, very unanalytical way for most of the retailers that we work with and also the ones that we are having discussions.

And we said, hey, for the first time you can use analytical, you can basically use numerical data, tabular data, but also TikTok posts, transcriptions of TikToks social media.

Everything that is out there in the web can be gathered by agents, be structured and then analyzed to find out what your shoppers actually want and be very, very quick in order to make these decisions.

And yeah, when we started zenline, we said we want to answer and help retailers with the core and the two most important decisions.

And that's why we built Zenline.

And what it basically is, is we sell outcomes, we give, we show you the, not only an analysis, but basically we give you the recommendation of what, what you should act upon in pricing and in merchandising.

So, so you're basically trying to get into merchandise planning.

Like of all places, like, oh man, fair play to you, my friend.

Because I've seen a lot of companies come and go over the last 30 years that have tried to do what you're trying to do.

So why do you, so why do you think now is the right time to tackle merchandise planning?

Why of all places you want to start this there?

Like, are you, are you nuts?

Are you insane?

Like, why do you think this is the right place to go first?

Actually, you're right, it is hard.

And as I mentioned, these are the two most important questions that a retailer can solve.

And these are the ones that actually improve 2, 3, 4 percentage points in margin if you get them right.

But when we started zenline, the initial thought was if we start a company, if we bother to start a company, then we should do it at the hardest problem that a retailer has.

And these are the ones.

So that's why we're doing it.

And then simply because for the first time ever, it's possible.

Before you could, with, let's say machine learning, you were able to do numerical analysis or numerical data, you had to have everything pre processed.

A lot of human work in data cleaning, data pre processing pipelines, which took weeks to months, sometimes Even half a year to just get the data right.

And by now you can work with much, much more unstructured data.

And this was when we realized this from going through the discussions with CEOs, CCOs of the largest retailers in Europe.

Everyone was saying, basically telling us the same, hey, these are the most important questions, but we're still solving them very in a, let's say, more cumbersome and a manual way.

So if there would be an AI company that would be able to solve these questions, we would be willing to pay.

And that's what we're seeing.

Yeah, yeah.

No, I mean, I can think back to, like, when I was a buyer, too, like back in 2005, if I had the tools or was equipped with some of the abilities that generative AI now affords me to do it, God, I could have done merchandising so much better and so much faster.

So.

All right, well, let's get you out of here on this end.

My last question I have for you then is like, you know, if I buy in a thesis, like, hard problems are meant to be solved, but they're hard for a reason.

Like, what is the lowest hanging fruit when it comes to deploying AI within assortment planning?

Like, where am I, as the average retailer going to see ROI first?

Within the first hour, when we speak with the retailer, we show them, hey, these are the gaps in your assortment.

This is what shoppers are actually looking for.

Here's the combination of what's on you with the products that you have on your website, the products that competitors have internationally.

Right.

We scrape companies in South Korea, marketplaces in the US And Europe, and we find where are trends coming up earliest, understanding why shoppers are asking for it.

So what is the shopper need that they're trying to fulfill?

What are brands very young, recent brands that just recently came up and are offering this.

And how can you, as a retailer, solve this gap and give the shoppers what they actually want?

Very, very, very quickly.

And we see that basically within the first two hours, we can have the first discussion on, hey, these are actual gaps in your assortment.

And then within the.

Within weeks after that, some retailers that have quicker processes have these on their shelves.

Wow.

And so, so from gap, from gap standpoint, gaps can be like one of two things.

Right.

It could be like holes in the assortment either online or in store, but it could also be like, hey, maybe you're not even buying enough of this, or this is going to trend up and you need to get more inventory into it.

Is that right?

Arbor Absolutely.

The first one is more strategic, right?

You want to understand what do my shoppers want?

Am I serving the needs that they have?

That they have my shoppers.

But the second one is more operational.

And the operational questions are can be very, very, very complex because after deciding that you want this one product, as you said, inventory is one question, but the facings that you, that you use in your shelf second question, also where you put it on your shelf is another question.

And all these operational questions take very often, even longer than the strategic question, whether you should offer this one product or not.

And the first one I would say agents are already very, very good at answering.

So we're working already with a lot of customers on that.

On the second question, we are teaching agents on how to think about planograms, how to think about merchandising in the operational way, and we're making good progress to also answer that question in a productized way in the near future.

