Channel Mastery - Ep. 194: Reinventing Retail & the Consumer Experience with OmniTalk’s Anne Mezzenga

OmniTalk

Broad market retail trends, Consumer Experience updates, Inventory issues + more

featuring

Anne Mezzenga is a Top 100 Retail Influencer, podcast host, and the Co-CEO of Omnitalk Retail, a post she shares with Chris Walton. This dynamic team continues to build their podcast, Youtube Channel, and blog into a leading retail media empire, and both hail from Target’s “Store of the Future” concepting team. Anne and Chris were speakers at the inaugural Sea Otter Classic Summit this past April and stand for ‘consumer centricity’ on a level no other retail media organization comes close to.

show highlights

We produce the Channel Mastery podcast for one reason: To equip and inspire our audience of executive leaders in outdoor recreation to drive their businesses toward expansion during an unprecedented time of change and opportunity. That only works when we commit to trying new strategies and approaches in our businesses. Let’s face it: We know well that what got us here will not get us to the expansion, growth, and purpose we know our teams and brands are capable of going forward.

Part of bringing our mission to life is to recruit the best experts from broader retail and business and tailor their insights to our audience of outdoor recreation executive leaders. And by tailoring, we mean customizing new approaches into actionable strategies you can build into your company. That’s what we brought to life with our sponsor Life Time, Inc., at the Sea Otter Classic Executive Summit this past April, and that’s what we’re bringing to life every week here and going into the 2023 Summit.

Today’s guest is one of the most exceptional resources we have to date to bring the mission of Channel Mastery and the Sea Otter Classic Executive Summit to life. Anne Mezzenga and Chris Walton served as Co-CEOs of Omnitalk Retail and were featured speakers at the Summit and are repeat guests on the Channel Mastery podcast.

In this episode, we have Anne in the chair, and she’s brought her A-Game! Yes, she over-delivers insightful broader-market retail trends that bring a ton of consumer insight as we head toward 2023. Anne also brings creative and actionable strategies to combat the myriad of challenges in retail today, including the inventory glut. Through this episode, you’ll be challenged to reconsider the retail experience we’re responsible for creating in outdoor recreation. Anne shares what she’s discovered in other retail sectors in her visits this summer with Omnitalk. One of the most powerful facets of this interview is when Anne shares her approaches to empowering the consumer with unexpectedly simple ideas and experiences that bring your store and brand into the consumer's day-to-day in a way that just wasn’t possible before. And who would have thought that retailers could double as banks to their consumers and build trust while doing so? You’ll learn so many new approaches to being far more than a retailer (and all brands are also retailers today) in this show!

This is exactly the type of inspirational big thinking that’s relevant and replicable to the outdoor recreation space and just what we’re proud to offer you on Channel Mastery every week. We hope you enjoy and share this episode! Let us know your thoughts on LinkedIn, and thank you for listening!

The Channel Mastery podcast is presented by Verde Brand Communications, a consumer-centric brand strategy and communication agency serving the outdoor recreation industries. We are also grateful for the sponsorship and partnership of Life Time, Inc., owner of the Sea Otter Classic and producer of the Sea Otter Classic Summit outdoor recreation executive gathering, taking place April 18-20, 2023, in Monterey, Calif. Learn more at Seaotterclassicsummit.com.

