Walmart’s Auto Center “Of The Future,” Amazon’s Rx Kiosk & Kroger’s Odd Digital Strategy | Fast Five
In this week's Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Simbe, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, and ClearDemand, Chris and Anne discussed:
- Amazon's new in-office prescription kiosks at One Medical locations (Source)
- Walmart opening an auto-care center of the future (Source)
- Kroger using DashMart's for online delivery (Source)
- Walmart partnering with Wiliot to improve inventory tracking (Source)
- The big 3 third-party grocery and food delivery marketplaces – DoorDash, Instacart, and Uber Eats – teaming up with ChatGPT (Source)
And Nick Matthews, Wiliot's Vice President of Solutions and Architecture, will be joining the show soon to provide more details about Walmart's massive Bluetooth sensor rollout.
There's all that, plus The Body Shop's return, The Running Man sequel, JP Morgan's $3 billion office tower, and whether Chris dreams of having his own executive washroom.
P.S. Be sure to check out all our other podcasts from the past week here, too: omnitalk.blog/category/podcast/
P.P.S. Also be sure to check out our podcast rankings on Apple Podcasts and on Feedspot
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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 Omnitok 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 AIt's October 15, 2025.
Speaker AI'm one of your hosts, Anne Mazinga.
Speaker BAnd I'm Chris Walton and we are.
Speaker AHere once again to discuss all the top headlines from the past week making waves in the world of omnichannel retailing.
Speaker AAnd Chris, before we get into the headlines, I just want to alert our listeners to all of the incredible LinkedIn Live events that we have coming up as we are in Q4 and we're getting ready for the holidays.
Speaker AWe've got some pretty exciting lineup here or we have a pretty exciting lineup coming up here.
Speaker AWe have SPS Commerce coming up.
Speaker AThey're talking about five things you can still do to get ready for Black Friday.
Speaker AWe have htech coming up, talking about computer vision and some avoidable disasters and computer vision deployment.
Speaker ASo that's going to be a good one.
Speaker BThat one sounds spicy.
Speaker BThat one sounds really spicy.
Speaker AIt is going to be spicy.
Speaker AAnd then we have our favorite of all favorite podcasts.
Speaker AWe do this twice a year.
Speaker AChris, I'm going to give you the honors in talking about the last one that we have coming up.
Speaker BOh, the last one?
Speaker BYeah, the last one I'm really excited about.
Speaker BWe're bringing back Ethan Chernofsky of Placer AI to to join us and he's doing what we're calling this year the way too early 2025 recap.
Speaker BBecause we're planning to debut it in early November before all the hullabaloo of the holiday starts and everyone gets distracted.
Speaker BAnd quite honestly, there's not that much difference in the, in the last month anyway.
Speaker BSo when you're looking back on a whole year of trends in retail.
Speaker BSo.
Speaker BSo yeah, I'm excited about it.
Speaker BEthan's always good fun and good stuff to have on the program.
Speaker BSo yeah, you should definitely check that out.
Speaker BYou can Register via our LinkedIn page.
Speaker BYou can also register via our daily newsletter that comes your way each and every morning.
Speaker AExcellent.
Speaker AYes, check, definitely check those out.
Speaker ALots of good information to have.
Speaker AAnd if you aren't already, follow us on LinkedIn so that you can get access to those recordings once they go live also.
Speaker AAll right, Chris, let's get to the headlines.
Speaker BAll right.
Speaker BAnd in this week's Fast5, we've got news on Walmart opening an auto care center of the future.
Speaker BKroger using dashmart for online delivery.
Speaker BWalmart partnering with Williot to improve inventory tracking.
Speaker BThe big three third party grocery delivery and food delivery marketplaces.
Speaker BDoorDash, Instacart and UberEats teaming up with ChatGPT.
Speaker BBut we begin today with more quote unquote of the future news.
Speaker BGoing to do my Joy Tribbian thing of the future news out of Amazon.
Speaker AAnd yes, headline number one, Amazon's new in office prescription kiosks allow patients to pick up their prescriptions immediately after their medical appointment.
Speaker AAccording to an Amazon press release, starting December 2025, Amazon Pharmacy kiosks will be available to patients at One Medical locations across the greater Los Angeles area including downtown la, west la, Beverly Hills, Long beach and West Hollywood, with expansion to additional 1 medical offices and other locations soon after.
Speaker APowered by Amazon's logistics and technology, each kiosk is stocked with a curated inventory of medications tailored to the prescribing patterns of the specific office location.
