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Find out more@events.scratch.com hello, you are listening to Omnitalk's Retail Fast Five, ranked in the top 10% of all podcasts globally and currently the only retail podcast ranked in the top 100 of all business podcasts on Apple Podcasts.

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And the Fast 5 is just one of the many great podcasts that you can find from the Omnitalk Retail Podcast Network alongside our Retail Daily Minute, which brings you a curated selection of the most important retail headlines every morning and our Retail Technology Spotlight series which goes deep each week on the latest retail technology Trends.

Today is February 5th, 2025.

I'm one of your hosts at Mazing.

And I'm Chris Walton and we are.

Here once again to discuss all the top headlines from the past week making waves in the world of omnichannel retailing.

And Chris Today we are bringing a special guest on the podcast.

Yes, who is it?

And it's it's one of our best friends from across the pond.

The one, the only VP of Original Content and Strategy for Shop Talking Grocery Shop, the Ben Miller.

Ben, welcome to the show.

It's so great to have you on today.

Oh, thank you so much for having me back.

It's absolute honor to be back on the show.

Really great to see and you guys have had some amazing interviews recently.

You're smashing it.

So thank you for having me back.

It's amazing to be here, including you.

Yes.

Well, Ben, we love.

You're always.

We, we have a little, a little thread going with you and it's always so fun when we get done with an interview to get your feedback on who we've interviewed, what questions you have.

So we really appreciate you taking the today to, to be on the show as well.

I feel like you're, you're particularly my, my retail enthusiast brother from another mother from across the pond.

That's how I'd sum you up for me.

So I'm always excited whenever you're on the show as a guest host.

It's always a, it's a great show and you always bring a lot of great insights.

One day I aspire to have a European correspondent for omnitalk on my LinkedIn.

That's, that's.

Oh my God.

That, that's Curry.

Goal.

Curry.

Go.

Well, let's talk about that a different time.

Don't tempt me, Ben.

Don't tempt me.

All right, let's get this, let's get this show started.

But before.

And we've got some hardware to hand out because it's time to announce this month's Omnistar.

Now, our Omnistar Award for those that might not remember, is the award we give out each month in partnership with Corso to recognize the top omnichannel operators out there.

Not the pundits, not the so called experts, but the real life retail operators making a difference in their organizations.

And remember, Corso's AI copilot coaches retail leaders to optimize store performance at every level, transform retail operations from data overload into data powered this Month award.

This month's award goes to Macy's own VP of Assets Protection and operations, Joe Call.

And I have never seen the response and validation of an Omnistar that like we saw when we interviewed Joe at nrf.

Totally.

Joe is so respected across the industry.

And Ed, I know there was one particular like comment on social media that warmed your heart.

You have to tell the audience about.

Yes, if you get the chance.

One of the most endearing moments of this entire career for me, Chris, was when we posted on YouTube our interview with Joe Call and his mom commented on the YouTube post number one.

I don't know how old his mom is, but I don't even know if many parents of people our age and our demographic would understand how to get to the YouTube interview, let alone leave a comment.

And it is one of the sweetest things.

She was so proud of him.

So if we can all follow in Joe calls mom's footsteps, I think the world would be a much better place.

And congratulations to Joe.

Chris is right for all the work that you do.

You're so well respected in the industry and we're so happy to be able to honor you today.

Yeah, if anyone could love us as much as it seems like everyone loves Joe, we'd all be in a good shape in this world.

So congratulations to Joe on being named February's OmniStar.

All right, Ben and Ann, let's get this show started in this week's Fast5.

We've got news on beyond buying back.

Bye bye baby.

Because like many of you, I wanted to see how many times I could use the word buy in a sentence.

Walgreens plans to close down 47 of its health clinics, IKEA expanding its secondhand furniture offering after a successful initial pilot phase and Walmart officially rolling out same day RX nationwide.

But we begin today with news of something and we quite honestly, we haven't covered it in in a while and that is a new app rollout.

Yes, I know, it's weird, right?

I'm a little surprised that we haven't talked about that in quite as long as we have, but CVS Health is going to change that for us today because they unveiled a revamped app that aims to shorten long pharmacy lines, deliver more transparency on prescription costs, and ultimately makes visits to the retail pharmacy chain quicker and less painful.

And potentially a shorter receipt.

In the it's in digital form, but I can't make any promises on that one yet.

Let's go to the facts on this story here.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the new features include a barcode that lets pharmacies quickly look up a prescription and receive a payment, a way for customers to view prescription status and costs, and in pilot mode at three stores.

Wait for it.

The ability to unlock locked cabinets.

I know, right?

Exciting stuff here.

App users, however, in order to use that feature, need to be logged in and on the local store WI Fi and with their devices, Bluetooth enabled to activate the cabinet.

Just that feature.

So while Joe calls, Mom can leave a comment on YouTube.

Will she be able to unlock the cabinet with her device at a CVS that is the question that still remains with a pilot is while it's currently just in three stores, CVS has said that they're going to roll this out because it's going well.

The next step would be to expand to 10 to 15 stores with the ultimate goal of full scale deployment.

Ben, we're going to go to you first on this one friend.

What do you like and not like about CVS's new app rollout?

So what do I like?

I guess number one I like the overall focus on cx.

Yeah, I think it's really good to hear C CVS talking about we want our in store experience to be better for our customers.

