00:00:00
Happy New Year. You are listening to the Omni talk Retail Fast 5 brought to you in partnership with the A&M consumer and retail group Firework, Avalara, Wiliot, 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 more importantly a little happier each week too. Today is January 10th, 2023. I’m your host, Anne Mezzenga.
00:00:31
And I’m Chris Walton.
00:00:33
And we’re 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.
00:00:42
What a great opening to start the year. Oh my God, I know we’ll take.
00:00:48
We’ll take 1 podcast in all of retail. That’s very amazing.
00:00:52
And a new sponsor as well for those loyal listers that probably caught that as well talk about.
00:00:58
Yeah. So we have Wiliot, who I’m excited they’re going to be exhibiting at NRF when we head there this weekend. And they’re a really cool technology company, will tell you all about them. We have some great content coming up, but really helping retailers get a good picture of where their products are in the supply chain and then where they are throughout their life cycle, making improved operations possible at every turn.
00:01:25
Yes, yes, we’ve got good, good podcast coming up with them. We’re going to be talking about them every week as well. But yeah, and and then and you mentioned it, NRF, we got NRF, Can you?
00:01:34
Believe. How is it here already?
00:01:35
I have no.
00:01:36
Idea how is this possible?
00:01:37
Years on a Monday sucks. I’m just going to tell you that everyone, I’m guessing everyone’s feeling the same pain in the business world. It sucks. I hate it. It feels like everything’s compressed this year.
00:01:47
But hey, we’re heading out there and we got a good line up though.
00:01:50
We have an amazing line up. I am really excited. Yeah Chris, we are going to be having. Rumor has it that your man crush John Kerr will be stopping by again. Is that?
00:02:02
True. Yes, that’s the rumor. The rumor. That’s the rumor right now. I might have to dress up for the occasion.
00:02:07
Anne, you know, I got to put on my best.
00:02:10
Turtleneck is a turtleneck.
00:02:11
Coming. The turtleneck might have to come out again. I don’t know. We’ll see. We’ll see.
00:02:15
I am going to wear a suit every day of the show. Just so you know I think that’s that’s going to be my attire this year but but yeah but we’ve got execs from everyone stop and shop. Sam’s Club. Vitamin shop. Office Depot Northern Northern Northern Tool.
00:02:30
Yeah we’ve got we just they keep rolling in. So this is going to be by oh Amazon just walk out technology too like the VP of Amazon just walk out technology going to join. It’s going to be our best best show lineup ever and we’re not done and we still got three or four days to get even more interviews. So if you’re listening and and you want to join us, let us know and we’ll see if we can fit you in.
00:02:50
All right, Chris, should we move on to the headline?
00:02:53
I think what the before we do that and I think we got one big other big announcement for NRF that we got to cover.
00:02:59
Yes, that’s right. We cannot forget everyone that you’ve been hearing us talk about the retail orphan initiative, Super Saturday Analyst Day. It is now just a couple of days away. You still have time to extend that flight. Just bump it out.
00:03:13
Make sure that you get there for this Saturday, January 13th. For every retailer who attends, all you got to do is show up. 250 children will get clean water, education or life skills just from your attendance there. It’s 100% free for retailers to attend and last year they raised over $380,000 to help over 325,000 children in 28 different countries. Also tech suppliers, there’s still time for you to get in.
00:03:39
There are still sponsorships available. If you act now for as low as $2500, you can see the full agenda, including the keynote from run DMC from and Darrell McDaniels, get sponsorship information and most importantly, register right now at retailroi.org. That’s retailroi.org. All right, now we all.
00:04:00
Right. You want to do the headlines? All right, I’m excited. These are our first headlines of 2024 and today’s Fast 5 headlines and wait and wait for it are brought to you in partnership with the help and support of SHOT Talk. I don’t know about you and but I’m starting to get very excited for what is to us.
00:04:18
Honestly, it’s the marquee event of the retail calendar in my opinion and I know you agree and that’s right. If you are one of the thousands to have done so already or if you aren’t one of the thousands to have done so already, it’s high time that you booked your ticket to Shoptalk. It’s taking place March 17th to 20th in Las Vegas. We go to Shoptalk every year. In fact, you can join us there and catch us on stage and hang out with Us will be moderating several sessions and even recording a live podcast episode with the shop talk team at the end of the show.
00:04:49
They’re having us back and I can’t believe it. It’s amazing. You can come and hear U.S. chat about retail’s future with senior execs from Victoria’s Secret, Chico’s, Ness, New York, PepsiCo and Fossil Group. Now keep in mind, prices increase in less than two weeks and they’re going to stop taking VIP applications in early February.
00:05:08
Just Google Shop Talk to learn more and get your ticket. Retailers and brands can also use code Omnitalk. That’s OMNITALK might not know how to spell it to save an extra 10% off the current rates. Yes, use our discount code, please. All right, Anne.
00:05:27
And today’s Fast 5. We’ve got news on Peloton bringing its fitness classes to TikTok, Starbucks allowing customers to bring their own cups. Amazon deploying AI in a whole host of new ways on fashion. Walmart piloting mammography services. But we.
