Omni Talk Retail

Sepideh Burkett knew at an early age that she was ready to take on big things. At 17, she left her family in Dubai with a one-way ticket to the US to start work on her engineering degree. After being "beaten into submission" by calculus, those plans changed and she followed in the family's footsteps and decided to make the pivot to pharmacy school. Now, you're probably thinking, this is a retail podcast, right? Yes. That's what makes Sepideh's story so unique. After years of running the pharmacy and health and wellness business for Walmart, Sepideh took the leap into full-on store operations for the retail giant where she saw many years of success which she attributes to her start in pharmacy thinking of those she served as patients, not just customers. Now Sepideh is at The GIANT Company where she's the Division VP leading stores teams as they get up and out of a challenging pandemic year and on to serving customers with all they've learned in the last 12+ months. Sepideh's story is an inspiring one, especially her final advice for young women entering the retail industry. This podcast is sponsored by Parcel Pending. For more information visit ParcelPending.com Music by hooksounds.comThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer & Retail Group, Takeoff, and BrightSign, Anne Mezzenga and guest host Carl Boutet: -Discuss their admiration for Walmart’s newest plan to plus up Walmart+ with free prescriptions for members. -Talk GNC making ultra Ulta moves setting up shop in 4,000+ Walmart stores and on Walmart.com. Remember to scan-and-go that protein, bro! -Discover Carl Boutet’s love of bin shopping for beans, now available at Quicklotz. -Loathe Instagram forcing them to call influencers “creators” and review new plans to pay creators for the goods they review on Reels. -Point out all that’s still ahead for retailers who just figured out how to do online fulfillment in a pandemic as it relates to the Roblox and PacSun partnership. To learn more about the A&M Consumer & Retail Group, visit: www.alvarezandmarsal.com/industries/retail/retail To learn more about Takeoff, visit: www.takeoff.com/ To learn more about BrightSign, visit: www.brightsign.biz To get your own copy of The Great Acceleration. The Race to Retail Resilience. By Carl Boutet, visit: https://payhip.com/b/VgdPThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Did you know 58% of consumers never return after making an initial purchase? And that is because loyalty is fast and fleeting, especially in today’s complex and competitive eCommerce environment. Only focusing on a consumer's linear path-to-purchase risks losing sight of all the activity that happens after a purchase is made. The best predictors of what a consumer may do next lie within his or her online activity, not just from search to purchase but also in what happens beyond the purchase as well. In this live recording of our Ask An Expert interview, Omni Talk’s Chris Walton sat down with 1010data’s Vice President of Marketing Frank Riva to understand just how significantly the digital consumer decision journey has changed and why the traditional “path-to-purchase” approach needs to extend beyond the phrase itself and instead address a more complete journey across an entire interconnected and complex system. For the Infinity Loop Visual, head here: https://1010data.com/insights-platform/market-intelligence/retail-brand-intelligence/ecommerce-suite/ If you like what you learn in this interview (and with Prime Day just days away) be sure to check out 1010data’s Prime Day Primer here: https://bit.ly/3iyWHjd Everything you need to know in one report. For more information about 1010data, head to 1010data.com. **Sponsored Content**This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer & Retail Group, Takeoff, and BrightSign, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga: - Discuss what the new Walmart and Gap partnership means for a brand they both love so much (and would come out of retirement for). - Explain why there is so much more nuance to the long-term discussion about Instacart than what the pundits are relaying with all their pithy comments on social media. - Debate whether Sheetz taking Bitcoin is a smart experiment. - Both get resale exasperation talking Etsy and its new Depop acquisition. - And, finally, drop it like the hot they never were, talking about Instagram's new feature that lets you shop exclusive product drops from multiple brands all at once. There's all that, plus they argue invisible art, frightened turtles, and the sorest part of their overworked Crossfit bodies, while turning it up to 11 just for loyal listener Lee Sherwood-Esmond. Because we know she is listening. Thank you to her and to all of you for making Omni Talk a continued success and a reflection of our personalities. To learn more about the A&M Consumer & Retail Group, visit: www.alvarezandmarsal.com/industries/retail/retail To learn more about Takeoff, visit: www.takeoff.com/ To learn more about BrightSign, visit: www.brightsign.bizThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

