OpenAI Announces An Etsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Change To E-Commerce | Fast Five
In this week’s Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, and Quorso, Chris and Anne discussed:
- OpenAI’s announcement of ChatGPT Instant Checkout with Etsy (Source)
- Early data showing Costco’s extended hours for Executive Members may be a home run (Source)
- Amazon’s decision to close all Fresh stores in the UK (Source)
- Sprouts Farmers Market opening 20 in-store coffee shops in California (Source)
- DoorDash launching ‘Going Out’ with restaurant reservations and in-store rewards (Source)
And AWS’s Daniele Stroppa also dropped by to help us hand out September’s Retail Tech Startup of the Month.
There’s all that, plus dirty soda, Vegas transportation preferences, and whether Chris would spare a square in a Chinese public toilet.
P.S. Be sure to check out all our other podcasts from the past week here, too: https://omnitalk.blog/category/podcast/
P.P.S. Also be sure to check out our podcast rankings on Feedspot
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#RetailNews #OpenAI #ChatGPT #CostcoExecutive #AmazonFresh #SproutsCoffee #DoorDashReservations #RetailPodcast #OmniTalk #RetailTech #GroceryInnovation #InstantCheckout
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Speaker ALearn more@ocampo capital.com hello, you are listening to Omnitalk's Retail Fast Five, ranked in the top 10% of all podcasts globally and currently the only retail podcast ranked in the top 100 of all business podcasts on Apple Podcasts.
Speaker AThe Retail Fast five is the podcast that we hope makes you feel a little smarter, but most importantly, a little happier each week too.
Speaker AAnd the Fast 5 is just one of the many great podcasts you can find from the Omnitalk Retail Podcast Network alongside our Retail Daily minute, which brings you a curated selection of the most important retail headlines every morning and our Retail Technology Spotlight series, which goes deep each week on the latest retail technology Trends.
Speaker AToday is October 1, 2025.
Speaker AI'm one of your hosts, Anne Mazinga.
Speaker BAnd I'm Chris Walton.
Speaker AAnd we are here once again to discuss all the top headlines from the past week making waves in the world of omnichannel retailing.
Speaker ABut before we get to the headlines, Chris, we are coming to you live from Grocery Shop Day four.
Speaker BDay four.
Speaker BYeah, I think it's day four now right yeah.
Speaker BDay five in Vegas.
Speaker BDay four of grocery shop.
Speaker BYes.
Speaker AOkay.
Speaker AOkay.
Speaker AThere are so many different calculations.
Speaker AWe don't know what day it is.
Speaker ABut we are, are gearing up for our last session today, which will be the key takeaways from grocery shops.
Speaker ASo make sure everyone to tune in to our podcast channels and we'll have those live for you in the next couple of days.
Speaker ABut Chris, I was telling Ella before we got on here, our producer, I was saying, you know, if you did a great job in both your keynotes, you interviewed Jack Sinclair of Sprouts and Tim Steiner of Vocado.
Speaker ABut I'm wondering if you had to pick one of those two and you got five more minutes on stage with them.
Speaker AOkay, which one would you have chosen?
Speaker BOh, Jesus.
Speaker AWhat would you, what would you have asked them in that five minutes?
Speaker BOh, my God, we're right.
Speaker BAnd we're day four in Vegas.
Speaker BDay five in Vegas.
Speaker BI know I'm able to start out the show here.
Speaker AYes, I'm curious.
Speaker AI'm curious.
Speaker BLet me think about that one, first of all.
Speaker BSo, yeah, Jack Sinclair and Tim Steiner.
Speaker BYou know Jack, Jack was great.
Speaker BJack was a great interview.
Speaker BVery affable guy.
Speaker BEveryone loved him.
Speaker BI think, I think he and I had a pretty solid conversation.
Speaker BI would have liked to have five more minutes with Tim, Tim Steiner.
Speaker BThere are more questions I would have liked to ask.
Speaker BAnd for example, the last question I asked him, which was really interesting to me, I said, what's your prediction for the future?
Speaker BHow is grocery shopping going to change?
Speaker BAnd he said something which I bet 95%, if not more of the audience disagrees with him, which he, you remember he said, he said he thinks there'll become a day where E Commerce fulfillment is actually the cheapest way to fulfill your customers demands for groceries, you know, and, and that's kind of staggering when you think about it.
Speaker BSo I would have liked to have.
Speaker BAnd he was pretty confident in it.
Speaker BSo I would have liked to have asked him, what is your degree of, of, of confidence in that prediction?
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAre you like 95?
Speaker B100.
Speaker BI think he would have said 100% if I'd asked him.
Speaker BHe's, you know, that's kind of my take.
Speaker BBut, you know, I would have liked to know if he would have hedged a little bit on that.
Speaker BYou know, if I said like by 10, I could see he was saying like by 10 years.
Speaker BI think if I remember right.
Speaker BSo, you know, that would be my man.
Speaker AI mean, I feel like we need to have flying cars at that time or like some sort of drone delivery that is more capable than anything for that to, to happen.
Speaker ABut what, I mean, what is your probability that that prediction comes through?
Speaker AI mean, do you think that's possible?
Speaker BI actually think it's.
Speaker BI think it's more likely than not.
Speaker BI don't know what time frame it will be, but I think, I think we'll hit an inflection point at some point.
Speaker BI'll probably talk about this on stage later today when we do the takeaways, but we'll hit some inflection point where the cost of automation and technology will go down.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BAnd those facilities will be easier to stand up.
Speaker BThey'll get more efficient as well.