00:05:42
Pronunciation.
00:05:43
There. Thank you, Anne. And it’s very hard because I have new glasses. I don’t know if you noticed that, but it’s very hard to read this out of my new glasses. I’m fighting.
00:05:50
But but we begin today with news out of Instacart. Anne.
00:05:54
All right, headline 1, Chris. Bifocals Instacart is bringing ads to their smart cards. They might have a hard time reading also with those glasses, so just keep that in mind. But according to Fast Company, Instacart will start piloting ads on its caper carts at Good Foods Holdings Bristol Farm stores in Southern California, and launch partners include Del Monte Foods, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, and General Mills. “You can imagine an experience where you’re going through the aisles of the store.
00:06:24
You drop a box of cookies in your cart, we immediately suggest Dreyers Ice Cream to make ice cream sandwiches with your cookies. And even when we tell you which aisle you can find this product in, it’ll be even better.” Instacart CEO Fidji Simo told Fast Company. Just like that in that same intonation.
00:06:43
She probably did, actually.
00:06:44
It should also be noted that while that was a beautiful picture that Fidji painted, she also declined to provide how many of these caper carts are currently deployed, but said that the company expects to have thousands of smart carts in stores by the end of 2024. Chris, how are you feeling about the ads on the caper carts?
00:07:04
That last part is important. They’re always, they’re always important at thousands of stores or thousands of carts. The ambiguous number that those that everyone likes to throw out when they’re trying to pump up whatever press release they have. And I mean, quite honestly, I am incredibly conflicted on this announcement. Yeah, I’m going to try to relay why.
00:07:22
So in some ways I don’t even know where to start. So first, the partner thing, the partner thing is a nothing burger to me because that company is they appear to have sold their souls to Instacart. I mean, I’m just going to put it out. Yeah, like, I mean they’re just all in on principle on on Instacart. So no surprise that that’s who is making this in, who Instacart is making this announcement with.
00:07:42
If Schnucks were announcing this, that would be a different story to me because they’re the biggest retailer that’s signed on with them, in my opinion. So which brings me my next question and is why have we heard about this from Schnucks lately? I mean, it’s been three or four months. We haven’t really heard much about this in terms of its implementation, so I’m curious. And I’m sure our loyal listeners from Schnucks will give us a few text messages explaining exactly why we’re.
00:08:04
Going to have that. They’re already in our inbox, Chris.
00:08:07
But I think that’s a that’s a good question. I mean like why haven’t we seen the smart cart, you know out in public yet more regularly So and then my last point I I get to the ads, but I get why a retailer wants to do this. But do you need to test this out in the theory of this with a smart cart? Like aren’t there simpler ways to get there like that approximate the same thing like starting with just a TV screen on a cart and seeing if it actually drives purchases? Like why invest in all the new smart cart hardware?
00:08:38
And then you also have the customer acclamation problem to the new cart to depending on how tricked out you want this experience to be So so that’s why that’s what I don’t like about it. But by the same token, token, excuse me, not token, it’s not, it’s not the Lord of the Rings. And but by the same token, like knowing what’s in my basket and sending a video enticement that correlates to that is pretty cool. So I kind of get a little inspired by hearing what she had to say. But I’m just so concerned that there’s so much involved operationally that, you know, that goes into it into order to make the ice cream example happen.
00:09:15
Like, it sounds good, but I think there’s so much when you get down to the real operation of a store for this to come to life as we’re trying, as we’re initially getting inspired by. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it, but I I wouldn’t be running towards this yet if I was, if I was a grocer.
00:09:29
So are you. So let me just understand that I.
00:09:32
Yeah, I have no idea how I feel about.
00:09:34
This you’re more anti smart cart than you are so like but here’s my position I guess if you’re hard.
00:09:41
Though, yeah, go ahead.
00:09:42
You’re going to go in on the smart cart, then? I think this is brilliant. I mean it’s in many cases.
00:09:47
Like, yeah.
00:09:48
Going to make sure that you’re covering that ROI right away because those things are expensive and it’s.
00:09:54
The value of the smart card.
00:09:55
Exactly, exactly. So I think I think that especially with the Snooks example, I’m going to defend Dave Steck and that team for a little bit because I think that you haven’t, they really haven’t given it enough time yet. Fair point. You need customer adoption. You need to change the infrastructure of the store.
00:10:10
Like there’s so much that goes into this. But I’m going to push back on you a little bit about the the fact that this is not already happening. I mean we talked to, remember we talked to 1010 Datas Jonah a long time ago and we were talking about Jonah Eland. Yeah, we’re talking about like how right now retailers are looking at point of sale data to find this information. If they see that you bought, you know dryers ice cream and then you also bought cookies, they have that information.
