🚀 The Future of Grocery: AI, Live Streaming & Store Innovation w/ Deborah Weinswig | FMI 2025
🎙 OmniTalk Retail Podcast | Live from FMI 2025 🎙
Chris Walton & Anne Mezzenga sit down with Deborah Weinswig, Founder & CEO of Coresight Research, live from the Simbe Podcast Studio at FMI, to explore the biggest retail trends shaping 2025 and beyond. From AI-powered store experiences to the rise of live streaming commerce, this conversation is packed with insights on the future of grocery, digital transformation, and consumer behavior.
⏱ Time Stamps & Topics:
🔹 [0:00] – Live from FMI 2025 at the Simbe Robotics Booth
🔹 [1:00] – Meet Deborah Weinswig & Coresight Research’s role in retail insights
🔹 [2:30] – AI in the physical world & retail automation
🔹 [5:00] – Generative AI: How retailers must optimize for AI-driven search (SEO in AI)
🔹 [7:30] – Live streaming commerce: Why the U.S. lags behind China & how to catch up
🔹 [10:45] – Voice commerce & AI shopping assistants: The next wave of consumer engagement
🔹 [13:20] – The shift in grocery store design: From stockrooms to experiential retail
🔹 [15:00] – The importance of supply chain technology & inventory visibility
📢 Don’t miss this deep dive into the AI-powered future of retail!
🔔 Subscribe for more exclusive insights from FMI!
#ai #retailtrends #retailstrategy #seo #groceryinnovation #fmi
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Transcript
Hello everyone, this is Omnitalk Retail.
Speaker A:I'm Chris Walton.
Speaker B:And I'm Ann Mazinga.
Speaker A:And we are coming to you live once again from FMI from the Symbi booth, booth 108.
Speaker A:Because Simbi and Omnitalk are retail single source of truth at this conference.
Speaker A:And standing in between us is Deborah Weinswig, who I'm sure many Omnitalk fans will be very familiar with.
Speaker A:Deborah is the founder and CEO of Coresight Research.
Speaker A:Deborah, thanks for joining us at OmniTalk.
Speaker C:Thanks.
Speaker C:Thanks to both of you for having me.
Speaker C:I really appreciate it.
Speaker B:I heard that you were on stage yesterday.
Speaker B:I'm curious for like what you talked about and if you don't mind just sharing a little bit with the audience at home, what was on deck for the presentation yesterday?
Speaker C:So it kind of emanated originally from the startup pitch and so there were I think almost 30 judges.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:There was an unbelievable field of talent and so we had several calls.
Speaker C:So first we narrowed it down to six and then, you know, kind of others at FMI narrowed it down to three and so we had an, oh my gosh, I, you know, there's a deadline, I will do it.
Speaker C:So I literally pulled an all nighter.
Speaker C:I remember I was watching some of these videos and I'm like, you know, at that point, like when they're really good and you remember them.
Speaker C:Yes, those are the ones.
Speaker C:And so it was a, it was unbelievable in terms of, you know, anything from HR to kind of thinking differently about supply chain to kind of operations and in this gen AI world.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:The ability to do things really quickly.
Speaker C:Yeah, it was a great field of talent.
Speaker C:So we kicked it off talking about really well.
Speaker C: out what we've seen so far in: Speaker C:Where it's worked.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker C:Where it hasn't.
Speaker C:And then where we've kind of fine tuned it helps to kind of crystallize for everybody what that actually means.
Speaker B:Are there any technologies, whether that was at the startup competition or anything that you've been researching in the last, you know, you talk about agentic AI, some of the things that are kind of bubbling up to the top Right now in terms of, of AI and that technology being applied in retailers right now that you're excited about or that the listeners at home should know about.
Speaker C:So I've been super interested, probably starting in like the back half of last year around lidar.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:And then my very dear friend Jensen Huang at Nvidia talked about.
Speaker C:And he did a much better job, right.
Speaker C:Of simplifying it.
Speaker C:LIDAR is AI in the physical world.
Speaker C:And I'm like, that's a much easier because I was like, I've been trying to explain it to folks and I was like, well, let me just borrow that.
Speaker C:And so when you start to think about what can you do?
Speaker C:And once again, not taking any personal information.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:You can actually start to see if you think about.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:We're standing here at FMI in a grocery store.
Speaker C:Where do people spend their time?
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:What's the path, you know, that they're, you know, we had a client of ours who thought it was a great idea to put and I mean maybe it could have worked in some retail environment, but wanted to put coffee in like the milk aisle.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Thing that consumers would think about those two together.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:And so ultimately what you saw is that that's not how people shop, right.
Speaker C:That's not how they think about it.