Speaker BThe cost of delivering in the last mile will get more efficient too, as automation comes into play there.
Speaker BAnd then on the other side, the cost of labor will continue to go up in the stores too.
Speaker BSo at some point that line is going to cross.
Speaker BAnd Tim might be right.
Speaker BYou know, that's what's crazy when you think about it.
Speaker BAnd so that's why all this change with agentic AI and OpenAI getting into, you know, e commerce and Amazon pushing groceries like it's all the current day, but, you know, none of us know, 10 or 15 years out is going to look like.
Speaker AYeah, yeah, that's true.
Speaker AWell, we'll see what predictions come true and just how soon that will happen.
Speaker AAnd we'll play back the tape, we'll play back the tape of when you thought that and when Jack thought that.
Speaker AAnd it's Jack, Tim.
Speaker AI keep getting Tim and Jack.
Speaker BTim and Jack.
Speaker BWell, they're two garden variety names, you.
Speaker AKnow, we'll see if what Tim said comes to play.
Speaker AYes.
Speaker BYeah, yeah.
Speaker BAnd one's a Brit and one's a Scotsman, so.
Speaker BAnd very, very proud Scotsman too.
Speaker BDid you see where Jack Sinclair wore all blue on stage because of his proud Scottish heritage?
Speaker BWhat a great dude.
Speaker BAll right, should we get to the headlines?
Speaker BAnne?
Speaker AThe brave heart of grocery.
Speaker BYes, that's great.
Speaker BThat's great.
Speaker BThat's a great line.
Speaker AYes.
Speaker ALet's get to the headlines.
Speaker BAll right, in this week's Fast5, we've got news on early data on the impact of Costco's new early opening schedule.
Speaker BAmazon shutting down all its UK Amazon Fresh stores sprouts opening 20 in store coffee shops in California Doordash adding reservations and in store rewards to its app.
Speaker BAnd AWS's Daniela Stropa stops by to help us hand out this month's retail tech startup of the Month award.
Speaker BBut we begin today with big news.
Speaker BI've already talked about it.
Speaker BAnd big news out of OpenAI.
Speaker AYeah, I mean, I agree.
Speaker AI think this is maybe one of the biggest headlines that we're going to look back on.
Speaker AI'm already putting this down for headline of the year.
Speaker BFor me, it's probably a good point.
Speaker ASo headline number one.
Speaker AOpenAI announced ChatGPT Instant Checkout.
Speaker AAccording to CNBC, the new feature will allow users to make single item purchases directly from merchants through ChatGPT.
Speaker AInstant Checkout initially supports single item purchases from US Etsy sellers, and more than 1 million Shopify merchants are coming soon.
Speaker AThe feature is available to us ChatGPT+Pro and free users, and OpenAI plans to expand regional availability in the future.
Speaker AAlso of note, shares of Etsy closed up nearly 16% on Monday with the news and Shopify stock closed up more than 6%.
Speaker AChris, this is also not surprisingly, the A and M put you on the spot question.
Speaker AThey want to know, geez, let's make.
Speaker BMy brain work today.
Speaker AYes, yes.
Speaker AEvery, every headline, every time we come to you, it's going to be a zinger.
Speaker AOkay, Chris, A and M wants to know.
Speaker AAllowing shoppers to discover and buy products in ChatGPT without leaving the chat should steamroll the classic E Comm funnel from Search Cart to check out in one fell swoop.
Speaker AWhat are the biggest challenges brands and retailers face in making their online content and product categories agent friendly versus just consumer friendly?
Speaker BOh my God, there's so much to that question.
Speaker BAll right, well, the first thing I would say is the first thing that the retailers and the brands have to ask themselves is do they want to make their, you know, content agent friendly at all?
Speaker BYou know, we heard from David Dorff on the five insightful minutes last week, which is a great interview, folks.
Speaker BIf you have not listened to that yet, stop what you're doing right now, hit pause and go back to last week's episode and listen to what David had to say because it was very, very insightful.
Speaker BBut we learned from him.
Speaker BYou know, basically you have two options.
Speaker BYou can either block the bots or you can let them in.
Speaker BAnd if you want to accept them, then you have to get your site geo optimized and everyone's trying to figure out what the heck that means.
Speaker BThat's been a very big topic of conversation here at Grocery Shop.
Speaker BAnd then it sounds like if, if you're okay with that, then you also, it sounds like have to plug into Chat GPT for checkout in some Way, shape or form too.
Speaker BSo if you want to start experimenting with that, you want to start understanding what your customer sees from that experience and what you can offer them up to close the deal.
Speaker BI think that's the, that's the key thing here, that that's what you have to start experimenting with.
Speaker BWe heard Lauren Steinberg of Loblaw, who was incredibly impressive when we interviewed her, and she was very open with it.
Speaker BShe said, yeah, we're experimenting.
Speaker BWe're welcoming it.
Speaker BWe're experimenting with.
Speaker BWe don't know what it is until we try it.
Speaker BSo we're not going to, you know, we're not going to close ourselves down.
Speaker BWe're going to try to think and think and experiment our way through this.
Speaker BSo, Net.
Speaker BNet.
Speaker BI don't know.
Speaker BI mean, things are changing so fricking fast that I think that's the approach.
Speaker BBut I do wonder for me, and I just don't know, like, is there a Trojan horse here?
Speaker BIs this Pandora's box?
Speaker BHow many people will retrench and just try to thwart all bots from going to their site?
Speaker BWhich I don't know.
Speaker BI'd like to actually think about this in a boardroom with people to say, what are all the different, you know, outcomes that could happen?
