Anne 0:09
You’re listening to the Omnitalk Fast Five brought to you in partnership with the a&m consumer and retail group, firework, Trigo, ssezzle and silk. Ranked in the top 10% of podcasts globally. The omnitalk Fast Five is a podcast that we hope makes you feel a little smarter. But most importantly, a little happier each week too. Today is February 9 2023. I’m your host, Anne Mezzinga.
Chris 0:33
And I’m Chris Walton.
Anne 0:34
And we are here once again to discuss all the headlines making waves in the world of omni channel retailing. Chris, we made it back
Chris 0:41
We did good energy today on the read, though making waves like I could feel the oomph in the voice. It was good.
Anne 0:48
All right. Well, we try every day.
Chris 0:50
Yeah, we do we try. I gotta tell you how to quiet the hangover after last week Anne. That was that was that was kind of a brutal week.
Anne 0:55
I mean, not from drinking.
Chris 0:57
No, not from drinking. No. Yeah, like work. Like, you know, the trade show. All week in Vegas, followed by you know, 8:30 call sheet for keynote on Friday. It was it was I was I was I was.
Anne 1:12
It was eight. We got there at eight.
Chris 1:13
Yes, eight. You’re right. And it was like a 40 minute drive
Anne 1:15
You’re giving yourself an extra half hour of sleep
Chris 1:16
I was I was bushed as they would say Anne, I was bushed.
Anne 1:17
I don’t know if I like that expression.
Chris 1:18
You don’t like that? That is an expression though. Right? Bush meaning retired?
Anne 1:18
I am not sure.
Chris 1:18
I think it used to be
Anne 1:25
That’s like Biden’s good luck in your senior year of football or whatever. Or good luck in your senior years statement. I question everything now. I don’t know any of these poll setters. I don’t know. I just I always have to say, I probably have no idea what the hell anyone’s talking about.
Chris 1:40
That’s right. Yeah, no, that’s probably true. I mean, that’s that’s just generally a good that’s probably the way you roll in general. You just kind of you’re just kind of in a daze, a funk is that what you’re saying?
Anne 1:49
I wouldn’t say I’m in a daze in general, I think that makes me sound like I’m an idiot. But I would say that
Chris 1:49
your words, not mine.
Anne 1:50
Well, I think that’s implied. I would say that. No, I think that, like there’s a whole book, for example, that I just learned this morning, when I was reading an article, there’s a whole book that somebody at the University of Minnesota who’s like world renowned, he wrote just about, like, express, like common idioms that people know or don’t and like how it goes by geography and all kinds of things. I mean, it’s it’s really fascinating. If you want to dig into that you could
Chris 2:24
I think that’s one of the underappreciated aspects of our show is that we try to talk about the origin of some of these idioms like gift horse in the mouth.
Anne 2:31
Yeah.
Chris 2:32
Bushed. Is that really an expression to describe how tired you are? But anyway, I think we should get moving here.
Anne 2:37
I think we should stick to retail.
Chris 2:38
All right. Let’s stick to retail.
Anne 2:42
We’re not the world’s expert
Chris 2:45
Idioms on idiom translation that’s the two of us Thursday morning. All right. But before we get to the headlines today, we’ve got some exciting news Anne
Anne 2:53
yes
Chris 2:53
Shop Talk is now confirmed more than 200 speakers with another 75. On the way
Anne 2:58
Unbelievable.
Chris 2:59
There’s a tonne of top tier content from the biggest names in retail, including the CEOs of Walmart, international footlocker, chewy tapestry, Levis, and Pinterest and the ones I’m particularly interested in. I want to see Mary Dillon.
Anne 3:11
Yes.
Chris 3:12
I’m curious what she has to say, coming off of her role at Ulta and how she plans to transition to footlocker because to me, those businesses are really different. So I’m curious to see what she has to say about that. Or if it’s just more like kind of talking points, you know, what you can sometimes hear? And also Judith McKenna, Walmart International, like I’m excited about that, because it feels like it feels like Walmart is using international as its Sam’s Club, part two, like it’s petri dish for innovation.
Anne 3:35
Okay,
Chris 3:35
You Know, all the new store assist things are doing are coming from as the over there as well, or their operation they used to have with as this so I’m curious to see what she’s going to talk about on that front. But add to that,
Anne 3:45
yeah,
Chris 3:46
the introduction of meet up their new meetings experience powered by in house tech that’s going to enable us all to meet with people who truly want to meet a massive exhibit hall with more than 650 leading tech providers and even better Anne I can’t believe it. We also hear that Nelly Nelly Anne the legendary man himself is coming.
