The Come Up Productions
Manny x Joe: Check Out
New tech. Big promises. Bold claims. But is it hype? Welcome to Manny + Joe: Checkout—where two retail and commerce veterans cut through the noise and tell you what actually matters. Every week, Manny Almagro and Joe Scartz check out what's new in retail, commerce, and innovation—from AI and agentic commerce to payments, retail media, and in-store technology. Then they reality check whether it's worth your attention, your budget, or your time. Manny has spent 15+ years building AI systems, computer vision platforms, and digital transformation programs at agencies like Publicis and Omnicom, plu...
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The Come Up Productions
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Podcast website
Latest episode
Jan 8, 2026
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Episodes
ChatGPT's Grip Is Slipping 08.01.2026 24:45
Manny and Joe kick off 2026 with the SimilarWeb data that's been making the rounds and it's a wake-up call. ChatGPT dropped from 87% to below 75% traffic share while Gemini surged 260% on Google's ecosystem play. The takeaway? Retailers betting on a single AI partnership are building for a monopoly that's already fragmenting. We break down what Grok's rise from zero to 2.9% signals, why Amazon's g...
Why the Last Three Feet Will Save Retail from AI Commoditization 11.12.2025 18:20
Manny and Joe break down eMarketer's Commerce Summit findings: in-store retail media won't hit $1B until 2028—that's just 1% of total spend despite 80% of sales happening in physical stores. The gap? Measurement infrastructure. While Amazon dominates with 79% of retail media dollars, forward-thinking retailers are instrumenting stores with spatial analytics to prove incrementality befo...
Black Friday's AI Reckoning: When AI Promises Meet Retail Reality 25.11.2025 15:15
A Hamburg study shows ChatGPT shopping converts 86% worse than affiliate links despite high engagement. With Black Friday 4 days away, Manny and Joe explain why this is the first major stress test for agentic commerce. The tech works, but trust and infrastructure don't. They analyze why users research in ChatGPT but buy elsewhere, what retailers should monitor this week, and why Black Friday 2...
The Bots Are Shopping: Why Amazon Is Blocking Google's AI Army 19.11.2025 16:52
On November 13th, Google launched AI shopping agents that fundamentally change retail. Manny and Joe break down Google's three features: conversational shopping in AI Mode, "Let Google Call" that phones stores to check inventory, and agentic checkout that auto-purchases when prices hit your target. The big questions: What happens to retail media when bots do the shopping? Why aren...
Agentic AI Goes Shopping: We Watched Robots Fill Our Carts (So You Don't Have To) 07.11.2025 23:30
Manny and Joe put agentic AI to the ultimate real-world test: grocery shopping. In this episode, they each use a different AI browser—Manny with OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas , Joe with Perplexity's Comet Assistant —and give them simple prompts to handle their weekly shopping. No technical instructions. No step-by-step guidance. Just: "Do my grocery shopping."
Agentic AI Goes Shopping: We Watched Robots Fill Our Carts (So You Don't Have To) 05.11.2025 23:30
In this conversation, Manny and Joe explore the capabilities of AI browsers, specifically focusing on their use in grocery shopping. They conduct a use case test with two different AI browsers, Atlas and Comet, discussing their experiences and the technology's potential. The conversation highlights the decision-making abilities of AI, the importance of user experience, and the future of AI in ever...
From Search Bars to Store Aisles: AI, Attribution, and the Future of Retail Media 24.10.2025 33:25
In this episode, Joe and Manny discuss the evolving landscape of retail media, focusing on the decline of traditional search methods in favor of AI-driven conversational commerce. They explore the implications for brands and consumers, emphasizing the importance of optimizing product listings for natural language queries. The conversation also delves into the significance of in-store media and mea...
Etsy, Shopify & ChatGPT: A New Era in E-Commerce 09.10.2025 21:30
In the debut episode of "Manny and Joe's Checkout," hosts Manny and Joe explore the latest innovations in retail and commerce, focusing on the groundbreaking integration of ChatGPT with platforms like Etsy and Shopify. They discuss the evolution of AI in shopping, the challenges of brand control, and the potential for a new era of personalized, in-chat commerce. Tune in to discover how these advan...
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