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Hello, you are listening to the Omni talk Fast 5 brought to you. In partnership with the A and M consumer and retail group Firework, SPS Commerce and Sezzle ranked in the top 10 of all podcasts globally. The Omni Talk Fast 5 is the podcast that we hope. Makes you feel a little smarter, but most importantly a little happier each week too. Today is August 31st, 2023. I’m your host, Anne Mezzenga. And I’m Chris Walton, and we are here once again to discuss the most important headlines the past week that highlight how the physical, digital and human elements of retail are coming together to shape the future. Chris my friend. Yes, Anne, you have a new Topper on today.
00:00:50
A new Topper? That’s an interesting Yes, I do this hat. I got this new hat courtesy of the Hat club thehatclub.com. It’s part of their Thirty for 30 collection where they’re highlighting baseball teams and their their logos and their, you know, their various paraphernalia from the early 90s, which, you know, were the salad days of my youth and the early days of high school. Freshmen through freshmen, probably freshmen through junior year, the early 90s, you know, so, so yeah. So I’m proudly wearing it. I’m going to put the link to the collection in the in the show notes today. But yeah, thanks to them for. Giving me my hat wear for today’s podcast it’s better. Why?
00:01:25
Since I’ve worn a hat to add, I think I was gonna say, well, it’s funny, like I’m trying. To class it up, I think that the people that approach us with like product sampling requests know us very well. You are getting 30 for 30 like vintage hat collection and I am getting cozy earth like stay at home joggers for the middle-aged woman that’s.
00:01:46
Right. That’s right. And and I forgot to say too, the reason it’s a Cubs hat is because I’m going down to Iowa this weekend for Labor Day weekend. My grandfather, my grandfather Richard Judicis, is from the South side of Chicago, originally his 96th birthday and 96 year old. 96 years old? Yes. He’s Richard, EDC and my uncle’s Richard, my son’s Richard. So we got big Dick, little Dick, and we Dick in the family. That’s what we call that, man.
00:02:12
That’s you called your son, we Dick.
00:02:14
We do. We do sometimes, yes. We call, oh boy.
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Especially when he’s being naughty, and especially we can’t be naughty, all right.
00:02:21
Yeah, that’s how we’ve heard of each other in the in the Waltons UDC household. Yes, the good old Italian name, which you could never know by looking.
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You’re going to have to get a photo of that this weekend, I think.
00:02:31
I know, right? Oh, I’m sure there’ll be lots of photos, yes.
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Although he probably can’t stand up to take one anymore at his age, but.
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We’ll do our best, do our best with him for sure.
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OK, well, Chris, we’ve got a big show today. We.
00:02:44
Got a fun show. The headlines, they’re like, they’re like amping up. It’s like they don’t realize this anymore.
00:02:49
Yeah, they don’t realize it’s the last week before Labor Day weekend. The the retail industry was like BAM, we are we’re starting early this year.
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We’re slamming you Omni talk. All right. Well before we get to the headlines. I want to tell everyone that the long-awaited moment has finally arrived. Meet up selections week is now underway for grocery shop, and the buzz of connections being forged is, let’s just say, and it’s electric.
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It’s electric like this. Slide like this.
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Slide. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly like that. As you listen to this thousands of grocery ecosystem peers. From across the globe are checking out each other’s profiles and selecting who they like to meet through meet up happening during grocery shop in Las Vegas next month. I was talking, I was actually believe it or not. And I was talking to the grocery shop leadership team yesterday and they told me believe it or not, they told me that within the 1st 24 hours, 1st 24 hours, a staggering 20,000 selections were made in their meet up system. That is crazy.
00:03:50
I’m surprised it doesn’t break like.
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I know, right?
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This is like mass input towards the system, but they’re 20,000 people.
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1000 selections in 24 hours? That’s crazy, but and it’s just getting started. You can get in on the action and kick start meaningful connections with the individuals who will help you drive your business forward. And the cherry on top to an is that these meetings operate on a double opt in basis, ensuring you don’t waste a minute of your time. You can rest assured you’re meeting with someone who you want to meet and who wants to meet you. But time is of the essence, folks. Prices are going up and Meet Up is closing this coming Tuesday, September 6th, so don’t miss out. Head over to groceryshop.com Omnitalk and secure your place within the industry’s most expansive and cutting edge networking program to date. That’s grocery shop.com. Slash Omni talk and are you pumped for grocery shop? I I can’t wait. I’ve oh I’ve been prepping my my stage presentations with my panelists. I’m getting goosed up for this.