Speaker BAnd like we said with Tim, which ones are more probable that they are going to happen?
Speaker BBecause I do worry about the Trojan horse effect here too, that all this will just end up fueling OpenAI and anyone else that tries to do this in the long run.
Speaker BSo I don't know.
Speaker BI honestly have no idea.
Speaker BI mean, that's.
Speaker BThat's my big takeaway here.
Speaker AYeah, I don't think anybody does.
Speaker AI mean, that is resoundingly clear among all of the retailers and brands that I feel like we've come across in the last few days in Vegas at grocery shop.
Speaker AI think the biggest challenge is that no one's ready for it.
Speaker ABut I see I'm going to lean a little bit heavier because I do think this is like, you know, the Google of.
Speaker AOf 2025 lean heavier.
Speaker BWhich way?
Speaker AI think I would lean heavier in preparing for bot traffic because there's a study that just came out from similar web that says that consumers that use search platforms like, like ChatGPT are seven times more likely to convert.
Speaker ASo I think retailers have to come up for a plan of how to do both, how to sell to agents, how to show up in those searches, and then figuring out how to still manage and create a desirable experience for the consumers that are coming directly to their site.
Speaker ABut I think there's two things that have to happen for or that retailers should be focused on for them to be successful in addition to, you know, just starting to test like Lauren Steinberg was talking about from blah blah, blah.
Speaker AThe first thing I think it's cultural changes including, including like new teams.
Speaker AI know back a few weeks ago when Lululemon hired their chief AI officer, we were kind of like, does that make sense?
Speaker BBut yeah, David Dorff said that too.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker AI actually think that the more that we're hearing about this from retailers, it's going to require this creation of a cross functional team that kind of helps think about this outside of the silos.
Speaker AAnd then the second thing is, is I think they're going to have to rely more heavily on third party content from both creators and retailers are going to have to rely on brands for that content so that they can start testing this and so that they can start showing up more readily in some of those agentic type searches.
Speaker ASo there is a lot ahead for consumers, there's a lot ahead for the retailers and brands in this space.
Speaker ABut it's here now, like this is, this is the headline to me that says that like there's no more like consideration.
Speaker AIt's here, you have to be tested.
Speaker BIt.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAnd Etsy is a perfect partner too because what did David say?
Speaker BAnd he said that we're going to start to see this explode at the holiday season because you can literally and you know, Etsy is perfect for that because you're like, hey, I want to get a cool, you know, unique gift for my wife or my, you know, girlfriend or whatever.
Speaker BAnd now I can put that in a chat.
Speaker BThey can help me even like potentially, you know, refine that search and then Etsy will pop up and you know, give me something really unique.
Speaker AIt's so easy.
Speaker AI just posted a video last night to LinkedIn of my search and in a matter of seconds I have the click to buy and I have a gift from Etsy.
Speaker ALike it was so smooth.
Speaker ASo check out that video.
Speaker ATry it out for yourself.
Speaker AIt's live now.
Speaker AYou can see, you can just see how, how this is really going to redefine how we find and discover products.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BThe other part about it too is like the Shopify angle.
Speaker BSo Shopify is coming, right?
Speaker BLike the thing for me is like why would Shopify do this?
Speaker BBecause can't chatgpt end up becoming Shopify in the long run, like an easy way to stand up sites.
Speaker BSo that's why I'm like the Trojan horse dynamics here are craz or is Shopify working some deal on the back end with open AI?
Speaker BWho the hell knows.
Speaker BBut anyway it's it's fun to watch and scary too.
Speaker BAll right, Headline number two Costco's extra hour for executive members has shifted visits earlier, it appears, According to Placer AI a Placer AI blog post our friends at Placer AI since June 30, 2025, Costco has offered executive members an extra hour to shop at many warehouses and by September the PERC expanded company wide.
Speaker BThe additional morning hour appears to have encouraged some executive members to shift their trips earlier in the day, which in turn has reduced traffic concentration during late morning and afternoon peaks.
Speaker BShoppers using early access also seem to shop more efficiently, with Costco seeing a rise in 30 to 45 minute visits and a drop in 45 to 60 minute visits for following the implementation of the extended hours.
Speaker BReportedly, the policy has also improved customer experience without requiring additional staff.
Speaker BAnd is this early data from Placer clearly indicative of early morning shopping being a big win for Costco?
Speaker A100% I actually think.
Speaker B100%.
Speaker BNo hedge at all.
Speaker ANo, I think this is another big headline because I think this has changed the Costco shopping experience from a once a week or once a month stock up trip to a daily or multiple times per week trip.
Speaker ABecause if you look at the data from Business Insider, one of the biggest demographics shopping during this time, this executive time from 9 to 10am is millennials and younger families.
Speaker ASo this means that going there just to grab milk, eggs, diapers, whatever you need on the way to work, you know, you know, as your morning errand run like now, this is going to be as quick for people as a trip to Walmart or to Kroger to get those things.
Speaker AI mean they're saying 30 minute shopping trips, that means you can get in, get what you need and get out.
Speaker AAnd that changes what Costco is for me as a grocery retailer, as a mass retailer, in the whole scheme of like do I go there today?
Speaker ANo, I think it's completely out of the consideration set for people because of the time and the traffic that you have to deal with.
Speaker ASo I think this is a huge move for Costco and best of all, they don't have to do anything with employees.
Speaker AThey're not adding any overhead.
Speaker AThey're just collecting more like this additional subscription revenue and I would certainly pay for it.
