Omni Talk Retail

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment explores Amazon's new Alexa Shopping feature that gives customers access to up to 365 days of product price history. Chris Walton and Ben Miller discuss how greater price transparency could strengthen consumer trust, why the feature supports the rise of agentic commerce, and how Amazon continues to position Alexa as the future interface for AI-powered shoppi...

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment breaks down New Jersey's proposed legislation targeting AI-powered pricing and placing a moratorium on new electronic shelf label installations. Chris Walton and Ben Miller discuss why electronic shelf labels have become caught in the AI pricing debate, how Europe embraced the technology through consumer protection initiatives, and why intelligent pricing an...

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment looks at Lowe's decision to let store associates sell marketplace products directly through its in-store selling platform. Chris Walton and Ben Miller explain why this approach works particularly well in home improvement, how it strengthens the connection between digital and physical retail, and why empowering store associates with marketplace inventory crea...

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment explores Amazon Web Services' $1 billion investment to embed AI engineers directly inside customer organizations Chris Walton and Ben Miller explain why AI success is no longer about choosing the right model. Instead, they argue that adoption, implementation, and business context will determine which retailers gain a lasting competitive advantage. They also...

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment examines Kroger's $1.65 billion acquisition of Giant Eagle and what it signals about the future of the grocery industry. Chris Walton and Ben Miller debate whether Kroger is making a smart strategic acquisition or simply doubling down on a business facing mounting competitive pressure from Walmart, Amazon, Aldi, and Sprouts. They also discuss why a successfu...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by Duvo and Mirakl . In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: GameStop shareholders approved a stock issuance amendment tied to the company's pursuit of eBay , giving CEO Ryan Cohen more flexibility to sweeten a future bid after eBay's board rejected GameStop's $56 billion offer earlier this year. Walmart added eight...

In this week's OmniTalk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group , Mirakl , Ocampo Capital , Quorso and Veloq , Chris Walton was joined by recurring Fast Five favorite Ben Miller, independent retail analyst and former VP of Content at Shoptalk, to discuss: • Kroger's $1.65 billion acquisition of Giant Eagle, and whether the deal says more about Kroger's growth strategy...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by Duvo and Mirakl . In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Walmart and Sam's Club are cutting prices on thousands of summer staples as part of a broad Rollback and member-savings push spanning grocery, household goods, outdoor living, toys, and apparel. Aldi is making its first move into Colorado, filing permits fo...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by Duvo and Mirakl . In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Ocado announces CEO Tim Steiner will step down in 2028 following a boardroom tussle, as shares slide amid a stalled automated-warehouse strategy. Klarna applies for a U.S. bank charter, pushing further beyond buy now, pay later and toward becoming a full-fl...

In this episode of Confessions Of Supply Chain Executives , host Chris Walton sits down with Amir Khoshniyati, Vice President at Wiliot, and Kay Irwin, National Practice Lead for Connected Assets & Smart Supply Chain at AT&T, to explore one of the biggest unsolved challenges in retail: inventory visibility. Despite decades of investment in supply chain technology, most retailers still stru...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by Duvo and Mirakl . In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Amazon commits $1 billion to a new Forward Deployed Engineering unit, embedding AWS engineers directly inside client businesses to compress AI deployment timelines from months to days. Albertsons works to fully scale an AI-powered merchandising intelligence...

It is that time of the year again! The time where Omni Talk and Placer.ai get together for their annual tradition of handing out mid-year grades across retail. Placer.ai's Chief Marketing Officer, Ethan Chernofsky, is back to give his mid-year report card assessment of which retailers are setting the pace, which ones are making impressive comebacks, and which emerging trends are shaping the future...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by Duvo and Mirakl . In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Kroger agrees to acquire Giant Eagle for $1.65 billion, with the Pittsburgh grocer keeping its name, headquarters, and myPerks loyalty program as a division of Kroger. Dick's Sporting Goods launches ScoreCard+, a $99-a-year paid loyalty tier offering $100 i...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by Duvo and Mirakl . In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Target begins tracking unexcused absences and tardiness with a new points-based system launching this September, terminating workers who reach 12 points. Allstate partners with Macy's and Bloomingdale's to offer enhanced product protection plans at point of...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by Duvo and Mirakl . In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Saks Global exits Chapter 11 as "Exemplar Luxury Group," emerging with a dramatically smaller store footprint, sharply reduced debt, and a new strategic bet on full-price luxury. Amazon Prime Day 2026 logged $26.4 billion in U.S. online spend across four da...