Anne 4:06
He’s making the rounds
Chris 4:07
At the annual beach party Yes, he is. Like I’m excited.
Anne 4:10
I cannot wait I’m so excited to see him he’s still one of I think the most iconic aren’t we he’s making you do something really uncomfortable. It’s really, really uncomfortable. That’s that alone
Chris 4:23
Worth the price of admission?
Anne 4:25
Hell yeah
Chris 4:25
Yeah Right? I know right? Especially if your company is like you know involved in that but ticket prices. Here’s the important point. Important point though. Ticket prices increase this Friday. So tomorrow from when we’re taping this so don’t wait. Get yours now. Join us at the can’t miss retail event of the year you can learn more and register at shoptalk.com/us/omnitalk that’s shoptalk.com/us/omnitalk. All right in today’s Fast Five we’ve got news on giant Eagles plans to stop mailing weekly circulars.
Anne 4:54
Whoo whoo.
Chris 4:54
Whoo whoo Yeah, right. Okay, cool. I guess I see where Anne stands on that one. Instacart says deployment of its scanning ghost solution with the notable grocer food seller that may or may not have been a little facetious intentionally. Belk opening its first outlet store gap entering into a partnership with a subsidiary of ups to outsource its logistics services to small and medium sized businesses. But we begin today with follow up news for the second week in a row on Amazon Fresh Anne will this story ever end?
Anne 5:25
I don’t know Chris I but it’s making for some good like Netflix era entertainment in the world of retail. So headline number one, Chris, according to our latest news and grocery dive, coming off the opening of its two new Amazon Fresh stores in London last week. Amazon now says it plans to pause any further Amazon Express and Amazon Fresh expansion. Amazon has halted the rollout of its Amazon Fresh grocery stores as the company figures out how to better differentiate them and improve their economics. A quote from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says, quote, we’ve decided over the last year or so that we’re not going to expand the physical fresh doors until we have that equation with differentiation and economic value that we like. But we’re optimistic that we’re going to find that in 2023. And quote, that was a comment from again, Andy jassie, current CEO of Amazon, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript, Chris, those are pretty bold words and language, identifying a big major issue, but also saying he thinks there’s going to be a solution in the same year. What do you think about this one?
Chris 6:33
My only question is, is the pause pregnant? Like this seems like a big pause? This seems like a big deal. You know, in a nutshell, I mean, in summary, for me, I mean, we’ve talked about this now feels like incessantly for the I think we’ve hit this, like three weeks in a row. And now it’s finally being said, you know, like, so for me, I’m away. I’m not surprised, you know, when I keep harping on it, but grocery is hard. And it tells me something when Amazon would rather sit on all its leases,
Anne 7:00
yeah,
Chris 7:00
then open up stores, because it tells me that people are probably not liking the Amazon Fresh experience all that much. And for as interesting as just walk out technology sounds in the internal Amazon press releases when they first did it.
Anne 7:12
Yeah.
Chris 7:14
It’s not enough. It’s not enough to get past the product. It’s an experience that’s required in grocery, you know, it’s just not enough to do it. And particularly when you’re like asking people to scan something on entry, or you got to use a Smart Cart as well, like for a full sized grocery chip. That’s just a lot to get over.
Anne 7:31
Yeah,
Chris 7:31
and I don’t see the value equation, I’m guessing the value equation isn’t there, which is why maybe the stuff we talked about last week with London and then orienting the store differently. But if that’s all it is, which is all we heard, and it’s not about a different experience of the products of grocery themselves, or the experience of grocery themselves, I wonder if it’s going to lead anything. So I’m not optimistic like he is that they’re actually going to crack the code on this in 2023? Because it seems much harder.
Anne 7:59
Yeah.
Chris 7:59
Given my experience in grocery.
Anne 8:01
Yeah, I mean, I agree, I think you’re, you’re you’re dead, right, in grocery is a difficult business to do. And there are people care. I mean, we’ve seen that when you look at players like Target, who still aren’t able to come up or even Walmart who are trying to trying to bring grocery in, but they’re the quality I mean, personally, like, I don’t think the quality is still there, where it’s going to replace my my quality of produce that I can get from a regional or even the Costco and Sam’s Club is out there.
So I think that you know, it is a difficult business, they do have to figure out how they’re going to bring the right assortment. But I do think that they are able to they they will be able to figure something out. And I don’t think it’s going to be it’s going to be a assortment as much as is going to be how can we make these buildings work hardest for us. And they have the runway that other retailers? I’m gonna say it again like that other retailers don’t Amazon has more power in those lease negotiations. They they when you look at all these buildings that are sitting vacant, the cities are trying to fight back. I’ve spoken to people locally who have these these stores that are sitting there, and Amazon kind of gets to dictate the terms and how things are going to operate.
