Anne Mezzenga (00:02):
Hello, you are listening to the Omni Talk Fast Five, brought to you in partnership with Microsoft, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Takeoff, and Sezzle. The Omni Talk Fast Five podcast is the podcast that we hope makes you feel a little smarter, but most importantly, a little happier each week too. Today is April 7th. I’m your host Anne Mezzenga.
Chris Walton (00:23):
And I’m Chris Walton.
Anne Mezzenga (00:25):
And we are here once again to discuss all the top headlines making waves in the world of omnichannel retailing. And, Chris, I have to say, we are basically in a scene of Big Little Lies, we are live in Monterey right now. I am taken aback by the beauty of this city, I was like, “I’m so inspired here.” Is the same Monterey magic happening to you, or is it just me?
Chris Walton (00:51):
Yeah, no, it is. It’s so beautiful here. I hope we’re in Big Little Lies in the good part, not the battery part, because that would be too intense for me.
Anne Mezzenga (00:58):
Oh my God, yeah. Or the death part.
Chris Walton (01:01):
Yeah, right?
Anne Mezzenga (01:01):
Yeah, let’s keep that out of it.
Chris Walton (01:02):
The push down the stairs part, but no shocker there for anyone, that’s a key element of the plot-point of the whole show. Yeah, no, it’s so beautiful here. I can tilt my camera for those watching, I’ve got the ocean right behind me, you’ve got the ocean right behind me, due to technical difficulties, we are in two different places filming this in the same spot. We’re actually probably 50 yards away from each other.
Anne Mezzenga (01:22):
I can wave at you. I can wave at you, Chris.
Chris Walton (01:23):
Hey, how’s it going? But yeah, we’re here at the Sea Otter Summit, we just finished up. We presented an annual Fast Five for the outdoor industry. It was a blast. Anne, what did you think?
Anne Mezzenga (01:34):
Yeah, a live version of the Fast Five. I loved it, I thought it was awesome. You know, I love the [crosstalk 00:01:41].
Chris Walton (01:40):
It was a fun change of pace.
Anne Mezzenga (01:42):
Yeah, and it reminded me of the Schitt’s Creek live show, where you just have it happening in front of you. And people saw a little of how the sausage is made, but I think it was fun. And I have to say, you know me, I’m the aspiring outdoors person, but this has really made me be all in. I want to buy one of the TAXA campers and just get out of town.
Chris Walton (02:08):
Campers?
Anne Mezzenga (02:09):
Yeah. Immediately.
Chris Walton (02:10):
Yeah. No, yeah, you aspire to be that. You aspire to be that.
Anne Mezzenga (02:12):
Yeah, aspire. Not there yet.
Chris Walton (02:15):
Hey, there’s a guy walking through the back. Yeah, for me, I thought it was great, it was good for us to do. It was a platform that if anyone’s interested and listening, you want us to take it to your company, your brand, we could easily do that. So it was a blast to get that live and under our belt for the first time. The other thing that’s been cool, Anne, is we have been rocking up the charts. Last week in Shop Talk we reached number seven on the podcast-
Anne Mezzenga (02:38):
The retail podcast list?
Chris Walton (02:40):
Yeah, on Apple Podcasts, if you search retail, we were in number seven last week-
Anne Mezzenga (02:43):
Oh, man.
Chris Walton (02:43):
Ahead of people like The Retail Profit.
Anne Mezzenga (02:47):
Oh, man.
Chris Walton (02:47):
Woo, or The Retail Doctor. Which, by the way, it got me thinking, what is Christmas dinner or Thanksgiving dinner like for those people? I couldn’t pull that off, if I tried to be the omnichannel oracle, my family would laugh me out of the room, they’d be like, “Oh, really? I bet you know how much peas I’m going to put on my plate, Chris. Or how many slices of lamb am I going to have with this Christmas dinner?” I just couldn’t pull it off.
Anne Mezzenga (03:12):
No. No special treatment there. No, I know, my son, we were looking at his TikToks the other day, and he’s like, “Your name is Omni Talk Anne, and what does that even mean? That’s the worst name I’ve ever heard of,” so, no, I don’t think that we’re going anywhere with our titles here. No special treatment from anyone.
