Anne 0:09
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 June 30. I’m your host Anne Mezzenga.
Chris 0:30
And I’m Chris Walton.
Anne 0:31
We have very sprightly Chris Walton today.
Chris 0:33
Very Sprightly.
Anne 0:34
And we are here once again to discuss all the top headlines making waves in the world of omni channel retailing Chris, how are you doing today you got a lot of energy going into Fourth of July weekend
Chris 0:45
I’m doing good I purposely tried to get the energy on because I’m my body is riddled with oily opioids right now Anne. I had a muscle biopsy at Mail Earlier this week and they have been barely able to walk all week but made it into the black guest studio today so so yeah I’m but I’m trying to you know I’ve got the caffeine going to try to get me out of this stupor that I’m in but you know, I’m here I’m ready to go ready to drop some knowledge like it’s hot, like always
Anne 1:10
Oh my God you just can’t resist getting terrible line from a rap song.
Chris 1:14
No, I know for sure. No, but in all seriousness, no, I haven’t. I mean, I was on them a couple days ago. I’m not anymore but like it’s it’s I’m feeling I’m starting to recover. I feel like I’ll be able to walk again by Saturday.
Anne 1:24
Good. What are you gonna do for 4th of July.
Chris 1:27
Oh Mrs. OMNI talk, has some dental school friends coming into town Okay, her and her her husband and her two little childrens are staying with our staying in our house this weekend.
Anne 1:36
Okay,
Chris 1:36
It stands to be a fun filled how’s
Anne 1:39
Are you guys gonna like do fireworks or like these do like go to Wisconsin to get your fireworks?
Chris 1:44
I think I’m smoking pizza tomorrow.
Anne 1:46
Smoking pizza?
Chris 1:47
Yeah I think we’re doing that tomorrow and then the rest
Anne 1:49
Like making pizza in the smoke?
Chris 1:50
Yeah, yeah.
Anne 1:51
Okay. Good
Chris 1:51
Yes. smoking pizza. Yeah. I don’t know how else
Anne 1:54
You started listening to like little Yachty or something and now you’re now you’re talking about maybe something
Chris 1:58
I don’t know what I’m talking about. Okay, sure. But ya know, I think it’s your it’s the woman who’s coming his birthday and so we’re gonna smoke some pizza and then we haven’t really figured out 4th of July because there’s some thought that they might actually leave and go back to Chicago on 4th of July and so we don’t know.
Anne 2:11
So many logistics to work out.
Chris 2:13
You have like the you have like the Iron Chef Tournament of barbeque Champions.
Anne 2:18
I just got the secret ingredient this morning.
Chris 2:20
Oh, like what is the secret ingredient Anne?
Anne 2:22
Pork
Chris 2:23
Well, it’s not really a secret then.
Anne 2:24
Well, the secret ingredient is pork. We got it this morning. My mom was very concerned about making sure to give us time
Chris 2:33
How many courses you have to make with the secret?
Anne 2:34
One main dish
Chris 2:35
One main dish
Anne 2:36
You get extra points for red white and blue flair.
Chris 2:38
Just to put the secret ingredient in the desert like to show?
Anne 2:41
Oh God I hope not.
Chris 2:43
It’s so disgusting. Pork. Oh my god. Alright.
Anne 2:46
Pork bom bop for everybody On the Fourth of July weekend
Chris 2:49
Pork grinds and ice cream.
Anne 2:51
Oh my god.
Chris 2:52
All right. All right, well, Anne, let’s get to the reviews this week. We’ve got a great review. This is another really good one. I love this one. It comes to us from FP urban advisors. Please tell us who you guys are too because I’m still dying to know who all these people are. But anyway, here’s what they had to say. Seriously, the best retail podcast five stars. Fun funny, because fun wasn’t enough. He had to add funny, smart or she and you acknowledge Grace Jones birthday a few weeks ago and your guests are just as smart and sharp. Thanks for your perspective. Next time when you’re in Chicago speaking let us know absolutely.
Anne 3:26
Who’s Grace Jones again?
Chris 3:27
Grace Jones she was made a in A View to a Kill, Roger Moore’s last James Bond movie Anne come on duh,
Anne 3:33
Oh my God, Well,
Chris 3:34
I think she was also a rock star in the 80s for like she had like one famous song or something too if I remember right, but
Anne 3:39
That was a very specific thing that this person likes about the show.
Chris 3:43
I know Right? That’s that’s why we do it. That’s why we dropped those lines.