Now, how long that will last for I don’t know. But I think that ultimately, you know, again, Amazon has the ability to pause to hold even with the money that it costs for them to do that, to really sort and figure this out. And I think that they’ll come to a solution quickly, that they are within the year quickly that they can sort out like how we’re going to make this work economically and then kind of work on convenience as a second part and then quality of the product as the third.
Chris 9:43
Yeah, I don’t know. See, I listened. You talked about that. And I’m actually more emboldened that they’re not going to figure this out. Because yeah, they can do that. They may, they may or may not. And I’m sure people would argue the extent of which they have the power to control you know, to negotiate the leases to the extent that they want, but like at the end of the day, like you can do that all you want but if you don’t have any experience that is captivating to consumer, it doesn’t matter. And so that’s where I’m still like, when I step back 3000 foot view, I’m like, what is the ultimate point of differentiation for these grocery stores for these physical grocery stores?
Anne 10:12
Yep.
Chris 10:12
And I don’t know what that is, it’s hard to see that on the horizon. The other point I would make, too, is that it tells me as well, that retailers, when you start thinking about in that frame of context, if retailers are going to go after computer vision,
Anne 10:24
yeah,
Chris 10:25
they’re going to have to go at it from an operational point of view, as opposed to a pull from the demand on the consumer side that the consumers want this in their stores. Because this is telling me that the consumers aren’t that ready to adopt this.
Anne 10:36
Yeah.
Chris 10:37
And so for it to find its legs, its sea legs, it’s going to have to have an impact on the operations of the retailer, first and foremost, for it to be successful. And so that’s also a big question now hanging out there, too. So I don’t know how this is gonna play out. It’s fascinating.
Anne 10:50
Yeah, it’s, it’s something to watch. But confirming again, what we’ve made the assumptions on the last, you know, six months even since these these, whoever, who knows how many stores are still sitting vacant across the country.
Chris 11:04
Yeah, it’s kind of sad, but you know, yeah, it’s kind of I could talk about this one forever. But let’s keep moving on. Alright, headline number two, Giant Eagle is doing away with mailing its weekly advertising circular in its home market of Pittsburgh. According to Supermarket News, the move goes into effect March 2, and a notice in the most recent circular announce that the circulars were quote, moving from your mailbox to your inbox and quote, that’s cool, clever, and provided a QR code that customers can scan to credit digital accounting to begin receiving the weekly circulars digitally.
Customers can also download the circular via the company’s mobile app and can access a circular for their local stores to the Giant Eagle website. The move and this is important, comes after John Eagle had previously ended the mailing of printed circulars in the Cleveland and Central Ohio markets. And I’m guessing no, but do you have any misgivings at all about this move?
Anne 11:51
No, I love it. I think it’s smart. I think it’s bold. There, you know, unfortunately, giant teams of people who I know work on this and are employed by the printing and mailing and shooting of the images and all the content that goes into these circulars. But I think sometimes you just need to force people to move into new ways of doing things, the future generation, they’re not using these, these coupons, so you’re gonna have to cut them out at some point in time. And I actually think that this move while it will be changed, and some people are not going to like it, it’s also not doing away with the circulars, you can still get them at the store.
They’re not like they’re just stopping the mailing and the cost that is involved there. But you’re, you’re making a smarter move for the business and eventually, for the consumer, you’re allowing retailers now to be engaging with and offering those discounts and coupons and circulars to their clients, but also getting a one to one relationship with their consumers in exchange for that information. And then I think you start to have a better experience on the other side for the customer too, because those offers and coupons, once you have that direct one to one relationship can now start to get personalised and can be better for the consumer.
So yes, it’s changed. I think that it’s going to be difficult for some people, but I do think that it’s really the smarter way to go. The only other thing I would add to is, I think you look at companies like skip a fi we interviewed a long time ago who are already taking and really creating the most simplistic ways for customers to get that that circular in their inbox, add things right from the their inbox to their grocery shopping list. Like there’s ways that this will hopefully have an easier transition on on the consumer and be better overall for everybody.
Chris 12:33
Yeah, that’s an interesting point to like, once the once the groceries go off, or even all retailers go in on the, you know, the digitization, rather than the continued mailing of their advertising materials, the innovation in that space is still going to get supercharged even more because it’s a requirement. So that’s interesting point I hadn’t thought about before. You know, for me, like when I first saw this headline, I was like, Okay, be careful. You know, every last visit matters, especially in grocery which is generally a low margin business. But then for me, the capper was where puts me on your side of things, which was when I heard that they already did this in another market. So they probably know it’s it’s game on.
