Anne 0:08
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, sezzle and silk. 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 September 8 2022. I’m your host, Anne Mezzenga
Chris 0:32
And I’m Chris Walton.
Anne 0:33
And we are here once again to discuss all the top headlines making waves in the world of omni channel retailing. Chris, did you notice anything about our new intro?
Chris 0:42
You know, Anne I did
Anne 0:44
That fact that it’s a little new
Chris 0:45
Yeah, it’s right. Yeah, that it’s new. And we have a new sponsor Silk. Yes Anne silk.
Anne 0:50
Tell us about Silk.
Chris 0:51
I think silk likes us for our silky sounds of our voice, actually. But no, but silk specialises in Cloud database performance and optimization. And I’m also happy to report that I actually will be a featured speaker in their upcoming roadshows this fall in places like Dallas and Boston. So if you’re in the IT space and want to learn more about attending in either one of those locations, drop me a line via LinkedIn and let’s make it happen. But yeah Anne, I’m pumped. We got a new sponsor again.
Anne 1:14
Yes, I’m excited. We also
Chris 1:18
Well, I was gonna we can’t go We can’t let this go for those watching on video. Oh, you got a new do?
Anne 1:24
I went full on Robin.
Chris 1:27
You got your hair’s cut my friend. How you liking it?
Anne 1:30
I think it’s part of the midlife crisis time. You’re like, hello, I’m I’d like a walk in and I would like to come out looking like a completely different person. And I accomplish that goal. So
Chris 1:41
We’re gonna have to finish that conversation later, because I’ve got some questions for you about that already.
Anne 1:45
Okay. Well, Chris, let’s get to the actual let’s get to
Chris 1:50
You wanna get to the content, the reason people are here.
Anne 1:53
Yeah, I mean, I’d love to talk about midlife crises and hairstyles.
Chris 1:57
I bet our listeners would actually love if we went into that. So maybe what maybe I’ll Anne, and I’ll talk about it offline, and then we’ll bring you back the tidbits next week. But we don’t have a review today Anneto read in the beginning, but we have a very insightful comment that was left for us on YouTube.
Anne 2:04
I want to hear about it.
Chris 2:12
Yeah, it comes to us from loyal video follower. Shazam Flash. Okay. And Shazam had this to say on Sam’s Club instituting a fee for curbside pickup. He’s what he or she is one of our most loyal YouTube watchers honestly.
Anne 2:24
Yes okay.
Chris 2:25
Quote, both Sam’s Club and BJs offer curbside pickup BJs. curbside pickup is free and Sam’s is charging for it. But for that reason alone 10 times out of 10 I go to BJ’s, it’s not just the $4. But what incentive do I have to pay sands for a service that I can get at BJ’s for free? Sounds would have to offer me lower prices and BJ’s, which they don’t? Why would I want to go into the store? And I don’t have to because it’s more convenient, proper stance for me to go into the store? I don’t think so exclamation point. end quote Anne do you agree? What do you think about that?
Anne 2:54
Yeah, I agree. Actually, you know what, so I’m doing a panel at grocery shop coming up with called the Wall Street perspective. And we are going to be talking about this very, very topic. And we’re going to be diving into like, just how big of an impact who stands to succeed by things like what he is what he or she is talking about here like offering curbside pickup for free versus charging for it and how that’s gonna impact a business’s bottom line. So
Chris 3:21
Yeah you’re on stage with all the analysts.
Anne 3:23
Yeah, I’m, I’m very excited.
Chris 3:25
Yeah It should be fun. Like it’d be cool. It’d be cool to pick their brains on what drives their modelling.
Anne 3:30
Yeah, I mean, that I want to know I feel like this is this is actually one of total sessions. I’m I’m most thrilled for us. How do I get these super smart Wall Street analysts to break it down for us?
Chris 3:41
That’s a great, great point.
Anne 3:42
But yes, I would definitely go somewhere that has free curbside pickup, especially a warehouse.
Chris 3:47
Yeah, given the option. Yeah.
Anne 3:49
Okay, well, please, if you are listening, and you want to leave a comment, you can do so on YouTube, like we talked about right now or leave us a review on Apple podcasts heart, the podcast. If you’re on Spotify. If you’re on Google or Amazon Music, please. We’re talking to you follow and subscribe so that we can keep making the best content. And we will read it aloud one day for all the listeners to hear. But Chris, it’s time to get into the fast five.