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Yeah, I’m out in Santa Cruz. I’ve been trying to visit as many grocery stores as I can while I’m out here because they have different banners than we get to see. So last night it was in a Safeway and I’ve got some stories for you, Chris. It’s good.
00:05:03
Got some Safeway stories. Oh, I like Safeway stores. Oh man, Safeway, the pickup. That reminds me of pickup. Safeway. In San Francisco? Yeah. All right, cool. Are those stories we’re going to share on this podcast, or are those stories you’re going to tell me in private?
00:05:16
I think. I think that if you see us at grocery shop, I’ll share some of my.
00:05:21
All right, so ask Anne about her Safeway stories, folks. That’s that’s quite an enticing offer there, and I love it. All right, in today’s Fast 5, we’ve got news on Sheehan and Forever 21, Amazon bringing Just Walk out on campus with Grubhub. Macy’s and Gap partnering on a new sleepwear collection. Sephora rolling out contactless checkout at on its employees devices. But we begin today with additional news on the payment front that’s pretty interesting.
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And hold on to your double Macchiato Crisp, because Starbucks is piloting Scanless payments at the drive through. Everyone collectively rejoiced. Everybody in the background listening to this podcast is getting excited. So according to Tech Crunch, Starbucks confirmed an internal test of Scanless Pay, which is a new contactless checkout method that would leverage a Starbucks Apps users current geolocation to identify them in the drivethrough lane so that they wouldn’t have to pull out their phone to pay. The experience is currently only being tested as a proof of concept with Starbucks employees. The company told Tech Crunch It does not have a set date to when this feature would launch with consumers, or if it even will. But let’s be real. It’s going to.
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I think it’s going to happen. Yeah.
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The system works by asking the user to opt into the feature in their app, and once that’s enabled, customers can check in on the mobile app when they arrive at a participating drivethru store. They’re in that long, long, long line for the drivethru, Then once they can tell, they can get to the screen, they can tell the barisa their name that they’ve checked in after placing their order. Then when they approach the window, there isn’t anything else to do but give them your name, accept your order, and move on. Chris, what, what, What has Starbucks done for us now?
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I I know. Like Starbucks is so great, So great, So great. Like, what’s that that’s like from a movie? So it’s so great. Yeah. Yeah, it’s Jimmy Fallon. It’s so great. It’s so great, guys. They’re so great at being on the front side of everything, man. I mean, you kind of hit it on the head right there. I mean, and and the cool thing about this story too, is. We know that getting people quickly through a drive through matters and I don’t know if you guys saw this, I don’t know if you saw this too and I think you did. But there was a story in the news about three or four weeks ago where they added a drive through lane in a Phoenix store, a Phoenix operation. And the sales from that additional drive through lane have increased like upwards of 20% just from the one drive through lane. That’s how much more drive through traffic they’re getting. So, so it makes sense that when it comes to drive through you want to do anything you can to speed up this process especially if you live in Minnesota like we do and you don’t want to hand your phone or your credit card out the window when it’s like below 0 degrees and you’re certainly as hell not going into the Starbucks either. So but the cool thing about this to me what’s really interesting about this approach is we’ve talked about various approaches. We’ve we have listener on our show a while ago where they were doing ultrasonic technology to you know pass sound waves to do this type of thing. But but this approach is really interesting because they’re Geo locating the car. Based on where it is in the drive through against the app and so that has broad applicability when you start thinking about gas stations that can do the same thing, electric vehicle charging that can do the same thing. So, you know, you said it, but I 100% agree with you. It’s only a matter of time before this gets out of the test phase because I I think people are going to use it and the people that use it are going to love it and want to keep using it.
00:08:46
Yeah. I mean, I think you just look at the success like I was reading 2IN preparation for this. Like Starbucks has seen 70% of its orders are coming through mobile pickup. Like people are utilizing this already. It’s like it’s just a behavior that they’ve developed and you can already do this, like when you can already do a mobile order pickup in the drive through and have you. I don’t know if you’ve tried that. I’ve never done that.