Speaker C:But if you can start to map that out before you make some of those dramatic changes.
Speaker C:But also if you think about it from, you know, protecting a, you know, warehouse yard, you can see people scaling fences, right?
Speaker C:But once again, you're not taking any personal information.
Speaker C:You're just kind of encouraging them to maybe take a different.
Speaker C:Their next action, maybe being a different one, right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Just trying to digitize our understanding of the physical worlds, particularly in grocery.
Speaker A:So let's wind it back a little bit too here, Deborah.
Speaker A:So, so explain to you, explain for our audience what is coresight Research specifically.
Speaker A:And then why do you attend conferences like this?
Speaker A:What is it that you bring?
Speaker C:So many of us are former sell side analysts, so meaning equity research.
Speaker C:So from banking.
Speaker C:So we would, you know, get to know companies in at really kind of soup to nuts.
Speaker C:Understanding the financials.
Speaker C:The implication, what I always loved about retail is you could be on an earnings call and companies are like, we're doing this, that and the other.
Speaker C:And then you could go see it and maybe they weren't doing it in that location, but maybe another.
Speaker C:But you could really kind of crystallize what they were doing or thinking about doing.
Speaker C:And so that's.
Speaker C:Many of us have that background and then starting to think about that in a kind of environment where you.
Speaker C:You are in the realm of public information from a food, drug, mass perspective.
Speaker C:But how does that then translate into what these companies can do to improve their outcomes?
Speaker C:And so we end up.
Speaker C:We have a advisory team, and so we'll come to them.
Speaker C:We'll be like, oh, we were on this earnings call.
Speaker C:We heard this.
Speaker C:You may want to reach out about that.
Speaker C:And so that kind of is where we start oftentimes, is from what are the challenges that we see and kind of things that we know you can improve upon.
Speaker C:And how you're doing that oftentimes is through technology, which I know you guys are no strangers to.
Speaker C:And so, you know, when you work with a company like assembly, right.
Speaker C:To help a company.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So they've got out of stock challenges.
Speaker C:They are not sure in terms of demand forecasting or inventory allocation, when you can start to take the problem, map it through, and then find the solution.
Speaker C:I mean.
Speaker C:Well, first of all, I really enjoy that.
Speaker A:That invigorates you.
Speaker C:It does.
Speaker C:I get a lot of satisfaction out of it.
Speaker C:And I'm, you know, we all spend a lot of time at our jobs, so you got to find something that you love.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:So one of the things, one of the things we always love about you, and I was talking about this with Ann before we even got on the show, is you're always looking around the corner, you're always trying to see what's next or what are the things that people aren't yet talking about that probably should.
Speaker A:They probably should be.
Speaker A:So what are some of those things for you this year as you.
Speaker A:As we start, because we're sitting here in January, what are those things?
Speaker A:I'm curious.
Speaker C:Well, for many of you who know me, I am incredibly passionate about live streaming.
Speaker C:And if you think about it, I didn't know that.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:I mean, it is like my.
Speaker C:Because you start to think about it, it's almost an $800 billion industry in China, and we're talking like 35 billion in the U.S.
Speaker C:and so that.
Speaker C:And that gap has only gotten wider over time.
Speaker C:We don't have time to go through all the reasons why that is.
Speaker C:But if you start to think about so especially in grocery.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So I have celiac, so I really have to read the package.
Speaker C:I really have to be able to see it.
Speaker C:And in many cases, right.
Speaker C:Go on to whatever.com you're ordering your groceries from.
Speaker C:And it's.
Speaker C:It's very difficult to see the side of the box or whatever it might Be.
Speaker C:So in a live stream, you can ask, right?
Speaker C:Like, you literally have somebody you can ask information and make an immediate purchase.
Speaker C:So what we see and why I like it, you know, in the kind of apparel, footwear and accessories space where return rates about 42%, you see the return rate drop to 9%.
Speaker C:And that, I mean, that's real money.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So that's a real change.
Speaker C:And then the kind of customer starting to develop a different relationship with the brand, and that ends up.
Speaker C:And I think the challenge has been we've had a lot of our clients, you know, who are very nice, like, okay, we'll try it.
Speaker C:We'll do it.
Speaker C:And super successful.
Speaker C:But it's like, okay, we've checked that box.
Speaker C:But what you need is, right, you have a head of stores, you have a head of E Commerce.
Speaker C:You really need a head of live streaming.
Speaker C:That's, I think, just one of the reasons that we haven't really seen it move forward.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:But there's a huge opportunity.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's interesting.
Speaker A:It's a different form of merchandising in a lot of ways.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:It's a different muscle than E commerce.
