00:00:04
Hello, you are listening to the Omni talk Retail Fast 5 brought to you in partnership with the A and M consumer and retail group Firework, Avalara, TGW and Sezzle. Ranked in the top 10% of all podcasts globally. The Retail 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 November 1st, 2023. I’m your host, Anne Mezzenga.
00:00:30
And I’m Chris Walton, and we are here once again to discuss the most important headlines from the past week that highlight how the physical, digital and human elements of retail are coming together to shape the future. Chris, last night was your favorite holiday. How was your Halloween?
00:00:46
Not even close. I was actually thinking about that, and I don’t even think it’s like in my Mount Rushmore of holidays. Like, I don’t even think it’s in my, like, top 4.
00:00:53
Your profile picture. Was you dressed as Darth Vader for like the longest time? What has happened? Yeah. That’s you. That’s a good point. Yeah. I don’t know. I think you know what happened to me in Minnesota? It’s freaking cold here. And it was like below freezing and there’s snow trick or treating. Yes, I think maybe that is it. Actually, yeah, that could be it. Sorry, but did you have a good time?
00:01:12
I mean, for me, it was a little, it was a little chilly. A little chilly. The kids wanted to get it done quickly. Last night It was cold, but it was not as cold. I was actually prepared because I went pheasant hunting last weekend for the first time ever and I so I had all the cold gear from my first ever pheasant hunt that was like readily available and good to go. So I think I was overly prepared for the cold. So it was fine, you know so.
00:01:37
You were wrapped up.
00:01:38
It was wrapped up.
00:01:39
You went to pheasant hunting. That sounds like the foulest experience I can imagine, Anne.
00:01:42
Oh, but a Bing? That was great. Yes, it was. You know, ask me about my pheasant hunting experience next time you see me, and I’ll go into much more detail. But I’m really glad that I did it.
00:01:55
I’ve never, it feels like a very Minnesotan thing that I’ve never done, that I should have done. Yeah.
00:02:00
I’m surprised you’ve never done it before, actually, yeah, no.
00:02:03
Hey, this is the first time forever, but now I can say I’ve done it. So it was great. Well, Chris, we have some big news. Big news this week. Would you like to kick us off?
00:02:15
Would you like to tell us about this big announcement?
00:02:17
That we have for everybody, the the way you’re sharing it. Yes, of course. How could I not? My God, that was such a great tease. All right, You’re right, Anne.
00:02:23
We’ve got some big news to share. And that news is wait for it, everybody. But Omni Stars is back. Loyal Omni talk it is, right. Loyal Omni talk.
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Followers will remember that around this time last year. We debuted our Omni Stars recognition program, which was meant to recognize the top retail executives. Not the pundits, not the consultants, not the tech company representatives, but the actual executives driving real Omni channel change within their organizations. We’re again partnering with Corso on this award. They were our partners last year.
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Thanks to them for their support and Corso’s AI Co pilot coached retailers to optimize store performance at every level to help you to transform retail operations from data overload into data powered.
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You can learn more by visiting corso.com and and this year I’m excited, especially because we Who is it?
00:03:14
This year’s award differently? Wait, wait. Can’t tell you yet.
00:03:16
Because that of announcing all the winners at once, like we did last, yeah.
00:03:21
Getting today Anne, we’re going to announce 1 winner every month going forward. So it gives you an you, gives all you loyal fans something else to tune in for and listen to. We’re going to try to do it the first week of.
00:03:32
Every month going, we’re doing the slow drip approach, the slow drip.Yeah, we are. And yeah, get some, get some excitement going here. OK, so tell us who it is.
00:03:41
Are you ready to hear it? And are you? Are you? Can you do a drum roll please? I want to see drum roll Podcast.
00:03:46
I don’t have a yeah, the nice closest we’re going to get to a soundboard.
00:03:50
Nicely done, yes, and won’t let me have a soundboard. There’s no way that would be like her worst, worst, worst, ideal idea imaginable for Anne. But this month, Omni star the first one of 2023. Close to Zachary Britton, the Senior Vice President of Corporate Store Operations at Dollar General. This yeah, it is.
