What A Smart Store-Enabled Black Friday Will Look Like
Chris Walton discusses how smart store technology will one day change Black Friday shopping for the better and why, when it does, retail will never look back.
Forbes | 5 Trends Retailers May Not See Coming Until It Is Too Late
This article was written by Chris Walton for Forbes.com on September 19, 2021 and is now available on Omni Talk. On stage… Continue Reading
Forbes | ‘Contactless’ Is Retail’s New Must-Have Safe Word, But Executing It Is Easier Said Than Done
Every retailer is going contactless, but what the different interpretations of this word can mean for the safety of both employees and customers is not something to take lightly.
Forbes | Store Traffic Limits At Walmart & Target Are Good, But Kroger’s Pick-Up Only Store Is An Even Better Idea
A pickup only store not only prepares for the worst, but it also helps a retailer’s employees sleep better, its customers breathe easier, and its executives experiment for the future better than many other solutions out there right now.
Forbes | The Domino Effect: 5 Ways Coronavirus Will Forever Change Retail
The coronavirus has already pushed retail quickly into new and more impersonal directions, but there are still far more and far bigger dominoes to fall, writes Store of the Future expert and Forbes Senior Contributor Chris Walton.
3 Game Changing Ideas Walmart Should Consider In Its Battle With Amazon | Forbes
Walmart is right to focus its efforts on grocery, but make no mistake, grocery is just a bilge pump. To survive in the long-run against Amazon, Walmart needs to go back to its roots and spur more innovative ideas.
The 3 Questions Investors Should Be Asking DTC Brands In Wake Of Brandless Shutting Down | Forbes
What Brandless zealots, its celebrity investors, and SoftBank especially missed is that every new direct-to-consumer “brand” always ends up, if successful, as one of three distinctly different ideas.
Macy’s Decision To Close Its SF Office Is The Scary Last Nail In Its Own Coffin | Forbes
A new location for Macy’s tech office is just a cost savings scapegoat and a pyrrhic victory for Wall Street. If the work, the vision, and the strategy aren’t there, that is the real problem, not the location of the office, writes Forbes Contributor Chris Walton.
The Strategy Behind Amazon Getting Back Into Mall Pop-Up Stores | Forbes
Similar to the armed peasants pawns in chess are meant to represent, Amazon’s pop-ups are nothing fancy, but over time they could become a slow, tactical play to eat away at the remaining scraps upon which mall-based retail still feeds.
Walmart’s First-Ever Super Bowl Ad Ironically Highlights The Biggest Trend Retailers Missed For Decades | Forbes
High production values and the use of the less expensive Bill from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure in Walmart’s Super Bowl ad notwithstanding, order pickup is not a new idea and could be a signal that Walmart is vulnerable to other more important trends in the years ahead.
Starbucks Pickup Only Store Is A Spectacular Glimpse Into The Future Of Embedded Retail | Forbes
The Starbucks Pickup Only store in NYC looks like a Starbucks, walks like a Starbucks, even quacks like a Starbucks, but there is one big difference — customers place their orders from their mobile phones.
5 Keys To Retail Hiring Success In The Modern Age | Forbes
Chris shares his five most important criteria to consider when hiring retail employees for long-term success.
2019 Retail Awards — Lululemon Impressed, Macy’s Sputtered, & Nike Showed Its Middle Finger to Amazon | Forbes
Contributor Chris Walton serves up his awards for the highlights and lowlights of one of the best retail years in recent memory — 2019, the year retail fought back.
Walmart’s Bet On Supercenters Is Brilliant For 3 Big Reasons | Forbes
Walmart CEO Doug McMillion’s decision to bet on supercenters highlights his keen understanding of where Walmart’s business is today, against where the industry is headed for the future.
5 Refreshingly Honest Retail Predictions For 2020 | Forbes
Chris Walton gives his candid opinion of what to expect in 2020, including what CEOs could be on the chopping block, how Amazon will shock the world, what trends are here to stay vs. just impostors, and what company’s new CEO may already be making some really big mistakes.
Omni Talk is the retail blog for retailers, written by retailers. Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga founded Omni Talk in 2017 and have quickly turned it into one of the fastest growing blogs in retail.