Speaker A:It's a different muscle than in store merchandise.
Speaker A:That's really interesting.
Speaker A:I never thought about that.
Speaker A:What else, though?
Speaker A:Because I've heard you talk about livestreaming.
Speaker A:What else is on your mind?
Speaker C:So voice commerce.
Speaker C:So this idea.
Speaker C:Yeah, so this is this idea.
Speaker C:So oftentimes you'll actually see voice commerce in a physical store.
Speaker C:You're walking around, so there's certain things that you tend to eat together or whatnot.
Speaker C:And so you're literally kind of shopping while you walk.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:And there's two ways that we've seen it done.
Speaker C:In some cases, kind of your order is ready for you at the end.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker C:And in other cases.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:It ends up being kind of delivered to your home.
Speaker C:So you're also kind of, you know, arms free, if you will.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:But the things that you know.
Speaker C:And you can kind of, like, build your basket, but also you can start to think about things in a different way.
Speaker C:Like, because when you're talking, like, I like to stand.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Like, I find, like, I'm like, I'm.
Speaker A:Think better standing up.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, I used to.
Speaker C:I like when I was at City, I used to, like, pace in my office, and I'm like, my ideas were so much better.
Speaker C:So if I'm walking and observing, I'm making much better purchase decisions.
Speaker C:And I'm also starting to think about, like, I have friends of mine who order a lot online, and they'll say, they'll have, like, the taco order.
Speaker C:They'll have, like the pasta order.
Speaker C:So you don't forget something.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:Not that I haven't gone even New York to my neighbors.
Speaker C:And I'm like, do you have this?
Speaker C:I'm not shy.
Speaker C:But you start to think about, okay, so I'm going to have dinner.
Speaker C:And you're like, creating a story.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:And so you're thinking about the dinner a different way.
Speaker C:And, like, you know, give me, like, you know, I think I have salt, but I'm not sure.
Speaker C:Or maybe we'll have something healthier, like oregano.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:But these things.
Speaker C:And like, you know, maybe I'll have like a cup of tea, but, like, I think I don't have any mint.
Speaker C:And I'm.
Speaker C:And so as you're starting to process that.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:You're starting to think about things in a really.
Speaker C:I mean, I don't know.
Speaker C:Have you guys used the ChatGPT mode, the advanced voice assistant?
Speaker A:I have.
Speaker A:Not yet, no.
Speaker C:Okay, so.
Speaker A:But I figured that's where you were going.
Speaker A:Yeah, I had a feeling.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:But you can so now.
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Not that people on your team don't want to hear all of your.
Speaker C:But you can actually talk through kind of complex situations and you're able to get feedback.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So it's like, I'm facing this.
Speaker C:I've got this.
Speaker C:And I've honestly oftentimes had my calendar, and I said, this is what tomorrow looks like for me.
Speaker C:I really need kind of a 30 minute.
Speaker C:I need 30 minutes of downtime.
Speaker C:What should I move to the next day?
Speaker C:And sometimes just having somebody.
Speaker C:It's like a coach.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's also board of directors, is what I was thinking that.
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker C:You're also not sharing personal information maybe with people you're not comfortable.
Speaker C:However that works.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:But this idea that you can start to process information in a different way, certainly faster, but also, like in real time.
Speaker C:It's like, you know, I find I'm like, more than.
Speaker C:Because I don't have.
Speaker C:I was actually just talking to somebody here.
Speaker C:I don't have things weighing on me now, and I take care of things as quickly as I can.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So if there's.
Speaker C:Because, like those big decisions, sometimes you.
Speaker C:They spin in your head and I'm like.
Speaker C:And somehow for me, talking about it, I process it and so getting it kind of off my plate.
Speaker C:And I've Talked to other COs who have said that they're doing that in different ways.
Speaker C:And it's allowing them to have more kind of more space and less decision fatigue which when you start to think about productivity and better outcomes, it's kind of the foundation.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think that even plays into, I think how we'll see a shift in search for shopping too.
Speaker B:I mean for the.
Speaker B:From a customer standpoint too, to be able to not have to prepare in their mind.
Speaker B:I need one green pepper.
Speaker B:I need one, you know, banana pepper, whatever.
Speaker B:It might be like you're really just having a conversation with the search bar on Walmart.com like I want to make a taco night dinner.
Speaker B:What should I include?
Speaker B:What are some recipes?
Speaker B:I only have these three ingredients, like those kinds of things, which is less work for the consumer.
Speaker C:But you brought up probably the one thing I forgot and I want to thank you.
Speaker C:So the most important thing, the number one thing that every retailer and brand should do right now is SEO in gen.