Speaker AThe process is very simple.
Speaker AYou create an Amazon pharmacy account@pharmacy.Amazon.com you then schedule an appointment at any participating One Medical location and ask your provider to send your prescription to Amazon Pharmacy at checkout.
Speaker AIn the Amazon app, you can select the kiosk pickup and pay with your preferred method.
Speaker AYou'll get a QR code to scan at the kiosk to pick up your medication.
Speaker AAn Amazon pharmacist will review your medication and it will be ready for pickup within minutes.
Speaker AThrough the Amazon app, patients can see upfront costs including available discount and estimated insurance co pays.
Speaker AThey can pay for their prescriptions and if needed, connect directly to an Amazon Pharmacy licensed pharmacist via secure video or phone consultation.
Speaker AChris, this is all.
Speaker AAlso the A and M put you on the spot question right away with the first headline.
Speaker BOkay, all right, I'm ready.
Speaker BAd Bring it, bring it.
Speaker BA and M. I'm ready for it today.
Speaker BI'm ready.
Speaker BLet's do it.
Speaker AAll right, so A and M wants to know, removing any element of friction in script fulfillment will likely be applauded by customers.
Speaker ABut how big of a Trojan horse horse is this for Amazon Pharmacy as a means to a bigger end?
Speaker BOh man, if it's a Trojan horse, it's a, it's, it's a, it's a Trojan horse with one of the Trojans like hanging out the, the bottom of the belly with all for all to see.
Speaker BYou know, that's one thing I'd say and, but I don't know, I'm not really seeing the overall play here and I have questions about how much friction is actually being removed by Amazon doing this, which I'm curious to get your take too.
Speaker BBut you know, if you ask me am I buyer buying or selling this idea, I think I'm like 70, 30 on the sell side.
Speaker BLike I get that it's an experiment and that's why I'm kind of on the 30 side on the buy side.
Speaker BBut you know, when I step back, I don't think it's a well designed experiment for a number of reasons.
Speaker BLike because from an experimentation standpoint for it to work a number of things have to be true.
Speaker BIt sounds like you need to be A one Medical user.
Speaker BSo you have to get over that hurdle.
Speaker BAnd then if you are, you have to also want to change your habits and do this, which is another hurdle to get over.
Speaker BSo you're really kind of testing two things there.
Speaker BSo in that sense, I can see it being a controlled test within the one Medical environment.
Speaker BBut my fear is then you don't have much confidence to take the idea out of that environment into the natural state of how people generally get health care.
Speaker BAnd then the other point I just make in closing would be like, what do I do if the prescription's out of stock?
Speaker BLike, you know, that's just super frustrating.
Speaker BAnd so it seems like the whole thing just adds a lot of more friction points for me and especially just given how I'm used to doing this.
Speaker BLike, and especially when immediate delivery is available too.
Speaker BSo, like, I just, I just don't get what the end game here is.
Speaker AYeah, I mean, I think, I think it makes sense as a concept for One Medical.
Speaker ALike, I mean, this, if you're one Medical, you're probably bought into Amazon Healthcare.
Speaker AYou're buying into the market.
Speaker AThis should be part of your experience, especially since you're a newer clinic.
Speaker AThe article talked about the importance of making sure that people actually fulfill their prescriptions because something like almost half of people don't fulfill their prescriptions after they leave the doctor's office, which is just baffling to me.
Speaker ABut, but anyway, I think you have to have a method for them to pick up the prescription quickly and easily after leaving this appointment to make this worth someone.
Speaker A1 Scheduling an appointment via the app, then getting their prescription filled via the app.
Speaker AI think it makes sense as a cohesive way to launch and scale One Medical.
Speaker ABut I think this is highly dependent then on how quickly one Medical can scale and get to the like really the growth that, you know, CVS or Walgreens and their minute clinics have, or even just your local, your local provider for urgent care.
Speaker ASo I think that's, to me, that's the biggest thing that is.
Speaker AIs kind of beholden to any success with this, is that you have to see how quickly one Medical can scale.
Speaker AI don't think it's a Trojan horse at all.
Speaker AI think it's just a very simple, like, here's a convenience.
Speaker AYou can get this prescription from your kiosk.
Speaker AYou probably can have it delivered same day within a few hours via Amazon as well, if they don't have it at the kiosk at that time.
Speaker ABut for me, it's really this is just about scaling and it's a fancy way to do that.
Speaker AThere's nothing new about having a pharmacy outside of the minute clinic, you know.
