Walmart’s High Income Demo, Klarna’s Bold Move & Why Costco May Be The New Pepsi | Fast Five
In this week’s Omni Talk Retail Fast Five news roundup, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Ownit AI, Avalara, Mirakl, and Ocampo Capital, Shoptalk’s Joe Laszlo joined Chris and Anne to discuss:
- The high income demographic tailwind behind Walmart’s back (Source)
- If Costco and Sam’s Club are the shopping choice of a new generation (Source)
- DoorDash's suite of new business solutions (Source)
- Giant Eagle’s partnership with Flybuy to cut delivery driver wait times (Source)
- And closed with a debate about just how momentous Klarna bringing BNPL in-store could be (Source)
There’s all that, plus this month’s OmniStar (congrats Lauri Joffe of American Freight), Ray-Bans, clothes that grow with you, and A&M’s Marco Valentini stops by for 5 Insightful Minutes on private brands!
To read A&M’s full report on private label brands, click here.
Music by hooksounds.com
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Transcript
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Speaker B:You are listening to Omnitalk's retail fast five, ranked in the top 10% of all podcasts globally and currently ranked in the top 100 of all business podcasts on Apple Podcasts.
Speaker B:The retail Fast five is the podcast that we hope makes you feel a little smarter, but most importantly, a little happier each week too.
Speaker B:And the Fast five is just one of the many great podcasts you can find from the Omnitalk Retail podcast network alongside our retail daily minute, 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.
Speaker B: ,: Speaker B:I'm one of your whole San Mazinga.
Chris Walton:And I'm Chris Walton and we are.
Speaker B:Here once again to discuss all the top headlines from the past week making waves in the world of omnichannel retailing.
Speaker B:Chris, we got a big couple weeks coming up.
Speaker B:The countdown is on to grocery shop and shop talk fall.
Speaker B:So joining us today is our special guest, Joe Laheslow, head of us content for Shop Talk.
Speaker B:And Joe will be helping us break down all the week's headlines and share with us a few details of what we can expect at each of these events.
Speaker B:Joe, welcome to the show.
Joe Laheslow:Hey, thank you so much for having me.
Joe Laheslow:It's always a joy to talk to you both.
Joe Laheslow:Yeah.
Chris Walton:Joel, how busy are you right now?
Chris Walton:I mean, these shows are back to back.
Chris Walton:They're two weeks in a row.
Chris Walton:Like, are you just.
Chris Walton:How did you even make time for us today?
Chris Walton:I'm curious.
Joe Laheslow:Yeah, this is my study break.
Joe Laheslow:This is the moment when, I don't know, I get to get my head out of our agenda and speakers for a little while and just, I actually welcome the moment to take a breath and I think about other things.
Chris Walton:Yeah, it's great to have you.
Chris Walton:I mean, to tell people how the sausage is made.
Chris Walton:Joe emailed us on Sunday night.
Chris Walton:He was like, hey, I need to reschedule.
Chris Walton:I've got a.
Chris Walton:I got to coordinate a keynote, a speaking engagement for the stage here.
Chris Walton:Can we reschedule this too early in the morning?
Chris Walton:And we're like, yes, for sure.
Chris Walton:Let's get it done.
Chris Walton:And we made it happen, so it's good to have you, Joe.
Joe Laheslow:Yeah, thanks.
Joe Laheslow:I appreciate you being flexible for me, as my calendar has filled unpredictably and quickly over the last five days.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Um, well, this is a good warm up for, because we're going to be on stage with you at grocery shop and shop talk, doing the wrap up, uh, content, presentations, kind of talking about everything, all the highlights from the show.
Speaker B:So just do a really good job here, Joe, and then it'll be no problem when we do it, uh, later on down the road.
Joe Laheslow:Excellent.
Speaker B:No pressure.
Speaker B:Um, all right, well, Chris, before we get to the headlines, we have a little bit of hardware to hand out this week, right?
Chris Walton:We do.
Chris Walton:And because it's the first week in October, so therefore, it is time to recognize this month's omnistar, our omnistar award, for those maybe unfamiliar or just tuning into the show for the first time, is the award we give out each month in partnership with Corso to recognize the top omnichannel operators out there.
Chris Walton:Not the pundits, not the so called experts, but the real life retail operators making a difference in their organizations.
Chris Walton:Corso's AI co pilot coaches retailers to optimize store performance at every level, transform retail operations from data overload into data powered.
Chris Walton:This month's award goes to Lori Joffe, the chief marketing officer at american freight appliances and furniture.
Chris Walton:We are saluting Lori this month because she is one of the most inquisitive and curious retail minds out there.
Chris Walton:We ran into her at shop talk in Vegas just this past March.
Speaker B:That's right.
Chris Walton:And then ran into her again at another show in New York in June.
Chris Walton:And I got to tell you, she knows her stuff.
Chris Walton:She's always curious, always inquisitive.
Chris Walton:I just love running to her, bumping into her.
Chris Walton:And so Lori, this bud, I mean, this omnistar is, does she like Budweiser?
Speaker B:Is she a buddy?
Chris Walton:No.
Chris Walton:I don't know.
Chris Walton:I just like saying this omniscience for you.
Chris Walton:So I want to make the allusion to the old Budweiser commercial and to show that I'm a, I'm a full on Gen Xer.
Chris Walton:All right, let's get to today's headlines.
Chris Walton:Joe, are you ready?
Joe Laheslow:I am as ready as I'm going to be.
Chris Walton:All right, let's do it.
Chris Walton:Today we've got news on the warehouse club's winning over Gen Z DoorDash's new suite of digital business tools.
Chris Walton:Giant Eagles attempt to slash wait times for its delivery drivers.
Chris Walton:Klarna bringing buy now, pay later in store via partnership with Addian.
Chris Walton:And the A and M, consumer and retail group's Marco Valentini stops by to give us five insightful minutes on how grocers can accelerate their private label brand growth.
Chris Walton:But we begin today with more big up market news out of Walmart.
Speaker B: owth during the first half of: Speaker B:Even as lower income households remain the retailers core e grocery segment.
Speaker B:According to grocery Dive, the growth stems from Walmart's higher income households spending more online and ordering more frequently than other customer segments.
Speaker B:Walmart's growing popularity with higher income households comes, quote, at the expense, end quote.
Speaker B:Of supermarkets, hard discounters, and target.
Speaker B:Walmart's most affluent customer segment, which makes up more than $200,000 in annual income, now makes up 8% of its average monthly active user base.