Chris 4:14
Yes, No more waiting and No more beating around the proverbial bush ANne today’s Fast Five is brought to you with the help and support of our good friends at grocery shop. Are you a retailer brand thing about attending grocery shop this year? Believe it or not, it’s like 10 days away?
Anne 4:25
Well, I believe it
Chris 4:26
I know right? Yeah, I feel it too. I feel the crush. Well don’t even think about attending without using our promo code. Specifically for AMI talk listeners. Just go to grocery shop.com and enter promo code RBOT1950. That’s RBOT1950 for your special discounted rate. In today’s Fast Five news. We’ve got news on Instagram scaling back even more shopping features. Disney plus going the other direction and getting into inept commerce.
Anne 4:50
Yeah,
Chris 4:51
Dick’s Sporting Goods offering in person resale events. Instacart acquiring not one but two more companies over the past week. But first we take off with what is quite honestly some very sad news out of bed bath and beyond this weekend.
Anne 5:03
Yeah Chris according to USA Today, Bed Bath and Beyond CFO Gustavo Arnal committed suicide this past Friday, Harriet Edelman independent chair of the Bed Bath and Beyond Inc, board of directors had this to say, quote, I wish to extend our sincerest condolences to Gustavo’s family, Gustavo will be remembered by all he worked with for his leadership, talent and stewardship of our company. I’m proud to have been his colleague, and he will be truly missed by all of us at Bed Bath and Beyond and everyone who had the pleasure of knowing him End quote, It should be noted that, according to court documents Arnal along with Gamestop chairman, Ryan Cohen were both recently named in a lawsuit accusing them of insider trading and fraud. Chris, what’s your take on this really disturbing turn of events this week?
Chris 5:51
Yeah, I mean, I mean, first of all, it has to be said, My heart absolutely goes out to the family. And you also have no idea how much you know, anything that happened had to do with Bed Bath and Beyond is even a part of this. I mean, I think you have to recognise that it’s all supposition or conjecture at this point. But, you know, I think and I had some debates on whether or not even covered this with some close friends of mine, too, and ultimately, we decided to do it, but, but I think it’s I think it’s important to talk about as a story or a headline. Because when I look back at how much drama, we’ve reported about Bed, Bath and Beyond over the past few years, you know, ultimately, it didn’t have to end like this, you know, it didn’t have to end like this in so many ways.
And so by that, I mean, like, my takeaways are looking back at the whole situation, I’ve basically three takeaways. One, don’t fall into the trap of thinking your new CEO is a messiah, like you can see that you can see the writing on the wall when companies are starting to do that. And it just leads to problems down the road. And that clearly happened here, clearly, and we were kind of saying, watch out for that watch out for that there’s a lot of context to what he’s going to do here versus what he did at Target.
Secondly, I think internal governance matters, particularly in terms of what are you what you’re paying these unproven executives, like you talked about on a podcast a couple of months ago, just the the millions of dollars these guys were making, but also the odd share buyback that they were making before they were even proving out what the strategy was going to be. And they were no way out of the woods too.
And then third, I think the SEC has to step in at some point, the fact that Mr. Cohen could come in guns blazing, which like I think was at the beginning of this year, if I remember, right, or maybe last year, making claims like he did against the board, doing absolutely nothing to help the stock price, and then still somehow reap a huge profit. That sickens me, just one It sickens me. And two, it smells bad, because you’re a shareholder, and you’re selling out when you know, there is nothing to be had there from the company. So like, that, in essence, is my takeaways from the story.
I think it’s a great microcosm for retail and the industry to look at to, to get a lot of lessons from.
Anne 7:46
When this came out this weekend. It was, I don’t know, I feel like it just was really, like I said, really jarring news. But I do think that more than anything, and I’ve like, like you said, I’ve been talking to a couple of friends about this too, and just like who are in the trading business, who understand this, too, and I think it shows that the SEC, like you mentioned, and our legal system, they have to get up to speed like, the way that he was like, he’s communicating his, you know, his tweets, or whatever about oh, I’m gonna go like, we’re gonna turn this into a meme stock, and we’re gonna do all this stuff, or like, I’m gonna buy or I’m gonna sell or whatever like that kind of communicate like the the means by which all of this is going down is changing so quickly, and the SEC and our legal system need to figure out a plan to more quickly adapt and regulate how this is all going down and how it’s all taking place.