Anne 3:46
Oh my gosh, well, please, if you’re listening, it’s our weekly reminder to make sure to give us a review on Apple podcasts hard the podcasts if you’re on Spotify, Google Amazon music, you know the drill, but please follow and subscribe so that we can keep making all this Omni tech retail content possible for all of you. And one day Chris will definitely read your review. We’ll get to it.
Chris 4:10
Yes, we will. We got a few more this week. They’re lined up in chronological order Anne
Anne 4:14
Oh my gosh,
Chris 4:14
Let’s do that
Anne 4:15
In a spreadsheet.
Chris 4:16
In a, yes, of course in a spreadsheet.
Anne 4:18
All right, Chris. Let’s get to the headlines.
Chris 4:20
All right Anne. In today’s Fast Five we’ve got news on Treecko And Reza launching their second much larger grocery store in Berlin. Amazon unveiling its new physical retail store analytic service. Gaps plan to build for lab store within its for lab stores excuse me within within its headquarters, which is why I’m also wearing my one piece of gap clothing today for those watching on on on YouTube. The hot water in which m Walmart now finds itself with the FTC.
Anne 4:21
Woof
Chris 4:21
Got to hear about that one. But first, we take off with big news and I think this may be the first time we’ve ever led the show with this company. But big news out of bed bath and beyond.
Anne 4:56
Is it the first time I don’t know I think I don’t know maybe I think that activist investor Ed? Yes. Okay. All right. Well, Chris, we teased it enough. We learned of the news yesterday morning from CNBC but Mark Tritton is officially out as CEO of Bed Bath and Beyond. The news came on word of a 24% drop in same store sales and a 21% drop in E commerce sales over the prior quarter.
Chris 5:21
Ouch. Yeah, right down.
Anne 5:22
Sue, Sue Gove. govi. I don’t know how to pronounce her name. An independent
Chris 5:27
Good try though.
Anne 5:28
Yeah, give me multiple options.
Chris 5:30
Yeah, I like that approach.
Anne 5:31
Ah, she is an independent director on the board. And she will now step in as interim CEO, Chris. This is another week, I think where you get to like, do your little victory dance or whatever you do in these scenarios. But what what are your thoughts on this one?
Chris 5:47
First of all, I’ve never liked to take a victory lap when someone is fired. But but you know,
Anne 5:52
Good.
Chris 5:53
I don’t revel in that. But I do take some pride in it, I guess I would say too. I don’t know if there’s really a difference between revelling and taking pride. But But anyway. And because the joke is so easy. I’m going to make it today. Anne, here’s my thoughts on this. First of all, my thoughts on this, that I guess his job was not quote unquote, sequentially stable as he led us to believe Bed Bath and Beyond market share was which, for loyal Omni talk fans, they’ll recognise that joke pretty easily. But, you know, to me at the end of the day, and like you said, Anne I’ve been incredibly vocal on this, perhaps more than any, I would actually say perhaps more than anyone from the very, very beginning
Anne 6:30
Like this lag in the sand on this one.
Chris 6:32
Yeah, I did, because I never liked the hire. And I didn’t like to hire for two reasons. One, I hated the private label strategy, the exact wrong thing to do, which we talked about on the show ad nauseam. But in summary, for those, maybe they’re new to the show. To me, it introduced a tonne of risk into this assortment, and put you head to head with the big guys like Target Walmart Wayfair. And ultimately, it doesn’t answer the question, which is fundamental, which is why are people coming to Bed Bath and Beyond to begin with
Anne 6:56
Right
Chris 6:56
Because you even if you make great private label products, you’re still gonna buy those online. Why am I going to the store? How are you fundamentally solving that issue? And then two which I think is also really important in the context of the story. He was given way, way too much credit for what he did at Target. As you always joke, and Target has always had private label brands.
Anne 7:15
Right, right.
Chris 7:16
And all he did was he was he was in tenure there. When they remarketed them, they rebranded them.
Anne 7:21
Right.
Chris 7:21
And so the question that I always like to ask is, would target have gotten to that place without him? 100%?
Anne 7:28
Yeah, you think so?
Chris 7:29
Oh my God, without a doubt, without a doubt, I there’s no doubt in my mind that target would have gotten to the same place without him. And so the question is, like, it just to me was the exact wrong strategy, exact wrong hire from Bed Bath and Beyond curious to see where they go next with this, I would have gone personally in the opposite direction, I would have leveraged the actual national brands that they had more and played them up more, I think that’s the way to do it to play up the cache that you can get on your shelves relative to a target in a Walmart. But hey, but that’s my take.
