00:00:11 Anne
This episode of the Omni Talk Retail Fast Five is brought to you by 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 towards 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 Mirakl, the catalyst of Commerce. Over 450 retailers are opening new revenue streams with marketplaces, dropship and retail media and succeeding. With Miracle, you can unlock more products, more partners and more profits without the heavy lifting. What’s holding you back? Visit Miracle.com to learn more. That’s Mirakl.com and Core. Your stores are full of data, but are your teams acting on it? Corso turns retail data into personalised daily to dos that drive sales, reduce waste and improve execution. No fluff, just action. Help your managers focus on what matters most. Visit corso.com to see Intelligent management in motion and Infios. At Infios, they unite warehousing, transportation and order management into a seamless, adaptable network. Infios helps you stay ahead from promise to delivery and every step in between.
To learn more, visit infios.com and finally, Ocampo Capital. Ocampo Capital is a venture capital firm founded by retail executives with the aim of helping early stage consumer businesses succeed through investment and operational support. Learn more at Ocampo capital.com hello, you are listening to Omni Talk’s Retail Fast Five ranked in the top 10% of all podcasts globally and currently the only retail podcast ranked in the top 100 of all business podcasts on Apple Podcasts. The Retail Fast Five is podcast that we hope makes you feel a little smarter, but most importantly a little happier each week too. And the Fast Five is just one of the many great podcasts you can find from the Omni Talk Retail Podcast Network alongside our Retail Daily minutes which brings you a curated selection of the most important retail headlines every morning and our Retail Technology Spotlight series which goes deep each week on the latest retail technology Trends. Today is September 10, 2025. I’m one of your hosts Anne Mezzenga.
00:02:29 Chris
And I’m Chris Walton.
00:02:31 Anne
And we are here once again to discuss all the top headlines from the past week making waves in the world of omnichannel retailing. But before we get to the headlines, Chris, we are going on a jet plane to Paris on Saturday for our very first NRF Europe. Are you getting excited?
00:02:47 Chris
Oui, oui monsieur Miss. Madame. I mean, madame. Oui, oui.
00:02:51 Anne
Not a monsieur.
00:02:53 Chris
Not a. Not a bus tour. No, no, definitely not a must do her either. But yes, Madame. I’m getting very excited. Very excited. I love, I love Paris. It’s like my second time there this year and I’m excited to go back. I’ve got a pastry shop all scoped out and I’m going to hit up on Sunday before the show gets started. And I couldn’t be more thrilled. Like, it’s the best.
00:03:13 Anne
You’re going to share it with the listeners.
00:03:16 Chris
I don’t remember the name of it, but I will try to find it and I’ll shoot, I’ll take it. You know what, I’ll take a photo of it. And when I go there, if I can, if I can get there, if I can get there too. I got to figure out how to get there. And I don’t even know where I’m staying yet and because. Okay, you know, but that all comes together, you know, in the next few days. But, but yeah, no, I’m pumped. Are you pumped?
00:03:34 Anne
Yeah, I’m excited. I mean, I’m just excited about the event. I think that, you know, this is the first time that, you know, we’re really getting to experience all of the buzz and excitement of nrf, but in an entirely new environment. So curious to hear what, what’s top of mind for the retailers and brands in attendance there. And then you and I will get to interview several of those attendees and speakers from the Vision Group booth, which I’m really excited about. That’s always the best part for me is we get to, we get to pull people aside and ask them what they’re really concerned about.
00:04:08 Chris
Yeah, yeah, we got, we got Matthew Shea on the docket right off. We’re going to kick off the show with him at 9:30 the first day of the show. The NRF president and CEO and you know, and then we also got the CEO of Milani. No, no. Kiko Milano. Kiko Milano. Is that, is that right? And we’ve got the CEO of Kiko Milano, the cosmetics company too, The Italian cosmetics company. I’m super excited about that one.
00:04:33 Anne
Yeah, it’ll be a lot of great content. So again, make sure if you aren’t already follow along on LinkedIn on YouTube so that you can get access to all those interviews right as we record them. I mean, it’s probably going to be a little bit later. Not right as we record them since we’ll be on.
00:04:50 Chris
Yeah, you’ll be sleeping most of Our listeners will be sleeping, but yes, but.
00:04:54 Anne
Wake up, wake up with some folders in your cup and a little, hopefully something different than folders, but wake up with a little coffee reference and, and yeah, enjoy some, some updates from the best and brightest in Europe right now in retail.
00:05:11 Chris
All right, well let’s get to the show and let’s do this.
00:05:13 Anne
Yes, yes. Before we get to the headlines though, it is a new month, which means that we need to call out this month’s Omnistar and I’m really excited about this one.