Because I think we’re this is, you know, Bed Bath and Beyond is not a unique case here. I mean, we are seeing a lot of other retailers, a lot of other entertainment providers, hospitality sectors, like there’s a lot of people who are who are not evolving gear, who this kind of thing could happen to. And this is more than just the retailer in trouble. I think this is this is going to have windfalls with the rest of the economy and the people who work at these retailers and especially at Bed Bath and Beyond in this case, and people’s lives, unfortunately, like like with Gustavo and I just I, I really hope that we can start to see some change here.
Chris 9:13
Yeah, I think your point is right, like this is not solely an isolated issue with Bed Bath and Beyond, especially on the SEC side of things. And we’re not saying that like any of this is tied together. We’re not we’re saying if then it’s something if there is a connection in regardless of sometimes regardless if there is something has to be done about this because it’s causing a lot of just issues that could happen down the road that could be similar to this or could not be but they’re still there.
Anne 9:38
Yeah.
Chris 9:39
Alright. headline number two. According to the information cool name Anne sounds like the weekend, Instagram is planning to drastically scale back its shopping features as it shifts the focus of its e commerce efforts to those that directly drive advertising. Citing internal memo. For example, staff were apparently notified that Instagrams existing shopping page will eventually disappear and over the next few Months Instagram will test a simpler and less personalised version of the shopping page known internally as Quote tab light. That’s such a funny name. I didn’t think about the connections or whatever the heck that means it does. It reportedly begins on Tuesday. Anne what do you make of this first cutting back on Livestream shopping? And now direct shopping too?
Anne 10:17
Yeah, you know, I’m, I’m really disappointed about this. And I think the first thing that came to mind is, all of the small businesses who have started leveraging this platform coming out of the pandemic, like how do I still sell my products in my stores when people can’t come to the stores. And I think they really have have spent at least a lot of the ones that I follow have spent a lot of time becoming fluent in how to do sales through Instagram, and that’s become a large part of their business. So I think that that’s what really makes me concerned about this departure for Instagram. I understand that, you know, a lot of the enterprise retailers that we’ve seen are moving people back, they’re getting away from the walled gardens, and Facebook and Instagram, holding all of that their customer information.
They’re bringing people back to their own, you know, platforms to give them a better insight into their own customers and how their customers are shopping. But I think that there’s, there’s still a value to having the shopping available for the SMBs. Because they’re not going to be able to do what those enterprise retailers are doing. They’re not going to be able to bring live shopping to their sites the way that you know, like GAP or Fenty beauty is able to do this at that scale. But maybe that’s just maybe what what Instagram is saying there is that it’s just not enough. Like there’s not enough revenue to be made there, which I still think is not right. But
Chris 11:42
Yeah
Anne 11:42
There’s not enough to be made there to really keep this going.
Chris 11:45
Yeah, that’s interesting that the point about small businesses that on to and you know, and that, you know, question to say So how much are small businesses using Instagram for shopping versus advertising to drive business, their website ultimately, like, if you look at the total pie, I think the thing to like, this reporting sounds really thin. To me, it sounds a lot like the reporting coming out of the livestream reports that we talked about as well. So like, it’s like, to your point, it’s hard to believe that Instagram would just go away from commerce
Anne 12:09
Right
Chris 12:09
And from my sources I’m talking to that’s actually probably not true. That’s not really what’s happening here. So it makes me think that’s what’s happening is it’s really a shift in tactics, okay, nothing, nothing more, nothing less than that. It’s just a shift in how they’re doing it. Because it does bring up the point, which I think is important, and especially someone that I was all in on Instagram shopping, I remember seeing on a podcast, like the way they’re trying to do this, like, I don’t ever need to go to another retailers app, if they do this the right way. Like I can see everything that’s tailored to me and I can buy it right from there. But yet, it hasn’t hooked me. I’ve tried to use it a lot.
Anne 12:41
Yeah.
Chris 12:41
And I think the answer comes back to me the UX design of it. And it’s just not there for me, right? And so it goes again to like, why hasn’t this taken off in social media in general, as a commerce platform? I just think we haven’t cracked the code on what that user experience looks like inside on these platforms. And so for me, I just take this as, hey, we’re repositioning ourselves to still go after it. We’re not going away from commerce, the frickin nuts.
Anne 13:03
Yeah
Chris 13:03
Like, it’s kind of my take.
Anne 13:04
Yeah. So the, they’ll just keep on it’s just a like you’re saying it’s figuring out how to make this work in a different way? Or to be more optimised,
Chris 13:13
Right, which is what tab light signals signals to me, right? Like, if you’re going away from it, you’re not doing tab light
Anne 13:18
Right,
Chris 13:18
You are testing something new.
