Omni Talk Retail

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern talk: – Target and Walmart's wild sales results – TJX reversing course on e-commerce – Instagram updating its home page for shopping – Instacart inking a head scratching deal with Best Buy – Simon malls new return bars – And, roosters. Yes, roosters. Urban ones to be exact. All that and more in this week’s happy and optimistic edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five! To learn more about FastSensor, visit: www.fastsensor.com/retail-promo To learn more about Takeoff, visit: www.takeoff.com/

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In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern talk: – Target's new partnership with Ulta – Alibaba and Singles Day – J.C. Penney's court approved sale – Autonomous delivery – Molson Coors' new direct-to-consumer play, Revl – And, Laurence Olivier Yes, Laurence Olivier. All that and more in this week’s extra special safe edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five! To learn more about FastSensor, visit: www.fastsensor.com/retail-promo To learn more about Takeoff, visit: www.takeoff.com/

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Any brand considering business in China should watch this interview -- it is a perfect illustration of how to work smarter and not harder. Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga of Omni Talk interview Tony Shan, Head of Tmall Global -- Americas about his company's Overseas Fulfillment Program. Tmall, for those unfamiliar, is Alibaba's B2C marketplace in China. Thousands of brands sell products to the huge Chinese market every single day on Tmall. We at Omni Talk have long been supporters of American companies selling products to the Chinese market via Tmall and outlined for Forbes in 2018 six reasons why it is something every brand should consider. You can read the article here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherwalton/2018/08/16/kroger-decision-to-launch-brands-with-alibaba-is-pure-genius/?sh=708536a72a23 This interview highlights a new reason, reason #7 -- Tmall's new Overseas Fulfillment Program. It is easy, simple for brands to use, and is about as low risk of an opportunity with a huge sales upside as one will ever find.

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Karyn Schoenbart joins Anne Mezzenga to discuss her career, both as CEO of NPD Group and as author of the book MOM.B.A. This podcast is full of great advice, as Karyn shares some incredible lessons learned, including how a lateral move can actually propel your career forward, how to fight imposter syndrome, and how you can never go wrong asking someone "What can I do for you?"

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Omni Talk's Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga recently combined forces with special guest, James Cook, Director of Retail Research for JLL Americas to provide a breakdown of retail and real estate heading into the holidays. Together they discussed the retail and real estate trends James and his team have been researching, what they anticipate to continue as we enter the holiday shopping season, and finish it off with a hypothesis from James on the future of retail as we head into 2021. For more information on James Cook's podcast, Where We Buy, go to wherever you get your podcasts or click here: https://wherewebuy.show/

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In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern try to take their minds off all the election craziness by turning their attention to the great debates in the world of retail this past week. Together they discuss: – Walmart's new lab stores – The interesting juxtaposition between Wayfair's recent success and Pier 1's relaunch – Alibaba's rumored investment in Farfetch – Postmates and its new retail platform – Nestle's $950 million acquisition of Freshly and whether meal kits are here to stay – And, Tom Brady Yes, Tom Brady. All that and more in this week’s election hangover episode of the Omni Talk Fast Five! To learn more about FastSensor, visit: www.fastsensor.com/retail-promo To learn more about Takeoff, visit: www.takeoff.com/

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One of Omni Talk's all-time favorite guests, David Sobie, CEO Happy Returns, returns to the Omni Talk Spotlight Series to update Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga on a couple of major announcements from his company over the last few weeks -- specifically, the recently announced partnerships with FedEx and Inmar Intelligence. Through the new partnership with FedEx, Happy Returns will grow its network of return bars substantially with FedEx. Online shoppers will be able to make returns at more than 2,000 FedEx stores across the country, and that also includes more than 340 locations currently sitting inside of Walmart stores! In addition, the Happy Returns and Inmar Intelligence partnership will also build upon the FedEx relationship because it too will allow shoppers and retailers to use a branded returns portal to initiate returns, with the option for customers to return items, box-free and label-free, to one of Happy Returns’ now 2,600+ Returns Bars around the country. The process will facilitate an immediate refund or exchange for consumers and will also provide a more environmentally friendly and cost-effective solution for e-commerce returns, as returned inventory is shipped to returns facilities in reusable containers instead of individual packages, all using Inmar's many years of experience and data disposition intelligence along the way. Anne and Chris have had their eye on David and Happy Returns since early 2016 and, for all intents and purposes, not even a pandemic can slow them down!

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In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Oliver Banks joins Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern to discuss British TV and cinema and all the week's top retail news. Together they talk: - Social commerce and Shopify's new partnership with TikTok - Free one-hour pickup at Whole Foods - Happy Returns' brilliant strategy move with FedEx - Amazon paying people for their data - Robots at Sam's Club - And, Mary Poppins Yes, Mary Poppins. All that and more in this week's transatlantic episode with guest host Ollie Banks! To learn more about FastSensor, visit: www.fastsensor.com/retail-promo To learn more about Takeoff, visit: www.takeoff.com/

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You have probably never thought about accounting as a secret weapon, but it is. In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Spotlight Series, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga sit down with BlackLine Chief Transformation Officer Tammy Coley to discuss how thinking differently about one's accounting systems and processes can make a big difference in both strategy and operational efficiency. As the pandemic has shown, rudimentary spreadsheets and outdated processes that rely on cubicle proximity to work are no longer enough. Accounting, just like everything else, needs to move to the cloud, so that people can work from anywhere and, most importantly, any unnecessary risk can be removed from the equation. There is just too much at stake. As Chris Walton's HBS professor used to say, "Accounting equals truth plus measurement error and bias." Technology has advanced for too much to let the last two variables continue to hold companies back. There are simpler, easier ways to manage the back office, so that executives can be freed up to focus on what matters most -- the art of management and strategy during these trying times. To learn more about BlackLine, visit: https://www.blackline.com/industries/retail/?utm_source=omnitalk&utm_medium=3rd-party-other&utm_campaign=na-audio-2020-10-retail-podcast *Sponsored Podcast*

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In our latest episode of the Omni Talk Spotlight Series, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss all things retail and IoT with Stacey Shulman, VP Internet of Things Group & GM Health and Life Sciences and Emerging Technology. Stacey's background is fascinating. Her career in retail started at Walmart, she next started selling technology to retailers, and then became the CIO at American Apparel and an executive for Levi's. Now embarking on her almost fourth year at Intel, we ask Stacey how she leads, how she separates good innovation from bad, what "smart retail" really means, and also what excites her most about the future -- hint, it could be figuring out the technology behind scaleable, repeatable retail experiences, aka retail theater. Scaling experiences, i.e. replicating the "why" in why come to a physical store sounds easy, but it is not. Take it from us. Stacey and her team at Intel are helping the industry to figure it all out. Plus, we put Stacey through How Millennial are You? and even add a bonus question -- Star Wars or Star Trek? *Sponsored Content*

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In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern have quite the catharsis surrounding Prime Day and all the week's top retail headlines. This week they discuss: - How Amazon Prime Day left them wanting more - Why Walmart splitting up Black Friday into 3 separate events could signal tough times ahead - Dollar General's new upmarket Popshelf concept that Chris loves and Anne and Emma the Intern are split on - The company formerly known as Standard Cognition's new checkout-free convenience store on a Houston college campus (it's only 350 sf -- we checked) - Gamestop's new Microsoft partnership - GoPuff's huge $380 million investment round - And, William H. Macy Yes, William H. Macy. All that and more, plus Chris, of course, pays tribute to two female titans of early 1980s television. To learn more about FastSensor, visit: www.fastsensor.com/retail-promo To learn more about Takeoff, visit: www.takeoff.com/

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Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga interview Inna Kuznetsova, CEO 1010 data about the value of data in creating long-term collaborative partnerships across retailers and suppliers. A company rooted in the financial sector after 9/11, 1010data has a long history of providing actionable data and insights across wide streams of expertise. Companies like Sam's Club and Dollar General, along with many other retailers and CPGs, look to 1010data, especially during COVID-19, to help them predict where to move in the market. In this podcast, Chris and Anne discuss with Inna: - The importance of a strong omnichannel data foundation across online and offline operations - The danger of using "averages" in the wrong places - Why impulse purchase behavior may not always be triggered by what you think - And, just how easy and financially rewarding it can be for retailers and suppliers to come together with the right tools and processes, all aligned around data sharing Plus, Inna is an absolute blast with a ton of personality. She will have you laughing with fun anecdotes about retail the whole way through. *Sponsored Podcast*