They know it’s going to work. And when you have 80 year olds at breakfast next to me talking about buying things on Amazon, I think it’s just you had that too. Oh, yeah, I’ve had that all the time. Like it happens all the time. All the time. So So you know, it’s about time but I would still say this. I imagine there’s still a place for a well timed direct mail piece. Sure from every retailer. You know at the right time of year like maybe around Superbowl or whatnot, but they do it every week, I think yeah. 100% Let’s get rid of it.
Anne 14:38
All right, let’s go to headline number three. So Instacart is rolling out scan and pay with food seller out of Long Island according to chain storage. Food seller market is the first retailer to fully deploy Instacart scan and pay technology, which is part of the grocery technology providers connected stores platform in the food seller stores. To get started food seller Market customers they walk in, they see a giant sign with a QR code.
At the front of the store, they open the scan and pay opportunity on their mobile browser so they can add items to their basket as they shop. When they’re done, customers can checkout from anywhere in the store directly from their phone and show a QR code as they leave to confirm their payment should also be noted that food cellar market was also an early testing hub for caper carts, before Instacart later acquired the company.
Chris, this is a one of the first like public things that I’ve seen about scanning and pay being the first one first appointment in there’s two food cellar stores in New York to two total to total that I was able to find somebody can correct me if I’m wrong on that. But what are your thoughts on this announcement?
Chris 15:48
Yeah, I could I could not be more sceptical of this announcement. And there’s a few reasons number one is timing. I find that very odd that This announcement comes immediately after the week where Instacart publicly said It’s winding down. It’s in store picking services for retailers for retailers who want to do like their own curbside pickup and, and, and buy online pick up in store. So that’s interesting to me, which always makes me go huh. But second is like you alluded to
Anne 16:13
That was the 90 sign too things that make you go.
Chris 16:17
All right. But this is what you said like the grocer itself, like nothing came with a caper cart. Like at all where is that in this conversation, right, which the article alludes to you. And so here you have the grocer, which is two stores.
Anne 16:34
Yeah.
Chris 16:35
Which was one of the early testers of the caper cart jumping in the pool. Again, that seems really dubious to me is the first announcement here. Like I wouldn’t be hanging my hat on this as my first announcement for that reason. But you actually you have some experience on this because you talk to food seller, back in the day when we were trying to when we’re out in New York trying to see the cart.
Anne 16:55
Yeah.
Chris 16:55
And that experience was pretty unique. I think you got to talk about that.
Anne 16:58
Yeah, I mean, we were going out to NRF. And I was trying to win caper cart first was released, we are trying to figure out a way to go and actually see one and tested for ourselves in the stores. And I called several locations. I think there was three grocers that were supposedly testing the cape Urquhart food cellar being one of them. And I called the store like, Hey, do you have these keeper cards? Or I’m interested in checking them out and passed along to one person to one person to eventually a store manager who was like, Yeah, I don’t even know what is going like we I think we have one I don’t know if it’s in this store or not. And, you know, to, to his credit, probably had a million other things on his mind that he was not caring about me important, right?
So whether or not this is like the crazy headline driving news that it’s made out to be as I think your right to be sceptical. But, you know, they’ve been food seller has has been on the full Instacart train. They’ve been using everything since 2016, one of the earliest adopters. I just worry, though, that this could be the like nail in the coffin of this partnership with the scan and go deployment because their only thing that is changing about this experience is the ability to allow for scan and pay. And there’s no like, we look at what happened at Wegmans here and the theft that was happening when Wegmans shut down.
And I think that this could be I think food cellar with only two locations like this is a really small retailer. And to see what’s going to happen if people are going to like walk out with stuff if they’re going to like what’s what’s all really going to happen and take place here. And if this doesn’t pay off, like as an executive at Food cellar, I’m like, is this still worth it? Like, how much are we paying for Instacart? Is it is it really, like, really giving us any return here?
Chris 18:44
Right. It’s it’s a great point, because like Instacart, if you can’t make it work in this environment, it ain’t going to work anywhere. Because it’s a very complicated thing. Ultimately, at the end of the day, you have to have integration with your point of sale, you have to get the customer’s acclimated, you have to be making sure you’re cognizant of theft and how that’s happened. We had we had shop premont talking about all the steps they go to do
Anne 19:02
Right.
Chris 19:02
So that yeah, if this doesn’t work, or if they suddenly go away from it, or, you know, word gets out and stay on this people in New York, because we’re curious, like, if they suddenly shut it down? Like that’s pretty damn telling. I think it’s gonna be a lot harder than they think.
