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Today is February 19, 2025.

I'm one of your hosts, Anne Mazinga.

And I'm one of your other hosts, Chris Wal.

And we're here once again to discuss all the top headlines from the past week making waves in the world of Omni Channel retailing.

And Chris, we're actually at home in Minneapolis for this recording shocker.

Imagine that.

Yes, in a very cold Minneapolis.

It was negative 30 yesterday.

I can't even get the heat working in my house and I'm freezing.

I've got blankets on underneath here.

It's like we're just trying to stay as cozy as we possibly can.

But to help us do that, Chris, we have two very special guests who Are joining us for their regularly scheduled monthly appearance.

The A M consumer and retail group's David Brown here to redeem himself after missing our year end awards show.

And first Timer to the Fast 5, Lisa Collier.

Welcome to you both.

We're so excited to have you.

Thank you Anne and Chris.

So it's great to be back.

Can't wait.

Excited to be here.

Yeah.

Lisa, this is your first time.

How are you feeling?

Are you feeling ready and prepared to David, do everything he can to, to make you ready for this show?

Yes, I'm, I'm ready.

I'm ready.

Ready and excited.

Excellent, excellent.

Well, David, if you don't mind, let's, let's start with you first.

Let's give the listeners a quick background on you, your experience and your role at A and M and then we'll go to you, Lisa.

Sure.

Happy to.

I lead the consumer and retail group for the Americas.

Been in professional services and retail for oh God too long now.

Let's just say 25 plus years and, and leave it at that.

Really focusing on trajectory change for businesses that you know, that want to, you know, kind of bend either the cost curve or the revenue curve in a positive direction.

Yes.

And always, David.

One, two, always.

Mic drop in a fast five.

So we are, it's always good for a few and I know.

Yeah.

Yes.

Finding the angles as he does.

Well Lisa, let's, let's.

This is your first time here.

Please introduce yourself to our audience.

I am a managing director at A&M CRG.

I am new to the organization kind of.

This is my one year anniversary and I'm the interesting part of our practice which is bringing operators with consultants.

I have a almost 40 year career in the retail, fashion and sports industry.

I come from great brands like Levi Strauss and company Under Armour.

I was the CEO at NYDJ and I have a mixture.

I like to call myself a unicorn because I do product, consumer and creative but I've also run supply chains and factories and facilities.

So I, I'm a little bit on both sides and I think all of my background is a great partnership with all of people like David who is a lifetime consultant that I can learn from and help deliver skills to our clients.

Well, we have got some headlines for you today, Lisa.

We are excited.

It's almost like we hand picked them.

Chris.

Yes, we, well, we kind of did but it worked out very well this week that there are a lot of headlines made for both of these two with us.

Yeah.

And Lisa, you're like a needle in a stack of needles looking through your LinkedIn profile.

So, yeah, we're excited to have you and, and I think, I think we should get to the headlines.

What do you think?

Let's do it.

Let's do it.

All right.

In this week's Fast5, we've got news on Shield's investment in approximately 13 LED screens per store.

Dick's new Varsity influencer program, Wayfair's new AI powered shopping tool that they're calling Muse, and Amazon surprising test that allows Amazon mobile app shoppers to buy products from other websites.

But we begin today with even bigger news.

Maybe, I don't know, it depends how you want to look at it.

Curious what our folks, our friends here at A and M think, but Ann, would you do the honors?

Yes.

Let's dive right in.

Headline number one.

Amazon has opened a new beauty and personal care store in Italy.

According to chain storage, located in Milan's busy city center, the new Amazon Parapharma.

I don't even know.

Parapharma, Parapharmacia and Parapharma.

Parapharmacia.

Okay, all right.

Parapharmacia and Beauty Store provides a curated selection of beauty and personal care products and is part of a broader effort by Amazon to expand its online beauty and personal care product offerings across Europe.

The store features two distinct areas.

The first, the central hub of the space or the quote main gallery, end quote, showcases a selection of beauty, personal care and dermatologically recommended brand name products.

Wow, way to go it.

Dermatologically, you know, I mean, some words.

I can pronounce clearly.

I must have to go to Milan to work on my Italian.

Chris, I think that's.

You have to get the head to this pharmacy.

It is.

Yeah, you know, I know, I know.

I mean, even my Italian heritage is not helping me here.

Okay, then we have the Quote, Place and Learn and Quote stations which feature interactive digital displays that enable customers to learn more about products by playing educational videos about select items when they're placed on a designated tray.

The second area, the Derma bar, is an experiential area that provides customers complimentary digital skin analyses using technology and product recommendations from beauty experts.

Using digital tools, customers can obtain a comprehensive report on their skin type and condition by having their skin analyzed at 1of3Digital Skin Analysis stations.

Beauty experts then provide product recommendations based on the results.

David, I know you are very, very stringent about your skin care routine, so I'm going to go to you first.

I want to know, David, what's your hot take on Amazon's new beauty store?

In Italy.

Does the world need it?

Yes.

I actually love this one.

You do?

Oh, wow.

One I like beauty space is just a great space and I think will, will continue to be an interesting space going forward.

But I think it's in line with Amazon's premiumization play that they're doing right.

So as they no longer are necessarily the cheapest in anything they do.

I mean, you know, kind of that's well proven out or you know, across the website, across everything else and they go category by category and you know, kind of attract, try to attack categories.

This is a perfect premium play in the category.