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Anne Mezzenga sits down with The Vitamin Shoppe CEO Sharon Leite for a special edition of the Women's Retail Collective Podcast from the Retail Innovation Conference. Sharon started her retail career in college as an associate at Express, spent time at L Brands, GAP, Disney, Pier 1, and now leads teams running almost 800 stores at The Vitamin Shoppe. Anne and Sharon review the rubric Sharon uses to help make major career decisions, her advice for those in retail careers, and the innovation her team at The Vitamin Shoppe has fast-tracked to take on the challenges of the last few months.

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In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern go full on Generation Z with a little Baby Boomer sprinkled in at the end. This week they talk: - Venmo's new credit card - Gucci and the RealReal's new partnership - Instagram shopping through Reels video - Cooler Screens' $80 million investment round - Walmart selling medicare insurance plans - And, Matt Damon. Yes, Matt Damon. All that and more, plus Chris reveals his five-year-old TV crush - the answer will surprise you! To learn more about FastSensor, visit: www.fastsensor.com/retail-promo To learn more about Takeoff, visit: www.takeoff.com/

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Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga interview Jesse Michael, Managing Director Adeptmind, to discuss all things malls and e-commerce in the latest edition of their ever popular Omni Talk Spotlight Series. Adeptmind made huge waves recently with their announcement and partnership with Centennial Malls to create a new Shop Now! program, whereby Centennial Mall shoppers can shop their malls like they would shop Amazon, i.e. as digital marketplaces comprised of all their tenants. Jesse shares with Chris and Anne how Adeptmind came to be (not surprisingly, it was rooted in product search), how his company and Centennial are thinking about Shop Now! in stages of development, and how, if all goes as planned, not only will Shop Now! be a new way for malls to conduct commerce but could also be a new way to support local businesses and to create a never before seen world of connected commerce in which anyone, not just the big guys, can play. Chris and Anne have long espoused the value of a digital commerce front end for malls. Many said they were crazy, and now Adeptmind and Centennial Malls are making it happen. Stay tuned!

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In the latest Omni Talk Spotlight Series, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga sit down with Justin Corbell, VP Business Development Scandit, to discuss the future of scan-and-go checkout-free retail and the future of in-store operations. Scandit recently raised $80 million in its latest funding round and is a company that nearly all retailers and CPG companies should have on their watch lists. In this podcast, you will learn: - Why not all barcode scanning is created equal (both for employees and customers) - How to think about the dynamics of a scan-and-go implementation - Why scan-and-go generally means less contact, bigger baskets, and happier customers - And, where and how augmented reality actually makes real sense for retailers. Another must listen amid this crazy pandemic! To learn more about Scandit, visit: https://www.scandit.com/ *Sponsored Content*

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There were almost too many headlines for this week's Omni Talk Fast Five! Prime Day is official, Walmart and Levi's have new store designs, and Poshmark is going public -- but none of these stories even made it into the top five. No, in this week's episode, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern instead turn their attention to how studies are showing that 11% of Americans may have already signed up for Walmart+, how Alibaba is taking a page from Costco and Sam's Club's book, how in the world Instacart keeps signing up retailers like Sephora and Bed Bath & Beyond, why Kroger is now downsizing its latest Ocado implementation, and also why paying with their palms at Amazon Go is something all three of them desperately want to do. All in all, as Chris's grandpa used to say, this week's episode is a real humdinger. And, its Emma the Intern's birthday! To learn more about FastSensor, visit: www.fastsensor.com/retail-promo To learn more about Takeoff, visit: www.takeoff.com/

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When it comes to the evolution of the mall, Jill Renslow has seen it all. Jill has spent 23 years at Mall of America leading the national institution through many transformations and partnerships to continue to make it a one-of-a-kind shopping and entertainment destination. In this podcast, Jill shares with Anne Mezzenga a few of her most remarkable experiences along her journey, including how she and her team are tackling mall operations during a pandemic. They discuss what's going to bring people to malls in the future and how Jill has sought out partnerships with everyone from Nickelodeon to neighborhood shop-in-shops to ensure Mall of America visitors have something new and delightful to capture their imaginations each and every time they visit. Jill also shares what's still left on her career bucket list and, of course, her A+ lineup for her own concert as well.