Anne 19:15
And Instacart like, oh, is are you? Is this business going to be driven on a retailer with two locations? Like, how is this profitable for Instacart? I don’t understand, like, how many foods seller markets do you have to have around the?
Chris 19:28
Yeah, I mean, when you’re just on a first deployment, I think that makes sense. I mean
Anne 19:32
For sure. Um, I guess I’m looking more of it as like, food sellers been on this platform since 2016. Like, you need a lot of food sellers to make this to make the Instacart connected stores platform work. And I just don’t know that there’s enough out there. And and I don’t know that the amount of work it’s going to take for Instacart to gather all of those retailers is going to make it worth the investment.
Chris 19:55
Yeah, it’s great. It’s a big pivot for Instacart. I mean, we talked about this on a show price six months ago, like when you start pivoting are the small and medium sized grocers totally different operations.
Anne 20:04
Yes
Chris 20:04
That you’re talking about are, very different than what it takes to service you know, like Kroger, who they had along,
Anne 20:09
They can’t hang on to scan and go if they start having crazy amounts of theft. They’re not going to be able to hang on to the scan and pay like they they’re a small retailer. They can’t. It’s not Amazon
Chris 20:19
No. 100% 100% All right. Well, let’s before we move on to headline number four, we want to take a moment to tell you about another conference we’re heading to this summer. Yes, join Adonai the Amitabh crew at the Commerce next ecommerce growth show on June 20 to 21st in New York City, New York City we will be live streaming from the show. You can learn from over 120 industry leading speakers across more than 50 sessions. Scaled retailers and brands also get free admission just go to commercenext.com/conference and use VIP code Fast Five, two words. To register for your complimentary ticket today. Check out the link in our podcast show notes in our description to learn more.
All right, Anne headline number four. Belk is joining the ranks of Best Buy and many others when it opened its first outlet store this week. According to retail dive the regional department store converted one of its locations in Greenville, Tennessee, into a new Belk outlet, which sells clearance items from its larger retail locations. With the new layout the store has been able to triple its practice. And that was fascinating to me.
Anne 21:22
Yeah
Chris 21:23
And the outlet location. It should also be noted does not sell beauty or Fine Jewellery products, in case you’re interested. And all sales are also final.
Anne 21:32
I might be, Valentine’s Day is coming up.
Chris 21:34
I know right? I thought that this one I was like, uh oh, but Anne uh, you you you fought hard for this one. This is this is an an special headline this week. Why?
Anne 21:44
I I think we’re seeing a lot of articles in the news lately talking about how off price or outlets are that are a strategy for large retailers. And my question that was raised from this is like, if if that’s the future strategy, if they’re seeing success with this, I think it deserves some thought and consideration, especially in the Belk example where it’s just taking clearanced items from the other stores and consolidating them into one giant clearance centre, same as we’re seeing with Macy’s backstage. What investments, if any, are being made upstream before like I think of, of RFID tagging, for example, in Macy’s, like, what investments are you making upstream so that you can have a better experience in store but then also a better outlet experience? Or a reimagination of that outlet experience? For your end consumer? Like, could you have a rug that I’m interested in? Could I see it at Macy’s, could I track it as in his journey at Macy’s and then once it goes to the outlet store still know that the outlet store that just been converted near me, it has three of those rugs?
Yes, I still have to go hunt for them once I get there through three times as much product as it sounds like it’s going to look like at Belk. But I have some guarantee that that product is actually in that store that it’s worth me making the trip that I’m not just going to spend an entire day on Saturday, digging through piles of stuff in the hopes that I find something. And I just think it’s something that you if it’s as big a part of your strategy, I would be thinking about what investments I’m going to make to really differentiate my outlet from others, because it’s still going to come it’s still a physical footprint, you still have to make the economics work. And you’re still going to need to have a strategy in place for your outlets as you have a strategy in place for your your non outlet stores.
Chris 23:34
Interesting. See, I think I’d go the other way on this.
Anne 23:37
Okay.
Chris 23:37
Like I think if I mean outlets, definitely try and off presses definitely try and you’ll see more people do it, like we talked about in the headline, but I think I’d go the other way, like I would just I would be making these outlet stores, turn and burn on as little investment as possible, almost like a startup mentality to them. And I’d be putting my investments in my technology toward my flagship operation. Because, you know, at the end of the day, it’s all added benefit to them.
Anne 23:58
Yeah
Chris 23:58
So you could and it’s there to be picked up seemingly, because of the trend. Like if you just don’t get if you don’t actually step on your own foot or get in your own way. Like there’s probably money to be made. So if you start over investing in technology that could hamstring the operation a little bit. So for me, I don’t I don’t know that I would I think I’d be like okay, let’s just get these things stood up the outlet shopping experience is kind of a particular experience. Do you get the point about can you make it better online?
