Anne 0:09
Hello, you’re listening to the Omni talk Fast Five brought to you in partnership with the a&m consumer and retail group, firework, sezzle and Silk. Ranked in the top 10% of podcasts globally. The AMI talk Fast Five podcast is a podcast that we hope makes you feel a little smarter, but most importantly a little happier each week and each year.
Chris 0:31
That’s right 2023
Anne 0:32
Yes, today is January 5 2023. I’m your host Anne Mezzenga
Chris 0:36
And I’m Chris Walton
Anne 0:38
And we are here once again to talk about all the headlines making waves in the world of omni channel retailing. Chris Did you notice we have a new sponsor.
Chris 0:39
I did fireworks are going off Anne. Fireworks are going off
Anne 0:47
Firework having a killer year and also we’re proud to bring them on as our sponsor our new sponsor for 2023 for the year. So welcome to fireworks.
Chris 1:00
Yes. Super excited. How have you been? I haven’t seen you in like a week and a half.
Anne 1:04
Oh, I feel like it’s been longer has it only been a week and a half.
Chris 1:07
That says something right there.
Anne 1:09
I mean, it was it was great. We had a good holiday break, minus the return to we were in California and got we’ve spent a little time in St. Louis that was unexpected.
Chris 1:21
You had trouble getting home. So tell the folks about that
Anne 1:23
We have a we have an ongoing I would say ongoing snow issue
Chris 1:28
Two feet of snow in minneapolis give or take.
Anne 1:29
Two feet of snow in minneapolis and they closed the runways while we were in the air above the airport. So after circling for a good hour, we we headed to St. Louis and spent the night there
Chris 1:40
Got diverted? To where did you stay in St. Louis? What hotel?
Anne 1:43
We stayed at the Crowne Plaza along with every other passenger from our flight. We slept in a room a man’s underwear hanging from the desk was not one of our men’s underwear
Chris 1:56
You got to room and you found underwear in the room
Anne 1:58
it was disgusting, so that just gives you a sense of of the experience that I’ve had over the last 48 hours. But we’re home safe. How was your Christmas vacation?
Chris 2:08
My holiday was pretty good you know I’m pretty stoked because I got this holiday gift. Well I don’t actually have it yet. But I got permission to get it and it’s something I’ve been asking my wife for like 10 years to give to me
Anne 2:19
Okay
Chris 2:19
But I finally got it W
Anne 2:21
What is it?
Chris 2:21
I finally got permission get a TV in my bedroom.
Anne 2:24
What?
Chris 2:25
Yeah, I’m so excited I’m going to Best Buy shots all the folks at Best Buy that might be listening, I’m going to Best Buy this weekend I’m going to buy one get it installed big flat screen TV put it right in the bedroom I’m so pumped. I’m so excited so
Anne 2:37
Why is there been so much like what’s the issue if I’ve heard a lot of like do you put a TV in the bedroom or not but what was the like what was the thing that pushed Mrs Omni talk over the edge and was like yes fine
Chris 2:48
Well you know my wife you know Mrs. Omni talk and when she gets like into something she gets very into it and so over the holidays we had an Airbnb where it had a TV in the bedroom.
Anne 2:56
Oh okay
Chris 2:56
So she started watching White Lotus and so it she got addicted to it and so anything that allows her to fuel her addictions whether they be in the bedroom or anywhere else is fair game for Mrs. Omni talk. So so I was like let’s get a TV
Anne 3:10
I like I like to pursue fuel the bedroom addictions further like that might be another podcast that we have but that can be used for
Chris 3:16
I’ve been married a long time Anne that’s about, I’ll take what I can get at this point.
Anne 3:20
TV in the bedroom is the highlight. That’s what’s keeping it
Chris 3:23
Yes. But I’m psyched. Like it took me 1012 years to break down on this and finally you know, but it’s better than being on our mobile phone separately. That’s how I that’s how I phrasal thing like individually watching your own screens where you can do something together, which is a nice moment for many of us, I hope. All right I think we need to get this show going.
Anne 3:40
Let’s start talking about retail.