Chris Walton (03:31):
Our Italian Catholic families would laugh us out the room if we try to pull off something like that. Right?
Anne Mezzenga (03:31):
For sure.
Chris Walton (03:34):
And by the way, we are both Italian, even though Anne looks like it more than I do. But all right Anne, let’s get to it this week. This week we got some [crosstalk 00:03:41] headlines. We’ve got news on Farfetch and Neiman, JOOR, and what’s called Automated Attribution, Kroger are getting into restaurant supply, Alexa giving advanced notification on deals. But we take off today with news out of Target, Anne?
Anne Mezzenga (03:56):
Yes, Chris, according to CBS news, “Target will now accept food stamps for online food purchases.” So the way it works is that target customers will pay for items using their EBT debit card at checkout, just like they would any other debit card or credit card, and will receive their food orders through the company’s delivery service arm, Shipt. So the option to pay with food stamps will likely begin later this month, and Target is joining other competitors, Amazon and Walmart, who already offer this option. Chris, I mean, you and I have worked for Target, we know what a feat this can be to pull off, what are your thoughts on this?
Chris Walton (04:34):
I love this, I think it’s great.
Anne Mezzenga (04:34):
You do?
Chris Walton (04:38):
Yeah. I mean, for those listeners that have been with us a long time, we started talking about the need for this, or the further development in this space, right when the pandemic was happening. I think we might even have started talking about it before the pandemic happened as well. But it’s just not something that’s been capable online.
Anne Mezzenga (04:54):
Right.
Chris Walton (04:54):
You haven’t been able to redeem your food stamps online. Here, you have Target doing it. Which the other point I bring up that’s really cool about this to me is, Target hits this population. You think of Target as more aspirational than a Walmart, but at the end of the day, and I don’t remember the exact number, but the average household income that shops at Target is $50,000 to $60,000, maybe even $40,000 to $60,000.
Anne Mezzenga (05:14):
Right, right.
Chris Walton (05:15):
It’s not that much, so this is meaningful to people, and people want to buy things digitally now, it just makes their lives easier. So if you can light up food stamps online, by all means it’s going to drive value. And to me, it’s just more of what you expect from Target, why they’re kicking butt of late, “Expect more, pay less,” to a tee.
Anne Mezzenga (05:32):
Exactly, exactly. Yeah. That was my exact, I think, comment about this story, was that it’s cementing Target as their position in the market to retain these consumers, both from the delivery perspective right now, and then I think down the road, as you said, can look at bringing this into curbside pickup, and other options for getting the product. That’s still something that I’m a little curious about, I wasn’t able to find out if Target’s going to be subsidizing the delivery, like we’ve seen Instacart do.
Chris Walton (05:32):
Right.
Anne Mezzenga (06:01):
Because it still costs $7 for delivery with Shipt, so I think that’s something just to keep in mind, to continue the pay off the, “Expect more, pay less,” and to retain those customers.
Chris Walton (06:11):
Right. 100%. That’s a great point, yeah, the economics of it will probably determine the acceptance this too.
Anne Mezzenga (06:11):
Right.
Chris Walton (06:16):
But I hope we see more people do it, because like you mentioned, it’s Amazon, Walmart, and now Target, but let’s get this more through the industry, and hopefully the technology’s being put in place to make that happen pretty easily.
Anne Mezzenga (06:26):
Absolutely.
Chris Walton (06:26):
All right, let’s do headline number two, Anne. Farfetch is investing up to $200 million in the Neiman Marcus group, according to Retail Dive, “Farfetch and the Neiman Marcus Group on Tuesday announced a global strategic partnership, that has the luxury online marketplace making a minority common equity investment of up to $200 million in the legacy department store company, which also runs its namesake banner, as well as Bergdorf Goodman.”
