Shownotes
Live from FMI 2026 in San Diego, Omni Talk Retail’s Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga sit down with Thom Blischok, Chairman and CEO of The Dialogic Group, at the Simbe booth to discuss why 2026 will be the year retail robotics finally move from pilots to scale.
Thom breaks down what’s driving broader adoption of in store robotics, including rising cost to serve, labor productivity pressures, and the growing need to improve shelf execution and shopper experience. He also shares why change management is often the missing piece in successful deployments and what independent grocers must get right to compete with larger retailers.
Key topics covered:
- Why 2026 is the year retail robotics scale
- Moving from pilot programs to enterprise deployment
- Cost to serve, labor productivity, and shelf efficiency
- Change management as a critical success factor
- Robotics, shelf intelligence, and the connected store
- How independent grocers can compete using technology
- Lessons from Schnucks and other early adopters
Stay tuned to Omni Talk Retail for continued coverage from FMI 2026, recorded live from the Simbe booth in the FMI Tech section.
#FMI2026 #GroceryRetail #RetailTechnology #RetailRobotics #InStoreInnovation #ShelfIntelligence #FutureOfRetail #OmniTalkRetail
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Transcripts
Welcome back, everybody.
Speaker A:This is Omnitalk Retail.
Speaker A:I'm Anne Mazinga.
Speaker B:And I'm Chris Walton.
Speaker A:And we are bringing you another interview from the simbi Booth, number 118 here in the tech section of FMI in San Diego.
Speaker A:Standing between Chris and myself is Tom Blishock.
Speaker A:Tom is the CEO of the Dialogic Group.
Speaker A:Tom, you were on our show last year.
Speaker A:Thanks for coming back and doing it again.
Speaker C:Chris.
Speaker C:Chris.
Speaker C:And nice to see you again.
Speaker A:Good to see you too.
Speaker A:Good to see you.
Speaker C:Great.
Speaker B:You too, Tom.
Speaker B: cord last year as saying that: Speaker B:Now you've been.
Speaker B: aring that you've been saying: Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So was I wrong?
Speaker B:But more importantly, why do you think.
Speaker C:That I think the year of the robot is?
Speaker C:I mean, your comments were correct.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:I think my comments correct also.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C: I. I talk: Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker C:Moving from the pilot world to the scale world.
Speaker C:Why are we doing that?
Speaker C:What's causing that change?
Speaker C:The retailers are struggling with cost to serve, and they're struggling with the shopping experience overall.
Speaker C:So robotics in the stores are helping them change shelf productivity, change people productivity, and change the shopping experience.
Speaker C:This year, my prediction is we're going to see that robotics will actually reach scale.
Speaker C:That means they'll be deployed across many, many retailers.
Speaker A:So say that happens, and retailers are starting to invest in, in store robotics.
Speaker A:They want to really build this truly connected store.
Speaker A:And robotics being a key way to do that, what does it take for them to find success in that deployment?
Speaker C:I think a couple things.
Speaker C:One of the things that we found in the issue of robotic deployments is that there is a lack of change management.
Speaker C:Really important issue.
Speaker C:Really, really important issue.
Speaker C:So first thing that has to occur is the leadership has to show up in any technology implementation, especially robotics.
Speaker C:You got to engage the SOAR folks to make sure they understand the whys behind the technology.
Speaker C:And then you have to build a reasonable, executable approach on actually make this stuff work and deliver value.
Speaker C:Most importantly.
Speaker C:Is that what I see?
Speaker C:Again, as I said earlier, robotics drive a change in the shopping experience at a lower cost.
Speaker C:That's something that retailers must pay attention to.
Speaker B:Okay, and where do those lower costs come in, Tom?
Speaker C:They come in lowered inventory.
Speaker C:They come in the area of less obsolete excess and obsolete stuff on the shelf.
Speaker C:They come in the area of improved employee productivity.