00:09:10
I know you can.
00:09:10
Oh yeah, super slick too. Yeah. I mean granted assuming the line isn’t super long, but like if it starts to downpour, you could just pull up and to the drive through and do this. So I I don’t see any reason why Starbucks wouldn’t move forward with this especially as a test. Like it’s it’s the same thing they did once they started mobile ordering like get people, those early adopters on the platform, you know start doing, have your utilization beyond just the employees and and really pressure test this to see what the best way is for this to be successful for Starbucks. But I think you’re also right too Chris. I think it’s only a matter of time before we see more retailers in the QSR space start to utilize this technology beyond Starbucks. I mean we saw kind of the trick, the trickle down effect once Starbucks saw so much success with this. We’re seeing you know Panera testing just walk out or palm technology from Amazon to do this sort of thing to really speed up this process because there isn’t a reason why it needs to be the long exchange and there is so much more of a revenue opportunity if they can nail this down and and do this more quickly and more efficiently. Yeah.
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Do you remember those early days of the Starbucks app and when we’d come in and we knew how to use it and no one else knew? And like people look at us. Like, what the heck?
00:10:23
It’s still happening, Chris, In the airport on the way here, it was like people don’t even realize that, you know, that’s it, That’s an option. But yeah, I mean, I think we’re going to talk about this more in the show, but I think there’s even more opportunity here, whether you’re going to build your own like Starbucks is doing or your or you’re going to license something like Amazon technology to help expedite this process.
00:10:40
This one’s going to be harder for people to see, though, and get amazed, right?
00:10:47
But it’s something that I think we’re going to continue to see in the QSR.
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Because you can’t see inside somebody’s car to see how they’re paying, but you know, But yeah, I think this will take off as soon as as soon as people get get used to using it. So all right, headline 2. She and in Forever 21 have signed a mutual distribution deal according to Retail Dive. She and is inked to deal with Forever 20, one’s operator that would allow the fast fashion rivals to distribute each other’s products through both companies, digital and retail channels. Under the deal, she and will hold a 1/3 interest in Spark Group, the operator, a joint vet or what is also the operator of Forever 21, which is a joint venture between Forever 21 as parent companies. Authentic Brands Group and the Simon Property Group and Spark will also interestingly enough become a minority shareholder in Sheehan. And what are your thoughts on this tie up? I imagine you got quite a bit to say on this one.
00:11:43
I mean, there’s not a whole lot to say. It’s just like you have two former foes that are. Putting forces to like take over the fast fashion world. I mean I think this is brilliant. You have Forever 21 with a physical footprint in North America that she and customers desperately need that she and needs for their customers for returns for Tryon for resale for popup like we’ve seen she and do popup physical stores. But if you can just move into Forever 21 like they’re talking about doing with this partnership like so easy right demographic right mix of of you know what making up for like Forever 21 having what she and doesn’t and the and this the benefit isn’t all to she and either. I think Forever 21 now gets the scale digitally that she and can offer them and now has you know products that they can put on the she and platform to sell beyond you know the North American market where they’re doing so well. And I’m curious to see Chris do you think that eventually like do you think there’s any interest in the other like authentic brands, group brands going on the she and platform eventually like she and talking about market placing and stuff like we talked about that a couple weeks he’s go like I’m curious to see like this this seems like the logical approach where you know they’re they’re supplementing for what each other doesn’t have Forever 21 and she in, but will they start to bring other brands on the she in you know marketplace or platform after forever 21 pilots this?
00:13:13
Yeah, that’s it. That’s interesting. I mean the other the other. I think that the other point of this, it’s even more interesting to me though is actually like, does she and? You know, acquire or in some way become Forever 21 in the United States, right? Like, does that end up being what happens here? Because that takes the stigma of being a Chinese company out of the equation in a lot of ways, too. And so there’s interesting ties when you start going down that road. But that’s why I love it too. It’s a great move on both sides because you know, like you said or you know the points. I would add like Forever 20, one’s been in a tough spot like they’ve been in, they’ve been in a tough spot of late, you know, and they’ve been getting pushed very hard by everyone in this space, all the the digitally native brands, but particularly Sheehan too, like that’s going right into their territory. So the cool thing about this deal is they’re now equally yoked to try to figure this out together. And so that’s what that’s why the long-term significance of maybe there’s a play here where. One becomes, the other is really interesting. Me and we had Winnie Park, the CEO of Forever 21, on our show when we were at Commerce Next. We were super impressed with her and how she thought about the business. Huge background in apparel and retailing and is going to figure this out too. So great move by her in the first years of her tenure as well. I mean, I got to love it.