You don't want to be in the race to the bottom and you know, open a cheap store full of Maybelline and Revlon and then you're just competing with.

I think this is the way to go.

They're essentially attacking Sephora and you know, it's potentially a better version of Ulta because you have the self help, not only the self help, you have experts in the store.

You, you know, you potentially have even higher trained people and higher level pharmacists, etc, so great category, great strategy.

I think this one's a home run.

So.

Wow.

Is, is the Milan play then you think, because they're going after luxury or why do you think they chose Milan as this location, as the first location?

Well, I think the obvious reason they chose is because we were supposed to do this podcast as a store visit.

Clearly I can't even see the word of the store.

But no, I, I think that's the, the logic.

I mean, you know, the two choices, right, was either Paris.

I wouldn't be surprised if the, if the next one's in Paris.

Really.

So staying international, you know, kind of.

City centers, trying to go up market.

Huh?

Okay, interesting.

Lisa, do you agree?

You know, I, my reaction was I think it is a great similar to David's.

It's a great play on luxury.

It's a great play on a very hot trend that spans generations.

I think it's important we know from 10 year olds to, you know, 70 year olds, everyone wants to look and feel good and are really spending a lot of time thinking about skin care and how they look and taking care from a health perspective as well.

And I think the interactive part is amazing and I do think it is a play on luxury.

But the question I thought is, do we need it?

I don't think we need it.

That's the only difference.

I think it's an interesting play for them.

I think it makes them smart.

The other thought I had last night.

As I was thinking about it, they're probably doing this research to figure out what their Amazon private label play is in the beauty space because they're doing testing, etc.

And so that was a last minute thought I had.

Like, are they really thinking about how to do private label lab work and information and get insights on other brands and products?

Yeah, that makes a ton of sense actually Lisa, I just following your thread, I mean I, I honestly think this is a research project for Amazon.

I don't even know that.

I mean all the telltale signs are there, the interactive, you know, experiences.

This is like a glorified pop up to me for Amazon to test, you know, what's the demand in Europe for especially some of the American skincare brands and some of the other American makeup brands.

It's, in some cases it is a lower price point than you might be able to get for some things that are in Europe right now.

So I think it's, it's a hundred percent a test.

Just like the, you know, the salon, like we haven't talked about the salon that they opened in London for.

You know, that was four years ago, it's still open.

I think this is a testing ground where just like you said, they're getting information about what products are in demand in those areas, what's being tested.

Like they're, they can gather all this information and then decide what they're going to do with it.

But Chris, I, I'm gonna let you close out because I've got a feeling that you don't agree here.

I don't know what it is, maybe just years of working with you, but, but what are your thoughts on, on the Amazon beauty store in Milan?

Chris?

Yeah, I'm actually, I'm kind of gobsmacked that everyone is kind of positive about this.

Like I, I, I mean, I mean Lisa sounds like she's kind of hedging a little bit.

Like she said the world doesn't need it.

And I tend to agree with that.

I mean, I just look at, I mean my take on this is like I looked at the pictures, the environment looks so sterile and unappealing to me, which is my main issue with every store that Amazon opens.

The devil's in the details.

Like is it a concept that could work?

Yes, but you have to, you have to create the store in the right way.

And this store feels like it's designed by tech nerds to showcase technology as opposed to actually merchandising products.

And that's what the whole press release was about.

So, so I'm skeptical of them being successful in the long run opening any store, you know, when that's the approach that they take.

And I remember listening to an interview with Jeff Bezos like a few years ago.

He's like, we're only going to go into physical stores if there's a real, real differentiation play to us being in that physical store.

And, and these tech gimmicks are not that to me.

Like I just, I just don't see it working.

I don't see them being able to capture the luxury market because Amazon just doesn't, just doesn't connote luxury, even though they may want to move up that way, you know, as David said, but I don't know.

That's my take.

Chris, do you, does that change for you?

If you look at this not as like we're rolling out multiple stores and it's a one store experiment.

Like they are gathering data on like are you putting La Roche posay on the, on the, you know, skin care demonstration?

You gotta get a lot of people into the store to do that.

And from their past store experiments, they haven't had that much traffic to pull that off either.

And the other thing that pisses me off too, just to get on my soapbox is I get tired of giving Amazon license to do anything they want just as an experiment.

Some experiments just aren't smart.

And I don't know, this could be one of them in my mind.

Interesting.

Okay.

All right, well, we will agree to disagree on this headline.

It sounds like.

No, we're starting off strong.

We're starting off.

We got some debate going already.

This is great.

All right, this next one's going to be fun too, I think.

All right, headline number two.

Shields is investing $11 million in digital signage according to chain store age.

The employee owned sporting goods retailer known for its mega sized stores filled with all sorts of fun attractions has completed the digital signage initiative with experiential media.

Has completed its digital signage initiative with experiential media company Mood Media.

The digital signage project which began in October of 2023 involved the installation of approximately 460 LED screens which is at approximately 13 screens per store.

And I did the math and they are placed through live strategic.

Five strategic zones in each store including men's and women's shoe sections, store corners, structural columns and above the grand staircases.

Wow, sounds cool.

Stills can synchronize the display network for storewide takeover campaigns by brand partners such as Nike, Adidas and Lego.

Interesting or segment promotional content for localized zone delivery.

The initiative consolidates 32 individual store systems into a single unified application through Mood Media's Harmony platform, which provides centralized management of the audio and visual experiences.

David, want to start with you on this one too, because I know you're interested to talk about it.

