Hello Omni Talk Fans! First off, happy belated Veterans Day to everyone who has served, including Mrs. Omni Talk (Air Force) and, as it turns out, this week’s guest Jack Stout, who also spent time at Wright-Patterson doing, as he says, “a lot of math.”
This week the holidays officially kicked into high gear, and I had two Fast Five newbies with serious operator credentials helping me sort it all out: Angela Clark, former VP of Digital at Patagonia, and Jack Stout, former Chief Merchant at 7-Eleven and Petco (who is also writing a book on the gin martini).
Here’s a taste of what will leave you shaken but not stirred after listening to this week’s podcast:
- Amazon wants you to shop by text — Alexa for Shopping is now just a text away, and we all agreed it’s a smart defensive play to keep first product search at home.Â
- CVS is splitting in two —Â Jack calls it a move to dodge regulatory scrutiny, and we ask whether losing a captive PBM puts CVS Pharmacy on a Walgreens-shaped path.
- Ahold Delhaize USA’s POS overhaul — Both Jack and Angela extended “sympathy at max level” to ADUSA’s tech teams, and Angela even called it a potential “career breaker or career maker.”
- Disney’s TikTok Shop takeover — Everyone liked it for Disney, and then I put Jack and Angela’s feet to the fire on whether retail is unknowingly turning TikTok into the most powerful marketplace in America.
- DoorDash going big for Black Friday — Angela says DoorDash is NOT a real retailer yet, while Jack thinks, “Retail is a distribution business.” Let the debate begin.
There’s all that, plus a lightning round where we find out whose mom put her tree up before Halloween, whether Patagonia’s “Don’t Buy This Jacket” is still the GOAT anti-marketing campaign, and why Thanksgiving is the most polarizing meal in America.
Listen to This Week’s Fast Five Podcast
Be careful out there,
— Chris and the entire Omni Talk team
P.S. Accordion to a recent survey, inserting musical instruments into sentences largely goes unnoticed.
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.