“The partnership’s first project will be to re-platform Bergdorf Goodman’s website and mobile applications using Farfetch platform solutions, to expand its global capabilities and services,” according to a press release. Both Bergdorf and Neiman Marcus will join the Farfetch marketplace as a partner “Adding, participating brands in key global geographies,” as was stated in the press release. Anne, what do you think about this one?
Anne Mezzenga (07:17):
I love this. Back a few months ago I talked to the chief product officer, Kelly Kowal, do you remember that one Chris? For the women’s retail collective?
Chris Walton (07:26):
Of course I do, kelly Kowal’s one of my favorite people ever, I got to interview her-
Anne Mezzenga (07:29):
Yes, I know.
Chris Walton (07:30):
… at Shop Talk, she’s awesome.
Anne Mezzenga (07:31):
Yeah. She’s amazing. And at that time she was just talking about using their platform to help smaller boutiques. So, get them to the level to really get out there, become omnichannel. There was no discussion at that time about bringing the most well-known luxury department store in the world-
Chris Walton (07:31):
I know.
Anne Mezzenga (07:49):
… onto this platform. So this is why I think this story is so intriguing. I think this is also cool to think about what Farfetch might be able to do in the remaining Neiman stores, and Bergdorf too, down the road. Do we start to see luxury resale taking place in these environments? What about returns? Maybe even live shopping events happening in person? How do they take this platform that has this solid, especially gen-Z, millennial, even the next generation’s coming into the luxury goods area. How does this help them cement Farfetch as the brand, and Neiman’s too, Neiman’s and Bergdorf?
Chris Walton (08:31):
Yeah. Wow, that’s interesting, I hadn’t thought about all those angles. I mean, I agree, to me, this is a fascinating story, and kudos to you for fighting for this story to make the list, because I think in retrospect it’s definitely a dead ringer for a top five headline. But when I first read the headline, Anne, I was like, “Wait, what? Farfetch is investing in Neiman’s, and not the other way around?”
Anne Mezzenga (08:53):
Right, right.
Chris Walton (08:53):
Not that Neiman’s probably could, but I was like, “Wait, how’s that work?” Because it’s kind of counterintuitive when you step back from this story, but it’s counter-intuition that I like a lot, because to me it says that physical retail is important. And it also says it’s always online, right? Which is what this show is all about. So you have two sides here, both of which know their respective areas very well.
Anne Mezzenga (09:13):
Right.
Chris Walton (09:13):
And so it provides a lot of ground for the two to explore together. And it calls to mind, which we’ve said a lot on this show, omnichannel retailing breeds strange bedfellows, right, Anne? Strange partnerships.
Anne Mezzenga (09:30):
Right.
Chris Walton (09:30):
Partnerships that you wouldn’t expect to happen, this is a great example of that.
Anne Mezzenga (09:32):
Yeah, sure.
Chris Walton (09:33):
Because, Farfetch now wins if Bergdorf wins, right? And then if Bergdorf wins, then [inaudible 00:09:44] more of a connection with Neiman’s. And then does Neiman and Farfetch both win? So I like how they’re both equally yolked in trying to understand what the omnichannel future is, bringing the best that they know online. I mean, these are great physical store retailers in the luxury space.
Anne Mezzenga (10:01):
Yes. For sure.
Chris Walton (10:02):
I think there’s a lot to like about this in the long run.
Anne Mezzenga (10:05):
Yeah. That’s such a good point too. There’s rebirth happening, especially when we saw what’s been happening with Saks, what’s been happening with Barneys, all of these other luxury retailers, it seems, are just on this downward slope. But then you have this awakening happening for the luxury department store, I love it, I think it’s fun.
Chris Walton (10:24):
Yeah. Just one last point, it makes me think Farfetch is playing a different game here, because it’s counterintuitive, but smart, and I just love that.
Anne Mezzenga (10:32):
Yes, yes, yes. I’m curious to hear what our audience thinks about it. So, if you guys have any thoughts on this, please let us know. Okay, headline number three, Chris. JOOR has formed an exclusive partnership with Lily AI. So, according to a joint press release, “JOOR, the world’s leading digital wholesale platform and data exchange, has announced an exclusive partnership with Lily AI, the retailer industry’s most robust AI-powered image attribution and customer intent platform for eCommerce,” this was definitely from a joint press release, that is for sure.