00:10:38
I think it’s just now putting it in the point of purchase that really could be beneficial. I mean, you’re definitely going to see increased basket size with this. And I think that the data is also richer because it goes back to, again, what we were talking about in on an upcoming podcast with Eagle Eye CEO Tim Mason about how now you have that picture in the aisle of what people are picking up, putting in their cart, taking out, or even other members of the family. Like think about kids dropping stuff in the cart, taking stuff out. Like you have this information now if you made the investment in the smart card already, which I think that’s a separate thing we have to consider.
00:11:14
But if you’ve made the smart card investment, I think this is a good move. And I would much prefer this in a store over a kiosk or in store billboard because again, I think that’s just random personalization. You’re just going based on an opinion of what you think your consumers are going to be doing based on point of sale data, not like what I’ve actually physically put in my cart.
00:11:35
Totally agree. Which makes me makes me think this is going to be a hotbed of of interest by the tech community and the retail community because we’re totally, we totally don’t even know how to think about this one yet you know and but my thing is too is like couldn’t you just Geo locate Geo locate the cart or the consumers mobile phone and serve up ads that way and try to just put a screen on it without having to create a whole new cart as well. So there’s there’s just so many dynamics to think through here. It’s cool to see, but I don’t know, Ed. Yeah, it’s great point.
00:12:03
So I mean, I I just don’t know where it’s going to go. But all right, initial time, let’s keep rolling. Headline 2 peloton is bringing. I can’t wait to hear what your thoughts are on this because this was your your headline request this week. You’re like, I want to do this one.
00:12:17
Peloton is bringing fitness classes to TikTok. In a bigger push to woo Gen. Z, According to Marketing Dive, Peloton will develop custom content for TikTok as part of a new agreement with the popular social media app. Videos will appear in a #TikTokFitness powered by Peloton Co branded hub and feature a selection of live and pre recorded class clips, original structure, instructor series and collaborations with creators and celebrities. The portal will be grounded in themes from Peloton’s recently introduced “Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere.”
00:12:52
That’s a that’s that’s an interesting time right now that I read that out loud brand positioning around accessibility and like I said before you wanted this headline this week. Why? And do you like this move?
00:13:03
I love it. I think this is really smart we’re.
00:13:06
Going to fight.
00:13:06
Because I know we’re going to fight a lot in this we.
00:13:08
Didn’t fight the first part first. I know we were kind of like, OK, but yeah, we’re going to fight on this one.
00:13:13
Peloton, they need to get younger generations in. Like if you ask, you know, my, my 13 year old right now is like, that’s so Karen, like that’s what he called the really is Karen. Yes. Also because of my haircut, I’m sure he’s been calling me Karen for a long time. But anyway, but like they they need to capture this younger generation and this younger generation is not stopping in a mall.
00:13:37
They’re not getting on the app. They’re on TikTok and I think this is where you can find them. You can start teasing them. Not with the class clips like I’m not, I’m not like at all concerned about the class clips. It’s about the instructors.
00:13:51
It’s about finding people because that’s what this all comes down to is you’re going to get a relationship developed with these instructors. They’re already creating content individually on their own platform. So I think now that you have, but I’m going hard on TikTok with a peloton like hub that people can go to. I think this is how they’re going to capture that audience with instructor first and then you start to take them in into the clips. They can see what kind of workouts they can do.
00:14:18
They can do the teases on TikTok. And then I think you start to get further into how they can buy product on TikTok, how they’re able to access other other sources of revenue for Peloton. So I’m actually surprised that this didn’t happen sooner. And I think that, you know, it’s just going to continue to build that relationship, which is what this is going to be all about. It’s about content first for them, and then the actual hardware devices, other things second.
00:14:45
Wow. All right. Well, I’ll give you the last word on this, which is how we run the show for those that are listening. Like we always whoever goes first always gets the last word. But all right, here are my take.
00:14:53
I I could not disagree more. I absolutely hate this move. I think it, I think it cheapens the brand. For example, like one question I have is the content free? Do you have to pay for it?
00:15:05
That was that was absent from the press releases. I have no idea. It’s just clips, right?
00:15:09
From the Yeah, it’s pulled content clips from existing programs.
00:15:14
Right, so and so and so either way, whether it is or not, I think is it, it’s an interesting question. But whether it is or not is actually kind of a moot point, like it’s still a race to the bottom. So for example, if you don’t have the bike and you mentioned this, the content is key, the content is what will win and there are and there are no barriers to entry on content as TikTok has shown the world when it comes to that sort of thing. So, so my question for you is what right does Peloton have to win in the content space in the long run if the equipment isn’t part of it? Because otherwise it’s just another play in the already crowded gym space and the gym content space which there’s so much of and which as I learned in Business School, the gyms.
00:15:58
And you know this first hand the gyms are one of the worst businesses you can possibly be in because the fads change and the barriers to entries are entries entry are so low. So essentially you have you have Peloton putting content on a TikTok. You have every other Tom, Dick and Harry putting content out on TikTok. It’s just it’s what’s the end game here? So there’s nothing so net, net, I don’t see any defensive modes being built from this move for Peloton.
00:16:26
It’s just going to encourage more people to crowd into the space and so it long term it does nothing strategically in my opinion, but you have the last word.
00:16:33
I don’t know. I think that I think you’re looking at it in the wrong way. And I do think that there’s a lot of value to what they put out as somebody that was on the app before owning a bike and you know, now having a bike and seeing the the way that they’ve kind of transferred through, you know, being that anytime, anywhere, any place app. I think there’s also the value of the community and the entertainment value of it. Like I think you have to think of of Peloton almost as an entertainment company and a content creation company first, which Nike, I just went to the Nike Training Club in Newport Beach.
00:17:09
Like Nike doesn’t have that. They have the name Nike, but they don’t have the the trainers that you’re following and you they don’t have the engagement that you’re getting from these personalities who are and.
00:17:19
Who would I rather be, Nike or Peloton right now? That’d be my, that’d be my perspective on that. Like the product. The product wins, right? Like that’s the thing.
00:17:27
Like you have to have a reason to keep coming back.
00:17:29
But that’s like the the.
00:17:30
Internet celebrities. A dime a dozen in my opinion. But anyway, we, I mean, yeah, we can keep going on this one. Well, I imagine we’ll have some conversations on the plane at RF on this to sort this out, but we.
00:17:41
Absolutely. Will listeners submit your feedback and tell us what what your thoughts are on this. But I think I think Peloton has to do this no matter what. They have to do something. And this is, this feels like the best strategic move that they could be making right now.
00:17:54
So on to headline 3. Now, Chris, you can bring your own cup for Starbucks, drive through and mobile orders. According to Channel 4 New York, Starbucks announced the beginning Wednesday, January 3rd. All customers at all company operated and participating licensed stores in the US and Canada can use their own clean personal cup when ordering in the cafe, in the drive through or when ordering ahead Starbucks app. So how does this work, you might be wondering?
00:18:23
Well, I tried this out this morning. You did? I did, yes. Customers at any participating stores they can bring you, bring in your personal clean cup, whatever you’re you have, whether it’s a Yeti, if you like drinking out of metal drinking devices.
00:18:39
Whatever. Solo Cup.
00:18:42
You do you you bring that in and you’ll receive at the Starbucks member 25 bonus stars and $0.10 off your coffee purchase. Dirty cups, however, are not accepted. So don’t bring your dirty skeezy cups into the Starbucks. They’re not going to fill it all. Starbucks standard size options Short, Tall, Grande, Venti, trenta and beverage formats hot, iced and blended are available to be ordered in a personal cup.
00:19:07
Baristas prepare the drink with a new custom beverage, Craft smallware, which is a fancy word for just saying another plastic container with a cover, and then they will add the toppings. In the drive through, customers can order their beverage as usual and just let the barista know that they brought their own cup. At the pickup window. Breezes will collect the customer’s personal cup without the lid, using a contactless vessel to ensure hygiene and safety, and the beverage will be returned the same way. Chris.
00:19:37
Yes, I You didn’t do the drive up, huh? Because I want to see what the contactless vessel is too. And that that’s my next.
00:19:43
It looks like just a cup holder that they reach out from the from the images but no I I went in and did the mobile order did.
00:19:49
You get a latte or you did. So they they they take a latte, and they poured the latte into your cup.
00:19:56
Yeah, I mean it’s.
00:19:57
That was my question is like how do you get the foam to fit right and all that kind of stuff and.
00:20:01
It’s the it’s actually I was surprised at the quality. I will say that like it’s essentially one of the shaker bottles that they use for the ice drinks and then they just it’s it’s just sitting there with all the other mobile orders. But it’s this in this plastic shaker bottle with the sticker on it that has my name and says my mobile.
00:20:19
Orders come up to it and you.
00:20:20
Say come up, I tell them, hey, I have this, I brought my own cup. I have this order and then they just just open. I give them. You cannot have the container cover on or anything. They may not touch the cup.
00:20:32
It just gets.
00:20:33
Dumped in touch the cup. Fast not.
00:20:35
Touch the cup and then it they you take it, you put your cover on it and you’re good to go. Quality is good. I asked the baristas, I was like, so hot. Hey guys, how’s this going? And the response was it’s a learning experience for all of us.
00:20:50
Yeah, but it sounds like they’re nailing it though. I mean, it sounds like you had a pretty good experience, which is pretty amazing because then they just rolled this out nationwide like a.
00:20:57
Week ago, yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely. But.
00:21:00
I doubt that many people know about it either too, like.
00:21:03
Really. Like that’s what they said.
00:21:04
Average customer doesn’t know about.
00:21:06
It. They’ve probably done three of them. They said in the last week, so.
00:21:09
Wow. Which is how mobile pickup started too. But all right, let’s let’s so so what’s your question? So let’s.
00:21:14
Kick this off. So do so hearing that, hearing the experiences.
00:21:18
Like, great, by the way. Nice job.
00:21:20
What do you think of contactless pickup Like what are your thoughts here?
00:21:25
Yeah. So I I love this. You know, I, I, I, I think you can probably tell from the way we were talking about it. I love it. You know, I talked about defensive modes in the last headline and I think this is a great example of that.
