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PODCAST

Retail Fast Five

Omni Talk Retail

The Omni Talk Retail Fast Five podcast is your weekly dose of retail industry insights and trends in a quick and digestible format. Hosted by industry experts, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga, this podcast delivers the top five news stories each week that are shaping the digital and physical retail landscape. Each episode breaks down the most important developments in retail, from the latest innovations in technology to consumer behavior shifts, emerging market trends, and beyond. Whether you"re a

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All Episodes

04:16

Lightning Round: Banana Water, Dirty Sodas & Golden...

Retail Fast Five ·

2026/01/19

This Lightning Round segment of the OmniTalk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, closes out the show with rapid-fire takes on grocery trends, pop culture, and the lighter side of retail. From banana water and dirty sodas to drone birthday deliveries and Golden Globes hot takes, Chris, and Anne, keep things fast, fun, and unpredictable. ⏩ Tune in for the full episode here.#LightningRound #RetailCulture #OmniTalk

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04:23

Walmart’s Drone Delivery Expands to 270 Stores | Fast...

Retail Fast Five ·

2026/01/19

This OmniTalk Retail Fast Five segment, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, dives into Walmart’s expansion of drone delivery with Wing to 270 U.S. stores. Chris and Anne discuss why drones finally make sense, how Walmart is attacking the convenience economy, and why this move signals that fast, airborne delivery is no longer experimental. ⏩ Tune in for the full episode here.#DroneDelivery #Walmart #RetailInnovation #OmniTalk

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04:29

Amazon Buy for Me Sparks Merchant Backlash | Fast...

Retail Fast Five ·

2026/01/19

This OmniTalk Retail Fast Five segment, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, covers growing backlash from small brands after Amazon’s Buy for Me feature listed products without permission. Chris and Anne debate opt-in versus opt-out models, brand control in the age of agentic AI, and whether this controversy is a temporary growing pain or a sign of bigger issues ahead. ⏩ Tune in for the full episode here.#AmazonAI #Ecommerce

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04:48

Circle K Turns Store Data Into Daily Action | Fast...

Retail Fast Five ·

2026/01/19

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, explores Circle K’s expansion of Quorso’s intelligent management platform across more than 7,800 U.S. stores. Chris and Anne explain why turning data into daily action is mission-critical, how AI improves store-level execution, and why this partnership stood out at NRF 2026. ⏩ Tune in for the full episode here.#RetailExecution #AIinRetail #CircleK #Quorso

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07:36

Google’s Plan to Power AI Shopping Everywhere | Fast...

Retail Fast Five ·

2026/01/19

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, breaks down Google’s launch of its Universal Commerce Protocol... a major step toward standardizing agentic commerce. Chris and Anne discuss why retailer support matters, how this impacts ownership of the customer relationship, and whether Google is protecting search or positioning itself as the ultimate personal shopping assistant. ⏩ Tune in for the full

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05:39

Amazon Goes Full Big-Box Retail | Fast Five Shorts

Retail Fast Five ·

2026/01/19

This OmniTalk Retail Fast Five segment, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, examines Amazon’s plan to build a massive 225,000-square-foot retail store in Illinois... its most ambitious physical retail experiment yet. Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga debate whether Amazon can truly compete with Walmart’s supercenter model, what past Amazon store failures signal, and whether this move represents a final experiment or a much bigger

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45:17

Amazon's Walmart Play, AI Shopping Protocols & Drone...

Retail Fast Five ·

2026/01/14

In this week's Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, Chris and Anne discussed:Amazon's plans to build a 225,000 square foot retail store in Orland Park, Illinois (Source)Google's launch of a Universal Commerce Protocol with backing from major retailers (Source)Circle K expanding its partnership with Corso to over 7,800 US locations (Source)Small merchants upset over Amazon's Buy for Me AI feature listing

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07:16

Lightning Round: LEGO Smart Bricks, Toxic Mom Groups...

Retail Fast Five ·

2026/01/12

This segment of the Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, features Chris and Anne closing out the show with rapid-fire takes on the lighter (and weirder) side of retail and culture. The conversation jumps from LEGO’s smart brick ambitions to the rise of toxic mom groups online, plus the internet’s obsession with five-gallon popcorn buckets.Chris and Anne also weigh in on whether the Stranger Things finale

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04:18

Inside Schnucks’ Approach to Stopping Gift Card Fraud...

Retail Fast Five ·

2026/01/12

This segment of the Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, dives into Schnucks’ reported 100% success rate stopping gift card fraud using Digimarc technology. Chris and Anne explain why gift card fraud is exploding, why this solution actually works, and what other retailers can learn from Schnucks’ approach. ⏩ Watch the full episode here.#GiftCardFraud #RetailSecurity #Digimarc #Schnucks #RetailTech

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04:58

Why Save Mart Is Adding Amazon Returns Kiosks | Fast...

Retail Fast Five ·

2026/01/12

This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, looks at Save Mart’s rollout of Amazon Returns kiosks across more than 140 stores. Chris and Anne discuss what returns-as-traffic really means for grocers, whether this partnership helps or hurts store economics, and how physical retail keeps getting pulled deeper into Amazon’s ecosystem. ⏩ Watch the full episode here.#SaveMart #AmazonReturns

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05:15

Amazon’s Alexa+ Pushes Deeper Into Grocery Shopping |...