Anne 7:57
Yeah, I mean, when I read this, I was not surprised at all, he was getting paid a lot of money. Like I brought up that activist letter. Yeah, he was getting paid so much money. That Ryan Cohen letter when he kind of called them all out for not producing work that’s getting people inside a Bed Bath and Beyond, like we just keep kept seeing and still even like within the last couple of weeks, they’re still putting out own brands as their strategy, which like, for me during a pandemic, like there was no discussion of outside of maybe like curbside pickup where they were trying to make the experience better, or you know, bring people in for those like well known brands that Bed Bath and Beyond can offer a customer there was no reason especially in the home category, like the home category was blowing up during the last two years because people had a lot of money to burn, they were investing in their homes and their spaces and you know, spending money to make their lives better at in their houses. And there was they should have been winning this should have been testing much more outside of own brands. And after three years, there’s no no more reason to shop there than there was when he started which is which is I think the the issue for me and Bed Bath and Beyond as a whole
Chris 9:07
Aight. And actually, you bring up another point too, which somebody sent to me on on on social media too, which I thought was intriguing. He said, He placed an order for like a special soap at Bed, Bath and Beyond so carried, and you ordered six of them. And he got six separate deliveries, which is important because it shows you that you can’t fix what’s going on with the retailer from a branding strategy.
It’s the product problem I’ve talked about all the time, like you have to fix it fundamentally from the ground up. And that shows me that there’s still a lot of root issues in in their fulfilment and their omni channel capabilities overall. But your last point to that I think is great, is he made a tonne of money on this. So maybe I do revel in this a little bit. Because if you can make that much money on the way up, when you’re not effectively doing anything, you better well be able to take the criticism on the way down, right. That’s what I think and that’s why I actually think we do what we do, because it’s important to point this out along the whole journey here as well.
Anne 9:55
Right.
Chris 9:56
Alright, Anne let’s go to headline number two, and that is Reva has now open up its second, second autonomous grocery store with trio, right in Berlin. According to our friends at the retail Insight Network, the new store comes on the heels of their first store that launched in Cologne last year, which,
Anne 10:15
oh yeah,
Chris 10:15
by the way, check out our cool video on YouTube, where we did a supermarket sweep of the store,
Anne 10:20
We sure did
Chris 10:21
Because we couldn’t get in there because of GDPR. There’s all kinds of restrictions with GDPR in Germany. So we came up with this cool Supermarket Sweep way to shoot the video to show you how fast the experience is. Yeah. But here’s the cool thing, this store that they announced is going to be roughly twice the size of the Cologne store, which we just visited in Europe. And that’s where I was between to get roughly 2000 to 3000 square feet. It too will be a hybrid store that offers both traditional checkout and the fully autonomous experience. And here’s this is key. This is big difference. It also allows customers to buy fruits and vegetables by weight, instead of by units.
Anne 10:52
Yes,
Chris 10:53
Anne your thoughts.
Anne 10:55
I love this. I mean, I have to say like our biggest takeaway from our European tour of the trigo stores we visited a Neto store and Aldi Nord store and this first reva store that Chris mentioned. And I think the thing that was most surprising is they feel like real grocery stores. We’re not like, we’re not in this world where it’s like this tiny box of a convenience store where you can get like one banana or like prepackaged apples like it felt like a normal grocery store experience, which I think is the biggest thing that we need to talk about trigo, not Amazon, but another major computer vision and AI platform has figured out how to do grocery.
And I think that’s really important, especially when you talk about like the weighted scales, the self dispensing beverages and foods like these are big challenges that they’ve had to overcome in the grocery space. And I think, you know, they’ve shown that there’s other retailers rather the second largest grocer in Germany, that can be strong contenders when we are seeing what Amazon’s bringing to the market in the next few months.
Chris 11:59
100% your points are dead right too like we went into another rev store in Cologne. And it was exactly the same experience. The only differences it’s running on a just walk out technology platform or something akin to it. Right?
Anne 12:10
Right
Chris 12:11
Yeah, I mean, I’m with you. I think this announcement is really big. We were talking about a little bit earlier, I kind of even put it maybe a little bit bigger. Like I think it’s I think it’s huge and full disclosure for those listening trigo is a past sponsor of this show of this very show.
Anne 12:26
Yeah.
Chris 12:26
And they also helped going to call it out. They helped us pay for exploits in Europe recently, too. But I have no qualms in saying it. Because I think we try really hard to hitch our waggons to the companies that we think are making hay in this space. But if you look at it, it’s true. Like second store, full grocery experience, like you said, now 4000 to 6000 square feet.