00:21:38
This creates A defensive mode because it’s so hard to do operationally. You just listen to the thought process that you outline in describing how this works and all that went into designing it and the conversation we just had about it. It’s amazing because the beauty of hard things, as, as was written once, I don’t remember who wrote the book. The beauty of hard things is that they’re hard to do. Yeah, and that’s what you have here.
00:22:00
And and Starbucks, we’ve seen this first hand because we’ve been at their headquarters for when we’re back at Target and we’ve seen how they trial these things. They start in their central HQ operation, their central HQ cafes, then they roll it out to pilot stores and so they know this is, they know how to make this work already and so they’re going national with it and so, so they’re miles ahead of other people like this like especially when you start talking about the QSRS, they’re not going to, they’re going to be years from figuring out how to make this work and they’re probably going to delay it too, just like they did with mobile ordering, just you know, like we mentioned before. So. So I’m going to try, I can’t wait to try it out, but I think it’s a great move long term from the strategy perspective. Hits everything on the brand.
00:22:40
All the big trends on sustainability too. Just super smart.
00:22:43
Yeah, I I totally agree. I don’t have much more to add. I think one, if anyone can make this work at Starbucks, look at what they did with mobile ordering that, you know they started that like they are so regimented about making this an experience that works for all of them. I think there’s still going to be some hurdles to get over clearly the same way that mobile ordering there was. You still have to get the baristas attention which can be difficult in those situations and they you know like it still takes them out of their kind of like flow state.
00:23:14
So I think that’ll but that I think that’ll get figured out with time. But I really think we have to give an extra kudos to Starbucks here for scrapping the reusable cup idea too that they were going forward and really just saying listen, we’re going all in on this, you bring your vessels, we’re not going to be doing this week, that was not a good idea. And I really feel like the greatest thing about this is that sustainability is going to be possible. Sustainability goals from Starbucks are going to be possible because they are going to, with this change the way that we consume coffee, the same way that they changed us with mobile ordering and the same way that they changed how we consume coffee from a Starbucks location 25 plus years ago when they started. So I really think that this is something that end of the year, I mean we’re already putting our end of the year who is the most sustainable retailer.
00:24:03
I think Starbucks deserves giant kudos big.
00:24:06
Front running lead right now on that one, Yeah, most sustainable, sustainable effort, right for 2024, a 100%. The only question I have, you know is like you because you mentioned is what what’s the employee reaction going to be to this? You know, employ Starbucks has had more union troubles than anyone else. Good point. Are they going to react to this, you know, being rolled out nationwide and them having to adapt to it so that because that could be the linchpin for whether it works or doesn’t over the long run.
00:24:29
But yeah, 100°. All right, headline 4, this is going to be a fun one too. And Amazon is enhancing fashion shopping on its website with AI, according to Chain Store Age. In a corporate blog post, Apoorv Chaudhri, Director of Computer Vision and Machine learning at Amazon Fashion, highlighted a few recent AI enabled features the e-tail giant has rolled out to assist fashion shoppers and sellers and they are as follows. Listen closely and very closely 1 All right good AI driven size recommendations personalized to each customer, which is essentially an algorithm that considers the sizing relationships between brands and their size systems, the products reviews and other details, and a customer’s fit preferences.
00:25:16
The feature then recommends in real time the best fitting size for a customer. 2 fit review highlights offer relevant customer feedback, which is a feature that tells a customer whether to size up or size down in a particular style based on reviews from customers who have purchased the item in the same size. 3 Applying AI based fit data to size charts, whereby leveraging learning language models, Amazon will automatically extract and clean product size chart data from multiple sources. And last but not least 4, an AI backed fashion fit insights tool that uses an again an LLM model to extract and aggregate customer feedback on fit style and fabric. It contextualizes returns and size chart analysis with customer reviews using ML to help identify defects in size charts.
00:26:08
I need a cigarette, and that’s a.
00:26:10
Long one, good job.
00:26:11
Lucky for you this is also the put you on the spot question of the week, which White House is a really good next level question so I can’t wait to hear what you think on this one. Here it is. Wow, better fit first time is a consumer friendly and business friendly goal. Could the efficiency of the Amazon platform itself dilute the impact because it’s so easy to purchase multiple sizes with free returns today?
00:26:38
That’s a great question for.
00:26:39
Me, it is really good question. It is yours.
00:26:42
Yeah, I mean, I think that now I’m going to caveat my response with I have not tried this. I’m a big fan of FIT technology, and I think what Amazon’s doing is actually deploying more data than some of the things we’ve seen from Walmart and Z Kit and some of the other things that are just like different. Yeah, different size models that you can see trying on a product. However, I’m going to use the old adage of garbage in and garbage out You have it doesn’t matter if Amazon’s running every AI model on the planet. You have so many sellers and so many different types of products being produced in so many places and so cheaply that I just don’t know that it’s going to be possible to adequately outfit me.