I think anybody who has frequented many drugstores recently will kind of understand that there is a, there is a can do better and here we are using technology to make that.

So that's the umbrella.

The bit I definitely like and I know it's only a free store pilot but I'm so pleased to see investment in being able to open and unloc stock cabinet.

So I guess stepping back completely get the, the situation that we're in.

You know we, I talk to a lot of retailers and particularly in the US the levels of, of wastage, the level of loss, the level of theft, the level of stock, it's, it's tangible so we get the importance of locking things up but the customer friction it creates is you know, we know is terrible.

I was in my local drugstore yesterday and I watched someone just getting frustrated that they couldn't get someone just to unloc cabinet for them to be able to get razor blades.

So we get it.

Anything that can help reduce the friction and I know a multi stage login, WI fi, Bluetooth.

Okay, we haven't, look we're on the road but it's the, it's, it's got to be the right road.

It's got to be the right road to be on and so look do.

You, do you think that Ben, just a second.

Like do you, I in general like do you really think that this is something that if back in your retail days like would you be investing in this as heavily as we're seeing some retailers do that or do you think this is more of a temporary fix?

Look, I think it's, it's two phases.

So number one is do we need to protect stock in store?

And I think the reality and particularly, particularly in drug when you've got small, easily stealable high, high value items, particularly some of the locations and some of the demographics that the RX present requires your rich.

Your risk factors in a drugstore are so much higher.

So you have.

Unfortunately, we're at the point of having to do something.

So you've got a range of solutions you've got to go through.

We know that formats where you control entry have lower stock loss.

Is that possible across an 8000 drug estate?

I'm not sure.

So therefore, you've got to do something at Fixture.

And if you're doing something at Fixture where you, where you're adding in that friction, you've then got to remove it for customers who have honest intentions.

So look, I spoke to our friend John Harmon from Coresight Research.

One of these three pilot stores is in Manhattan.

He's been to it, he's tested the tech.

He was pretty positive.

It works.

So is it, is it where we want to be in retail?

No.

Is it a positive that we are doing something for our known customers that helps reduce that friction?

For me, that's a yes.

Okay, well, Chris, I got to go to you on this.

I mean, we've, we've talked about the value of this, especially bringing loyalty into the mix as a way to give perks.

We talked about this with Walmart on our end of the year show.

Where do you land on this, Chris?

Are you feeling like this app is, is really going to improve things for cvs?

I don't know.

I think part and parcel.

I agree with, I agree with Ben.

I think brings, Ben's bring up a lot of good points, especially I like the phrase at Fixture.

Too bad I've never heard that before.

That's a good one.

I might start stealing that.

But, you know, I think it highlights the fact that, you know, these companies don't know what to do except put products behind glass.

And so they've got to figure that out in the short term.

So they're, that's obviously why they're so excited and tired talking about this.

But you know, for me, on the like side of it, at the end of the day, I think a lot of this is just CBS keeping up with the Joneses.

Too many of the features of the app itself don't blow me away.

When, when they were discussed, when you discuss them, they're just table stakes at this point.

And the unlocking the cabinet thing, like.

Sure, I guess.

I mean, it's, it's, it'll be interesting to see how it works though.

And it sounds like from, from Ben's intelligence that it's actually works pretty well.

So that's good.

But the biggest thing I don't like about the store though, is just how it was pitched to the media.

I don't feel like the app in and of itself saves a customer that much time consuming.

So I have to go into the store and pick up your prescription and maybe the unlocking of the cabinets, but you're only in three stores and you're pitching this as this time saving app enhancement.

So that just seems incongruous to me.

So.

Net net.

I don't know, I, I just don't see the features as described in this giving customers back all that much time.

That's my opinion on this story.

Yeah, I agree with you, Chris.

I, I'm Chris because you my resident pharmacy expert here, because I feel like you have many more interactions with going and picking up prescriptions than I do.

We're letting people under the covers again of this show already.

Yeah, well, you, I mean, I'm not saying anything you haven't said in a podcast previously.

I'm just saying in this I take.

Like 10 medications a day.

Yes, you're right.

You're right out there, but go ahead.

No, my question is.

I'm sorry, I feel bad.

No, that was not my intent.

Listen, the thing that you both didn't call out and was, and probably because it was so like slightly covered in this, in this coverage of the app release is the pricing, availability and being able to see that up front.

Now I, I don't know if that is something that could be valuable and I think that could be.

And maybe this is because we have a conversation coming up with Revionics.

Where I've been, this has been more top of mind for me.

But I'm wondering if, you know, being able to see pricing for prescriptions up front in the app, if that's of all valuable for consumers before they're going in and they're at the checkout point and they're getting slapped in the face with this, this number for a prescription or maybe they're able to like shop around a little bit before they would pick up a prescription if that could actually be of value.

I know there's other like prescription drug prices price finders out there to make sure that you're getting the lowest price.

But do you think, Chris, that that has any impact here, like one, on consumers and two, on the drug industry for being needing to focus more on pricing optimization technology?

No, I think it just goes back to point I made.

Like it's probably good for CVS customers, but it's table stakes for the industry.

Walgreens, Walgreens has been doing this as long as I can remember, since I started using the app two or three years ago.

So you can see.

So they're telling you before you pick them up.