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All right, let’s go to headline 3. Grubhub is adding Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology to its college campus dining experiences. According to Geekwire, Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology is being deployed for the first time by Grubhub. As part of the food ordering platforms Grubhub Campus experience, Just Walk Out will be used at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, a store called the Bowman Express, which offers freshly prepared foods, beverages, frozen foods, snacks and convenience store items. Loyola is 1 of 300 higher education institutions that Grubhub works with, and it says that Grubhub also told Geek Wire that it is the only food ordering and delivery marketplace that works with campus dining. It got the Monopoly. Chris, what do you think of this this move by Grubhub on the Loyola campus?
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Yeah, and you know the important part of this story too, which I forgot about. I had to go back and look this up because I had totally forgotten about this. I forgot. I mean, I remember that there was the Grubhub with prime thing, right, that they announced, if you like a year. I don’t know when it was. It was a while back. I forgot that they also invested in Grubhub, right?
00:15:37
They have Amazon, yeah.
00:15:39
Yeah, they have all these warrants to get more equity and stuff. So this is really interesting and and very strategic from Amazon. And I’ll explain why in a SEC. But I don’t know, I don’t know if I’m sick today because I love all three of the first headlines. Like the first three headlines, I’m like love, love, love. You know, it’s like 3 loves in a row.
00:15:55
Like, it’s like it’s like the show is big love. Big love Omni talk which hopefully.
00:16:01
It’s not because that would be really weird, but. But no, I mean the idea of merging just walk out with food delivery is something that I’ve long been a fan of. I first wrote about it in Forbes back in 2020, which was like 3 years ago. And it makes so much sense to start with doing that on campus and then brought it out from there. Because the interesting thing about campus when you talk about last mile or quick delivery, is that there’s scale because the same orders are more likely going to the same neighborhoods or even in this case, the same dormitories. That’s very different than say like the standard quick commerce operation where you you have no idea where those orders are going, you know out you have no clue. But here they’re likely going in the same area. So that gives you scale and the delivery. And so this is very akin to what DoorDash is doing with their double Dash program because over the long run, if you think about you play this out, it gives Grubhub the ability to do the exact same thing out of their convenience stores on campus. And gives them the ability to offer that service to their college customers that are ordering food delivered to their dorms or for pick up at this onsite. Dining. Dining. Yeah, dining hall. Thank you. That’s what I’ve looked at. Yeah, thanks for saying the dining halls. But then you could say also you know what I also want. A bottle of Coke. A pack of Doritos, whatever the hell college kids are eating these days, you know they can double like similarly double dash that to the order. But the cool thing is that just walk out technology makes that really simple because all the inventory is accurate and clearly visible in the store so that those orders can be placed more reliably. That’s the value here. And so I’ve again, I love, love, love this predicted that it was something we’re going to start to see. Amazon, smartly, is going after it in the right place. Get the right partner 300 locations across college campuses? That just makes a ton of sense.