Are you pro or con?

The growth of digital screens in store in general and is shields roughly 13 per store, therefore too many or too few.

The floor is yours.

Yeah.

Thank you, Chris.

On this one, I'm even stronger than on the last one.

Really?

I don't think kind of digital signage in every stores and tons of screens makes a ton of sense for Shields though.

I think it makes perfect sense, right?

Yes.

All the shields are experiential to begin with, Right.

Whether you're shopping for new golf equipment and you hop in the simulator or like you want a pair of bowling shoes and you're on the, you know, they have a bowling lane in mind.

Like it's.

I love going there.

It's like, you know, my, my daughter ends up riding the Ferris wheel and, you know, you can go shooting.

You can do all kinds of things.

You just want my bingo card.

David too, for pulling.

It really is.

I mean it's incredibly well done store from all of the sections and all of the different experiences you can have.

And I think this just adds to it.

I was actually in a Shields yesterday, saw some of the.

The digital signage and they had a new samba drop that I didn't know about.

I saw it on and I actually went and bought a new beer Zomba.

So, like it.

Yeah, it works and I think it's perfectly placed in.

In their stores.

It builds on the experience that is already walking into the.

The shields big box that exists today.

So it's, it's right in line with their strategy.

I love that, David.

Yeah, I love that.

David's setting us up to just take like retail safaris for every headline.

First we're going to Milan, then we're gonna go buy samples at Shields.

I like, I like your style, David.

I know, I know.

I've got like five.

Like we're gonna get us on the road, right?

Yeah, let's get us on the road.

Yeah, take the, take this podcast on the road.

That's a great idea, David.

All right.

And, and I, I was talking about this a little bit with you yesterday, I think.

So my question for you coming off what David just said is, does the category matter in terms of, you know, the success of digital screens?

What's your thoughts there?

Yeah, I mean, I think Lisa's the best person we can ask about this, given her experience.

But I, I do think, like David's saying that this is one of the use cases where I do feel like digital screens make an impact.

I think you have brands that are already creating really engaging content.

A while back we talked to Arianne, the Chief Digital officer, I think.

Yeah, Preci of JD Sports, and she was just talking about how, you know, they're using this content on their website, on the product detail pages, and then they're to be able to see that again in these large multifaceted displays that you're seeing in a shield, for example.

I think it's great continuity for that brand to kind of be there and use their, their, you know, their brand representation that they have with athletes and other things and all the content in another space.

So I like it in this category with these big brands like Nike, Adidas, Lego, and some of the other big brands that Shields carries too.

So I think it makes sense here.

I have a problem with it.

When we start to get into, you know, putting 300 of these in a grocery store, for example, to advertise cottage cheese, like, I don't, I don't.

That's going to have the same allure here, but for this specific use case with these brands in the departments like footwear.

I think it makes a ton of sense.

Yeah.

And the other question that brings up for me too, and is it, are we liking this more because we're envisioning it more as a branding play and, and, or is it more of a retail media play?

So.

So, Lisa, what, what's your take on this discussion?

Well, it's funny because my take is a little bit different than the three of you.

My initial reaction when I looked at it, that I think it was an overspend in the digital screen space.

And the reason I say that, listen, consumers that are, are shopping, are shopping online first.

That's their digital retail screen.

So, yes, they can link all those same assets from the brands that they do there because most people are shopping on their phone before they're going into a store.

When they go into a store, they want physical touch, they want interaction from a sales associate, they want experiential, I'll give David that because I think Shields is great at that.

But that means there's somebody in the store, whether it be a celebrity, an athlete, you know, some, you know, a consumer that can talk to the product, wear the product, display the product.

I think real, live, interactive action is what people want to participate in.

When they go to the retail store because they could do all the other stuff online.

So set another.

Go ahead.

That, no, that's really interesting.

So said another way, the eleven million dollar investment you think could be repurposed to do the things that you're talking about versus like putting digital screens to show the same content that people are going to see on their mobile phones via TikTok, Instagram and such.

100%.

I mean, I think it's a proven fact that consumers go to the store for an experience and a touch point, not more screen time.

That's my perspective.

I, I 100 agree with you, Lisa.

So yeah, actually I didn't know how I got lumped in with the, the other two.

Because I'm on your page.

I'm on your page.

100.

Yeah.

I think that the only points I would make to kind of add on to what you said is I think, I think there's a lot of retailers and I don't know if Shields is one of them because you know, they have pretty big stores, 13 screens per store.

Maybe they can, they can do that.

And David's seen it and says it looks pretty good, but I think there's going to be a lot of retailers that are ruining the day.

They put all these digital screens in the store for the purpose of, quote, retail media.

Which is why I asked you that question because, you know, and there's a lot of reasons for that.

One, like you just said, Lisa, they're expensive.

And then two, the tech gets obsolete over time.

Like what changes faster than a digital screen, like a digital television changes all the time.

And then they're also really hard for the stores to manage.

Like if they don't work, they break and then you get bad content going through them.

So for my money, like that's why I don't like them.

And if to your point, Lisa, I would actually be experimenting with audio plays because audio plays are easier to manage in the store.

You can promote the messages you want.

It just seems like a simpler, easier way to go about this.

But Lisa, you have something else you want to add?

Yeah, I mean, I just want to add to you on the tech side.

I can't tell you in the, the last 20 years how many stores I've gone into that have put what they'll call new tech in and 8 out of 10 times it's broken and sales associate doesn't how to get it to work.