Speaker ALike I think people are going to, right?
Speaker ASo to me this is a genius move by Costco And I'm really excited to see, like, in the next six months even, hopefully, Placer will put some more data out for us.
Speaker ABut I'm.
Speaker AI'm interested to see what this does for Costco's business.
Speaker ABut would you pay extra for this membership?
Speaker AAre you going to go to Costco without having to deal with any other people?
Speaker BOh, I don't know.
Speaker BI don't know if I'd pay extra for it, but I think, you know, if.
Speaker BIf this was important to me, I would pay extra for it.
Speaker BYou know, I think, you know, what I got think about was the line from Jaws.
Speaker BI'm going to need a bigger boat.
Speaker BI think if people are doing what you're saying, they're going to need a bigger fridge.
Speaker BBut, yeah, I think I'm with you.
Speaker BI mean, I was trying to think of, like, why would this data be wrong in any way, shape or form, or what could we be missing?
Speaker BMaybe not wrong, but, like, what could we be missing in the data?
Speaker BAnd it's really hard to say.
Speaker BLike, I think I'm with you.
Speaker BIt's like 100%.
Speaker BIt seems like a good move.
Speaker BIt's a total case study in operations management.
Speaker BIt feels like something I would have studied and SAT and debated in, like, the Harvard Business School back in the day.
Speaker BLike, like you said, the staff is already there.
Speaker BCostco has a known congestion problem.
Speaker BYou have people that are paying more for this executive membership, so they want to pro.
Speaker BEveryone wants to get out with less hassle.
Speaker BLike, that's kind of a universal truth, right?
Speaker BNobody wants to.
Speaker BNobody wants to, you know, deal with the parking lots and the amount of people that are Costco.
Speaker AI have to do like a sanity break, like, in my car, like a meditation before I go in there.
Speaker ALike, okay, this is.
Speaker BNo, it's like the worst of passive aggressive Minnesotans.
Speaker BWhen you go to.
Speaker BWhen you go to the Costco parking lot, it's terrible.
Speaker BSo, like, yeah, so, like, and, and.
Speaker BAnd the other thing, too is those people are going to be easier for the store employees to manage, too, because they're just getting in and out.
Speaker BThey're not the ones that need a lot of help.
Speaker BThey're not the ones that are going to complain.
Speaker BThey got it.
Speaker BThey're on a mission.
Speaker BThey want to get in and out.
Speaker BSo.
Speaker BSo I think it's incredibly.
Speaker BI don't use this word very often, but I think it's incredibly savvy by Costco and not surprised it's working.
Speaker BI mean, that's the fundamental thing here.
Speaker AI think the key thing, if you got me thinking though, if they are going to watch out for something, I think they have to avoid problem at the airport where suddenly everyone has this executive membership and I think about that purpose too.
Speaker BSo it just shifts, it just ships it to a different time of day.
Speaker ARight, right.
Speaker BThat's a big issue though, potentially.
Speaker BThey got to watch for that.
Speaker AAll right, let's go to headline number three.
Speaker AAmazon is closing all of its fresh grocery stores in the U.K. chris.
Speaker AAll of them.
Speaker AAccording to CNBC, the company said in a Tuesday blog that it is preparing to close all 19 of its fresh UK stores, quote, following a thorough evaluation of business operations and the very substantial growth opportunities in online delivery, end quote.
Speaker AFive of the fresh locations are expected to be converted into whole food stores, Amazon said.
Speaker AChris, what do you think of Amazon closing its fresh stores in the uk?
Speaker ADo you think the move says anything about Amazon's grocery ambitions here in the us?
Speaker BOh, wow.
Speaker BThis is a lot of great stories this week.
Speaker BI got a number of thoughts on this one too.
Speaker BAnd I mean, I think first, first off, it confirms what we've always said on this show, which is grocery is incredibly hard.
Speaker BIt's incredibly difficult to unseat the incumbents with well established value propositions and scale already under their belt.
Speaker BLike it's, it's damn near impossible when you think about it.
Speaker BLike, there's very few examples of people doing it successfully.
Speaker BIn fact, I can't even really name one.
Speaker BAnd then the second part I'd make, which is why I'm personally short on Amazon's grocery ambitions here in the States, is they can't win on freshness and quality because they don't have the scale of their operations to get the best produce right and the best fresh meat.
Speaker BThey can't win on price because they're going up against Aldi, Walmart, Costco, Sam's Club, you name it.
Speaker BIt's going to be hard to break into that.
Speaker BThey could try, but it's not, it's going to be hard to get the brand recognition for that.
Speaker BAnd then it's impossible to win on experience or like or, you know, anything of that nature because you don't have stores and grocery shopping is a very local and personal experience for many folks.
Speaker BSo I just look at Lido, who we interviewed, their CEO of the US here, you know, at grocery shop Joel Rampel, and they're having trouble, you know, establishing their value proposition in the United States for those very same reasons.
Speaker BAnd, and here's the thing, they have 200 stores already.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker BAnd have been at it for a long time.
Speaker BSo.
Speaker BSo Amazon Fresh in the US to me is dead on arrival.
Speaker BIt's doa.
Speaker BAnd, and here's the other point though.
Speaker BI think this is important too, and I'm curious what you think on this.
Speaker BI think they're making similar mistakes with Whole Foods.
Speaker BLike this week they said a grocery shop, they're going away from the whole paycheck connotation, which I think that actually is what you want people to say about your brand.
Speaker BYou want it to be prestigious, you want it to be something aspirational.
Speaker BAnd now you're trying to go away from that.