“With the implementation, JOOR platform users would be able to significantly reduce the time dedicated to manually tagging products, and this advanced integration will also allow retailers to better plan assortments in less time, and to optimize product discovery on their e-commerce sites.” Now, Chris, we know our avid listener of Omni Talk, and one of our favorite people on the planet, Kristin Savilia from JOOR, the CEO, she’s been on this for a while, this is a really exciting development for Kristin and her team, but what do you think about this one?
Chris Walton (11:40):
Yeah. I mean, I’m kind of bummed this week, I feel like this show doesn’t have any stories where I’m going to rant like I did last week, at the Instacart. This is another story that I love.
Anne Mezzenga (11:49):
That’s okay. I think we can keep you at a-
Chris Walton (11:49):
You do?
Anne Mezzenga (11:51):
Yeah, you don’t need to rant [crosstalk 00:11:52].
Chris Walton (11:51):
You’ve got to give the fans what they want, Anne, come on. Got to give the fans what they want.
Anne Mezzenga (11:55):
They don’t want a rant-
Chris Walton (11:55):
They don’t want a rant every week?
Anne Mezzenga (11:57):
… every week, no, no, no.
Chris Walton (11:59):
Even a mini rant? Come on, a mini rant? I guess I’ll-
Anne Mezzenga (12:00):
Okay, we’ll find something for you to mini rant about.
Chris Walton (12:02):
All right, all right. Well, I’m sure I’ll find something by the time this show’s over. But anyway, I love this story’s great too. I mean, like you said, we’ve covered JOOR, we’ve covered Kristin, the CEO, before. And for those that don’t remember, JOOR is the platform that connects brands to retailers online, the way I describe it is like obsoleting the trade show, so to speak, in a lot of ways.
Anne Mezzenga (12:19):
Right, [crosstalk 00:12:20].
Chris Walton (12:22):
You can be a retailer, and you can connect to the platform and get visibility to all the products that you could put into your store, into your online universe. And now they’re putting this cool spin on the offering, which is essentially that they’ll use visual AI to put the product tags onto the products well on your website. So that that means you can get better traffic to them through search, you can get better conversion, and possibly also, the other point that’s important in this, less returns over time because people are more confident in what they’re purchasing, based on what they’re shopping for, and what they’re reading as they’re shopping.
So, Anne, I mean, I just love that, because it’s a little tweak that is very competitively differentiating to me. And also, you talked about visual AI in this context at Shop Talk on stage, singling it out as this use-case specific, as one of the five things people need to pay attention to, so you were incredibly clairvoyant, not knowing this was going to happen, and then a week later, boom, here you go.
Anne Mezzenga (13:17):
I would not say that I am clairvoyant, but I would say that I keep really smart people like Kristin Savilia in my network so that I can hear these types of applications, what she’s doing with JOOR and Lily, in my ecosystem. I think this is one of the smartest applications that we’ve seen. Now, I think when people think of visual AI, visual search, they think of Google Lens, or Amazon, where you take a picture of some product out in the world, and then you’re served up that product or the closest thing to it.
And this is such a smarter execution, going to the base level. “How do you make my products more searchable by customers,” like you said. “How do I provide better product recommendations, because I have the access to those attributes, much more attributes than I could before.” And then how are you also getting your products ready for the continued customer adoption of something like the Google Lens, or the Amazon visual product search? So I absolutely love this.
Chris Walton (14:16):
Yeah. 100% agree. I mean, we’ve been talking about this. I mean, our very first video we shot at Starbucks using Amazon’s visual search recognition technology through the mobile phone, remember that?
Anne Mezzenga (14:26):
I do, yes.
Chris Walton (14:27):
And that was visual search. But the reason we shot that was because, “Yes, this is so important.” This is the most immediate application of visual AI technology that can immediately improve, again, traffic conversion, that’s what I’m looking for, thank God, conversion.