And you know, like, I know technology is getting better over time, but the maintenance, the, you know, you know, like you know the software updates that you've got to put in.

Is it going to be a bad experience?

Ultimately, that's the question because you're turned off when you go in and want to experience and it's not there as well.

So.

Yeah.

So I'm with you.

100 so.

And David, did Lisa and I turn you to our side at all or what are you guys thinking?

Are you still liking this?

Not to lose instead of to win?

Okay.

All right.

Wow.

It's too hard.

I don't want to do this.

The maintenance is like, come on, guys.

Like, this is.

Yeah.

Don't think it's gonna be the right strategy and works.

I agree.

It shouldn't be everywhere and.

And absolutely could care less about, you know, seeing cottage cheese on sale at my local groceries.

But in the right environment, this works.

Yeah, I like Lisa's play.

I like Lisa's thing though.

We're all budget constrained and is this the best use of $11 million or could you do that to augment the in store experience and why people go to the store to begin with?

I think that's the interesting question here.

But I think you're finally looking at a different retailer.

This is Shields.

This is not like, you know, XYZ retailer.

This is a very.

Experience is part of their brand ethos.

Like, this is.

You are looking for this kinds of stuff.

And the one thing that I would say to maybe challenge what Lisa was about, you know, having more people in the store.

You can't get LeBron James to show up at every Shield store that doesn't scale.

But you can get LeBron James to record something specifically for Shield's customers.

Talking about a new shoe drop that's coming out this week that's going to go all over these stores.

So I do think that, like, this is a very unique case study where yes, there is.

There is a use case for it in these SHIELD screens.

The screens are bendable.

Like we don't.

I haven't seen them.

But like, if it, if it's just shut off completely and it's black, does that detract for the.

From the experience or do you just not see anything and that's fine.

Like, I, I think there's more that needs to be more research I need to do.

I need a field trip.

Like, yeah, we need to go to shield.

Yeah.

All right, let Lisa in here.

Lisa wants to chime in again and then we'll move on.

But, but Anne, I do think you could get Dick Weber to display his bowling shoes to David's point.

But anyway, Lisa, go ahead.

I mean, one thing, LeBron James can drop a personalized message to your email, you know, or your screen just as well.

So I just challenge, spend the money, go for driving different things.

I just don't think it's in the sense of a screen.

Yeah, that's.

I love this show already.

This show is great.

All right.

And let's keep moving.

All right, let's stay, let's stay in the the sporting goods realm here with headline number three, Dick's Sporting Goods is expanding its influencer initiative.

According to Footwear News, Dick's newly reinvented Dick's Varsity team is now welcome, welcoming both Dick's employees and members of the public with a passion for sports and social media.

To apply.

If chosen, the Dick's Varsity Team members will work closely with the retailer and its top brands to create original social media content and share it across their platforms.

It should also be noted that since launching as an internal program in 2023, Dick's varsity team members have created over 1,000 pieces of social media content, garnering over 38 million impressions and have been featured in 10 campaign for both Dick's and its national brands.

Lisa, we're going to go to you here.

How do you feel about this?

I think you alluded to it with, with LeBron sending customized messages here to people via email and social.

But what do you think of Dick's Varsity Team influencer program and is it something that more retailers should emulate?

Well, first I have to say if I should be true to my passion, it would be Stephen Curry sending a message to those consumers, making sure I make my stand for the bay.

But anyhow, I think that the.

I actually like it a lot.

I mean, I think Dick's has done some great things lately to really engage the consumer and really put their stamp and really their ability to grow in the retail space.

I think consumers love to see themselves in others and sometimes when it is the professional athlete, it may not be as convincible, but if you see yourself, you know, you can, you can be convinced, like, oh, I could look like them.

I may not look like, you know, Serena Williams on the tennis court, but I may look like somebody else who's playing pickleball that I can relate to.

Right.

So I actually think that others should emulate it.

I think they're doing a great job in the, in the influencer space and really the social media space and how they're getting after it.

So, you know, my quick answer is yes.

Love it.

Yes, I Think more could do it.

And I think the combination of real athletes and real people and spreading it across also their employee base, those are your best consumers.

And lastly, what I would say as a past chief Product officer, this is a great space to get consumer insights and product insights that may help drive needs, desires or creations of product that they can fuel in their private labels or with their brand partners.

Lisa, is there anybody that you would suggest that doesn't do it?

Like, are there specific retailers or brands that you're like, this makes sense for a Dick sporting goods because of the like, you know, the involvement, the community sense that Dick's has versus like a beauty retailer or somebody else.

Off the top of my head and using the examples, like when we talked about grocery or beauty and said it doesn't work there in our last example, I actually think it could work from an influence perspective across any category because you want to see it put into real life.

Like if you were going to go to the food space, I mean, who doesn't love, you know, on social media the recipes that pop up, right.

And they might be sponsored by a grocer or something where go pick up the following items here and in, in 30 minutes, have a great meal, you know, whatever.

I think it could work across many, many categories.

That's great.

Chris is enthusiastically two thumbsing up here over on the side.

So Chris, before you explode, let me go to you here and get your point of view on this.

Yeah, I'm jumping at this one.

I'm with Lisa again, man.

I'm on, I'm on your wavelength today.

Like the point I would say, which is why I think it's applicable to almost every retailer too, is I think the point about the employees being a part of the program is really interesting to me.

And I like that angle for two reasons.

One, it's inspiring to the team members that want to take part in it.