00:17:53
Yeah. I mean, I think you’re 100% right. I think it’s another example of how Amazon in this case and a company that it owns interest in Grubhub are creating this like Easy Button. Not just for retailers, like not just like the examples we talked about earlier in the show with like Panera, but it’s also doing this for educational institutions like colleges. They’re learning and testing in that environment all the way to housing. Like I think this is another, there’s another story this week about how they’re deploying just walk out technology at the Regency 55 plus housing. And I think that’s another opportunity like once you install Pompeii, like how many things does that get you access to? Is it access to your dorm you know room without having to carry a key around. Is it access to your housing facility to the grocery store and the facility to parking like all these things. I think that you know it just further leverages or levers up Amazon as the go to to as an operation based for everything on an owned property. Like I think this is huge. Plus you have Grubhub now where you’re getting students hooked because they’re ordering from the dine. That’s the only place they can go to the dining hall. This is multiple times a day. So now you’re ingraining this behavior into those students who will eventually graduate become prime members or Grubhub plus members fingers crossed. But it’s so part of their daytoday process and they’ve been doing it so quickly that there’s there’s no reason to leave the platform even if it increases in price a couple dollars once they get out of campus. And then the final thing I’ll say is, Chris, the dining hall card is the method of payment here too. So when you think about as a parent sending your kid to college, like you’re just loading that thing up, you don’t know where that you assume it’s dining hall. But now as a student, I get access to delivery from my favorite restaurants that Grubhub will bring to my apartment. And sure, I’m using the dining hall like no, no, I’m not. I’m going to, I’m getting the Domino’s Pizza delivered every night and now it’s all coming out of your student supplied payments app, which I think again is like the the this underlying hidden thing here that’s happening in the background that is very powerful for grow pub and for Amazon.
00:20:03
Yeah, that’s that’s really intriguing too. Yeah, cuz the convenience that’s a convenience store basically like their operating convenience store on campus that has just walk out technology and retail is all about scale. You know, I talked about it before with being on campus, but the other scale in this is your operating convenience store, which is also a warehouse for picking for, you know, doubling up on your orders. And the other point I’d raised you in and then we’ll move on is I reposted the article that I wrote in Forbes and you know who immediately jumped on it and was like, thank you for recognizing what we’re doing here. Amazon people, they’re like, yeah, so I mean like that’s the play here people. That’s why they’re doing this. It’s pretty damn obvious that there there’s something to to what we’re talking about here. So. All right. Anne. Hello 4. This is a fun one. This is definitely one not to sleep on, and you’ll see why that was very much a pun intended. The Gap and Macy’s have partnered on a new sleepwear collection. According to Chain Storage, the exclusive collection of sleepwear, underwear and intimates for men and women is available now on macys.com, Macy’s mobile app and in select Macy’s stores nationwide. Prices range from 12:50 to 7995. Yes, you can tell how I feel about this already from that read. Yes, but this is also to put you on the spot question this week from our good friends at the A and M Consumer and Retail Group and here it is quote. Have it New gapsio Richard Dixon recently Dick. In the news, Our favorite alliterative name.
00:21:30
Do you think people call him We Dick?
00:21:33
We I I doubt they do. They they. They.
00:21:36
They we might. We might be calling him that.
00:21:37
From now on we Dick Dixon. He said we need to make these brands matter more and I want August 22nd, which was his first day on the job 2023 to mark the exciting new chapter. To mark an exciting new chapter. Apologize for Gap Inc is so the question for you Ann, is this is a sleepwear partnership with Macy’s the way you hoped Gap would start we Dick Dixon’s next chapter.
00:22:09
Oh, we Dick. My guess is Chris to answer any and M’s question is that this plan was in motion long before we Dick Dixon was the CEO.
00:22:20
At least I hope he was on the board, but yeah, hopefully this didn’t go for board.
00:22:21
I’m guessing, though, that he was not involved in this specific decision. This was just the result of people saying yes to anything that might bring in revenue for the brand. Trying to see the struggling, the struggling Gap brand. And in fact, I’m reading something right now that I want to call it to readers. There’s a book called The Kingdom of Prep. Maggie Bullock that I’m reading right now that explores the history of j.crew, But a good chunk of this book is also talking about Gap because they brought so many people over from Gap. But the whole point of this, and I think this is important for this story, is that it’s talking about the different CEO’s that get keep getting brought in to like revive these brands. And how each of these CEO’s have kind of gone in and done that both at Gap like Mickey Drexler and then you know when they brought him into J. Crew like what their hopes are for the people to do this. But I think that what I’ve what I’ve found in this book so far and I think this is applicable for Gap too, is like the people that really have the the ability to revive these brands are the ones who are focused on the unique point of view that Gap in this case brings. And I don’t know how this is helping the Gap brand or even the Macy’s brand, like there’s not enough cachet in the Gap name anymore. I think to make this like a barn burner seller for the Macy’s crowd like it’s. Would expect they would go with something like denim or something that’s a little more attuned to like gaps roots instead of you know of sleepwear collection like gaps. Not known for their sleepwear collection. I think no, it definitely is. So I just want to understand Dick Dick we Dick Dixon, I got some questions for you. Why Macy’s? Why sleepwear? How are you going to resurrect this brand with your unique style and point of view otherwise? There’s no reason to have Gap does not need to exist.