00:05:23 Chris
For those new to the podcast, I should say our Omnistar award is the award we give out each month in partnership with Corso to recognise the top omnichannel operators out there. Not the pundits, not the so called experts, but the real life retail operators making a difference in, in their organisations. Cores, AI co pilot coaches, retail leaders to optimise store performance at every level, transform retail operations from data overload into data powered. And this month we are excited to give the award to Catherine Delacruz park, the Vice president of retail operations and training at Fetics. And I think you met Catherine recently on a, on a store visit out to California. Why do you think she’s so deserving of this award?
00:06:04 Anne
Well, to know Kat, she goes by Kat. To know Kat is to love her. Yes, I met her, you know, when I was out at the Fabletics flagship store in La Jolla, California and I was there to interview her about, you know, this massive deployment that they just did with G store from Grey Orange so they could basically know where every product was in the store. But more importantly, I got to see how much Cat has invested in making sure that that rollout was successful across 100 stores. She is boots on the ground. She is talking to every single store sales associate, to their store managers, to their district managers to make sure that this is going incredibly smoothly. Which, I mean, these technology rollouts are a massive undertaking for teams. And I just, I really appreciate how much she knew about what was happening in every store and the speed at which she would get to, to connect with one of those stores, those team leaders or store leaders to make sure that they had all the training possible. She came up with these commercials that she shot so that the team could have a more fun way to learn how to use the technology, like just somebody that’s really invested in their teams and that’s something that I think Corso is all about, we’re all about here at Omnitech. So congratulations Kat, for being this month’s Omnistar.
00:07:28 Chris
Yeah, well said. Yeah, well said. Anytime we can recognise somebody in store operations, it’s always important to us. So congratulations, Cat. That’s awesome. All right. In this week’s Fast5, we’ve got news on Gap getting into beauty. Albertson’s introducing three new retail media channels. Kroger putting what it is hailing as the deli of the future in its newest Kentucky store, and Office depot launching its 15 minute pickup promise. But we begin today with big news out of that other retailer down Arkansas way.
00:07:59 Anne
And yes, headline number one. Sam’s Club has rolled out a new presentation layer for its website and app to 100% of its members, according to Mitchell. Pardon? At Modern Retail. Shout out to Mitchell. The app has a new look and feel with what the company calls a global intent centre in the top left corner where customers can choose a fulfilment option, pick up curbside or ship to home from the start of shopping in the app. The company will also be able to offer advertising more contextually in the app through its member access platform or map advertising businesses and its product detail pages will have better video capabilities and larger spaces for imagery. The company has been rolling the new experience out slowly over six weeks, beginning with 5% of overall traffic and Android users prior to rolling it out to all customers. Chris, are you yay or nay on Sam’s Club’s new app redesign?
00:08:59 Chris
Oh yeah. Yay, yay, Yay to the cows come home. I love, I love Sam’s Club and they’re so frickin smart there. And that’s another person we’re going to be interviewing at NRF Paris, Dana Marshall, their chief Customer Experience officer. So, you know, now with that said, like I love Sam’s Club, but you know, then I asked myself, will this work for everybody? By that I mean is this a design that everyone should just run to and start to emulate? I don’t think so. Not necessarily because I think it’s a great design specifically for the warehouse experience, because when you’re gonna engage with the warehouse club as a retailer, you know, you’re gonna plan your trip around how you want that trip to happen because you’re buying a lot of products. So. So that’s that. But that’s just one thing I love about it because I think it’s very tailored to the specific dynamics of warehouse retailing. But clearly, as you mentioned in the outset of the headline read, they’re also improving their retail media angles. And we’ve already talked about this on our show, a lot of Times they’ve already got Scan and Go in place in store too, which gives them a leg up on their retail media. So if they’re investing in their app to better showcase retail media, that’s great. They’re gonna, they’re gonna do well with that, that move strategically. But the other thing I love about it, and I think this gives us a glimpse into why Walmart and Sam’s Club merge their supply chains, is that it gives, it gives Sam’s Club potentially direct access into Walmart’s WFS network, their fulfilment network, their Walmart fulfilment services and the suppliers on their marketplace. Which again, going back to retail media means more retail media dollars over time and a larger, at a larger proportionate scale than its competitor Costco because of what they’re doing in the online space with their mobile app and website and, and what they’re doing in store with Scan and Go and all that money then can be reinvest back in the business to create more competitive differentiation in the long run. So it’s just so fricking smart. And it follows the game plan that we’ve been following since 2018, when I first kind of started mapping this out in an article for Forbes. Like they have been doing it, they’ve been saying they’re going to do it, it’s there, it’s clear as day. And kudos to them for just nailing it every step of the way. They are just amazing to me.
00:11:11 Anne
Yeah, I think the part that I think really stands out to me and might have seemed like more minor details in the press release that came out and in Mitchell’s article is that Greg Pulsifer, who we’ve interviewed, fantastic guy. Check out our NRF interview with him from earlier this year. But he talked about how product detail pages will also have better video capabilities and larger spaces for imagery. And I think that becomes even more important as we start to see an increase in language based search and people using other search modalities outside of, you know, going to Sam’s club.com or using the app right there. Now you’re also giving the opportunity for this, this, this product on the Sam’s Club.com site to be even more discoverable from more people, which in turn gets them more members down the road to get these discounts or more motivation for people to get these discounts. And then I think the second thing you updated or you mentioned too is the retail media opportunity. I mean, they already have such a good idea because the members that they’re, they have the members information, they know their past purchase history. Sam’s Club is very unique in that. And that, like you were saying earlier, like this, should every retailer do something like this? I don’t know if that’s true. But specifically in the membership case here, when they know all these things about their members, I think there’s a goldmine of opportunity here as they can serve up more personalised offers. And as you said too, as they’re moving their checkouts out of store with their new store formats and they’re really focusing on how do we sell more product online. When people are coming into the stores, this is a great opportunity for them to do that. They can hit, you know, fulfilment method right there. When people scan the QR code in the store, they can hit promos right then and they’re like, I think this is a really smart move. I agree.
00:12:58 Chris
A hundred percent, 100%. And they’ve been building out their fulfilment network from store for this reason too. They’re two newest stores, their back rooms are six, seven larger than a traditional store. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And shout out to Harvey Ma, former colleague from Target and now head of Sam’s Club Retail Media, who we also interviewed at Shop Talk this past year. So, yeah, God, man. We just. We’re interviewing up a storm in 2025. This is great. What a headline. All right, headline number two, this one, I imagine we’re going to spend some time on. Gap Inc. Wants to bet big on beauty and accessories, according to retail dive Gap Inc. CEO Richard Dickson called these quote, sleeper categories, which the company’s internal research shows already resonate with its customers. Efforts to expand are already underway, at least at Old Navy. This fall, the value brand will launch beauty and personal care products in 150 stores, with some locations offering stage staffed shop in shops. Gap Inc. Said last Thursday this is the test and learn phase of the plan to scale an old Navy beauty business next year. The company’s other retailers, Gap, Banana Republic and Athleta, will also launch quote brand right expressions, end quote, in the category. The company is pursuing the growth potential in beauty, Dixon said, based on research from Euromonitor that found beauty and personal care sales surpassed $100 billion this year and that the market is one of the fastest growing in the U.S. and yes, we’re going to spend some time on this and that is because this is also the A and M. Put you on the spot. Question of the week. Are you ready for it?
00:14:33 Anne
Yeah, let’s do it.
00:14:34 Chris
They’re coming for you and all right, here it is. What does GAPS move tell us about the evolving role of beauty as a driver of revenue growth and consumer engagement for the broader apparel industry? And, and for brands considering a similar expansion, what needs to be true for them to succeed in this crowded market in an authentic and differentiated way?
00:14:56 Anne
Oh, I mean, I think, I think Gap’s move here tells us that they’re going for, obviously, as Richard Dixon said, like, what’s an easy thing that we could, you know, put into the stores, put into the snake line for checkout that still exists, unfortunately, in many apparel settings. Yeah. Is there, is there potentially some areas of growth? Should you put, you know, body sprays or whatever, you know, personal care items you want to throw in there? I, I would caution, however, that we’ve seen some pretty significant apparel brands like Lululemon, like Athleta, like Zara, really invest heavily here in doing exactly what Gap’s about to do here and not succeed. And so in my mind, I think Gap has to be particularly careful about making this decision because I would argue that Gap still has a long way to come. They’re making some really good strides. They’ve had some great collaborations here. But Gap has a long way to come in terms of just doing apparel and accessories better and finding their footing in the cultural zeitgeist right now. And so I think that’s where I would be focused on if I was Richard Dixon because of the dangers that we’ve seen from more successful apparel brands already than Gap. The one thing I do think is important to differentiate here, I think beauty’s getting a lot of the focus from this headline. But he also did talk about accessories and that I feel very differently about. That is an area where I think Gap should go full steam ahead. The Old Navy, like more designer Zac Posen inspired handbags. That’s, that’s perfect because you are getting to your consumers with a product that they’re going to want to pick up. It makes sense for them to add a nice handbag onto an outfit that they’re, they’re going for. But I, this, this mass, mass market, you know, beauty and, and, and, and personal care products, they’re not going to be at a, at a mass retail price point either, which is where you’re seeing the increase in, in spend from consumers. So I just, I really, really cannot caution Gap enough about making this move. But you’re, you’re an ex Gapper. What do you say about this? Do you think they have a chance?
00:17:10 Chris
Yeah, I’m actually surprised. On your take on this one. I thought you were going to go the other way and I was going to come and have to come in and pour, pour water on the fire. But no, I’m with you. I agree with your accessories point. And because there’s a competitive, there’s a, there’s a, there’s an actual competency there, you know, from Gap to make accessories, like they’ve been in accessories forever. Like, they should know how to make those and it should be a key part of their business. And it’s the highest margin part of their business, too. So, yes, all in on that. But the reason this story is getting the headlines is because 150 store pilot with Old Navy. That’s a commitment. Like, you’re going into those stores and you’re trying to, trying to do this. But I’m with you. I’m selling this hard and I’m selling it for a number of reasons. And like, first of all, you know, and I’m asked what has to be true? Well, that’s my question is because just because a market is big and growing doesn’t mean you have a right to win in it. And for example, if I take that logic out and I extend it to other categories, like trading cards is growing. Nintendo Switch just launched and is growing. Does that mean Gap should carry, you know, those products? No, it doesn’t. Or vice versa. Like, if we, if we flip this on its head and we said, okay, apparel is growing and beauty’s like, kind of lagging, you know, if we switch, if we switch the roles, does that mean Sephora and Ulta should now go into apparel? No, probably not. And so when you think about it that way, it just, it doesn’t make sense. But with that said, Dixon is the master. And sometimes it’s about what you can sell, not about what is true. And he’s a master at that. He’s got the charisma. So can he get people behind this in the short term? Possibly. I’ll be watching. But I think this is a really long bet to make. And to your point, not only have other brands tried it in the past, but Gap has tried it in the past as well at all at many of its brands, and it hasn’t worked. And they tried Home and Banana Republic too, and that’s seemingly hasn’t worked as well. So, yeah, I’m very sceptical of this, but you get the final word here.
00:19:05 Anne
Yeah, I think the, the other thing for me that was missing from this and I wasn’t able to track this down in my research, like Old Navy’s been selling all kinds of stuff at their checkout. And I think it’s very important to like distinguish the, the athletic experience, the Banana experience, the Gap experience and the Old Navy experience. Old Navy had like Dunkaroos and you know, chapstick and socks and they have all kinds of stuff in their winding snake to get up to the checkout. So I think I couldn’t understand. There must be some data that Dixon and the team are seeing that supports like, oh, we’re selling a lot of chapstick, maybe we should go into our own brand. So there’s parts of me that question like what categories they’ll actually go into versus like beauty and personal care. Like I think that’s still very broad. And so they might see some success with, you know, going off of the numbers that they’ve already seen. But I really am going to have to see this one to believe it. And if there is a chance, I would say Old Navy probably is the best place for this to start. But I don’t know that that means that they should continue on across Athletic Gap and Banana. Okay, Chris, let’s go on to headline number three. Albertsons has introduced three new retail media channels. According to Chainstorage, the grocery conglomerates, Albertsons media collective retail media arm is offering free, free limited time curated packages to participating advertisers. These packages will include Albertson’s matching CPG retail media investment with enterprise media dollars. And in addition, the grocer is introducing three dynamic channels for advertisers. They are organic influencers, premium in store screens and added on site placements. Chris, what stands out to you about the Albertsons media collectives new media approach and channels?
00:20:49 Chris
You know, that’s a really good question. Like I don’t know why, but for some reason I really like this, this headline. I really like this story and I think it comes down to a couple of things for me. I’m curious what you think too. You know, one, I just like that it’s a very easy framework for me to understand. You know, I think Albertsons has done a great job of just saying like here’s the three things we’re going to stand behind in retail media and yeah, I like them. They make sense. Would I like to see in store audio in there too? Yes, selfishly I would. But you know, as a start, I like that. So kudos to the team there. Second, I like the idea of matching dollars too. I think, I think that’s an interesting hook, you know, and hooks matter. In marketing and hooks matter when you’re competing for CPG dollars against the likes of, you know, very formidable retail media networks from the likes of Amazon and Walmart. So, you know, are the programmes really new as the headline is spitting them? Not really. That feels like PR spin that, you know, whatever journalists picked up this story, went and ran with. But I do think the whole thing is moving retail media forward at Albertsons in a good direction. So, net. Net, I, I just find the story kind of nice and happy.
00:21:54 Anne
Yeah, I mean, regardless of PR spin or not, I feel like they are taking the approach of the evolve or die mentality and that’s what I like. I love that here because it’s not Albertson’s just being like time after time, year after year. If you want this end cap, you must invest X number of dollars in our media network. They’re really trying to go in and appeal to these advertisers. Like the influencer matching sounds like that’s a major thing that their, their customers have been looking for and that benefits all parties here. I mean, I think that, that for me is actually one of that and the matching are kind of the top things here that really stand out because the influencer matching will remove the strain on the CPG and marketing teams, which is a big help to them. We already know they’re overloaded. It provides more relevant content potentially then for Albertsons consumers and for the brand’s consumers. And I think it, it helps Albertsons ultimately create more content overall, which will help them showing up in searches and showing up on relevant platforms, whether that’s, you know, on Google or in social content. So I love that part of it. And I don’t know, Chris, like if this, this doubling the investment, like, my guess is that some of this is already happening. It’s just not as talked about. Or there’s like investments where, like if you invest this much money, we’ll match so much of it for this period of time. I imagine there’s, there’s that kind of already happening in the negotiations. But to come out as Albertsons and make a stand that you are going to do this with your best CBG partners, that seems like a partner I’d want to do business with. So I, I think this is really smart. They’re not just resting on their laurels here, they’re really going to push it and make sure that they get the right people on their platform and they’re serving them as best they can.
00:23:37 Chris
Yeah, the one I had two questions about the headline too. Like just for, for maybe for Albertsons, if they’re listening too. And I know we’re going to try to interview some of them at grocery shop as well. You know, one is like, how are you monitoring that? Like, you know, like how do you keep control of the spend? Like if you’re going to match every spend, like, whoa, okay, that could get pretty expensive pretty quickly. So I’m curious about that. And then the other thing too, I was, you know, they mentioned the social media impact and they measured it through impressions and, and, and views and I was like, okay, but that’s not dollars too. So I want to understand the hard facts here in terms of how this is working. But, but anyway, let’s move to another grocery headline. So headline number four, Kroger is set to roll out its quote deli of the future in its new Kentucky store. According to grocery dive, the 6,500 square foot prepared food section will anchor a Kroger marketplace store in Edgewood, Kentucky that will replace an existing store and also feature a gas station, apparel department and liquor shop. The open kitchen deli concept, which Kroger said is quote inspired by restaurants and the classic neighbourhood deli, end quote, will offer made to order sandwiches built around house roasted meals and homestyle sides. It will also feature a Murray’s cheese station and private selection by Snow Fox Sushi. I know, and you’re a big fan of Snow Fox Sushi and this might be my favourite question I’ve ever asked you in the history of the show. Do you think Kroger’s deli of the future will cure what ails Kroger or do you think it is just another example of innovation induced botulism?
00:25:06 Anne
Oh, I mean, look, I like this. I think, I don’t, I don’t know that here. I don’t know that curing what ails Kroger is as far as I would go. But I mean, I’m all for a deli update because I think for a couple of reasons. One, I think it gives people another reason to go to Kroger to make an additional trip to Kroger for grab and go food and then they’re getting other items that they might want while they’re at the store. Like, I feel like that is a, as a valuable use case for their consumers and for the future of Kroger. Second, I think that if you think about the, the extension of this, not only does it allow for another trip type, but it also allows for another add on to a basket potentially down the road for any of their Grocery delivery. So do you want, you know, ready to eat sandwiches delivered with your groceries at 5 o’? Clock? Obviously some logistics that go into that, but my hope is that that’s part of the consideration here as they’re thinking about how to better serve their Kroger consumers. But I mean, you look at some other major grocers that are investing in this ready to eat food. You look at Walmart, H E B schnooks, like, everybody’s doubling down on this as an, as an option for their consumers. So I don’t think it’s a bad decision. I think it’s something that, that Kroger needs to do. I just draw the line at one thing, Chris.
00:26:29 Chris
What?
00:26:30 Anne
Open, open kitchens. That is something that I would have skipped in this rollout because this is not Nobu sushi. I do not need to see my chub getting sliced for my sandwich. I, that is not something I need to witness. The open kitchens part. I would not make that investment because that’s a pretty significant investment, I think, here in this remodel. And I would not, I would, I would not be. Be pro open kitchen. But those are, those are my thoughts. Chris. I have a feeling you’re going to be going in another direction here. So let’s have that idea.
00:27:03 Chris
And, and I didn’t know you like an opaque kitchen. That’s good to know.
00:27:06 Anne
No, I do not, I do not want the, the opaque or anything. I just don’t want to see the kitchen. I don’. No, none of that. Not for meat slicing. Not necessary.
00:27:17 Chris
All right, okay. For meat slicing. Okay. I mean, first of all, I take issue with the headline, this Deli of the Future. I mean, it’s just a bigger deli. Like, come on, like, it’s just a bigger deli. Like, let’s, let’s be honest here. Let’s be real. But the reason I don’t like this story and I don’t think there’s anything wrong. I agree with you. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with putting a bigger deli in a new store. But this, this story is what particularly drives me crazy about the grocery industry. Because it’s a new store. Like, so what you’re doing it a new store. But how many new stores are you going to build reliably in this way that are going to make a difference for you in the long run? So what do you really, my question is, is it isn’t the time and effort instead of spinning out how this is like in the media, the deli of the future. Isn’t the time and effort better spent on figuring out how you’re going to retrofit your existing store base that has been around for decades and is saddled with so much architectural and technical debt? That to me is the real question Kroger has to solve. And is it in the deli or is it in other places? I don’t know. But the deli of the future, this isn’t going to move anything forward outside of Edgewood, Kentucky, given the size of it in comparison to the footprint of what an average Kroger grocery store is and an average Kroger grocery store experiences throughout the rest of the country. That’s my take. What do you think?