00:04:09
This one is near and dear to my heart, particularly because, believe it or not, I was actually once Zach’s boss at Target when we were both in frozen food together. And the thing I love about Zach is not only just watching his how his careers progress and how he’s done really well at Dollar General, but the thing I love about Zach and the reason he’s winning this award is. Hands down of anyone we see at a trade show, he is the most curious. He’s always stopping by and asking us, you know how can you improve the Dollar General business. What are some technology providers he needs to stop in and look at while he’s at these shows?
00:04:44
And he really takes what we say to heart and he goes and he stops by and he learns as much as he can about those companies. So. And you’ve met him a few times too. What’s your.
00:04:51
Yeah, No, I I agree with exactly what you’re saying and that’s you know, big reason about why he got my vote for this as well as he’s, he’s an SVP at a major retailer but never comes into a conversation acting like he’s got all the answers. He’s very curious and I think he is one of the people that comes to mind first when we talk about how people are pushing innovation forward at these major retailers. So Congrats Zach, we’re excited for you. We’re we’re really happy and well deserving of this award.
00:05:26
Awesome, Really proud of you. And and then in addition to announcing a new Army Star each month, we’re also going to use this part of the show to tell our audience about other exciting and great content we have coming your way.
00:05:38
Yes, Chris, we have an exciting interview planned with Microsoft and GitHub at the end of the month on generative AI. Romeo Balabol. Cool, cool name Romeo.
00:05:51
Yes, so. So yeah, dude, that guy’s got it on both names. That’s the name and the first name.
00:05:55
Yes, RR Bolabol of Microsoft and Chris Couch. Also a great name, great alliteration of GitHub. They’ll both be joining us live on LinkedIn on November 29th in a session we are calling Why AI may Be the safest Bet a Retailer Can make. And Lord knows after after this next week when we’re going to be hearing all about the White House’s approach to AI, this will be a timely session to figure out, as regulations are getting developed, how retailers can be thinking about the safe ways to apply this in their own organization. So head over to our Omni Talk Retail page on LinkedIn and you can get all set up and registered to attend.
00:06:37
So Chris, I think it’s time. I think we’ve we’ve given all the announcements. We’ve got the housekeeping out of the way. Let’s get.
00:06:44
To the housekeeping in order, we covered the, we covered the pheasant hunting and the Halloween update. Let’s do this and. All right, in today’s Fast 5, we’ve got news on H&M designing close with. The aforementioned generative AI Schnucks once again oping their mobile app game, Facebook and Instagram offering paid ad free subscriptions overseas and Tommy Bahama opening its own resort in Palm Springs.
00:07:09
But we begin today with Farmageddon and Armageddon. Armageddon. Great name. Really. No great name.
00:07:21
Not a not a great situation for healthcare retailers right now. Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid employees are reportedly walking off the job this week. According to Fox Business, over 2000 employees are expected to protest their working conditions this week from Monday through Wednesday. Workers have pledged to call in sick following a similar protest earlier this month when Walgreens employees at 25 stores called out sick. Workers are reportedly demanding a slew of things to ease the extra duties they have taken on in recent years.
00:07:53
Some of the biggest demands include guaranteed hours and better pay for technicians, and they also want pharmacist and pharmacy managers to have a direct say in scheduling. Chris, where where do you fall on this? This has been, I feel like we it was the first one like we mentioned in the headline couple weeks ago. Now this is 2000 employees at multiple locations. What are your thoughts on this?
00:08:19
Yeah, honestly, I’m, I’m actually kind of excited to see it. I mean, it might be kind of a salacious thing to say, but yeah, I am. Because when I look back at what’s transpired over the last couple years, I mean, it felt like Starbucks was kind of the first, you know, first. Shot across the bow in terms of this type of activity. And then you had the auto workers which is still going on and potentially coming to a close here and now you have the pharmacies in my opinion rightly so, like looking at a pharmacy is hard and I actually think it’s quite possibly the most dangerous, one of one of, maybe not the most but one of the most dangerous jobs inside of retail store day and then day out.
00:08:54
I mean, I’ve told this. I’ve probably shared this story on the podcast before, but. One of my pharmacies was robbed at gunpoint while my wife was in labor. I was having to field calls about that during that process. And so it’s really real for me to figure out, you know, if if if workers across the border having issues like pharmacies are probably a place that retailers need to look at in terms of how they’re handing their staffing in their operation.
00:09:18
So it makes sense to me that they want more and fair play to them for demanding it in my opinion.
00:09:24
Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think what this is showing us is that the current process is not sustainable. You’re not only putting your workers in danger, but you’re also putting the public in danger. I mean there’s a few examples that, you know, of course the pharmacists are not, you know, saying their names and locations, but like, you know, they’re they’re tired. They can’t even.
00:09:45
I mean I just went to go to get my my flu and COVID booster and the line is out the door at the at the local Walgreens. And I asked them like do you guys even have time to go to the bathroom? And I mean they don’t like they, they have to go to the bathroom, but like there’s enough demand going right now to keep them going and it’s just not a sustainable situation. And I think then you have to look at what happens if the pharmacist stop showing up, which I I think they have the right to do so in order to make things safer for the the customers of these companies and for themselves. And there are plenty of other customer of other companies in the space like Amazon who are investing heavily now in tech to do pharmacies differently and they’re standing in line to disrupt these agencies.
00:10:29
I mean if if that that pharmacy goes away, that’s roughly 95% of the CVS and Walgreens and Rite Aid businesses, what happens to those businesses? You know there there’s such a small percentage that’s that’s dedicated to that general merchandise sector that they’re not going to be able to to continue as businesses if these pharmacists leave. So I think this is something that you know as a as a retail industry really have to be paying close attention to and trying to come up with the right solution for.
00:10:56
Yeah. And the subtle point that I love and what you’re saying too, is it’s going to breed innovation, which is the hallmark of what we talked about on the show, right?
00:11:02
Like, yeah, like Amazon’s drone delivery of prescriptions, like they’re out there. They’re doing it, Yeah.
00:11:08
Yeah, right. And so and like, and I’m already seeing it and too like and like, I’ll call out Walgreens. Like I’ve been very harsh and critical on Walgreens. You know, at times we’ve had their executives on the show. They’re the nicest people, the greatest people to talk to you and I am absolutely in love with.
00:11:23
They’re delivered a home like I can get my prescriptions delivered next day at no cost as of right now and when with that it it changes the if you if you can get your customers acclimated that which I am which shows you and I’m not the most you know jump on board first person to try everything I try to be for the show but in general in life I’m probably not but. If you can get me to do it, other people can too. And so it begs the question of like how do pharmacies need to operate in the long run? Do they, they need to be staffed at these locations or they can be staffed out of an auto fulfillment micro fulfillment warehouse to process the orders and handle certain prescriptions that way versus the other, you know, more high touch prescriptions for lack of a better way to put it. So that’s what I love about what you’re saying is like it this whole thing should breed a hell of a lot more innovation.
00:12:09
And then I think we all win in the long run if it’s looked at upon that looked at.
00:12:13
If it’s looked at it that looked at it like that from the retailers that are trying that are dealing with this issue, mainly CVS and Walgreens, if they look at it like this, that’s what I’m trying to say and thanks for letting you do that. You got it. You got.
00:12:25
It should be great.
00:12:27
It should be. It should be hopefully. But there’s something’s got to be done. Can’t it’s it’s broke. They’ve got to fix it.
00:12:32
Yeah, right. Yeah, it feels like it really could be too. All right, headline 2. H&M has launched an innovative AI powered custom clothing creation tool. Cheesy.
00:12:43
And that was three CS in a row, marking the retail giant’s first foray into the world of artificial intelligence, according to Trend Hunter. What a great name from online magazine Trend Hunter. The Text Image Merge creation tool within HDMS Creator Studio leverages AI technology to transform written prompts into fully realized apparel designs. Users can choose from a range of preset styles and the resulting creations can be swiftly produced and fulfilled through H and Ms. Global Printing and logistics infrastructure.
00:13:13
And believe it or not, it is your turn this week on the hot seat. I have this week’s A&M put you on the spot question. I’m glad it’s you OK me this time. And here it is. There is so much talk among executives, futurists and our favorite media pundits.
00:13:29
And the types of jobs AI is likely to replace with designers and OFT discussed candidate Nice word of nice use of off too. By the way, do you think H&M execution here is an indicator of that movement? Or is this a more souped up version of the classic custom T-shirt maker that’s been around forever? That was exactly my thoughts as I read this headline too. I’m curious.
00:13:52
What do you think?