Kristin Carpenter:
Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the Channel Mastery podcast. I have such a special show here for you today. I'd like to reintroduce Anne Mezzenga to the show, who is the co-CEO of Omni Talk Retail. Welcome back to the show, Anne. It is so great to have you here.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Oh, Kristin, I'm so excited to be on with you again. We've had some fun times over the past year. I'm excited to be back, and there's so much for us to talk about, as there is every time I feel like.
Kristin Carpenter:
Yes, and Chris Walton, who is your co-CEO at Omni Talk Retail, Anne and Chris were headliners at the 2022 Seattle Classic Executive Summit. And Lifetime, who's a sponsor of this podcast, as is Perkins Coie, were sponsors of that event. And we are getting ready to tee up new news around the 2023 event, and we're just, Anne and I are recording this toward the end of August, so keep in mind in the next couple weeks we're going to have some great announcements around that. But Anne and Chris were just fantastic there, helping our executives understand the broader retail landscape and make it very relevant to outdoor recreation specialty. Tell us, Anne, because there are several newcomers, I'm sure, here today with us. Can you share with us a little bit more about you and Chris as co-CEOs of Omni Talk Retail? And then we'll get into the meat of it.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Absolutely. Everyone should go to the summit. It was the most fun that Chris and I had, and we go to a lot of conferences. It was beautiful. Everyone should go. But Chris and I, as you mentioned Kristin, we started Omni Talk back in 2017. And we were both coming off of the Target store, the future project, where Chris and I led a team to really think about what the future Target store might look like. And that was a way back when. Throughout the years building that project, we had started to do all kinds of research on what components made up that store, what was important about the future of the retail industry. And in that research, we started doing Omni Talk as a way to keep ourselves up to date on what was going on in the industry, who are the players that we should be paying attention to, who are the retailers who were getting it right, who are the retailers that were getting it wrong? And why was it important that we learn from them, and that the industry really talk about that.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
And our core focus at Omni Talk is really speaking from the lens of having been retailers. We felt like there was a gap in the market of there's pundits and journalists who are talking about the trends and technologies that are happening, but there was no one who had lived it who was speaking from an actual retailer's perspective, who knew what it was like to try to roll out this technology or these new initiatives. And we take that approach as we analyze the top trends in retail, and try to put our candid and humorous approach on it to try to have some fun while we're doing it. But you can check out the podcast at omnitalk.blog or wherever you get your podcast. That's the best way to introduce yourself into the Omni Talk Retail world.
Kristin Carpenter:
And literally you do such a great job making sure we're paying attention to the right headlines, frankly. And what I mean by right headlines is the most impactful headlines that literally are signaling what's about to happen.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Thanks. We try.
Kristin Carpenter:
I really find so much value in that. And also, as Anne was saying, they're very, very funny, and you're publishing a ton of content. It's such an amazing resource. You've grown so fast. I just want everyone listening here today to hop over to their website at omnitalk.blog and definitely subscribe to that podcast. It is a must listen.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Thanks Kristin. Yeah, we try to keep it fresh and we try to include a lot of perspectives, even though we may disagree with some, we'll still include them in our weekly Fast Five roundup.
Kristin Carpenter:
Absolutely. I have you here today as such a treasured resource for our executives tuning in and listening today in outdoor rec. What we're here to talk about today is a little bit of a riff on what we did at the summer earlier in the year in April, where Chris and Anne got on stage live and talked about the most impactful retail headlines for the group of executives who were in the room. We're going to do a little bit of that today, but Anne has also done some research and has some really great ideas for you to research and execute around the inventory glut that we're dealing with and around softening consumer sentiment, and really trying to pop up above those and look at the consumer experience and the things we can control, in a really creative way. With that, this is also going to be a must listen. I can't wait to hear Anne, what are you seeing out there?
Anne M. Omnitalk:
I think the biggest concern right now, especially as we head into fourth quarter, is exactly what you mentioned, Kristin. We have a lot of retailers, even giant mass retailers like Target and Walmart, who are dealing with this glut of inventory that's come in over the course of the last several months. And what do you do with that? And we're seeing two different approaches with Target and Walmart. For example, Target slashing prices, trying to clear out inventory to make room for holiday, which they know will be big for them, and Walmart taking a different approach and saying, we're going to just hold this inventory somewhere. We look better to the street for doing so, but we're going to try to figure out later, just kicking the can down the road a little bit.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