00:27:29
And you still don’t even know me as a consumer. Like, I’m ordering things for my household for like 15 different people. So how do you know if that sweatshirt is for me, for my son? If it didn’t fit my son? How do you know that it wouldn’t fit me?
00:27:42
Like, there’s just so many things that go into this that I just feel like the data is not there yet. And so did A and Ms. point. Like, I’m still going to order 2 sizes if I need it for this weekend’s ski race. Like, I’m going to make sure that I have one of them and then I’ll return the one later.
00:27:57
I did it last weekend with a $10 pair of gloves. Like, get why Amazon’s doing this. It makes sense for the business and could be great for the consumer. But again, there’s no scan of the body that you’re using and Amazon has that technology with their custom T-shirt fit products. So like there’s there’s serious components missing to this launch for me that could make this more successful.
00:28:18
But again I think you’re looking, you’re looking at like I had to pull this up Chris, because it made me laugh so hard. So there was a fit for like a hat that I was ordering for my son and they literally just had circles on the cut. The size guide that Amazon going to be using their AI tools to scan is just circles on my laptop. Like, do you think your kids head is like this size or a bigger size? And it’s just like, how are you supposed to make anything of that so?
00:28:47
So there’s a lot of room to go here with this. There’s.
00:28:49
A lot of room to go. I think the best opportunity for this is probably with Amazon Essentials apparel with something that they have control over and then could deploy their scan Yeah, but that’s that’s my perspective are you are you’re not a big fan of FIT technology. Yeah, I mean, So what do?
00:29:07
You think I agree with some of the points you made and I, but I disagree with the larger point that you made. I think there’s there’s two issues here right? And I think A and Ms. question gets, it gets it gets at the first one really well which is what is consumer behavior and is consumer behavior just to the point where no matter what type of technology you try to deploy to this, they’re just going to be like hey send me the returns and I’m going to send them back until you start penalizing me and making me pay to ship my returns back which as I say that out loud. I actually think that might be the way this goes.
00:29:38
If curbing returns is the fundamental driver of why this is being done. Because the point I because the point I disagree with you on is I am starting to jump hard off the fit tech, Fit tech bandwagon. Fit tech is one of the hardest phrases to say fit tech bandwagon. And the reason for that is, as we’ve had people talk about on our show and you just talked about it too. In a lot of ways Fit is subjective.
00:30:06
You know you have two people that could be the exact same size and they can think something fits entirely differently by a whole host of reasons. So I think it’s hard to make subjective process objective. I think it’s in a lot of ways it’s almost a fool’s errand. So, so there there are aspects that I like about what they’re rolling out here like the cleaning up and finding defects in size charts like I think yeah that could help. It might on the margins improve things.
00:30:32
But my big take away for this, if I’m a retail executive sitting in the chair especially you know if I’m ACEO or CFO and I’m evaluating all the the technology investments my company wants to make, I would not still not be putting any money towards this. For those reasons, I don’t think it’s going to show the immediate payback. We’re still going to show the money, show me the money environment. There’s other places I would go first than deploying capital here other than like in a small scale, let’s test and learn type of way. But in major deployments towards this end, even with AI like you said, for all the reasons you said that are potentially problematic, I wouldn’t be doing it.
00:31:09
I wouldn’t be doing it. I’d be looking for other areas to deploy it first.
00:31:13
I think it depends on, I think it I think the last word is just like it depends on the category. Like I think in things like bras and like undergarments and things like that fit is not as subjective as you’re saying it is there. I think in like apparel or Matt, you know mass retail stuff like yes, that probably doesn’t make it much sense. But in like fitting a ski boot, fitting a bra, fitting a pair of jeans, like all of those things. I think it does help if you’re ordering online to be able to have that that’s like avatar of your body to at least go off of And then to start to, I mean the technology can also put that product on your avatar so that you can see how it’s fitting.
00:31:54
So I think there’s possibilities, but I agree with you it’s it’s probably not an investment that makes sense for something as as broad as like a mass retailer I am.
00:32:03
Blown away that you don’t think gene fit is subjective, that that is crazy to me. Or ski boot fit is subjective. But anyway, we like again, we got a lot of mileage to go on our flight to NRF now.
00:32:14
Like AI mean, I guess a bra is like a great like it either.
00:32:17
Fits or I can’t comment on bras. I have no idea. I have no idea. But jeans, like jeans, can fit very. People’s opinions on how a Jean can fit can vary quite greatly.
00:32:27
And a ski boot too.
00:32:29
Well, if you’re wearing the correct ski boot, it should not, should not be a discussion about how it’s fitting. It needs to be safe if you’re going to safely ski, Chris. But we don’t have time to get into that. I’m moving on to headline number. All right.
00:32:41
Walmart is piloting a new mammography service. They’ve introduced a pilot program called Mammogram, now a pioneering mammogram mammography screening service. Nice, That’s.
00:32:54
The hardest part of this?
00:32:56
Delaware You thought fit tech was bad. How about mammography 15 times. Developed in partnership with Radnet Inc, this innovative solution employs cutting edge deep health technology driven by artificial intelligence from deep health and aims to improve breast health awareness and accessibility by enhancing screening performance and promoting earlier detection. Chris I feel like we these headlines are like fight, agree, Nice. Soft, like this is fluffy and good and good for the environment.