Speaker C:So if so what we're seeing now, so the data, the data that we have.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:So if you think about it kind of pre.
Speaker C:And where we are now is 50% of search is starting in gen.
Speaker C:And so many brands have not optimized for that.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker A:No.
Speaker C:So it is now all the luxury brands have.
Speaker C:They were like, I mean it's like they were the first in the metaverse.
Speaker C:They're like, it's so.
Speaker C:Because these are heritage brands.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:They're all over 100 years old.
Speaker C:The ones you would never think.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:So you look.
Speaker C:So I was like looking for red lipstick.
Speaker C:Every single luxury brand showed up.
Speaker C:And so if you start to think about how searches changed and so quickly, if you're not optimizing for Jenny, I, I mean, and these are things that like seem like they might common sense, but.
Speaker B:Yeah, no, it's a great point.
Speaker C:It's a huge opportunity.
Speaker A:It's a great point.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So let's get you out here on this then because it's along the same line.
Speaker A:It's a great segue.
Speaker A:So if you were to put your Nostradamus hat on your crystal ball, how do you think the growth say when the grocery industry, because we're at fmi, how do you think grocery shopping is going to change, let's say five to ten years from now?
Speaker A:Will it be.
Speaker A:How will it be different?
Speaker A:I'm curious, will it be different at all?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:What do you think?
Speaker C:So we're about to go through.
Speaker C:Great question, by the way.
Speaker C:We're about to go through the greatest wealth transfer that the world has Ever seen.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:To Gen Z.
Speaker C:And Gen Z, 70% of their shopping begins in physical, more like unified commerce.
Speaker C:So they might go in, they put it in their cart, they go have dinner with their friends, they talk about it, right?
Speaker C:They're shopping.
Speaker C:They don't even realize that they're shopping in a much more sustainable way.
Speaker C:So they're putting a lot more thought before they hit the buy button.
Speaker C:And so you could start in physical, put it in your cart, and then you do BOPIs.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:But those are ways.
Speaker C:So they're using kind of like all, all channels.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:So I think if we fast forward that the stores are.
Speaker C:So I spoken many years ago on the stage in Hong Kong about how the stores are more than stores.
Speaker C:And it was such a, like to think about it then, but you start to think about it now is, I think experiential is so important.
Speaker C:And actually going back to like we're sitting in the Simba booth, if you do not have it in stock, you cannot sell it.
Speaker C:So if, if this customer is so focused on the experiential.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:But the product that they want to make, that a better experience isn't there, Right.
Speaker C:And nobody ever wants to take the last one.
Speaker C:Let's be honest, right?
Speaker C:Like, I mean, it's like no one wants to take the last cookie.
Speaker C:No one wants to take.
Speaker C:Well, especially in like prepared food, you don't ever want to take the last one.
Speaker A:Depends how much I'm jonesing for those.
Speaker C:Oreos, the gluten free ones.
Speaker C:And now they have like gluten free mint and like, I mean, thank you.
Speaker C:Thank you, Mondelez.
Speaker C:That's all I have to say.
Speaker C:But I do think it's going to be, if you think about kind of like Costco on a Saturday, but every day and more than much more sampling this idea that the physical store is much more experiential and so you're learning about products you didn't before and you're able to ask questions and find out.
Speaker C:I mean, hey, if we look at kind of where we are on our food journey here, I think people are asking questions.
Speaker C:They're.
Speaker C:I mean, hey, that's all we've done at fmi, right?
Speaker C:Is thinking differently about what we eat, how we eat it, and maybe even like the time of day that we eat.
Speaker C:But having that kind of physical store experience to learn more.
Speaker C:But you gotta be in stock, guys.
Speaker C:That's like, that's like number one.
Speaker A:Yeah, no, it's interesting.
Speaker A:We've heard that from a few people now.
Speaker A:Kind of the idea of, like, you get the, get the stuff you need on repeat, however you want to do it, buy online, pick up in store via E commerce.
Speaker A:But then the store has to become more than what the word initially connotes, which is a store of inventory.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:It's got to become more than that.
Speaker A:It's got to be more experiential down the road.
Speaker A:So, yeah, I think we would 100% agree with that.
Speaker A:So thank you.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker B:Thank you for your time.
Speaker A:That blew by.
Speaker C:That was like two minutes.
Speaker C:Yeah, two minutes.
Speaker A:But we covered a lot of ground, though, at that time.
Speaker A:So thanks for being with us.
Speaker A:Deborah wins week, of course.
Speaker A:Side research.
Speaker A:We've got one more interview coming your way here in just a few minutes, so stick around for that.
Speaker A:And until then, be careful out there.