So that's a good win from an HQ perspective.

And two, it gives them financial incentive because they can get the affiliate revenue from whatever they're helping to sell.

And so, and actually believe it or not, back in 2013 when I was leading home furnishings for Target, I actually wanted to do this, but it was really hard to get off the ground because if you think about it like merchants, there's a lot of things they know that the audience probably wants to hear from them, like, say in the grocery space.

Like, why did I choose these products for the shelf?

What is it unique?

What's unique about them that made me put them in my assortment so, so personalize the merchant.

And that's essentially what Dicks is doing here that I think any retailer can try to do as well.

Like, why did I pick that towel?

Why did I pick this betting pattern, you know, whatever it is, and it can be, you know, promoted on TikTok, Twitter.

Everyone can have their own handles.

The problem though is that retailers are scared to try things like this.

So David, when you kind of made fun of us before about just get over it and jump into it, this is something that's easy to jump into, but the retailers have to do it.

And as I'm sitting here, I'm like, I can't believe that it's taking 10 years just to get to this point when this idea has been percolating for a long time.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I think, Chris, the other part of this that you know, Lisa touched on too earlier is like, like this is how product discovery is happening too.

Like people are starting on their, in their social platforms.

They're starting with search based queries on a new product that they're looking at like these, these, this content that's out there really helps, I think the consumer get a sense of like, I can go in and talk to this person if I want to continue the conversation at my local Dick's Sporting Goods.

I don't have to just see the content here, but that person might be working when I go to, you know, select my bike or pick out my shoes.

So I think that that's another thing here that, you know, Nordstrom's been doing this for a long time, but is really unique to Dick's in this sense where they are really invested in the community, they're doing events in the community.

And so I think that there's really this connection that can happen too that can help influence purchases and allow employees to get recognized for the work they're doing online and offline versus just what they're selling in the store when people come in.

Yep.

The other point I'd make too, and is I think it gives, it gives, it gives, it gives power back to the merchant as like the art of retail.

Right.

Like they can promote themselves as the artist of why the products are on the shelves.

Right.

Especially in this day of AI and like the story we led with Amazon, Amazon's just using algorithms to put products in their store, but this gives the avenue for the buyer to reassert their authority as the retail minds that drive the industry, which I think is really cool.

Yeah, absolutely.

David Brown, close us out with your thoughts.

I thought I was going to be aligned with everybody and this one is a no.

But you guys are.

I guess I'm just on a completely different wavelength today.

Oh my God, why?

Well, I mean like, hey, you said what, they had a thousand content creations in two years.

Like, you know, to me that's like, almost like, like who cares, right?

Yeah, yeah, that did seem pretty low.

Yeah, that's, it's shockingly low.

And I wonder if that is.

Maybe I'm just the wrong demographic.

But I wonder if maybe that's just.

Do you want to be associated with Dicks or do you want to be associated as an influencer with an actual brand?

Right.

And you know, whether it's Adidas or Night or anything, Nike or whoever like that.

I asked my 11 year old daughter who creates videos for, you know, for YouTube and her various other socials all based around her scheme, which is kind of her passion.

And yeah, she looked at me and she's like, why would I do that for Dicks?

What about Shields?

And so, you know, kind of back to the last one.

But I, I, you know, does it make sense to do this?

Absolutely.

I'm, I'm supportive of that.

I just, I, I question the, the Dicks thing, but maybe I just don't know them well enough.

You know, if, if, if this was a headline for REI or, or something like that, I would have been, you know, all in.

I, I just don't see people getting excited to be an intermediary for, intermediary for Dicks.

And I mean, I think that maybe David, just to, to kind of play a little devil's advocate to use is like, I think Dick's has had such an unbelievable go growth trajectory over the last, I'd say five, six years.

It is a very kind of, I'll call it east coast, middle of the country centric retailer.

And I, I kind of get what you're saying, but if you think about it, they're like a house of brands.

Yes, they have private label, but really their brands are super front and center.

So you know, I think based on their consumer base, they're going to introduce branded products to them.

So I just think that they've done a lot of really positive things and have great momentum over the last, like I said, five or six years.

But again, they're not, they're not West Coast.

Like when I lived on the west coast they didn't make a lot of sense to me, but I grew up with them.

So I hear what your point is.

Yeah.

The other thing I'd Say too, and then we can move on.

Is, you know, I think, I think everyone has an influencer program.

Right?

Like every retailer now has an influencer program.

That's not, that's also not what's special here.

The specialty, to me, the special sauce, again, is going back to the employee activation because there's a lot of pride and employment employees that would gladly share things on behalf of dicks or gladly share things on behalf of Patagonia or rei too.

So.

Yeah, that would be the last point.

Go ahead.

The.

The employee side.

And I think it's great.

Are you okay?

I think every retailer should do that.

I just think.

Oh, really?

Okay.

Especially kind of the younger generation that's coming up kind of wants to own their own, you know, content and be associated directly with the brands.

I'm with you, Lisa.

It's a, A, a house of brands.

But like, if my daughter's gonna post a video or something like that, you know, based on Atomic skis, she's gonna tag atomic.

She's not gonna tag start house where she bought the skis.

Right.

And that type of thing.

Because then, you know, she feels like she's losing control.

Right.

So.

Got it.

So that's a good clarification.

So you're saying you do think every retailer should emulate the employee side of this?

No, I didn't.

Absolutely.

Okay.