Chris 3:42
We’re kicking 2023 off with a bang already. All right, today’s Fast Five headlines are brought to you with the help and support of manifest. Manifest if you remember is the who’s who conference in supply chain, and it’s January 31 to February 2 in Las Vegas. Omnitalk fans can still save $200 on their registrations by heading to manife.st/omnitalk now. That’s manife.st/omnitalk. In today’s Fast Five we’ve got news on Schnucks expanding its flex force initiative Schnucks St. Louis, St. Louis storage Anne.
Anne 4:15
I tried to go there. I took a picture for Dave stack. I was going to try to stop it Schnucks but they were not open in the early morning time. Nor was my family interested in taking another departure.
Chris 4:29
We’ve also gotten us on American Eagle teaming up with JLL to lease warehouse space. DoorDash introducing what it calls the ultimate life hack for returning packages. Can’t wait to talk about that. Super Duper out of Israel that aims to be a micro warehouse solution but also a grocer. But first we begin today with news that sounds like it’s straight out of a zombie apocalypse. Anne
Anne 4:49
Yes, I think they might have been taking some liberties with this headline. That’s okay, so headline
Chris 4:55
Clickbait though
Anne 4:55
That’s right. That’s right headline number one Chris was originally dubbed zombie b stores by the information. Amazon appears to be sitting on a number of unopened Amazon Fresh sites. I bet there’s a lot of listeners of this podcast who can relate. This not that which is a newer publication we’re featuring podcasts is reporting that at least seven built out locations are sitting idle in California, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. And that does not include reports of other locations, zombie locations, locations in Connecticut, Chicago and Minneapolis. According to Axios here in Minneapolis, one location near us in Eagan, Minnesota is built, but there is no drywall or flooring, and no signs of interior construction, or any interior build out.
Chris 5:45
Which makes me wonder How’s it built? Like if those things were all missing?
Anne 5:48
I mean, I’m guessing it’s just like the steel frame or something. But the same fixtures are it? Yeah, the same holds true for the stores in Eden Prairie, Burnsville, and King rapids, and also Arden Hills, Minnesota. All Amazon has to say on the matter is that we do not comment on our future roadmap, as we all know and know well from Amazon. Chris, what are your thoughts on this one?
Chris 6:11
Well, I think like, I think that’s all Amazon can say number one, like, I mean, they can’t say yes, we’re gonna open No, we’re not like that signals too much. So strategically, it’s the only play they have. But I think the story is important for a number of reasons. I think it’s telling that it that Amazon could indeed be having trouble with its fresh stores. And I wonder if the reason isn’t because grocery is just really, really hard to do, sir, as cool as just walk out technology is which, believe it or not, we’ve probably talked about more than any other podcasts out there, I would guess. It’s so not that big of a differentiator, or a hook compared to traditional grocery, because there’s a lot you have to give up potentially, in the Amazon experience to get the full value of it, right, especially when you look at the fact that like self checkout machines are working pretty darn well these days, especially for those smaller sized grocery chips.
So it makes me wonder if my takeaway here isn’t that we’re starting to see Amazon go the way of Tesco Allah Fresh and Easy back in like, I don’t know, 2009 2010, where they tried to enter the US market failed, because pulling off grocery is hard. But I don’t think that should detract from the point that the tech is still valuable. It still works great in smaller formats, which is why we’ve probably seen Amazon pivot more towards the suburban concept here. That’s where they’ve continued to open, they seem to have stalled Amazon Fresh, I can’t even remember when the last one open. They just recently opened a suburban go. And it also signals though that just walk out can be a point of differentiation for a traditional grocery that already has a well established customer base and experience.
So that’s why I looked at the places in Europe, like Tesco, rather, all the they’re continuing to invest in that space, because I think it is important. But how Amazon is going to impact the grocery landscape may be a question at this point in time.
Anne 7:48
Yeah, I think that’s a really good way to kind of frame it up. And for me, the question is about like, what the tech is two that they’re considering and what the next best move is? So is it going to be fully autonomous? Is it going to be this hybrid version? Is it going to be dash carts and, you know, the opportunity to just go in and pick checkout as you normally would. But I think the important thing to call out is that these spaces, whether they end up getting built out as full, you know, 40,000 square foot grocery stores, or, or, you know, have a hybrid of that they’re still valuable as micro warehouses as pickup points for, you know, as small versions of, you know, or a satellite for an Amazon customer to visit.