00:33:26
And now we have another one. But what?
00:33:28
Do you have the Starbucks headline? Right. Yeah, we’re like wanting them completely and slobbering all over them. But yeah, we got in fights about fit tech in the first headline today too. I have no idea, absolutely no idea where your head is going to come down on this.
00:33:41
Normally for those listening, when we make the sausage, we talk a little bit about this. But given schedules this week we had to do it over tax and we didn’t really get a chance to connect on them. So I have no idea where your head is, but for me, I kind of love this. I mean simply, I think it you do OK, I think it checks all the boxes. It’s something communities need.
00:34:01
It answers why come to a physical store to begin with. Walmart is quite honestly probably the most accessible physical thing in all of America, borrowing maybe a Dollar General store or, you know, a Dollar store in general too. So I think it’s a great extension of the brand in a long list of what is becoming many great extensions of the brand. So I’m like, I’m I’m getting tired of commending Walmart on this podcast.
00:34:28
Are you though?
00:34:29
No, I I kind of am because I like to and I could slag them off a lot. But you know, but I, and here’s the last one I would make, I like to move so much that I honestly think it would have been something that I would have seen from a different retailer. First interesting the fact that Walmart.
00:34:45
You have one in mind.
00:34:46
Of course I do. Like this feels like right in line with what Target should be doing. And, you know, and we’ve hit Target, like where are these extensions from them? You know, like they’re totally absent. And we’ve hit that a lot in the show.
00:34:57
So I don’t want to cover it. But like Walmart’s out in front again and it’s just, I think it’s so. I think what they’re doing here is so admirable too.
00:35:04
Yeah, I mean, I I agree. I anytime you’re giving the public better access to healthcare services and preventative healthcare services, like you’re not going to get any argument from me. And honestly, Chris, what I was thinking about this, the reason that I didn’t have this in my original top five was because there’s so many things that Walmart announced this week that made me think about how different our Walmart stores are going to start looking in not too much time. And I cannot wait to ask John Ferner about this at NRF because we also saw this week Walmart scaling back on D CS in Canada to move towards more fulfillment at stores all the way down to like some Walmarts in the US were opening poke bars. Like I think Healthcare is just the most important of all those things like being able to offer healthcare when Walmart is the Town Center for most of the country makes so much sense.
00:35:58
Plus I think you also had announcements this week from Walgreens CEO talking about how they’re getting further into healthcare. And if you have, you know, 16,000 locations at a Walgreens offering healthcare, then the biggest retailer in the US, the biggest physical retailer in the US should probably have a similar offering or competitive offering in that space too.
00:36:17
Yeah, that’s a great point. Like, yeah, why isn’t Walgreens doing this? Like why wasn’t Walgreens the first person to pilot this and trial this out? Or maybe they have or we just don’t know about it. But yes, exactly right.
00:36:27
I mean that move is happening and they telegraphed that completely with the hire of the Walgreens CEO too. Like that’s his background. Like they’re like retail. Forget that we’re going full born in the healthcare by reporting that announcement, at least how I read it. So all right, man, what a great show.
00:36:41
Oh man, what a great show to.
00:36:43
Just wait for NRF, Chris. NRF is going to be even more crazy. We’re going to just be like ripping it where you got so much to talk about. It’s going to be great. But we should get to the lightning round, don’t you think?
00:36:54
Yeah, I think so. Let’s close this up.
00:36:56
All right, let’s get to the Lightning round. Question 1, Chris. Kraft Heinz is partnering with Taco Bell on a pair of meal kits that allow consumers to make fast food chain the fast food chain Crunch Wrap Supreme and Chipotle Chicken Quesadilla at home what Taco Bell delicacy should be their next meal kit.
00:37:17
Man, I can’t stop the Yokiro Taco Bell. Remember that with the little Chihuahua? Do they saw the chalupa? Oh yeah, they.
00:37:25
Don’t have all the chalupa offerings that they once had, but yes.
00:37:29
I think, I think you got to go with the chalupa then. Oh yeah, the chalupa. That was a staple in high school. Go get 5 chalupas for $0.59. I think it was back in the day.
00:37:38
I think that’s a great idea. That seems like a good like family or like something you could make at home, right? I guess maybe you have to fry the bread anyway, I like I I second the chalupa meal kit. I’m on board.
00:37:49
All right, and staying in the food realm, Costco is rumoured to be discontinuing. It’s dollar 49 Churro. All the items at Costco. Is this the one you would want to see go?
00:38:00
I don’t really care what they get rid of. Like, they just need to keep the pizza on there. Bring back the Supreme pizza at Costco, but keep the pizza and the strawberry sundae. You can get rid of everything else. I don’t care really.
00:38:13
Go ahead, cheers.
00:38:14
I see. I love cheers. I.
00:38:15
Love you do. Are you getting the?