Which is a good point to end on too, because you're bringing up the point of why speed matters within the context of merchandise planning and assortment planning because you've got to get into the products quickly because there are all the operational decisions that are difficult to implement down the line.

And the slower you are on those, the longer it's going to take for you to get to take action on them and get them into market so well, thank you, Aubrey.

That was really great.

Thanks for having me.

Chris.

Okay.

Headline number four is brought to you by Ocampo Capital.

Ocampo Capital is a venture capital firm founded by retail executives with the aim of helping early stage consumer businesses succeed through investment and operational support.

Learn more@ocampo capital.com headline number four Jen Amazon customers are rapidly embracing Alexa for shopping.

It's a gentic AI assistant that replaced Rufus in May with active users nearly doubling year over year and customer interactions up five times, according to CEO Andy Jassy.

According to Retail Dive, more than 350 million shoppers have used Alexa for shopping over the past 12 months and and US customers who use it spend 40% more per order on average than shoppers who don't.

Jassy also said shoppers who try Alexa plus join prime nearly at 25% higher rates and Amazon prime membership grew double digits year over year.

Jen this is also the A and M put you on the spot question of the week and here it is.

As many have reported and our own consumer sentiment survey From A&M's Consumer and Retail Group has revealed, most agentic AI shopping is oriented around discovery, recommendations and research.

Since it's Amazon, do you think Alexa shopping will tip the scales over to execution and buying using agentic AI where consumers have primarily stopped short?

So far better you than me, Jed.

Yes.

I love how they're put you on the spot.

Questions are always so long.

I'm like, okay, so, so, okay.

They make you think, yes, they're really putting us on the spot, you see.

All right, so two phases just to recap and understand the question.

So there are two phases in AI shopping.

One is discovery and research.

That's the like, find me noise canceling headphones under a hundred dollars or what should I buy my 12 year old.

Right?

Like the research phase, the second phase being the execution slash into the transaction.

So that would be something like, okay, great, buy that one for me and have it delivered.

Right.

Or like, maybe it's Alexa, we're out of bananas.

Have those shipped to me tomorrow.

It's actually having the transaction move forward.

Am I hearing you right, Chris?

Yep.

Yep.

Okay, so, so the question then is do I think Alexa and Amazon will be the one that can tip the scales for more people moving to that phase two?

And I would say, if anyone's going to do it, why not Amazon?

Of course they will.

That's my answer, I guess.

I mean, Alexa was first to the party in smart speakers and consumers are already talking to her all day long.

The Alexa, turn on my lights, Alexa, what's the weather going to be?

Oh, no.

She's probably going to respond around here.

Oh, God, no.

Yeah, right, yeah, there's.

I'm on an Apple computer.

There's one word I can't say.

Jed.

Yes, 100%.

All right, so, so yes, I think they certainly could be the one to tip the scales.

The numbers you just read off certain support that it, it could be incredibly powerful.

The other thing I think is funny, I'm in go back to school mode, right?

So I've been at 75 parent orientations and parent meetings between sports and school.

And I was at my daughter's cheer meeting recently where they were telling us all the things we need to purchase for these, these girls to participate in middle school cheer.

And the coaches are literally using the word Amazon instead of go online and shop, right?

So she's like, why don't you, you can always just Amazon some black shorts, right?

You can Amazon this.

They're not.

And I, that's not new news.

But I think it's so interesting if we're saying like, who would tip the scales?

It would Be Amazon.

Like it's.

It's synonymous with shopping online in some cases, and I think, pun intended, they're primed to move us to phase two of the AI journey.

Yeah.

So you think Amazon's got as good a shot of it as anybody?

I think I agree.

I think so.

I mean, there's a.

There's a couple of things I point out from reading this headline.

I think, you know, 350 million is a huge number.

And those 350 million people are reportedly spending 40% more per order.

If that's true, that's just down, downright insane.

It's nuts.

But of course, you have to caveat that too.

And this is partly why, why I created Omnitalk to do what we do every week is because you don't know if.

If you don't know if that statistic is actually in honesty being synonymous with true situation.

That's my favorite quote, that honesty is not always synonymous with truth.

Because what we don't know in that statistic that's quoted is we don't know the spend of those customers prior to Alexa for shopping.

So, like, you know, is that.

Did they change?

Like, were they always spending more of those shoppers?

We don't know that.

But the point that you're making, Jen, I think, is 100.

