Walmart’s Auto Center “Of The Future,” Amazon’s Rx Kiosk & Kroger’s Odd Digital Strategy | Fast Five
In this week's Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Simbe, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, and ClearDemand, Chris and Anne discussed:
- Amazon's new in-office prescription kiosks at One Medical locations (Source)
- Walmart opening an auto-care center of the future (Source)
- Kroger using DashMart's for online delivery (Source)
- Walmart partnering with Wiliot to improve inventory tracking (Source)
- The big 3 third-party grocery and food delivery marketplaces – DoorDash, Instacart, and Uber Eats – teaming up with ChatGPT (Source)
And Nick Matthews, Wiliot's Vice President of Solutions and Architecture, will be joining the show soon to provide more details about Walmart's massive Bluetooth sensor rollout.
There's all that, plus The Body Shop's return, The Running Man sequel, JP Morgan's $3 billion office tower, and whether Chris dreams of having his own executive washroom.
P.S. Be sure to check out all our other podcasts from the past week here, too: omnitalk.blog/category/podcast/
P.P.S. Also be sure to check out our podcast rankings on Apple Podcasts and on Feedspot
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Transcript
This episode of the OMNITALK Retail Fast 5 is brought to you by the A and M Consumer and Retail Group.
Speaker A:The A and M Consumer and Retail Group is a management consulting firm that tackles the most complex challenges and advances its clients, people and communities towards their maximum potential.
Speaker A:CRG brings the experience, tools and operator like pragmatism to help retailers and consumer products companies be on the right side of disruption and Miracle, the catalyst of Commerce.
Speaker A:Over 450 retailers are opening new revenue streams with marketplaces, dropship and retail media and succeeding.
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Speaker A:What's holding you back?
Speaker A:Visit Miracle.com to learn more.
Speaker A:That's M I R A K L.com and Corso.
Speaker A:Your stores are full of data, but are your teams acting on it?
Speaker A:Corso turns retail data into personalized daily to dos that drive sales, reduce waste and improve execution.
Speaker A:No fluff, just action.
Speaker A:Help your managers focus on what matters most.
Speaker A:Visit corso.com to see Intelligent management in motion and Infios.
Speaker A:At Infios, they unite warehousing, transportation and order management into a seamless, adaptable network.
Speaker A:Infios helps you stay ahead from promise to delivery and every step in between.
Speaker A:To learn more, visit infios.com and finally, Ocampo Capital.
Speaker A:Ocampo Capital is a venture capital firm founded by retail executives with the aim of helping early stage consumer businesses succeed through investment and operational support.
Speaker A:Learn more@ocampo capital.com hello, you are listening to Omnitalk's Retail Fast Five, ranked in the top 10% of all podcasts globally and currently the only retail podcast ranked in the top 100 of all business podcasts on Apple Podcasts.
Speaker A: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 A:And the Fast 5 is just one of the many great podcasts you can find from the Omnitok 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 A: ,: Speaker A:I'm one of your hosts, Anne Mazinga.
Speaker B:And I'm Chris Walton and we are.
Speaker A:Here once again to discuss all the top headlines from the past week making waves in the world of omnichannel retailing.
Speaker A:And Chris, before we get into the headlines, I just want to alert our listeners to all of the incredible LinkedIn Live events that we have coming up as we are in Q4 and we're getting ready for the holidays.
Speaker A:We've got some pretty exciting lineup here or we have a pretty exciting lineup coming up here.
Speaker A:We have SPS Commerce coming up.
Speaker A:They're talking about five things you can still do to get ready for Black Friday.
Speaker A:We have htech coming up, talking about computer vision and some avoidable disasters and computer vision deployment.
Speaker A:So that's going to be a good one.
Speaker B:That one sounds spicy.
Speaker B:That one sounds really spicy.
Speaker A:It is going to be spicy.
Speaker A:And then we have our favorite of all favorite podcasts.
Speaker A:We do this twice a year.
Speaker A:Chris, I'm going to give you the honors in talking about the last one that we have coming up.
Speaker B:Oh, the last one?
Speaker B:Yeah, the last one I'm really excited about.
Speaker B: g this year the way too early: Speaker B:Because we're planning to debut it in early November before all the hullabaloo of the holiday starts and everyone gets distracted.
Speaker B:And quite honestly, there's not that much difference in the, in the last month anyway.
Speaker B:So when you're looking back on a whole year of trends in retail.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So yeah, I'm excited about it.
Speaker B:Ethan's always good fun and good stuff to have on the program.
Speaker B:So yeah, you should definitely check that out.