Speaker BIt just shows me that you're, you're so frickin lost here in terms of what's going on.
Speaker AYeah, I think that, I mean you made some great points there.
Speaker AI think the, the real point of contention, I think for Amazon here is that Sprouts, Lidl, Aldi, all of these players are beating their main mission.
Speaker AWe heard from, you know, all of them that they're really focused on only opening in locations where they can have distribution centers close by where they can ensure that they're getting you the freshest, most local as possible product for the lowest price.
Speaker AAnd if, I mean, Whole Foods isn't going to be able to compete with that, their model is just not set up that way either.
Speaker AAnd these new players are already the go to on price.
Speaker AAnd so I think that that's the, that's the challenge here.
Speaker AAmazon can't survive on tech.
Speaker AConvenience and tech is not enough.
Speaker AIt's about price, it's about quality.
Speaker AAnd as you mentioned, Amazon just doesn't have the scale or the infrastructure to do either one of those well right now.
Speaker ASo I'm, I'm, I'm in agreement.
Speaker AI think it's very concerning.
Speaker AThe one thing question that I had for you though is like, why the move towards Whole Foods, do you think why are they keeping these five stores in the UK and doing a Whole Foods concept for like what benefit is there there?
Speaker AAre they trying to see if they can test, you know, this low price freshness like the new Whole Foods not whole paycheck concept?
Speaker BLike, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker BMy, my hunch is some consultant did some Venn diagram of the opportunity of Whole Foods in the, in the UK market and they said, okay, let's try it here.
Speaker BAnd you know, Amazon's famous for experimenting, so who knows if it'll work too.
Speaker BAnd sure, who knows what concept they're doing?
Speaker BMaybe they're Trying their daily shop concept that they're all big on here too, you know, I don't know.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BThe one caveat I would have in terms of what we're saying, it goes back to we said at the outset too, which is like, you know, it seems like Amazon, as much as they don't want to admit it, I think Amazon already knows what we're saying and that's why they're pushing the online side of the business so hard.
Speaker BYeah, the online side of the business is still so hard for the reasons we said.
Speaker BIt's.
Speaker BYou still face all the same factors in terms of differentiation, but at the end of the day, like, you know, you go back to Tim Center's comment, can they get to a point where it is the cheapest, most preferred way for consumers to shop?
Speaker BNot now, but 10 to 15 years out.
Speaker BBut I still think Amazon has a tough challenge to win that battle because Walmart is better positioned in the US Even, you know, even Walmart, maybe even Kroger or maybe even the, you know, somebody in that realm is better positioned for all the reasons we said so.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker BIt just, I just think it's going to be a hard battle.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AYeah, I agree.
Speaker AAnother fun one to watch though for the next couple months here.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BWhat a great show so far.
Speaker BAll right, now let's bring Danele onto the show.
Speaker BLet's give a big army talk welcome back to AWS's Danele Stropa to hand out this month's Retail Tech Startup of the Month award.
Speaker BDanelle is the worldwide technical lead for AWS Partners in Retail at Amazon Web Services, where he drives the technical strategy for AWS Partners in Digital Commerce, Customer Engagement and Generative AI Danelia, it's great to have you back.
Speaker BWithout further ado, who is September's Retail Tech Startup of the Month?
Speaker BRight.
Speaker CSo Chris, this month we are highlighting Tritium Tradium is a company that's really revolutionizing the product experience and retail media networks for brands and retailers.
Speaker CRight.
Speaker CSo there are transforming the way that brands, retailers, they create, they manage, they even monetize on their digital product assets through advanced 3D visualization technology.
Speaker CI think one thing that is quite interesting about what Tridium is doing is the way that they enable brands to create immersive advertising formats that can then be displayed across a variety of digital touch points from the e commerce sites to retail media network to different form of displays and different sizes as well.
Speaker ADenali, what's an example of that that we might see or something that our audience might Be a little bit more familiar with.
Speaker CSure.
Speaker CSo let's say that you have a travel coming up, you're looking for a new suitcase perhaps.
Speaker CAnd the ad that you see, instead of just seeing a flat image of that suitcase, you actually see the 3D view of the 3D visualization of that suitcase.
Speaker CYou can actually spin it around, you can probably interact with the ad itself, you can open it up and you can actually see experience almost the product itself before getting to that purchase point.
Speaker CSo it increased the confidence in the buyers make that purchase decision and it also provides a better experience throughout the shopping journey.
Speaker AYeah, you definitely have more confidence in that, that piece that you're investing in.
Speaker AWhat do you think sets 3D apart then from some of the other providers in the space?
Speaker CRight.
Speaker CSo I think there's a couple of things here.
Speaker CObviously the, the impact on retail media and advertising I think is quite important.
Speaker CAs retailers are looking to grow their retail media network presence.
Speaker CThe technology that Raydium provides really enables them to offer these more engaging formats like we just described.
Speaker CRight.
Speaker CAnd their customers, Tradeum's customers are already seeing the results in terms of reducing the cost to create these type of assets, but also in terms of increasing conversion.
Speaker CSo a 12% boost in conversion is quite a good result, I would say.
Speaker CTritium is also the first B Corp. Certified spatial web infrastructure company and this gives them a bit of the edge as well, making them one of the most sustainable option in the market to create this type of asset.
Speaker CSo I think that's quite unique and quite important to highlight as well.
Speaker AAnd Daneli, why is sustainability so important in a software product?
Speaker ALike, I've never even heard of that.
Speaker ALike you said, they're the first ones.