Yeah, 100%.

Okay.

So this goes.

This is table stakes.

All right.

Yeah, well, that's all I had.

All right.

That was my saving grace.

I was trying cvs.

I was like, this is something new.

That's awesome.

That's awesome.

All right, well, let's keep rolling.

Headline number two.

Beyond buys Bye Bye Baby for $5 million according to retail dive.

Beyond Inc.

Has entered an asset purchase agreement to acquire the global rights to buy by Baby the Bye Bye baby brand for $5 million, which reunites the brand with the former with its former corporate parent, Bed Bath and Beyond.

Beyond is attempting to grow the baby in apparel and accessories brand with a three part strategy.

Wait for this, folks.

The first prong relies on Beyond's October partnership with Kirkland's which allowed for the opening and operation of up to five small format Bed Bath and Beyond stores.

The second and third.

Third parts entail two offerings.

Beyond is exploring with fintech company T0, which holds a special purpose broker dealer license, including the tokenization of some of Best of Bye Bye Baby's intellectual property.

Whoa.

Okay, pay attention here folks, because then it now it starts.

If you weren't, it wasn't complicated already, it's going to get even more complicated, really.

But it's important.

Beyond wants to offer digital dividends to current holders of beyond and make an offering of new investors who want to want a share of the Buy By Baby ip.

The goal is for the token to provide a revenue share on the brand's omnichannel revenue along with loyalty benefits across Beyond's platform.

Additionally, T0's blockchain technology could enable Bye Bye Baby to create a digital wallet that holds both financial assets and personal records like birth certificates, medical records and life milestones.

Holy cow.

And are you excited that Bye Bye Baby is getting what is now a third life and in the way it's being described?

Ben, I think we need your accent here to do the correct Monty Python.

It's not dead yet.

I'm not dead yet.

That's exactly what I thought of when I wrote that.

I don't know, Chris.

Like, I just, I've tried with the Bye Bye Baby concept as you know, with babies rust.

Like I'm trying to really dig deep and find something that a.

A reason for being for these companies and I'm just really struggling to.

To do that.

I just don't know that there's a reason for Bye Bye Baby anymore.

I feel like especially in another superstore format, I just, I think that we've all just without having a consistent retailer in the space for the last couple of years.

I think that the traffic's just moved to other mass retailers where they can get some of these things and then back, back down to specialty retailers.

Like if you really want that unique buy try before you buy experience.

I think we've just, we're just seeing this happen so much better in some of the specialty retail stores.

And lastly this whole blockchain thing with the birth certificates thing, like I just, I'm not an expert on that stuff but I just don't see myself as a parent going to buy my baby to store birth certificates and financial information like that is just, just a bridge too far.

But, but I could be alone on this island.

I don't know where you two fall.

Well, well, Ben, let's find out.

What are you thinking?

I'm curious what you think of the deal too, like if you got any thoughts on that.

And I think that's where I've been spending a bit of time.

So Chris, I'll let you talk about some of the merchandising elements because there's, there's a lot that you, there's a whole right to play question and yeah, I'm not sure and I completely agree.

The competitive landscape has completely changed and it's only got harder.

So what's the reason?

So it's really, really easy to be very, very sell, sell baby on this.

The thing that I'm looking at is what does it mean for beyond?

So I kind of went back to the figures, listened to the Q3 statement.

Beyond as a vehicle is not really working at the moment.

So revenue was down 20 odd percentage.

It's still a billion dollar retailer.

But EBITDA is negative, traffic's down, average order frequency is down, average order value is down.

So this creation isn't delivering.

If you're a billion dollar retailer and all your indices are running in the wrong direction, 5 million is a pretty low risk gamble to make.

And if that adds a whole another category into your store, another reason to visit another drive in a footfall, I kind of can't quite see why not.

But I mean it's, it's a pretty negative place to be from, to do it.

But I, I kind of feel it's worth a go.

And, and even when, when you look at, in the details of the transaction, one of the things that they're also buying is, is the data and the database.

So is there, there might be $5 million worth of customer and transactional data in there alone.

So look it, I think, I think, I think it's worth a go.

Even, even at a top line doesn't excite.

Yeah, I think those, I think, I think those are great points.

I 100% agree with you.

I mean, in a lot of ways it feels like a steal.

$5 million is just super cheap at the end of the day.

And you're right, Ben, because there's the online portion and then there's the store portion.

And the online baby business is a, is a, is a big business.

Like a lot of people buy their products online, they register online, you get that data.

And so bringing that into the fold and even the SEO value of buy by baby as a destination to shop has to be incremental to beyond.

And I have to think that alone is worth $5 million.

Then you get the option value of potentially going into stores through Kirkland or through standalone stores, should they want to in key markets too, where they know the concept could still work.

Because I, because I imagine they know how to run this better than the previous acquirers knew how to run a retail store as well.

Because, you know, their CEO has a lot of experience.

I mean, I think he owns Camping World or did at least at one time as well.

So he knows the retail business.

So I think, if anything, too.

Last point I made, I think when I, when I hear you talk about it, Ben, I think I feel like it's kind of an indictment that why weren't more people in this bidding race?

You know, like, why, why didn't more people want to take on some element of this for $5 million?

Like I, if I'm, if I'm Target or Walmart, I would just buy it to protect my business.

