Anne 0:09
Hello, you’re listening to the Omnitalk Fast Five brought to you in partnership with the a&m consumer and retail group, firework, trigo, sezzle and silk. Ranked in the top 10% of podcasts globally, the omnitalk Fast Five podcasts is a podcast that we hope makes you feel a little smarter. But most importantly, a little happier each week too. Today is January 26 2023. I’m your host, Anne Mezzenga.
Chris 0:34
And I’m Chris Walton.
Anne 0:35
And we are here once again to discuss all the headlines making waves in the world of omni channel retailing. Chris you’re like you’re like really, you got a lot of energy did you have I just brought you coffee?
Chris 0:46
I know you did. Yes. Thank you for that. Got my Starbucks.
Anne 0:48
You’re like twitchy, you’re like, freaking out. You’re so excited about the retail news.
Chris 0:53
You know what’s so funny. Like every time you do that read it just gives me some like warm fuzzy feeling as I sit here like I feel like I’m like a kid just listening to like, like an elementary school teacher read him a story. When you read the especially if you read the sponsors. I’m like, Oh, that’s so cool. You know, like I just this is my favourite thing to do. I love it. Okay, I got my vest on you know my Marty McFly dork looks
Anne 1:11
Another adidas. product. Yet again. I know that? I mean, is that your favourite product right now?
Chris 1:17
Oh, 100% like, I can’t stop buying Adidas. I’m like addicted to Adidas.
Anne 1:21
Oh my gosh,
Chris 1:22
This the stripes be aplenty Anne
Anne 1:23
The unofficial sponsor of the omni talk retail Fast Five.
Chris 1:28
Are you excited about next week?
Anne 1:29
Yeah, we’re heading out to manifest in Las Vegas. And yeah, I’m excited to get warm to just like be in warm weather to see like that conference last year was so cool. I mean, supply chain like sounds for some people like Oh, supply chain conferences. That can be a good time. I was just telling somebody yesterday. Well, I don’t think people understand how cool it actually is. I was just telling somebody yesterday on a call. I was like, Yeah, and also ludicrous. Was there last year, and now he’s there this year. Like, this is not like a dorky conference is actually going to be really cool. So I’m excited. I don’t know are you?
Chris 2:03
Yeah, I’m pretty pumped. Yeah, I’m pretty. I’m excited for it. I like learning things, you know. And that’s actually what I like about conferences most and there’s a it’s a great opportunity to learn about subjects
Anne 2:13
Like remember about the like
Chris 2:14
maritime shippers,
Anne 2:15
the maritime shippers. I know. I mean, it’s like, do you remember learning that a barge is only built once every like 50 to 60 years? So even technology?
Chris 2:26
Its automatically outdated like second it’s On the water? Yeah I know.
Anne 2:29
There’s a lot that we’ll be bringing to you. Fun Facts.
Chris 2:32
Yeah. And then the other part is we’re keynoting SPS is sales kickoff meeting. We’re doing a little Fast Five we got a little panel that more moderating. I’m excited about that, too.
Anne 2:42
I know. It’s gonna be a busy week.
Chris 2:43
We fly back Thursday night for those watching late Thursday night. And then we’re up at like, set, you know, early next morning. I think 8:30 Show time for that, too. So it’ll be good. But yeah,
Anne 2:52
We’re used to it.
Chris 2:53
Hey we’re ready
Anne 2:53
And there’ll be a Fast Five somewhere in there.
Chris 2:56
Right? Yes, we will do that. We’re gonna have to do that from Vegas. Right?
Anne 2:58
That’s right.
Chris 2:59
Yeah. Next week shows coming to you from Vegas. All right. Before we get to this week’s headlines, Anne I have a question for you,
Anne 3:06
Oh, this is gonna be a loaded one. I have a feeling.
Chris 3:09
That’s pretty easy one. But have you ever been to a conference where you just didn’t get the education and networking that you were looking for?
Anne 3:16
Plenty of times
Chris 3:17
Have you where you were spammed via basic networking app from people who may or may not matter to your business pretty much all the time.
Anne 3:24
Yeah. Never know. Like, are you
Chris 3:26
it’s my daily life.
Anne 3:27
And then sometimes you do meet people. And they’re like, I message you in the app. And I was like, Oh, I don’t know. I’m sorry.
Chris 3:32
Or lastly, Anne have you ever attended a conference where the meetings kind of just flat out wasted your time?
