Omni Talk Retail

In this Retail Technology Spotlight Series, Chris Walton sits down with Gagan Luthra, VP of Product at Impinj, to tackle one of retail's most persistent and expensive challenges: inventory distortion. With an estimated $1.7 trillion lost annually to inventory distortion, retailers have spent years investing in systems designed to improve accuracy. But what if the real problem isn't inventory at al...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by ZenlineAI and Mirakl . In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Starbucks declines to comment on a Financial Times report that it explored a takeover of Chipotle, saying it remains focused on its turnaround under CEO Brian Niccol. Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days helps drive $9.86 billion in U.S. online spending, as ea...

It's lightning round time on Fast Five, and Chris Walton and guest host Richard McKenzie are taking a break from the week's retail headlines for a little UK film history, television, furniture assembly, and French retail. From debating whether Chariots of Fire is actually celebrated in the UK and choosing which Ted Lasso character would make the best retail CEO, to an IKEA assembly story that take...

IKEA is closing three of its small-format plan and order stores in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, including a Georgetown location that opened less than a year ago. The closures come as IKEA reevaluates its U.S. footprint while continuing to invest in home delivery, pickup services, and digital channels. After years of positioning smaller stores as a way to reach more customers, is IKEA...

Walmart is rolling out three new light-up digital shelf label features across its stores in time for the holiday season. Shop to Light helps customers locate products using the Walmart app, while Pick to Light and Stock to Light help associates fulfill online orders and restock shelves more efficiently. But which of these three features will actually deliver the most value? Chris Walton and Richar...

DoorDash is expanding its retail marketplace with Macy's, Anthropologie, The North Face, Vans, and Timberland, bringing hundreds of additional stores onto its platform. The company is also introducing Dasher Returns, a $7.99 service that lets customers have returns picked up directly from their doors. With more than half of the NRF Top 100 Retailers now partnering with DoorDash, its vision of beco...

Marks & Spencer and Sephora are teaming up to bring Sephora at M&S to 100 UK stores and M&S.com beginning in spring 2027. The partnership will introduce a curated selection of beauty brands, in-store Sephora Beauty Advisors, and online shopping with home delivery and Click & Collect, giving Sephora a much larger footprint in the UK beauty market. We've seen similar partnerships in...

McDonald's is piloting third-party advertising on digital drive-thru menu boards at 450 company-owned U.S. restaurants as part of its new McDonald's Media Network, with ambitions of building a $1 billion advertising business. The ads appear after customers place their orders, and the network could eventually expand to additional screens throughout its restaurants. But is McDonald's sitting on a bi...

The Store of the Future is closer than you think, and it might not involve nearly as many screens, keyboards, or handheld devices as it does today. As retailers continue investing in AI and automation, one big question remains: What will the day-to-day experience actually look like for the employees working inside stores five to ten years from now? In the latest Omni Talk Retail Ask An Expert Seri...

What happens to grocery loyalty when AI agents start making shopping decisions for consumers? In this edition of 5 Insightful Minutes, recorded live at Groceryshop 2026, Seb Hill, Chief Marketing Officer at TCC Global, joins Omni Talk's Ben Miller to explore how agentic AI could reshape grocery retailing, challenge traditional loyalty programs, and change what it really means to earn a shopper's l...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by ZenlineAI and Mirakl . In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: TikTok launches an AI Shopping Assistant and one-click Buy Direct checkout, letting shoppers discover and buy without leaving the For You feed. FMI and the National Grocers Association urge the FTC to separate personalized pricing from loyalty offers,...

In this week’s Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group , Mirakl , Ocampo Capital , Quorso , Veloq , and SmartScout , Chris Walton welcomes Richard McKenzie into the guest hosting chair. The former Ocado executive and Veloq CEO brings his retail expertise, UK perspective, and plenty of back-and-forth with Chris, "bringing this week’s show to an 11." Chris and...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by ZenlineAI and Mirakl . In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Uber agrees to acquire workplace catering platform ezCater in a $2.3 billion all-cash deal, adding $400-plus average orders to Uber Eats and Uber for Business. Walmart launches Ship with Walmart, giving Marketplace sellers Walmart-negotiated shipping r...

Chris Walton is back on GrocerTalk this week, joining Ben Miller for a show all about growth, loyalty and the changing grocery shopping experience. Sponsored by Instacart Enterprise, Portager, Vusion, and Sifter Solutions, they dig into Costco’s growth machine, Morrisons’ latest Click & Collect experiment, and a Kroger double-header on rewards and 24-hour stores. Plus, TCC Global CMO Seb Hill...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by ZenlineAI and Mirakl . In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Gap Inc. launches AI-powered shopping tools across all four of its brands, 30 years after the Gap brand's first e-commerce website. Walmart expands its 30-minute Wing drone delivery service to the Seattle and Denver metro areas. Staples adds roughly 12...

In this Retail Technology Spotlight Series, Chris Walton sits down with Brian Kinsella, Chief Product Officer at Manhattan Associates, to explore one of the biggest technology dilemmas facing growing retailers and brands: Do you start small and risk outgrowing your systems, or invest in enterprise technology before you have the size, resources, or complexity to justify it? Brian breaks down why th...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by ZenlineAI and Mirakl . In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Nike posts a 4% revenue decline and unveils "Pace," its third restructuring since fiscal 2024, with more layoffs coming next year. Walmart rolls out light-up digital shelf labels to help shoppers find products and associates pick and stock faster. Ikea...

Producer Ella puts Chris Walton on the hot seat for a solo Fast Five lightning round. What’s the greatest retail employee uniform of all time? Vegas or Nashville for one night only? What’s the one thing Chris wants delivered to his backyard by drone in 20 minutes? And could camera-free smart glasses finally convince him to buy in? Watch the full Fast Five episode here: https://youtu.be/YTVMA7yS7-g...

Lowe’s is taking to the skies, becoming the first home improvement retailer to launch drone delivery through partnerships with DoorDash and Wing. Customers can get more than 100 project essentials delivered in as fast as 20 minutes. Chris Walton explains why forgotten painter’s tape, caulk, batteries and other last-minute essentials could make home improvement one of the strongest use cases for dr...

Amazon is letting merchants using its Multichannel Fulfillment service offer Prime delivery directly on their own websites, with no added cost to retailers or shoppers. Is Prime on your own site a gift for mid-sized retailers or a Trojan horse that makes them even more dependent on Amazon? Chris Walton argues it might actually be a little bit of both. Watch the full Fast Five episode here: https:/...

Kroger just updated its store dress code for the first time in a decade, putting nearly 400,000 associates across 21 chains in company-issued shirts after shoppers said they were having trouble finding employees. Can something as simple as a new uniform actually improve the store experience? Chris Walton explains why the move could signal something much bigger about Kroger’s expectations for its s...

Tapestry is making Coach and Kate Spade products purchasable directly inside Google’s Gemini app and AI Mode, complete with Google Pay checkout and no website redirect. Chris Walton breaks down why he likes the experiment, but also why brands shouldn’t overinvest in someone else’s AI experience at the expense of building agentic search on their own sites. Watch the full Fast Five episode here: htt...

Amazon just cut off Meta’s new Muse AI agent from shopping on Amazon.com, citing data security concerns. But as AI shopping agents continue to gain traction, Chris Walton asks the bigger question: Can Amazon really keep the agents out, or will consumer demand ultimately force its hand? Watch the full Fast Five episode here: https://youtu.be/YTVMA7yS7-g This podcast uses the following third-party s...

Chris Niesen is back for episode 2 of Making Space Real Time, presented by the Association of Retail Consumer Professionals (aka ARC) in partnership with Omni Talk. Omni Talk CEO Chris Walton returns as guest host, and this time both Chrises walked all three stores before hitting record. In this episode Meta Lab at Best Buy. The AI glasses and VR headset shop-in-shop launched in June and is now in...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by R&S Logistics , ZenlineAI , and Mirakl . In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: McDonald's launches the McDonald's Media Network, piloting third-party ads on drive-thru menu boards with its sights set on a $1 billion ad business. DoorDash adds Macy's, Anthropologie, The North Face, Vans, and Timberland to its...