Speaker CYeah, I think the way that the industry and the trends are going, especially with these, with more and more AI powered workloads, I think it's important for customers, but for everyone really to keep that in mind.
Speaker CThese workloads they generate, they consume a lot of power, a lot of energy, compute power.
Speaker CAnd so working with a company that really keeps that in mind and still gives you excellent results, but also with an eye on the environmental impact, I think is quite unique and something that again, we all should be taking into account.
Speaker BSo Daniela, let's get you out of here on this then.
Speaker BSo I've heard you say conversion, definitely something that you have to be thinking about in this space.
Speaker BThe sustainability angle is really interesting.
Speaker BThat's something I had never thought about in terms of software, in terms of the computing power that you got to be factoring in here.
Speaker BBut I'm curious, like, are there other implications that retailers, retail executives listening specifically need to be thinking about three 3D technology on their websites or on their platforms?
Speaker BLike, how quickly should they be rushing after this?
Speaker CYeah, definitely.
Speaker CThe, the ad conversion revenue stream.
Speaker CI think those are things to, to keep in mind.
Speaker CSustainability is going to be a bigger and bigger part in our decisions going forward.
Speaker CI think one of the other aspects quite unique to Tritium and something that can have a long term implication as well, is their ability to provide further insights on how users are interacting with products and then generate insights from that.
Speaker CAnd those insights can obviously be used to optimize your advertising strategies, but then also to influence new products and new product creations and how we want to maybe launch a new line or anything like that.
Speaker CSo those are things that tritium provides and I think that's also been recognized by the industry.
Speaker CDeloitte has selected Tritium as one of the top five fastest growing tech companies in emea.
Speaker CAnd so I think that also suggests that they are really well positioned to shape the future of written media and advertising and 3D visualization.
Speaker BGreat stuff, Ari.
Speaker BLooking forward to next month.
Speaker AThanks.
Speaker CThank you.
Speaker BOkay, headline number four.
Speaker BFour Sprouts says it's going to open 20 in store cafes across Southern California, According to Grocery Dive.
Speaker BSprouts Farmers Market announced Wednesday it is expanding its partnership with Klatch Coffee.
Speaker BKlatch Coffee.
Speaker BGood alliteration there.
Speaker BAlthough it's not really alliteration because it's a K and a C to open 20 new in store cafes.
Speaker BThe specialty grocer plans to open cafes inside stores in Southern California in two phases, beginning late this year and lasting into 2026.
Speaker BAnd the story about sprouts adding 20 coffee shops to new stores this week definitely intrigued you because I know you wanted to include it in this week's Fast 5 roundup.
Speaker BWhy was that?
Speaker AWell, I think we ran into Nick Conant from Sprouts.
Speaker AYeah, the COO here at Grocery Shop.
Speaker AAnd we were talking to him about this.
Speaker AI was like, I'm really curious about what, you know, what this is all about.
Speaker AWhat do you think about it?
Speaker AAnd I think what became abundantly clear during that conversation is that this, this is just adding an enhancement to the Sprouts experience in a way that Sprouts can uniquely provide their customers.
Speaker AThe Sprouts trip is a destination.
Speaker AThe consumer is already going there in a different mindset.
Speaker AThey're not going there with like a bang, bang, bang.
Speaker AI gotta get as many things as possible like that's an additional trip.
Speaker ASprouts knows that.
Speaker AAnd so they're making this just a little added convenience while you're there to get you to feel like, yes, go talk to the chief foraging officer's team that's in the store showing you their new products.
Speaker AGo into the beauty and vitamin area and spend some time talking to the sprouts associate there to learn about the new products that they have there.
Speaker ALike it's a completely different mindset.
Speaker ASo this to me is like, you know, getting a glass of champagne while you're shopping at a fancy department store, like getting a locally like unique independent brands cup of coffee while you're shopping just is so on point for them.
Speaker AAnd I think it's just going to make the Sprouts experience even better.
Speaker BYeah, I mean, I agree.
Speaker BI think, you know, I don't, I don't think the move itself is like that big and noteworthy because it's been done before.
Speaker BBut I think you put it in the context of what Sprouts is.
Speaker BIt's, it's, you know, it's important.
Speaker BSo like, you know the phrase I keep using after talking to Jack on stage and, and I've talked about this, we've talked about this before because we talked about sprouts being the 2024 retailer of the year, if I remember right.
Speaker BBut it's dry powder.
Speaker BThey have so much dry powder in their k. Get sprouts in terms of things that are going to help growth.
Speaker BSo like you said, and they've got a value proposition with a defined target market.
Speaker BThey've got an optimized store prototype that is smaller.
Speaker BThey actually went smaller.
Speaker BAnd it's working, it's showing the payback.
Speaker BYeah, they're only in 24 states right now, so they've got a ton of growth opportunity.
Speaker BJust geographically they don't even have a loyalty program, man, that's the craziest thing.
Speaker BThey don't even have a loyalty program stood up yet.
Speaker AAnd now they're started it, right?
Speaker BYeah, yeah.
Speaker BThey're just starting to roll it out nationally.
Speaker BSo.
Speaker BAnd now they're putting coffee shops in to, you know, gives another reason that gives another traffic hook to go to Sprouts versus somewhere else.
Speaker BIt also gives you a better basket size because you know, you get the coffee.
Speaker BAnd to your point, Anne, here's the other thing.
Speaker BYou shop with a coffee, you're not shopping as quickly.
Speaker BAnd when you're not shopping as quickly in grocery, you tend to buy more stuff.
Speaker BAnd that's the key here.