Anne 12:44
Yeah,
Chris 12:44
That’s doubling the size, which is roughly if you look back the same timeline and trajectory by which Amazon doubled their square footage, which I think is important because it shows you trigo is on that same path. Amazon just got started a little bit further. And your point like tree goes solely in the lead here, in my opinion. Now, alongside of Amazon add on having tech that’s robust enough for a full scale grocery operation here in the future.
Anne 13:06
Yeah.
Chris 13:06
And so while everyone else has been making hay with convenience store operators and deliberately going after them, you know, you look at the A flies, the or I files I always say that wrong. Standards, all those guys trigo showing, like you said they’re a potential long term option, if you want to explore this without Amazon.
Anne 13:22
Yeah, I think the other thing too, Chris, is that, you know, this is a hybrid store.
Chris 13:26
Yep.
Anne 13:27
Well, we, you know, our opinion is that, you know, if you’re really going to go for this, that what Amazon’s doing is probably the right way to go where you’re just like going all in there is still going to be a learning curve for the retailers, especially the grocery industry to get onto this and so Trigo I think the ability to be able to kind of take that step and offer like, we can do a hybrid store in this large footprint, or we can do a just walk out version, you know, in the same footprint. We’ll work with you to get to that point in time I think is another thing to uh that will help more adoption with this.
Chris 13:59
Yeah, absolutely. Anne, you know, it’s funny to like this N Yeah. also happens to be our put you on the spot question. Are you ready?
Anne 14:08
Yeah.
Chris 14:09
All right.
Anne 14:09
That was I was like moving on to the next headline your
Chris 14:12
you were?
Anne 14:13
Bringing it up on me.
Chris 14:13
Well, yeah, I can’t let you move on Anne. I know I saw you ready to go but I deliberately held this one until the end of our conversation to kind of spur it on you because I feel like I’ve gotten the last few of them. But alright, here’s the question Anne. A&M we expect most eyes will be drawn to the cashier this walkout experience in rev as autonomous grocery store announcement putting a retailer hat on what other use cases would you be excited to employ with the additional data these sophisticated ceiling mounted cameras can provide you? Anne.
Anne 14:41
Okay, well, I think that the biggest thing is once you’ve invested in putting the hardware in your stores, so the cameras the shelf sensors like the total package that enables a cashierless checkout experience like we’re seeing here, I think that it unlocks the ability down the road once once it you can get the compute Power to be doing so many things like, you know, dwell time in front of displays customers interaction with products, which will be very helpful for brands, customer journey mapping, like sending targeted offers to people like all these other things that are all like separate technologies right now can eventually be run through the use of this setup, which I think justifies the investment that a lot of retailers are going to have to make for this. So I think, you know, we’re just going to continue to see the validity for investing in this kind of tech
Chris 15:31
100%. And like, you know, we covered a lot of those use cases at NRF. Like when we were doing the innovation,
Anne 15:37
Yeah,
Chris 15:37
For Lenovo and Nvidia, like, we talked, we talked to a queue management company, we talked to you, a customer experience analytics company, we talked to you know, aap acids protection uses there. So all those are dead, right. And you know, what this cost of mind for me is actually we got another review this recently this week on a clip that we put on Amazon Fresh, it was an old clip.
Anne 15:58
Oh, right. Right.
Chris 15:58
But it was on Amazon Fresh, and it came to us from Steve PD one, which I might know who that is, I’m not sure but but he might not like what I have to say. But he here’s what he said. He said, I hated my Amazon Fresh experience. It’s like a dystopian future depressing, cold and colourless employees seem unhappy to work, their prices were higher than local markets, I won’t be returning. And to that I know. Right. But to that, I would say one, first of all, love the comment. But I fundamentally disagree with what he’s saying there. There’s because there’s a premise that’s there that I think is flawed, which is you’re basing the technology on the experience,
Anne 16:31
Right
Chris 16:32
And yes, Amazon’s new to grocery like, yeah, they probably figured it out, they probably didn’t make it as inviting as your traditional local grocery store. But that’s not the point here. The point is what you said before, which is, this can be put into any grocery experience, or it’s getting to the point where it can be. And so if you take if you take your favourite grocery experiencing, now you say, you can just walk out, and you can have all those other benefits too, then you have something
Anne 16:55
Right.
Chris 16:56
And that’s what we’re on the precipice here. Which, by the way, is a great segue to our next headline.
Anne 17:00
Oh it sure is. So headline number three, is that Amazon has launched a new physical retail store analytics service. According to an Amazon press released this week, the new service dubbed store analytics, how very basic, provides brands with aggregated and anonymized insights about the performance of their products, promotions, and ad campaigns in just walk out technology, and Amazon Dash cart enabled Amazon Go, and Amazon Fresh stores in the US. So brands will now have access to details on how their products are discovered, considered and purchased in applicable stores to help inform decisions related to selection promotions, and ad campaigns. Additionally, advertisers running in store campaigns, such as digital signage, will see associated performance metrics in their ad campaign reports. Chris, we already kind of touched on this a little bit. But what would you add to this one?