Speaker B:That affluent monthly user base has increased five times faster over the past year than its overall average monthly active users have.
Speaker B:The two firms found.
Speaker B:Lower income households, or households that are making less than $50,000 a year, accounted for 41% of Walmart's average active monthly users, compared to 36% for hard discounters, 30% for supermarkets, and 28% for target, per the report.
Speaker B:But while Walmart sales for this customer segment dipped 6%, supermarkets and target saw a drop of 20%.
Speaker B:Joe, this is also our a and M.
Speaker B:Put you on the spot question of the week.
Speaker B:We are going to put you in the hot seat here.
Speaker B:And here is the question that a and M has 1 may have been able to predict this trend, this Walmart affluent customer increase trend per a and M.
Speaker B:CRG's spring customer sentiment survey, where higher income households maintained a 600 basis point higher preference to shop online in general, plus 24% of higher earners, indicated they've switched to less expensive grocers.
Speaker B:Joe, do you suppose the Walmart versus broader grocery results are indicative of that wallet tightening for more affluent online shoppers or because of a superior Walmart delivery customer experience?
Speaker B:What do you make of these new income statistics surrounding Walmart?
Speaker B:That was a lot.
Chris Walton:Welcome to the party, Joe.
Joe Laheslow:There's, there's a lot of stats there to parse out.
Joe Laheslow:I kind of wish there were some, some graphs and charts.
Speaker B:You need some infographics.
Speaker B:Yes, working on it.
Joe Laheslow:You know, my head went first to customer experience as opposed to trading down, or affluent customers suddenly watching their grocery budgets more.
Joe Laheslow:It was, the second thing was the one that I thought of, which is when you decide where you want to buy your groceries online from, if you do it at all, it depends on selection, it depends on price, but most importantly, it depends on how fast you get your order and is your order correct and those kinds of things.
Joe Laheslow:And it only takes one or two negative experiences for somebody to sour on whoever they use the first time and try somebody else.
Joe Laheslow:And I kind of think it might be more that experience piece that's driving Walmart's success with affluent customers.
Joe Laheslow:It's probably a little bit of both, but I put my money more on the experience they're able to deliver.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense, Joe.
Speaker B:I mean, you look at number one, and that being convenience, and the majority of the households in the country are, Walmart is the closest option for them.
Speaker B:And if they can order online and have it delivered, or they can have something available for pickup on their schedule, that is a huge impact, regardless of demographic, I think, but especially in this case, and what they're seeing with this more affluent customer.
Speaker B:But Chris, what are your thoughts here?
Chris Walton:I think the answer to a and M's question is clearly both things are happening.
Chris Walton:You have the higher income shopper trying to be more discerning, but you also have something special in the water at Walmart.
Chris Walton:And so I think at the end of the day, this news is massive news.
Chris Walton:It really is.
Chris Walton:It's a huge headline because the fruits of it are really going to be felt as the economy gets better and the lower income strata starts to reemerge, so to speak, at, you know, and who knows when that is, but it'll happen at some point.
Chris Walton:And so, you know, I, there's two things I would key in on with this announcement.
Chris Walton:First, and, Joe, you kind of mentioned it, but I'll go into it a little bit further, is grocery shopping is a really sticky behavior.
Chris Walton:So once you have high income shoppers shopping for groceries at Walmart, it will become an integrated part of their weekly grocery routines.
Chris Walton:And the second point I make is that the data also, this was really interesting to me.
Chris Walton: ormat in the first quarter of: Chris Walton:So that bodes very well for, for Walmart going forward.
Chris Walton:It only puts more tailwind at their back if they can continue this, which, and then they get the lower income strata in the, into the game as well.
Chris Walton:So there is growth latent here that's going to come for Walmart at some point in time.
Chris Walton:So this is big news to me.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Especially, Chris, I think that's a great point.
Speaker B:But especially when you start to bring in, like, scoop fashion and apparel product and all of the work that their, Walmart's really, really been digging their heels into in the, the higher end apparel and fashion as they're adding those brands to their marketplace, the Stockx partnership.
Speaker B:I mean, I think you're so right.
Speaker B:Like, once you get in there and people are going to Walmart for maybe a pair of sneakers that they wouldn't go to before, and now they can, you know, get Thanksgiving dinner, like we talked about last week, for under $10 a person or $7 a person.
Speaker B:I think it was like all of those things are going to just kind of give people a reason to keep being fueled in that Walmart experience.
Speaker B:And I think the last thing that I would just add to kind of close us out here, Chris, too, is I think that the digital penetration is really important, especially with this more affluent consumer, and especially as you're starting to see Walmart steal more share from, like, a target, for example.
Speaker B:I think Walmart is dominating in their marketing.
Speaker B:They're dominating in, you know, their innovation investments.
Speaker B:They're doing all the things to make this customer experience really good from a digital perspective, from an online perspective.
Speaker B:And so I think that, you know, for me at least, I think Walmart's still lacking in the store experience that will be important to keep and maintain this affluent customer.
Speaker B:So I think seeing their investment here in digital and, you know, in the Walmart that they're kind of putting out into the public is great.
Speaker B:I think they're going to have to, to maintain that affluent customer base.
Speaker B:They're going to have to still make investments in stores if they want to kind of retain that base and continue.
Chris Walton:To grow it, which they are doing too, although I push back on that a little bit because I think all this growth is potentially additive.
Chris Walton:When you look at the higher income shopper, I think it also plays back the adage we talked about on the show, too, and which what is old is new again.
Chris Walton:You know, the super center was the key invention in the, in the eighties, basically, and you, and the grocery was the trip driver.
Chris Walton:And now we're seeing online at Walmart, that grocery can be the trip driver for the upper income echelon of the digital shopper.
Chris Walton:That then, to your point, gets them into peril, gets them into other things, and that, and their marketplace is fully functioning as well.
Chris Walton:So that's all additive growth here at the end of the day.
Speaker B:So you think the store experience is a little bit less important.
Speaker B:It's really more about like just keeping them in the digital and marketplace sphere.
Chris Walton:I think so, especially when you look at the tough times the lower income strategy is having because that will come back via the store.
Chris Walton:But all this growth is additive in the digital sphere, which is so important here.
Chris Walton:So.
Chris Walton:All right, headline number two, Costco and Sam's club appear to be winning over the younger generations.
Chris Walton:According to Business Insider, during Costco's recent fourth quarter earnings call, CFO Gary Miller Chip.