Anne 3:37
Yes, for sure. And we hear that a lot from people.
Chris 3:39
Yeah, and you’re not the only one. So shop talk is bringing a completely different experience to the table this year loyal army talk listeners can be part of retails most sophisticated and largest meetings experience in history. Shop talk’s tech will only connect you with people that also see value in meeting you, allowing you to make business critical connections. Anne and I are already hearing that people are signing up left and right doesn’t surprise me at all.
Anne 4:04
They’re swiping right?
Chris 4:05
Signing up left and right. They might swiping right. They might be swiping left and right.
Anne 4:10
It’s the equivalent of swiping right.
Chris 4:11
Ooh, that’s interesting. All right. All the biggest names are going to be there. You don’t want to miss it. Prices go up tomorrow. Friday, January 27 at midnight. So don’t wait. Don’t delay. You can learn more at shoptalk.com/us/omnitalk. That’s shoptalk.com/us/omnitalk. Alright, in today’s Fast Five, Anne, we’ve got news on dollar generals new mobile health clinics. Walmart’s new small business play another Chinese shopping app called Temu that is rocking up the download charts on Apple and Amazon Fresh store that is surprisingly already closing in London. I know. Right. Can’t wait to talk about that and close the show. But we begin today with big pharmacy news out of Amazon. Anne
Anne 4:55
Yes in news that still feels too good to be true. According to CNBC See Amazon, Amazon this week added generic prescription perks for Prime members. The add on is called RX Pass, which allows Prime members to get as many drugs as they need from a list of 50 generic medications saltwater used to treat common conditions, all the drugs, please, I’d like all of the drugs. And they’re all just $5 a month per person with free delivery.
Chris 5:23
Yeah
Anne 5:23
That’s as many as many medications as you need, like
Chris 5:27
From the list
Anne 5:27
From the list $5 a month. It should be noted that the programme is also currently not available for people who are on Medicaid or Medicare. Chris
Chris 5:36
Yeah
Anne 5:37
You have some prescriptions like for me, I was like, Okay, we have like one maybe, but like, so This to me was like, okay, $5 a month and then I first was reading it and was like, is it the drug cost plus $5.
Chris 5:49
Right, right.
Anne 5:50
But you dug deep
Chris 5:51
It’s kinda confusing a little
Anne 5:52
You’re like ready to change your life. Tell me about your thoughts.
Chris 5:55
Yeah, I want you it’s nice to see you. I see the energy in this for you too, like I thought you were going to be a little negative on this. But sounds like you’re coming in on the positive side coming to the light. But yeah, for me, I mean, like, you remember $5 footlong?
Anne 6:07
Yes.
Chris 6:08
$5 footlong.
Anne 6:09
Don’t sing anymore.
Chris 6:10
$5 Drugs from Amazon.
Anne 6:14
Sounds like somebody’s screaming from a New York street corner. $5 Drugs Yeah, I’ve got $5 drugs.
Chris 6:20
It was great. But I’m all in Yeah, no, you’re right. I scan the list. Because following my stroke, there are like, you know, three to four medications I’m on and like three? Like, I reckon I can’t remember exactly. But I think three or four of them are ones that I had previously been on to are on that list. So like, hell, yeah, I’m gonna try it out for five bucks a month, I can get all those prescriptions delivered to my house? Yes. Like, I’m gonna try it out. My only question, though, is, how does it actually work? Like, do I need a prime membership does because you know, Mrs. Omnitalk has Rs for the household
Anne 6:52
Right
Chris 6:52
Am I going to be able to do it through that? My hunch is no. But I need to find out. So I’m going to do some investigation. I’ll report back how easy is it to transfer scripts? You know, those are all the types of question because again, I already have it, you know, embedded with me, I’ll say at Walgreens is my prescription filler of choice.
Anne 7:07
Yeah.
Chris 7:07
And so, you know, it’s going to be a question of like, you know, how easy is it for me to handle but, but I think it’s definitely worth the investigation to try to figure that out.
Anne 7:15
Well, and I was researching that. So you know, 150 million Americans are on those 50 drugs that are available. And this 150 million Americans are already on this. So now you’re going from, you know, the hassle of going to pick it up the making sure that it’s there and then paying whatever it is your copay is for these medications. Like, it’s amazing. It just it seems like I said, it seems almost too good to be true. And I think to your point, like just is another like Pro for if you’re considering all the subscriptions that you have right now. And so what I wouldn’t be watching closely is, you know, we have Walgreens closest to our house. That’s where we both pick up our prescriptions right now.