In this Retail Technology Spotlight series, Chris Walton sits down with Soroosh Seyhoon, Chief Revenue Officer at Zello, to explore how capturing and analyzing frontline voice data is transforming the way retailers understand and manage store operations. From AI-powered in-ear assistants to real-time operational intelligence, Soroosh explains why the conversations happening on the sales floor repr...

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by Duvo and Mirakl . In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses: Lowe's integrates its third-party marketplace into its My Red Vest associate software , putting thousands of marketplace products directly in the hands of store employees at over 1,700 locations. Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Keurig Dr Pepper roll out QR codes li...

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five lightning round covers a little bit of everything, from the passing of legendary Fed chairman Alan Greenspan at age 100 and the question of who deserves the title of favorite economist, to whether Chris and Jenn are Prime Day shoppers (spoiler: neither is exactly hitting refresh at midnight). They also weigh in on Jersey Mike's overtaking Chick-fil-A as Florida's fa...

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment reacts to Target's decision to name fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi as its first-ever Creative Director at Large, a brand new role in which Mizrahi will advise on product design, mentor Target designers, and help the retailer reclaim its iconic cheap chic identity. Chris Walton and Jenn Hahn aren't exactly wowed. While they agree that creativity never hurts, both...

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment covers Bed Bath & Beyond's Legendary Coupon Hunt, a 21-day nationwide sweepstakes inviting customers to dig out their old iconic blue 20% off coupons for a chance to win a $100,000 home refresh. Chris Walton and Jenn Hahn don't hold back. With only around 22 Bed Bath & Beyond branded stores still open and a grand prize that signals the brand isn't ex...

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment tackles Kroger's Q1 fiscal 2026 earnings, where the grocery giant posted $46.1 billion in total sales and announced that its e-commerce business turned a profit for the very first time, ahead of schedule. Chris Walton and Jenn Hahn give credit where it's due, but push back hard on the feel-good narrative. With identical sales missing expectations, e-commerce...

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment breaks down the explosive June 2025 e-grocery data from Brick Meets Click and Mercatus, which showed a 28% year-over-year surge to $9.8 billion, with delivery, pickup, and ship-to-home all posting gains of 25% or more. Chris Walton and Jenn Hahn dig into what's really driving the growth, from the rise of the free delivery era to why time-starved consumers ar...

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment examines Ahold Delhaize's decision to appoint former Amazon Fresh executive Claire Peters as CEO of Ahold Delhaize USA and what the hire could mean for one of the largest grocery retailers in the U.S. Chris Walton and Jenn Hahn discuss why Ahold Delhaize looked beyond traditional grocery talent, what Claire Peters' experience at Amazon, Woolworths, and Tesco...

In this Omni Talk Retail interview, recorded live from the Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit 2026 in Vienna, Chris Walton sits down with Ayla Ziz, Chief Commercial & Customer Officer and SVP Sales Europe at Danone, to discuss how AI, sustainability, and industry collaboration are shaping the future of consumer health. Ayla shares how Danone is integrating AI into its commercial operations, wh...

In this Omni Talk Retail interview, recorded live from the Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit 2026 in Vienna, Chris Walton sits down with Pablo Perversi, President of EMEA at Danone, to discuss how one of the world's leading food companies is navigating the growing consumer focus on health, nutrition, and sustainability. Pablo shares how the rise of GLP-1 medications is influencing consumer behavi...