Chris 17:54
Why I think there’s there’s some wrinkles here too, that are important call out like, yes, we talked about the other the other use cases for these types of platform. But I think this is significant now because Amazon is saying they’re going to do it. And they’re going to provide this service to the brands or retailers that are willing to part with partner with them. Yep. On their continued expansion of Amazon Fresh,
Anne 18:13
right.
Chris 18:14
So shots fired on that one.
Anne 18:16
Yeah.
Chris 18:16
Kudos to you for calling out the lame name too. That’s really funny. But, but to me, it’s Fort Knox. I mean, this is, I mean, we had Chad from a&m, Chad Lusk from him on the show, talking about the value that he saw in this as a former CPG CMO,
Anne 18:29
Right
Chris 18:29
around this data that they can provide, you can see what’s on shelf, you can see how much is there, you can see what price it is you can see how its positioned relative to competitors. And you can access those results. It goes back to what we said before, this is not just about just walk out technology.
Anne 18:44
Right,
Chris 18:44
It’s about this it’s about digitising our understanding of the physical store. So we can understand how people shop in the same way that we understand e commerce how a mouse moves across a browser. That’s why this is so important. That’s why this whole damn thing is I called it already the greatest retail innovation of the next 30 years, I normally get **** for being hyperbolic on that, or you know, prone to hyperbole, but I really believe it. And if you really believe it, if you’re George Costanza fan, then it’s not hyperbole, right? I mean, that’s just the way it is. But I mean, she pitches you’re gonna get this up. Something like the prime discount last week, it’s another bullet in their chamber that they can use to make these stores more effective over time. And this is not like a now play, like going back to the video quote, or the video comment says a 10 year play a 15 year play. And that’s why it’s so damn important.
Anne 19:31
Yeah, I think the other thing I point out about this, too, is especially as we step away from Amazon, but into the other grocery store examples that you were talking about, I mean, if you are a grocer and you are building a retail media network like this, which is which is in you know, we’re talking about the innovations that and the technologies that are going to improve and bring in revenue for retailers over the course of the next you know, immediate three to five years to be able to have like you’re saying the visibility into what’s happening in store or, and what’s happening, you know, in the third party delivery services even, and what’s happening online and to be able to provide the CPGs with that complete view of first party data is huge. So again, I think like you’re saying, it’s going to start to, you know, make the case which it’s taken a little while but making the case for investing in this kind of technology that just walk out technology, the, you know, computer vision and AI technology for retailers that wasn’t probably there before. But now it’s, it’s critical.
Chris 20:30
And if I put my future hat on
Anne 20:32
Yeah,
Chris 20:32
the other thing that this is going to start to promote is the use of electronic shelf labels,
Anne 20:35
Right
Chris 20:36
Because first of all CPGs never know they never have confidence that what they’ve bought or secured from the retailers is actually on shelf and the way it is that’s why they send all these third party services in to check their work. And then also they have no confidence in the pricing that’s being put on shelf because the signs fall down all the time. So electronic shelf labels coordinated with cameras to give them real time visibility to the actions they can probably implement on their own without having even negotiated with the retailers anymore is massive
Anne 21:03
Yes. Yeah
Chris 21:04
That’s where things are going folks that’s really where things are going and it’s going to be god damn fun to watch
Anne 21:09
Yeah, all right, Chris. Let’s go to headline number four.
Chris 21:11
All right, like I said, and I put on I put on my guard this is the only piece of GAP clothing that I own. Did you do the same thing?
Anne 21:17
What? No. Oh my gosh, I love the GAP. I have so much I That’s like my favourite still I know it’s embarrassing, but my favourite spot to shop outside of like my local boutiques, so like, yeah, gap tank top shorts.
Chris 21:31
I think for men they’re just falling off so much. I don’t know. And like, and this is I got this on the discount rack, too. It’s this size medium, but it’s like so big. But fortunately, after the weight gain from the stroke, like it actually fits me fairly well now, but anyway, yeah, I mean, it’s a commentary on where things are. But anyway, good announcement this week.
Anne 21:47
Yes.
Chris 21:48
Gap inc announced that they are they have unveiled four retail spaces at its Folsom Street headquarters in San Francisco that will serve as labs. According to retail dive in a gap press release, the stores will serve as places to quote, test new store technologies, consumer experiences and product innovations, end quote, the brands represented will be gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta and will occupy nearly 18,000 square feet of retail space on the city’s Embarcadero waterfront near the ferry terminal. And inside of gaps Folsom Street headquarters, Anne I’m guessing you love this?
Anne 22:23
I do.
Chris 22:24
Yeah me too
Anne 22:25
You know, I am I just said, but I’m a ride or die GAP fan, I want them to succeed so badly, like so much. And I think that they deserve a lot of credit for this, you know, they have nothing to lose at this point. And they’re at least doing something. I mean, they’re giving each brand little over 4000 square feet to test like, that’s big. That’s a big investment, especially in this location where you you know, it’s like, their flagship location, and what other you know, Legacy mall retailers trying anything like this? I mean, are we seeing journeys, or the buckle or like any of these people out there testing are trying to like, put their concepts in front of people, no random buckle slab.
Chris 23:06
I like that.
Anne 23:06
I mean, whatever. This is first thing that came to mind, but I think it’s really smart to they’re putting it in this location, because you have a good mix of tourists and like that trip type? And do you have a good mix of like the people working down in San Francisco, like in their day to day, you know, going and getting on the ferry and going back home? Like, you’re gonna get a lot of information from this. And they have free licence to try absolutely anything here because it’s a web store.
Like, I love it. Let’s see what sticks. Let’s go from there. I mean, this could have maybe, maybe this could have been something Bed Bath and Beyond could have tried, and maybe that would have helped.
Chris 23:41
For sure. I like it, you’re probably right to some degree. I mean, I love it, too. I think I think I take it even further. I think every retailer should have this approach.
Anne 23:50
Yeah,
Chris 23:50
Like, every retailer should be putting something like this in the basement of their headquarters,
Anne 23:54
Right
Chris 23:54
It’s a page out of Amazon’s book, right? And you do it because it gives you a licence to experiment with your employees. And that’s number one, like you know, depending where your headquarters are, you might be a drive to location
Anne 24:05
Right
Chris 24:06
But that’s okay, because you can experiment with your employees. But if you can get your customers in there too. They’re going to know it’s in your flagship location, it’s going to be a different experience. They’re gonna give you more licence to try things that you otherwise wouldn’t
Anne 24:16
And they’re gonna want to check it out like you’re gonna get traffic to the store because it’s it sounds cool like they want to experiment with it and see it .
Chris 24:23
So the location of this is really important cuz I used to work there.
Anne 24:26
Yeah,
Chris 24:26
Right. And they closed their flagship store in Market Street, they closed another store nearby Embarcadero centre. So there’s really vacant in terms of gaps presence in that area now and so yeah, it fits right in but it to me it’s an absolute must in omni channel world like you look at all the stories we’ve covered.
Anne 24:42
Yeah.
Chris 24:42
And then of companies have had success with this type of model. Revo, we just talked about them right. Amazon Go same approach Sam’s Club now look at all the innovation they’ve spun off from that even Walmart self checkout store falls into this bucket as this idea. It doesn’t even have to be in your headquarters, but you have to be doing concept work. concept work. It’s all grounded in that and so yeah for me three words Love, Love Love.
Anne 25:05
Okay, well you’re not going to love the last headline I think
Chris 25:07
I kind of love the headline. I don’t know that I love the outcome of it.
Anne 25:12
Yeah. Okay, that’s a better clarification
Chris 25:14
It definitely caught my eye.
Anne 25:15
Alright, so headline number five Chris. The FTC is suing Walmart. That was that was a nice chortle right after the
Chris 25:24
wait for the pause.
Anne 25:25
Yeah. According to payments dive, The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday that it sued Walmart in a civil lawsuit over the retailer’s failure to protect customers using money transfer services added stores from fraudsters costing those customers hundreds of millions of dollars over years, the agency said Walmart quote turned a blind eye while scammers took advantage of its failure to properly secure the money transfer services offered at Walmart stores and quote, the FTC said in a press release, citing Walmart’s failure to properly train employees or warn customers. Walmart may have even used procedures that aided the fraudsters, the agency said, Chris, this is a this is no no monkeying around as my grandpa used to say like this is not good.
Chris 26:12
No, yeah, no, I think to that point, I don’t I don’t love the headline, but it definitely caught my attention. I mean, yeah, I think you’re right. It sounds completely ominous. You know, and if anyone has any information on this, let us know. Because this kind of sounds like a Woodward and Bernstein thing we got potentially going on here. Because you what I know. And my buddy, you know, as as for those that don’t know, my buddy, it was just named the like head federal prosecutor in Idaho recently.
And he told me something a few years ago, I’ll never forget, he’s like, the government doesn’t bring a case against you unless they think it’s ironclad. Which tells you a lot about the state of what else is going on politically right now, too. But, and I’ve always I’ve never forgot that. So that tells me that they think they have something possibly with airtight proof, which makes me wonder this is a big question for me. How far up the Walmart leadership ladder does this go? You know, does it stop with whoever was in charge of this programme? Does it go further up to say Doug McMillon? That’s the question here. And it’s going to be frickin fun to watch how this plays out. And it could be quite alarming here too. But, you know, hard to know, without more information right now, but you gotta wonder. That’s my big question is how far up the ladder does it go?
Anne 27:14
As it should. I mean, this is a big problem for America’s largest retailer, especially I’m I’m upset about this.
Chris 27:22
Are you? Yeah, you seem a little You seem a little
Anne 27:25
Yeah.
Chris 27:25
Agitated and ornery why?
Anne 27:27
Because Walmart one is, as we know, the closest and most convenient retailer for any, for people in this country to get a lot of those money transfer services, and is a main trip driver for a lot of those families who are sending trying to send money home or wherever. And for, for me, the biggest pain for about this is that Walmart has been talking for the last year about all these efforts about how they’re getting into the finance industry, they want to do their own money transfer services, they’re trying to do financing for their customers, and they’re doing all of this other stuff, without like looking under the covers at their own operation and allowing this stuff to happen. And for people, innocent people who are just working hard and trying to get by to be taking this money from them is I am I’m livid.
Chris 28:15
Yeah. The fact that you’re right, I mean, the fact that there’s allusions to that this was known and going on.
Anne 28:21
Yes,
Chris 28:22
And was kind of deliberately shuffled under the rug,
Anne 28:24
And you’re not training your employees, like you’re gonna go rollout services and your employees don’t even know how to do the services that you’re offering in store right now. Like, yeah, that’s important.
Chris 28:33
Yeah. Although, that one, that having been a former store manager, and you working in source too, like, I think that one’s a little thin for me, like, that’s kind of the throw on that you add into like, Hey, you didn’t do a good job of training. Like, it’s just hard to train people in stores, you know, so I can I can get by on that one. But the complicit the complicit nature that is being potentially discussed here of the leadership is what is what
Anne 28:53
I don’t know, I don’t know. I don’t know if I can get behind that. Like, this is no different than like, you can’t sell cigarettes to somebody who’s under 18, or liquor to somebody who’s under 21. Like, they’re it’s a process just like any other or a checkout process like you should be able this is a this is a thing that it has repercussions like we’re seeing right now, if you don’t do it, right. And I think that Walmart should have been putting more priority on making sure especially as they’re rolling out their own services, like they are focused on this and the data that’s coming in about this. People were reviewing this to make sure that Walmart’s gonna go in that direction. And they did not make sure that like, pause, you start seeing this information, somebody glossed over it. You have to put your own financial services on hold if you’re going to do that.
Chris 29:40
Yeah, that’s interesting, you know, and did you read the FTC? The press release too?
Anne 29:43
yes,
Chris 29:43
You’re bringing up something too. That’s important to call out and I I don’t want to say it’s explicit because I want to make sure I get it right. And I don’t have it in front of me. But basically, they said that there was there was basically a procedure in place where if you suspect fraud, still let it happen. Like it’s okay to let it happen is what they’re saying. And that’s what you’re alluding to, to which which is important. But Jesus Anne
Anne 30:01
No
Chris 30:01
gonna be gonna be wild to watch this one we’re only at step one of this story too I imagine but like I said if you got any information let us know we’re all ears all right Anne let’s do the lightning
Anne 30:10
Alright I need to take a deep breath
Chris 30:11
You Do you got. It’s got hot in here again
Anne 30:14
Again Okay Chris, let’s have some fun
Chris 30:17
all right
Anne 30:17
first question
Chris 30:18
yes,
Anne 30:19
Just in time for the Fourth of July holiday.
Chris 30:21
Yes,
Anne 30:22
Alka Seltzer is introducing Alka Seltzer hangover relief with an assist from musician T pain which if you have not seen the behind the scenes story about T pain, watch it I think it’s on Netflix. It’s like amazing of just about how he like started auto tune and how it almost ruined his career and like Usher tried to fight him on a plane like it’s great. I highly recommend okay, but Chris, my question is, what is the greatest T PAIN song of all time?
Chris 30:48
Well, I think the greatest one would actually be a few saying plop, plop, Fizz, Fizz, you know. Oh, what a relief it is with that. Yeah, right.