Chris 7:56
Yeah
Anne 7:57
But do we see a push? And how do you make economic sense have that with Walgreens and CVS to partner with like a DoorDash, again, to like enhance the dashpass functionality? And I still think that there’s there’s that there’s that crux of like, sometimes you need those things same day. So like, if you’re out, you know, yes, Amazon can get it to you next day or something. But is there going to be some value proposition that a partnership between a CVS and DoorDash or Walgreens and DoorDash could bring to give you similar benefits but same day
Chris 8:29
Yeah, that Walgreens could even do and coordinator pregnancy white label DoorDash or something like that. That’s a great point. Yeah. And Walgreens To its credit has been pushing the because these are like set and forget prescription.
Anne 8:39
Yep.
Chris 8:39
Walgreens has been pushing that with me. I just haven’t had the time to set it up yet. All right, but yeah, you could easily see the extrapolation there that’s a great point. All right, headline number two staying in the healthcare lane.
Anne 8:49
Oh yeah.
Chris 8:50
We always like to stay in our lanes Anne, on this show.
Anne 8:53
Never
Chris 8:53
Dollar General plants open mobile healthcare clinics according to change storage Dollar General is partnering with Doc GO Inc. I can’t believe it but it’s true.
Anne 9:04
I read that and I was like go doc go
Chris 9:08
go doc go like the children’s book that’s awesome. But Doc go Inc which quote is a provider of mobile health and Transportation Services end quote, the clinics are essentially vans will be set up in the parking lots of $3 general stores in DGS, home state of Tennessee and they will offer a wide range of preventative care services in addition to urgent care services and chronic condition management for conditions such as high blood pressure diabetes, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease very specific yes on the last one.
Anne 9:39
So now if you know who you are chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Chris 9:43
try to hit an audience I guess.
Anne 9:45
Yeah.
Chris 9:45
Said dollar generals chief medical officer Albert whoo and yes, Dollar General has a chief medical officer
Anne 9:51
They gotta now
Chris 9:52
Yeah, right. Quote. These clinics demonstrate our ability and desire to work with our customers to bring affordable health and wellness closer to Home, while equally establishing Dollar General as a trusted partner, where customers can access health services, end quote. Anne your thoughts here please. Starting off with health and wellness,
Anne 10:11
I have to say like this week stories are very interesting to me because said in a different way with a different lens like $5, drugs all you can all you can eat drugs. And then now we’re doing vans that are providing health care in a parking lot like this could be misconstrued very easily. But I have some side businesses going I know like this could be could be questionable. But I think like the first thing I thought of was like this is how Rite Aid which we’re talking about earlier in the year, this is how they should be doing the mobile farm. Yeah. That was the first thing that came to mind. Like, yeah, it’s mobile. Like why would you force somebody to be stationed all day in one spot, when that’s just not there’s just not enough demand to acquire them there.
So I think that makes sense. You’re still getting closer to those rural communities, you’re still closer than the closest Urgent Care in most cases, like they’re the dollar generals, you know, people have access to dollar generals much more than they do any of those clinics. The question that it raises for me though, is like how are prescriptions handled for this, especially for like, some of those urgent care like strep for example, like I you know, I pharmacy that’s the key different writing this and right, so how do you like, is that going to be a component of this? Because that’s still then another trip for somebody else to go on? If I have strep or I have, you know, some other thing that I needed a medication for that day, like, what am I going to do then? Where what where am I driving to?
So is that opening up new avenues for Dollar General? Can these multiple bands be like, yeah, do they contain these sorts of things that they are the clinic, but I think, you know, this option in combination with them expanding grocery now into the space, like, you’ve got a one stop shop, that’s, I think, really smartly being constructed, very mobile, like as mobile as a physical store can be. They are trying to add on all these things. I love it.
Chris 12:03
That’s a great point that you’re bringing up because businesses are born in opportunity. And so it’s actually a great problem to have if you’re the chief medical officer, Albert Luo, to try to help Dollar General solving. Oh, you have these clinics. Now Where do patients need to get their medicine?