Well, those two make sense, I think.

But just because it's cheap, does it mean that you should buy it?

And then it should especially.

I mean, I can get it on board with the, with the online bit that you're talking about, Chris, but I really have a hard time with.

It doesn't even make sense to put into a Kirkland store.

Like, it just seems like a very disjointed experience to me to like have baby pop up in there.

And does that further degrade your Kirkland's home business when you're starting to throw random stuff in the back of it?

I don't know.

But I don't know that that depends on the execution.

Right.

But I think like you said, that's the option value, the, the online value.

You know, the online long term.

I got to think the online long term value of this business is more than $5 million in cash flow.

But I don't know.

Yeah, all right.

I guess the other thing, and I completely agree about the juxtaposition that it could be about putting into the wrong place and that's kind of where the merchandising right to play is.

But I think what I am mindful of is they've brought back the Overstock brand name.

So they have the Overstock platform.

They bought Zulily again for kind of short term deals.

They've got the Bev Bed Bath brand as well.

What that gives you is a number of outlets to be able to move inventory around.

So they've got, they've got the routes to be able to sell inventory in case it's not working or to be able to move some and to be able to add extra categories across Overstock and into Zulily.

I kind of, I can see that.

I think if, if we're talking $25 million, I think it'd be very different.

But for 5 million, it's worth a go.

Yeah, fair.

It's worth a go.

It's worth a go.

It's worth a go.

All right, let's go to headline number three.

Walgreens is shuttering it' health clinics at 47 Illinois locations.

According to Progressive Grocer, the company, which previously announced that it is closing up to 1,200 underperforming stores by 2027, will no longer offer in store clinics run by Advocate health care in 47 Illinois locations.

The clinics combine patient care from inore health professionals with video counsel from Advocate Clinicians.

The question here is what does Walgreens closing 47 Illinois clinics say about the potential of in store clinics within retail settings?

Chris, I want to go to you first because we heard a lot of chatter about this over the course of the last couple days at fmi.

What, what are your thoughts on the closure here of these 47 locations?

Yeah, I don't know how to compute this given the information that we received at smi, fmi, smi, fmi.

I think, you know, I think this story potentially says a lot.

You know, following the industry like we do, it doesn't seem like this concept of putting clinics in a retail setting is working.

Walgreens is not making it work.

Based on this headline, Walmart shut theirs down.

Now, the issues could be unique to The Illinois market.

I'll take that.

You know, take that with a grain of salt.

But again, Walgreens operates out of Illinois, so if they should be able to make it work anyway, they should be able to make it work in Illinois.

So that's curious.

But what you're alluding to with FMI is if this also flies in the face of what Oliver Wyman's Bobby Gibbs told us at FMI this past week, that he thinks we're going to start seeing more clinics pop up inside of grocery stores.

And for me, I just ask, why do I want my clinic where I'm doing my grocery shopping?

Like, I could see it in the same strip mall maybe, like, you know, it's the same idea of like sprouts drafting off another grocery store for their own traffic.

But I just don't get the customer, fundamental customer value of putting clinics inside of spaces run and operated by grocers, particularly so.

But maybe I'm missing something.

I don't know, Anne, but I, I'm not buying what, what we were told at fmi.

I'm sorry.

Oh man, I totally disagree.

The clinic side of it, the, the healthcare benefits side that he was talking about too, in terms of like, like health insurance companies partnering with grocers, that makes sense.

But the clinic side, I don't see that being the primary outlet for people in the long run.

I just don't.

Oh man, I, I disagree.

I think that that's, I think that's the option value here.

I mean, I think this is really bad news for Walgreens, actually.

Like, I'll start there.

I think this is terrible news for Walgreens because if they lose the clinic business, and especially we're going to talk about another headline later on about other mass merchants getting into 30 minute prescription delivery.

I.

What's the reason for Walgreens to exist anymore?

Like, that's my bigger question.

If there's no clinics and there's no, like, you know, there, if there's better deals or better, or better availability for getting prescriptions delivered to my house, what you're going in there for overpriced product, I mean, that's really what it is.

At the end of the day, you're paying more for over the counter medications there in most cases than you can at a mass retailer.

You're paying more for beauty products.

Like, I don't know why I'm going to a Walgreens anymore.

So I think that's the bigger question here.

But Ben, I'd rather see my pharmacies.

At my clinic actually.

I mean if I flip this on its head like that seems like the better user experience to me.

Yeah.

I don't know though.

I think like the mass retailers, like there's, you're already going there.

The grocery store, you're already going there.

I think it falls in the trip type.

So I, I don't think seeing Walmart pull some of these clinics out of their.

Like we're talking about, Sorry, just to clarify, Walgreens is pulling them up, but I'm talking about your point about Walmart pulling out their clinics.

Yeah, I think it's just, I think it's just a reconfiguration of what the best move is.

Not that they're completely drawing away from this because I think it's, it's one trip type, it's a one stop shop and those clinics, especially for the minute clinic type needs are still very valuable.

It's just getting them in the right format and being able to allocate the right amount of space.

But Ben, I want you to be the tiebreaker here.

Where, where do you fall on, on Walmart?

Sorry, no Walgreens pulling out hard, hard one to do 40, 47 of their clinic locations.

Yeah.

I'm probably more on Chris's side, I'm afraid.