Anne Mezzenga (14:27):
Right, conversion.
Chris Walton (14:43):
Lower returns, it can do all those things, and it’s so easy to implement if you have the right partners. Every retailer that runs an eCommerce website, in my opinion, should be looking at this technology and this application. So kudos to Kristin and JOOR for making an appointed differentiation. All right, Anne, let’s go to headline number four.
Anne Mezzenga (15:01):
Let’s do it.
Chris Walton (15:02):
Kroger is launching a restaurant division, restaurant delivery division out of Dallas, according to a Kroger press release, what it’s calling, “Kroger Restaurant Supply, will offer an alternative for small restaurants to order in large quantities that have highly variable pricing and required deliveries on a set schedule. Jay Scherger,” hopefully I’m saying his name right, apologies if I’m not, the director of Kroger technology and digital e-commerce accelerators said, “This new service will bring our fresh assortment directly to regional businesses, all at consistent prices, product availability and delivery cadence that they can count on.” That sounds like right out of the PR press book.
“Regional restaurants, bakeries, and catering companies are invited to take part in this service that offers free next day delivery on all orders of $250 or more.” Now Anne, I got news for you though, and this might be bad news, because I think this is one of the toughest on-the-spot questions we’ve had. You get the A&M question of the week this week.
Anne Mezzenga (15:02):
Great.
Chris Walton (15:59):
And here it is; Kroger’s restaurant supply appears to be pretty disruptive to traditional wholesale food service suppliers, by potentially solving for big legacy issues like inconsistent pricing and stock-outs. So the question for you is, what needs to be true to make this a significant revenue stream, and to put a major dent in the food service sector? The floor is now yours, Anne, woo.
Anne Mezzenga (16:24):
Okay. I think I have to answer this with one word, and that is scale. Can they get mass adoption from all of these… Can they get the restaurants, the regional restaurants, the caterers, to leave the big two, US Foods and Ciscos of the world, who are the dominating US suppliers of wholesale restaurant food, can they get people to break away from this? I kind of think they can. And the proxy that I’m using for this is Costco business centers. Have you been to a Costco business center? We have one of the 15 in the US, in Minneapolis.
Chris Walton (17:03):
I have not, but I can remember you telling me ad nauseam about your visit to one. But please.
Anne Mezzenga (17:07):
Yes. I mean, okay. It’s pretty great. When you think about-
Chris Walton (17:12):
You loved it, you couldn’t stop talking about it.
Anne Mezzenga (17:13):
I know, it’s different assortments, it’s definitely catering to the giants. They have hanging slabs of meats there, I mean, it’s catering to that small restaurant.
Chris Walton (17:24):
Right.
Anne Mezzenga (17:25):
But you can get it whenever you want it, you can run there, they open at 7:00 AM, they’re open earlier than most of the other Costcos are. And I think that they provide for the same reason that stores exist for us just regular consumers.
Chris Walton (17:39):
Right?
Anne Mezzenga (17:39):
Like if you need something, you run out of beef, or your supplier doesn’t have enough to give you that day, you could still run to this place. And yes, it’s maybe not as low priced as the alternative of the bigger companies, but you can have and you can still offer that to your customers. So, I think that this could definitely work, especially as we’re seeing Kroger and Ocado expand their network. If you can build up mass, and supplement some of those customer orders in these new areas, that they’re going to with these restaurant orders, I think this could be pretty big.
Chris Walton (18:16):
Yeah. That’s a $64,000 question, to me you hit it right on the head.
Anne Mezzenga (18:16):
Right.
Chris Walton (18:18):
And I think price, you have to be competitive. You say what has to be true? I think you’ve got to be competitive in the restaurant industry for them to want to use you-
Anne Mezzenga (18:25):
Right.