Chris Walton:Honestly, Ann in the running and Joe in the running for my favorite CFO name of all of retail, Gary Miller Chip.
Chris Walton:Miller Chip.
Chris Walton:I just like saying Miller chip.
Chris Walton:It's Miller chip time.
Chris Walton:And dropped a bombshell.
Chris Walton:Approximately half of the company's new signups over the past year were under 40 years old.
Chris Walton:To put that into perspective, we're talking about, this is crazy.
Chris Walton:We're talking about two and a half million millennial and Gen Z households willingly paying for the privilege to shop in bulk.
Chris Walton:And not to be.
Chris Walton:All done, Walmart owned Sam's club is reportedly is reporting, excuse me, equally impressive numbers saying Gen Z membership has skyrocketed by 68% in just the past two years.
Chris Walton:And let's go to you first on this one.
Chris Walton:Do you think Costco and Sam's are just enjoying the benefits of shifting demographics?
Chris Walton:Or is there something also in the water here that is making these two the Pepsi choice of a new generation?
Joe Laheslow:Zachary.
Speaker B:Chris, I feel like you're asking me to explain dad Core and why this has gone beyond, like, new balance sneakers and Kirkland brand clothing.
Speaker B:Like, but somehow this is.
Speaker B:This started a trend and a wave.
Speaker B:And yes, Gen Z wants to save more money.
Speaker B:I mean, I pulled up a couple of stats about Gen Z just to kind of give our audience a little bit of a table set, I guess, for, you know, where Gen Z is, that they spend more on housing and insurance than millennials and other generations.
Speaker B:They have more debt than other generations.
Speaker B:They spend more on travel and experiences, and they are more value driven than loyalty driven, which all adds up to, like, yes, of course.
Speaker B:Why wouldn't they be going to Costco and be going to Sam's club?
Speaker B:So I think when you look at that generation and you know how they're spending money, where they're spending time, they want quality products, too.
Speaker B:And Costco and Sam's club are able to pay this off at a rate that many other retailers cannot do.
Speaker B:They can't have this assortment in this, this product that's really giving them the value for their money.
Speaker B:So I think that this is not a surprise at all.
Speaker B:I think it's going to continue, especially as we see, you know, more Gen Z and millennials spending a greater percentage of their income on, you know, housing, food, apparel, and personal care, all of which Costco and Sam's club are able to provide them.
Speaker B:So, yeah, I'm in.
Speaker B:Joe.
Chris Walton:So you think this is kind of just a confluence of factors.
Chris Walton:Macroeconomically, what Costco and Sam's club do?
Chris Walton:Well, it's just kind of like, yep, you kind of expect this going in.
Chris Walton:Joe, do you agree with that?
Joe Laheslow:And Gen Z and millennials are growing up and starting families and kind of moving out of their small starter apartments to larger apartments or to the suburbs as well.
Joe Laheslow:I think partly this is just that cohort is now kind of reaching the stage of their lives where they can buy in bulk, they have space to store 50 rolls of toilet paper, and the desire to be frugal and save money is certainly a contributing factor as well.
Joe Laheslow:But in some ways, this isn't that new.
Joe Laheslow:I was looking around a little bit yesterday.
Joe Laheslow: I found a: Joe Laheslow:But then it was probably mostly millennials, not so much Gen Z.
Joe Laheslow:Now, seven years later, it's the Gen Zers who are kind of doing that, that house and family thing.
Chris Walton:Right.
Chris Walton:What about the Sam's club angle?
Chris Walton:Like, are you surprised that both are picking up share here, or do you think that is just a natural outgrowth of everything that you just both talked about?
Chris Walton:What do each of you think about that?
Chris Walton:Anne?
Speaker B:I think it's going to be really interesting to watch how this progresses because I think that, well, Costco kind of is like the target in this case, and Sam's club, to me, is kind of like the Walmart.
Speaker B:Like, they're both neck and neck.
Speaker B:But I think that it's going to be interesting to see a big part of this is merchandising and accessibilities to the stores and Costco.
Speaker B:Unless they start to change things, I think Sam's is likely to kind of continue to beat them because of the things that you were talking about last week, Chris, about the supply chain.
Speaker B:Like, convert the supply chains converging at Walmart and Sam's club.
Speaker B:Like, if you have more flexibility, more convenience for consumers than what Costco's offering, like, this could be, Sam's club could be, like, coming in hot here.
Speaker B:And I think really starting to steal some share from Costco the same way that we're seeing, like, Walmart from the last three kind of come in and steal share from Target.
Speaker B:But what, what do you think, Joe?
Chris Walton:Well, let's go to Joe first.
Chris Walton:Joe's got Joe's chopping at the bid.
Joe Laheslow:Here I am.
Joe Laheslow:So I think I.
Joe Laheslow:There's a couple of factors in terms of Sam's versus Costco, right?
Joe Laheslow:I think partly it's what your parents did, right.
Joe Laheslow:If you're a Gen Z er and you're kind of setting up your own household, do you grew up going to Costco with your parents?
Joe Laheslow:That's probably where you'll go first.
Joe Laheslow:But it's also what's closer to wherever you're setting up your household, whatever's more convenient to you.
Joe Laheslow:But I do think there's an interesting opportunity here.
Joe Laheslow:And my always unscientific way of thinking about who's really trying to appeal to Gen.
Joe Laheslow:Zers is to look at TikTok.
Joe Laheslow:So Costco has an official TikTok.
Joe Laheslow:It's got 101,000 followers.
Joe Laheslow:They haven't posted anything, though.
Joe Laheslow:It's like empty.
Joe Laheslow:Sam's club has 183,000 followers on TikTok and 1.4 million likes on videos that it's posted.
Joe Laheslow:And the control group, Target.
Joe Laheslow:Target has 3 million followers on TikToks and 20.4 million likes so I think either of them could boost their appeal with the youngest demographic that's kind of in that, in that nesting phase, but they both have a ways to go.
Speaker B:Robert?
Chris Walton:Yeah, it's interesting.
Chris Walton:I'm glad I got the question because I actually did some research yesterday, too.
Chris Walton:I just did a quick Google search.
Chris Walton:I thought there were less Sam's club stores throughout the US than there were Costco stores, but roughly they're even.
Chris Walton:But to both your points, and Joe, I love the TikTok statistics as well.