Speaker BSo, so They've got so many, so many bullets in the gun, so to speak, to, to go out and continue to grow.
Speaker BSo I wish, I wish, I wish there's probably many CEOs that wish they had as many growth opportunities lying on the ground for them to pick up as Sprouts and Jackson Claire have in.
Speaker BIn my opinion.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker A100.
Speaker AI think that was one of my favorite takeaways from what he said when you were talking to him on stage.
Speaker AHe's like, like, we're only going to the areas where we have the audience that we want, we have the distribution close by to, like, to ensure that this product of Sprouts is going to be a knockout in every market that we go into was so, so impressive.
Speaker AAll right, well, let's go on to the last headline, Chris.
Speaker ADoorDash has launched going out, adding reservations and insta rewards to its app.
Speaker AAccording to a DoorDash press release, the launch makes dining out more rewarding for consumers while unlocking new opportunities for restaurants to attract diners and fill tables.
Speaker AFor the first time, diners will be able to book restaurant reservations directly through the DoorDash app and earn credits with every booking toward future DoorDash orders.
Speaker AAnd via the new Going out tab in the DoorDash app, users can also discover and redeem exclusive in store offers and earn rewards for repeat visits to their favorite establishment.
Speaker AChris, are you buying or selling?
Speaker AMaking your dinner reservations via DoorDash.
Speaker AAnd some people may already know the answer to it if they're listening to the Retail Daily minute.
Speaker BYeah, Right, right.
Speaker BGood call.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BOr if they listen to this show at any point in the time where we talked about DoorDash.
Speaker BNo.
Speaker BAnd I'm going to full on Billy Joel here.
Speaker BI'm, I'm, I'm going out.
Speaker BYou know, like, how many things that song.
Speaker BBut yeah, moving out.
Speaker AI'm moving.
Speaker BI know it's moving out.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ABut.
Speaker AYes.
Speaker AOkay.
Speaker AOkay.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAll right.
Speaker BSo, you know, I was thinking, and when I heard this story yesterday, you know, the number one app that anyone would have to pry out of my dead Cold Hands is DoorDash.
Speaker BLike, I can get by without Walmart Plus.
Speaker BI'm curious what you think too, actually, because I know you're a big Walmart plus fan.
Speaker BI can get by without Walmart Plus.
Speaker BI can definitely get by without Amazon because Now I use Walmart plus over Amazon.
Speaker BBut DoorDash, to me, if you took it away, it would drastically change my life.
Speaker BAnd now with this, these incentives like booking restaurants and then getting incentivized to go out.
Speaker BThat makes it even more sticky to me.
Speaker BSo I'm all in on this one too.
Speaker BSign me up today.
Speaker BI can't wait till these features roll out.
Speaker BYou tried them, right?
Speaker BThey're not quite ready for prime time yet, but I can't wait till I get them available to me, especially the reservations.
Speaker BAnd yeah, I'm like a kid on Christmas with this one.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AI mean I think this is like as close to a full service super app that we can get.
Speaker AI mean, I think that.
Speaker BI know I didn't want to drop that word because I'm not quite there yet, but yeah, I hear what you're saying.
Speaker AI think it's, it's on the way to it.
Speaker AI mean, I don't think we'll ever have super that Asia does.
Speaker AYeah, exactly.
Speaker ABut like in terms of like a full on utility, like what app can you have right now that can basically give you the convenience of, of any commerce experience, including dining, which is a very sticky use case for a lot of consumers at your fingertips.
Speaker AAnd that is 100% DoorDash.
Speaker AYou know, the only, the only thing if we're.
Speaker AAgain, I was like, what, what could be a challenge here or what, what would be something that from a user's perspective I really going to watch out for.
Speaker AAnd the only thing I could think of was like, this has to be like in ingrained in the doordash app experience without me having to like do the Groupon days where I'm like, here's my code and here's my barcode.
Speaker AAnd I think that, you know, like at a restaurant experience, like if I have to do any of that or it's not just automatically.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BCollection geolocated or something.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AYes.
Speaker AWhich, I mean, I think the Lyft, the Lyft integration that they've done already gives me confidence that they've thought through that process.
Speaker ASo, you know, they'll tie into the credit card that you have stored in your doordash account or something.
Speaker ASo if you're using that to pay at the restaurant, they'll be able to like, like sync that all up on the back end.
Speaker ABut I think that's the only thing that, that could provide a more sour experience for a customer is, you know, what they'll actually have to do.
Speaker AAnd like you said, we haven't been able to try this out first, so we haven't seen it in action.
Speaker AAnd what, what this experience actually looks like, but I think a huge benefit not just to consumers but also to the restaurants who are participating in this who are seeing a pretty significant increase in traffic to their restaurants, not just for the doordash pickup and delivery.
Speaker ASo that.
Speaker AThat's the other part here that I think will give them even more momentum as they continue to test this in more cities.
Speaker AAll right, let's move on to the lightning round.
Speaker AChris.
Speaker BLet's do it.
Speaker AQuestion number one.
Speaker AMountain Dew is coming out with Mountain Dew dirty.
Speaker AA dirty cream soda meant to appeal to Gen Z consumers and the dirty soda trend.
Speaker AWhich do.
Speaker AWould you do dirty or classic?
Speaker BOh, and a dirty cream soda.
Speaker BThat sounds fantastic.
Speaker BI, you know, I like many things dirty.
Speaker BWhat?
Speaker BI don't even know what the dirty soda trend is, though.
Speaker BWhat is that?
Speaker AOh, my gosh.
