Stay ConnectedOmni Talk Retail provides news, analysis, and commentary on the latest trends and issues in the retail industry. Created by a retailer, Chris Walton, for retailers, Omni Talk Retail covers a wide range of topics related to retail, including e-commerce, technology, marketing, and consumer behavior.
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In this week’s Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, Chris and Anne were live from eTail West in Palm Springs as they discussed:
There’s all that, plus mysterious ghost sightings, Thin Mints in the freezer, and a nerd laugh that Anne was not quite ready to deliver on camera.
Music by hooksounds.com
Omni Talk Retail is live from eTail West 2026 with coverage powered by NetElixir.
In this interview, Anne Mezzenga speaks with Denise Incandela, EVP of Fashion at Walmart, about the ongoing transformation of Walmart Fashion.
Over the past several years, Walmart has evolved from a basics driven apparel business into a modern, trend relevant fashion destination. Denise shares how the company has:
Walmart is also applying AI at the earliest stages of product development, using insights from runway shows, social media, and global trend data to accelerate design and deliver more trend right product to customers, faster.
With 145 million weekly customers, Walmart’s opportunity to democratize fashion at scale is unmatched.
#eTailWest #RetailInnovation #WalmartFashion #AIinRetail #PrivateBrands #Ecommerce #RetailLeadership
Omni Talk Retail is live from eTail West 2026 with coverage powered by NetElixir.
In this interview, Anne Mezzenga speaks with Kristin Shane, Chief Merchandising Officer at REI, about the company’s three year “Peak 28: Ascending Together” strategy and what it means for the future of specialty retail.
Kristin shares how REI is putting the customer at the center through a differentiated service model powered by its Green Vests, a culturally leading assortment designed to inspire progression into new outdoor activities, and renewed investment in retail fundamentals.
The conversation also dives into:
A thoughtful discussion on values driven retail, culture as strategy, and what modern merchandising leadership looks like in an AI era.
#eTailWest #RetailLeadership #Merchandising #AIinRetail #SpecialtyRetail #OmniTalk #RetailStrategy
Omni Talk Retail is live from eTail West 2026 with coverage powered by NetElixir.
In this interview, Anne Mezzenga speaks with Udayan Bose, Founder and CEO of NetElixir, about how AI is shifting from theory to measurable business impact in performance marketing.
A 19 year eTail veteran, Udayan shares how the conversation around AI has evolved from buzzword to accountability, with retailers now demanding tangible, quantifiable outcomes.
The discussion breaks AI in marketing into two clear categories:
Udayan shares real world results, including how NetElixir’s experimentation platform helped reactivate over 1,100 dormant SKUs for CarParts.com in just four months, generating significant incremental revenue and new customer acquisition.
The conversation also explores:
For retailers looking to move beyond AI hype and into measurable growth, this is a practical roadmap.
#eTailWest #AIinRetail #PerformanceMarketing #DigitalMarketing #RetailInnovation #Ecommerce #MachineLearning
In this Retail Technology Spotlight Series episode from Omni Talk Retail, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga welcome back Grocery Dealz co-CEOs Matt Goynes and Micheal Waldroup to unpack the rapid national expansion of their real-time grocery price comparison app.
Now live in 40 states, Grocery Dealz enables consumers to compare grocery prices across retailers in real time before they shop and even push their lists directly into Instacart for delivery.
The conversation dives into how the platform works, how pricing data is sourced, why retailers are paying attention, and what price transparency means for the future of grocery. From over-the-counter medicine and alcohol price swings to retail media monetization and API partnerships, this episode explores how comparison shopping could reshape consumer behavior... just as it did in travel and gas.
With grocery bills rivaling plane tickets in weekly spend, is price transparency the next major retail disruption?
Key Topics Covered:
•What Grocery Dealz is and why it exists
•The 3-step user experience: search, substitute, compare
•Categories covered beyond center store (including OTC meds & alcohol)
•How real-time grocery pricing data is sourced
•Retailers’ response to price transparency
•The Instacart integration and delivery convenience factor
•How Grocery Dealz makes money (affiliate + retail media model)
•Consumer adoption metrics and time spent in app
•What’s coming next: live coupons and national growth
•Can price comparison truly change grocery shopping behavior?