Chris Walton:And I love the points you brought up, too, is if I was to bet on who's going to grow more or return more money to their shareholders here in the next ten or 15 years, and do not take this as financial advice, anyone.
Chris Walton:I'm just like, just pontificating here.
Chris Walton:I would bet on Sam's club for a couple of reasons.
Chris Walton:Like, one, we talked about it last week, but with the supply chain merger, you have the potentially untapped combination of making a Walmart shopper, a digital shopper at Sam's club and vice versa, which is the crux of the, of the decision last week, I think in the long run, and that's a really powerful statement when you think about that, that you can make a digital shopper at Walmart, a shopper at Sam's club.
Chris Walton:Think about that for a sec.
Chris Walton:And then the second thing is there's so much, you guys hit it.
Chris Walton:There's so much more technologically advanced than Costco, for example, like their scan and go application.
Chris Walton:What, and what is it?
Chris Walton:50% of shoppers use their scanning go application and they're putting retail media through it.
Chris Walton:And we had, we had discussions about how Coke can now incent you and path you through the store, through retail media, on your handheld device, you know, in theory.
Chris Walton:So that's, that's hugely powerful and, and valuable to this shopper who wants to shop this way.
Chris Walton:So I'm, I'm betting on Sam's, like, in the long run, I really am.
Speaker B:I mean, Chris, I think the other thing that you bring up, too, and Joe mentioned this, it does come down to it's kind of like Ikea in this way, where like, this Costco trip is like a trip.
Speaker B:You, if you are an urban dweller, which a lot of these, this young generation is like, you have to figure out how you get a car, how you haul all this stuff back, too.
Speaker B:And I think that's another key to the success, potentially, of Walmart, is that if you are able to go on Walmart, you're starting your grocery trip there and you see like, okay, my kids love these applesauce pouches and I can get a 50 pack of them and have those delivered.
Speaker B:And I don't have to make the trip to Sam's club, but I still get access to that Sam's club, you know, price point, that is huge and that saves a trip and especially for those young families, like Joe said, like, that's a huge savings for them.
Speaker B:And I think to your point, like, just kind of catapult Sam's trajectory as kind of sealing favor for from that demographic.
Chris Walton:Yeah.
Chris Walton:And then you get me thinking, too.
Chris Walton:And does the Sam's club membership merge with Walmart plus in the long run, like, there's so many options here and so much option value in this discussion.
Chris Walton:Joe, you're in New York.
Chris Walton:How often do you go to Costco?
Joe Laheslow:Once a year when I'm visiting my family out in the more normal parts of the United States.
Chris Walton:So there you go.
Chris Walton:There you go.
Chris Walton:You could become.
Chris Walton:Yep.
Chris Walton:You could become a Sam's club shopper digitally via Walmart.
Speaker B:Joe's just got to wait for them to bring jet black back, jet.com black service back and have somebody run talk.
Joe Laheslow:To my concierge about bulk ordering my apple.
Chris Walton:Yeah, right.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:Exactly, Joe.
Speaker B:All right, let's move on to headline number three.
Speaker B:DoorDash has launched a new suite of digital business tools.
Speaker B:According to chain storage, the new products and features include the DoorDash commerce platform, which consists of these five core solutions.
Speaker B:First, a drive on demand solution that offers the ability to offer delivery through a business's own app or website.
Speaker B:Second, online ordering, which is a way to provide commission free digital sales and branding on a retailer's website or own branded app.
Speaker B:Third, phone ordering, which is an AI based call and ordering system with menu recommendations.
Speaker B:Fourth, tableside order and pay, which is the option for customers to scan a QR code with their phone for increased order efficiency.
Speaker B:And fifth, customer support solutions in the form of a dedicated delivery support platform for customer inquiries.
Speaker B:Chris, we're going to go to you first here as both Instacart and DoorDash look to extend their reach into the technological solutions that power a larger range of grocers and restaurants operations beyond just delivery.
Speaker B:Whose approach do you like more?
Chris Walton:Oh, wow.
Chris Walton:Okay.
Chris Walton:Coming in hot for me, too, and I mean hands down.
Chris Walton:Hands down is Doordash.
Chris Walton:Okay, I would go.
Speaker B:Explain yourself.
Speaker B:Explain yourself.
Chris Walton:Big, big foot on the scale at Doordash because the rest, because for a few reasons, restaurant business is more fragmented and in need of solutions like this that work than, say, the grocery, grocery industry is fragmented, but it's not as fragmented as the restaurant business.
Chris Walton:And I was also add that the restaurant business is easier to run than a grocery store.
Chris Walton:And for all of you detractors out there debate that, and you're like, what are you talking about?
Chris Walton:You now know that running a restaurant is easier than running a grocery store, because restaurants are inside of grocery stores.
Chris Walton:So it means what Instacart is trying to do is very, very difficult.
Chris Walton:You know, it's hard to come up with the technological pieces that make everything work.
Chris Walton:And so if I said that another way, what's an easier thing for me to buy into you?
Chris Walton:The fact that you can get consumers to scan a QR code on a table, or that you can get them to start using a smart shopping cart.
Chris Walton:I think we know the answer to that one.
Chris Walton:So restaurants aren't going anywhere yet.
Chris Walton:You know, like we discussed tangentially in the first two headlines, the grocers, they've got a tough road row to hoe.
Chris Walton:And so who knows?
Chris Walton:You know, I think it's a cart.
Chris Walton:Just got an uphill battle relative to what Doordash is trying to do here.
Chris Walton:That's my take.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:I like it.
Speaker B:I like it.
Speaker B:Um, I agree with you, Joe.
Joe Laheslow:Like, I'm definitely, definitely not going to pick a favorite.
Joe Laheslow:We love both Doordash and Instacart.
Joe Laheslow:They're both grocery shop next week.
Joe Laheslow:So I don't know that I like one or the other solution better.
Joe Laheslow:But I do think it's really smart on Doordash's part to add to the suite of services that it offers to its retailer and restaurant clients.
Joe Laheslow:Anytime you get somebody buying two or three pieces of your modular solution, they're bound to be more sticky, more loyal to you than somebody who's just doing it for the ordering and delivery piece.
Joe Laheslow:I think maybe the most interesting single component here, the one that had me scratching my head a little bit, is the phone ordering.
Joe Laheslow:Like, pick up and call and talk to a fake person about your order.
Joe Laheslow:Because so much of what we talk about when we talk about technology is clearly geared at, like, younger customers as the early adopters.