00:28:40 Anne
So, so are you saying. So you’re saying you just don’t want independent, like you’re okay with the remodels of the delis in general to take up more footprint in Kroger, but you’re not okay with this particular deli of the future concept?
00:28:56 Chris
I just, I just don’t like that you’re trying to spin it as you being innovative and creative. And it’s just, you’re just building a new store. Basically, you’re formatting the store differently. And what I want to. The connection that I want to hear about palpably is how are you taking that and expecting or trying to put that back into your overall operation. And that’s where I think there’s going to be a major disconnect on Kroger’s part here over the long run. Like, yeah, they might put this thing in here, but it’s just going to be an Edgewood, Kentucky, and it’s never going to go anywhere else. And that’s the problem I fundamentally have with it. I feel like I it’s not investing in innovation to the degree that it needs to be.
00:29:33 Anne
I. One question that I have, or one thought I’ll leave the listeners with here is as we’ve been hearing, much more of a focus on higher protein diets, on fresher food, on people caring about that and seeking those types of products out in a grocery store environment. Will this actually be innovative because they’re dedicating more footprint in the store to those products that people are going to be consuming more of as their needs change, as they, as more people are using GLP1s. That’s the only thing that I would say. Is there innovation in that? Because the footprint of the store is changing. Is it again, square feet again? Don’t know.
00:30:16 Chris
Maybe again, but you still have to retrofit the entire operation for that. So to your point, if that’s where you want to go, I think the more efficient experimentation is laying the store out for all of the categories from a proportional perspective in terms of where you want to bet. Going back to A and M conversation we had about categorically how do you want to position your bets across the store and trying to understand that best you can. But that’s still tricky because you’re opening it today, you’re not opening it for tomorrow. And so, yeah, so I don’t, I still don’t think that’s a convincing way to go about this either. You know, that doesn’t, that doesn’t hook me.
00:30:50 Anne
But I don’t know, what about open kitchens? What’s your vote on that?
00:30:55 Chris
I like, I like a semi transparent kitchen and, you know, maybe like some like 70s love beads, like 60s love beads hanging down between me.
00:31:03 Anne
I don’t think that’s, I don’t get that deal. That’s not certified. No, NSF certification is not okay with 70s love beads being dropped from the ceiling.
00:31:13 Chris
Large flames going up in front of you all day long. Just.
00:31:16 Anne
Okay, okay.
00:31:17 Chris
Barbecue flame rise. Yeah, that’s right.
00:31:20 Anne
All right, thank you for solving that for the listeners. All right, let’s go on to headline number five. Office Depot has launched what it is calling the 15 Minute Pickup Promise. According to Chain Storage, the 15 Minute Pickup Promise service allows customers to pick up qualifying online or mobile orders in store curbside in just 15 minutes and it is now available at Office Depot and Office Mac stores nationwide. To use the new option, customers place a qualifying order@officedepot.com or via the Office Depot mobile app and select in store or curbside pickup at least one hour before closing. If the order isn’t ready in 15 minutes, they will receive a $15 coupon for your next qualifying purchase within 72 hours, said Kevin Moffatt, friend of the show and president of Office depot. Quote, our 15 minute pickup promise is designed to deliver convenience and peace of mind so that customers can get what they need when they need it and focus on what matters most. End quote. Chris, do you think Office Depot’s 15 minute promise is a wise long term strategy?
00:32:23 Chris
Oh, and 15 minute MPP. Yeah, you know me. Absolutely not. No, I actually don’t. In, in deference to Kevin, who I like a lot, we’ve had him on the show, I’ve interviewed him as well in the past year. I’m dubious on this one and I just am mainly because I worry about, we go back the outset Omnistar, you know, the, the. The things we try to call out and try to, you know, keep in mind. I worry that this is going to be a long term strain on the in store staff. 15 minutes. Like, like, what if I get the call on my PDA and I have to go to the bathroom? Like, that’s not. I’m not, I’m not filling that order. You know, you gotta hand it off.
00:33:00 Anne
To Phil, the other person in the. Gotta have Phil go do the order, I guess. I don’t know.