But do you really need to do that at this day and age? When you have so many other issues you’re trying to counter as a flagship operation, you know, from your general supply chain availability on your inflation, your wage rates, your staffing shortages, theft, all those things like I don’t know, I think I don’t think I’d be leaning too hard on new tech in the stores.
Anne 24:41
I think you could have both though. I mean, I kind of think like it makes the case again for like an investment in RFID technology early on. But I think there’s so many more opportunities like save the sale opportunities, especially in like with Best Buy and like a refrigerator. I mean, how many times have you been able to like gone and look at a refrigerator? They don’t have this one for six months. And now I have to go to another retailer. But if you had visibility between what’s here what’s at the outlet store and you’d be like, there’s a scratch and dent one at the outlet store that’s 60 miles away. I know there’s two of them there go for it. Like I think there’s opportunity
Chris 25:19
Are you really shopping for a refrigerator for six months?
Anne 25:22
Something Well, there was appliance that we’re looking I mean, we just we just got a refrigerator door we had to get a new refrigerator. It took almost a year to come
Chris 25:31
To get to the new Oh, to get new refrigerator.
Anne 25:35
So I guess I’m saying I guess I’m saying like you have the opportunity to provide better experiences for your customers to do what Sam’s Club is doing in store where you see something and you can scan it, scan it page ship from the outlet like all these things could make the shopping experience so much better. So
Chris 25:53
So your point your point is essentially that you want better inventory visibility in your retail outlets in addition to your regular stores
Anne 25:59
Better investment in better inventory visibility will say throughout the lifecycle of your product,
Chris 26:05
Which is probably true.
Anne 26:06
Yes, absolutely.
Chris 26:07
We’ve launched it on this show. All right,
Anne 26:09
It’ll never happen. Okay, headline number five according to chain store age gap has entered into a partnership with a subsidiary of ups to open its fulfilment centres to small and mid sized businesses. The specialty apparel giant is partnering with Ware, Ware 2 the number 2. go, where to go and on demand fulfilment platform that enables one to two day shipping across the US. The two companies are said to be combining gaps hosted supply chain service, which is called GPS platform services, which the chain launched in 2022. With where to goes delivery platform, the new joint service offers small to medium sized businesses or SMBs, a combined footprint of over 35, warehouses and distribution centres as well as machine learning and data science capabilities.
This is a quote, the future of fulfilment looks like SMBs owning zero warehouses end quote had Steve Denton CEO of where to go, quote, our merchants want to remain focused on growing their business and product portfolios and not worry about the ins and outs of their inventory placement or building up a labour workforce to support peak season and poem. Chris?
Chris 27:15
Yes,
Anne 27:16
This is also the a&m put you on the spot question
Chris 27:18
I had a feeling because I realised we hadn’t had it.
Anne 27:20
Yes. A&M wants to know, this gap started this journey a while ago for businesses that were counter cyclical to theirs. And now to leverage the assets they built to support q4 spikes, as well as when business was stronger. Are there enough counter cyclical players to fill what gap needs? And how much time should an apparel retailer spend on enabling their platforms to manage other businesses?
Chris 27:45
There’s some leading the witness in that question. I like it. It’s such a great question. You know what it tells me too, it tells me that a&m goes to the wall on these questions and bats them around internally until they feel like they’ve got something that’s
Anne 27:55
And somebody’s actually run a DC, and like, knows how the supply chain works.
Chris 28:00
Yeah, but they’re like really going to the wall. And he’s like, internally, I can tell as they’re like sending to us, because that’s a very, very thoughtful. There’s many next levels to that question. So well, first off, I want to say this, before I answer the question directly. This whole idea is starting to overtake the retail media network as the hot idea, every creature of habit retailers going to start dying, I think. But now to answer the question, and shake our shake are from quiet platform American Eagle subsidiary, he addresses directly on stage, he said that there are tonnes of different seasons that can be leveraged to smooth smooth demand out of these warehouses.
He cited things like the Super Bowl for food, the summer season and back to school. But honestly, I’m a little sceptical of that argument, which I think is what a&m is to when you read between the lines. Like, for example, that might be true, but you’re not running food out of the same warehouse that you’re running your apparel out of, right, it just doesn’t work that way, at least for my knowledge, it doesn’t. And so I don’t necessarily understand how that helps. So the point that nm is alluding to is valid.