Chris Walton (18:25):
… because the margins are tough in the restaurant industry. That’s a tough business. But the point about Ocado is really interesting to me, because the other part about this that I don’t think it was getting enough attention, or the reports on this haven’t dug into this yet enough, and maybe somebody out there knows, but doing this in Dallas, which coincidentally is where they’ve been doing a lot of their Ocado activity… And I don’t know this well enough to say what scales and what doesn’t, between grocery delivery and restaurant delivery, but I have to imagine there’s some overlap when you go up the supply chain into the facilities and the warehousing, to be able to service both of those very efficiently. And so it could just be a nice value add here through the combination of the partnership with Ocado, and what they’re doing with automation. So I think it’s fascinating to watch, it really is. It could just be a new space for Kroger entirely.
Anne Mezzenga (19:11):
Great point, Chris. Yeah. That’s that’s good digging. Good Angela Lansbury.
Chris Walton (19:16):
Smoothing? Did I smooth it well, Anne?
Anne Mezzenga (19:18):
As we said once upon a time. Okay, Chris, let’s go to headline number five, because you love this, and I most certainly do not.
Chris Walton (19:28):
Oh wow. All right.
Anne Mezzenga (19:29):
Well now, I’m already spoiling it, I’m telling people-
Chris Walton (19:31):
Yes you are.
Anne Mezzenga (19:31):
… what I think.
Chris Walton (19:31):
You’re telling your thoughts.
Anne Mezzenga (19:34):
I am, I am. So, Alexa will now give advanced notification on deals, Chris. According to Retail Dive, “Alexa will notify users up to 24 hours in advance of a deal becoming available for eligible items on their wishlist, in their shopping cart, or saved for later. If given permission,” Amazon also says that, “The device can also order a customer’s desired item, using the payment method and delivery address that’s saved on their account.” Why do you love this so much?
Chris Walton (20:03):
Well, Anne, first of all I love it because it’s like, “Oh look, there’s an Alexa sighting, there’s an Alexa sighting. What happened to Alexa over the last few years?” I’d almost forgot about her-
Anne Mezzenga (20:03):
She gone.
Chris Walton (20:11):
… even though she’s sitting on my counter. She gone, yeah. But I mean, here’s the thing, I do like this because it’s in Amazon’s ethos, is how I describe it. Most retailers would never even have the guts to tell their customers, “Hey a deal’s coming, you should wait to buy this,” or, “You should buy it tomorrow,” right? Because they want to capture that extra margin. Most retailers would be totally anathema to even thinking about this idea. But Amazon doesn’t, because Amazon puts the customer first.
Now, is it going to blow the doors off? Probably not. But it hints at the psychology of wanting to get deals, that is very, very real, and I’m hopeful that this experimentation will lead to other things, done by other retailers, applied to their own businesses somehow, whether it be in app, through text messaging notifications, all those things that are just as equally valuable in retailing for the customer at the end of the day than, say, Alexa sitting on the counter.
So do I think it’s a big deal with Alexa? Not really. But I think it’s cool as an idea psychologically to hook a consumer in a new way, and I give Amazon kudos for trying it. I almost feel like that’s a universal truth that’s un-debatable. So what’s your take here?
Anne Mezzenga (21:19):
I think it’s just annoying.
Chris Walton (21:21):
You think the idea’s annoying?
Anne Mezzenga (21:23):
I don’t think it’s novel. Digital weekly ads are doing this for everybody the day before, those come out on Saturday with the paper.
Chris Walton (21:32):
Yeah. They come out the day it launches, really.
Anne Mezzenga (21:33):
The Sunday morning paper, Saturday night, it’s not that big of a deal. Will they start to see some lift from this? Probably. I mean, yeah. I guess, if I’m being annoyed by Alexa like, “Hey, toilet paper is going on sale tomorrow, do you want to buy toilet paper?” I’ll be like, “Maybe, yeah.” But there’s still friction here and that’s what I don’t like about it, you have to have this stuff on your wish list. That’s another point for me.
Chris Walton (21:54):
So why is there friction? You’ve already done that. That’s not friction you’ve already done that, you’ve already done that. So you’ve put it on your-
Anne Mezzenga (21:58):
Yeah, if you’ve added it to-
Chris Walton (22:00):
That’s great.