Anne.

I'm sorry.

Explain, explain why though.

Tell us more.

I think there's two things.

There's one which is the model so clinics within a broader retail setting and you know, as in primary care clinics as opposed to Rx.

And I think that's, yeah, it's really important because it is very specific your use cases of when you need to access primary primary care versus on a regular trip that you can, you can factor in.

And then the second bit is about Walgreens.

So in the context of yeah, their announcement back end of last year they were closing 1200 stores kind of pulling out of 47 clinics feels small.

The big picture is they're stripping back.

They're desperately trying to sell Village md which is losing money for them was a big spend for them was their primary care move.

So they clearly want to get out that primary care model as part of streamlining their business.

So kind of this closure in that context feels understandable I think for primary care clinics.

I went back and looked at the Walmart release when they closed, when they pulled out their business in June and they said it was damning from a position of having been really positive about this as a business model.

They said that they couldn't sustain the financial costs and they did not see a sustainable business model for primary care.

And I know we're going to, I think we're going to go to talk about Walmart.

If Walmart can't see a sustainable model, I'm kind of, I guess I'm struggling and I noticed it's basically just leave CVS and Minute Clinic as the only, as the only player and that's fine and they're making it work, but it feels like the barriers of entry are too high for anybody else to be able to utilize this space.

And, and I guess ultimately I probably fall a little bit more on Chris's side.

It reminds me of some of the conversations you were having about community space.

I love retailers when they run retail stores, and I think that's where I'd love to see the focus.

Okay.

Yeah.

The last point I, the last point I would make on this too, and which I think is like, the local grocery store is where you see your friends in the local community.

Like, I'm always bumping into people at my local grocery store.

The last place I want to see them sitting sick, see, see that, have them see me being sick is in my grocery store.

I just don't, I just don't see how that works.

And so if Walgreens can't make this work, Walmart can't make this work.

I hope there aren't that many grocers jumping feet first into this.

But I don't know.

I mean, I, Yeah, I think you have to look at the, I really think you have to look at this on a case by case basis too.

I mean, Hyvee is making it work, so why is Hyvee making it work?

And Walmart's not making work and Walgreens isn't making it work, but CVS is making it work.

So I think there's more to it than that.

And I think that, that primary care is defined differently too, in some cases, like primary care versus minute clinic care.

Like I, I do.

There's, there's nuance in it.

And so I, I really think it's about, really thinking about who your target demographic is, all of the costs that go into how much you're paying per square foot for these types of things too.

And not just, you know, it's not just one, one solution to serve all people, but points taken.

Points taken.

Right.

And what does, and honestly, like we do on the show, what does making it work really mean right now?

Like, it just mean that they're successful or they just haven't closed them yet, you know, like we don't know.

We have no idea.

So.

All right, well this next one I'm really excited about.

So headline number four.

IKEA is looking to expand its secondhand furniture offering after test success according to Euro News, which Ben, I have no doubt you read Euro News voraciously, right?

Yeah.

It's all on your dial.

Right.

The decision comes after the Swedish multinational launched two successful pilot projects in Madrid and Oslo, which will be expanded to all of Spain and Norway until August quote.

It works, People like it said Jesper Brodin, CEO of IKEA's largest franchise.

Inca Broden then went on to add, quote, we have decided to expand it from Madrid to Spain and from Oslo to Norway in a couple of years.

We want to scale it up to all markets in Europe, end quote.

He also said that the pilot in Madrid and Oslo led to about 200,000 customers visiting the IKEA pre owned website and quote, couple of thousand people also engaging, end quote.

Ben, when go to you as the resident European on this show, are you.

Surprised that I'm European correspondent are European.

Correspondent for Mommy Talk.

Yes.

Now you can put it on your LinkedIn, Ben, now you can put it on.

Yes.

Are you surprised that, are you surprised that IKEA is expanding the reach of its online secondhand marketplace?

Yeah, I, I love this, I love this story.

I'm all in on this.

I think so.

A couple of reasons.

One, they've tested it, they've tested it on two cities.

They would not be expanding it if it, if they weren't getting some positive results from that.

So that's great.

I think, I think the second is this whole area of circular commerce is really growing and the brands have been completely left behind.

So where do you go to buy secondhand furniture?

It's Facebook Marketplace.

Where do you go to buy pre used sneakers?

It's ebay, whether it's Nike or whether it's Ikea, every the brand and the IP owners are playing catch up in this space.

So activities, having been on the IKEA pre sale website, having looked at what they're offering through in Madrid, the CX is good, the user experience is good.

You can choose to either be paid as a seller, you could be paid in cash, or actually you can get vouchers to be used in an IKEA store, but you get 15% more than the sale value.

So it can drive some positive traffic back into the store.

I think.

Look, if they're trying it, it's good, they're expanding it.

I'm, I'm all in on seeing brand Owners be more active in circular commerce.

Got it.

So Ben, so I want to make sure I heard you right.

So you think this, this signals that the concept is actually working and they think there's a business out it.

Okay, I'm 99 there that it signals it's working.

I'm 1% there that it might be helping some challenges they're having with sustainability communication.

So I'm, I'm, I'm favoring the 99% but I do recognize it's a helpful part of a rounder story giving them.

The extreme benefit of the doubt.