Anne 12:16
Right
Chris 12:17
Oh, I’d like to try to solve that problem, honestly, like there’s just dollars there for the taking. And, you know, my point is, is exactly I thought the exact same thing you did like I poo pooed the Rite Aid move last year. But this is different because of the mobile aspect it Digi is not tied down to the real estate footprint, which is important because of the staffing, right? You’re not having to staff Doc’s permanently at a location. The docks can pick up the truck and go wherever they’re needed that day. And so it makes me wonder if the same approach can’t be worked in pharmacy. I mean, think of remember Breaking Bad, Walter White and Jesse, this is the same thing out of a busy day.
Anne 12:54
Oh, yeah,
Chris 12:54
In the desert of outside Albuquerque. So like, you know, who knows if that’s real, but the techniques are there to make this work. So God knows and God knows pharmacists are way more hard to come by, I think from my experience, then medical staff.
Anne 13:07
Yeah
Chris 13:08
So the mobile approach, I just need to make sense for both things. And your point is great, because that’s probably going to be a demand that’s there,
Anne 13:14
I would think we’ll see. We’ll see again, walking the very fine line of selling meth and also prescription drugs.
Chris 13:21
Anytime we could get a breaking a bad reference in the show. I mean, that might be a first time too. I love that.
Anne 13:27
All right, let’s go to headline number three. Walmart has launched a new buying programme for nonprofits and small to medium sized businesses again, according to chain store age. Walmart’s new Walmart business programme is designed to empower SMBs and nonprofit customers. It launched as an E commerce site called Walmart business, which offers a curated assortment of more than 100,000 items, said Ashley hubco, Senior VP and general manager of Walmart business quote Walmart business simplifies restocking by grouping various items together in a way that makes sense to organisations end quote the new programme also comes with a prime like feature where for $98 a year plus tax organisations can also upgrade to Walmart business plus what else of course, put a plus on it right and receive additional benefits like no minimum fee free shipping, free pickup and delivery from store with a $35 minimum order and 2% rewards on orders of $250 or more Chris I do yeah, I do like jabya a little bit to get this one into the Fast Five this week. Explain to the listeners your thoughts on this.
Chris 14:33
Yeah, I still I still don’t know if you know in retrospect this one makes my cut because the jaded part of me is like I still just look at this as a reskin way for Walmart to try to use its Walmart Plus subscription base. Honestly,
Anne 14:44
This is Walmart business plus,
Chris 14:46
I know Walmart business plus, you know, like flying business class. Yeah,
Anne 14:50
Funny, you know, free snacks.
Chris 14:52
So I tried I tried I tried to you know, not have the glass half empty look, I’m trying to have the glass half full look and I think if I have the glass half fool look, I think, which is probably why I don’t love it. But like, it’s a no brainer move.
Anne 15:04
Yeah,
Chris 15:04
I mean, for example, for years, my grandfather used to run a solo distribution operation out of the small like, like, standalone like warehouse. It was probably like 2000 square feet, in Davenport, Iowa, where he would his business model was go to Sam’s Club, yeah, pick up candy bars and bags of chips and then deliver them not for resale that deliver them to the load, then he would deliver them personally to the local bars and and convenience stores like in the outskirts of Moline, Illinois, okay, which no one can get you. Right, right. And so, so like the phenomena is happening here.
And so I think businesses are going to find value in this and Walmart has this massive distribution network already. And so anywhere, anyone that has like large amounts of goods sitting in a warehouse should be able to deliver them at bulk. Yes, similar to how you would find at a Costco or Sam’s Club. And But my hunch is like the other the last thing I’d say is like, I just don’t see that much incremental revenue in this for Walmart, because I imagine people that want to use Walmart are doing this or are already going to Amazon or going to Costco.
So like, yeah, maybe you get a few extra incremental Walmart Plus Business Business plus subscriptions. But I don’t know. But you know, tell me why I’m wrong.
Anne 16:18
Okay. Because first of all, again, every one of these stories is bordering on legal. Like, was that legal that your grandpa was doing that? In that probably in that time itwas but like, you couldn’t do that now. Right?
Chris 16:31
I mean, I have no idea. And I have I probably not probably technically it’s, like reselling stuff on Amazon all the time. So I don’t know. Like, you know, I don’t I don’t think it’s patrolled. Let’s put it that way.
Anne 16:45
Fair enough. Fair enough. No, I Okay. So I think this is a really smart move by Walmart, because I think that as somebody who’s ordered consistently orders goods, for office spaces, I ordered stuff for gyms all the time, like Amazon was our go to because that was they had everything, they had the lowest prices, or Costco, which required a trip or Sam’s Club. And I think that that’s where a lot of this business is going now. But now, I think you have Walmart, who can tap into the demand in those areas based on data that they have from Sam’s Club. And now they have three times the number of locations with all of these Walmart’s to offer pickup in bulk and to offer an additional discount for people when they’re buying these bulk products on a repeat basis.