And the other thing I’d say is, I don’t think anyone should get carried away with this idea. There are possibly some unique elements to what American Eagle is doing. But in many ways, it’s starting to end what GAAP is doing too. But like in many ways, it’s starting to feel like an extension, or like another version of a three PL setup. And so my question for the SMBs that are thinking about this is I would be very resolute and thoughtful and asking, What am I getting with you that I’m not getting with the traditional three PL, lay that out for me and separate it from all the gloss and glitz that you’re putting on this like making it sound like it’s really different?
Because maybe it is and maybe I just don’t understand it well enough yet and I’m open to it. But that’s what I would be doing is like checking the boxes, I get this with them I get this with this other player, what are the differences and make a conscious decision decision about that? Because otherwise you could get swept swept up in this for sure.
Anne 29:58
I so I want to I want to challenge one thing that you said, because you’re saying you’re not shipping food and like apparel out of the same warehouse. I mean, isn’t Walmart Amazon target? No, they’re not shipping out the same, like even dry goods. They’re not used
Chris 30:13
Dry goods, they might be but I would, I would imagine there are Signet, there are different warehouses built for food dish released, there were in my time, different warehouses built for food distribution, because you have freezers,
Anne 30:22
Right
Chris 30:23
You know, you saw it, you saw things that manifest actually, the guy from Walmart was talking specifically about his cold storage distribution centre. So there you go.
Anne 30:29
Right, but I think I guess my question is, like, is there enough other materials in the store that are boxed similarly, that are like the centre aisle stuff that could be utilised. And when you think about direct to consumer, other small to medium sized businesses, like they could be sent, like, liquid death, or like all these other like energy drinks that are specific people like, there could potentially be a case made, that there are cyclical things that could fill some of those gaps. I think, to your point, though, it’s going to take into a&m Xpoint, it’s going to take a lot of work on the part of the retailer that is outside their area of expertise in order to do this. And is that worth the time investment and the resource investment.
Chris 31:09
And the point, I come back to with what you just said, Honestly, which I think strengthens the argument is, you know, the three fields already do that they’ve already figured all this out, they already have the networks built to capitalise on that. Like they’re not. They’re not they’re not new to this game,
Anne 31:23
Right
Chris 31:24
And so like, analogous to immediate networks, like my question then becomes how many of these do we really need, then to who has the right to win in the space, somebody that’s been doing that and figured that out and figured out all those product variations, or someone like an apparel retailer who has no experience doing that, and to this point, could get distracted?
Anne 31:41
Right
Chris 31:42
By trying to do it. Now, granted, is probably a different arm of the organisation that doesn’t really impact gaps, day to day business. I can make that argument too. Like, as long as you keep this separate, you’re smart about it. Like there’s not that much like distraction argument to me, but still to who has the right to win. And again, ask the question, What am I getting here?
Anne 32:00
Right
Chris 32:00
It’s really different, or is this just something made to sound cool? Because you got software involved? And you got some startups involved?
Anne 32:05
Right
Chris 32:05
I don’t know.
Anne 32:06
And is it a race to the bottom again? Like what like your to your point of how many do you need, like, what, you know, how well how good are the deals gonna get? And how much money are you actually making when all said and done to get those people onto your, your logistics?
Chris 32:20
Ultimately, I think what’s gonna happen is you’re just gonna see a lot of activity in the space. And there’s gonna be a lot of companies that have started acquiring each other over time, and people will make money on this idea as they get acquired.
Anne 32:30
All right, Chris, that was a hell of a show.
Chris 32:33
Yeah, it was.
Anne 32:34
Let’s get to the lightning round.
Chris 32:35
All right
Anne 32:36
Chris. Adidas has launched its new this first new label and decades called sportswear curated to serve the next generation during multiple moments as they tackle the sport of life that made me chuckle
Chris 32:49
Oh, my God, I took my drink of coffee the wrong time.
Anne 32:51
Yes. What could possibly be missing from your Adidas wardrobe that you hope comes out of this sportswear line?
Chris 32:58
Oh god. And absolutely nothing. I mean, I’m all stocked up coming out the holidays. In fact, I would, you know, if I was to do anything, and I would never do this, but I think I actually should just get the Adidas arm stripe tattooed down my arm like an arm sleeve tattoo.
Anne 33:11
You’re gonna get sued for that somebody just got sued because they were trying to rip off the three stripes.
Chris 33:15
Really? On a tattoo?
Anne 33:17
I you may. You may wow, I mean, I I know it’s very heavily trademarked.
Chris 33:22
I’m not a big time enough for anyone to give a crap. All right,
Anne 33:25
It’d be a fun experiment.
