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Fast Five Video | Amazon Warehouses Are Just Plain Great For Retail!

In the latest episode of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern take on all the detractors pooh-poohing the rumors of Amazon placing warehouses in Simon mall properties, discuss Wayfair’s first-ever profit, and then geek out at the massive transformative grocery and convenience headlines surrounding Walmart and Instacart, Coty and GoPuff, and Kroger creating its own third-party marketplace.

Spotlight Series Video | Numerator VP of Retail Sales Sara Batchelder”

In the latest edition of our Omni Talk Spotlight Series, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga interview Sara Batchelder, VP of Retail and QSR for Numerator. Chris, Anne, and Sara discuss Numerator’s unique panel data across both online and offline shoppers and then delve into some of the insights Numerator is already seeing around things like Click-&-Collect, the online acceleration in grocery, and the early promotional spending trends across various Back-to-School categories. For example, did you know apparel promotional spend is down 60% vs. the year prior? We sure as heck didn’t.

Fast Five Video | Aldi Gets Its Go On, CVS Courts Millennials, & DoorDash Is Now A Retailer?

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss all the week’s top retail news, including DoorDash’s new DashMart online store, CVS inking a deal with PayPal and Venmo, the rumors that Aldi is getting into the checkout-free technology game, 7-Eleven buying Speedway, and Walmart’s new omnichannel advertising platform that Chris and Anne just can’t agree on.

Fast Five Video | Amazon the Benevolent Investor or Shady Inside Man?

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern discuss Amazon meeting with startups to then reportedly launch competing products, Sycamore Partners’ plan to merge Belk and JC Penney, Neiman Marcus calling it quits at Hudson Yards, all of retail closing down stores for Thanksgiving, and Rite Aid having no good reason on earth for deploying facial recognition technology for the last eight years.

Fast Five Video | Panera’s Coffee Subscription Goes Gang Busters While We Quote Rhett Butler”

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern discuss the explosive growth in Panera’s coffee subscription program, Walmart joining forces with Yahoo (yes, you read that right), LL Bean’s decision to broaden its distribution, Domino’s new ‘fortressing’ strategy, and Amazon and Google both getting full up into livestream commerce this week.

Fast Five Video | There’s No Smart in this Cart, Amazon”

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma Irwin the Intern are joined by guest host Ken Pilot to break down all the week’s top headlines in retail. This week they talk Amazon’s new Dash Smart Shopping Cart, Klarna’s Gen-Z shopping event, Apple asking store employees to help customers from home, and Walmart and Amazon now duking it out in the healthcare space.

Spotlight Video | Visual Search and Experiences with Syte VP Marketing, Gal Fontyn

Omni Talk’s Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga turn their video spotlight once again on Syte, the intriguing visual AI startup out of Israel. After having Syte founder, Lihi Pinto Fryman, on the show in 2018, this time Chris and Anne sit down with Syte VP of Marketing Gal Fontyn to discuss how the company has evolved, the successes it has had, and how the concept of visual search is now moving into the arena of creating even deeper visual experiences within retail, the likes of which could make visual AI the single most important technology to understand within retail today.

Fast Five Video | Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Is Lululemon the Fairest of Them All?

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma Irwin the Intern love Lululemon’s acquisition of Mirror, unanimously applaud Brookfield’s Fit:Match experiment, are not quite sure what to make of Walgreens’ new small format tests, rave about Nike building smaller store footprints, and compare the Gap/Kanye deal to a big bet at the poker table.

Fast Five Video | Walmart & Shopify Could Be A Match Made In Heaven

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma Irwin the Intern discuss Walmart’s new partnership with Shopify, Staples using Instacart, a cool startup called Branch, Dick’s Sporting Goods’ new store formats, and Chris goes on a rant for the ages about how slow apparel retailers have been to adopt technology in the wake of Walmart also announcing its new self-checkout store test this week.

Special Feature Video | The Future Of Couponing And Media With DIGITS CEO, David Glaza

Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga interview Third Haus member and former Target Carthweel Lead and now CEO/Founder of DIGITS, David Glaza. They discuss everything surrounding digital couponing, who the players are to watch in the space, what brands and retailers can be doing right now to stay on top of the trends and what the next few months hold for couponing platforms, both digital and also what you would find in your Sunday newspaper.

Fast Five Video | Zara Closes Stores & We Say Good-Bye to Carter

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern send Carter Jensen off in his style for his last show before heading to a big new job. We talk Zara’s store closures, Klarna’s new loyalty program, Canada Goose tightening its distribution, Roku’s new partnership with Kroger, and why there may be more canaries in the Stitch Fix box. Plus, we put Carter on the hot seat one last time, turn the tables, and ask him to play “How Gen X are You?”

Retail TouchPoints | Will The Mall Of The Future Be Digital?

Despite the uncertainties it has unearthed, Chris Walton believes that the coronavirus pandemic has also uncovered new opportunities for the retail industry. Walton believes that both mall developers and their retail tenants can benefit from digitizing the mall experience, and creating a holistic strategy that includes curation, assisted selling, curbside pickup and more. During this conversation, Chris and senior content strategist Alicia Esposito brainstorm what the mall of the future will look like and what new possibilities lie ahead.

Fast Five Video | Facebook Shops & The Great Amazon/JCP Debate

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five podcast, sponsored by Takeoff and Trigo, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, Carter Jensen, and Emma the Intern discuss Facebook Shops, dining booking platforms in retailing, Shopify’s new banking tools, Walmart and Target’s latest earnings releases, and hold one of the all-time great Fast Five debates on whether Amazon should purchase JCP. Chris says, “yes,” while Anne says, “No!”

Fast Five Video | Pepsi the Choice of a New COVID Generation?

In this week’s Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by Trigo, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, Carter Jensen, and Emma the Intern talk Pepsi getting its DTC game on with the launch of snacks.com, Shipt and Quotient putting the numerator over the denominator in the world of digital couponing, Target’s interesting acquisition of Deliv among other c-suite moves at Shipt, Lidl and text messaging, and something you may not know much about, “squad shopping.”

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