00:13:53
Yeah, I don’t know. I think you know there. This is definitely playing on that variation of the custom T-shirt designer, but I think that. I think that it’s good like I I I think that this is an area where your H&M you’re you’re in the fast fashion industry with tons of competition like this is a way for you to offer a custom garment at a lower price point that sets you apart from the the other competitors in your space. I think to answer A and Ms.
00:14:23
question though, I I don’t think this is a case of AI replacing designers. I still think they’re at the core of designing the garments. I think it again it helps H&M continue to differentiate their products. It’s not about AI eliminating the designers though. I don’t see that happening.
00:14:41
I think it’s going to eliminate the designers who won’t incorporate AI as a component of their work. We talked about it last week on the show too with Amazon and how they’re helping use AI to help come up with product images. You know I think it’s this is going to be a tool in the tool belt of designer every engineer. Like there’s so many applications across across the entire retail industry landscape and other industries where you have to be ready and prepared to incorporate I AI into some component of your work. And I do think that things like this will replace designers that won’t, won’t even allow that to penetrate their their work.
00:15:20
So oh. Really, yeah. I I think I think we’re going to continue to see efficiencies that this will bring to other elements of their business too. Not just like the the design that we’re seeing put on a T-shirt, but also helping helping those designers so that they can better predict demand, they can better predict you know customer preferences and the data that they’re getting from the customers through tools like what H&M is doing here. So I I’m a big fan and I think this will just be another tool to augment the work of the.
00:15:47
So you’re treading gingerly on this then?
00:15:49
Like in terms of the guess?
00:15:51
Overall impact to the organization and the impact on the designer and the design industry as a whole, Huh.
00:15:57
OK, yeah, I still think there’s a place for designers. I don’t think it’s replacing them, but but you disagree. I take it well.
00:16:03
Yeah, I, I, I, I think this is, I think, I kind of think you’re doing what what what H&M is doing here. This is the toe dip, right? It’s the toe dip into AI and application. Understand. And how well it works.
00:16:14
And they’re doing it from the consumer side because it’s, you know, quite honestly probably less political. That’s kind of how I’m. I’m reading this headline because I agree with you. I don’t see if you understand how generous AI works, like at least from my knowledge of it right now. And that’s why I’m excited to have Microsoft and GitHub on to talk more about it with us because they understand it better than either you or I do.
00:16:34
But like, I agree, I don’t see AI displacing designers, but it will make those who know how to use it more productive, right? That’s interesting. And so when that happens in the history of business, that ultimately means less people are needed in that field over time because you can do more with less. And so that’s the that’s going to happen, I think when you look at it. So the revocations here are with design, with copywriting, with brand image creation like we talked about in the show last week.
00:17:03
You don’t need as many people like because you’re going to make your own people that much more productive and that much more powerful, so. And I think that just from experimenting with AI in our own business everyday like I’m to me and this is the thing I’ve been saying on social media, it is the performance enhancing drug of the white collar class. Like it is the cream and the clear of white collar jobs if you use it right.
00:17:25
And so, whoever you What is the cream and the clear?
00:17:27
Cream and the clear. It was like what Barry Bonds was rubbing on his muscles to make him hit all those home runs.
00:17:32
So, like, to me it’s going, it’s disgusting.
00:17:35
I know it’s really gross, right? But the people that figure out how to use this, that harness it first. Are going to be to their retail operations what Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire were to baseball in 1998. They’re going to be so out in front of it and putting the demands on everyone else to such an extent that the other people who don’t know how to use it can’t meet, can’t meet them, that it’s going to cause some displacement. And I think this is the first sign that we’re heading down that road.
00:18:00
Yeah, I agree. I think, I think it’s well, I agree that there the jobs will change. I think there’s no disagreement there. I think that the the people in those roles will have to take on. I think there’ll be other roles for them.
00:18:14
I think that we’re going to see a continued evolution of what creative looks like, what design looks like, what you know, engineering looks like. Yes, they won’t be doing the same, the same exact job that they were doing three years ago, but there will still be a role that humans will play like I I think that’s the major, the major narrative that I think is important to include is that yes, it’s performance enhancing. It’s not. It’s not replacing though.
00:18:38
Yeah. But the interesting thing about this that you just got, you just plain to think about this and I thought about this before. But unlike the topic of AI that we talked about last week on the show, right, which was about product imagery, you know and maintaining that the digital space is endless, right. It’s boundless like you can have you, you can pretty much deploy AI to that and still probably have a ton of people working on it. The amount of products that go into a store is limited.
00:19:01
You only need so many of them And so the designers I think are at the precipice of. Being, you know, at the forefront of getting impacted by this because you only need so many shirts to go on a shelf and if you can have one person design all those shirts versus 2-3 or four people, that’s that’s what makes this case different to me.
00:19:20
Yeah, I well that we’ll have to continue this debate because I think that there’s some nuance to that too. Like I don’t know that AI and one designer are going to. I still think that in in apparel at least. I think there’s still a need for some of those creative ideas to be developed that require more than just one persons opinion, but we can debate. We’ll continue.
00:19:41
Let’s hold this.
00:19:41
All right, we’re going to be.
00:19:43
Learning a lot on this one?
00:19:44
Yes. All right, headline number three. Select Schnooks stores in Saint Louis in the Saint Louis metro area will be able to provide customers with real time updates on the arrival of fresh, seasonal local produce in their stores, according to Progressive Grocery. Schnooks has partnered with Food Shed dot IO, and under the program, customers will receive alerts via the Schnooks Rewards app when a fresh, locally grown produce item arrives. At their selected Chinook store, the notifications will also include details about the source of the harvest and whenever possible, the harvest time.
00:20:19
Chris, we just got back from Chinook’s. We didn’t even know about this one before we went into shoot that video, but what are your thoughts here on on our friends down in Saint Louis?
00:20:29
Oh man, I mean. Just graduate class. Those are the first words that come to mind. I mean Schnucks is running a graduate class on Omni channel grocery retailing. I mean you want, you want the road map of how to be a great Omni channel grocer.
00:20:41
America, Everyone listening, just look at what Schnucks is doing and adopt, adapt it and adopt it to your business.
00:20:47
I mean, and the other point I make to you and as a merchant, I love this idea local.
00:20:51
Produce because local produce, particularly in the summer, it’s a traffic driver, right? It gets people into your store, so and then through mobile. You have the ability to understand who is clicking on what and is interested in what produce that’s coming into the store win, So that means you should be able to react in season with much more flexibility to reduce your waste and spoilage when everything is said and done, which is. Is a big driver of a profit for how a grocer operates. So it’s just a great move all around and like I said, just absolute graduate class.
00:21:19
These guys are masters at how to do grocery differently, in my opinion, Yeah, the first thing I thought it was like if I could get a text notification that sumo orange season has begun right in January or February.
00:21:31
It would be the first one there.
00:21:32
You’re just there at the grocery store all the time looking for their little sumo guy that they have sitting on top of the sumo oranges. And finally it’s that season is here and I got a race and like I’m at the grocery store everyday for those. But if I had this on my app oh boy that would be amazing. And just I mean I think again gets back to what we saw was the case of Schnucks. Like it’s not this one technology but truly the sum of all the parts that make up the Schnucks app.
00:21:58
Both of them a customer’s perspective. And from the employee app as you say like being able to do all of the things from, you know pre-order meat in the deli through this app all the way down to like using your upside rewards dollars right in the app. Applying get back right back to your grocery purchase. Like I think having access to this real time information and especially for those who really are are looking into you know where their food is grown, how to support local agriculture around their store. I think this is really where we see the success that Schnucks has had and that the happiness of their customers feel as a result.
00:22:34
Plus I think down the line now that you have this real time inventory information like you said, your merchant hat, it like putting your merchant hat on, this is really, you know, this is a great feature. I think you can start to look at food waste down the line and how you’re able to do what companies like Flash Food are doing in a lot of stores. You know how you’re able to give that access to your consumers. Raspberries, they’re about to expire. Like, how do you make sure that you can get to the store?
00:22:59
You’re notifying consumers Like, hey, there’s a great deal on fresh produce for you when that might not have been an option are part of your consideration set under a strict budget. So I I love all of the possibilities of this.
00:23:09
Yeah. And it and it essentially puts Schnooks in the position to just do flash food on their own too, right.
00:23:14
Exactly, exactly. Yeah. Great, had on the show before.
00:23:18
But yeah, I mean, and had you told me when you started Omni talk back in 2017 that we’d be talking about schnooks as much as we are, I know I thought you were crazy. But I see that in the most utmost of admiration for what they’ve got going on, too, because there’s a reason these stories are permeating our headlines every week. All right. Right Headline 4. Facebook and Instagram have launched a paid ad free subscription in Europe, according to The Verge.