Connect with the Guests:
Matt Goynes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-goynes-65921368/
Micheal Waldroup: https://www.linkedin.com/in/micheal-waldroup-3a74b82b7/
#retailtech #grocerytech #pricetransparency #retailmedia #ecommerce #omnichannel #retailinnovation #retailpodcast #OmniTalkRetail
In this episode of Confessions of Supply Chain Executives, host Chris Walton sits down with Amir Khoshniyati, Vice President at Wiliot, to break down the five supply chain trends that will actually matter in 2026. Every January, supply chain executives make bold predictions. AI will transform everything. Automation will solve labor shortages. Real-time visibility will finally arrive. And by December, most of those predictions turn out to be wildly optimistic or completely off-target.
But 2026 may be different. Retail is approaching a true convergence point where Physical AI, real-time item location, generative and agentic AI, grocery e-commerce acceleration, and mounting regulatory pressure are all colliding at the same time. The result is a potential restructuring of how supply chains operate.
Drawing from his work with some of the world’s largest retailers, including Walmart, Amir shares what is actually being deployed versus what is still sitting in PowerPoint decks, and why the real driver of change is not hype. It is quantified pain. This episode examines whether we are at a true inflection point and what executives must prioritize right now to avoid falling behind.
Key Topics Covered:
• Why 2026 could be a true supply chain inflection point
• What “Physical AI” really means and how it differs from traditional IoT
• Where adoption stands today, pilot purgatory or scaled deployment
• The BLE vs. RFID debate and why it may not be either or
• Why real-time item location is moving from nice to have to mission critical
• How generative and agentic AI intersect with physical supply chain data
• When AI agents may begin making autonomous inventory and fulfillment decisions
• Why grocery e-commerce is a forcing function for real-time visibility
• How perishability, waste, and margin pressure are reshaping tracking needs
• The impact of FSMA and growing traceability mandates
• Whether compliance will become a competitive advantage
• The uncomfortable truth retailers may not want to hear about these trends
If you are a supply chain executive with limited budget and bandwidth, this episode delivers a clear message. Start with your pain, quantify it, and build your visibility foundation first.
🎧 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more brutally honest conversations about retail, supply chain, and the technology reshaping how work actually gets done.
Music by hooksounds.com
#ConfessionsOfASupplyChainExecutive #SupplyChain #RetailSupplyChain #Retail2026 #PhysicalAI #AmbientIoT #RealTimeVisibility #GroceryEcommerce #AIInSupplyChain #AgenticAI #FSMA #SupplyChainTransparency #WarehouseOperations #RetailTechnology #Wiliot
Sponsored Content
This Lightning Round segment of the Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, closes out the show with rapid-fire takes on Fashion Week trends, 2016 nostalgia, Robert Duvall’s Mount Rushmore, and unexpected Olympic curling drama.
From the cultural ripple effects of Fashion Week to the one thing our hosts would bring back from 2016, plus strong opinions on Robert Duvall and the intensity of Olympic curling, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga, joined by Jenn Hahn, keep things moving with quick hits and sharp debate.
⏩ Tune in for the full episode here.
#RetailLightningRound #RetailCulture #FashionWeek #WinterOlympics #RobertDuvall #RetailNews #OmniTalk #ConsumerTrends
This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, looks at independent convenience stores deploying AI-powered voice insights across 5,200 locations.
Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga, joined by Jenn Hahn, break down how real-time AI analytics are transforming store operations, workforce monitoring, and frontline decision-making.
⏩ Tune in for the full episode here.
#ConvenienceStore #RetailAI #VoiceAnalytics #StoreOperations #RetailInnovation #OmniTalk
This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, examines American Eagle building its largest creator community yet through a rewards-based micro-influencer program.
Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga, alongside Jenn Hahn, discuss how this move reflects shifting influencer economics and why smaller creators may deliver outsized engagement.
⏩ Tune in for the full episode here.
#AmericanEagle #MicroInfluencer #CreatorEconomy #RetailMarketing #InfluencerStrategy #OmniTalk
This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, dives into Target and Albertsons testing conversational advertising inside ChatGPT.
Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga, joined by Jenn Hahn, debate whether AI-driven conversations could become a scalable retail media platform or remain an experimental marketing play.
⏩ Tune in for the full episode here.
#Target #Albertsons #ChatGPTAds #ConversationalCommerce #RetailMedia #OmniTalk
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