Speaker BYeah, Right.
Speaker BWell, the interesting point you bring up too is it does start pushing the envelope on automated prescription retrieval for customers.
Speaker BSo maybe, you know, the CVS's and Walgreens start to look at that and make that experience a little less friction filled.
Speaker BBecause that is a friction filled experience.
Speaker BWhen you get to Walgreens, you're not feeling well and there's a line of like 10 people in front of you and somebody's arguing about their insurance and you just want to go home.
Speaker BAnd so, yeah, I mean, if it, if it leads down that road.
Speaker BYeah, you know, hopefully we see something here.
Speaker BSo.
Speaker BSo, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker BI mean, it's just kind of one of those stories where I'm.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BJust not sure what to make of this one yet.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BAll right, let's move on.
Speaker BHeadline number two, Forget stores of the future.
Speaker BThis week, Walmart has opened its Auto Care center of the Future.
Speaker BAnd according to Chain storage, Walmart has opened the first of 10 planned auto care Centers of the Future locations at a Super center store in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Speaker BHere's how the new Auto center of the future works, because I know all of you out there are incredibly curious.
Speaker BCustomers sign into the Walmart app, navigate to services, click Auto Services, and schedule their service.
Speaker BThree service drops in one sentence.
Speaker BAt the appointment time, customers pull into a parking spot near the Auto Care center and check in on the app.
Speaker BThey enter the center, follow the instructions in the app to unlock an assigned locker, and drop the keys into a locker.
Speaker BWow.
Speaker BLive updates of a car's progress are available through the app.
Speaker BCustomers are notified to pick up their keys and pay once their vehicle is ready.
Speaker BAnd for context, Walmart currently operates 2,582.
Speaker BThat's an exact number.
Speaker BAnd 2,582 auto care centers within its super centers across the U.S. and my question, what are the chances you get your tires rotated at Walmart's Auto center of the Future in the future?
Speaker AOh, very high.
Speaker AI think it will.
Speaker BVery high.
Speaker ANot just, you know, all auto care oil changes, they do tire changes, the works.
Speaker AAnd I think that, I love this because I think that Walmart is smartly taking something that you have to do and it makes it better.
Speaker ANot to mention it's great for Walmart because they have a very captive audience.
Speaker AI mean, look at the alternative.
Speaker AWhen you get an oil change or you get anything else Done like you're sitting in a disgusting waiting room drinking day old coffee like trying to get.
Speaker BWI fi out of a Styrofoam cup.
Speaker AYeah, this is not a good experience already.
Speaker ASo if I can go to Walmart and I can get you know, my stuff for the, for my groceries for the week, I can pick up a birthday present for my kid's birthday party and I have that all done and be notified like I think that's the other thing being notified in real time of like where your car is in the process of getting done so that you can plan appropriately.
Speaker ALike that is where the real customer advantages here making the most of their time and making this stop ultra convenient for Walmart customers and at a price point that's going to be much lower it sounds like than any other one and that's not even with a Walmart plus discount or anything else coming into the fold yet.
Speaker ASo I love this.
Speaker AI think it's really smart, low lift on Walmart's part because it sounds like they already have auto care centers in most of these places.
Speaker ASo it's just really thinking about how you create the tech and the experience and make that better for the customer.
Speaker ABut yeah, I'm loving it.
Speaker AAre you gonna, are you gonna go get your tires change or your oil change next with the Walmart near us?
Speaker BYeah, I mean I definitely think it's compelling.
Speaker BI mean I think it's compelling for a couple reasons.
Speaker BYou know, there's a few good reasons for me.
Speaker BI think the one point you didn't mention I think is really important here is my hunch is the way they're talking about this.
Speaker BIt actually simplifies the design of the overall auto care center operation.
Speaker BBy that I mean it takes costs out for Walmart without having that big of an impact to service and potentially actually increasing its service reputation in so doing.
Speaker BSo that I love because I've been droning on for the past I feel like month, month and a half about how investments need to be made to take costs out of your operations without a loss in service.
Speaker BAnd that's not an easy thing to do.
Speaker BAnd then the other point I'd make is I think it and it's kind of, you're kind of touching on it but I think I'll bring it out more overtly is I think it's it take continues to take Walmart upmarket.
Speaker BYou're giving your customers a relatively easy way, especially those upper demographic customers that they've been capturing with Walmart plus to get their car service to get it serviced for cheap.
Speaker BAnd that plays into another reason why people wouldn't normally consider Walmart.