Right.

But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter.

It's still coming.

And Amazon feels so much more ahead of this than the competition is in terms of thinking this way.

And the other point I'd make, which, Jen, you.

You touched on it, but I'm going to put a, you know, kind of more emphasis on it too, is like, we don't really know what this interaction looks like.

We don't know what the physical interface of all these different types of experiences are going to be and how they're going to evolve over the next 10 years.

Like, are we talking to an Alexa device?

Are we talking to our phone?

Are we talking to our computer?

But Amazon feels very, again, primed to be the one that's going to help us figure that all out.

And they are doing it, you know, big and boldly with Alexa and branding her in that manner to help us all figure it out.

Anyone can do it.

Alexa can.

Alexa can.

Alexa.

That's what I'm taking from this.

Okay.

That's right.

All right, let's close it out with Headline five.

Headline five is brought to you by the Lock.

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Com that's V e l o q.com headline number five TikTok is testing a paid membership called Shop plus, according to screenshots viewed by a Business Insider, bundling free shipping, product discounts and coupons for a monthly fee and a direct bid to keep shoppers from bailing to Amazon, according to Ecom Crew shout out to them for their first Fast 5 citation.

The screenshots show TikTok testing monthly price points of $6, $10 and $15, with examples showing a discounted hair product paired with free three day shipping and a five dollar discount on a beauty item.

A former TikTok shop staffer described the strategic problem directly.

Shoppers would discuss gover products on TikTok and then leave the platform to complete the purchase on Amazon.

And Shop plus is built to close that exact leakage point.

For perspective, TikTok Shop drove $4.9 billion in US sales in Q1 2026 alone, roughly double the prior year's quarter, and topped $20 billion in US GMV in the first half of the year, with eMarketer forecasting the full US business could cross $23 billion for 2026.

TikTok, it should be noted, also has not confirmed this program publicly at this time.

Jen TikTok is basically building an Amazon prime clone inside a content app.

Is that a genuine threat to Amazon's ecosystem lock in?

Or is TikTok just spending money to look like a marketplace that it isn't quite yet?

4.9 Billion in US sales in Q1 is nothing to take lightly.

So I wouldn't say, yeah, that's, that's wild.

Hearing that number is wild, I think it's a real threat for sure, especially for the younger generation.

As much as I said in the last headline that like we use Amazon something synonymous for just shopping online in our generation.

And I don't want to, I don't want to target certain generations at this point, but I think the younger generation or just anyone hipper than I am, they learn everything.

Chris Everyone is different than I am because so again, they might be in the same generation as I am, but they're learning everything from TikTok.

It used to be like, oh, they do dances, right?

But now literally everything is on TikTok.

So I've always been a big fan of meeting the customer where they're at and obviously TikTok shop with these numbers has really figured that out already, making it that much easier to Just check out versus now.

Go out and find it on Amazon and check out.

I mean, I mean, sounds like a no brainer and definitely a genuine threat to answer your question, 100%.

I mean, I think, I mean, I think it's important to note.

I mean you said that, you said the, you said the raw sales, but the GMV.

$20 Billion of GMV is coming through TikTok shop.

That's insane.

I mean how long has TikTok been around, Jen?

Like five, six years.

Like it feels like it started during the pandemic.

Right.

You'd have to ask someone.

Yeah.

Hipper than me.

Chris.

Yeah.

They might know.

Right, right.

Yeah, yeah.

Well as producer Ella later, you know.

Yeah, like it's, that's not been very long.

That's the point.

Right.

And the funny thing to me about this story too, which I think is really fascinating is the TikTok sellers are likely using Amazon and warehouse Walmart warehousing services to meet these delivery windows anyway.

And so like it feels like a smart move to keep them in the TikTok shop experience and not to port them out to Amazon.

And all it takes is a smart psychological marketing hook like hey, why don't you stay with us and you can get the same degree of service and confidence that you're going to get from if you went out and bought it from Amazon.

Oh and by the way, the Amazon sellers are just using the same infrastructure or the Tick Tock Shop sellers are just using the same infrastructure to provide it for you.

So you don't know the difference anyway.

And, and you're making the shoppers pay for it themselves too to give, to give that service to your sellers as Tick Tock Shop.

So I don't, I, I just think this is really smart and it's, it's going to be, this is, it's a really interesting headline to close with today.

When you start talking like you did Jen, about you go where people are.