00:23:42
Never to be confused with the verb and Oh no, don’t forget, don’t ever confuse those.
00:23:47
Don’t ever confuse that no the service is available throughout the European Union. This new service is available only in the European Union and will be offered around £9.99 per month on the web, or £10.99 per month on iOS and Android to account. For additional fees on those platforms, I hope I got my PS right. Phil Thorne I’m sure you’ll correct me if I didn’t. That was not an easy one for me to do.
00:24:13
Sorry. Yeah, but I got through it. And by making users choose between paying for the service to remove ad targeting or using the service for free but consenting to its data collection practices. made-up Meta. Also known as, believes it will have more clearly and definitively met privacy requirements set by a collection of European data laws, including the digital market tax and GDPR.
00:24:34
So that gives you impetus for why meta has gone in this direction. And my question for you though is not so much what do you think of this new subscription offering, but more what do you think are the long term implications of this announcement on the retail?
00:24:50
Yeah, I mean, I think for me, I go right away to the huge, huge bucket of money that media buyers on the brand side have been putting into platforms like Facebook and Instagram for so long. And now with this enabled, not everybody’s going to go for the paid version. But the people paying for the paid version or the ad free version of Facebook and Instagram, those are people that those brands want to have access to. Like those are the people who have the budgets to spend on this type of thing. So I think that to me signals a big change and shift into where these media buyers are going to start to look to spend their money.
00:25:33
I mean likely platforms like TikTok, Snap, but I think it’s even an indicator potentially that some of that money could now go to some of these retail media networks who can maintain a one to one relationship with those high value customers. So I think you know we’ll see what happens. I I’m curious how much people are willing to pay for this if they are. But from a Facebook and Instagram perspective like yeah, go for it. I mean you’re, it makes you more GDP are compliant, you’re you’re testing to see if there’s a demand.
00:26:04
Yeah exactly. There’s no risk and and any any potential loss here could be for the you know for the the money that they’re making from those media buyers and from the brand buys could be made-up here in some subscription revenue. So I think it makes complete sense that they’re going in this direction or that they’re at least testing it in these markets. But what what the implications are where we see that that spend going from the brands I think will be will be interesting could fuel the the retail media networks in my opinion.
00:26:35
Yeah, that’s why I love doing the show. And because I love having this authentic dialogue with you where we’re talking and we’re conversing. And and because I’m listening to you in real time, like you’re bringing up new points in my head that I had never even thought about. And so the way that I think about what you just said. Is I think there’s going to be two big winners from this decision ultimately because like you said, like some amount of people will probably sign up for this, right.
00:26:58
So that means there’s going to be less advertising dollars that want to seek out these platforms in that way. And so then what are the implications of that? Well, one, and this is the point I hadn’t thought about until just now, the influencers are going to win on this because the influencers you are choosing to follow on Instagram. So you are still going to see the influencers that you choose to follow, I would imagine? Which is going to make them a much more powerful advertising pulpit for you as a brand.
00:27:23
Yeah, for sure.
00:27:24
Secondarily is, like you said, the retail media networks are going to come into play here and the wholesaler is going to win too. The wholesale relationships are going to win. So we’ve been talking about DTC, but this is going to make it harder for DTC to reach their customers. They’re going to have to think about wholesale more overtly. They’ve already started going in that direction because of all the other changes that have gone on in this space.
00:27:45
But now that’s going to become even more important. So those are my two big winners here. And I think we’re looking at the decade of the influencer and the wholesaler as we go forward here. That’s, that’s my prediction.
00:27:55
Yeah. The influencer, I hadn’t thought about either, but that made you. I think that’s a really strong point. And the wholesaler thing totally makes sense. I mean, we just heard this week about Glossier reporting their first year of earnings from their Sephora stores being $100 million in sales this last year alone.
00:28:12
So I think you’re 100% right. I think you know that there is a, a major shift coming for that wholesale relationship that the D2C brands now that they’re they could be losing this this relationship and this, this platform, yeah that’s going to be massive. Particularly when you layer in the retail media side like you just said, Anna. Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:32
Yep. All right. So we are going to headline 5. Chris. Tommy Bahama, your favorite store in the world once had restaurants.