00:38:17
Oh, I had three at Universal Studios last week. Dude, it was so good. Oh my God, I forget the Costco. I don’t go to Costco because, you know, I Costco didn’t use the 7th circle of hell. But no offense, Costco.
00:38:28
But like, I I love what you do. Great business people love you, but for me it’s just like I I just can’t handle it. It’s like it’s not on my way to shop. But but yeah, but if I now that they have the chur, if they keep the churro, actually I would stop in more often or ask the missus to pick me up one on the way home.
00:38:45
Oh man. All right, question 3. Musician Will I am announced Sound Drive Chris, which will perfectly match the cadence and energy of every drive and will appear in Mercedes-Benz EQ electric models starting this summer. What song? I’m less concerned about the energy of the drive.
00:39:05
I want to know what song you think is going to play in, like bumper to bumper traffic on the Interstate.
00:39:10
Oh man, that’s a really tough question. There’s a couple songs coming to mind. I think Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol could work that, that, that, that that always that always gets me excited, relaxed, and some Collective Soul, too. What’s the What’s the song? The when he’s on high and he’s looking down at himself.
00:39:30
I don’t remember what that’s called, but that’s I.
00:39:31
Don’t know, but that’s some like introspective, like chill, very like songs for you to be listening to in a delicate time and bumper to bumper traffic.
00:39:41
I’m kind of an introspective guy, you know, That’s just kind of my MO. And all right, last one. A new article in the Wall Street Journal posits that there is an ideal dinner time roughly 4 hours before you go to bed. How does this timetable stack up against you and your family’s average dinner and bedtime, man?
00:40:01
I wonder if that reporter has a family and children that have activities. That’s going to be my first question.
00:40:06
Well, it’s a pretty science based article actually, if you read it. So yeah, it was.
00:40:10
Based on the.
00:40:11
Science of the Body. Chemistry and Mechanics But.
00:40:13
Anyway, but no, it just makes me feel terrible, actually. My husband, our son eating 4 hour old McDonald’s in his bed the other night and I have never felt so much shame as that moment when he was like what?
00:40:27
Was he eating Mcnuggets or like a?
00:40:29
Burger. Yeah, like a Happy Meal that he like. We put in the fridge ’cause he didn’t finish it and he like took it out and was just sitting in his bed eating McDonald’s at like 7.
00:40:39
30 This is your This is your 5 year old or six year?
00:40:42
Old Oh yeah, yeah. So gross. And I’m very embarrassed.
00:40:46
All right, well, that closes us up. Happy Birthday today to Jermaine Clement.
00:40:51
No idea. Is that it?
00:40:52
Yeah, I know. Yeah, he’s Australian. He’s a, he’s a good voice over actor actually now, but he was on the show for a while too. What was it? I can’t remember what it was called.
00:40:59
Oh, the the one about the bird, the.
00:41:01
Conquered. Yeah. Fight the conquered. Yeah, You know him.
00:41:05
Yes, I love that guy. Yeah, OK.
00:41:07
She she all right. Evan Handler and last but not least, the woman that made me want to be the Flamingo kid when I was young. The great Janet Jones. And remember, if you can only read or listen to 1 Retail Blog in the business, make it Omni Talk, 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 or twice weekly newsletter. Tells you the top five things you need to know each day and also feature special content that is exclusive to us.
00:41:38
And we do it all just for you. And we try really hard to make it all fit within the preview pane of your inbox. Thanks as always for listening in. Please remember to like and leave us a review wherever you happen to listen to your podcast or on YouTube. You can follow us today by simply going to youtube.com/omnitalk Retail.
00:41:54
So until next week and on behalf of all of us at Omni Talk Retail. As always, be careful out there.
00:42:00
The Omni talk Fast Five is brought to you in association with the A&M consumer and Retail Group the a m consumer and Retail Group is a management consulting firm that tackles the most complex challenges and advances its clients people and communities toward their maximum potential CRG brings the experience tools and operator like pragmatism to help retailers and consumer products companies be on the right side of disruption and Firework is the largest video Commerce solution built for the world’s leading Brands they Empower brands with the stoppable and live stream video on their own websites where people like to shop put your Commerce in motion with firework find out more at firework.com and Avalara. Avalara makes tax compliance faster, easier, more accurate, and more reliable for 30,000+ business and government customers in over 90 countries. Avalara leverages 1,200+ signed partner integrations to power tax calculations, document management, tax return filing, and tax content access. Visit avalara.com to improve your compliance journey and Wiliot, Wiliot’s Ambient IoT Visibility platform, powered by battery-free Bluetooth tags, eliminates scanning, for real-time, end to end inventory visibility. For more information head to https://www.wiliot.com/omnitalk and TGW Revolutionize your grocery supply chain with TGW! Their experts tailor automation solutions to YOUR needs, ensuring you have the edge. Work with TGW before your competition does! Discover more at tgw-group.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
Omni Talk® is the retail blog for retailers, written by retailers. Chris Walton founded Omni Talk® in 2017 and have quickly turned it into one of the fastest growing blogs in retail.