Right.

And this, you know, if this works there's a there there here for sure.

Yeah, I, I will be really interested to see where this lands again.

I don't spend a lot of time on tech talk myself but I think I'm in the minority.

And when producer Ella joins us, we'll, we'll talk to her about how she's using TikTok shop for sure because she's definitely one of those hipper than I am.

Let's bring producer Ellen right now.

Producer Ella, like what's your TikTok shop exposure and experience?

Yeah, so actually this Is funny that it's coming out this week because I have been putting myself on a spending hold.

I mean, I'm a bride in this economy.

My sister's getting married this weekend.

I get married in a couple months.

And I use TikTok as that emotional purchase.

So I'm not really searching things.

But it's like if I'm really influenced, if something comes up, I'm Apple paying it.

Right.

And it's coming to my door now.

The delivery fee.

This is really interesting because since it's an emotional purchase, I typically right now am not so much concerned about the delivery fee.

Cause I wasn't searching for it in general.

Right, right, right.

It's not a need.

You don't need it really quickly.

It's not a need.

As for Amazon, I do maybe want that one to two day.

I'm searching.

I need this.

Right.

But to your point, about how long has this been out too?

I do know this.

It started as musical ly in 2018 and 2020 was the big boom.

I figured, yeah, six years.

When I remember seeing it, I remember seeing it.

Right.

The first year of the pandemic.

But yeah, it was definitely before that.

So Good, good point of reference, Ella.

All right, well, let's go to the lighting round this week.

Today's lightning round is brought to you with the help and support of RNS Logistics.

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Well, RNS Logistics is smart enough to provide custom solutions and that personal touch while also boasting 2 million square feet across 10 locations in the southeast with technology that can scale your growing e commerce operations, visit rswarehousingsolutions.com all right, Jen, we're going to see exactly how hip you are with this first question.

Stella Lefty.

Where do you stand on her sudden popularity?

I am all about Stella Lefty.

Me too.

You are?

Yes.

Okay, we can agree on this.

And I was really.

I'm really happy that I am hip enough to know who you're talking about, but we were actually.

We were on a vacation in Italy of all things, and we were driving through Tuscany.

The first time I heard that song on, like my Amazon music.

Yeah.

In our little rental car.

And I immediately replayed it.

I was like, what was that song?

And by the time we got home, it was all over the radio.

So.

Big fan of Boston over here.

Yeah, yeah.

All right, me too.

Me too.

I'm all in on her too.

I like her a lot.

She's.

She's got a hook in me.

I don't know why, but she does.

She's got her claws into me for sure.

Well, her voice must have a hook on everyone.

Like, literally it turns on and I tell everyone just to be quiet.

Even though it's on the radio all the time now, I'm like, just listen to this song with me.

All right, Krista, it is your turn.

So it's officially back to school season here.

My kids go back on Monday and I know many are going back to school or have already gone back to school.

Let's say the parents are handed $500 for back to school shopping and they get one retail.

Stop.

This is retail related for you.

Chris, what retailer do you think right now is getting that visit?

Oh, my God.

That's a tough one, Jen.

I mean, I kind of go back to what you said about cheerleading too.

Like, you know, I think if I was gonna spend the $500, I'd want it just for Amazon.

Cause it's gonna make my life so much easier.

I also think about the mall too.

Like, if I want to actually go clothes shop, I go to the mall.

So I wouldn't want to pick one store.

But I guess, you know, you know, in a plug for Target, which I've been hard on, I think I'd probably say Target too.

Like, you know, if I just had one spot to go and $500 and I had to get everything in one spot, I think I'd still choose Target.

Ultimately, overall, I think that it was interesting.

As I was thinking of this question, I was like, what would I pick?

And you know, different retailers came up for the school supplies, but someone that has the right kinds of apparel for my kids, ages, the supplies and all the things, Target was top of mind for me too.

So that's really interesting.

Yeah, I just, you know, Jen, I'm curious.

Do you think.

Do you think parents shop that way though?

Or do you think they like cherry pick and go where they need to for what they want?

I think it is convenience.

I mean, I'll just use myself as an example.

Like, my daughter and I went to the outlet mall and it was like one day, three hours we're going to do the school shopping.

But that was clothing.

And then supplies were separate.

Yeah.

And we.

Those purchases are separated.

Yes.

Most times in my fake world, you had to do it all at once.