00:28:41
Now they’re opening up a full-fledged resort. According to Storage, Tommy Bahama will open its first destination resort on November 1st. Today in Indian Wells, CA. The new Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort and Spa feel like I’m reading the the Like TV advertisement. Like Tommy Bahama, Miramonte Resort and Spa is designed to offer visitors A blend of island living and desert luxury that reflects its Palm Springs setting.
00:29:09
How do you live it living in Palm Springs too?
00:29:10
And like, I just don’t get that. No, I don’t know. OK, the 11 acre property is set amid an olive tree Grove, fragrant citrus and flower gardens. This is honestly, I’m just reading the TV advertisement when you walk into the resort. It has 215 guest rooms with five luxury villa suites, 3 saltwater pools, private cabanas, a 12,000 square foot spot and a retail store featuring exclusive products.
00:29:37
And there’s also an on site restaurant Chris that offers coastal inspired dishes and a 35,000 square put flexible indoor outdoor meeting and event space along with off site amenities such as world class golfing at the nearby Indian Wells golf resort. Holy cow, how much did Tommy Bahama pay us for this advertisement? Right now we’re all. We talking about should have Chris. I don’t know though it sounds pretty amazing.
00:30:04
Do you think this should be the the site of our first AMI Talk conference perhaps?
00:30:10
Oh man, that’s a great, that’s a great. Don’t tell me that is what I’d say to that. I mean, we we do get asked that all the time, all our fans out there, like when are we going to have a conference? When do you get in the conference game?
00:30:18
But you know, so this isn’t this appropriate venue, I think, of retail return.
00:30:24
If I was going to do it, I would think about doing it here. But if you know this hasn’t been to the cards for us yet, but if you think we should do it, let us know. And if you want, if you would actually think about attending, let us know too because we wanted to hear. But you know to me, back to retail side of things and bringing this home last headline. I think this squarely hits in Tommy Bahamas demo.
00:30:42
You know it does, it really does. But I you know, I think and I think we’ve talked about this on the show in the past few, but I think there are just very few brands where this idea can work. I mean, I’ve said before, I’d love to see lululemon play on this idea. I think they’ve got the demographic, the high willingness to pay. They could do luxury spas throughout the world.
00:31:00
Restoration Hardware has been doing it and now they’re going into hotels as well, but. You know, how many other people are there really? I mean, you know, after last week we were going to see the Netflix theme park.
00:31:09
I wouldn’t put it past them as well They are. They’re working on the Netflix theme park already, yes.
00:31:14
Really. I didn’t know that escaped my that escaped my detection. But but you know, I think that that I think it’s a great way of bringing your brand to life in unique ways. But I think it’s very limited in scope, but could also Tommy Bahama for taking the initiative and seeing where it goes.
00:31:28
I think the most important, I think the most important thing Chris of what you just said is that it depends on the brand. This is another one of those scenarios where sure Tommy Bahama and and to Tommy Bahamas credit like they’ve had restaurants in operation for a while now. So I think that they have some, some of those critical data points that they can go off of before they’re moving forward on a massive endeavor like an an entire resort. But you’re right, like West Elm, Mooji, like all of those brands have gotten into hospitality as well. They’re they’ve got their hotels going.
00:32:00
And I do think that, you know, as we see more of a generational shift into spending money on experiences like it doesn’t hurt to have a collaboration like this. Especially in like a HomeGoods category like Restoration Hardware or West Elm or Mooji where you do get to experience those brands. You know in in real life staying in a hotel that has these amenities that really like gets you to kind of embrace the, the truly embrace like living among all of these products. So I I like it. I think it’s, it’s the right thing for some brands.
00:32:31
But again, this is not a, you know, I don’t want to see every single brand under the sun getting into like a destination property. I don’t think this works all across the board.
00:32:43
Yeah, I don’t want the Best Buy electronics haven or whatever, you know? But yeah, yeah, but maybe I do. I don’t know.
00:32:49
Who knows? Who knows, right? We’ll see.
00:32:52
All right, let’s close this out. Let’s go the lightning round.
00:32:55
All right, Chris, question 1. John Legend is launching his first ever tech startup, a social app called It’s Good that aims to give users personalized food and travel recommendations, but only only on the places that they’d say it’s good about. There are no negative reviews, Chris, What’s the last place that you’ve been that you’d want to leave a review for on John’s It’s Good platform?