Joe Laheslow:And that's gotta be the opposite.
Joe Laheslow:Like, this is one of these rare technology things that if anybody uses it, it would be older shoppers who don't wanna go on an app and like, tap and shop that way.
Joe Laheslow:So interesting to see what kind of traction it gets.
Joe Laheslow:Probably more restaurants than grocery, but either way, it's nice to see a tech solution that isn't entirely visual and app based and, and geared for those younger shoppers.
Speaker B:I mean, I think you're bringing up some really important points, both of you, but you just, you look at all of the efficiencies that this is going to provide.
Speaker B:I mean, think as a restaurant owner, you now, like, you don't have to do anything.
Speaker B:You just, you have online ordering automatically in your app that's coming through.
Speaker B:You're cutting down on staffing because you don't have to have somebody, you know, on the phone lines answering questions.
Speaker B:And especially, especially Doordash is so good at this.
Speaker B:I don't know if either of you have ever encountered.
Speaker B:Have you ever had to come customer support at DoorDash?
Speaker B:Like if you had an order go wrong or anything like that?
Chris Walton:No, no, not really.
Chris Walton:It always goes pretty well for me, actually.
Speaker B:Well, I have to say, like, I know I'm talking to a robot.
Speaker B:They have handled my, like, order issues so quickly and so efficiently, and it doesn't, like, I, in most cases, I would question the stuff that Joe's talking about.
Speaker B:Like, is the person really going to have a fruitful conversation ordering their dinner with a, with AI generated order taker?
Speaker B:But Doordash has done such a phenomenal job on the customer service side of this that I think that they'll definitely be using those tactics to make sure that that process is as seamless as possible.
Speaker B:The, the other thing, too, is like, I think you look at the stickiness of the Doordash consumer.
Speaker B:You have Doordash.
Speaker B:As of the end of last year, they have 37 million active users, compared to Instacart's 14 million active users at the end of last year.
Speaker B:And so I think that for all these, these restaurants or grocers who are looking for, you know, the go to, to be part of the kind of go to app when it comes to food ordering and grocery ordering.
Speaker B:Like, they've got DoorDash already there.
Speaker B:They've set up this clientele who's used to the functionality of that application.
Speaker B:But, Chris, close us off here point.
Chris Walton:Because when you go back to it, because the restaurant delivery, like we've talked about in the show, that's the niche, that's the strategic differentiation point here.
Chris Walton:Because a lot of what Instacart's doing, too, like when you look at standing up the website browser for the small local grocers and whatnot, Doordash can potentially do that as well.
Chris Walton:That's the easy stuff to do.
Chris Walton:And then that just erase the bottom in terms of who can provide it at the lowest cost.
Chris Walton:And there's tons of other providers out there besides these two.
Chris Walton:But when you get into the operations of a restaurant versus a grocery store, too, that's where I think there's just more growth from this strategy than I think it is, than there is in terms of Instacart, because it's gonna be harder for Instacart to get in there and do all this, but.
Speaker B:And you can order from your table, from the QR code, which I'm just a huge fan of.
Chris Walton:I can't wait for that to come.
Chris Walton:Oh, my God.
Chris Walton:That is still my biggest frustration with restaurant shopping.
Chris Walton:Waiting for the check.
Chris Walton:It just makes sense.
Speaker B:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker B:I know.
Chris Walton:All right, well, let's say hello to Marco from the A and M consumer and retail group.
Chris Walton:Joining us now for five insightful minutes is the managing director at the A and M consumer and retail group, Marco Valentini.
Chris Walton:Marco will be discussing with us the results of his company's most recent report on how retailers can successfully build and foster a strong own brand strategy.
Chris Walton:Marco, first question for you today.
Chris Walton:Why is it important for retailers to invest in private brands?
Marco Valentini:Yes, we're seeing a strong growth of private brands in the market.
Marco Valentini:Private brands continue to outgrow national brands and they continue to be a differentiator for many retailers and their offer.
Marco Valentini:The private brands today represent roughly 20% of food in the US.
Marco Valentini:And this trend is continued.
Marco Valentini: % by: Marco Valentini:We are also seeing private brands continuing to outgrow national brands at roughly the rate of 400 basis points.
Marco Valentini:That means that think about every year, roughly $1.5 billion are shifting from national brand to private brands.
Marco Valentini:So there's a clear opportunity in terms of market share there to capture growth that ultimately is not accessible for many retailers.
Speaker B:Marco, I know why I love private brands, part of that reason being the value component of that.
Speaker B:But why do you feel like customers really love those private brand options?
Marco Valentini:Yeah.
Marco Valentini:Customers are often loving national brands, private brands even more than their national brands equivalent.
Marco Valentini:They, in many cases, the customers cannot distinguish whether a brand is owned by a retailer or national brand.
Marco Valentini:And you have many examples of brand that have highest level of advocacy and love from customers.
Marco Valentini:Think about the trader Joe's assortment or Kirkland from Costco.
Marco Valentini:These brands are highly recognized and they not just provide value, but they also provide the highest level of differentiation and innovation for the customers.
Marco Valentini:I would say that very often the minimum condition is to provide a 30% to 40% price positioning below the national brand equivalent with the same level of quality.
Marco Valentini:This is kind of the traditional positioning of national brands, but the most successful players have been able to innovate and also add the highest level of differentiation, innovation through, for example, unique product ranges, unique flavors, unique packaging, or capturing specific pocket of demands that are not normally served by national brands.
Marco Valentini:Think about retailers, for example, that developed organic ranges, for example, 365 from Whole Foods.
Marco Valentini:Or think about retailers that have been able to develop premium ranges.
Marco Valentini:Think about private selection of Kroger.
Joe Laheslow:Got it.
Chris Walton:All right, Marco, let's get you out of here on this.
Chris Walton:So, for the average C suite executive listening to this podcast, what should they do to accelerate their private label brand growth?
Marco Valentini:Yeah, that's a very good question, Chris.
Marco Valentini:It requires quite a lot of focus and discipline.
Marco Valentini:Right.
Marco Valentini:I think the most important aspect of this is to build the commitment throughout the leadership team within the organization.
Marco Valentini:You know, firstly, at the chief merchant level, chief merchants have to treat private brands with the same level of attention to detail or even higher that they use.
Marco Valentini:For national brands, this is not just about setting up targets, but it's also being consistent and having a year round commitment around, for example, product innovation planograms, promotions and so on and so forth.
Marco Valentini:You need to have strong support from all the other functions.
