In the latest edition of Omni Talk’s Retail Fast Five sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Avalara, Mirakl, Ownit AI and Ocampo Capital Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, along with guest hosts from the Alvarez & Marsal Consumer and Retail Group David Ritter and Chad Lusk discuss 2024’s Retail Awards. In this short they explore which retail technologies and trends fell short of expectations in 2024, including device AI's premature rollout, the cost-prohibitive nature of smart carts, and Target's overemphasis on CarPlay integration. Learn why these technologies failed to meet expectations and what it means for retail innovation.
0:04 - Discussion of tariffs as overhyped trend
0:56 - Analysis of Caper Cart limitations
1:34 - Debate over smart cart value proposition
2:02 - Device AI's premature implementation
2:27 - Comparison to early tech adoption risks
2:59 - Target's CarPlay integration critique
3:13 - Digital growth comparison with competitors
#retail #retailtrends #retailstrategy
For the full episode head here: https://youtu.be/iyNND1vZe7A
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Ritter Just to be clear, it was retail technology or trend and I'm going with trend technology in this case.
Speaker B:
Yeah, I actually think tariffs and it's not because I think tariffs are not going to be a big deal.
Speaker B:
I think that retailers have not adjusted their, their cogs have not adjusted their prices have not yet truly adjusted based on these tariffs.
Speaker B:
And I think we've got two years of tariff negotiations before any thing is truly implemented.
Speaker B:
So in some ways I think, I think tariffs are a bit of overstated in terms of their immediacy of importance.
Speaker A:
Got it.
Speaker A:
So tariffs as a red herring.
Speaker A:
Yes, that's right and good call out.
Speaker A:
Yes, it's retail technology or trend.
Speaker A:
Most over hyped retail technology or trend.
Speaker A:
And what was yours?
Speaker C:
You know mine's still the caper cart Chris I have to say like I still feel like this year we, I definitely saw at grocery shop more use cases for it but I still feel like it's very cost prohibitive for the majority of grocers.
Speaker C:
I think it's going to be a lot longer rollout than we, we even anticipate.
Speaker C:
I just, I don't see a lot of retailers investing the money in caper carts especially like chain wide.
Speaker C:
I think it's still experimental and they're still too cost prohibitive.
Speaker C:
So that's mine.
Speaker A:
Interesting.
Speaker A:
Interesting.
Speaker A:
Chad, I might, I might want you to rebut on that one a little bit.
Speaker A:
I actually think they're properly rated at this point, especially with the retail media play.
Speaker A:
I don't, I don't think they're as over hyped as we used to think they are.
Speaker A:
But, but Chad, what was yours?
Speaker A:
And if you want to comment on any of the things that Ann said about smart cards because I know you're a big fan with a lot of personal experience in the space.
Speaker D:
Let Dave St down at, at Schnucks provide the, the rebuttal.
Speaker D:
So all right, overhyped tech.
Speaker D:
Let's see what David had to say here.
Speaker D:
He said okay, interesting.
Speaker D:
He said device AI.
Speaker C:
Device AI.
Speaker D:
Which is, which is, which is, which is an interesting one.
Speaker D:
Right?
Speaker D:
I mean I think we all, we all know that AI and gen AI is going to be huge, but it's just not, it's just still not ready on consumer devices.
Speaker D:
Right?
Speaker D:
I mean Apple intelligence isn't really useful yet.
Speaker D:
Same with Gemini.
Speaker D:
Like the hype train is early.
Speaker D:
You know it's like spending fantasy football draft capital on you know, rookie Jonathan Brooks this year.
Speaker D:
t's going to be good but just:
Speaker A:
Chris Nice nice Well mine, mine mine's just a quick one Mine was mine was Target's CarPlay integration which I think in general you know people would be like yeah whatever but Target actually singled that out in their earnings call as one of their key achievements in the third quarter which I just thought was laughable especially considering their their Digital growth was 11% against Walmart's 20% and Costco's 30 13% so to say that CarPlay is what you're talking about technologically is just hilarious to me because if it's true like why are you still lagging behind in those against those competitors?