Speaker B:You can Register via our LinkedIn page.
Speaker B:You can also register via our daily newsletter that comes your way each and every morning.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:Yes, check, definitely check those out.
Speaker A:Lots of good information to have.
Speaker A:And if you aren't already, follow us on LinkedIn so that you can get access to those recordings once they go live also.
Speaker A:All right, Chris, let's get to the headlines.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:And in this week's Fast5, we've got news on Walmart opening an auto care center of the future.
Speaker B:Kroger using dashmart for online delivery.
Speaker B:Walmart partnering with Williot to improve inventory tracking.
Speaker B:The big three third party grocery delivery and food delivery marketplaces.
Speaker B:DoorDash, Instacart and UberEats teaming up with ChatGPT.
Speaker B:But we begin today with more quote unquote of the future news.
Speaker B:Going to do my Joy Tribbian thing of the future news out of Amazon.
Speaker A:And yes, headline number one, Amazon's new in office prescription kiosks allow patients to pick up their prescriptions immediately after their medical appointment.
Speaker A: ss release, starting December: Speaker A:Powered by Amazon's logistics and technology, each kiosk is stocked with a curated inventory of medications tailored to the prescribing patterns of the specific office location.
Speaker A:The process is very simple.
Speaker A:You create an Amazon pharmacy account@pharmacy.Amazon.com you then schedule an appointment at any participating One Medical location and ask your provider to send your prescription to Amazon Pharmacy at checkout.
Speaker A:In the Amazon app, you can select the kiosk pickup and pay with your preferred method.
Speaker A:You'll get a QR code to scan at the kiosk to pick up your medication.
Speaker A:An Amazon pharmacist will review your medication and it will be ready for pickup within minutes.
Speaker A:Through the Amazon app, patients can see upfront costs including available discount and estimated insurance co pays.
Speaker A:They can pay for their prescriptions and if needed, connect directly to an Amazon Pharmacy licensed pharmacist via secure video or phone consultation.
Speaker A:Chris, this is all.
Speaker A:Also the A and M put you on the spot question right away with the first headline.
Speaker B:Okay, all right, I'm ready.
Speaker B:Ad Bring it, bring it.
Speaker B:A and M. I'm ready for it today.
Speaker B:I'm ready.
Speaker B:Let's do it.
Speaker A:All right, so A and M wants to know, removing any element of friction in script fulfillment will likely be applauded by customers.
Speaker A:But how big of a Trojan horse horse is this for Amazon Pharmacy as a means to a bigger end?
Speaker B:Oh man, if it's a Trojan horse, it's a, it's, it's a, it's a Trojan horse with one of the Trojans like hanging out the, the bottom of the belly with all for all to see.
Speaker B:You know, that's one thing I'd say and, but I don't know, I'm not really seeing the overall play here and I have questions about how much friction is actually being removed by Amazon doing this, which I'm curious to get your take too.
Speaker B:But you know, if you ask me am I buyer buying or selling this idea, I think I'm like 70, 30 on the sell side.
Speaker B:Like I get that it's an experiment and that's why I'm kind of on the 30 side on the buy side.
Speaker B:But you know, when I step back, I don't think it's a well designed experiment for a number of reasons.
Speaker B:Like because from an experimentation standpoint for it to work a number of things have to be true.
Speaker B:It sounds like you need to be A one Medical user.
Speaker B:So you have to get over that hurdle.
Speaker B:And then if you are, you have to also want to change your habits and do this, which is another hurdle to get over.
Speaker B:So you're really kind of testing two things there.
Speaker B:So in that sense, I can see it being a controlled test within the one Medical environment.
Speaker B:But my fear is then you don't have much confidence to take the idea out of that environment into the natural state of how people generally get health care.
Speaker B:And then the other point I just make in closing would be like, what do I do if the prescription's out of stock?
Speaker B:Like, you know, that's just super frustrating.
Speaker B:And so it seems like the whole thing just adds a lot of more friction points for me and especially just given how I'm used to doing this.
Speaker B:Like, and especially when immediate delivery is available too.
Speaker B:So, like, I just, I just don't get what the end game here is.
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean, I think, I think it makes sense as a concept for One Medical.
Speaker A:Like, I mean, this, if you're one Medical, you're probably bought into Amazon Healthcare.
Speaker A:You're buying into the market.
Speaker A:This should be part of your experience, especially since you're a newer clinic.
Speaker A:The article talked about the importance of making sure that people actually fulfill their prescriptions because something like almost half of people don't fulfill their prescriptions after they leave the doctor's office, which is just baffling to me.