Marco Valentini:Think about supply chain to ensure availability of the product, procurement to kind of have the right vendor partnerships, and ultimately the execution in the stores.
Marco Valentini:Marketing has to be highly engaged to provide focus and investment to the development of the brands.
Marco Valentini:Ultimately, the commitment to private brands have to start at the CEO and CFO levels because they have to be able to align to the entire leadership team of the organization around the shared goal and also a clear set of KPI's and targets.
Marco Valentini:The investments have to be measured to the ambition and the private brand teams have to be right sized and at the same time empowered to drive change.
Marco Valentini:You need the dedicated investments in branding, in marketing, but also in, for example, developing production capabilities with some of your suppliers.
Marco Valentini:I mean, in essence, private brand development today is more an imperative than an option for many grocers, and you really need strong commitment from your entire organization.
Marco Valentini:But the good news are that the players that are able to achieve that positioning very often are delivering stronger market results and at the same time, strong shareholder results.
Speaker B:Thanks, Marco.
Chris Walton:Great.
Chris Walton:Thank you, Marco.
Chris Walton:And remember, if you're interested in reading the A and M consumer and retail group's full report on how you can accelerate your private label brand journey, just check out our podcast description where you'll find the link.
Chris Walton:Or you can also head to omnitalk.
Joe Laheslow:Dot blog.
Chris Walton:Headline number four giant Eagle wants to slash delivery times delivery wait times, to be specific, according to Grocery Dive, Giant Eagle announced Tuesday.
Chris Walton:In exchange expanded partnership with omnichannel location platform Flyby to bolster its last mile delivery service and cut avoidable delivery driver wait times by at least half.
Chris Walton:The partnership extends the technology company's location based service, which orchestrates product picking in line with the driver's distance from the store to the groceries delivery program.
Chris Walton:Flyby's AI powered location technology can pinpoint which driver is arriving for specific orders and send alerts to its main dashboard and picking app.
Chris Walton:The technology has reduced wait times to less than two and a half minutes on average.
Chris Walton:Joe that's clock.
Chris Walton:That's a clock time.
Chris Walton:Joe what do you think of giant Eagles investment?
Chris Walton:What do you think giant Eagles investment in Flabey says, if anything, about where grocers are willing to invest their money.
Joe Laheslow:I have a couple of thoughts on the Flyby investment.
Joe Laheslow:I think first of all, it underscores that for a lot of grocery retailers, in store fulfillment is still super, super important.
Joe Laheslow:I mean, I think it's always going to be a spectrum.
Joe Laheslow:Some in store fulfillment will be the most economical route, some micro fulfillment centers, some big, big hubs.
Joe Laheslow:I think all three can work depending on the situation, but I think it does underscore that in store pickers and delivery from local stores is a really important piece here.
Joe Laheslow:I also think we're in an era where kind of small incremental improvements can really help with the economics of grocery delivery.
Joe Laheslow:In this case, a small savings of time is definitely, definitely translates into money.
Joe Laheslow:And as we were talking about in the Walmart segment at the top, small improvements in customer experience also probably have a measurable outcome in terms of really cementing that grocery e commerce shoppers loyalty and keeping them coming back.
Joe Laheslow:So I think there's a whole bunch of different benefits that giant eagle potentially stands to gain if the time savings that it's reporting scale and continue.
Chris Walton:And what would you add?
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, Joe knows we've been on these calls at shop talk fall.
Speaker B:I'm going to be doing a panel where we're really talking about how retailers can better unify commerce experiences for their customers, make it more seamless.
Speaker B:And while it seems like the focus then of these technological investments would be on the consumer side of things, maybe on its surface it's actually showed us like giant Eagle and Flyby here, that it's more investments in operational technology.
Speaker B:It's figuring out ways to get things running as efficiently as possible.
Speaker B:And this is for, in this case for delivery drivers.
Speaker B:I mean, you have better store operation visibility then too, if you know where these drivers are and what their load is that they're taking already.
Speaker B:And then in addition to faster delivery speeds, I think it should be able to also provide them with more transparency for the customers too, of like actually here, you know, yes, we're doing a two hour delivery, but this guy is going to be there faster than 2 hours or this might be a little bit longer than 2 hours, but just gives that visibility to the customer so that they know what to expect, which I think that is how you're really paying off a better, more unified commerce experience for customers.
Speaker B:Again, investing in the technology like Giant Eagle is with flyby to make sure that your operations are running smoothly and that's what provides that key customer experience.
Chris Walton:Yeah, I agree with both of you and I don't have a ton to add here, but I think this headline is just further proof, especially when we look at the headlines over the last week, how Walmart and Amazon dominated the headlines.
Chris Walton:And then this is one that cracks the code here.
Chris Walton:To me, when I step back in preparing for grocery shop for my interviews too that I'm doing on stage next week, it just goes back to the adage and show me the money, right?
Chris Walton:That seems like grocers are investing in either back end operations or retail media.
Chris Walton:Anything else just isn't going to get past the budget committees and smartly so.
Chris Walton:And that's why I think the grocery industry has been relatively more innovative.
Chris Walton:The more innovative sector of has been the relatively more innovative sector of retail than say other verticals.
Chris Walton:And because, you know, sometimes we get so distracted by the shiny penny on the ground that we want to pick it up of all the consumer experiences, bit tech and everything.
Chris Walton:But at the end of the day, the smart money is still going to the backend operations and particularly for grocery retail media as well.
Speaker B:All right, let's go on to headline number five.
Speaker B:Klarna is partnering with Adian to bring buy now, pay later into physical stores.
Speaker B:According to CNBC, Klarna said Thursday that it had entered into an agreement with Adyen to add its buy now, pay later products to physical payment terminals.
Speaker B:Klarna will be included as an option across more than 450,000 adyen payment terminals in brick and mortar locations.
Speaker B:As a result of the deal, the partnership will initially launch in Europe, North America and Australia with a wider rollout planned later down the line.
Speaker B:Joe, let's go to you first.
Speaker B:What are your thoughts here on buy now, pay later coming in store?
Speaker B:And what does that mean for the future of retail?
Joe Laheslow:Yeah, it's been a slow roll with by now, pay later, making the transition from the e comm checkout experience to the physical store POS experience.
Joe Laheslow:But I saw a stat recently that said something like, I don't know, 15% to 20% of retailers already do some sort of BNPL in stores.
Joe Laheslow:So again, that's definitely a small percentage overall.