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Chris Walton interviews Sam's Club Chief Product Officer Eddie Garcia about Sam's Club's new Scan & Go at the pump functionality, along with all the other innovations Sam's Club has introduced over the past six months, like concierge shopping for seniors, curbside pickup, and shipping from store.

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Shoptalk CEO Anil Aggarwal sits down with Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga to talk innovation and retail in their latest Omni Talk Spotlight Series episode. Chris and Anne go deep with Anil on the origin of Shoptalk, the state of the retail industry, and what to expect from Shoptalk's next marquee event, Shoptalk Meetup, this October. Be sure to stick around for the last 20 minutes of the episode, too. Anil gives a master class on innovation and disruption theory. He discusses everything from the importance of always putting product first to looking to a blank slate future and working backwards, all while sometimes having to make some really tough decisions. The episode is a firsthand account from someone who eats what he cooks and isn't afraid to walk out on the limb of innovation and to disrupt himself.

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In this week's Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern discuss more feel good stories in one week than they can ever remember. They talk Mall of America dedicating retail space to local Minneapolis businesses disrupted by the pandemic and the social unrest following the killing of George Floyd, the first-ever Jeff Bezos Academy preschool for students from low income families, Walmart's Plus Up marketing campaign, GOAT's latest $100 million Series E funding round, and the mall operator Centennial's brilliant move to create an online marketplace for all its tenants this upcoming October. It is an episode guaranteed to leave you feeling warm and fuzzy and maybe even a little nostalgic for 80's movies featuring animatronic ducks. To learn more about FastSensor, visit: https://www.fastsensor.com/retail-promo To learn more about Takeoff, visit: https://www.takeoff.com/

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In her latest Women's Retail Collective Podcast, Anne Mezzenga interviews Alison Hahn about her career and the lessons she has learned from working at some of the biggest specialty retailers in the world, like Sephora and Gap. Alison shares her career story that began in the training program at Bamberger's (which would become Macy's New Jersey)and that eventually led to her current role at Sephora leading merchandising decisions for one of the largest beauty brands in the world. Anne and Alison also cover the impact the pandemic has had on the beauty industry and how Sephora has pivoted its strategies in response. Alison also shares some great advice for those early in their merchandising and retail careers. "This job is a lot of balancing art and science, but a huge part of it is instinct," she tell us. There are so many lessons to be learned in this one, including Alison's recipe for a perfect summer concert.

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In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern break down Apple's big fitness subscription news, Sam's Club's Scan & Go at the pump, Amazon suburban warehouses and its new luxury play, and poke a little much needed fun at made up retail holidays and all the PR hype around the newest one -- 10/10. To learn more about FastSensor, visit: https://www.fastsensor.com/ To learn more about Takeoff, visit: https://www.takeoff.com/

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Julian Mills, CEO of Quorso, sits down with Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga for the latest edition of their Omni Talk Spotlight Series, the series that highlights the people, the companies, and the technologies changing the future of retail. Quorso first caught Omni Talk's attention a few months ago, right when the pandemic hit. As former store-level and HQ-level retail executives, Chris and Anne have always wondered if there were better ways for both sides of a retail organization to connect and to optimize performance around clearer priorities, and COVID-19 has only brought that question to the forefront even more. While many decisions in retail get made by the loudest voices in the room or just trickle down from the top, they could and should, especially during a crisis, come from all directions and be prioritized around what matters most, iteratively, over time. In reality, as Julian elucidates, retail management, especially at the store level, should be no different from agile software development. It is just that retailers have never had the tools to help them run a store in this manner before. Julian shares how Quorso's weekly performance platform works, how it prioritizes decisions, and how it helps leaders drive accountability and personal attachment through real-time metrics monitoring and feedback down through every level of an organization. This just may be the most important retail technology podcast of the entire pandemic or at least one that will get you thinking differently. For, without leadership, accountability, and shared goals, not even the best of the best technology matters. *Sponsored Content*