Anne Mezzenga (22:02):
But it’s not like if they’re just going to tell me, I want more-
Chris Walton (22:06):
I’m not just going to know your mind.
Anne Mezzenga (22:07):
Yes, exactly.
Chris Walton (22:08):
You want them to know your mind? Okay.
Anne Mezzenga (22:11):
I do. Yeah, no. But I mean, that’s the thing, they’re not just going to be like, “Hey Anne, you last ordered toilet paper on this day, it’s going on sale tomorrow, do you want to order it?” This is like, I have to actively put all this stuff on my wishlist, and then it will activate it. There’s still the friction for me of doing it, but I’m probably going to be wrong, and it’ll probably work, and it’ll go gangbusters for Amazon.
Chris Walton (22:33):
But see, I don’t get the rationale there, because I don’t think you’re a list shopper really, you’re not one of these ardent list shoppers, at least from my knowledge of you. But there are people that do that. And so for those people that do that, they’ve already taken the effort to do it, and now you’re saying, “Hey, this is on sale, you told us you wanted it, you should buy it now.” That’s great. And that’s what retailers don’t do, because they don’t have the guts to do that, because they want to capture the full reg price business. Whereas Amazon doesn’t care and Amazon always puts the customer first, which I love. All right, Anne,
Anne Mezzenga (23:01):
It’s only 24 hours ahead of time, I think that’s… We’ve got to go.
Chris Walton (23:06):
We’ve got to close up this show, Anne.
Anne Mezzenga (23:07):
We’ve got to close it up.
Chris Walton (23:08):
For those that actually are watching this, we had to switch video streams in the middle because it was so damn hot my computer overheated, I had to go into a room, Anne had to go into a room. We’ve got all kinds of technical difficulties on the show, but thanks for sticking with us. I know our audio probably hasn’t been the best, but Anne, let’s do the lightning round.
Anne Mezzenga (23:24):
All right. So Fabletics, Chris, announced swim and a shape-wear partnership with Lizzo this past week. What Lizzo song gets your legs pumping on the peloton, Chris?
Chris Walton (23:35):
Oh my God. Oh my God. Anne, I only know one Lizzo song. I have no idea what its name is, but I’m going to try to sing it for you, and I hope you’ll join in with me-
Anne Mezzenga (23:44):
Oh, no, that was not the point.
Chris Walton (23:47):
… right now. You’re making me do this solo? Come on, Anne, you know what song I’m talking about?
Anne Mezzenga (23:47):
No, no.
Chris Walton (23:49):
This is for my good buddy Carl Boutet, who threw this out on LinkedIn this week? (Singing).
Anne Mezzenga (24:01):
I think I have to just give you points that you actually know a Lizzo song.
Chris Walton (24:05):
Yeah, dude. I know that [crosstalk 00:24:06].
Anne Mezzenga (24:06):
I’m sorry, Lizzo fans.
Chris Walton (24:07):
Right. Let’s go on fast.
Anne Mezzenga (24:07):
All right.
Chris Walton (24:08):
Answer the question, Anne, Fast, the easy checkout startup, they raised over $100 million with revenue only in the range of six figures, just shut down. Whoa. What is one thing you wish you were, “Faster,” at?
Anne Mezzenga (24:20):
I would say recovery of all kinds. I’m feeling the age, feeling it. We did a workout yesterday.
Chris Walton (24:28):
We did a joint peloton yesterday.
Anne Mezzenga (24:30):
We did the joint peloton, we even shared headphones at one point. And I am so sore, so yes, I would say I’d like to get some more fast recovery.
Chris Walton (24:40):
Oh right. All right.
Anne Mezzenga (24:42):
Okay. Chris, Chipotle announced a new promotion that lets Roblox players roll virtual burritos into real food. Chris, I know that you have an actual written out list of the right and wrong ingredients for a burrito. What are they?
Chris Walton (24:59):
Yes, you’re right, I keep a list it’s on my iPhone. It says-
Anne Mezzenga (24:59):
So weird.
Chris Walton (25:02):
… it’s the X number of ways to F-up a burrito, I literally have this on my phone.