So I wouldn’t be surprised if you you see, you know, some of them even consider shrinking the footprint to be more convenient serve, you know, small grocery trips setup, and then using the back of house for more of that package delivery, some of those other services, a place for people to you know, drop off packages, that kind of thing.
Chris 8:50
Which is a really good point when you think about it, because what do you think about Amazon? Right? It’s about price, speed and convenience.
Anne 8:55
Yep.
Chris 8:55
So should they be playing in full service grocery? I think that begs the question, or should they be playing in the convenience style thing like you just brought up? I think that’s a great point.
Anne 9:03
I think what’s interesting about this though, Chris, while I was in California, this is anecdotal. But right behind us a breakfast the day that we left was a group of I would say 75 pluses. They were talking about Amazon Fresh and having this very, like I was surprised that they ate their demographic and talking about the Amazon Fresh grocery store and how much they love it and how much they love the technology. Which means I think what you were getting at before like there is a value to this in some part and parcel but like how do you how do you as Amazon figure out the right approach, especially when you’re launching this concept for the first time.
Chris 9:36
Well, and the other day they could just be going slow to go fast? So we’ll find out. I don’t think we know.
Anne 9:42
Yeah it could just be like surprise we’re launching all 80 locations
Chris 9:45
Which we have talked about before and the clickbait should not be a distraction to that that’s still a possibility here as well.
Anne 9:51
No way.
Chris 9:51
All right, headline number two Schnucks is expanding its flex force implementation such like sports. I love that shout out to Mr. Mr. Paul. Pictures of EXP As for flex packs flex Force Five. All right. According to Supermarket News and loyal Omni talk fans will remember Schnucks market began piling what it calls flex force employment options back in October and its St. Louis stores, and now plans to roll the test out further to 26 areas in Illinois, along with two stores in Indiana and three in Missoura. Said Stacy Brandt, Vice President of store operations much like rideshare and food delivery service employees flex force teammates are able to seek and claim shifts at the time and location of their choosing and quote, Or said another way, eligible employees can log into a snug scheduling app to view and claim open shifts, while also arranging to receive notifications of open shifts, the applicable positions are all part time centre store stocking clerks, and each shift has to be a minimum of four hours. Anne I chose this headline this week specifically because you recognise schnuck CEO, as
Anne 10:54
Todd R. Schnuck
Chris 10:55
Todd R. Schnuck
Yes, as the CEO of 2022. And this was a big reason why. So I gotta think you’re loving this, right?
Anne 11:02
Yes. And I did recognise Todd arsenic. But I think it’s a testament to the larger schnuck team and product teams there. Because what I love about this, Chris is that I think that they rightfully identified the problem first, and then figured out what technology they were going to use to help solve the problem. This wasn’t just like, let’s throw some tech at the wall, let’s throw this application at the wall. This third party came at us with this solution. Let’s give it a shot. They said we have a major issue here with staffing. And we have a major issue with out of stocks on our shelves, like we just need to solve this issue. How do we do that they put their own teams on the problem, and are creating this right technology to solve it.
Clearly it’s working. They’re rolling it out to more locations soon. I think the only hope for me is that this continues to go well for snacks. And then we start to see it roll out to other categories. So cashiers, deli counters, you know, back of house stocking it’s only centre of, you know, centre aisle stocking right now, which I think is a huge advantage, a great place to start the test. But I don’t know
Chris 12:05
Like what you’re certified in other areas can roll out too.
Anne 12:07
Exactly, exactly. Especially, I mean, you would know better than anybody like what’s the what are the the positions that are the call out most often? I mean, do you have more of that happen in like cashiers than you do in deli counters or something? So like, how do you start to attack that problem? Where it’s really making the most impact?
Chris 12:25
I mean, call it a ubiquitous problem. So yeah, but the bigger problem, though, I think the point you’re making here is you want to see this rollout more so. So like, that’s why I like it too. Because, like, I hope my hope is sincere with you that that this is actually the first headline of something that’s going to become much, much more prevalent.