But you're skeptical of the long term differentiation of just, you know, the influencer program being what's.

What truly drives influencers to promote a brand versus a retailer, especially where there's.

An intermediary between the things like.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

That makes sense.

That's a good clarification.

All right, Headline number four.

God, this show is amazing.

All right.

Wayfair has introduced its new AI powered tool, Muse, to inspire and personalize your home shopping experience.

According to a Wayfarer press release, Muse is designed to give customers an easy way to find inspiration and ideas for their homes by transforming how customers discover, personalize, and shop for their dream spaces.

Building on the success of decorify, Wayfair's previous pilot application that allowed customers to select from a few preset styles to see how their space could be transformed.

Muse takes it further to provide a trove of inspiration and ideas to build their aspirational home.

Didn't expect to see Trove dropped in today's Fast5.

Here's how it works.

You type in a style or a room you are looking for.

It can be as specific as Moody 1920s style living room that's top on My list, Dan.

Or as generic as dining room.

As you browse the rich AI imagery, you can shop the recommended items in each muse or add it to a collection to raise.

Let me try to say that like a normal human being or add it to a collection to revisit later.

When you find a muse that sparks your interest, you can easily explore other muses and products that share the same vibe.

Once you save a muse, you can then upload a photo of your space to apply the style to any room of your house.

And voila, you have a fully designed room.

Lisa, are you buying or selling Wayfair Museum?

I'm buying.

I think it is a great.

Here's what I.

I love it because I think it is a great use of AI with the consumer in mind.

Right.

I mean, the way I thought about it is I stepped back and said, who doesn't want to dream and who doesn't want to be inspired?

And I think from a customer service, like quality of customer consumer relationship, I think this thing that Wayfair is doing is pretty awesome.

Yes.

It's going to potentially inspire them to buy on their site.

So I do think it has conversion, but it's also just going to help the consumer in general that they can save it and come back to it and it allows the consumer to be somewhat creative themselves.

So I'm all for it.

I'm buying.

You are?

Ed, are you buying?

I think you are.

Based on.

Oh my God, 100%.

I love when Lisa was talking.

You do?

Why?

It's super simple to use, I think.

Yeah, I did.

I, I mean, I looked up crazy search terms too, like coastal, Spanish modern and Midwest.

Midwest, mid century modern and Midwestern coastal.

Yeah.

I mean, it wasn't always perfect, the results weren't always perfect, but the UX is brilliant.

Like, I can just hit, like, I, you know, I can search those products, I can put them to my cart right away.

But I think that the most brilliant point here, and Lisa hit on this too.

They're using AI to just adjust the imagery.

They're putting an ocean outside of the window in that setting and changing a few simple things, which is what AI should be used for to make me feel as a consumer.

Like they're personalizing this experience to even the most crazy search terms that I might be putting in here.

And they're giving me a way to very easily click and buy.

So I think this.

I'm super excited.

I'm interviewing Fiona Tanit, the CTO at Wayfair at Shop Talk, and I cannot Wait to talk to her just about, like, the evolution of this because it really is quite a step up from what decorify was.

And now you're, you're really, it's really focused on inspiration and then providing that ease of use of getting to products.

So I'm, I love it.

We were all in on decorify last year, too, and I can't wait for you to talk to Fiona at Shop Dog.

It's gonna be awesome.

All right, Dave, I'll let you go next because, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm in their camp and I don't.

I want to see where you stand before, because maybe I need the retort to try to convince you to come to our spot.

What's your thoughts here?

I have one for in the cam.

Okay.

One foot.

Super cool.

I played with it yesterday.

I, I think that it's, it's really well done, very well executed.

You know, we'll see how the whole software update thing that works out, you know, since you guys think that's a, A big issue going forward.

But, but here's my, my question.

And, and, and you said something really interesting kind of, what's the evolution of it?

And wonder, you know, does eventually this become a revenue source and, you know, it becomes an interior design service?

You know, Wafers also have pretty heavily tied into a lot of the online design services.

Right.

You know, they're a referral from whether it's joybird or stucco or heavenly or, you know, space joy picking every one of them.

What are they thinking about this?

Right?

Yeah, that's what I thought too.

Like, you know, it's like, I'm not sure, you know, pissing off a bunch of partners is.

Is Retail Strategy 101.

Unless the evolution is I'm going to be a better version of that and I'm just taking it over.

So I think it's cool.

I think it's really well done.

I'm super curious about what the evolution of.

Is it going forward and how does it work in the broader ecosystem of interior design?

Yeah, that's exactly the points I had too, David.

Yeah, the impact's going to be on the interior design, but that's what Wafer's brand is too.

Wafer's brand is like, basically like affordable design, you know, at the end of the day.

And so if you can use tech to do that, why not?

And that's the other point I'd make here, is because this, this is an example to me of also, like, why Wayfair continues to win or hold its own within the home furnishing space because it's, it uses, it constantly uses its tech to showcase its category, whereas Amazon has to use its tech to tap into everything that it provides.

But Wayfair's been smart about that and, and for that reason it's gotten a leg up on Target and Walmart over the years and it continues to take this approach, which is a definitive approach.

I had coffee with Wayfair CEO back when I was running home furnishings at the Vidara in Las Vegas and he told me that that's the way he thinks about the business.

He's going to continue to use tech to showcase the category of home furnishings.

And I think you're right.

There could be some fallout from this in the space, but consumers will gravitate towards it if they find it useful.

Yeah, it's easier.

Right, right.