Anne 30:55
Yes. Okay. Yeah,
Chris 30:56
But honestly, I can’t name I can’t I can’t I can’t name one.
Anne 31:02
I am gonna Buy you a drink?
Chris 31:05
No, no, but he did do that, SNL, on a boat thing, right? Wasn’t that him?
Anne 31:10
Yeah, he did
Chris 31:10
Yeah. So I knew that I’m on a boat. Yeah, right. That was it. I can’t name a song. Can you name a song? One song?
Anne 31:16
Yeah, buy you a drink.
Chris 31:17
Oh, I thought you’re just singing it. I don’t know. All right, let’s keep going because I’m embarrassed. BFA Now. Analysts accused bed bath of turning off the air conditioning in its stores to save money this week. Anne what is the most miserly thing you’ve ever done to save money?
Anne 31:33
Okay, I’m really embarrassed to talk about this. It’s gonna be so good. What is it? Okay, when I was in college, I was in Duluth, Minnesota, we had to drive there’s a tanning salon.
Chris 31:42
Yeah,
Anne 31:43
that was like $1 per minute to tan, which was like cheap. We were in college, we had to get tanned in the middle of the winter and be completely orange. So my roommates and I would all carpool and drive 30 minutes to get to superior Wisconsin, we’d cross the border get there. And we would tag in to go do the tanning. So like somebody would do five minutes of tanning and then we’d tap in and then the other person would go in so that we could just get a little bit more tan but only like the $5 increments because they wouldn’t let us do that you had to buy like a package of so many minutes. And that’s why I look orange in every photo from 2000 to 2004
Chris 32:19
Yeah, you know, an aside here growing up in Arizona like I know nothing about self tanning beds but like, that was a stark reality to me when I moved here like how orange people are.
Anne 32:27
Oh my god. It’s embarrassing to look back at that potos.
Chris 32:29
I think It’s starting to go away finally but like maybe not. But yeah, it’s weird. All right.
Anne 32:34
All right, Chris. Amazon unveiled a new feature in the works for its virtual assistant Alexa, that can read aloud in a deceased loved one’s voice based on just a short I think it’s 40 second recording of the person.
Chris 32:47
So creepy
Anne 32:47
If you were to have a deceased celebrity be the voice of your Alexa who would you choose?
Chris 32:52
Oh, super easy. Not it’s a no brainer. Orson Welles. Orson Welles. Citizen Kane man greatest voice of all time.
Anne 32:58
Oh my god. Chris, make the coffee
Chris 33:01
Right. Good morning. Worst Orson Welles impersonation. By Irish accent
Anne 33:07
It’d be Dewey to Minneapolis,
Chris 33:09
Orson Welles with an Irish accent. Chris, I can’t do it.
Anne 33:13
You can’t do it.
Chris 33:13
Alright. Target recently unveiled a new private label adult beverage line. Anne if you could create a private label alcohol in your image, what type of liquor would it be and what would it be called?
Anne 33:22
Okay. I’m very proud of this one.
Chris 33:24
Okay,
Anne 33:24
I would I would create a drink in a can.
Chris 33:28
In a can Yeah, sure. That fits
Anne 33:30
Called the hot mez.
Chris 33:32
The hot mez
Anne 33:33
And it’d be a spicy Margarita with champagne
Chris 33:36
In a can
Anne 33:37
In a can
Chris 33:37
A spicy Margarita in a can.
Anne 33:37
Hell Yeah. I had that drink in London. We were there that was it was like a margarita and champagne. Remember?
Chris 33:43
Was it spicy though?
Anne 33:44
No, it wasn’t but it needed some spice.
Chris 33:46
It wasn’t in a can.
Anne 33:47
It wasn’t in a can. But I’m telling you bringing that to the beach. You’re all set for the Fourth of July.
Chris 33:53
Oh my god. That is the perfect one for you. That is the perfect
Anne 33:56
hot mess. Yeah,
Chris 33:57
perfect. Perfect Blend of trashy and classy, which is what I’m all about.
Anne 34:01
Right.
Chris 34:02
That wraps us up happy birthday to Mike Tyson, Michael Phelps and posthumously to the great Willie Sutton, the famous bank robber whom we have quoted many times on this show, and who most importantly, reminds us to always, quote go where the money is. And 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 www dot Omni talk dot blog. Thanks as always, for listening in. Please remember to like and leave us a review wherever you happen. Listen to your podcasts or on YouTube and there’s a good chance we’re going to read your review aloud on this show. And of course finally, as always, be careful out there.
Anne 34:50
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 personalised 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 fulfilment, small robotic fulfilment centres that can be leveraged at a hyperlocal 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 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. 