Yeah.

Right, right, right.

Yes.

In your.

In your contrived question that you just asked me, I had to do it all at once.

Right, right, right.

Okay.

Yes.

That's great.

That's Great.

All right, next one.

Nothing.

Bunt cakes.

Is introducing a galactic brownie cake a take or an homage to Little Debbie's cosmic Brownies?

Jen, what is your relationship with Little Debbie?

What is my relationship with her?

I would say slightly less serious than my relationship with Taco Bell, which is.

Just kidding.

I remember the cosmic Brownie.

I get a little nostalgia when I see it.

It wasn't really my thing.

It's a little too dense for my liking on the brownies, on my brownie preferences.

But I do, when it comes to Little Debbie in general, I respect her.

I think it's hilarious to think how often our parents or the older generation was just handed Little Debbie cakes like they were at all good for us.

But I. Oatmeal cream pies were my go to.

If it comes to the Little Debbie.

Oh, geez.

I think an oatmeal cream pie wins on my end.

What about you?

All right.

All right.

Yeah, My.

My mom used to put those in my sack lunch all the time.

All the time.

I never liked them.

I never liked them that much.

They were always kind of like, okay, yeah, they're kind of.

It's kind of like kiss.

Eating a Little Debbie's like, kissing your sister.

To me, it's like.

It's like a dessert, but it's like, it's not.

It's not like something I really enjoy, you know?

So you had a.

You had a mature palate for a young kid.

Because, man, we were, like, devouring those things.

Even if we didn't like them.

We were just like, yes.

Yeah.

Or a picky palette.

Yeah, I think I had a picky.

Palette probably, but my poor kids get cucumbers in their lunch.

Oh, nice.

No little demi cakes for them.

I feel bad for them, Jen.

Don't worry.

Every now and then, Jen's kids, they'll be just fine.

Wait until they hear how much I love Taco Bell.

All right, Chris, so last question for you.

We personally do a family NFL fantasy league every year at our house.

It's really fun.

We all get involved, and the draft is coming up, I think this weekend for us.

So let's say you are part of a fantasy league yourself.

Maybe you can tell us if you are.

But you get the number one pick in your fantasy draft this year.

Who are you picking?

Okay.

Yeah, that's pretty easy for me.

I'm going.

I'm going homegrown here.

I'm going Tucson, Arizona's own South Point High School's own Bijan Robinson.

That's who I'M taking.

Yeah, I know he's on your radar screen, who you go with.

It's tough.

I know I won't get the number one pick, so I don't have to really run through these scenarios, but I'm kind of crazy.

I like to go with the quarterback sometimes as the first pick, and everyone tells me I'm nuts.

And they go for the running backs and the receivers.

I would say I might go.

Geez, I'm not sure, Chris.

This is too sort of a.

Okay.

You got some homework to do before your draft, Jed.

That's what I'm hearing.

That's what I'm hearing.

Yeah.

I think I'm gonna go Gibbs.

Okay.

I'm gonna go Gibbs.

Gibbs.

Oh, okay.

Nice.

All right.

Yeah.

Just recently paid in Detroit.

Yes.

Right.

Yes.

Yes.

Oh.

So are going to go that direction.

Okay.

All right.

Well, today's podcast was produced with the help and support of Ellis Sirjord.

Happy birthday today to Kevin Dylan Erica Christensen and to the Greek God who once played drums for the Beach Boys, the wonderful John Stamos.

Yeah, John Stamos.

Who knew he was such a Renaissance man and such a talent.

Jen, I had no idea.

And remember, if you can only read or listen to one retail blog in the business, make it Omni Talk.

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You can can follow us today by Simply going to YouTube.com omnitalkretail Jen, if people want to get in touch with you, what's the best way for them to do that?

They can always go to our website, www.jrecruitingservices.com or they can find me and the company on LinkedIn as well.

If it's me, it's Jen.

Two ends and then Han H A H N on LinkedIn.

All right.

Yes, that's right.

Gen with 2N.

So.

All right.

Well, Jen, thank you so much for being here.

It was a great show.

Fun show.

Got to debate a little bit today.

Jen, that's always good.

I always love when there's a lot of disagreement on the show.

It makes for such better, better podcast things.

So.

So, on behalf of Jen, on behalf of myself, on behalf of producer Ella, and all of us here at Omnitalk Retail, as always, be careful out there.