Anne 12:44
Yeah,
Chris 12:45
In 2023. Like we see this as a major effort across retail, because it just makes sense. Right? You talk about, like, from my source store management experience. Like the point that I would make is, everyone is always asking for more shifts. And so if you can direct your employees to say, hey, go on the app, if you can get more shifts, you can quantum it’s up to you. They’re there. They’re available gofund on your own timeline. Yeah. 100% Because it it’s a smart move. It checks all the boxes in terms of ameliorating what is hurting retailers right now, which is staffing shortage and wage rate increases. This creates kind of a marketplace effect for getting those shifts, which helps keep the wage rate down ultimately to right so I love it. I think it’s I think it’s smart and I hope to hell we see more of it.
Anne 13:27
Yes, well done. Schnucks. Alright, let’s go to headline number three Chris. American Eagles quiet platforms delivery network has teamed up with JLL to lease warehouse space.
Chris 13:39
Yes
Anne 13:39
So according to chain store age. Under the agreement, the two companies will seek to pioneer a flexible rent as a percentage of revenue model for logistics real estate. Omnitalk fans will remember. American Eagles quiet platforms delivery network is the brainchild of Chief supply chain officer and friend of omnitalk, Shekhar Natarajan, its aim to is to help build a frenemy network, which is often used in headlines frenemy network among retailers as it employs a portfolio of carriers using a universal delivery label that eliminates the need for multiple shipping integrations, complex invoicing, and lengthy contractual agreements. Chris
Chris 14:19
Yes,
Anne 14:20
I know you love Shekhar and I know you love this this platform. What your thoughts on this?
Chris 14:26
Boom goes the dynamite Anne on this one,
Anne 14:28
Oh man we’re still using that in 2023.
Chris 14:30
Oh, yeah, that’s never going away. That’s my buddy Todd Brooks who taught me that when he was training me to be a store manager at target actually. But Boom goes the dynamite. I think it’s a match made in heaven. 100%. I mean, who does American Eagle wants to be part of its frenemy network, like they want mall based retailers. That’s the value that it brings to the table. Like it’s saying let’s create a communal relationship to get all this stuff done as part of a broader network, and let’s make it happen. So what’s the best place to put that commune? A frickin Mall? Like let’s be honest, so it’s brilliant, kudos to American Eagle and JLL for having the vision to be leaders in this space. We’ve long talked about it. I mean, we’ve been talking about this for four years, it’s great to see it finally happened.
And the other thing I’d point out, they’re structuring the agreement in a way that enables it to potentially work like it’s a percentage of revenue, you’re not beholden to a certain amount of rent each and every month. It can be based on how well you equally yoked yourselves to make the successful, smart move all around.
Anne 15:25
Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think it’s particularly I think it’s great for American Eagle than shakers doing brilliant things there. But I
Chris 15:32
Oh, you’re gonna go The contrary,
Anne 15:34
No, I’m not going to contrarian point, I just think it’s important to call out JLL in this scenario, because this, like you said, this has been things like this had been in the works. Our friend Shlomo has been working with real with real estate investors and trust to try to figure out how to get somebody to kind of go overboard and really push the edge on this, because it requires like going against the grain of what their, their everything about their businesses is built on. And so I think that it’s important to look at JLL and their position here. I also think this doesn’t have to just be malls, especially when you look at a large company like JLL they have so much office space right now, too, that’s not being utilised anymore.
And so I think that as this continues to evolve, small retailers obviously a great place to start. But then if you start to look at you know, as JLL is going to be converting their their real estate portfolio into mixed use into housing like they have all these other angles that JLLnow has once they’ve kind of learned how to model this and and how they’ve learned how to correctly model the contract with the retailers who are investing in this front of me network. So I love this move. But I particularly think that it’s good to see real estate companies starting to think differently about the space.