So I think it makes sense it opens up Walmart as a new place. That’s going to be there’s going to be some customer acquisition that has to happen there. But I think that it could be a value.
Chris 17:39
Okay. Final question on this. Gun to your. Yeah, given everything you just said? Are you switching your routines to go do this at Walmart?
Anne 17:46
It depends on prices, and nobody can beat Walmart in prices. And I think that that’s a question for a lot of the people especially in smaller, you know, in more rural areas where there’s not a Sam’s Club, there’s not a Costco, they’re calling Amazon right now. And they’re paying for Prime membership already. And then they’re paying, you know, if they’re, if the Walmart can get the those goods to them at a lower price and faster, I think this makes sense. Plus, I also think that as Walmart continues to scale and make investments in technology, that, like we see these sortation centres that are coming up, where they’re kind of gathering new ways to more quickly, more efficient, they could do it more efficiently. And again, they could pass those savings on to the customer. So I don’t know.
Chris 18:28
Wow, I didn’t expect that answer from that. You were fired up on that. All right. Let’s keep on rolling here. But before Anne, we get to headline number four.
Anne 18:35
Yes.
Chris 18:37
We want to tell all your loyal listeners about another trip that we have planned to the Windy City here soon.
Anne 18:42
This is the year of the conference.
Chris 18:43
It is it is
Anne 18:45
We’re making the rounds
Chris 18:46
Started off at the bay. So don’t just hear about retails latest trends and innovation. Anne we’re going to, you know people like to do that. But we’re going to experience them at the retail innovation conference and expo taking place June 13 to 15th. In Chicago, you’ll find out what’s next and connected commerce through rich conference content, heightened networking, greater community engagement and a show floor full of immersive activations. Visit omnitalk.rice.events to learn more. That’s omnitalk.rice.events to learn more. I’m excited for that one.
Anne 19:19
Yes, this is not omnitalk rice events. But that’s what you should use that that’s what you should the pneumonic you should use to remember
Chris 19:26
omnitalk.rice.events Yes. I’m excited. It’s been like four years since we’ve been at that show too. So I’m excited to come back to it. All right, headline number four, there’s a new app atop the apple download charts. And once again, it is a Chinese shopping app called Temu. According to the publication inside hook, shout out to them first time on the show. Temu is the American subsidiary of pin Duo Duo, a discount shopping portal in China that’s competing pretty well with Alibaba. And it offers quote, seemingly endless discounts, free shipping and a majority of items under $10. And yes, if you go on the site that is pretty much pretty much sums it up Anne for example, I went on the site yesterday. And it is seemingly an endless barrage of deals and time pressure inducing countdown clocks.
Anne 20:11
Oh, yeah.
Chris 20:11
They’re all there to entice me to snatch up products directly from factory, which is key at, like we said, incredibly low prices. Anne, again, you really wanted to talk about this one too Why?
Anne 20:22
Because I think that for me, like we saw, first of all, when I heard this news, I was like, okay, somebody’s tapped Shien as the number one shopping app, download a shopping app deal. So let’s look into it. Why is this important? And I think that it’s what they’re doing is similar to sheen, and that it’s gamified with these, like Lightning Deals, but it’s discovery focused, not like seek and destroy, as you say, mission driven shopping like you’re doing on Amazon, like, this is a fun place where you’re like, oh, yeah, like, Let’s go see. I mean, we i i bought something from it yesterday, I did my first purchase on it yesterday on the app. And I was like, okay, like, yeah, that thing is pretty cool. And then here’s the kicker, I started seeing similar things that I had just ordered from Amazon for half the price, the exact same thing.
So like the exact same exact same brand, everything, same brand and everything. And so I was like, Okay, this is crazy. Like, I’m going to order this from here and return the thing I got from Amazon because it saves me $15. And because I think it right, like it takes longer to get it right. You have to wait, you’re waiting until like the first week of February. So you know, a couple of weeks. But I think this this app, like has the power to really kind of change how we’re shopping. I don’t know that it’s in a good way. There’s a little consumerism and the inability things that make me a little nervous. The same thing with shipping. But here’s what I also love about it. It’s not active in the US app right now.