Anne 13:19
Right,
Chris 13:20
Right. So it’s kind of inherent in the story. And so the headline to me
Anne 13:23
So it’s a diet Coke, social shopping. That’s what we’re saying.
Chris 13:25
Right diet coke, Yeah, right?
Anne 13:27
All right, Chris. Let’s move on to headline number three Disney plus, however, we have somebody going the opposite direction against the trend plans to offer in app commerce. By the end of 2022
Chris 13:41
It’s hard to say
Anne 13:43
According to The Wall Street Journal, Disney is exploring a membership programme that could offer discounts or special perks to encourage customers to spend more on it streaming services, theme parks, resorts and merchandise. It’s a move that some internal Disney executives have begun calling Disney prime. Of course not tab light Disney prime,
Chris 14:01
But it’s not that it’s not as Disney plus already, right?
Anne 14:04
Yes, exactly. As an early step, Disney is working to enable subscribers to its Disney plus streaming service to buy merchandise such as T shirts, themed accessories and children’s costumes associated with some of its shows by scanning a QR code on the service that links to the shop Disney website. People familiar with the plan said one example that executives have discussed as a possible merchandise tie in offering an exclusive toy version of a dark Sabre a weapon from Star Wars themed series the Mandalorian for sale only to Disney plus subscribers. Chris
Chris 14:38
Yes
Anne 14:39
I know you love this I’m gonna
Chris 14:41
You know I do
Anne 14:42
Yeah you like posted about it lately from I think the car on the way home from home delivery world
Chris 14:48
I did
Anne 14:48
What? Why don’t you elaborate a little bit on your your love for this move?
Chris 14:53
Do you know what a dark Sabre is before I start?
Anne 14:55
Don’t know don’t care.
Chris 14:56
No okay Good. We’ll go into that for many listeners because those that do will appreciate why
Anne 15:00
They probably already know we don’t need to know the rest of us don’t.
Chris 15:04
Yes, yes, right. Yes. Yes, but you should dammit. All right. No, you’re right. I love it. And you mention I wrote about it in Forbes I wrote about this happening three years ago in Forbes. And we’re like we talked about in that car ride. I think the miles with this are endless, like it’s endless rows that you can still go down with this. You’ve got product drops, Nike style inap, you know, is one, you’ve got like paid cameo style interactions with the stars, like, you know, a major magic Pedro Pascal from the Mandalorian. I don’t know who that is either. That’s kind of sad, cuz he wasn’t Narcos but
Anne 15:37
I’d rather have like the baby Yoda from SNL. You can maybe
Chris 15:43
do like a little show for your kids and people. There’s probably
Anne 15:46
Have you heard baby Yoda.
Chris 15:53
But yeah, but yeah, but like, but all that is there. So it’s easy money for the taking. And the other part about this too, and you kind of brought this up before the show too is I think Disney is right not to rush into this. Disney has such a strong hold on content that they should test the waters dip their toe into it and make sure they’re doing it in the right way. And so in essence, in essence, I love it. Love it, love it. Three loves Anne.
Anne 16:15
Well I agree
Chris 16:16
you do
Anne 16:16
Like King Triton Staff in the Little Mermaid Chris this thing is gold.
Chris 16:22
So King Triton staff is here to darksaber
Anne 16:24
I think I would say that. I think that more people in the world listening to this podcast know about King Triton aerials, dad from little Marine, then maybe the Darksaber. But I could be wrong. Actually.
Chris 16:35
I have no idea. Actually, I have no idea.
Anne 16:38
Okay, but exhibit A like, I think you have to just look at the success of Disney plus subscribers in just the last like couple of years alone, like this is a very good indication that there’s people who want more from Disney, they want to engage deeper in the brand. And this is a great way to do this. They’re leveraging Disney’s flywheel. They can keep, like you said, Time can go on, they can keep testing things. They have the budget to play with all kinds of, you know, experiences for their fans. And lastly, Walmart plus, you better be taking notes, because this is a company that is leveraging the assets that they have.
Chris 17:15
Yes.
Anne 17:16
SmartWay extending a reason for me to continue to have a Disney plus or Disney Prime membership, whatever you want to call it.
Chris 17:24
Yeah, you’re right. And the other part too is they already have their own product storefront,
Anne 17:28
Yeah
Chris 17:28
You know, they have a Disney Store online already. So like, you know, unlike Facebook, like they’ve already got, they already understand how to do commerce in this space to some degree.