Speaker AHave you noticed?
Speaker BSounds good, but I don't know what it is.
Speaker AOh, you have to be on TikTok.
Speaker AAnd the real.
Speaker AThe Secret Lives of Mormon wives is the best.
Speaker AThat's the best.
Speaker ALike, education for dirty soda, I think.
Speaker ABut basically, dirty soda is like adding coffee creamer or like a flavored syrup, like a coffee syrup to a soda, and mixing all these concoctions.
Speaker ASo, like, there's a whole like an.
Speaker BItalian soda back in the day.
Speaker BThat's what we're talking about here.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AI mean, that's close enough, but it's dirty because they're adding other ingredients to it.
Speaker ABut my favorite words to say, they're all.
Speaker AThey're expanding all across.
Speaker AWe just got a couple of these dirty soda fountains here in Minnesota, so you'll have to check them out.
Speaker AYeah, but dirty do never.
Speaker ANever something I thought I'd be talking about in.
Speaker AIn my entire life.
Speaker BDirty cream soda sounds good.
Speaker BI like a good cream soda, too.
Speaker BBut speaking of dirty, you're in Las Vegas.
Speaker BAre you taking a taxi or an Uber when you're here?
Speaker AI think we found if you're at the airport, you take a taxi.
Speaker AIf you are anywhere else, I would say Uber, I think.
Speaker BReally?
Speaker AI think it's the most affordable and convenient way to get around Vegas.
Speaker ABut no, you're just all taxi all the time.
Speaker BYeah, I don't know.
Speaker BI don't really care.
Speaker BI'm definitely.
Speaker BI'm definitely taxi from the airport for sure.
Speaker BLike, the Uber line from the airport is a disaster.
Speaker BIt's absolutely a disaster.
Speaker AOh, all right, Chris.
Speaker AThis one made me think of you instantly.
Speaker BOh, great.
Speaker APublic toilets in China are now requiring patrons to scan a QR code and watch an ad in order to gain access to.
Speaker ATo the toilet paper.
Speaker AAs someone who carries their own toilet paper, would you spare a Square.
Speaker AIf you were in China and somebody didn't have their phone with them in the bathroom, which I don't think is a bad thing, what, what would you do there?
Speaker BYeah, I mean, I probably, I think, I think I would spare a square.
Speaker BI mean, I've offered my, my spare roll of toilet paper to you and we've traveled.
Speaker BYou've never taken me up on it.
Speaker BSo I'm not, I'm not sure actually anyone would want a square of my spare.
Speaker ABut it depends.
Speaker AIt depends on the situation.
Speaker AIf you don't have, you can't watch.
Speaker AI mean, if it's nothing or some.
Speaker AA stranger spare square.
Speaker BRight, that's true.
Speaker BThat's a good point.
Speaker BLike the timing of the offering is important here.
Speaker BSo if I offer it free, it's probably going to get turned out, but if it needs to be offered post, it's probably going to be accepted.
Speaker BThat's what you're telling me here?
Speaker AYes, yes, yes.
Speaker BAll right.
Speaker BThat actually makes a ton of logical sense.
Speaker AAnd all right, sometimes I do that.
Speaker ASometimes I make sense.
Speaker AIt's not often, but that's funny.
Speaker ABut when it comes to toilet paper stalls in China, ye.
Speaker AYes, I can sense of sensibility there.
Speaker BAll right, all right, last one.
Speaker BNicole Kidman and Keith Urban are calling it quits after 19 years of marriage.
Speaker BMy question for you is this.
Speaker BWhich of the two do you think is more likely to jump into the dating pool first?
Speaker AOh, for sure.
Speaker AKeith Urban.
Speaker BI. I'm already there.
Speaker AI'm willing to bet that he's already been jumping in the dating pool and that's why the.
Speaker AThis 19 year of marriage is coming to an end.
Speaker ABut look, I think Nicole Kidman is just gonna go off and live her best life if she isn't already with Reese Witherspoon and Sandra Bullock and all of her like girlfriends of the same Hollywood era who are now single.
Speaker AJust like doing them.
Speaker AI think it's amazing.
Speaker ASo go Nicole.
Speaker AI'm very excited to see what happens to you next.
Speaker AAnd she's a needed man.
Speaker AShe's great.
Speaker BShe had that movie where she like had that affair with like the 20 something too.
Speaker AYeah, baby Girl.
Speaker AI still haven't seen it, but I heard it.
Speaker BThat was called Baby Girl.
Speaker BAll right, well, speaking of baby girls, happy birthday today to Brie Larson, Beck Bennett and to the lovely Maria Von Trapp herself, the great Julie Andrews who turns anything but a baby.
Speaker B90 years old today.
Speaker BAnd 90 years old, Mary Chicken.
Speaker B90 years old today.
Speaker BWow.
Speaker BYeah, congrats to her.
Speaker BAnd remember, if you can only read or listen to one retail blog in the business, Make It Army Talk, the only retail media outlet run by two former executives from a current top 10 US retailer.
Speaker BOur Fast Five podcast is the quickest, fastest rundown of all the week's top news, and our daily newsletter, the Retail Daily Minute, tells you all you need to know each day to stay on top of your game as a retail executive and also regularly feature special content, content that is exclusive to us and that Ann and I take a lot of pride in doing just for you.
Speaker BThanks as always for listening in.
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Speaker BYou can follow us today by simply going to YouTube.com omnitalkretail so until next week, on behalf of all of us at Omnitalk Retail and myself and even producer Ella in the background, as always, be careful out there.