But it is in in China. Is this group buying part of it? So we don’t have it yet here but in China right now, the way that it works is like if I say I’m sitting around with my mom’s okay, we’re having some drinks your mom’s the mom, my mom from mom. Hey, you’re with a mom with the moms. I’m going with you on this time we get together. Yeah, text thread, text thread miles long, right of like, and my favourite icebreaker question of late, what’s your favourite product right now? So we sit down, we’re all talking about it. And it’s boring stuff. It’s like or it’s like an organiser for a closet.
But it changes lives. Okay, right, right. But that organiser is on on T mu. And now I think about like, once group buying comes into play, if I can send that organiser to my list of six moms that I was just having drinks with. And now we each get an additional discount because we’re tying it together. Like that’s brilliant. There’s a there there. I want to use it all the time.
Chris 22:46
Which what you’re describing just for the listeners sounds like my personal living hell like being involved in a checks chain like that? I’m always the out. I’m always the aftermath of that with my wife. She like has those tech sheets that she’s texting me incessantly about every single thing you
Anne 23:02
Oh, yeah, for sure. It’s because you have to that’s like, it’s sometimes we talk about like Real Housewives. And sometimes we talk about like closet organiser, you know,
Chris 23:10
I mean, my summary on this, I think it’s really interesting to follow. And I think your points are dead right to especially the aspect of the group buying if that comes over here, because I think that that makes it go viral even more. And I think you’re tapping into something that is really real, like, Hey, we’re all talking about this product. It’s cool. Let’s all go get it together and save a tonne of money. But your point about consumerism is right, like that’s the part where if I go on a rant here, like millennials, what’s going on here?
Why is this the top app like you talk about sustainability, but like, it’s just not a focus. And, you know, the only place I ever hear about is when we travelled to Europe, like that’s the only place where it feels like it’s really a focus, right? Because cheap stuff always wins out. Yes, the action in life, which goes back to the point you made in the beginning. Alright, let’s keep rolling.
Anne 23:52
All right. headline number five, Amazon is permanently closing its Amazon Fresh store in Dalston, northeast London. According to charge retail Amazon is calling it quits on the store after only 18 months of operation. A spokesperson for Amazon told charged quote, just like other retailers, we regularly review our business and from time to time adjust to ensure we are able to best serve our customers and we remain committed to Amazon Fresh UK physical stores. And in fact, we are excited to confirm that we will soon open to new Amazon Fresh stores in the greater London area and quote, Chris, this is also the a&m put you on the spot questions?
Chris 24:29
Oh, yeah, right. We haven’t had it yet.
Anne 24:31
We have not. We saved it for the last. So Anna wants to know, some of the difficulties challenges and closures that we’ve seen with Amazon Fresh indicate that just walk out technology is either not there yet, or not enough to overcome a soft value proposition. Is this a warning sign for other grocery retailers that just walk out? isn’t a silver bullet to salt lean core issues?
Chris 24:54
Wow, great. Yeah, great question. My answer that is, I think unequivocally yes.
Anne 24:59
Okay.
Chris 25:00
Um, at this point, because I don’t think it ever should have been a silver bullet, you know, to solve your core issues, like, you know, we’ve talked about this recently on the show, I think I can’t remember his last week or the week before, even before the year ended because everything starts to blur together. But, you know, grocery is just playing hard. We’ve talked about it, we talked about Tesco trying to come over and do freshen up United States and, and checkout free on its own, I’m starting to realise very clearly, very palpably, honestly, like this is now in my head, it’s not enough of a point of differentiation, for the average person, particularly when a gate or barrier is put up in front of an Amazon store that requires you to download an app or put your palm in their system so you can get into the store, when the next best alternative, quite honestly, for a quick trip, particularly, is a self checkout machine that anymore works 10 out of 10 times, like what was the last time you had problems with the self checkout machine? I never do well write us.
He’s there. Yeah, but I never do any more like, I’m so fast on that thing actually take pride. I like I like just jam out of there. And the people are always like, Wow, nice job. But you know, like, so for me? Like, is it a better experience to just wave your hand into the store and pay? Yes, it is 100%. But all things being equal, the Amazon specials, I’ve been out the jury’s out on whether or not that’s going to make the difference. You know, it just doesn’t. And so now, the point I would make, though, which I think is important to bring it back home is traditional grocers, I think that have a real value proposition, you know, you think of their position in fresh meat produce maybe a good value operation, like all the I think this technology can still be more of a differentiator for them right, in the long run, because the value proposition is established, the brand is established.