As NetElixir CEO and Founder Udayan Bose says, Chief Marketing Officers and e-commerce marketing teams have been running on a treadmill at 10 mph since the pandemic began. And, now just when they don't need another wrench thrown into things, iOS updates have eliminated third-party cookies, turning up the heat and forcing them to come up with new ways to attract customers. In fact, according to a NetElixir study, 80% of the brands and retailers they surveyed were so busy trying to stay on top of day-to-day work that they haven’t even started to think about how to restructure their campaigns for the cookie-less world. In this podcast, Anne Mezzenga and Udayan Bose discuss how NetElixir is helping brands and retailers develop solid first-party data collection strategies that leverage NetElixir's proprietary platform. Bose shares how the NetElixir platform takes a different approach, using machine learning to identify, with 65% confidence, customers who will return to your site 2-3 times after their first purchase, and how to create a digital marketing strategy to reach them from the start. Head to NetElixir.com for more information, and if you’re a brand or retailer in that 80% and in need of some fast help, you won’t want to miss NetElixir's FREE Connect The Dots conference on June 10, 2021. Sign up here: https://www.netelixir.com/events/connecting-the-dots-driving-change-through-innovation/?utm_source=website&utm_medium=omnitalk&utm_content=ctd&utm_campaign=CTD_06_2021 *Sponsored Content*This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer & Retail Group, Takeoff, and Manhattan Associates, A&M's Kristin Kohler Burrows and Chad Lusk stop by to discuss all the week's top retail news with Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga. Together they debate: - The likely impacts of Amazon's MGM acquisition. - The first-ever antitrust suit brought against Amazon and why it feels like the Attorney General of Washington, D.C. may have a case. - 10 minute delivery and the new startup, Gorillas, coming to NYC. - Kroger taking Ocado to new heights and where it doesn't have stores in Florida - And, why in the world Wilson Sporting Goods thinks it should open up physical stores. There's all that, plus lake beer, James Bond casting, and one of the toughest put you on the spot questions for first-timer Chad in the history of the show! To learn more about the A&M Consumer & Retail Group, visit: www.alvarezandmarsal.com/industries/retail/retail To learn more about Takeoff, visit: www.takeoff.com/ To read Chris Walton's write up of this week's Manhattan Momentum Connect Conference, click here: https://omnitalk.blog/2021/05/27/momentum-connect-21-why-theres-theres-no-difference-between-purgatory-and-hell-when-talking-cloud-commerce/This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

A few years ago, Adam Siegel came to Omni Talk and said he was leaving his position at RILA to found a startup he believed could revolutionize resale by giving brands a new way for their existing customers to resell the products they had previously purchased from them online and in an intuitive way. Intrigued by the simplicity of the idea as Adam described it, Anne and Chris asked that Adam keep in touch, and lo and behold almost two years later that startup, Recurate, has just secured $3.25 million to bring Adam's concept to life. In this podcast, Anne Mezzenga and Chris Walton interview Adam about Recurate, how it enables peer-to-peer resale on brands' own e-commerce sites, and how it plans to help brands form longer-lasting relationships with their customers all the way through discovery, purchase, resale, and repurchase. If you are a brand or retailer contemplating getting into resale, listening to this podcast could be the best move you make all year. *Sponsored Content*This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

In the latest Omni Talk Ask An Expert Series interview, Chris Walton speaks with Quorso Founder and CEO Julian Mills about the latest trends in agile store management theory and practice. Agile store management, first introduced to the Omni Talk audience back in the summer of 2020, is the idea that retail operations, particularly at the store level, can be managed similar to how software is created, i.e. with a quick, iterative mindset that is all about coordinated testing and learning to deliver the most meaningful results. Quorso and Julian are leading experts in the field when it comes to adapting this concept to retail, and, in this interview, Chris explores with Julian what the practice of applying this methodology means on the ground for those running retail stores. Together they discuss: - Where the idea of "agile" comes from (minute 3:45) - The right blend of analytics and UX to make it all happen (10:00) - What companies are ready for culturally (13:55) - Why running stores is also an incredibly localized business (20:00) - Why in-stocks may not be a retailer's biggest problem (24:00) - And how small long-tail changes, just like in e-commerce, can add up to huge impacts over time (26:00) Chris also enjoyed the conversation so much that we also plan to have Julian back again in the late summer to talk even more about the next phases of what this trend could look like. Stay tuned! To learn more about Quorso's Agile Store Labs Report, head here: https://quorso.com/agile-stores-lab-report-retails-agile-in-action/ *Sponsored Content*This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

In the latest edition of the Omni Talk Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer & Retail Group, Takeoff, and Manhattan Associates, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga debate: - Target's billion dollar plus move into alcohol delivery and what CEO Brian Cornell likely wears to the gym twice a day. - Amazon Go Grocery's rebranding to Amazon Fresh and what it heralds for the future (hint: it's more than you think). - Google and Shopify's new partnership and whether it will amount to a hill of beans. - The rumors that the RealReal is planning to create its own private label line. - And we close with a discussion about retail startup CAMP's latest innovation that lets 3 year-olds shop online for toys with their 1% parents' money. To learn more about the A&M Consumer & Retail Group, visit: www.alvarezandmarsal.com/industries/retail/retail To learn more about Takeoff, visit: www.takeoff.com/ To learn more about Manhattan Associates Momentum Connect Conference, visit: https://www.manh.com/en-gb/events/momentum?utm_campaign=21-01-global-all-multiproducts-paidmedia-Influencer&utm_content=Momentum&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=click-through&utm_term=INFLUENCER21This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

In 2020, Adeptmind made headlines with plans to make Centennial Mall properties fully shoppable online, and just last month this plan became a reality. Consumers can now shop over 2.0 million skus across a bevy of retailers at Centennial’s MainPlace mall for both delivery and pickup. That's 2.0 million plus skus online, from a mall, for delivery and pickup -- a massive milestone and achievement in mall-based retailing. We first spotlighted Adeptmind in a podcast interview last year, and now Chris Walton brings Adeptmind Managing Director, Jesse Michael, back for a second time as part of our Ask An Expert interview series to talk about how Jesse and Adeptmind have made it all happen. Together Chris and Jesse discuss all the do's and don'ts around making malls shoppable online, including POS and OMS integrations, handling returns, and, of course, coordinating fast delivery. Everyone is talking about making malls shoppable online right now, and there is a ton of smoke and mirrors out there about how to get it all done. This interview gives it to you straight. To see MainPlace mall in action, head here: https://shopnow.shopmainplacemall.com/ *Sponsored Content*This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy