Hello Omni Talk Fans! I returned from a two-week vacation, which meant I had time to do actual math on this week’s podcast. More on that in a second.
This week I was joined by the wonderful Jenn Hahn of J Recruiting Services (aka our Resident Talent Expert), who was back in the guest host chair, and we covered a LOT of ground, including several real, honest-to-goodness disagreements that made this week’s podcast one of the most spirited episodes we have had in quite some time.
Here’s a taste of what Jenn and I sunk our teeth into:
- Kroger naming a chief e-commerce officer — Nate Faust, a Jet.com co-founder and former Walmart exec, is stepping in. Jenn thinks it’s a smart signal. I think the organizational structure is bizarre. What do you think?
- Best Buy’s incoming CEO betting on going smaller — Jenn’s buying, I’m selling. I even brought in some aforementioned math to back me up.
- Ahold Delhaize’s kiosks heading to Giant Food — Is a physical kiosk still the right tool for digital savings in 2026, or is this solving yesterday’s problem? Jenn makes the case for “bridge,” not “typewriter.”
- Amazon’s Alexa for Shopping’s wild numbers — 350 million shoppers, 40% higher order values. We debate whether Amazon can be the one to finally tip AI shopping from research into real transactions.
- TikTok testing a Prime-style membership — $20 billion of GMV moving through TikTok Shop is nothing to sneeze at, and Shop Plus might just be how they keep revenue from leaking to Amazon.
There’s all that, plus Arber Sejdiji of Zenline AI joined us for 5 Insightful Minutes on why an AI agent is basically like “a new employee on day one,” and we also handed out this month’s OmniStar Award, in partnership with our friends at Quorso, to Ralph Woodward, SVP of Retail Operations at Bashas’, a true 40-year retail lifer with the stories to prove it.
Listen to This Week’s Fast Five Podcast
Be careful out there,
— Chris and the entire Omni Talk team
P.S. I hate jokes about German sausage.
They are the wurst.
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.