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In their latest Omni Talk Spotlight Series interview, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga chat with FIT:MATCH Founder and CEO Haniff Brown. Haniff shares his unique background and inspiration for FIT:MATCH, a startup that is making waves in the virtual try-on space. With implementations already in the books at a number of Brookfield Properties' sites, Haniff and his team are attempting to change the way consumers shop for clothes. Walk into any one of their virtual fitting rooms and within moments consumers can expect to have a detailed view of their fit and body type as well as understand what products are right for them across a myriad of apparel retailers. This podcast will challenge your thinking about everything from online personalization to what the roles and looks of physical stores and fitting rooms may actually be in the future.

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In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Carl Boutet (aka Canada Carl) stops by to chat all the week's retail news with Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern. The gang talks: - How Amazon & Kohl's finally get a room and consummate their love for each other even more with a reported grocery partnership (sorry, Aldi) - The sale of JCP and how it is reminiscent of a scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (you know, the one where the knight just won't die) - Instacart eventually removing the "c" - An urban Ikea in the heart of San Francisco - How Walmart is digging in the wrong place with its drone announcement - And, of course, shepherds Yes, shepherds. All that and more in this week's Fast Five! To learn more about FastSensor, visit: www.fastsensor.com/retail To learn more about Takeoff, visit: www.takeoff.com/

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Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga interview Jordan Fisher, CEO of Standard Cognition, about the future of checkout-free retail. AI Computer vision-based checkout-free retail is all the rage right now, and Standard Cognition, with over $80 million in VC funding to date, is right at the center of that conversation, and especially in light of its recent announced plans with Circle K. Chris and Anne discuss the origin of the company, where the technology is now and where it is going, and why deciding whether or not to retrofit physical store footprints is one of the key questions that will determine future retailer adoption. They also put Jordan right on the hot seat (which Jordan handles with aplomb) when they ask him the question on every retail insider's mind -- "What was the deal with all those marketing claims of 3,000 Standard Cognition stores in Japan in time for 2020 Olympics?" Jordan explains how that rumor came to be and why the next few months will be a put up or shut up moment for him and his company, as he looks for, as you will see, a big exit for his investors down the road.

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In this week's Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, big news shakes the retail industry. Grabango, in partnership with Giant Eagle, opens a checkout-free and fully retrofitted GetGo convenience store in Pittsburgh. Walmart finally announces a date for its new subscription program, Walmart+. Amazon's first full-scale grocery store, Amazon Fresh, debuts to the public. Mall of America goes livestreaming with Popshop Live. And, Macy's tries to sell Wall Street on the idea that the world needs smaller, suburban Macy's stores. Newsflash -- it doesn't. Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern discuss all this and more, including Charlie Sheen, in this week's episode. To learn more about FastSensor, visit: www.fastsensor.com/retail To learn more about Takeoff, visit: www.takeoff.com/

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Anne Mezzenga sits down with Shelley Huff, EVP Direct-to-Consumer Serta/Simmons and CEO Tuft & Needle as part of her ongoing Women's Retail Collective Podcast Series. Shelley's career is unique in that it mirrors how shopping has evolved from her first retail job as a mall department store associate to her current role as CEO of one of the largest DTC categories in retail at Tuft & Needle. Shelley also shares several stories with Anne, including how she worked up the ranks from folding jeans in a Walmart store (wait until you hear what she found in a stack of jeans one day!)to leading several business units within Walmart's e-commerce division. This episode is full of great advice. Shelley talks about developing your own personal board of directors, how to handle failure and mistakes, and then closes by giving Anne her own personal Shelley-palooza concert lineup.

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In this week's Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, let's just say we are glad we are not in the department store industry. In the span of the past week, Nike is rumored to be cutting off many big time wholesale partners and Facebook launched Shops. Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern talk all that plus Best Buy turning 250 stores into fulfillment hubs, Zappos opening a New York store, and Taco Bell building a drive thru line just for order pickup. To learn more about FastSensor, visit: www.fastsensor.com/retail To learn more about Takeoff, visit: www.takeoff.com/

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Walmart's Tennille Webb joins Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga to discuss how she worked with Mamava to make Walmart the first retailer to roll out lactation pods in over 100 U.S. stores. A journey that began with Tennille seeing Mamava pods within an airport ended with her cold calling Mamava herself and then working with the powers that be at Walmart to convince them to overhaul their capital remodel program and to replace Walmart's existing mother's rooms with more efficient, movable, and cost-effective pods, so that all Walmart customers and associates could continue to have more safe and clean places to feed their babies. The Mamava pods are flexible lactation space solutions linked into a smart platform that empowers easy wayfinding, autonomous access for moms. Moms can open them with Mamava’s free app — and when finished, return to shopping. To learn more, visit https://www.mamava.com/ To see Tennille featured on Good Morning America as well, click https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/wellness/story/employee-walmart-expand-breastfeeding-stations-stores-country-72500430 To learn more about Walmart's rollout of the pods, visit https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2020/08/25/walmart-first-retailer-to-install-mamava-lactation-suites *Sponsored Content*

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In this week's edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by FastSensor and Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma the Intern discuss what to make of all the earnings announcements this week (including Target, Walmart, Kohl's, and more), Simon's acquisition of Lucky Brand, Payless making a comeback, Standard Cognition and Circle K, and what Chris thinks is a weak excuse from Amazon on its liability surrounding defective products on its third-party marketplace. To learn more about FastSensor, visit: www.fastsensor.com/retail To learn more about Takeoff, visit: www.takeoff.com/

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With COVID-19 now ever present, knowing where and in what parts of a store social distancing is working or not working, by way of real-time data, is more important than ever. Kalon Welch, FastSensor EVP Business Development, sits down with Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga of Omni Talk to discuss the ever-trending topic of workspace journey measurement through anonymous radio frequency tracking to make better decisions during these difficult times and how active distance alert monitoring (aka ADAM) could be one of the most important tools for retailers to deploy in their stores, in their warehouses, or even as they are unloading trucks to protect all involved. As Kalon says, "That which gets measured, gets done," and social distancing is pretty darn important to get done. To learn more about FastSensor, visit: https://www.fastsensor.com/retail *Sponsored Content*

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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In this week's Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma Irwin the Intern welcome guest host Ethan Chernofsky of Placer.ai to talk all the latest news in retail, including Walmart+, Amazon Prime Day moving to October, Harrod's getting into the outlet business, Instagram's new Shop tab, and Venmo launching new tools for small businesses. To learn more about Takeoff, visit: https://www.takeoff.com/

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Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga turn their Omni Talk Spotlight on Kate Reidel of Parcel Pending to discuss the evolving landscape of Buy Online, Pickup in store and how locker pickup could soon change the definitions and the availability of the service for retailers everywhere. **Sponsored Content**

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Omni Talk's Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss Shopify's latest move in the online payment space, Shopify Balance, and where the company also plans to go next.

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In this week's Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma Irwin the Intern love Lululemon's acquisition of Mirror, unanimously applaud Brookfield's Fit:Match experiment, are not quite sure what to make of Walgreens' new small format tests, rave about Nike building smaller store footprints, and compare the Gap/Kanye deal to a big bet at the poker table. To learn more about Takeoff, visit: https://www.takeoff.com/ To read Chris's latest piece on the overhype of VR, visit: https://www.therobinreport.com/sex-china-and-covid-19/

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In this week's Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by Takeoff, Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, and Emma Irwin the Intern discuss the sweeping changes in the world of social commerce by way of Snapchat and Instagram, how Tanger Factory Outlets is taking off-price digital, while TJX continues to sit on the digital sidelines, and why 7-Eleven's announcement this week about paying at the pump with your voice could be an easily foreseeable future for how we all pay for gas. To learn more about Takeoff, visit: https://www.takeoff.com/

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

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