So I think those retailers still need to experiment with it. And the other benefit of experimenting with is you get the understanding of how computer vision can affect your operations overall, which I don’t think can be discounted here. But it’s in no way a silver bullet, particularly in 2023, where we said like to show me the money year for tech investment. And you’ve got to see an immediate impact. So I think it’s still at best, it’s a something you’re trying you’re trying to learn from. Trying to understand its impact your organisation, but yeah, that’s my position.
Anne 27:09
Yeah I agree. I mean, I, I have very similar notes, like, I think they’re, this is the year, like you said, where we’re gonna have to start to see some of the payoff for things like implementing computer vision. And I think that’s the, that is the important thing here. Like, once you’ve invested in computer vision, like you really have to work to figure out how that’s going to benefit your overall operations, like what other things can supplement in that investment, besides the just walk out technology. And I think this is hard to because Amazon is different than other than other retailers. Like, I’m really gonna be watching closely what Tesco what all the what all those other non Amazon grocers are doing in this space who’ve invested in this technology and what direction they go in.
Because I think that’s a better indication of like, the validity and the power of this technology in a grocery store over Amazon, like they can kill stores, if you know, they don’t like it in 18 months, and there’s there’s no hurt to their bottom line. But those other retailers that are really gonna have to make this work, they’re gonna have to work to find out like, what the solution is. Because I still think and we saw this with Wegmans like, it’s just walk out is still a very valuable technology to people like the people that are using it, love it. And I think the future generations who are using this will continue to make decisions about where they’re going. Because of the technology like this. It’s just this still is in the early stages, and there’s still some barriers to entry for non early adopters. So I think it’s, it’s worth the investment. It’s just how many things can you get on top of just walk out as the function?
Chris 28:45
Yeah, the last point that I want to get you in the store to actually two more points, I think, I think what you’re saying is exactly right, because experiments never happen in isolation. So like, if you’re gonna spend, I don’t know how much you know, a million and a half dollars to do a full just walk out technology implementation in a 3000 square foot place, you’re gonna understand where the value of computer vision lies in terms of inventory, accuracy, theft prevention, then you can figure out okay, how do I actually want to deploy that in the best way that works across scale? Do you take the robot approach? Like a, like a schmuck, for example. Like, there’s lots of ways to do it. But until you run the experiment, you don’t even have an idea of what the value is.
Anne 29:18
Right.
Chris 29:18
The other point of this that I don’t think we should gloss over is, what does this mean for Amazon? Like you’re closing a store after 18 months?
Anne 29:26
Yeah
Chris 29:26
That’s that’s kind of weird. They gave that we’re opening them soon thing which we always call out?
Anne 29:33
Yeah.
Chris 29:33
With, you know, so I don’t know what that means in terms of are those stores going to open?
Anne 29:36
Yeah.
Chris 29:37
You know, I mean, it’s just another indication that we might be seeing the brakes on Amazon’s grocery store initiative here. I don’t know. But it’s definitely more palpable, seemingly every day.
Anne 29:49
Yeah. Yeah. Well, we’ll see. We’ll have to have to see what happens here in the US too, with all the news.
Chris 29:56
Ooh, we got Walking Dead, and Breaking Bad in the same show.
Anne 30:00
Okay, Chris, let’s get to the lightning round. First question for you is this Valentine’s Days approaching? One 800 flowers is launching an online marketplace to bring on individual gift sellers to accompany flowers this Valentine’s Day. Which gift would you be most excited to receive from Mrs Omnitalk, goat’s milk conversation heart soaps or an align your chakra tea set
Chris 30:28
It’s like choosing the best of two evils but first of all I liked this idea like I think it’s a good idea because I know to every Christmas or like season like this I’m always going on like at sea and getting something tchotchke for Mrs. Omni talk like holiday season, I brought her a mug that had like hairstyles face emblazoned all over it like 100 times.
Anne 30:45
Okay,
Chris 30:46
because she’s obsessed, to the detriment of our entire family. But you know, for me, I think to answer your question directly, I would definitely go with the soaps because I always I always love a little love in the shower Anne it’s always it’s always helpful.
Anne 30:58
You want somebody to be like you want to say see U Rcute with a U and and R cute on your conversation.
Chris 31:05
I’d be okay with that.