Okay, got it, got it, got it, got it.

And I, and I look forward.

Members of the Ikea team are going to be on the Shop Europe agenda.

So we can, we can ask them that honest question then.

But for now, I am giving the benefit of the doubt.

Yeah, that's right.

And I think Ikea deserves the benefit of the doubt to some degree too.

An what do you think?

I think you can't just look at it as whether or not this is working from like a business profitability angle too.

I think you have to consider that this is a very strong marketing hook as well.

I think that there's a, there's a whole like this this year in 2025.

There's a whole movement on social networks like TikTok and on Instagram for trying to not shop in 2025.

So these, this whole group of especially Gen Z who are trying to see what can I keep, what can I do for circular commerce to buy as little as possible this year.

And this is this concept that what Ikea is doing has been alive and well, especially in like the consignment space for a long time.

And I've I' it for years now where when I need something new, I know I have a credit or I know I have a, a gift card to Ikea.

That's going to be the first place that I'm going when I'm looking for new furniture because I have that credit to use.

And so I think that this is more to me about getting people to go to Ikea first when they're looking for homegoods or houseware products than it is about like how it's really contributing to Ikea's bottom line when I return my Billy bookcase and am I buying something that day?

But, but, but yeah, I think it's playing to, playing to all the right themes right now for Ikea to continue a, a sustainable business in all sense of the word.

All right, well, so I'm Gonna, I'm gonna kind of wedge myself in between the two of you.

I think.

Like, I think, okay, I think kind of, I think there's bull side dangle, but I'm, I'm a little more like, wait and see with this, I think, because I, I'm, I'm not surprised that they're rolling it out at all.

You know, that's the thing fundamental here.

I'm not surprised for, for, basically, for the reason you said, Anne.

But there's, there's really two reasons I thought of, like, one, and Ben, I think you'll appreciate this the most.

One, they're Swedish.

Like, it's in their ethos, like, you know, to, to, to take this position.

Right.

And so, and then number two.

And Ben, you alluded to it in some ways and, and this goes back to what you said in the marketing hook.

They are also public enemy number one on a lot of sustainability factors, like raw material sourcing in particular.

So did you know, for example, that according to Earthsight, which is an organization that monitors the environment, environmental impact of businesses, IKEA uses 21 cubic meters of logs every year.

That means one tree is logged every second to make an IKEA product.

Every second.

One.

One tree is logged every second to make an IKEA product.

Not.

No expertise.

Like what.

What about Wayfair and some of these, I mean, compared to what?

What?

Well, I mean, just like, like, is that.

Are they like the number one abuse, the biggest manufacturer.

It's the biggest furniture manufacturer in the world, I think.

I'm not 100 sure.

But, like, that's just a lot of logs, right?

Yes.

And so the real question is, it's just a lot of logs, right?

I mean, I hate to say it, it's just a lot of logs, right.

So the real question is, is this new website just right now another form of green watching or will they honestly try to make a sustainable business out of it?

It.

The one thing that makes me skeptical is the rollout seems a little bit slow.

Like you're going from Madrid to Spain, like, and then you're talking about rolling out nationally.

So I'm just, you know, I'm tempering the expectations here that, that it's all about the business value being accrued so far, but time will tell.

That's my take.

Yeah, I think that's a really smart call out, Chris.

I, I agree.

I.

Lots of logs.

Lots of logs in the quote of today's show.

Well, let's move on to headline number five.

Walmart is expanding its same day pharmacy delivery service nationwide.

As we alluded to a little bit earlier in the show, according to Chainster Age.

Because the Fast five needs a third pharmacy headline this week as well, the discount giant is making some making same day pharmacy Delivery available in 49 states for both new prescriptions and medication refills.

With some exceptions.

Walmart initially launched the service, which it says was the first for RX medications and general merchandise into one streamlined single order for delivery back in October of 2024.

At that time, Walmart offered same day pharmacy delivery in six states, Arkansas, Missouri, New York, Nevada, South Carolina and Wisconsin and said it expected to take the service national by the end of January 2025.

And now they've done just that.

Once a pharmacist fills a cons a customer's prescription, the customer is notified through their Walmart.com account that their order is ready to be delivered.

At this time they can select their delivery preference such as same day or one day and then new or existing insurance plans will be applied to the transaction as they would when picking up a prescription in store.

A driver brings the order to the customer's location during their preferred time window.

Medications are delivered in tamper evident packaging and customers can track their orders in real time time.

Members of the Walmart plus page subscription program will receive a free pharmacy delivery as a membership will receive, sorry, free pharmacy delivery as a membership benefit and other customers will be charged based on their delivery preference.

Ben, we saved this for the end.

You get the A M put you on the spot question A M wants to know, looking across all the headlines today involving CVS and Walgreens and now this.

This.

Do you see this as legacy retail pharmacy chain scrambling to react to a challenge sector whereas Walmart is slowly planting new flags and setting new customer expectations that will create distance between it and others?

Or do you see the balance of power differently?

We're getting very theoretical right now.

This is like just put, put your best consulting hat on and answer that.

It's a heady question if you would Ben.

I mean my initial response to that was I'm not sure because both CVS and Walgreens already offer same day.

So when it's about putting a gap between I think as A and M said well they're playing catch up.

But actually I think the premise of the question is wrong because this isn't about Walmart vs.