00:24:09
No, it’s good because I’m going to, I’m going to take that rant and add to it, you know, and I’m going to use the, I’m going to use the word we again.
00:24:12
Like, I I really don’t think that we need. There’s nothing driving me to Gap to get a certain thing that I can’t get anywhere else, and partnering with Macy’s is certainly not the way to do this. So that was my long rant.
00:24:31
I’m going to see how many times we can use we in this podcast because do you remember the old do you remember the old Scottish Mike Myers on Saturday Night Live? There’s there’s we literally. And freaking huge. Yeah, I’m going to go on a freaking huge rent here. And because I 100% agree this makes so little sense on so many levels, Okay. First of all, I got, I think, 3 points I want to make your First of all, the beauty of Gap and the heritage of Gap is that it isn’t a department store. And in fact, I can make the argument that the Gap was one of the originators of the whole idea of specialty apparel and to so, So to see them go into a department store is completely mind boggling to me. It makes no sense. I can remember a phone conversation that I had vividly, vividly with a friend of mine, Louis Banger. That was his name. He’s probably not listening, Still friends with them, but he’s probably not listening. But I was 23 years old. I just started working at the Gap and I was basically like, dude, I love my job. I don’t understand why anyone goes into a department store to shop for clothing, clothing when they can go to a specialty retail apparel store and just shop inside the brand in the mall. Like, I just don’t understand that true story that I remember that conversation vividly. And now you’re putting your products into the department store. Makes no sense, right? So.
00:25:48
The antithesis of like wasn’t Gap. Gap, the creator of Gap, created it to sell Levi’s like that was his. That’s in this book, too. Like, he created Gap because the department stores couldn’t carry enough stock of the Levi’s that he wanted to get in the 70s.
00:26:02
And then Mickey Drexler came in and supercharged the whole idea of specialty retail. Like, you know, merchant Prince. Kudos to him. But then my second point, man, it’s just even better. Like like what point does Macy’s even serve strategically? You’re in the same mall, Like how does that help either company? And then my last point, which is what you hit on 2 sleepwear. I mean first, first you had Home products with with Walmart, which we also said was dumb. Again, something you don’t know what the Gap. Now you’re doing sleepware with Macy’s. If you if you really think distribution partnerships are the answer, then why don’t you go all in and be done with it and put your logo on your sweatshirts and start selling them on Amazon? But oh wait, you already do that. Remember, they already do that too. So I so I mean good luck Dick Dixon. I You’ve got a hell of a job in front of you. And at the end of the day, when it gets right down to it, it starts with better product and better Instore experience in the Gap stores themselves. If you think wholesale is going to save you, no way in hell. It starts with better products and better experiences in your brands themselves. That’s what’s going to matter. Approaches like this aren’t going to fix a damn thing. A goddamn thing. And all right, my rant is over.
00:27:14
We’ve gone over our 5 minutes.
00:27:16
I don’t know if I topped it, but like, whatever, you know, I want to get animated there.
00:27:21
That’s all right.
00:27:21
We feel very passionately about about gap sleep and I think we were under under 5 minutes act. By my records, we were 446.
00:27:29
Actually, all right.
00:27:29
I think we nailed it, but we’ll.
00:27:30
See.
00:27:30
Stay on track, plays out. Yeah. All right.
00:27:33
Headline 5. Chris, this will get your blood pressure back down. Headline 5 is that Sephora will now accept payment via employee devices and select US stores. According to retail leaders, Sephora’s beauty advisors within these stores will be able to accept contactless credit and debit cards, Apple Pay and other NFC enabled digital wallets available on smartphones and smartwatches anywhere in their stores using their their iPhone and the Point of sale app. Chris, what are your thoughts on this one?
00:28:02
Are you going to go on a rant for me? No, no, no, no. Good question, but no. And I know you got some points here too. That you know, as a more devout Sephora shopper than I can probably shed some on this more than I can. But no. I mean, I love this one too. Which makes I think 4 out of the five headlines that I love. Leave it to my leave it to my favorite brand, the gap to to, to.