Anne 31:05
As you as you scrub down
Chris 31:07
As I’m alone in the shower. Yeah.
Anne 31:09
Oh my god.
Chris 31:09
All right, the 2023 Best Picture Oscar nominees are now out Anne. What picture do you have your Oscar money on?
Anne 31:18
This is really hard. Like, if you’re gonna ask me who’s your favourite character on the college Girls, I’d be like, Oh, obviously it’s you know, whatever. I don’t know, because I haven’t seen any of these movies But one and thats Top Gun and that movie was like, meh,
Chris 31:30
It was meh? I love that movie. All right. That’s fine. I take offence to that actually. For those that
Anne 31:37
But how many of you seen
Chris 31:38
every time we travel? I watched that show on airplane. I have seen it like eight times there.
Anne 31:42
But how many how many of these Best Picture nominees you’re the movie buff here, Like How many of these have you seem to completion
Chris 31:49
Two actually one to competion
Anne 31:53
Okay exactly. So this question Who knows? fair game to anybody on that list of top nominated movies. Okay, Chris. Uber is working with automakers to design electric vehicles that are customised for ride sharing. These are actually really cool. I want to know what feature you would most like to see added to ride sharing specific Uber vehicle.
Chris 32:18
Yeah, I don’t. She’s I’ve not I’m curious what features they’re actually contemplating. But for me, oh, man, given that it’s on the off the top of my head given that it’s like January 26. I want seat warmers in the back? Like why isn’t that why don’t I see that more often.
Anne 32:33
I don’t know how I feel about warm seats when you get out of the car? Like somebody’s been sitting there. It’s warm and like, oh, it was warm. And then you got to put your bun on that seat.
Chris 32:42
Oh, really? Hmm.
Anne 32:43
I kind of like
Chris 32:44
If it’s like it’s hot though. Like heated like versus like the I feel? Don’t you feel like there’s a difference between the warm butt and the heated seat? Like I feel like there is
Anne 32:53
How do you know what’s warm
Chris 32:58
We should go experiment with this. Like, what you know what feels different? You know, I think we totally should. Alright, let’s close this. McDonald’s was the most downloaded QSR app in the United States in 2022, with over 40 million downloads, which was nearly and 27 million more than the next closest competitor, which was Starbucks. Hey, that’s crazy. So my question for you. Do you have the McDonald’s app installed on your phone?
Anne 33:24
I did.
Chris 33:25
You did? What does that mean?
Anne 33:26
I only use it during the summer because we like have sports and stuff
Chris 33:29
So you uninstalled it?
Anne 33:31
Yeah, I’d have too many apps. And I felt like I had to like redownload like stock X goat and flight club apps this morning to order one pair of shoes for my kid. And now I’m annoyed because I’ve got too many.
Chris 33:43
Why don’t you just go online? And just
Anne 33:45
Because it’s easier in the app. Everything’s easier in the app.
Chris 33:48
So this summer, you’re gonna have to redownload the McDonald’s app?
Anne 33:50
Yeah, but it takes like two seconds. You just hit the download again. Yeah, and there are a lot of perks. It makes sense. Like
Chris 33:57
It’s a great app. Yeah, I like the app a lot. All right. Kudos to Walmart on that one big shout out to Mc D’s. Alright, that wraps us up Anne.
Anne 34:03
To Walmart?
Chris 34:04
Oh, did I say Walmart? I even said Mc D’s I said Mc D’s to Walmart,
Anne 34:09
Kudos to Walmart for Mc D’s app. Walmart’s involved somewhere in there.
Chris 34:13
Let’s get this show over.
Anne 34:15
Oh my god.
Chris 34:16
All right. Happy Birthday today to Ellen DeGeneres, Joseph Quinn of Stranger Things. And the man who always reminds us to skate where the puck is going. Not where it is. The Great One Wayne Gretzky. I 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 exclusive content from us. That’s 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 in and please remember like and leave us a review wherever you happen to listen to your podcasts or on YouTube. And until next week, from Vegas on behalf of all of us at omnitalk retail, Be careful out there.
Anne 35:06
The omni talk 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 for 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 the 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. Get your commerce in motion with firework find out more at firework.com And Trigo. Trigo tech powers grocery stores with market leading frictionless checkout and digitise operations. To learn more visit Trigoretail.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. And so the silk cloud DB virtualization platform is a virtualization layer between your workloads and the Cloud 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. 