Speaker A:But, but anyway, I think you have to have a method for them to pick up the prescription quickly and easily after leaving this appointment to make this worth someone.
Speaker A:1 Scheduling an appointment via the app, then getting their prescription filled via the app.
Speaker A:I think it makes sense as a cohesive way to launch and scale One Medical.
Speaker A:But I think this is highly dependent then on how quickly one Medical can scale and get to the like really the growth that, you know, CVS or Walgreens and their minute clinics have, or even just your local, your local provider for urgent care.
Speaker A:So I think that's, to me, that's the biggest thing that is.
Speaker A:Is kind of beholden to any success with this, is that you have to see how quickly one Medical can scale.
Speaker A:I don't think it's a Trojan horse at all.
Speaker A:I think it's just a very simple, like, here's a convenience.
Speaker A:You can get this prescription from your kiosk.
Speaker A:You probably can have it delivered same day within a few hours via Amazon as well, if they don't have it at the kiosk at that time.
Speaker A:But for me, it's really this is just about scaling and it's a fancy way to do that.
Speaker A:There's nothing new about having a pharmacy outside of the minute clinic, you know.
Speaker B:Yeah, Right.
Speaker B:Well, the interesting point you bring up too is it does start pushing the envelope on automated prescription retrieval for customers.
Speaker B:So maybe, you know, the CVS's and Walgreens start to look at that and make that experience a little less friction filled.
Speaker B:Because that is a friction filled experience.
Speaker B:When you get to Walgreens, you're not feeling well and there's a line of like 10 people in front of you and somebody's arguing about their insurance and you just want to go home.
Speaker B:And so, yeah, I mean, if it, if it leads down that road.
Speaker B:Yeah, you know, hopefully we see something here.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker B:I mean, it's just kind of one of those stories where I'm.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Just not sure what to make of this one yet.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:All right, let's move on.
Speaker B:Headline number two, Forget stores of the future.
Speaker B:This week, Walmart has opened its Auto Care center of the Future.
Speaker B:And according to Chain storage, Walmart has opened the first of 10 planned auto care Centers of the Future locations at a Super center store in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Speaker B:Here's how the new Auto center of the future works, because I know all of you out there are incredibly curious.
Speaker B:Customers sign into the Walmart app, navigate to services, click Auto Services, and schedule their service.
Speaker B:Three service drops in one sentence.
Speaker B:At the appointment time, customers pull into a parking spot near the Auto Care center and check in on the app.
Speaker B:They enter the center, follow the instructions in the app to unlock an assigned locker, and drop the keys into a locker.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Live updates of a car's progress are available through the app.
Speaker B:Customers are notified to pick up their keys and pay once their vehicle is ready.
Speaker B:And for context, Walmart currently operates 2,582.
Speaker B:That's an exact number.
Speaker B:And 2,582 auto care centers within its super centers across the U.S. and my question, what are the chances you get your tires rotated at Walmart's Auto center of the Future in the future?
Speaker A:Oh, very high.
Speaker A:I think it will.
Speaker B:Very high.
Speaker A:Not just, you know, all auto care oil changes, they do tire changes, the works.
Speaker A:And I think that, I love this because I think that Walmart is smartly taking something that you have to do and it makes it better.
Speaker A:Not to mention it's great for Walmart because they have a very captive audience.
Speaker A:I mean, look at the alternative.
Speaker A:When you get an oil change or you get anything else Done like you're sitting in a disgusting waiting room drinking day old coffee like trying to get.
Speaker B:WI fi out of a Styrofoam cup.
Speaker A:Yeah, this is not a good experience already.
Speaker A:So if I can go to Walmart and I can get you know, my stuff for the, for my groceries for the week, I can pick up a birthday present for my kid's birthday party and I have that all done and be notified like I think that's the other thing being notified in real time of like where your car is in the process of getting done so that you can plan appropriately.
Speaker A:Like that is where the real customer advantages here making the most of their time and making this stop ultra convenient for Walmart customers and at a price point that's going to be much lower it sounds like than any other one and that's not even with a Walmart plus discount or anything else coming into the fold yet.
Speaker A:So I love this.
Speaker A:I think it's really smart, low lift on Walmart's part because it sounds like they already have auto care centers in most of these places.
Speaker A:So it's just really thinking about how you create the tech and the experience and make that better for the customer.
Speaker A:But yeah, I'm loving it.
Speaker A:Are you gonna, are you gonna go get your tires change or your oil change next with the Walmart near us?
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean I definitely think it's compelling.
Speaker B:I mean I think it's compelling for a couple reasons.
Speaker B:You know, there's a few good reasons for me.
Speaker B:I think the one point you didn't mention I think is really important here is my hunch is the way they're talking about this.
Speaker B:It actually simplifies the design of the overall auto care center operation.
Speaker B:By that I mean it takes costs out for Walmart without having that big of an impact to service and potentially actually increasing its service reputation in so doing.
Speaker B:So that I love because I've been droning on for the past I feel like month, month and a half about how investments need to be made to take costs out of your operations without a loss in service.
Speaker B:And that's not an easy thing to do.
Speaker B:And then the other point I'd make is I think it and it's kind of, you're kind of touching on it but I think I'll bring it out more overtly is I think it's it take continues to take Walmart upmarket.
Speaker B:You're giving your customers a relatively easy way, especially those upper demographic customers that they've been capturing with Walmart plus to get their car service to get it serviced for cheap.
Speaker B:And that plays into another reason why people wouldn't normally consider Walmart.
Speaker B:But it gets them into the parking lot, gets them to try the service.
Speaker B:They don't really have to interact with it that much from, from the way the headline was written.
Speaker B:So like, you know, then you might just go in the store and try out Walmart for the first time in the store, you know, if you're that upper demographic.
Speaker B:So, so I think long term, you know, Walmart plus there's lots of tie ins there too, which they haven't really talked about that overtly yet in terms of how this will play in there.
Speaker B:But my hunch is they're thinking about it from talking to the executives that we've talked to over the past year, two years especially.
Speaker B:And so yeah, I think there's just nothing not to like about this.
Speaker B:I love that they're doing this.
Speaker B:I love that they're using the in the future, you know, moniker as well.
Speaker B:We need to see that more often.
Speaker A:Oh, I was going to say I was surprised about it.
Speaker A:I actually think that this is not like futuristic, it's just, you know, how are you doing?
Speaker B:Never is.
Speaker A:How are you continuing to service your customer in the ways that they aren't expecting it.
Speaker A:And that to me is the real headline here, not the, not the thing that.
Speaker A:But I guess, you know, you're trying to get clicks, Chris.
Speaker A:At the end of the day you're trying to get clicks.
Speaker A:So auto care center of the future.
Speaker A:Somebody's clicking on that.
Speaker A:Doesn't matter what it is.
Speaker B:You're right.
Speaker B:It's basically a digitally enhanced auto care center.
Speaker B:That's basically what we're talking about.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:But yes, yeah, but you know, for, given our background, I love the.
Speaker B:Of the future whenever we see it.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:Headline number three.
Speaker A:Kroger plans to use DoorDash's Dashmart service for delivery.
Speaker A:According to Grocery Dive, Kroger plans to use Dashmar Fulfillment services, a new online delivery service from DoorDash that relies on delivery focused stores as it operates across the country.
Speaker A:The grocer, which plans to offer groceries and household items through the service, will join other retailers like CVS which are currently using the DoorDash service.
Speaker A: ding doordash delivery to all: Speaker A:And also after executives said that they are reexamining Kroger's Ocado automated warehousing infrastructure.
Speaker A:Chris, what do you think that Kroger's increasing ties with DoorDash say about its e commerce strategy?
Speaker B:Oh, and I worry it tells, it says a lot and I worry it tells me that Kroger's e commerce strategy is a little bit lost and it's trying to grapple in the dark here, you know, trying to find its way in the dark here.
Speaker B:And when I say that, I say that, that you know, and totally understand it.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like I could see myself falling into the same trap.
Speaker B:Like, because there's a lot of psychology in how the decisions are coming out here or how the headlines are being put into the media.
Speaker B:So for example, like, you know, and that's why we started Omni Talk is to go beyond the headlines and the psychology of how the executives are really trying to think.
Speaker B:And so, so like, step back for a sec.
Speaker B:Think.
Speaker B:Old regime makes a huge bet on Ocado.
Speaker B:New regime comes in.
Speaker B:They don't like how the results are playing out.
Speaker B:So now they're swinging the pendulum and they're going all in on two things.
Speaker B:Store delivery support with Instacart and DoorDash.
Speaker B:They've added DoorDash to the mix and now they're going into like what is essentially a micro warehousing support with the dashmark concept.
Speaker B:So that's taking it out of the store and going with the dashmart.
Speaker B:So which is essentially for the most part from what we know, probably a manual picking small warehouse nearby that you can access quickly.
Speaker B:So they're, they're swinging the pendulum completely.
Speaker B:But the smarter move to me is to be if I'm Kroger and I'm an executive at Kroger, I'm asking myself, where do I want our network to really be in 10 years?
Speaker B:Because I guarantee the answer to that for everyone, not just Kroger, but for many people in the grocery industry should not be running through DoorDash and Instacart's marketplaces at all.
Speaker B:At best, they should be white label delivery providers for you, which I think is very smart if you do it that way because, because you have to start figuring out how to fulfill the demand yourselves and how to make it economical with the right technology and automation running your warehouses or running your partner's warehouses.
Speaker B:So because if you don't, and here's the big if, if you don't, Walmart and Amazon are going to figure that out and they're going to drive the volume towards E commerce to them in the long run because they're going to know how to do it cheaper and more efficiently.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think your thinking is right in line for where I was on this too.
Speaker A:I mean for me I start to think about what does this mean for the store operations.
Speaker A:We're hearing this from a lot of retailers, not just Kroger that you know, they're looking at how to fulfill orders from the store now because it's more efficient because they're not reliant on a third party as much.
Speaker A:And it doesn't put, you know, potentially like an instacart, like shoppers walking through the stores and crowding aisles.
Speaker A:But I think what I'm interested in seeing here is they talk about reevaluating, reevaluating Ocado and the, the independent warehouses.
Speaker A:I'm wondering if we don't start to see them push Ocado to pivot towards like the Ocado Zoom micro fulfillment platforms that they're starting to put in their stores like you're talking about.
Speaker A:Because all of these, all of this demand for stores they're not prepared for right now.
Speaker A:They have to start thinking about automation.
Speaker A:Whether that's, that's testing the likes of a fabric or a dramatic.
Speaker A:But you know, being able to fulfill these orders at a frequency like fabric.
Speaker A:Remember the Save a Lot store we went to like they were fulfilling orders.
Speaker A:You could do a 50 item grocery order in six to eight minutes.
Speaker A:Like that's, you cannot do that with your human workforce or with you know, a third party coming in.
Speaker A:I think that's what I'm really curious to see is, is does this cause the retailers to invest more in automation in the back of house so that they can deploy their own workforce, either help get orders ready for the third party DoorDash delivery providers or start to explore doing the delivery themselves too.
Speaker A:I think you have to start looking at how you're making your, your store operations run more smoothly and your back of house run smarter in order to fulfill this either way to have success no matter who your third party provider is.
Speaker B:Yeah, and a couple of points of clarification too.
Speaker B:So Dashmar is actually they're running the warehouses themselves so they're, that they're taking the in store picking phenomenon out of this.
Speaker B:So that's one that's important to call out and make sure.
Speaker B:But, but they are still using doordash too for the in store picking.
Speaker B:So that's a, it's, it's an interesting point.
Speaker B:The other point I'd mentioned though is if you step back from the executive position, they're not likely going to look at other solutions providers on the technology side because they're so, you know, they're in a partnership with Ocado.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:But that, that makes me think like, yes, you should be looking at what does the network need to support, how are you going to drive the most volume through whatever automation you have running through Ocado.
Speaker B:And, and I'd be pulling back like crazy my partnership with Instacart and Doordash in those markets where I've got this infrastructure set up because that's what it's there for and that's what it's designed to do.
Speaker A:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:All right, headline number four.
Speaker B:Walmart plans to deploy 90 million.
Speaker B:90 million.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:That's a lot of, that's a lot of millions.
Speaker B:90 million Bluetooth sensors across its inventory by the end of next year in a massive rollout of supply chain management technology made possible via a partnership with tech firm Wiliot.
Speaker B:According to Supermarket News.
Speaker B:It is the first large scale deployment of ambient Internet of things technology in retail.
Speaker B:San Diego based Wiliot said last week the sensors, known as pixels, work like having a GPS tracker on every item and are, quote, designed to dramatically enhance supply chain efficiency, inventory accuracy and also cold chain compliance.
Speaker B:Yes, everyone's favorite three words.
Speaker B: tions with plans to expand in: Speaker B:The full rollout will cover 4,600 Walmart Super Centers, neighborhood markets and more than 40 distribution centers as well.
Speaker B:And what's your take on Bluetooth item tracking?
Speaker B:We've never talked about this very much.
Speaker A:I think this is really important because we, we've had Wiliot on the show in the past.
Speaker A:We're going to be having them back to talk about this deployment here y in a couple of weeks.
Speaker A:But I think this is another example for why you cannot be a one and done researcher of this technology.
Speaker A:Because clearly these tags have reached mass scale now that Walmart is deploying them the way that they are.
Speaker A:There is, there has to be a cost advantage and there has to be an operational advantage for Walmart to invest this heavily in the technology.
Speaker A:And I think that other grocers should be looking at this too.
Speaker A:They are able to know exactly where inventory is, what the temperature of that inventory has been like.
Speaker A:I love the example of like the strawberries, like these, these tags are put on the strawberries in the field, on the pallets, and then you know, as the grocery retailer with a very high degree of certainty that those strawberries were kept at temp and are going to be.
Speaker A:The whole pallet's going to be saleable once you get them to your store versus they hit, you know, cold weather when they were traveling along the way.
Speaker A:And you should, you know, expect 20% spoilage or something like that.
Speaker A:And I think in an age where we're going to start to see consumers, you know, using tools like ChatGPT to say, I'm making this recipe, I need strawberry shortcake.
Speaker A:And you get to.
Speaker A:Or I'm making strawberry shortcake, I need strawberries for that recipe.
Speaker A:I need all these things.
Speaker A:And you get to.
Speaker A:Okay, one click checkout to Walmart.
Speaker A:Well, if Walmart doesn't have the strawberries, I'm shifting my whole order to another place because I don't have, they don't have visibility into whether or not they can fulfill that order.
Speaker A:And I think that is going to be so important as we think about the future and really having a crystal clear view on your inventory in your store so that you can know that your customer is going to come to you and they're going to get exactly what they're expecting to pick up for their grocery trip and they can rely on you time and time again.
Speaker A:And that, I think is where the real beauty of this comes into play with these tags and why they're now worth the investment when inventory visibility is such a huge, huge priority for almost every retailer that we've been talking to lately.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, I agree.
Speaker B:I mean, I agree.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, we remember last week on the lightning round, we talked about pasta salads and the listeria outbreak.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, essentially this helps prevent that or at least gives you the tracking to understand when and where that might have happened in your supply chain.
Speaker B:So I joked about cold chain cold storage compliance, but, you know, it's, it's very real and very, very important.
Speaker B:And actually people's lives are at stake too.
Speaker B:So I applaud Walmart for doing this.
Speaker B:Walmart again out on the front of everything.
Speaker B:You know, expanding ESL to all stores, expanding Bluetooth tracking to all stores and the reasons I like it.
Speaker B:And I'm just going to keep saying it, I think it's going to be my new mantra.
Speaker B:I got to come up with a way to actually say it as a mantra.
Speaker B:But you're going to hear me say it over and over again.
Speaker B:I'm all in on technology deployments that solve operational problems.
Speaker B:And the operational problem here that you just mentioned is inventory accuracy at the store level.
Speaker B:And that also have a minimal impact on the actual day to day operations of what you're asking your store associates to do.
Speaker B:The tags go onto the products themselves.
Speaker B:The store, you know, from my understanding, I don't this, the store team shouldn't have to do much.
Speaker B:So as long as the background operating system to collect the data is working and there's probably some minimal training involved at the store level.
Speaker B:Minimal.
Speaker B:As long as that's done well and smartly, this will pay off in the long run from an operational productivity and efficiency standpoint.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And like Greg Cathy was quoted who's been on the show too, he, he said, you know, they've never been able to have this visibility into products and what the, the entire chain has been from the time that they get them from their suppliers into each of the stores and where they're going and to even be able to reroute last minute if they need to.
Speaker A:Like all of this is information that they've never had before.
Speaker A:And I think you're right.
Speaker A:Once the store associates figure out how to work that data, they'll be able to, you know, everything in their operations has improved because of it.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And especially in food and you know, metal based objects where RFID is a little more tricky to figure out.
Speaker A:All right, headline number five.
Speaker A:Instacart Uber DoorDash.
Speaker A:They are all bringing food delivery to ChatGPT, according to Grocery Dive.
Speaker A:Uber Instacart and DoorDash are among 11 partners that will integrate with ChatGPT later this year, according to a Monday announcement by OpenAI.
Speaker A:To give you a taste of where this is going, Instacart Chief Technology Officer Honor Bond Kundu wrote on LinkedIn that partnering with ChatGPT on this capability will, quote, make shopping, grocery shopping as simple as having a conversation.
Speaker A:End quote.
Speaker A:Chris, is there any slowing down this AI super app train?
Speaker B:Oh, geez.
Speaker B:And it sure as hell doesn't look like there is, man.
Speaker B:Even after our story last week, people are like, get on the train or get on the bus, you're going to be left behind.
Speaker B:That's what basically the, the theme of it was from the story we covered last week with, I think it was, I think the shipped and chat to whatever feature.
Speaker B:Yeah, but.
Speaker B:Or the Etsy.
Speaker B:It was more the Etsy.
Speaker B:The Etsy partnership that they're doing with Chat GPT as well.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean even Walmart came out and said that they're doing some amorphous partnership with, with Open AI now too.
Speaker B:We don't know exactly what that is or what that looks like, but they came out publicly and Said it was big news yesterday.
Speaker B:So I don't know, again, I step back.
Speaker B:The pace of disruption here in just over two years is, it's just staggering.
Speaker B:And, and we're still of course just in mile one of the actual race in terms of what the user interface ultimately is going to be for optimized commerce and what that's going to look like.
Speaker B:So, but we're going to get there.
Speaker B:It's happening.
Speaker B:The, the, the, the trade has left the station and so I'm just gobsmacked.
Speaker B:I don't have much more to say, but my God, look out.
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean, I think I joke somewhat about the strawberry shortcake example and people like rerouting their whole trip.
Speaker B:Trip.
Speaker A:But I think that like, especially I do feel like, like David Dorff said, we're going to see an increase in chat GPT usage throughout the holidays as people are trying to, you know, prepare food, they're trying to buy gifts, they're trying to get ready.
Speaker A:Like, I think we're going to see more and more adoption and I think retailers the same way that they used to think about, okay, somebody's going to be shopping on a mobile app versus, you know, coming in store and shopping or they're the way that they shop, shopped online for the very first time, like that is where we are.
Speaker A:And that is a journey that all of the UX teams that all these retailers are now having to think about.
Speaker A:When it comes to any services that they're providing in their stores, people are going about that trip differently.
Speaker A:They're trying to accomplish multiple tasks in one in one interface, which they're now able to do in ChatGPT.
Speaker A:They can order their dinner, they can order their groceries, they can make reservations, they can do all of these things, they can find gifts, gifts, all without leaving this app.
Speaker A:Like, this is crazy and super app.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's really, I think it's gonna shape again.
Speaker A:Like this is the next wave.
Speaker A:This is the Internet and online shopping happening for this generation.
Speaker A:And I'm also curious, especially with this example, like I'm curious how Walmart adapts Sparky, their own ChatGPT or their own AI bot that they have on their site.
Speaker A:Amazon does too, to either work with or figure out, like where are they expecting traffic to go and how do they change that journey type based on, you know, somebody coming in from ChatGPT or somebody starting their journey on the Walmart.com site too.
Speaker A:So there's so much, I mean, to be a UX person right now that it would be so much fun to think through all of these scenarios.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And really just.
Speaker A:You're on.
Speaker A:We're on the edge.
Speaker A:We're on the edge of an entirely new way of shopping.
Speaker A:And then that's super, super exciting.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Even to be a strategist to say, okay, this is where it is now.
Speaker B:Where is this all going to go 10 to 15 years from now?
Speaker B:And what does the retail landscape looks like, look like, and how are we placing bets?
Speaker B:Even the financial analyst community's got to be asking those questions.
Speaker B:They got to be having a field day with this, too.
Speaker B:To say, like, who am I long on?
Speaker B:Who am I short on in terms of how this eventually plays out as people start using a super app to get their.
Speaker B:All their commerce needs.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:Stop.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Just think about that statement for a while, man.
Speaker B:You just don't know what the file it's going to be.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's why.
Speaker B:That's why Doug McMillan carries that thing around in his pocket, like the top 10.
Speaker B:The top 10 retailers by decade, because it actually ends up changing pretty significantly because of disruptions like this every 30 years.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:All right, let's go to the lightning round.
Speaker A:Chris.
Speaker A:Speaking of things coming back, the Body Shop is making its return.
Speaker A:What 80s or 90s product are you most hoping that they bring back to harness your mall nostalgia days?
Speaker B:Oh, God.
Speaker B:I couldn't name one Body Shop product if I wanted to.
Speaker A:And the Body Butter.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker B:I guess I'd go with bubble bath.
Speaker B:No, I'd go with some kind of bubble bath if I had to pick something, because I'm a big bather.
Speaker B:I like a good bath.
Speaker B:I'm usually a daily bather.
Speaker B:Like a good bath after working out.
Speaker B:I don't know why.
Speaker B:It's probably terrible for me, but, yeah, that's mine.
Speaker B:I'd go with bubble baths.
Speaker B:Maybe something pink, you know, so it really like contrasts when it goes into the water.
Speaker B:I think that would be.
Speaker B:Or maybe like a bath bomb.