00:28:22
Bring your to bring you down.
00:28:23
I know from 5 out of five which I think would be an all time first on the show but but I love this but I will. I will express a caveat and because mobile, mobile employee checkout experiences aren’t just about checkout, that was a big epiphany I had in talking to somebody earlier this week and and looking at this story. The real beauty in them and leveraging them as a capability inside your retail operation is that the mobile device is a selling tool throughout the shopping process and therefore it can make it easy when the time comes to pay. But you shouldn’t think about it as solely as a device that checks people out. So by that I mean like there’s other things you can be doing with these devices like logging what people are telling your sales associates the products that they want or updating their carts through the Tryon process in apparel is another example. And then and then when it comes to China, time to check out, making it simple and easy. But while I think that my other cab out too is like why I think it’s going to work for Sephora, this isn’t something that I would advise all fashion specialty retailers to start following on and rushing into you to follow. What they’re doing here. The approach they’re doing here, even though they’re a great Omni channel retailer because you have to take an approach like I just described because there’s still other activities inside those operations like bagging, folding, tag removal that are going to come into play. So you have to think about how you’re going to deploy a mobile checkout system or operation differently inside of those environments. So that’s the one thing. But I, but I love it for Sephora, particularly when you think about the sales assisted model that they have on the floor. Yeah. And then also through how they do their cue and and their wrap to pay, which can be you know, very long at times as well.
00:30:00
Yeah, I mean, you got me thinking too, like even thinking about like the listening that could eventually happen on those devices for training for. Future, you know what I mean? Like, there’s so much information that that you can be collecting, you know, ordering things from, you know, shipping from from a different store. Like we’ve seen, you know, work so well at places like Lululemon with the iPhones, like if there’s so much opportunity here. But most of all, I think this to me says that Sephora as a retailer is truly listening to their customers. In their desires to have an Omni channel. The the definition of an Omni channel experience, which is checking out in all the ways and and varieties that I want as a consumer and meeting my needs there. If I’m just going in for a refill trip, I know what you know foundation I’m getting, but I need some help with that assistant. They bring me to the foundation and I can check out right then and there, plop it in my bag, and then walk out the store instead of waiting in the very very. Very long which can get very long winding Sephora line that they’re known so they’re known so well for. I think this is just really making sure that I can get the information that I need to I can check out without having to you know to be searching through the store for somebody. Plus it also gives attribution I think to those those cast members who are helping the beauty advisors who are helping you in the store. Instead of me trying to remember once I’ve been waiting in line for 20 minutes who helped me, I’m. Floor trying to find them throughout the store like this is giving attribution, which I think will also help improve, you know, stats and training for those sales associates too, so that they’re getting recognition for the time that they’re spending and the impact they’re having on the store’s bottom line. So I absolutely love this. The only question I have is like, what? What, how, how? What was the hurdle like to get the Sephora team over? You know what They’re they’re known so well for this winding line with all the minis and sampling. You know they’re like they’re like one of the best impulse shopping examples that is out there. So like what does this, how does this impact what’s going on in that line. But I I really don’t think it’s it’s any risk to them. I think they’re just going to see more revenue.
00:32:18
I’m sure it’s something they’re watching closely. The other point that I bring up to in closing here too and that this was that this is not my my, my kind of insight. It’s something I learned from Mike Tattersaw as I was prepping him for a grocery shop interview, believe it or not, but I think it’s very germane to this conversation, which is he said he he predicts A simplification of software and hardware that employees have to use in their daytoday jobs in the stores. That there’s going to be a consolidation effort around both both those things, which is really interesting. And so you think of it as like what is the all in one or all-encompassing PDA or personal data assistant that the store employees are going to use that works for every job And what is the core software that enables them to do those jobs is also the next question and what that looks like on those devices and what those interfaces look like too. But that’s the path we’re going down because, you know, there’s less employees, they’re more expensive to get and you need them to be as productive as possible.
00:33:12
Yeah, absolutely. OK, Chris. Well, let’s go to the Lightning round. The first question I have for you is. A Capri Sun kid noise canceling juice drink campaign just launched in collaboration with Task Rabbit, which promises to deliver almost a minute of quiet. Based on the idea that it takes an average of roughly 50 seconds to drink a Capri Sun, what is your go to kid noise canceling trick? And I need to know this because I’m traveling right now with my two small children, one of whom will not stop talking.