And I think that what's important for the retailers in this audience to think about is how do you take this opportunity to really start to experiment with some new innovation? What are you going to do with that product? Yes, you can slash it. You have a difficult time doing that because of the brand love and advocacy around your product and trying to maintain this brand at a high standard. And I think one of the things that is a really smart approach for this audience is to start thinking about how can you offload some of those goods but start to do that in an experimental way with something like a resale marketplace. I think this is a great opportunity to take that inventory and open it up to a new audience.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
I think we're seeing, Moosejaw just started their Mountain Steals. They're doing this similar thing. That product's still available on the moosejaw.com site, but they're also opening this flash sale site up so that people can enter into your brands at an earlier stage. You're getting that next level audience who might not be able to afford the brand new, top-of-the-line gear, but they're getting the opportunity through the resale marketplace or through a warehousing second level, second tier marketplace, and that helps the retailers offload that product. I think that's something that I would start to explore, what options you might have in those areas, and then how you start to embrace bringing resale onto your own site. Can you stand up the facility on your website to bring in that next audience? Because I think that's where there's a big opportunity here for the retailers.
Kristin Carpenter:
Absolutely. And it's so much cleaner in terms of preserving the profile of your brand and how hard our space works to have values aligned with their consumers. But let's also remember, we just accrued a huge amount of consumers through COVID. And this is a really great way, I think, to keep them interested. And of course we don't want to train people to look for discounts, but as you said, it's such a great portal of entry for a newcomer consumer that may really want to engage with our brands, but hasn't really felt like they can now that they're getting into their life with COVID and beyond the lockdown.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Totally. And it doesn't even have to be on your brand's own site. We're seeing some retailers even, especially in the luxury marketplace, where they're experimenting with going on third-party marketplaces. They're going on Poshmark, they're going on Depop, and they're creating, we have this inventory. What happens if we just put it on this site and see what happens? You're just exposing yourself to brand new audiences, which I don't think can ever be a bad thing. As long as you're maintaining a certain level of the brand, you're getting what you need to get out of it and you're able to be flexible and nimble enough to maybe allocate some resources or a couple team members into this experiment, you'll very quickly be able to learn, yes, this is going to work for us, or no, this is not going to work for us. This is too much effort and not enough reward. But I think it's worth the experimentation, and that's going to be a critical component of how you're approaching your strategy with the-
Anne M. Omnitalk:
... going to be a critical component of how you're approaching your strategy with this flood of inventory.
Kristin Carpenter:
And that again, experimentation and failure is okay.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Yes.
Kristin Carpenter:
And don't just look to what worked in the past, such as huge promotions and liquidation. I do think that the consumer today, everything that we're seeing is sitting and waiting and looking for deals.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
[inaudible 00:11:22].
Kristin Carpenter:
Like they're being trained by some of the larger retailers out there, but let's get into some of your concepts that we were discussing around. There might be a way to actually make the experience the consumer can have so empowering around what you're doing right now in your business. And I'd love for you to share some of the ideas that you have there, because it's so much more than them looking for a deal. There's a whole experience you can offer if you're really open minded to rethinking the ecosystem out there.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Yeah. I think this is a great example, Kristin, and I don't think this is going away to be honest. Amazon is setting the new retail holiday calendar. Let's be honest. They can decide at any point in time throughout the year, whether or not they want to throw a prime day on the calendar and brands either have to jump on board and try to offer discounts that are similar or give them another place to look and customers are looking for that too. They're going to the alternative websites on that day and seeing what offer are you going to ... I do want to still support my local retailer, but are you going to match Amazon? It's not possible. The price wars are a race to the bottom. So I think brands need to really be focused on, what's my strength as a brand? What can I offer that Amazon can not?
Anne M. Omnitalk:
And in many cases, especially with specialty brands, that's going to be your connection to your customer. It's going to be bringing new customers on board and figuring out how you start to graduate them into becoming an advocate of your brand and depending on your brand for re-upping gear purchases every year and really figuring out, is it other part components of it? Is it your follow up after the purchase that is important? At the summit last year we had Taxa who was talking about, their most important communication with the customer is the FaceTime. They were using FaceTime during the pandemic to do a tour of the habitats. That's the engagement that you get with that brand that you can't get anywhere else.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Even as with all the tech that Amazon can bring, no one's going to be able to offer you that. And if you are thinking about different points of entry or earlier points of entry, either can you facilitate resale, can you facilitate rentals or how can you grab an audience that just gets a taste of that, but then sees what that unlocks? It's not just about the thing that you're purchasing. It's about the total experience that you can provide with that purchase that I think is really important for the brands listening to focus on, especially when we see deal hungry customers, because that's not going away and price wars, like I said are a race to the bottom no, one's going to win on that.