Like, you know, here, sign a contract, you know, take a bunch of photos of my room, like they can be AI generated, etc.

So I think the future evolution is super interesting.

Well, and you, you still need the interior designers to pull from multiple sources.

Like the, the idea that you're going to get all of the things to outfit your room from Wayfair is probably not, not true.

You might, you know, that's where the designers come in to help you like, you know, pick the right places to invest and the right places depends on.

Your budget too though, right?

Exactly.

Or does Wayfair become a bit of a marketplace in the future with kind of the service, so then it will allow them to actually pull from other sites too?

Right, Right.

Right.

Well, let's.

That's a great catalyst for our next.

Oh yeah, perfect Segue headline number five.

Amazon's mobile shopping app is now featuring products from other sites.

Amazon is testing a new feature that enables users of the Amazon Shopping app to find select products from other sites and go there to purchase them.

Currently in beta, the Shop Brand sites Directly feature is live for some US customers and will be rolled out to more based on feedback, the company said on a Tuesday, February 11th press release.

Release Customers who have access to this beta search will find in their search results select products that Amazon doesn't sell in its store alongside the products that Amazon does sell.

And they will see a link to the brand's website.

According to the release, when customers click on that link, they will receive a notification that they are leaving Amazon and will go directly to the brand's website where they can evaluate the product and make purchases directly from that brand.

Now here's the Kicker, if that brand happens to have buy with prime enabled products, prime members will then be provided with free delivery, easy returns and customer support for the items that they purchase directly on that brand's website.

Lisa, we're going to you here with this one.

Again, what are the pros and cons here of Amazon testing if consumers will want to buy products from other websites via the Amazon mobile app?

Yeah, look, we all know there's always an angle with Amazon, right?

How they're going to drive more.

Right?

So I think at the end you kind of hit on it.

Look, if it's Prime, Amazon's winning anyhow, Right?

Because they're doing the back end of that execution.

They're collecting data.

Right.

They're gaining a financial benefit.

They're also gaining insights of what don't I have on my site.

You know, maybe their algorithms aren't perfect, but now this will be a new algorithm they can add because they'll have some access, some way to understand how the consumer, you know, is going from site to site.

Look, I, I don't know that I can necessarily see a con on it at the end of the day because ultimately there's so many different learning and revenue streams and opportunities that I think Amazon does get from this.

Plus in a lot of ways it'll benefit their partners.

So it actually, in a different way is, is a new positive shift on their partnerships because they're saying, hey, if you don't allow us to carry this from you on our site, we're going to still support you.

Now, likely they're driving that, you know, kind of prime deal with them simultaneously.

But honestly, I think generally speaking for Amazon, it's a win win for brands that don't have, you know, great accessibility.

I think it's a win for those brands.

So I'm not really sure I see a big con here as it relates to Amazon and the consumer experience here because basically the consumer wants fast.

Amazon has trained them that way and they're going to get it any way they want it now.

Yeah, I mean, I think you did.

I agree with everything that you said, Lisa.

I think it's also the only thing that I would add in is that it's still a search game and Amazon wants to be the first place that you go when you're looking for products they want.

They're in competition now with, you know, ChatGPT, or with ChatGPT, with Google, with all these other search engines to get that traffic to be the place where you can find the product the fastest, that you're looking for.

And so I think that's the biggest component here is, you know, it comes down to where can I go that I can confidently find those products.

And then of course, Amazon's getting all of this information and setting up their sales team is to be like, you need to go talk to this person because people are, people are looking for this on Amazon and they don't have buy with prime set up up.

David, where do you land on this?

You know, I think when you're going to pay for a 600 million dollar wedding or replace the teak on your boat because you use the legal ones, you need another revenue stream, right?

And this is a perfect revenue stream for, for Amazon.

This is, this is buying you guys.

Pointed out earlier, right?

You know, Amazon's a nerdy tech company and effectively a supply chain company.

So it's a perfect play.

I mean this is an AWS and supply chain play, right?

It's the natural extension of what they're already doing.

The all the brands already have branded stores on Amazon.

So what's the difference now if it actually just goes back to their site and Amazon does the fulfillment on it, which is most of the products will probably be prime enabled anyways.

So it's a perfect evolution of what they're already doing to, you know, make them a bunch more money.

Right.

Chris, how do you, how do you think about this?

I don't have much to add.

I think the point I bring in here is I think this is a little bit more, this is a little bit more of a defensive move than an offensive move.

Have we been, as we've been discussing and I think it goes back to what you said and I think it's because of the rise of gen AI search.

I think, you know, Amazon has no choice to go but to go in this direction.

That's my opinion because, you know, otherwise they're going to give up the game to Google and any startup gen AI search engine over time.

And but the thing that Amazon has in its back pocket that makes me think this could work to the point that you guys are saying is, and Anne, you said it too.

Amazon knows how to get shoppers and convert them to buyers faster and better than anyone.

So you know, as they're developing what the next generation of search commerce looks like, I think Amazon has a good footing in there.

And the buy with prime hook, as I think about that evolution, is also really interesting to me as well.

So yeah, that's, that's my take.

I think universally we all are kind of Agreeing.

I think that the byway prime hook is.

Is really interesting because the things that most of the, you know, kind of the national brand struggle with more than anything else is the supply chain and the shipping side and dealing with returns.

It's.

It's really what is killing them.

And now they've effectively just outsourced it to Amazon.

So I do think for a lot of the bigger brands, it's a.