Chris 16:48
That’s a great point. Yeah, and we shouldn’t say extrapolate miles from the headline because it doesn’t say that So Yeah. As a journalist, it’s great to call that out because you have to actually look at both angles here. That’s a great point. All right. headline number four DoorDash has launched a new service called Package pickup. According to a company blog post with Package pickup, consumers can request a Dasher, not a presser but a Dasher to pick up their prepaid packages from their home and drop them off at their local carrier.
Anne 17:18
I am glad you Crack yourself up with that.
Chris 17:19
I’m trying to think of another reindeer but I can’t off the top. Donner. All right.
Anne 17:28
I called it Dondre. My kids like gave me the right act like Dondre it’s not Donder it’s Donner
Chris 17:34
They should have given you the right act. It’s Donner Donner and Blitzen. All right. But we digress. So let me so the consumers can request a Dasher to pick up their prepaid packages from their home and drop them off at their local carrier including UPS FedEx and USPS. Here’s how it works. This is cool, actually. Yeah, you select the packages hub on the top of the DoorDash homepage and select the carrier again UPS FedEx, USPS, whoever you want. That corresponds to the packages you’re sending back, you then get your packages ready, up to five total, you can send back per dash or pickup, attach a prepaid shipping label or if you have a shipping QR code. This is super cool.
Anne 18:12
Yeah
Chris 18:12
You can send the QR code directly to your dashboard in the DoorDash app, meaning no printer or box for the item is even required Anne, cancel Christmas request a package pickup and a dash will then be assigned to pick up your packages ASAP. And finally, your Dasher will send you a confirmation photo as well, after dropping off your packages at the designated delivery location or pickup or return location, I guess in this case, so Anne what’s your thoughts? Oh, and by the way, you can do this all for a flat fee of $5 or $3 if you’re a dashpass member as well, and again, up to five packages can be picked up. What do you think here?
Anne 18:51
I love this.
Chris 18:52
I knew you’d love this.
Anne 18:52
I love this. I mean I interviewed door dashes Shana Preve. And she talked about early pilots about this last year and I loved it. I was like so excited about it when she was talking about how they were starting to explore this. I loved it then I love it. Now, I think you know, if you think about just how much is your time worth? Like That’s the question that people need to ask themselves and $5 is your time to return and even even Amazon alone like let’s look at one Amazon order. One could have you going to Whole Foods one could have you going to the UPS store like to is to Aaron’s Cole’s work culture. I said dare you say it, but like is to two places that you have to go checking two items off your list worth $5 Yes, I
Chris 19:39
$5 was the cost in gas right
Anne 19:41
For sure. It’s amazing. So I think that this is great for the consumer. It’s definitely a reason to get a dashpass to save $3 is even better. And then I think the number one thing from Georgia has just perspective is now you have you’re maximising the utilisation of the Georgia like they are they are in that neighbour hood, you can be so much more efficient and an assigning your Dashers per, you know, their on their day to day route. I think it’s brilliant
Chris 20:07
100% I mean, I think your last point reminds me of what I think is has become the number one adage on our show after doing the show now for six seasons, we are entering our sixth season.
Anne 20:18
Yeah.
Chris 20:18
And by that I mean six years not these bu**s**t seasons that people have like do like 10 episodes, and they’ve done a season I’m talking six, four years of doing this show Anne. And that is that. What is old is new again. Yeah. Right. And that’s what you’re talking about here. Because essentially, DoorDash is just getting into backhaul, reverse logistics, the drivers are already out in neighbourhoods.
Anne 20:36
Yeah.
Chris 20:36
Right? That you assign them where they’re needed based on the activity that you have for Package pickup. You do it for a fee, that works. Like you’re only taking business if it works, so you’re no worse off if you’re DoorDash. Contrast this with and I’m gonna say this The Yahoo’s at Instacart that are trying to launch heavy item delivery, which brings no skill at all to their current operation.
Anne 20:56
Yeah,
Chris 20:56
Or trying to even worse get into actual grocery store operations, which they have no credibility to do. And you see who is winning and who is losing here in the long run. Yeah, and who you should place your money behind, in my opinion.
Anne 21:07
Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s an excellent point. And it’s super easy to use. I tried to do it last night.
Chris 21:13
Did you?