CVS and Walgreens.

This is Walmart adding another phenomenal benefit into Walmart plus because the killer line is that this is free.

This is it's an it's it's already if you go on to Walmart plus on the Walmart website in the US today, the very first thing you see listed on that page is free same day prescription.

No minimum order value.

Yeah, no minimum order value.

It's a member benefit.

It's same day.

It's the number one.

It's taking something that already had so much value in and layering a whole new level of value.

And if you think about where Walmart is in that battle, it's with Amazon.

And okay, Amazon are working on same day but they are in a limited number of geographies because they don't have the, the physical pharmacy structure yet.

Walmart have got 4,000 stores.

Yeah.

So they've got this incredible advantage.

Amazon are playing hard to catch up but they are physically limited in what they can do.

And there's pace that they can go at Target can't do that because it's CVS that runs their pharmacies.

Costco are using Instacart.

So therefore you're adding all the fees on.

It's just another way that Walmart is living its value which is about serving because helping customers live better price.

And I think that's, that's the thing and they've done it at a speed and scale that I think only Walmart are able to get programs away at the moment.

So yeah, I think it's brilliant.

Absolutely amazing.

And when you talk about too Ben, the other things that you're adding to that order, can anyone beat that?

They can't.

They certainly when you talk about grocery items or other things that you're adding to this prescription delivery, I mean Amazon's doesn't, Amazon doesn't have the breadth that Walmart does when it comes to same day grocery.

They have other min order minimums like 35 grocery minimum same day or like there's so much more complexity.

You're getting the best value for your money and the most option value I think for this Walmart plus membership now too.

So you know, if you want to align a delivery with your regular RS prescription alongside a general merchandise purchase or alongside a grocery order, almost the only place you can do that.

Yeah.

But even if you don't, even if you I need that drugstore, I'll get it now.

They'll still be the fastest and cheapest to do that and that's the winning combination.

Yeah.

Chris, I imagine you're, you're kind of, you're nodding along but I imagine that you're kind of in the same, same realm here.

But but what do you think this does for, for Walmart and for Walmart Plus?

Yeah, I'm, I'm dialed up to 11 on this one too, you know, and I think, I think there's an important angle though that you guys didn't cover with this, this headline, which is, you know, and I go back to FMI this past week, like I was shocked, Dan, and I know you were too, about the number of people in and around the grocery industry that were talking about the success of Walmart plus and the impact they were seeing it have on the high income demographic shoppers.

So I think that's what this is a play for because there's probably a lot of high income demographic shoppers that have never thought about Walmart for pharmacy needs because that required them to go into the store.

But those same shoppers that are now using Walmart plus to do their online orders will start to use Walmart plus for their pharmacy business too.

So if Walmart plus is already working to the degree that it is that's impacting grocery the way it is, you can sure as hell bet that it's going to have that same impact on CVS and Walgreens in the long run too, as they start to siphon off people from higher demographics.

That's the beauty of this play here that I think totally.

And Chris, the other thing that we did hear a lot about at FMI and you were asking this question repeatedly when some of these grocery retailers that we were talking about were talking about adding in food service and other elements to the app and how difficult it was to get that all in one seamless experience.

I think that's another thing that Walmart's going to learn here.

Now that this is integrated into my Walmart plus plus app, I'm getting, I can bundle these things together.

This lays the groundwork for them to bundle other things in the future to continue to improve the value of a Walmart plus membership.

Things like, you know, getting, you know, getting delivery from other categories within the Walmart store too, as you go through different times of year.

Like maybe it's a garden center delivery, maybe it's a QSR component, or maybe it's eyewear or something else that they're doing in the space.

Like they're starting with the most difficult area and then that's being HIPAA compliant and getting all these prescriptions well fueled into that one app experience for the Walmart customer.

And I think it's going to teach them a lot about how they can continue to add value for that Seamless customer experience in the, the Walmart app or, or Walmart site.

Yeah, the other point I'd make too though, I, I don't think the, I don't think the being able to combine your pharmacy order with your other general merchandise orders.

I don't know how often that is going to happen.

I think the value actually comes to Walmart and being able to scale their delivery, you know, with more units going out the door and them, them being able to combine routes, I think that gives them efficiency here too, which is more the factor.

I think it is a good benefit for some.

But a lot of times when you're sick, you need your pharmacy order, you know.

You know, I don't know how often that's actually happening where you're buying a pair of clothing, as you know.

Oh, I'm not talking clothing, I'm talking chicken noodle soup.

I'm talking, you know, orange juice.

Like all these other things that you have make an extra, extra trip to do whether you're, you know, you're, it's.

I think it gets back to the minute clinic thing.

Like I can do that in a Walmart store if I can go get my strep test and then I can go get all the other medications that I need in that one trip without having to make another trip when I'm sick.

Like, I think that's the benefit.

Yeah.

That that stuff will happen.

When you said lawn and patio, I was like, well, you know, I don't know how much that's gonna go on.

I'm, I'm just talking about down the road.

Like it, it's not, it's not necessarily that you're gonna be combining a prescription order and lawn and patio.

I'm just talking about the fact that the Walmart app is ready to accept.

Gives you everything you need.

Yeah, well, it gives you everything you need and it's already built to control or to allow for different types of orders to all take place in one application without having to leave.