Speaker BBut it gets them into the parking lot, gets them to try the service.
Speaker BThey don't really have to interact with it that much from, from the way the headline was written.
Speaker BSo like, you know, then you might just go in the store and try out Walmart for the first time in the store, you know, if you're that upper demographic.
Speaker BSo, so I think long term, you know, Walmart plus there's lots of tie ins there too, which they haven't really talked about that overtly yet in terms of how this will play in there.
Speaker BBut my hunch is they're thinking about it from talking to the executives that we've talked to over the past year, two years especially.
Speaker BAnd so yeah, I think there's just nothing not to like about this.
Speaker BI love that they're doing this.
Speaker BI love that they're using the in the future, you know, moniker as well.
Speaker BWe need to see that more often.
Speaker AOh, I was going to say I was surprised about it.
Speaker AI actually think that this is not like futuristic, it's just, you know, how are you doing?
Speaker BNever is.
Speaker AHow are you continuing to service your customer in the ways that they aren't expecting it.
Speaker AAnd that to me is the real headline here, not the, not the thing that.
Speaker ABut I guess, you know, you're trying to get clicks, Chris.
Speaker AAt the end of the day you're trying to get clicks.
Speaker ASo auto care center of the future.
Speaker ASomebody's clicking on that.
Speaker ADoesn't matter what it is.
Speaker BYou're right.
Speaker BIt's basically a digitally enhanced auto care center.
Speaker BThat's basically what we're talking about.
Speaker BRight?
Speaker BBut yes, yeah, but you know, for, given our background, I love the.
Speaker BOf the future whenever we see it.
Speaker AYes.
Speaker AAll right.
Speaker AHeadline number three.
Speaker AKroger plans to use DoorDash's Dashmart service for delivery.
Speaker AAccording to Grocery Dive, Kroger plans to use Dashmar Fulfillment services, a new online delivery service from DoorDash that relies on delivery focused stores as it operates across the country.
Speaker AThe grocer, which plans to offer groceries and household items through the service, will join other retailers like CVS which are currently using the DoorDash service.
Speaker AThe announcement comes on the heels of Kroger expanding doordash delivery to all 2700 of its stores and, and highlights the grocer's reliance on third party delivery companies to help power its e commerce business.
Speaker AAnd also after executives said that they are reexamining Kroger's Ocado automated warehousing infrastructure.
Speaker AChris, what do you think that Kroger's increasing ties with DoorDash say about its e commerce strategy?
Speaker BOh, and I worry it tells, it says a lot and I worry it tells me that Kroger's e commerce strategy is a little bit lost and it's trying to grapple in the dark here, you know, trying to find its way in the dark here.
Speaker BAnd when I say that, I say that, that you know, and totally understand it.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BLike I could see myself falling into the same trap.
Speaker BLike, because there's a lot of psychology in how the decisions are coming out here or how the headlines are being put into the media.
Speaker BSo for example, like, you know, and that's why we started Omni Talk is to go beyond the headlines and the psychology of how the executives are really trying to think.
Speaker BAnd so, so like, step back for a sec.
Speaker BThink.
Speaker BOld regime makes a huge bet on Ocado.
Speaker BNew regime comes in.
Speaker BThey don't like how the results are playing out.
Speaker BSo now they're swinging the pendulum and they're going all in on two things.
Speaker BStore delivery support with Instacart and DoorDash.
Speaker BThey've added DoorDash to the mix and now they're going into like what is essentially a micro warehousing support with the dashmark concept.
Speaker BSo that's taking it out of the store and going with the dashmart.
Speaker BSo which is essentially for the most part from what we know, probably a manual picking small warehouse nearby that you can access quickly.
Speaker BSo they're, they're swinging the pendulum completely.
Speaker BBut the smarter move to me is to be if I'm Kroger and I'm an executive at Kroger, I'm asking myself, where do I want our network to really be in 10 years?
Speaker BBecause I guarantee the answer to that for everyone, not just Kroger, but for many people in the grocery industry should not be running through DoorDash and Instacart's marketplaces at all.
Speaker BAt best, they should be white label delivery providers for you, which I think is very smart if you do it that way because, because you have to start figuring out how to fulfill the demand yourselves and how to make it economical with the right technology and automation running your warehouses or running your partner's warehouses.
Speaker BSo because if you don't, and here's the big if, if you don't, Walmart and Amazon are going to figure that out and they're going to drive the volume towards E commerce to them in the long run because they're going to know how to do it cheaper and more efficiently.