Speaker C:Now, that doesn't mean you're having someone have less hours it just means that they're using hours more productively, which allows them to raise the value of their personal contribution to the business.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And the experience that their customers are having.
Speaker A:Like we heard from Chinook Markets this morning where they didn't get rid of any employees when they deployed robots in store.
Speaker A:They actually converted that staff to helping employees to doing other tasks.
Speaker C:What a marvelous success story.
Speaker C:Schnooks, they really are an organization which took the basics, the idea, the concepts, they tested it, they learned, and then they scaled it.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:Just think about what that means to an organization who's struggling with a 2% margin saying, you know, I'm getting beat by the large players.
Speaker C:I just need to find ways to save cost and improve the experience.
Speaker C:That's what robots do.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B: you say this is when you said: Speaker B:Let's like you talked about shooks, take schnooks taking it to scale.
Speaker C:What?
Speaker B:Why do you say that this is the year that you're going to see it scale?
Speaker B:Like, I'm curious.
Speaker B:Why is that?
Speaker C:I think a couple things.
Speaker C:The biggest of the big players continue to move forward faster than the rest of the industry.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:So independent operators, mid tier operators, are struggling with ways to compete.
Speaker C:Well, one of the ways to compete is to buy local, have more local representation.
Speaker C:One of the ways to compete is to make your associates more productive.
Speaker C:But the third way to compete is to make the shelf more productive.
Speaker C:That means when I walk into the store, I see the stuff I want and it's available and it's there.
Speaker C:Now you can do that one of two ways.
Speaker C:You can have Fred or Susie or Mike or Jack run up the aisles and do their thing.
Speaker C:Or you can have a tally actually help you understand where you're beginning to miss lost sales.
Speaker C:So scaling is driven by not just the robot, but it's the need to improve cost efficiency at the same time improving the shopper experience.
Speaker B:So what I hear from you, there's a premium on being right at shelf more often now for every retailer that's in this very competitive industry.
Speaker C:Yeah, being, being right at shelf is so critical.
Speaker C:And when we say being right at shelf, it's not just having the stuff on the shelf, it's having the right stuff on the shelf.
Speaker C:It's making sure the assortment is tuned to the consumer.
Speaker C:Making sure that if you see a low stock alert that you really stock the product in the store before you run out of stock.
Speaker C:Remember, shoppers have a lasting memory.
Speaker C:First time, I'll come back you're out of stock.
Speaker C:Second time may come back.
Speaker C:Third time, I'm going someplace else.
Speaker C:We fix that problem.
Speaker C:Recimbia and Talley fix that problem.
Speaker C:Right, Right.
Speaker B:So what's your advice to the independent grocer then?
Speaker B: Like you just talked about: Speaker B:What about the independent guys?
Speaker B:Like, how should they think about this?
Speaker C:Look, independents have three strategies to be successful in 26.
Speaker C:They better get their technology mix correct.
Speaker C:Now, there are hundreds of technologies you can buy.
Speaker C:One of the things I like to recommend to the independent grocer is pick a technology that actually delivers value for you.
Speaker C:So robotics will deliver value.
Speaker C:So get your technology focus correct.
Speaker C:Second one, get your store experience correct.
Speaker C:Thirdly, get your collaboration correct.
Speaker C:Now you get those three in line and what happens?
Speaker C:And you buy local.
Speaker C:So you have local partnership and all of a sudden you have a differentiation from a huge big box store of 190,000 square feet who can't do those things effectively.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker A:Tom, thanks for these hot takes.
Speaker A:We really appreciate you making the time for us today.
Speaker A:Thanks again to Simbi for helping us bring you our coverage here from FMI.
Speaker A:And come stop by booth 118 today.
Speaker A:We'll be around for a few more hours yet.
Speaker A:And until the next interview, be careful out there.
Speaker C:Be good, Talk to you.
Speaker C:And think Robotics, they're a great solution to the problem.
Speaker C:Thank you.