It's a win.

Win.

All right, let's go to the lightning round.

Lisa, first question is for you.

Skims and Nike recently announced a collaboration, and some in the fashion industry are speculating that it could be the early signs of an acquisition.

Would you be for or against Nike's acquisition of Skims?

Look, I don't think my personal opinion is Nike doesn't need to acquire it because it's not a collaboration.

Right.

If you fine print, it's actually a brand.

So what they're doing is they're gearing up to set up the.

The next Jordan brand.

If this works, it's brilliant.

I think on Nike's part and on Skims part, I think they could set up an acquisition, but I think it would be a distraction.

So I don't think they need to acquire.

I think they need to build this separate Nike skims brand.

And I think it is one hell of an innovation of play on Nike's part to go after the women's business.

I'll just say I.

I had this idea three years ago and sad I didn't execute it.

Oh, oh, right, right.

When your previous employer.

Wow.

One plus one equals three.

That's a really great take.

All right, David, the penny may soon be going away.

First question, how much will you miss it?

And second question, what will you plan on throwing into a fountain to make a wish instead?

What's a penny?

Like a.

I'm, like, vehemently opposed to carrying any kind of change, so.

No, yeah, me too.

Is it in the slightest.

But I think if you're gonna make a wish, you know, throw a Susan B.

Anthony or something like that.

A wish should be something big.

So invest a little bit of money, man.

Throw it.

You know, throw at least a quarter, you know, silver dollar in, you know, if you're going to wish, wish big.

Yeah.

There's inflation.

The cost of wishes should go up too.

Right.

You know, that's exactly.

It's not like I'm wishing for, you know, you know, McDonald's fry.

I'm wishing for, you know, genie's got to pop out of a bottle, man.

Come on.

I love that inflation is impacting the cost of wishes.

Yeah.

Let's go to question number three.

Back to you, David.

Coca Cola has launched Simply Pop, a new prebiotic soda that.

That's com.

Set up to compete with Poppy and Olipop.

Rank your favorite sodas.

They don't have to be prebiotic soda, but rank them, please, from one to three, one being the best.

This is a bad question for me.

I'm not really a soda drinker.

Yeah, you're not a soda guy, are you?

No, but, like, if.

If I had to have a soda, I'd have a Coke.

Like just a, you know, kind of.

And probably a Coke Zero.

But what I do love, and you know, I'll take this a little off topic, is all of the new adaptogenic and non alcoholic cocktails.

Okay.

An athletic brewing or.

Yeah, or Brezz or any of those.

Like, they're all good and I think they're all killing it.

I think Coke's way late to the game on this one.

You know, they failed with.

Aha.

I think they'll fail with this one.

They're just not.

Yeah, they're just too late, slow to pull the trigger.

Okay.

All right, last one, Lisa.

SNL celebrated its 50th anniversary this past weekend.

Who in your mind is the greatest SNL cast member of all time?

And there may or may not be a right answer here.

I mean, I think by far and away for me, it's Gilda Radner.

I think she is unassuming.

Like, she could do every skit every time.

I think Adam Sandler said it best in his.

His song rendition.

The first did it best.

I mean, you could pick any one of those five firsts.

But Gilda is.

Got a special place in my heart, so I just think she was unassuming and hilarious.

All right, David, what's yours?

And I'll go to you too, David, what's yours?

You know, there's so many good ones.

It'd be tough to choose between, you know, Hayter or Phil Hartman.

But I'm.

I'm a Dana Carvey guy.

I watched it the most and like, you know, the church lady is still one of the great characters of all time, so.

Nice, Ed.

Oh, I gotta say, Farley.

I mean, he was really like, I related to him because of his Midwest roots.

And I just thought, like, he was.

With the amount of passion that he put into every single character that he portrayed, I think you gotta give it to Farley.

Farley.

Wow.

So Farley Radner.

Carvey.

Mine's Mine's Hartman.

Mine's Hartman.

I thought Hartman was.

He was just incredible.

All right, well, that closes us up.

Happy birthday today to Benicio Del Toro, Justine Bateman, and to the woman who can literally dial it up to 11 anytime she wants, Millie Bobby Brown.

And remember, if you can only read or listen to one retail blog in the business, Make It Omnitok, the only retail media outlet run by two former executives from a current top 10 US retailer.

Our Fast Five podcast is the quickest, fastest rundown of all the week's top news, and our daily newsletter, the Retail Daily Minute, tells you all you need to know each day to stay on top of your game as a retail executive and also regularly feature special content that is exclusive to us and that Ann and I take great pride in doing just for you.

Thanks as always for listening and please remember to like and leave us a review wherever you happen to listen to your podcast or on YouTube.

You can follow us today by simply going to YouTube.com omnitalkretail Lisa, if people love this conversation and want to get in touch with you, you or David or anyone at the A and M Consumer and Retail Group, what's the best way for them to do that?

First, if you want to reach out to David or myself, you can find us both on LinkedIn for Alvarez and marsal-crg.com is the website you can find Alvarez and Marcel CRG group or you can also follow us on our LinkedIn page as well, which is AMCRG.

Awesome.

Well, thank you both so much for being here.

This is, this is without a doubt my favorite podcast every single month because you guys, you just uniquely debate the headlines with us in a way that few others can.

So thank you so much.

Truly an enjoyable experience.

And on behalf of all of us at omnitalk and all of our friends at the A and M Consumer and Retail Group, as always, be careful out there.