Speaker AYeah, I think your thinking is right in line for where I was on this too.
Speaker AI mean for me I start to think about what does this mean for the store operations.
Speaker AWe're hearing this from a lot of retailers, not just Kroger that you know, they're looking at how to fulfill orders from the store now because it's more efficient because they're not reliant on a third party as much.
Speaker AAnd it doesn't put, you know, potentially like an instacart, like shoppers walking through the stores and crowding aisles.
Speaker ABut I think what I'm interested in seeing here is they talk about reevaluating, reevaluating Ocado and the, the independent warehouses.
Speaker AI'm wondering if we don't start to see them push Ocado to pivot towards like the Ocado Zoom micro fulfillment platforms that they're starting to put in their stores like you're talking about.
Speaker ABecause all of these, all of this demand for stores they're not prepared for right now.
Speaker AThey have to start thinking about automation.
Speaker AWhether that's, that's testing the likes of a fabric or a dramatic.
Speaker ABut you know, being able to fulfill these orders at a frequency like fabric.
Speaker ARemember the Save a Lot store we went to like they were fulfilling orders.
Speaker AYou could do a 50 item grocery order in six to eight minutes.
Speaker ALike that's, you cannot do that with your human workforce or with you know, a third party coming in.
Speaker AI think that's what I'm really curious to see is, is does this cause the retailers to invest more in automation in the back of house so that they can deploy their own workforce, either help get orders ready for the third party DoorDash delivery providers or start to explore doing the delivery themselves too.
Speaker AI think you have to start looking at how you're making your, your store operations run more smoothly and your back of house run smarter in order to fulfill this either way to have success no matter who your third party provider is.
Speaker BYeah, and a couple of points of clarification too.
Speaker BSo Dashmar is actually they're running the warehouses themselves so they're, that they're taking the in store picking phenomenon out of this.
Speaker BSo that's one that's important to call out and make sure.
Speaker BBut, but they are still using doordash too for the in store picking.
Speaker BSo that's a, it's, it's an interesting point.
Speaker BThe other point I'd mentioned though is if you step back from the executive position, they're not likely going to look at other solutions providers on the technology side because they're so, you know, they're in a partnership with Ocado.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker BBut that, that makes me think like, yes, you should be looking at what does the network need to support, how are you going to drive the most volume through whatever automation you have running through Ocado.
Speaker BAnd, and I'd be pulling back like crazy my partnership with Instacart and Doordash in those markets where I've got this infrastructure set up because that's what it's there for and that's what it's designed to do.
Speaker AYeah, absolutely.
Speaker BAll right, headline number four.
Speaker BWalmart plans to deploy 90 million.
Speaker B90 million.
Speaker BWow.
Speaker BThat's a lot of, that's a lot of millions.
Speaker B90 million Bluetooth sensors across its inventory by the end of next year in a massive rollout of supply chain management technology made possible via a partnership with tech firm Wiliot.
Speaker BAccording to Supermarket News.
Speaker BIt is the first large scale deployment of ambient Internet of things technology in retail.
Speaker BSan Diego based Wiliot said last week the sensors, known as pixels, work like having a GPS tracker on every item and are, quote, designed to dramatically enhance supply chain efficiency, inventory accuracy and also cold chain compliance.
Speaker BYes, everyone's favorite three words.
Speaker BThe technology is currently being used at 500 Walmart locations with plans to expand in 2026.
Speaker BThe full rollout will cover 4,600 Walmart Super Centers, neighborhood markets and more than 40 distribution centers as well.
Speaker BAnd what's your take on Bluetooth item tracking?
Speaker BWe've never talked about this very much.
Speaker AI think this is really important because we, we've had Wiliot on the show in the past.
Speaker AWe're going to be having them back to talk about this deployment here y in a couple of weeks.
Speaker ABut I think this is another example for why you cannot be a one and done researcher of this technology.
Speaker ABecause clearly these tags have reached mass scale now that Walmart is deploying them the way that they are.
Speaker AThere is, there has to be a cost advantage and there has to be an operational advantage for Walmart to invest this heavily in the technology.
Speaker AAnd I think that other grocers should be looking at this too.
Speaker AThey are able to know exactly where inventory is, what the temperature of that inventory has been like.
Speaker AI love the example of like the strawberries, like these, these tags are put on the strawberries in the field, on the pallets, and then you know, as the grocery retailer with a very high degree of certainty that those strawberries were kept at temp and are going to be.
Speaker AThe whole pallet's going to be saleable once you get them to your store versus they hit, you know, cold weather when they were traveling along the way.
Speaker AAnd you should, you know, expect 20% spoilage or something like that.
Speaker AAnd I think in an age where we're going to start to see consumers, you know, using tools like ChatGPT to say, I'm making this recipe, I need strawberry shortcake.
Speaker AAnd you get to.
Speaker AOr I'm making strawberry shortcake, I need strawberries for that recipe.
Speaker AI need all these things.
Speaker AAnd you get to.
Speaker AOkay, one click checkout to Walmart.
Speaker AWell, if Walmart doesn't have the strawberries, I'm shifting my whole order to another place because I don't have, they don't have visibility into whether or not they can fulfill that order.
Speaker AAnd I think that is going to be so important as we think about the future and really having a crystal clear view on your inventory in your store so that you can know that your customer is going to come to you and they're going to get exactly what they're expecting to pick up for their grocery trip and they can rely on you time and time again.
Speaker AAnd that, I think is where the real beauty of this comes into play with these tags and why they're now worth the investment when inventory visibility is such a huge, huge priority for almost every retailer that we've been talking to lately.
Speaker BYeah, I mean, I agree.
Speaker BI mean, I agree.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BI mean, we remember last week on the lightning round, we talked about pasta salads and the listeria outbreak.
Speaker BYeah, I mean, essentially this helps prevent that or at least gives you the tracking to understand when and where that might have happened in your supply chain.
Speaker BSo I joked about cold chain cold storage compliance, but, you know, it's, it's very real and very, very important.
Speaker BAnd actually people's lives are at stake too.
Speaker BSo I applaud Walmart for doing this.
Speaker BWalmart again out on the front of everything.
Speaker BYou know, expanding ESL to all stores, expanding Bluetooth tracking to all stores and the reasons I like it.
Speaker BAnd I'm just going to keep saying it, I think it's going to be my new mantra.
Speaker BI got to come up with a way to actually say it as a mantra.
Speaker BBut you're going to hear me say it over and over again.
Speaker BI'm all in on technology deployments that solve operational problems.
Speaker BAnd the operational problem here that you just mentioned is inventory accuracy at the store level.
Speaker BAnd that also have a minimal impact on the actual day to day operations of what you're asking your store associates to do.
Speaker BThe tags go onto the products themselves.
Speaker BThe store, you know, from my understanding, I don't this, the store team shouldn't have to do much.
Speaker BSo as long as the background operating system to collect the data is working and there's probably some minimal training involved at the store level.
Speaker BMinimal.
Speaker BAs long as that's done well and smartly, this will pay off in the long run from an operational productivity and efficiency standpoint.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AAnd like Greg Cathy was quoted who's been on the show too, he, he said, you know, they've never been able to have this visibility into products and what the, the entire chain has been from the time that they get them from their suppliers into each of the stores and where they're going and to even be able to reroute last minute if they need to.
Speaker ALike all of this is information that they've never had before.
Speaker AAnd I think you're right.
Speaker AOnce the store associates figure out how to work that data, they'll be able to, you know, everything in their operations has improved because of it.
Speaker AIt.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAnd especially in food and you know, metal based objects where RFID is a little more tricky to figure out.
Speaker AAll right, headline number five.
Speaker AInstacart Uber DoorDash.
Speaker AThey are all bringing food delivery to ChatGPT, according to Grocery Dive.
Speaker AUber Instacart and DoorDash are among 11 partners that will integrate with ChatGPT later this year, according to a Monday announcement by OpenAI.
Speaker ATo give you a taste of where this is going, Instacart Chief Technology Officer Honor Bond Kundu wrote on LinkedIn that partnering with ChatGPT on this capability will, quote, make shopping, grocery shopping as simple as having a conversation.
Speaker AEnd quote.
Speaker AChris, is there any slowing down this AI super app train?
Speaker BOh, geez.
Speaker BAnd it sure as hell doesn't look like there is, man.
Speaker BEven after our story last week, people are like, get on the train or get on the bus, you're going to be left behind.
Speaker BThat's what basically the, the theme of it was from the story we covered last week with, I think it was, I think the shipped and chat to whatever feature.
Speaker BYeah, but.
Speaker BOr the Etsy.
Speaker BIt was more the Etsy.
Speaker BThe Etsy partnership that they're doing with Chat GPT as well.
Speaker BYeah, I mean even Walmart came out and said that they're doing some amorphous partnership with, with Open AI now too.