Chris 33:26
This one was fun. This is getting a lot of play in media. This week, AMC Theatres announced the sidelines a programme that charges customers similar to airlines, based on how good the sightlines are from their seats. They come in three tiers. standard value, meaning really close and therefore those seats are very, are much cheaper, and preferred ie in the middle where most people want to be, let’s say, and the standard ticket is $18. I looked that up. There’s a special showing of Titanic neuros this weekend. That was $18. How much would you be willing to pay for the upgrade? And how much would the theatre have to take off for you to sit up close? I’m curious.
Anne 33:58
I think that the thing that they’re missing about this is booze. I think like your value ticket. No booze. I think your tears like you gotta make it really worth it like super VIP. So if there was booze I would pay for it. But I do not go to movie
Chris 34:12
So like first class seating you get booze
Anne 34:13
Yeah, exactly. Like that’s a huge miss here. The margins they could be making on just the booze alone. Anyway, I think this makes sense. It’s kind of disappointing to me, but I think it makes total sense.
Chris 34:24
Yeah. Elijah Wood was out in the media today claiming price discrimination for this. So like, yeah, this thing’s heating up. I don’t know how it’s gonna play out. It’s fast.
Anne 34:31
It works well for the airlines, right? Okay, Chris fanatics announced that they’re going to start live stream shopping for collectibles and trading cards. What was your most prized collectible from childhood? And would you join a live stream today to buy it?
Chris 34:46
I probably would not join a live stream to buy it. I don’t think
Anne 34:49
Do you still have it in your
Chris 34:51
Actually yeah.
Anne 34:52
So you don’t need to
Chris 34:53
Yeah, so I don’t need Well, I don’t need to but yeah, maybe I would. But I mean, it’s kind of a different mentality, though too as a kid, but
Anne 34:58
Would you do a live stream to sell this prized collectible?
Chris 35:02
No, I would never sell it because it’s a price collect. But yeah, no, I mean, I probably would dabble in it for sure. But mine to get to the question. It was an Al kaline 1955 Bowman baseball card. That was my prized possession.
Anne 35:14
Who’s Al Kaline.
Chris 35:15
He’s a Hall of Famer from the Detroit Tigers. It was his second year to rank here but his second year
Anne 35:22
They call him like alkaline owl or something.
Chris 35:24
I believe that’s good. I think they might have I don’t know. I don’t know. But that’s a that’s a good one.
Anne 35:28
Is that his real name?
Chris 35:29
Yeah. Al kaline. Yeah. He’s a great one. Probably one of the best Detroit Tiger player.
Anne 35:33
The more you know.
Chris 35:34
Yeah, the more you know. All right, last one. I headed out with the boys this week to Dick’s Sporting Goods house of sports.
Anne 35:41
Yes.
Chris 35:42
To see the new Tom Brady display which is right there in the front of the store like wow, that’s not going to be there for long but anyway, I also stopped in with the boys at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. So my question Yes, I did. So my question for you is this Do you think the Cheesecake Factory national, national now once you put your national hat on is overrated, underrated or properly rated?
Anne 36:06
I think you you get exactly what you expect there. Like if there’s something for everybody on that menu because it’s so effing giants.
Chris 36:13
Do you think it’s properly ready? You think enough people respect and understand the value of Cheesecake Factory?
Anne 36:19
I don’t know if I would say respect and value in the same sentence as Cheesecake Factory, but I would say like, you know what you’re gonna get there.
Chris 36:26
Okay. Okay,
Anne 36:26
like Olive Garden or any other place like
Chris 36:29
I think it’s I think it’s I think it’s decidedly underrated. Like it was really affordable. quite tasty. Yes, I do. I think it’s decidedly underrated.
Anne 36:37
I think it’s Applebee with like a flair on it.
Chris 36:40
Oh, no way. No way. No quality much, much better. Quality much, much better. Alright, that wraps us up today. Happy Birthday data today to Michael B. Jordan.
Anne 36:48
Oh, dang. Did you see him on SNL? Sorry, he was amazing.
Chris 36:52
Yeah, he’s pretty. Joe Pesci, not somebody exact opposite. And a woman who we all know was really the boss and she was really the boss. The great Judith light.
Anne 37:04
Yes, she was.
Chris 37:05
And remember, if you can only read or listen to one retail blog in the business make it Omni talk. Our Fast Five podcast is the quickest fastest rundown of all the week’s top news. And our twice weekly newsletter tells you the top five things you need to know each day and also features special content exclusive to us. And it’s all just for you. And we try really hard to make it fit within the preview pane of your inbox. You can sign up today at http://www.omnitalk.blog. Not sure how many W’s I dropped there. And 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. So until next week, and on behalf of all of us at Omni talk retail as always Be careful out there.
Anne 37:41
The Omnitalk 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 to the 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. Put 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 finally, silk. Silk cloud DVX 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. 