00:33:44
50 seconds to drink a Capri Sun. I think would take me like 2 seconds to drink a Capri Sun. God, I I hate to say it but the the best noise cancer trick is the iPad the video game. So I mean that it works every time. It works every time or you know I I think you know like one kid likes punch pizza which is a local pizza place. If I get that in his face he he he’ll be quiet for a couple couple days but a couple minutes. But yeah those are the best answers I have Unfortunately they the first one really sucks. All right. Hamid just gave a rookie Titans quarterback a lifetime man in menonnaise mayonnaise.
00:34:18
That’s another kind of, that’s another kind of thing. Menonnaise.
00:34:21
Yeah. What is your favorite thing to put mail on and?
00:34:25
Easily a BLT. I think that like makes the BLT right? It’s like the best part? Absolutely.
00:34:30
And you can’t have too much, you know, like you if you if you over mayonnaise a BLT, it’ll screw it up. You got to be very cautious with how much you put on.
00:34:39
But it is the best thing in my opinion, I agree. Question 3 Chris Ikea’s radical innovation studio, Studio 10 is shutting down forever. The goal of the studio was to figure out new ways of thinking about what IKEA could accomplish Rather than specific products it should. It should sell. If they were one thing in your life you would like to IKEA eyes, what would it be?
00:35:03
Ooh, that’s a good question, man. Nothing’s coming off the top of my head. But I will tell you this, if if I were to have another kid or if I was to rename my kid, I would strongly considering naming him Billy Bookcase Walton, because I think that would be just.
00:35:17
So you’d use the IKEA like Swedish names to reconsider naming your own.
00:35:22
To rename my kids Billy bookcase Walton. I just love that BBW. That’s.
00:35:26
I mean, I think maybe we, Dick Walton would appreciate a Billy bookcase.
00:35:31
Walton probably going to want to change his name.
00:35:34
Right. Yeah, perhaps. Yes.
00:35:36
All right, last one. Dove is celebrating women’s armpits by way of a new hashtag Free the Pits campaign at New York City transit hubs. Do you agree with the campaign creators who think that people should not be self-conscious of their underarms?
00:35:51
Absolutely not. You need to be conscious of your underarms at all times, especially especially unmasked transit. Please, dear God, put on your deodorant dove. What in the hell are you trying to do to all of us? I want to, like, take the Dove marketing person who came up with this idea and just stick their head in an armpit for an entire subway ride from like, you know, the village all the way up to the Upper East Side.
00:36:20
I’m going to put your head in the armpit and see if you still want to free the pits, man, just cause you’re sure doesn’t mean you should be raising your hand. No, 100%, I’m glad you said that. All right. Happy birthday today to Debbie Gibson, Chris Tucker and to the man who, if I were so inclined, could be my American gigolo. Every day, the week in twice on Sundays. Richard Gere, I remember. If you can only read or listen, why are you giving me that nice you don’t like Richard Gere?
00:36:48
I don’t know. There’s like too many gerbil stories for my kid.
00:36:52
Like, I don’t so awesome in that movie. And oh, I yeah, American Gigolo. He’s so, so good in that movie. Oh my God.
00:37:00
Another We Dick on this, We Dick gear. That’s.
00:37:03
Yeah, He’s a Richard too, isn’t he? Yeah, Yeah, right. Wow.
00:37:07
Dick gear.
00:37:08
That’s not my American Dick in that movie. There’s nothing left for the imagination either, if my memory serves. So if you can only read or listen to one retail Blog in the business on that final don’t, make it on omnitalk, the only retail media outlet run by two former executives from a current top ten US retailer. Our Fast 5 podcast is the quickest, fastest, rundown of all the week’s top news and our Twice a weekly newsletter tells you the top five things you need to know each day and also features special content exclusive to us. And we do it all just for you and we try really hard. 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. Please remember the like and lead us review wherever you happen to listen to your podcasts or on YouTube, go Cubs and until next week, and on behalf of all of us at Omni talk Retail. As always, be careful out there.
00:37:56
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