00:33:05 Chris
Yeah, I know, but like, are there that many people in the store? I don’t, you know, I mean, you know, payroll is hard to come by right now, so. So, you know, I don’t know. The interesting thing about this article is maybe they’ve got the economics worked out to some degree that I’m not understanding. Because the whole couponing that you have to redeem within 72 hours and 15 off, maybe they’re getting some like, upward benefit and people redeeming that coupon when they don’t meet the service expectation. But that’s a dicey game to play in the long run because you’re disappointing a lot of customers on the front end and then kind of in a way, you know, I hate to say it, but taking advantage of them on the back end. So that’s, that’s a road to nowhere in the long run. I hope that’s actually not what’s happening here. I hope it’s just about, you know, obviously both thinks that customers want things this quickly, but as a store employee, I’d have to be asking, like, why 15 minutes? Like why isn’t 30 minutes or less enough already? Like, you know, it’s like, it’s like six minute abs from, you know, from something about Mary. Like, you know. Yeah, I just, I just don’t get it. Like, it doesn’t make sense to me.
00:34:05 Anne
Well, I looked back at our interview that we did with him at E tail and he already said Kevin in that. In that they have the world’s fastest buy online pickup in store, which I think at the time was 20 minutes or less. So I’m really wondering if this isn’t more of a marketing hook for them than it is anything else. I mean, I can’t even personally. Right. I mean, I can’t even personally drive to my closest Office Depot in 15 minutes or less. So like, I like mapped it out yesterday. I was like, I don’t even think I could get there in 15 minutes. Which obviously is not true for everybody. But I’M it’s, it’s a factor. Right. So I think I would just be, I think the most important part of what you just said and the most important watch out would be the backlash from consumers. If they do really, if you really have a 15 minute emergency and they can’t get it and they’re late, the $15 coupon is not going to be enough for me to come back. I don’t think if I, if, if you can’t hit on that promise, I’m probably going to go somewhere else next time or just go and pick it up myself because I can do it just as quickly.
00:35:09 Chris
Go to the store with the coupon.
00:35:10 Anne
Yeah, I think so. So, so that’s just the biggest thing that I would, I would watch out for. But I mean they have been doing the 20 minute delivery buy online pickup and store delivery pretty reliably for the last few years according to Kevin. So I think it’s really just a, just a marketing. Here’s an extra $15 coupon if, if we don’t meet your. Your satisfaction.
00:35:31 Chris
Yeah, that’s a really good point. Something I hadn’t thought about, you know, like, you know, are they just meeting this expectation day in and day out anyway and now he’. It. But like I don’t know that I would market it that overtly either because then it’s, it’s a big move. Yeah, it’s, it’s a, it’s a tough one to live up to I think in the long run. But you know, otherwise, you know, because versus just word of mouth of hey, you know, Office Depot, they fulfil my pickup order pretty darn quick, you know.
00:35:54 Anne
Right.
00:35:55 Chris
And, and reliably, you know.
00:35:56 Anne
Right.
00:35:57 Chris
I don’t know. Yep.
00:35:59 Anne
Okay, well, Chris, let’s go to the lightning round. Let’s close it up here. Omnitech is heading out to cover New York Fashion Week right after this podcast. Chris, but most importantly, what is your favourite fashion related movie?
00:36:11 Chris
Oh man, I, the easy answer here is Devil Wears Prada. But I believe it or not, I actually think that movie is really overrated. I haven’t seen it in a while. I need to watch again, but I think it’s really overrated. I’m, I’m guessing I’m gonna get barbs for that one.
00:36:24 Anne
The next one’s coming out so you better watch it soon.
00:36:27 Chris
I know, and without Adrian Grenier too, which I’m super excited about because she was terrible in that movie. I’m going with Zoolander. And because Zoolander is such a setup of the fashion industry. And I can respect anyone that can read minds.
00:36:41 Anne
Oh my God, it’s. That is such a good movie. It really is the. One of the best fashion movies. My favourite was the Isaac Mizrahi documentary. I really loved that in the 90s. I forget what documentary or something. Yeah, okay.
00:36:57 Chris
I didn’t think documentaries were in play. Okay. Oh, for sure. Yeah, Documentaries are at play. I can’t think of a fashion documentary either other than like the Abercrombie and Fitch salacious documentary I watched.
00:37:09 Anne
Hey, that’s in the consideration set too. Whatever you want. Whatever you want.
00:37:13 Chris
That, that doesn’t beat Zoolander. The walk off between Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson is an all time classic. All right, Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine Tour tickets will start to go on sale this week. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rank Ariana Grande’s talent level? I’m curious where you’re going to come down on this.
00:37:33 Anne
I think she’s an 11. I mean, she is, she’s incredibly talented. I’m not her biggest fan by any means, but I don’t think anybody can deny her talent. Triple threat, like smart businesswoman, great actress, great singer. I think she, I think she’s got it all. And, and yeah, I mean, is. She can command the, the prices per ticket. We’ll just say that she’s, she’s charging right now.
00:38:06 Chris
So Aaron Grant is the tp. She’s your tp. She’s the total package. And that’s amazing.
00:38:11 Anne
Yeah, I would say so. I would say so. She’s, she’s doing well for herself.
00:38:14 Chris
All right.
00:38:16 Anne
What, what do you think of her talent level?
00:38:18 Chris
Oh, I, I definitely go eight or nine. I think she’s, I mean, when I saw her in Wicked, she crushed Wicked. And so that’s a whole nother game. So. Yeah, I think, I think she’s very talented. I don’t know. I go 11. 11 to me is like Michael Jackson. Like there’s only so many people.
00:38:31 Anne
Oh, yeah, okay. Okay, so I’ll temper. I’ll, I’ll bring her down to a 10 then. But she’s, she’s not an 11, but a 10. We’ll, we’ll give her a 10. Yeah, okay, maybe not Michael Jackson because.
00:38:44 Chris
I don’t know if you can still say Michael Jackson. So maybe like Elvis Presley or something like that or, you know.
00:38:49 Anne
Okay, she’s going to go in the hall of fame. She’ll be in the hall of fame someday. I think we’ll give her that accolade. All right, Chris.
00:38:57 Chris
I won’t ask you if she’s more talented than Taylor Swift, though, ad. Because that could be a whole can of worms that we don’t want to open up.
00:39:03 Anne
I mean, yes, that is going to open up an entire new can of worms. And are we talking vocal talent? Are we talking writing? Like. Yeah. All right, Chris, question number three. According to the Wall Street Journal, OpenAI is using its artificial intelligence tools to help produce a feature length animated movie called Critters that will take less than nine months to make and less than $30 million to create. They will be debuting this film at the Cannes Film Festival. Khan Film Festival. You’ve been seeing a lot of movies lately, but I want to know, would you pay to see an AI generated movie in the theatres?
00:39:45 Chris
Yeah, we. We. Yes, I would.
00:39:47 Anne
Okay.
00:39:48 Chris
But I would. Yeah, I have no problem with that, as long as it’s good content and it’s been creatively put together. I think it’s just a new form of artistic expression, honestly, at the end of the day. But, yeah, I will say $30 million when that’s the line of demarcation. That seems super freaking expensive to me. Like, that’s.
00:40:04 Anne
Apparently, that’s like minuscule dollars for a movie production budget.
00:40:09 Chris
Wow, that’s crazy to me. I’m surprised they can’t get that much, much lower. But, yeah, yeah, I’d be interested to watch it and see what it is. Yeah, I don’t have a problem with it, do you?
00:40:19 Anne
No, I mean, but the thing that I like about this is they’re still using artists to create the original character. Like human artists to create the original character. They’re using talent to do the voiceover of these things. So there still is something contributing to that production budget. But now it sounds like they’re just going to be able to take that one image and then make that whole movie out of that one image.
00:40:43 Chris
It takes humans to create the final product, you know, at the end, so. Right. All right, last one. We’re giving a lightning round a new definition today and. All right. The New Orleans Film Society is set to partner with the Broad Theatre to present an exclusive advanced screening of Spinal Tap. The End continues in late October. And this is funny because when was the last time you used the phrase dialled up to 11? I think you actually just used it not that long ago.
00:41:06 Anne
I mean, I, I didn’t. I didn’t dial it up to 11 for my answer for Ariana Grande, but I basically said 11 because of this movie. It allowed us to give an 11 on a 1 to 10 scale, but I feel like we use this monthly on the show, so. Spinal Tap, thank you for, for your contributions.
00:41:24 Chris
Yeah, I can’t wait to see that movie. Oh, my God. I saw him on Jimmy Kimmel the other night. It was great. All right, so happy birthday today to Chris Columbus, the director, not the explorer. And because he’s long since dead, Colin Firth. And to the end to who’s the man whose creative genius gave us lock, stock and two smoking barrels? The great guy Ritchie. And remember, if you can read or listen to one retail blog in the business, make it Omnitoc, the only retail media outlet run by two former executives from a current top 10 US retailer. Our Fast Five podcast is the quickest, fastest rundown of all the week’s top news. And our daily newsletter, the Retail Daily Minute, tells you all you need to know each day to stay on top of your game as a retail executive. And also regularly features special content that is exclusive to us and that Ann and I take a lot of pride in doing just for you. And fun fact, folks, if you like to engage with substack, the Retail Daily Minute is now available on Substack. Just just look up Omnitalk Retail, if that’s your preferred method to digest our content. 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 omnitalkretail. So until next week, and on behalf of all of us here at omnitalk, as always, be careful out there.
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.