Speaker BWe don't know exactly what that is or what that looks like, but they came out publicly and Said it was big news yesterday.
Speaker BSo I don't know again, I step back.
Speaker BThe pace of disruption here in just over two years is, it's just staggering.
Speaker BAnd, and we're still of course just in mile one of the actual race in terms of what the user interface ultimately is going to be for optimized commerce and what that's going to look like.
Speaker BSo, but we're going to get there.
Speaker BIt's happening.
Speaker BThe, the, the, the train has left the station and so I'm just gobsmacked.
Speaker BI don't have much more to say but my God, look out.
Speaker AYeah, I mean, I think I joke somewhat about the strawberry shortcake example and people like rerouting their whole trip.
Speaker BTrip.
Speaker ABut I think that like, especially I do feel like, like David Dorff said, we're going to see an increase in chat GPT usage throughout the holidays as people are trying to, you know, prepare food, they're trying to buy gifts, they're trying to get ready.
Speaker ALike I think we're going to see more and more adoption and I think retailers the same way that they used to think about, okay, somebody's going to be shopping on a mobile app versus, you know, coming in store and shopping or they're the way that they shop, shopped online for the very first time, like that is where we are.
Speaker AAnd that is a journey that all of the UX teams that all these retailers are now having to think about.
Speaker AWhen it comes to any services that they're providing in their stores, people are going about that trip differently.
Speaker AThey're trying to accomplish multiple tasks in one in one interface, which they're now able to do in ChatGPT.
Speaker AThey can order their dinner, they can order their groceries, they can make reservations, they can do all of these things, they can find gifts, gifts, all without leaving this app.
Speaker ALike this is crazy.
Speaker AAnd so yeah, it's, it's really, I think, gonna, gonna shape again.
Speaker ALike this is the next wave.
Speaker AThis is the Internet and online shopping happening for this, this generation.
Speaker AAnd I'm also curious, especially with this example, like I'm curious how Walmart adapts Sparky, their own Chat GP or their own AI bot that they have on their site.
Speaker AAmazon does too, to either work with or figure out, like where are they expecting traffic to go and how do they change that journey type based on, you know, somebody coming in from ChatGPT or somebody starting their journey on the Walmart.com site too.
Speaker ASo there's so much, I mean to be a UX person right now that it would be so much fun to think through all of these scenarios.
Speaker AAnd.
Speaker AAnd really just.
Speaker AYou're on.
Speaker AWe're on the edge.
Speaker AWe're on the edge of an entirely new way of shopping.
Speaker AAnd then that's super, super exciting.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BEven to be a strategist to say, okay, this is where it is now.
Speaker BWhere is this all going to go 10 to 15 years from now?
Speaker BAnd what does the retail landscape looks like, look like, and how are we placing bets?
Speaker BEven the financial analyst community's got to be asking those questions.
Speaker BThey got to be having a field day with this, too.
Speaker BTo say, like, who am I long on?
Speaker BWho am I short on in terms of how this eventually plays out as people start using a super app to get their.
Speaker BAll their commerce needs.
Speaker BThat's.
Speaker BStop.
Speaker BYeah, yeah.
Speaker BJust think about that statement for a while, man.
Speaker BYou just don't know what the file it's going to be.
Speaker BYeah, that's why.
Speaker BThat's why Doug McMillan carries that thing around in his pocket, like the top 10.
Speaker BThe top 10 retailers by decade, because it actually ends up changing pretty significantly because of disruptions like this every 30 years.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AAll right, let's go to the lightning round.
Speaker AChris.
Speaker ASpeaking of things coming back, the Body Shop is making its return.
Speaker AWhat 80s or 90s product are you most hoping that they bring back to harness your mall nostalgia days?
Speaker BOh, God.
Speaker BI couldn't name one Body Shop product if I wanted to.
Speaker AAnd the Body Butter.
Speaker AOh, my God.
Speaker BI guess I'd go with bubble bath.
Speaker BNo, I'd go with some kind of bubble bath if I had to pick something, because I'm a big bather.
Speaker BI like a good bath.
Speaker BI'm usually a daily bather.
Speaker BLike a good bath after working out.
Speaker BI don't know why.
Speaker BIt's probably terrible for me, but, yeah, that's mine.
Speaker BI'd go with bubble baths.
Speaker BMaybe something pink, you know, so it really like contrasts when it goes into the water.
Speaker BI think that would be.
Speaker BOr maybe like a bath bomb.
Speaker BThose are cool, too.