But Ben, last word here.

Yeah, we want the final thought I'd had on it and I'd love to know what the conversation was at FMI last week around this.

Because one of the big trends when we think about the U.S.

grocery market in the middle short to more medium term is the impact that GLP1 drugs will have.

This move by Walmart will make more of their customers and more of their best customers go to Walmart for their rs.

Really interesting.

They'll capture the data and then they'll know also what they're buying in grocery because the category changes are going to happen, which can then drive the flywheel.

A better merchandising and better store propositions.

It gets them one step ahead on what could be one of the biggest trends coming down the road in U.S.

grocery.

Yeah, and what's the biggest, and what's the income demographic most likely to move into GLP?

1.

Drugs first.

Right.

Higher income people.

Wow, great point.

Mike dropped by Ben at the end.

All right, well, let's move into the lightning round.

Ben, first question is for you.

McDonald's is bringing back Uncle O Grimacey, the slightly larger, greener and Irish version of Grimace.

They're bringing it back from the archives to help promote their Shamrock shake and mint McFlurry.

Which family member of your own, Ben, would you choose to help you and the team promote Shop Talk?

Oh, my God, I had no idea where you go with that.

Okay, so I grew up in a small rural town in the north of England in, in Yorkshire.

My dad is a proud Yorkshireman, and, and there's some great cliches.

So Yorkshire men are, are famously straight talking, they're famously cynical, and they're famously really tight with their money.

So I, I, I, I can imagine.

So never mind.

Startup pigeon shop talk.

I was kind of imagining like, you know, it's almost like challenge.

Alan.

If you could get my dad, if you could get my dad to spend money, then you've got an absolute winner because that's a really high bar.

So that's amazing.

It's so funny.

I literally said to Anne last week, we don't hear the name Alan anymore either, didn't I?

And I literally said that to you?

Yes.

All right, then.

The teaser trailer for the new Fantastic Four film debuted this week.

If you could have any of the Fantastic Four's superpowers, which one would you choose?

Oh, that's an easy one.

Fly.

Absolutely.

Johnny.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm not, I'm not there on the bursting into flames, but, but, but flying.

Yeah, that would be so cool.

Wouldn't that, wouldn't that be brilliant?

I'd love to hear that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's not a plastic man.

I wouldn't mind be plastic man too.

That's pretty cool.

Again, I have no idea what you're talking about.

Listeners will not be surprised at all that I have could not name a single Fantastic Four.

Is that what they're called?

Fantastic Four people?

Yes.

All right, let's go to question number three.

Ben.

Tariffs are on the minds of retailers and consumers these days, and Some retailers are reporting that they're seeing out of stocks because customers are starting to stockpile goods.

If you could bring an extra suitcase with you to Vegas during shop talk to stockpile some US Products to take home to the uk, what would it be?

Oh, man.

And it's not.

Not a suitcase full of Shop Talk branded swag.

I've been.

I've been lucky enough.

I spend a lot of time in the US as you guys know.

I've been working the US a long time.

So I have, I've, I've got.

There's lots of things that I really enjoy when I'm over, but if I could bring one thing, I'd love to bring back a huge suitcase full of west coast sunshine just to brighten the Dowler London screen.

Better that than Parliament lights.

All right, last one.

Te Voodoo Tay voodoo.

A term Taylor Swift fans coined to describe the outsides.

The facts effect Taylor appears to have on the universe.

This is real.

Could be on full display at this weekend's Super Bowl.

Ben.

So who's it going to be?

The Chiefs or the Eagles?

Oh, wow.

We almost got for a whole podcast without mentioning Taylor Swift.

That was.

Right.

It was close, that.

That was close.

I think it's gonna be really.

It's gonna be really, really close.

What can I be sure of?

I think New Orleans is going to be put on a really good show.

I think the halftime show will be good, but not as good as the short or beach party, that's for sure.

I.

Look, history tells us doing three times is really, really, really hard.

But we know that if you've got the best quarterback, you probably win.

So I'm going for the Chiefs in.

The three P.

The Chiefs and the three peat.

Oh, man.

I know our Philly fans like Evan Gold will be very disappointed to hear you say that, but.

All right, well, that closes us up.

Happy birthday today to Lord Laura Linney, Jennifer, Jason Lee, and to the man for whom I will always be jealous of for somehow convincing Kate Beckinsale to marry him, Michael Sheen.

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.

The stage.

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 in.

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 and Ben, if people want to get more information about Shop Talk, sign up, register, join all of us in Vegas.

What's the best way for that them to do that?

You know what, we're just over six weeks away.

25th to 27th March in Vegas.

Mandalaybay shopdog.com we will be publishing our full speaker lineup in the next week or so.

So just a couple of highlights, couple of companies we've been talking about today.

Chief merchant at CBS will be on stage so we can pose some of the questions that we've been having EVP of operations at Walmart.

Again talking about how, how to make these things happen so quickly.

Podcast favorite Richard Dixon, CEO Gaff is headlining CEO of Levi Shark Ninja.

We've got a fantastic lineup.

So shop talk.com for all of your tickets.

All right.

Well Ben, thank you so much for joining us.

We love when you stop by to co host.

It's always a great show, always a great conversation.

And on behalf of Ben and myself and all of us at Omnitok retail, as always, be careful out there.