Anne 21:14
Yeah. And it was just like, you know, it’s, it’s like, do you want food? Do you want something from the dashboard? Or do you want a package pickup like, Let’s go once you’re in the the, like, uploading the QR code? Oh, man,
Chris 21:25
That was awesome. Like you didn’t need a?
Anne 21:27
Yeah. It’s so it’s just so simple. It’s like, I’m already doing that to my I’m sending the QR code to my husband, who’s my current Dasher right now. But like, that’s the it’s so simple, really well done. Great customer interface. And hopefully it’s the same way for the Dashers too.
Chris 21:42
That’s awesome.
Anne 21:43
All right. Let’s move on to headline number five. Chris. Israeli startup if you don’t have fun with this startup. I don’t want to I don’t want to know you. Israeli startup super duper, is a vertically integrated online grocer, who wants to sell 3000 skews of ambient children frozen frozen grocery product frozen tree. I’ve been drinking too many frozen days apparently. Frozen grocery products at a 16% to 23% Discount, very specific, in two major chains with no delivery fee. So according to HNGRY with no vowels,
Chris 21:52
HNGRY
Anne 22:18
Yes, another new publication.
Chris 22:21
Got a lot of news this year. It was the end of the year, so it was harder to find the headlines.
Anne 22:26
Yes. So according to HNGRY, rather than use automated storage and retrieval systems, super duper instead relies on automated ground vehicles AGVs that function similarly to Amazon’s Kiva robots for ambient temperature items, the bots then Marshal various shelving units to build a queue for a staff member to manually pick and scan, the average order of 25. Items can be packed in about five and a half minutes. And this translates to an industry benchmark of 180 units per hour. Just ahead, the article says Ocado at 170 items per hour big note there. Since late summer, the service has acquired 1500, or roughly 19% of the 8000 households in the small Israeli suburb of Binya Mina, and next plans to deploy automated warehouses and delivery model in Massachusetts or New Jersey. Chris Lots to unpack here about super duper, but what what are your thoughts?
Chris 23:24
I think it’s interesting, I think it’s an innovation for sure to keep an eye on.
Anne 23:27
Okay.
Chris 23:28
You know, for ecommerce delivery to work, we’ve talked about this a lot, you have to have a system that is either that works on proximity and automation to get the cost down. So the size of the warehouse operations in this model is roughly 7000 square feet. And then it’s the simplicity of automation that gives you the latter part of what I just said. Right. So there’s a great video of how it works online. I think people should go and check it out. It’s at vimeo.com/hngry. it’s the first one that pops up. Suddenly, all the robots come to the picker.
Anne 23:56
Yeah.
Chris 23:56
Which is a really interesting way to think about it. They move around the picker and to the picker station. Super smart and intuitive when you watch it and so for me, it’s got my interest piqued for sure.
Anne 24:06
Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think that it’s important I were preparing for this story. I immediately went to like the third story today, this front of the network, like when you think about all these, this open retail that’s available this open retail space, office space, et cetera. Something like this makes sense to me, instead of like maybe going for the three to $5 million like stacks or like that approach if it makes much more sense to me to to like test this out. In a smaller you know, what did they say it was like just under a million dollars to get one of these places up and running to test this out. So I think it’ll be interesting to see how US retailers especially start to adapt to these types of things.
And I also still have some questions though, about how this works at a larger scale like I think this makes sense right smaller format groceries. I question though I will be not question I’ll be keeping an eye on whether Not we see like mass grocery retailers start to take this, like take this type of approach, or if if if they can get if superduper can get to a scale that can service, you know, more than 8000 customers in a general geography, but
Chris 25:15
Right no maybe the point too,
Anne 25:17
But Right, but I mean, all in all, it’s a fifth of the cost of what, you know, these larger scale. larger scale options are for automated fulfilment centres, so I will be keeping an eye on this. But Chris, as you’ll know, we oh yeah, she’ll have gone through a year, but we haven’t gotten to a&m’s put you on the spot question this week. So I’m going to bring that for you right now. Are you ready?
Chris 25:40
Yes I am.
Anne 25:41
Okay, a&m wants to know, Chris, they said that there are two factors at play in this story, both alluded to by CRG is Dave Ritter.
Chris 25:50
Oh Dave Ritter.
Anne 25:51
Yes, he was on on the end of the year show the prognosticator of prognosticators. In our year end award show for 2023 predictions, he said that we are on the path to profitable ecommerce grocery, and that a retail tech provider would open a standalone store to compete with traditional grocery. Super Duper is claiming to do both here,
Chris 26:10
Right.
Anne 26:11
Dave Ritter might have just like, maybe he he is the Nostradamus that we all need to be following closely this year. Super Duper is claiming to do both are you buying into it? And is this the beginning of a big 2023 storyline trend?
Chris 26:27
Oh, wow. Great question again. Yeah, I mean, it’s a great question. Because, you know, in terms of what we do, and I think this is important, why we do our show, too, it’s easy to identify the cool things. It’s much harder to talk about them and say whether or not you think they have staying power? Right? It’s easy to be like, Oh, this is cool.
Anne 26:46
Yeah
Chris 26:46
Like, yeah. And so that’s a great question, because that’s the heart of what we’re talking about here. And the important point here is that, you know, even in what you said, they’re trying to be a grocer too,
Anne 26:56
Right.
Chris 26:57
And so for me, it’s, it’s, and I agree with you, it’s not a displacement of full line grocery. But it does appear to me like it could be a profitable alternative to specific convenience type grocery, or at least to share some form of grocery share in the long run. Because a couple points I would close out with that, I think, hit that point home. We’ve been talking about automated micro fulfilment. Now, since I think 2018, and we have not seen it proliferate in the market in any way, shape, or form, which is honestly quite surprising when you get down to it,
Anne 27:27
Especially with the pandemic.
Chris 27:28
Yeah, no, right. You know, you thought it would people be gangbusters about it, but you’re not hearing that much about it, which is surprising. So which it tells me a couple of things. It tells me grocers are loath to do it because of a the expense like you talked about significantly more expensive. Be they have difficulty in rewiring their existing physical architectures to do it, or that create a dark store where they have double the amount of inventory, which doesn’t get to be the return on assets that you want. Or see, there’s just still general apathy in the grocery market for dealing with E commerce because they don’t like the profit drain, right?
So when I add all that up, I’m like, Okay, you got somebody here that has a smart way to do the automation, they can do it in a small space. Why not? That’s how disruption happens. Like, if you don’t want to do it, we’ll forget it. We’ll do it ourselves. So I think it’s on that rationale alone, something to keep an eye on.
Anne 28:16
Yeah, I think that’s really interesting, too, especially when we think about like, last year, all the instant delivery providers and how they were doing this, like, they could only be very small, they kind of like turned around, it was basically one of these robots that you see, watch the video, because the video is really cool about the super duper robots, but like, that is figuring they have figured out a way to kind of be the best of instant delivery and add in a relatively low cost of automation. And we didn’t see that with any of the instant delivery providers.
Chris 28:45
100% That’s what I was gonna say to like, you know, you talked about the goal pops that everybody like question always had is like, Okay, you’re opening up all these warehouses, but they’re all manual. How are you going to get that work? Like, it just seems really, really difficult. And so like there could be an opportunity here. Is it going to happen overnight? No. but it’s something to watch.
Anne 29:03
Yeah. All right, Chris. We’re going to the lightning round. Now it’s time, Chris. While plenty of Japanese retailers are selling their fukubukuro bags. Apologise on the pronunciation there. Starbucks. Japan’s new year’s Lucky Bag is one of the hottest of the fukubukuros in Japan. So that’s would you like to know what a fukubukuro is? Chris it’s a tradition where retailers mark the New Year with grab bags filled with random items for a generous discount.
Chris 29:34
Okay Where are you going with this?
Anne 29:36
I want to go to Japan just for this like this is my jam of fukubukuro is how you forgot one of the syllables Okay, did Chris What products would fit in your perfect New Year fukubukuro
Chris 29:51
Oh my god um you know for me, I go with what I was what I was voraciously buying over the holidays which was As much Adidas and Nike products as I could find on discount, okay, and I’m telling you I look like my wardrobe now looks like the worst of the worst bachelor party at Vegas like they’re wearing Adidas tracksuit setup to Neil Thomas former Army talk. guest host. Yeah, man, I’m all in on that stuff because the discounts on the Adidas stuff particularly insane, but now I’ve got Adidas stripes on all my outfits.