Joe Laheslow:I think what I'm looking for here is it's going to be really interesting to see which retailers take Klarna and Adion up on this offer and just how it gets communicated in stores.
Chris Walton:Right.
Joe Laheslow:I mean, I'm used to, we're all maybe used to the department, department store experience with the little thing about save 20% if you sign up for our store credit card at pos.
Joe Laheslow:But will it be giant signs saying pay in for throughout the stores that adopt this?
Joe Laheslow:Or will it be more subtle and kind of if, you know, you know, just a little Karna branding for those shoppers who already are kind of working with the brand?
Joe Laheslow:But I mean, I think payment flexibility for shoppers is a good thing.
Joe Laheslow:I think, you know, it kind of adds to the set of choices that somebody has while they're waiting to pay.
Joe Laheslow:And for some shoppers, that'll probably be a good thing.
Joe Laheslow:And for a lot of shoppers, they'll just keep breaking out their credit card or debit card or maybe even cash as they always did.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, Joe, I think that you bring up an important point, and I actually found some research.
Speaker B:So Marnie Shapiro, she's the vice president of global advertising and affiliate partnerships at Afterpay, they did a study, and they found that Gen Z is actually more likely to use buy now, pay later than they are credit cards.
Speaker B:So I think you're right in.
Speaker B:You know, how are they going to message this at checkout?
Speaker B:And how are they going to bring in that next generation of shopper?
Speaker B:Because they're offering something like this, especially as Gen Z is also going to be the highest paid spending power.
Speaker B:They will have the highest paid spending power in human history.
Speaker B: And by: Speaker B:So just five, a little over five years from now, once that Gen Z generation has really come into the workforce, they will account for almost half of total spending.
Speaker B:So I think when you look at what Adian and Klarna are doing here and how they're setting themselves up for success in the future, you got to follow the money, as Chris would say.
Speaker B:And I think this move is setting retailers up to do just that.
Speaker B:But, Chris, I'll let you.
Speaker B:Oh, go ahead, Joe.
Speaker B:Yeah, jump in.
Joe Laheslow:I think another way of looking at it is that sort of next generation of omnichannel or unified commerce story that everybody is talking about these days, about just making the customer experience when you're in a store as consistent with online as possible.
Speaker B:Great point.
Joe Laheslow:Retailers being excited about this or interested in this, because it is another way to make those two experiences consistent and to be able to say to somebody who shops your brand online, oh, you can now use the same payment method that you like when you come visit us in stores.
Joe Laheslow:So I think it kind of helps with that unification of the two sides.
Speaker B:That's such a great point, Joe.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, I had not even thought about that until you just said that.
Speaker B:But, yeah, it's totally, you're totally, like, leaving consumers, consumers right now in, in kind of the lurch potentially when they're in store, when you want them to have the most seamless shopping experience possible, and, you know, then you're making them go online to order something so that they can get installment financing like that.
Speaker B:That's a very disjointed experience if that's, if that's where these retailers are at.
Speaker B:But, Chris, I'll give you the last word here.
Chris Walton:Yeah, I mean, I got a couple thoughts here.
Chris Walton:Like, actually, this, one of the reasons I loved one of this is this, this topic is one of the reasons I love doing this show because Joe particularly made me think of something that I never thought about.
Chris Walton:Like why haven't we seen a retailer, you know, brand its own BNPL service in partnership with one of these companies?
Chris Walton:Like, right.
Chris Walton:Why isn't that included in the e commerce checkout?
Chris Walton:And why aren't they bringing that in store?
Chris Walton:And you have to think that's probably going to happen at some time, at some point, if you look at the history of retail for the past 30 or 40 years, because that's already happened via credit Cardinal.
Chris Walton:So that's an interesting topic that I've never, ever given headspace before.
Chris Walton:So thank you for that, Joe.
Chris Walton:Well done, my friend.
Chris Walton:But the other point I'd make is I actually think this headline is in the running for retail headline of the year.
Chris Walton:When you think about it in terms of the overall long term impact that this is going to have on changing consumer behavior and how we shop a retail store.
Chris Walton:And the number I would, the statistic, I would point out from the article that I think keys into that is 5%.
Chris Walton:5% is the number I want people to remember, because that is the percentage of all e commerce transactions that the CNBC article reports comes via Klarna's BNPL service.
Chris Walton:5%.
Chris Walton:Okay.
Chris Walton:5% of all e commerce transactions are coming from Klarna's BMPL service.
Chris Walton:That's a pretty big number on its own.
Chris Walton:And remember, e commerce, what, 20% of all retail sales?
Chris Walton:So 5% of 20% is already pretty big.
Chris Walton:But what's bigger is x percent of the 80% that's still out there in physical retail.
Chris Walton:And it's going to come at some point, because BNPL expands people's wallets and gives them the ability to pay on interest free installments.
Chris Walton:There's no reason not to use it relative to a credit card, if you can.
Chris Walton:So therefore, it's a huge, huge move from both Karna and Adian that we're going to see play dividends over time.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, Chris, like, you got me thinking.
Speaker B:Remember when we talked to Alvier about this kind of concept, too?
Speaker B:About, like, there is so much opportunity here.
Speaker B:Yeah, you're right.
Speaker B:The retailers having their own buy now, pay later program with the.
Speaker B:With a provider like Klarna or somebody else like that.
Speaker B:That in itself is another huge area of opportunity when we're going to see so much growth in this.
Chris Walton:Yeah, and I don't understand the payment space that.
Chris Walton:Well, that's never a segment of retail that I got that exposed to.
Chris Walton:But you have to wonder what.
Chris Walton:What's holding that up?
Chris Walton:Is it just the traditional, like, retailers are scared to try things new?
Chris Walton:Try new things?
Chris Walton:Excuse me.
Chris Walton:Or, you know, or is there some other, you know, mechanical thing that holds it up with how payments are conducted?
Chris Walton:But anyone out there that knows, please, let us chime in and let us know your thoughts.
Speaker B:All right, let's move on to the lightning round, you two.
Speaker B:Joe, you get all the questions today.
Speaker B:Since you're our special guest, we're going to hit you with question number one first.
Speaker B:Meta's Mark Zuckerberg just announced new AR glasses in partnership with Ray ban that will retail at $299.
Speaker B:What are your thoughts on the success of this product, Joe?
Speaker B:Will they make you Runway ready, or should people run away?