Speaker B:Those are cool, too.
Speaker B:I like the bubbles, the suds.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But anyway.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:Stephen King recently got a sneak preview of the second Running man film, a movie based on his earlier novella, calling it the Die Hard for Our Time, a bipartisan thrill ride.
Speaker B:And wow, that's an endorsement.
Speaker B:Are you sharing King's optimism?
Speaker B:Will number two with Glen Powell be better than number one with Arnold?
Speaker A:I've not seen number one or number two, obviously, since it's not yet out.
Speaker A:But I rarely find that sequels are as good as the originals.
Speaker A:So I'm Going with Arnold.
Speaker A:I just watched Naked Gun, the new one.
Speaker A:Yeah, there is still some funny parts, but it's like you just can't.
Speaker A:Can't capture lightning in a bottle twice.
Speaker A:So I don't know.
Speaker A:I'm gonna say I'm sticking with Arnold.
Speaker A:All right, let's go to question number three.
Speaker A:J.P. morgan employees are headed back to work at the recently completed.
Speaker A:This is crazy.
Speaker A:$3 billion 60 floor office tower in Manhattan.
Speaker A:The new office has 19 on site restaurants and Starbucks coffee locations sprinkled throughout the floors, plus a 40,000 square foot gym and so much more.
Speaker A:Chris, what amenities would it take you to get or would it take to get you back into an office?
Speaker B:Oh, my God, that's so.
Speaker B:That's so easy.
Speaker B:And for me, you know what?
Speaker B:You know what I always wanted, which I never got, was my own personal bathroom, AKA the executive washroom.
Speaker B:I always wanted one of those.
Speaker B:Like, that would be so great for me.
Speaker B:So great.
Speaker B:It would be so nice to have my own bathroom in my office.
Speaker B:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker B:Yeah, that.
Speaker B:Would that.
Speaker A:Please.
Speaker B:I mean, that's probably a job that's appealing to me because it would take a lot to get me out of the house.
Speaker B:But like, yes, if I had an appealing job and you were like, hey, we'll give you an executive washroom, I'd be like, yes, please.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:So there.
Speaker B:For those that are listening.
Speaker B:Yeah, keep that, keep that in your.
Speaker B:In your file folder.
Speaker B:All right, last one.
Speaker B:It was National Dessert Day yesterday.
Speaker B:And how did you celebrate?
Speaker A:I ate a cookie in the Delta Lounge, I guess I did not have any dessert yesterday.
Speaker B:What kind of cookie?
Speaker A:It was just a chocolate chip cookie.
Speaker A:I mean.
Speaker B:Oh, okay.
Speaker A:Too good to.
Speaker A:Not.
Speaker A:To not grab.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:I didn't even know it was National Dessert Day.
Speaker A:Maybe I would have planned that a little bit better had I known.
Speaker A:But yeah, it was a delicious chocolate chip cookie.
Speaker B:Any day you can have a chocolate chip cookie is a win in my book.
Speaker B:You've won the day if you get to eat a chocolate chip cookie.
Speaker B:Chocolate chip cookies are never not bad in my opinion.
Speaker B:You know, for the most part.
Speaker B:All right, on that note, happy birthday today to Paul Walter Hauser, Jerry Burns, and to the man who starred in the greatest thing to ever come out of Baltimore.
Speaker B:I know Ann will second this one.
Speaker B:McNulty himself.
Speaker B:Dominic West.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:That the Wire man, that's gotta get queued up again for the winter.
Speaker A:Winter is coming.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:Maybe I should rewatch all 12 years of the Wire that it'll take all.
Speaker B:Winter to watch yeah, it takes a long time to get through that.
Speaker B:Yeah, I've only gone through it once, but yes.
Speaker B:And today's podcast was produced with the help and support of Ella Sirjord.
Speaker B:And remember, if you can only read or listen to one retail blog in the business, Make It Omnitok, the only retail media outlet run by two former executives.
Speaker B:Gifts from a current top 10 US retailer.
Speaker B:Our Fast Five podcast is the quickest, fastest rundown of all the week's top news, and our daily podcast, the Retail Daily Minute, tells you all you need to know each day to stay on top of your game as a retail executive.
Speaker B:And it also regularly features special content that is exclusive to us and that we take a lot of pride in doing just for you.
Speaker B:Thanks as always for listening and please remember to like and leave us a review wherever you happen to listen to your podcast or on YouTube.
Speaker B:You can follow us today by simply going to YouTube.com omnitalkretail so until next week, on behalf of Ann, producer Ella and myself, as always, be careful out there.