Anne 30:22
You need to Yeah, we got to do something about that.
Chris 30:25
Alright, Anne Netflix is now streaming Nike fitness classes. What do you think will be your go to class two weeks to a stronger core? Or hit and straight training with Tara anytime soon?
Anne 30:36
Both. I need to up all the fitness that’s happening this year. very fit. What do you owe these last two weeks? We’re not good. But I darkly have had the Nike Fit Club app since probably 2014. So I do actually do some of these workouts on occasion. So I don’t need it on Netflix. But I think
Chris 30:53
Yeah I don’t get that.
Anne 30:54
Oh, I think it’s huge. Now you’re going to be having this could have been one of the stories I think for sure for this one but because I think that now you are developing repeat patterns for people to go like how many times you use your fitness app like what three four times a week and best case scenario at least for the month of January. But I think this will be cool like it gets people to stay on the Netflix platform where they wouldn’t pay for the Nike Run
Chris 31:19
I don’t know we should have talked about because I think it’s a different cycle psychological state you’re in when you’re on Netflix versus wanting to work out but we digress
Anne 31:25
Now with your TV in your room. You could be doing the you could do hit with hitting strength with Tara anytime and then watch your shows
Chris 31:33
Yeah, no, not happening.
Anne 31:36
Walmart expanded drone service to Arizona, Texas and Florida and they thought California was going to be bad with people shooting things out of the sky
Chris 31:43
Right now they’re going to Texas and Arizona. Yeah. Good call
Unknown Speaker 31:45
And Florida. gators. You got gators they’re going to be eating Amazon packages and Walmart packages. Okay, what do you most wish you could have had delivered via drone while spending time in your Arizona hometown this last week?
Chris 31:57
Oh, great question. But real quick. The other important thing to notice they’re only going to warm weather states which means this stuff probably doesn’t work in cold weather to great thing that I just thought of there
Anne 32:05
Yeah.
Chris 32:06
For me, it would have been COVID test man. Our hearts were decimated by COVID to my family members that COVID couldn’t see in her house had to get the Airbnb kind of a bummer. But we made the best of it for sure. All right, Kroger really this one’s great. Kroger released a smart cooking apron over the holidays. What keeps you out more Anne the aromatherapy feature that periodically releases a gingerbread set to evoke nostalgia or the massage automatic feature the special straps with mini vibrators that give the Alienware a gentle shoulder massage on command?
Anne 32:35
Oh my god, I’ll take mini vibrators all day. The only answer to that question and most questions is give me the mini vibrators everyday.
Chris 32:44
Yeah, I thought this would be great for like cookie like some cookie naked show or something like that. You know, like I was going crazy with this.
Anne 32:51
Yeah, that’s that goes crazy. Yeah, lots of shoulder massages like
Chris 32:55
Crazy stuff. You do. All right. All right. That wraps us up. Thank God. Let’s end this Gong Show. Happy Birthday today to January Jones, Robert Duvall and the man who may have just moved up on my man crush board to overtake Tom Brady. Mr. Bradley Hooper hard argue that one, right?
Anne 33:08
Yeah, way better than Tom Brady.
Chris 33:10
Yeah, for sure. I think I think I’m at that point now. All right. And remember, if you can only read or listen to one blog in the business make it omnitalk. Our Fast Five podcast is the quickest fastest run out 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 that’s exclusive to us. And it’s all just for you. And we try to make 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 to like and leave us a review wherever you happen to listen to your podcasts or on YouTube. And so that and on behalf of all of us at Omnitalk retail. As always be careful out there.
Anne 33:47
The Omni talk retail Fast Five is 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 firework, Firework is a largest video commerce solution built for the world’s leading brands. They empower brands with shoppable and livestream video on their own websites where people like to shop. Put your commerce in motion with firework. You can find out more firework.com and sezzle, sezzleis 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 silk the silk cloud DVX 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. 