Joe Laheslow:That really does put me on the spot if I have to pick one or the other.
Joe Laheslow:But I guess it feels weird to say this about an AR product, but Runway ready would be my take on it.
Speaker B:Cool.
Joe Laheslow:Two problems with augmented reality.
Joe Laheslow:Virtual reality things.
Joe Laheslow:That one, they make you look like a doofus.
Joe Laheslow:And two, there's not really anything to do with them.
Joe Laheslow:And I really think this may be the first product I've seen that solved that first problem.
Joe Laheslow:You don't look like a doofus when you're wearing them.
Joe Laheslow:So the bigger question is, like, once people have them, will there be cool things that they can do or useful things that they can, they can do with them?
Joe Laheslow:The answer on that is maybe, but at least you won't look like a doofus when you wear them.
Speaker B:Thanks for bringing doofus back into our vocabulary, Joe.
Chris Walton:Good word for the lexicon, or at least for me.
Chris Walton:They'll make me look more like a doofus.
Chris Walton:Joe is what I would say, probably.
Chris Walton:All right, target released a new sneaker that, that will reportedly grow with you.
Chris Walton:Grow, sorry.
Chris Walton:Yes, grow with you.
Chris Walton:And.
Chris Walton:That's right, grow with you as your feet get larger.
Chris Walton:Aside from footwear.
Chris Walton:Footwear.
Chris Walton:Having trouble today?
Chris Walton:Aside from footwear, Joe, what other clothing item would you most want to grow with you?
Joe Laheslow:I don't know.
Joe Laheslow:I feel like we live in an era of that.
Chris Walton:Right.
Joe Laheslow:I mean, they already make men's trousers with enough elastic in the waistband that those grow with you.
Joe Laheslow:A little bit of hats have adjustable brims.
Joe Laheslow:Not that my head has really changed size.
Chris Walton:Great point.
Joe Laheslow:Great point in the last couple of years.
Joe Laheslow:But I think it's such an interesting thing.
Joe Laheslow:I mean, feet are very delicate objects, and who knows how well these growing shoes will actually work.
Joe Laheslow:But the thing in that news piece that really got me was about people whose feet just happen to be two different sizes, so they have to buy two pairs of shoes when they buy shoes.
Joe Laheslow:And even that just feels like it's going to make their lives a lot better if these things work as promised.
Chris Walton:So did you give an answer, Joel?
Chris Walton:I'm not sure you did.
Joe Laheslow:I may have just skipped over that, because I'm honestly, nothing on me is really changed size.
Joe Laheslow:Thankfully, I'm shrinking, actually.
Joe Laheslow:So maybe my answer is shirts and jackets that can get smaller with me as I get older and therefore shrink.
Speaker B:Oh, my God.
Speaker B:The opposite of, like, the kids.
Speaker B:Jackets that expand, you know, like, Joe just wants them to retract.
Speaker B:We would like to retract.
Joe Laheslow:I was five years ago, and now I'm five eight.
Speaker B:All right, let's go to question number three.
Speaker B:Joe.
Speaker B:United Airlines and Air France are adding Starlink Wi Fi to their fleets.
Speaker B:And according to the airlines, the speed will be so strong that passengers will be able to stream videos and potentially even take Zoom calls.
Speaker B:What would you be willing to give up on a flight for reliable high speed Internet beverage service or legroom.
Joe Laheslow:Beverage.
Speaker B:Service you're fine with, I think I would tend to agree with you.
Speaker B:I feel like you can bring your.
Chris Walton:Own drinks, my own water.
Joe Laheslow:You can't pack your own legroom.
Joe Laheslow:I mean, I kind of dread that you're, when somebody next to me in coach on a long flight is on a Zoom call.
Joe Laheslow:I relish the fact that those are currently, like, not technically feasible and or banned, but, but, but, I mean, there was an era when phones, they were, like, super expensive, you know, $5 phones on, on planes, and nobody really used them.
Joe Laheslow:So, I mean, maybe, maybe this is just back to the future, but, but I guess.
Joe Laheslow:I guess we're marching towards that era of Zoom calls on films.
Chris Walton:Oh, my God, that's gonna be terrible.
Chris Walton:I'm gonna hate that.
Chris Walton:All right, last one.
Chris Walton:A Bridgerton ball experience in Detroit is being hailed as a scam reminiscent of what transpired with a Willy Wonka event recently in the UK.
Chris Walton:What yet untapped entertainment experience would you most want to be turned into retail tainment, Joe.
Joe Laheslow:This one is super challenging.
Joe Laheslow:People are already doing Star Trek, right?
Joe Laheslow:So can I say it?
Joe Laheslow:I love the science fictiony world of the Federation where everybody's happy and things just work, and we have transporters and replicators.
Joe Laheslow:I would love to go to a Star Trek experience.
Joe Laheslow:That'd be probably my first choice.
Chris Walton:So you're a Trekkie, Joe.
Joe Laheslow:That's what you're telling us of the various stars like Stargate, Star wars, and Star Trek?
Joe Laheslow:I'm a Star Trek person.
Joe Laheslow:There's Stargate in there.
Chris Walton:That's a good, that's the first one you said Stargate, Star Trek, and Star wars.
Chris Walton:Very nice.
Chris Walton:That, that gives us some keen insight into who you are, Joe, so thank you for that.
Chris Walton:All right, well, that closes us out.
Chris Walton:Happy birthday today to Lorraine Braco, Avery books of Star, Star Trek fame as well, Joe.
Chris Walton:Wow, what a coincidence.
Chris Walton:And to the man, deep space nine.
Chris Walton:What's that?
Joe Laheslow:Deep space nine, right?
Joe Laheslow:Yeah, right.
Chris Walton:Deep space nine.
Joe Laheslow:Yeah.
Chris Walton:I don't know.
Chris Walton:You told me.
Chris Walton:I'm not sure.
Chris Walton:And also, to the man who is so one of a kind that he goes by one single word that is both a noun and a verb.
Chris Walton:The great Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, aka Steve.
Chris Walton:I know youre all waiting for it.
Chris Walton:And remember, if you can only read or listen to one retail blog in the business, make it omnitalk.
Chris Walton:The only retail media outlet run by two former executives from a current top ten Us retailer.
Chris Walton: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, content that is exclusive to us and that Ann and I take great pride in doing just for you.
Chris Walton:Thanks, as always, for listening in.
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Chris Walton:And so, until next week, on behalf of all of us at Omnitalk, be careful out there.