Anne Mezzenga (25:07):
I am [inaudible 00:25:08].
Chris Walton (25:08):
And the number one ingredient that Fs up a burrito is too much salad, too much lettuce. It pisses me off when there’s big green leafy things in a burrito, and you bite into it and the whole lettuce leaf comes out of your mouth, or comes to your mouth through the burrito, it’s awful, it’s terrible, it needs to stop. It’s a practice that needs to be stopped. It’s common in co-ops in Minneapolis, which shall remain nameless, but it pisses me off every time.
All right, Anne, let’s close this up. A recent study says that candy sales rose 11 and a half percent last year. So I’ve got a two-parter for you to end the show.
Anne Mezzenga (25:39):
Okay. All right.
Chris Walton (25:41):
What was your go-to candy in 2021? And two, have you thought any more about why you eat your Skittles three at a time, because I’m still effing baffled by it?
Anne Mezzenga (25:52):
Oh God, no. My go-to candy was probably Sour Patch Kids, because, I mean, they’re amazing. And no, I am even weirded out by it. The more I think about the [crosstalk 00:26:03] all the time-
Chris Walton (26:03):
You thought about this, didn’t you, last week?
Anne Mezzenga (26:04):
I did, yeah, I talked to my son about it on spring break. And he’s like, “That is so weird why you do that?” And yes, I am very perplexed, and not okay with it.
Chris Walton (26:14):
Did it entice you to feedbag it? Did it entice you to feedbag it?
Anne Mezzenga (26:14):
Never.
Chris Walton (26:14):
No, it’d probably entice you to go the other way, right?
Anne Mezzenga (26:15):
Never feedbag it, not a chance.
Chris Walton (26:21):
Because you’re like, “I’m weird with three, I’m going to go one at a time,” all right. I gotcha.
Anne Mezzenga (26:24):
No.
Chris Walton (26:25):
All right. Well that closes us up. Happy birthday today to Jackie Chan, Russell Crowe, and to the woman that is putting her ex, Jeff Bezos, post- divorce to shame, MacKenzie Scott. Remember, if you can only read or listen to one retail blog in the business, make it Omni Talk, our Fast Five podcast is the quickest, fastest rundown of all the week’s top news. And our twice- weekly newsletter tells you the top five things you need to know each day, and also features special content exclusive to us, and just for you. And it fits all within the preview pane of your inbox.
You can sign up today at http://www.omnitalk.blog. Thanks as always for listening in. Please remember like, and leave us a review wherever you happen to listen to your podcast, or on YouTube. Yes, please leave us a review on Apple Podcast so we can continue rocking up the charts ahead of the Retail [crosstalk 00:27:08]-
Anne Mezzenga (27:07):
Yes.
Chris Walton (27:09):
… and others.
Anne Mezzenga (27:09):
Maybe we’ll give you a special shout out or something if you give us a review.
Chris Walton (27:13):
Yeah, we’ll give you a special shout out for a review. Absolutely. Let us know when you drop a review, just email us at info@redarcherretail.com. And of course, as always, Anne, be careful out there.
Anne Mezzenga (27:24):
The Omni Talk Fast Five is a Microsoft sponsored podcast. Microsoft cloud for retail connects your customers, your people and your data across the shopper journey, delivering personalized experiences and operational excellence. And is also brought to you in association with the A&M consumer and retail group. The A&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. And Takeoff, Takeoff is transforming grocery by empowering grocers to thrive online. The key is micro fulfillment, small robotic fulfillment centers that can be leveraged at a hyper-local scale. Takeoff also offers a robust software suite, so grocers can seamlessly integrate the robotic solution into their existing businesses. To learn more visit Takeoff.com.
And finally, Sezzle. Sezzle is an innovative, buy now, pay later solution that allows shoppers to split purchases into four interest-free payments over six weeks. To learn more visit Sezzle.com.
Omni Talk is the retail blog for retailers, written by retailers. Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga founded Omni Talk in 2017 and have quickly turned it into one of the fastest growing blogs in retail. 