Retail Fast Five ·

2026/01/12

In this segment of the Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, the team unpacks Amazon’s integration of instant meal shopping into browser-based Alexa+. Chris and Anne debate whether this is true convenience or just more friction hiding behind AI, and what it signals about Amazon’s long-term grocery and agentic commerce ambitions. ⏩ Watch the full episode here.#Amazon #AlexaPlus #AIShopping #MealPlanning

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05:52

Kroger Launches New SNAP Discount Program | Fast Five...

Retail Fast Five ·

2026/01/12

This clip from the Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, explores Kroger’s new discount initiative for SNAP recipients. Chris and Anne discuss why affordability strategies matter more than ever, how grocers are approaching value differently, and whether programs like this can drive both loyalty and impact at scale. ⏩ Watch the full episode here.#Kroger #SNAP #GroceryRetail #RetailStrategy #FoodAccess

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07:18

Instacart Shuts Down AI Pricing Tests After Consumer...

Retail Fast Five ·

2026/01/12

This segment of the Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, breaks down Instacart’s decision to shut down its AI-driven pricing tests after consumer backlash. Chris and Anne dig into why pricing transparency still matters, how quickly trust can erode, and what this means for AI-powered pricing across grocery and retail. A sharp conversation on where experimentation crosses the line. ⏩ Watch the full episode

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51:31

Instacart's Pricing Retreat + Amazon's Alexa Gets...

Retail Fast Five ·

2026/01/07

In this week's Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, Chris and Anne discussed:Instacart ending its controversial price testing program (Source)Kroger launching a new discount program for SNAP recipients (Source)Amazon integrating instant meal shopping into browser-based Alexa Plus (Source)Save Mart placing Amazon Returns kiosks across 140+ stores (Source)Schnucks seeing 100% success preventing gift card

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06:54

Breaking Down Target's New SoHo Concept Store | Fast...

Retail Fast Five ·

2025/12/22

ThissegmentoftheOmniTalkRetailFastFive,sponsoredbytheA&MConsumerandRetailGroup,Mirakl,OcampoCapital,Infios,andQuorso,analyzesTarget'snewpermanentSohostorefeaturing"TheDrop"rotatingseasonalstyles,aBroadwayBeautyBar,andinfluencer-curatedselections.AnneseespotentialifTargetcansolvethetechnologyandoperationalchallengesneededtoscalethisconcept,especiallyasUltadepartsTargetstores.Chrispushesbackhard,callingit"purePRsizzle"that'sdesignedforInstagramphotosratherthanoperationalscalability.Thedebategetshea

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04:27

Lightning Round: Ryan Reynolds at NRF, Puppy Yoga &...

Retail Fast Five ·

2025/12/22

ThissegmentoftheOmniTalkRetailFastFive,sponsoredbytheA&MConsumerandRetailGroup,Mirakl,OcampoCapital,Infios,andQuorso,featuresChrisandAnnetacklethefunsideofretailasweheadintoNRF2026.RyanReynoldskeynotesNRFthisJanuary...Chrissharestheonequestionhe'daskaboutBlakeLively'sbestfilmrole.Annerevealsherson'selaborateGoogleSlidespitchforanF1Bgoldendoodleandherpuppyyogacompromise.ThehostspreviewCalvinKlein'snewSoHoflagshipasamust-seeNRFstoretourstop,andpaytributetothelateRobReinerwiththeirMountRushmorepicks

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05:09

Ashley Furniture Goes All-In on Agentic Commerce |...

Retail Fast Five ·

2025/12/22

ThissegmentoftheOmniTalkRetailFastFive,sponsoredbytheA&MConsumerandRetailGroup,Mirakl,OcampoCapital,Infios,andQuorso,examinesAshleyFurniture'sgroundbreakingpartnershipwithPerplexitythatenablescompletetransactions—fromproductrecommendationstopayment—inoneconversation.Chrislovesthismove,callingitbrilliantbecauseAshleycanbypassmarketplacesandleverageitsbrandrecognitiondirectlyinAIsearch.Anneagreesbutcriticizesretailersforannouncingfeaturesthatdon'tworkyet,sharingherfrustrationtryingtoactuallyusetheA

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06:30

Online Grocery Breaks Records Despite Budget...

Retail Fast Five ·

2025/12/22

This segment of the Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, and Quorso, unpacks November's stunning $12.3 billion in online grocery sales—the second time monthly sales topped $12 billion.Chris is gobsmacked by consumers choosing the more expensive delivery option despite budget constraints, while Anne attributes growth to improved curbside pickup experiences and loyalty incentives. Both hosts agree this signals that agentic AI

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08:17

Are Instacart's Pricing Experiments Inflating Your...

Retail Fast Five ·

2025/12/22

This segment of the Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, and Quorso, examines Consumer Reports' investigation revealing Instacart's AI-powered pricing experiments that resulted in price variations up to 23% between customers.Chris and Anne debate whether algorithmic pricing is acceptable for essential categories like grocery, especially as consumers gain access to AI tools that can instantly compare prices across platforms

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05:23

Inside Amazon's Leaked Rush Pickup Service Plans |...

Retail Fast Five ·

2025/12/22

This segment of the Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, and Quorso, explores Amazon's reported plans to launch a Rush pickup service enabling one-hour order collection at Amazon-owned stores.According to Business Insider, the service would let shoppers place unified orders from Amazon's marketplace and physical store inventory. Chris argues this is a road to nowhere given Whole Foods' operational constraints and Walmart's

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