Anne 17:37
Yeah
Chris 17:37
It’s easy to pipe into that over time. This is going to happen
Anne 17:40
Totally.
Chris 17:40
If they get it right. If they think about it the right way it’s going to happen. Alright. Fourth headline Dick’s Sporting Goods is partnered with an online sporting goods marketplace called a sideline swap to trade gift cards for us sports gear. According to change stories, the two companies will offer a series of 50 new trading events in seven states through the end of 2022. At the trading events, customers can exchange their use sports gear, and receive Dick’s gift cards to use towards the next purchase. Customers also have the option to donate all or a portion of their trading value to select local sports organisations and items that do not qualify for trading can be donated or recycled.
The company’s had previously held 10 trading events at Fort Dix locations with plans to expand their partnership to additional markets in 2023. Anne the soccer mom and you I just know absolutely loves this, am I right?
Anne 18:31
I do. I love it especially. So we just went to the Dix house of sport, we’re going to be putting out a video on that soon. But I think that, especially in those places, where Dick’s is focused on being part of the community, right, getting people into the store, this is a great way to do this. It’s how’s the sport and public land their outdoor concept as well. But I think that what I like most about this is this, this is cyclical, this is something that happens every season with every sport with every family, like you have to go get the new gear. And this kind of establishes a muscle memory, I think in the minds of Dick’s Sporting Goods, customers that like we just go to Dick’s now to bring our gear back, get our new gear, and that can all happen simultaneously at these events.
Also, Dick’s doesn’t have to hold any of this inventory which I’m a hit or miss on I mean some of it to me it’s like there could be some advantages still have like the ski swap model where you can bring you know you go there you walk away that day with something used. That’s worked very well for a lot of other organisations that works really well for Facebook marketplace. But I think that there’s room to grow into that and see like, what these events like what kind of turnout Are you getting? People want what do people want what sells but I just I love that this is an option here for four families for 50 families. I think it’s gonna be a great addition to the Dick’s Sporting Goods world but what do you think are you are you as big on this as I am
Chris 20:00
Yeah, I love it. I love it. Like if we had one I’d probably go.
Anne 20:03
Yeah, I know it’s not gonna be here.
Chris 20:04
Yeah, yeah. Especially on our timeline that which is tough. But yeah, to me, I think there’s first of all, from just a conceptual standpoint, there’s no bigger waste of money than then sporting goods for children,
Anne 20:16
Right
Chris 20:16
Like it’s just an absolute waste.
Anne 20:17
Or, or like inhibitor from starting sports like you
Chris 20:20
Right
Anne 20:20
A lot of sports you can’t even some kids can’t even play because the equipment is too expensive.
Chris 20:24
Right right. Absolutely. And it’s a brilliant merchandising idea too, because like, it plays into two things, it gets you to the location you always talk about is what is your why, why am I going to location it gives me a reason to go to decks to associate something with decks, which hopefully gives me money for the trade. And I go and I spend my money at decks. The other thing about this like for my time at Target, I should run back to college at Target.
Anne 20:44
Yeah.
Chris 20:45
And, and that’s what this is built around. It’s built around seasonal events, which is why it’s good merchandising, there are seasonal events in people’s lives. Getting kids into sports is one of them.
Anne 20:53
Yeah
Chris 20:53
that you can build events around us. We used to bus kids into like college campuses, I can remember we bust people in the boulder Fort Collins
Anne 21:00
Yeah
Chris 21:00
Colorado. And you can plan around that. And the volume in those days was immense. Like it went up like three or four times.
Anne 21:06
Yeah.
Chris 21:07
And that’s huge. Like you can do a whole week in a day. So like, in theory, you could create and programme the same thing across all the dicks throughout the country. Which Anne brings me to our next question, which is the a&m CRG puts you on the spot Question of the week. Are you ready?
Anne 21:22
Yeah.
Chris 21:22
All right. Okay. So here it is from a&m CRG. We like the creativity of this programme from Dick’s partnering with an already existing second hand marketplace provider and flowing future purchases back to Dick’s in the form of gift cards. What other retailer or sector could benefit from this type of arrangement?
Anne 21:40
Whoo. Well,
Chris 21:41
It’s a good question.
Anne 21:42
I think your example of back to college is actually a good one. Like there’s tonnes of opportunities on on college campuses or, you know, in
Chris 21:49
Used to be what Bed Bath and Beyond was best at.
Anne 21:51
Yeah, right. Like, how do you how do you leverage resale? I’ve, you know, I’m a huge resale person. So I say anything that you can buy on Facebook marketplace should be like anything that people are buying, which the top three things I think are like furniture, kids clothes, and toys and sporting equipment, like any of those areas, you should definitely be doing this. So I mean, I think IKEA could do something like this Restoration Hardware, West Elm like, those are some of the things that you always see selling like hotcakes on Facebook marketplace. kids outdoors sneakers, I think anything that really I mean, there’s no limit, I guess no, that’s really it.
And like, like a&m says, like you’re bringing people in, you’re giving them credit to spend in that store, like whether you’re using a resale platform or not. You should figure out how you’re going to capture whether it’s being the place where this is taking place, or some sort of that revenue from the resale of your items.
Chris 22:45
Yeah, you’re right. And I mean, the ones have been done like you said, like we’ve seen car seat returns.
Anne 22:49
Yeah
Chris 22:50
We’re seeing you know, the sporting goods one now we’ve seen the back to college events. That to me, it all goes back to the mindset of what minor you in at what time of the year, right? Like so. For me like wardrobe clean out?
Anne 22:59
Yeah
Chris 22:59
Probably twice a year. Right. The police, I would say malls. malls have huge parking lots. Why aren’t they doing big Like, swaps? Yeah, seal swaps with like, threat up or something like that, coordinating that or helping with that? Or, you know, you can even do high end malls with like, the real real or something like that. The other one too, for me was toys.
Anne 23:16
Yeah,
Chris 23:16
Like the toys clean out?
Anne 23:18
Yeah
Chris 23:18
You know, every parent does that. And you know, you need a place to donate them. So it gets you want to remind you, hey, you need to do this. And to give you an easy place to do it, I think and you could do that at a mall. You could do that at a toy retailer, Target, Walmart, whatever. And it probably makes them feel good to you because you probably are donating it.
Anne 23:33
Yeah.
Chris 23:33
In that in that situation as well.
Anne 23:35
Yeah. Okay, Chris will let’s move on to headline number five. Instacart has gone on an acquisition spending spree over the last week.
Chris 23:45
What a shock.
Anne 23:46
It has acquired not one but two companies in just a six day span, Chris. This company this first company had acquired ever site is a pricing and promotions AI platform founded by Dave Morin, who some of you may recognise, because we featured him on our Spotlight Series not too long ago. The second company is called Rosie, which offers independent grocers branded e commerce websites and mobile app capabilities. Chris
Chris 24:13
Yes Anne
Anne 24:14
What the heck is going on in Instacart?
Chris 24:16
I don’t know. I mean, basically Instacart is a VC at this point. Like that’s the best way I can put it. Instacart is a VC at this point. You add Smart Cart caper into the mix, right? The smart card company they acquired
Anne 24:25
Yeah.
Chris 24:25
And that’s three companies, all of which are retail startups that have really zero connection to one another if you get down to how retail actually works. So, for example, doing gig gig gig gig delivery, doing gig delivery,
Anne 24:37
Yep,
Chris 24:38
Yeah, man, I’m having trouble the alliteration there, which is usually not my not my problem isn’t my forte. Doing gig delivery, for example, does not make you better at pricing analytics or checkout free shopping. You exercising that muscle for the past 10 or 15 years does not help you in any way in those arenas. I want people to understand that I could get on board with an E commerce platform for groceries being synergistic. To what Instacart has traditionally done, yeah, but there are so many players in that space. I had never even heard of Rosie. And why if I’m a grocer trying to wean myself off Instacart, as many people are, which I think you already kind of talked about, at one point in this conversation you’re in, in sessions past?
Why would I go with Instacart? Why would I? Why would I do this to for my own ecommerce browser, my own e commerce experiences tonnes of players out there. And to top it all off, we had 1010data on our podcast this week, sharing the latest data on Instacart. We can’t share it with you. But let me just tell you, like, we’re gonna put the pod out next week, you’re gonna want to listen to it because the story does not appear to be great, is what I would say. And it’s further into, it’s just a further indication of why this seems like just a massive grasping of straws. And it’s, of course, just basic trying to act like a VC and hope it works.
Anne 25:44
Yeah, I don’t understand. Like, I didn’t even understand if I’m a retailer or a grocer right now, like how I’m supposed to be thinking about Instacart. I don’t feel like they have so much internal, like cohesion to happen, that for me as a retailer, like how is going to Instacart paying them on top of what I would already be doing. I’m inside my own internal organisation hiring, pricing and planning and analytics company, hiring the, you know, checkout free technology person like, I mean, we couldn’t get a better deal of myself, like negotiating directly with these people, instead of going to Instacart for what I hope will be somebody who’s got their stuff together and can offer me this full range of offerings.