Speaker BI like the bubbles, the suds.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BBut anyway.
Speaker BAll right.
Speaker BStephen King recently got a sneak preview of the second Running man film, a movie based on his earlier novella, calling it the Die Hard for Our Time, a bipartisan thrill ride.
Speaker BAnd wow, that's an endorsement.
Speaker BAre you sharing King's optimism?
Speaker BWill number two with Glen Powell be better than number one with Arnold?
Speaker AI've not seen number one or number two, obviously, since it's not yet out.
Speaker ABut I rarely find that sequels are as good as the originals.
Speaker ASo I'm Going with Arnold.
Speaker AI just watched Naked Gun, the new one.
Speaker AYeah, there is still some funny parts, but it's like you just can't.
Speaker ACan't capture lightning in a bottle twice.
Speaker ASo I don't know.
Speaker AI'm gonna say I'm sticking with Arnold.
Speaker AAll right, let's go to question number three.
Speaker AJ.P. morgan employees are headed back to work at the recently completed.
Speaker AThis is crazy.
Speaker A$3 billion 60 floor office tower in Manhattan.
Speaker AThe new office has 19 on site restaurants and Starbucks coffee locations sprinkled throughout the floors, plus a 40,000 square foot gym and so much more.
Speaker AChris, what amenities would it take you to get or would it take to get you back into an office?
Speaker BOh, my God, that's so.
Speaker BThat's so easy.
Speaker BAnd for me, you know what?
Speaker BYou know what I always wanted, which I never got, was my own personal bathroom, AKA the executive washroom.
Speaker BI always wanted one of those.
Speaker BLike, that would be so great for me.
Speaker BSo great.
Speaker BIt would be so nice to have my own bathroom in my office.
Speaker BYeah, for sure.
Speaker BYeah, that.
Speaker BWould that.
Speaker APlease.
Speaker BI mean, that's probably a job that's appealing to me because it would take a lot to get me out of the house.
Speaker BBut like, yes, if I had an appealing job and you were like, hey, we'll give you an executive washroom, I'd be like, yes, please.
Speaker BThank you.
Speaker BSo there.
Speaker BFor those that are listening.
Speaker BYeah, keep that, keep that in your.
Speaker BIn your file folder.
Speaker BAll right, last one.
Speaker BIt was National Dessert Day yesterday.
Speaker BAnd how did you celebrate?
Speaker AI ate a cookie in the Delta Lounge, I guess I did not have any dessert yesterday.
Speaker BWhat kind of cookie?
Speaker AIt was just a chocolate chip cookie.
Speaker AI mean.
Speaker BOh, okay.
Speaker AToo good to.
Speaker ANot.
Speaker ATo not grab.
Speaker ASo.
Speaker AI didn't even know it was National Dessert Day.
Speaker AMaybe I would have planned that a little bit better had I known.
Speaker ABut yeah, it was a delicious chocolate chip cookie.
Speaker BAny day you can have a chocolate chip cookie is a win in my book.
Speaker BYou've won the day if you get to eat a chocolate chip cookie.
Speaker BChocolate chip cookies are never not bad in my opinion.
Speaker BYou know, for the most part.
Speaker BAll right, on that note, happy birthday today to Paul Walter Hauser, Jerry Burns, and to the man who starred in the greatest thing to ever come out of Baltimore.
Speaker BI know Ann will second this one.
Speaker BMcNulty himself.
Speaker BDominic West.
Speaker AYes.
Speaker AThat the Wire man, that's gotta get queued up again for the winter.
Speaker AWinter is coming.
Speaker AThat's.
Speaker AMaybe I should rewatch all 12 years of the Wire that it'll take all.
Speaker BWinter to watch yeah, it takes a long time to get through that.
Speaker BYeah, I've only gone through it once, but yes.
Speaker BAnd today's podcast was produced with the help and support of Ella Sirjord.
Speaker BAnd remember, if you can only read or listen to one retail blog in the business, Make It Omnitok, the only retail media outlet run by two former executives.
Speaker BGifts 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 podcast, the Retail Daily Minute, tells you all you need to know each day to stay on top of your game as a retail executive.
Speaker BAnd it also regularly features special content that is exclusive to us and that we take a lot of pride in doing just for you.
Speaker BThanks as always for listening and please remember to like and leave us a review wherever you happen to listen to your podcast or on YouTube.
Speaker BYou can follow us today by simply going to YouTube.com omnitalkretail so until next week, on behalf of Ann, producer Ella and myself, as always, be careful out there.