00:33:21
Oh great one. And I was just in Surfin Chicken in San Clemente, CA.
00:33:25
OK, hole. In the wall place they put like Mexican spices and chicken.
00:33:30
Surfin chicken. It was so good, So good.
00:33:32
Like Chipotle style. Like, how are you ordering your food?
00:33:36
No, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s kind of, it’s kind of like fast casual kind of how I’d say, but it’s like a small, like, hole in the wall, fast casual place. It’s kind of like, Oh my gosh, you know, order. It’s kind of like ordering Mexican but not like full table service. But it was, it was fabulous. I loved it.
00:33:51
All right, and have to check it out. This one’s great and famed illusionist who I never thought we’d be talking all about on this show. David Copperfield says that after 30 years of working it out, he is finally ready to unveil his newest trick. Making the moon disappear. Yes, you heard that right, folks.
00:34:08
What is one? Yeah, I know. I have no idea how he’s going to do this. I can’t wait to see it. What is one thing you wish you could make disappear with the snap of your fingers?
00:34:16
Can does he give like a public consensus on this? I feel like we should vote and be like, no, I actually kind of like the moon where it is. Can we just not make it disappear? David Copperfield.
00:34:25
You’re going to put it back, right, David?
00:34:27
Like, Oh my God. OK, well this is totally because of the the like content text and setting that I’m in right now. But I would make car dealerships and the whole thing disappear. I just want it over. I want it over somebody disrupt that business because it is there, it is the worst and it’s something that can be changed and they just want to make it awful.
00:34:51
So that’s what I would make disappear in the snap of my fingers right now.
00:34:55
First flying mine’s going to want to know and and and and and and Mr.
00:34:58
Rami Talker down to one car and they’ve been car sharing for the past week and I I think she’s about had her fill of it in my right now somebody who works in retail. This is the most flawed retail experience we have right now. I will move on to question 3, Chris. OK, Overstock is set to revive bed baths, Big Blue 25% off coupon. Chris, if you were going to apply it to 1 Overstock purchase right now, what would you put that forward toward?
00:35:25
Oh man, I don’t know if they have it, but I imagine they do.
00:35:27
I imagine they carry the Nespresso pods and that would be, oh, that’s a brilliant, that’s a brilliant idea.
00:35:33
I know you’re you’re a big Nespresso fan too. You know, I like I I like the vanilla flavored.
00:35:38
I just got the vanilla flavor. Oh yeah.
00:35:41
Very tasty and very tasty.
00:35:42
Yeah, especially with some milk. Throw some all milk in there and you’re a frother. It’ll change your life.
00:35:48
Yeah ’cause real milk might really change my life. And all right, it’s a sad day this week. With Matthew Perry passing on all your Army talk fans, I’m sure, I’m sure many of you loved him as Chandler Bing on Friends. So and my question to you in homage to homage to Matthew Perry is what is your all time favorite Chandler Bing memory from friends?
00:36:11
I mean, I think the the best scene that comes to mind is the scene, the couch, the pivot scene where.
00:36:17
No way. That’s mine too.
00:36:19
It is, yes. I mean it’s been I was like I was a loyal friends listener so the fact that I couldn’t remember like all the friends watcher not listener but that scene just sticks so clearly in my mind when he’s like.
00:36:33
Shut up, Shut up, shut up.
00:36:37
I feel for him. I’ve been in Chandler’s position in that place, and I definitely have had the same exact sentiment, so that would be my memory. But yeah, really sad news about Matthew Perry.
00:36:48
Yeah, I’ve seen. You want to say that mentally in your head? Just looking at me many times throughout two years, even.
00:36:53
Sorry, you’re in the same position, I have no doubt.
00:36:57
Right, right. That that’s probably true. All right, well, happy birthday today. Fun show today.
00:37:01
I really enjoyed the.
00:37:03
Show Happy birthday today to Jenny McCarthy Penn Badgley. And to the woman who brought me into this world and my mom, AKA Grandma Omnitalk, and I won’t share with you all, happy birthday to her. Yes, and remember, if you can only read or listen to 1 Retail Blog in the business, make it 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 Facets 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 that is exclusive to us.
00:37:37
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00:37:52
That’s youtube.com/omnitalk retail. So until next week, on behalf of Anne and all of us at Omnitalk Retail. As always, be careful out there.
00:38:02
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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. 