Like, I just I don’t understand why as a grocer, I need Instacart as like, my Super App, and if I trust them to be a super app right now.
Chris 26:37
Yeah, yeah. And the super apps. It’s a good analogy, you know, and who knows if they’re actually going that direction, but like, your to your point, like, like ever, so it’s a great, it’s a good company, we spotlighted, but like, you know, it might just work on its own as a concept. But it has absolutely this is what’s important. It has absolutely nothing to do in a lot of ways with like gig delivery. It’s just better pricing analytics for retailers, which fine if you want to become a pricing analytics shop. Instacart. Go ahead and do that. But I don’t see how
Anne 27:05
But like it’s gonna take time to build. Isn’t it gonna take time to build this? Like, that’s why it’s talk about the Super App. Like, you’re not even like, how can you confidently go into any retailer right now and be like, here’s our suite of offerings,
Chris 27:19
So many connection points too.
Anne 27:20
You don’t even know how like those things come together in the kitchen. You’re just like, putting out a menu that keeps adding stuff and more stuff and more stuff? And I don’t know, I just don’t I don’t understand.
Chris 27:29
I just don’t see, I don’t see, there’s so many questions this raises to me, and this is our last stories we have, we’ve got some time this shows running pretty quick. Like, like, I don’t understand the board’s approving all this number one, like, okay, we’re just going to spend all this money in advance of the IPO, which, at this point, I’m wondering if it’s even gonna happen this year, because like, what I don’t get, I just don’t get these moves. Like, it doesn’t make sense.
Anne 27:52
It kind of brings me back to the first story, Chris, that we were talking about today, which is like, who are the people internally that are asking questions about what’s going on? Like, if you’re at Instacart Like, is anybody raising their hand? Like, what’s the plan here? where’s this going? Like How especially like, if you’re leading teams that are now supposed to be like, all of a sudden, creating this big spread of offerings? Like where’s my priority of just being a managing how the the products get from retailer to end consumer? Like, where does that fall on the spectrum? Isn’t that what we were Instacart to begin with? But I don’t know, I just feel so much frustration for those those employees of Instacart trying to figure out like where they belong in the world.
Chris 28:35
Yeah you’re buying these companies when instead you could actually like, in theory be giving some of that money back or giving that money back to the initial shareholders or something but like, yeah, it’s just I don’t know, I lost like, it’s just it’s so damn unfathomable to me. And if I was a startup I’d be calling Instacart right and left being like, Hey, you want to acquire me? Because fair play to to ever site and Rosie they probably got a good valuation, I’m guessing.
Anne 28:58
Yeah.
Chris 28:58
Instacart’s teams kind of desperate in this.
Anne 29:00
That’s weird.
Chris 29:01
You know?
Anne 29:01
I don’t know. I don’t know. I gotta move on.
Chris 29:04
Let’s keep going.
Anne 29:05
We’re going to the lightning round. Chris. I have a great first question for you
Chris 29:10
Alright hit me
Anne 29:11
Unilever announced that they start selling their ice cream directly to consumers also via Instacart this week,
Chris 29:17
Which is a cool movie.
Anne 29:18
Yes, I agree. If you were if you were called on Jimmy Fallon or the Grateful Dead to create your own flavour of ice cream what ingredients would it include?
Chris 29:28
I missed it. Jimmy Fallon has his own ice cream by the way. Um, God. Let me see about that for a sec. I would go with off the top of my head. Vodka gut punch Anne I don’t know why but that’s what’s coming through my head.
Anne 29:39
Vodka and icecream?
Chris 29:40
Oh, yeah, Vodka milkshakes. You never had one of those?
Anne 29:43
I’m not that’s not
Chris 29:44
Oh, yeah.
Anne 29:44
Feeling like
Chris 29:45
So tasty.
Anne 29:46
Okay,
Chris 29:46
So tasty All right.
Anne 29:47
What’s a vodka gut punch?
Chris 29:48
I don’t I don’t know and use your imagination. That’s the point. Little chocolate little like vodka taste. Maybe it’s actually got vodka in it because you know, I’m getting creative and innovative. Anne there’s no bounds on On this,
Anne 30:00
I don’t know
Chris 30:00
Thinking outside the ice cream box.
Anne 30:02
I don’t think you’re going to get high scores. You’re not going to be the number one selling ice cream on Instacart. I don’t think
Chris 30:08
It’s a punch in the gut. Alright, Starbucks named the new CEO this week. If you could tell him one thing you’d want change at your Starbucks experience. What would it be?
Anne 30:15
I want half Caf drip coffee.
Chris 30:16
Oh, that’s a good one.
Anne 30:17
I’m a big half Caf. As you know, I had to dial back on the caffeine love coffee, but I really want to just go in and have like, half decaf pike half regular roast pike.
Chris 30:29
Yeah, that’s a really good call. I wonder if they I wonder what prevents that? Or if they could do that if that even
Anne 30:33
If they don’t have the same roast for dark and light, or for decaf and reggae?
Chris 30:38
Right, right. Right
Anne 30:39
Which is a Shame?
Chris 30:39
Yeah, you’re half caffer. I’m a caffer.
Anne 30:41
Yeah, I guess so. But I could have two cups of coffee be your one cup of coffee?
Chris 30:46
You can you can
Anne 30:47
Yeah. Anyway, Chris Walmart unveiled an all in one app called me at Walmart this past week and gave employees their own Samsung phones. If you could have an all in one app to handle a collection of tasks in your day, what would be the first task you’d put it on?
Chris 31:01
Oh, I love that question. And I hope she’s listening in because I’ve got an answer for this an app that collates and organises all the text from Mrs. Omni talk that I get every day about random changes to her work schedule.
Anne 31:12
Oh, my God,
Chris 31:13
Let me just tell you and marital coordination still eludes me, just absolutely baffles me and misses me talk on a daily basis.
Anne 31:20
I think just a general prioritisation list, something that could like prioritise the text in general, between any partners I think would be brilliant.
Chris 31:29
Right
Anne 31:29
Where do you rank this among all the lists of the to dos today?
Chris 31:33
Right. That’d be good. Yeah, like, yeah, like you just keep scrolling? I don’t know. Yeah, you seem like there’s probably tools out there that you could do that. It’s just about investing them for the benefit of you and your spouse and getting you both to figure out how to use them in the same way. Alright Anneseason five. The Season Five teaser trailer for Yellowstone came out this week.
Anne 31:50
It did?
Chris 31:50
Yeah, it’s kind of lame. Actually. I tried. Pound for pound. Who is hotter on that show. Rip, or Beth?
Anne 31:58
Neither Casey, obviously,
Chris 32:01
but that’s not the question, Beth or Rip.
Well, I guess Beth
100% Beth
Anne 32:06
RRip is not my kinda kind of cowboy.
Chris 32:10
Is that your cowboy? Casey’s your cowboy.
Anne 32:13
If somebody’s
Chris 32:14
So Casey or Beth?
Anne 32:17
Casey Obviously
Chris 32:18
Really? Oh, no way I’d still go with Beth. Alright, Kevin Costner or Casey?
Anne 32:25
Oh, I might have to. I’m saying Casey
Chris 32:27
You’re gonna go with Casey,
Anne 32:28
but he Kevin Costner looks good in that show.
Chris 32:30
Oh, yeah. Kevin Costner was like he was a hottie back in the day hypo body back in the day.
Anne 32:34
Oh, yeah. Feel the dreams.
Chris 32:35
Oh, yeah Bull Durham. You know, no way out in the Navy whites. Anyway. All right. That wraps us up. Happy Birthday today to get in Matt Azzaro pink and my little sister’s favourite boy growing up, Mr. jtt. Jonathan Taylor. Thomas.
Anne 32:50
How old is he You remember
Chris 32:52
I think he’s 41 Anne.
Anne 32:53
okay, that sounds about right,
Chris 32:55
Right. All right. 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. In 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 we try really hard to make it all fit within the preview pane of your inbox. You can sign up today at http://www.omnitalk.blog. Thanks as always for listening and please remember like and leave us a review. wherever you happen to listen to your podcasts or on YouTube. Remember also use our promo codeRBOT1950 To register for a grocery shop that’s RBOT1950.
Anne 33:28
Not too late go do it now.
Chris 33:29
Not too late, you got about seven or eight days. And on behalf of all of us that omni talk time as always to close out this crazy hell of a show Anne be careful out there.
Anne 33:41
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 product companies. The 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 groceries can seamlessly integrate the robotic solution into their existing businesses. To learn more visit takeoff.com. 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. And finally, silk. The silk cloud DB virtualization platform is a virtualization layer between your workloads and the cloud. It helps you scale your cloud without scaling your costs. Visit silk.us to learn more.
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. 