Kristin Carpenter:
Ah, that is such a great analogy and nobody wants to win that. That's just so true.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Right.
Kristin Carpenter:
Anne, you and Chris and you also with your family, you've done some really interesting travel of late that I've been following on your channel and you've been really discovering some amazing experiences that I think also mirror this ecosystem shake up that we're talking about.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Yes.
Kristin Carpenter:
Non-traditional ways of really looking at creating an experience, things you maybe never would've thought to do in the past or might have been taboo. So maybe share a few of those experiences with us because they are definitely attainable to this executive audience.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
I think one of the first things that we saw this summer that rocked our retail world was in Madrid. We had an opportunity to go shoot a video which you can find on our YouTube channel of the Zara Flagship store that they just opened. And if anyone listening is a Zara shopper, the experience so far is not great. The product, great. The experience, riddled with issues, especially throughout the pandemic. And what we saw at that flagship store at Zara in Madrid was the best single best omnichannel shopping experience that I've seen in my entire time researching and studying this topic.
Kristin Carpenter:
Now, that's saying something.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
It is saying something and I highly encourage you to go out and see this concept. I have a feeling that Zara will be rolling this out to more locations, but I think the core components of that experience are, they eliminated the key friction points for customers. One of them being lines. Zara is notorious for our long lines for checkout. The way that they've solved for that, they are have introduced scan and go in their stores. So you no longer have to wait in line. You can scan products with your mobile device, check yourself out, you bag your item, you're good to go. They've implemented self checkout, which again, super simple. All of the product in that store is RFID tag. So you just dump it in a bin. It quickly shows up on the computer screen like, this is everything that you purchased. You tap your payment and you're on the road.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
The other opportunity that they have opened up is order ahead. Lots of your listeners are familiar with buy online pickup in store, but Zara actually partnered with a company called Cleveron and they built a parcel robot into the infrastructure of the store. And it was incredible, Kristin. Young and old, every single person, this store has only been open for three months and we could barely shoot it because people were coming up so frequently and scanning this QR code. And then in seconds they get their package, they can recycle the package right there. So they have a opening station. You can recycle the material, the package that it came in right in a slot right next to it. You can see if you want to keep it and right then and there either walk away and head out the store, or you can try it on, you can return it if you need to, there's all these options-
Kristin Carpenter:
That's amazing.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
... to facilitate that experience with zero lines. And so I think it's thinking about things like that, investing in that sort of omnichannel store experience that Chris and I, we left there and we're like, why every apparel retailer, any retailer who can RFID tag their products, why they are not doing this is beyond us. This is something that you should be able to just flip the switch and turn on, especially scan and go shopping.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Thinking about how you give your customers the ability to help themselves and really focusing on that when they want that option, and then how you are then allowing your sales teams to really support the bigger questions, the help finding gear, the support in finding the right size, the right fit. Or even in the case of some of the outdoor retailers, being able to suggest where you go next or what your next trip is going to be, and really making those connections with consumers who are coming to your store for that experience. So 100% would go all in on what Zara is doing there. And overall, I think the underlying thing there is investments in inventory accuracy. So whether it's RFID or it's another system that you're putting in place, that is going to help bolster every single experience that you're going to be providing your customer in 2023 and beyond.
Kristin Carpenter:
So that is amazing. First and foremost, I have to say, when you're looking at something like that against the backdrop of a specialty run store, specialty outdoor store, or even snow sports, and you think about the 80/20 of your employees, right?
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Yep.
Kristin Carpenter:
It's almost like the model that I know was talked about a lot with some of the subscription boxes and stylists where it would work if you had the technology and a human.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Yep.
Kristin Carpenter:
Now we're talking about that formula within specialty outdoor, within specialty bike, et cetera. And ultimately these resources and investments should enable you to pay for the people who will actually do a great job-
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Yes.
Kristin Carpenter:
... with that advice on the trip planning or gear selection, et cetera. Nobody can say, listen to this, that we can justify higher wages by looking at 25% of someone's time at a cash register, but we can, if they're there to really enhance a consumer's experience and they're going to come to the store anyway because it's easy and convenient and fast for them. So I just love this concept so much and especially as more and more brands are trying to reach climate goals, they have to be looking at something like this.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Yes, absolutely. And I think Kristin, you bring up such a good point. So often we cover all kinds of stores. Scan and go stores, self checkouts, check out free stores. And the first thing that people who are not familiar with the technology say is like, "Well, you're replacing humans. I still want a human." And I think that you bring up such a good point of, how are you going to best allocate the store resources that you have? And in most cases, the customer, especially with all the other experiences that they're going to be having at Amazon stores, at Targets, at Walmarts, all these other companies are investing in creating a help yourself kind of mentality so you can get in and out, they're going to be expecting that's kind of system wide.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
They're not going to be expecting that for every single transaction, you don't always need to have a staff member, but when you can really focus that staff member on the post-purchase, the pre-purchase education, that's where you really want to use your resources and I think that's technology that we're seeing that's successful is helping and augmenting that experience. It's not replacing.
Kristin Carpenter:
Absolutely. So that leads us so perfectly into what I wanted to ask you about next, which is your experience at Fleet Feet in Chicago recently.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Yeah. So the next thing that I've been a huge advocate on this past year, it started when I did fit matches 3D scanning at the Savage by Fenty store in Las Vegas, where an associate takes a 3D view of my body. They just go around your body with an iPhone and they create a 3D avatar of my body and then fit me to the best bras that are in all kinds of sizes, which as you know, a bra shopper can vary-
Kristin Carpenter:
Yes.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
... from brand to brand. So we saw another example of this recently at Fleet Feet in Chicago which you mentioned where they are using a technology from a company called Volumental, and that technology is just a pad on the floor, very small pad. And in eight seconds, it allows the customer to get a 3D view of your foot, the volume of your foot. So it's not the typical running shoe experience where ...
Anne M. Omnitalk:
[inaudible 00:22:00] of your foot. So it's not the typical running shoe experience where you're running on a treadmill, you get a gait analysis, you have somebody who maybe has worked at the running store for a long time, but is still kind of making a guess and the person's not really sure whether or not this is the right fit. It's not really solving the problem. It's not really getting you to the right pair of running shoes faster, and what this tool has now allowed is in eight seconds, your associate now has the ability to share a screen with the customer and you're looking, you're spinning around this 3D model of your foot. You're able to see, this is what I'm talking about when I say that you have a high instep. This is the right shoe based on the millions of scans that we've done of other feet, this is what shoes we think are going to be right for you.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
So your associate, whether they're on their first day on the job, or they've been there for 25 years, they can now use that to augment their own suggestions and pull the right shoes for this customer, and allows them to do all kinds of upselling. So we were just covering the volumental, the scan, but then you have specific insoles that can be 3D printed now to this foot scan. I mean, there's all kinds of other things that this unlocks that Fleet Feet's really been able to take advantage of. Without a doubt, Chris and I both got new running shoes after this experience and they are the most perfectly fitting shoe I've ever had in my life.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
That was not possible before without this kind of technology, and this is the kind of thing too where you start with a small investment, it's improving the in-store experience, it's giving your associates a tool to help sell. It's very clear to understand for the customer, but then you're also allowing customers to start to get products on your shelves in size me. It's no longer, I'm a size 10. I have a high arch. It's what shoe you is size Anne Mezzenga. I can now go in and go to Fleet Feet and find that out and know with a high degree of confidence that with the human element, the associate element and this technology, I'm going to be making the most out of that trip to that store and every purchase I make going forward, whether it's online or in the store,
Kristin Carpenter:
That's amazing, and does it also carry into a way to nurture that consumer for retailers who select to do that?
Anne M. Omnitalk:
100%.
Kristin Carpenter:
That's great.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
100%. I mean, you give them your email and now companies are paying how much money for a customer acquisition? Now I've given you my email because you're giving me a valuable resource. I no longer have to go in and do the hour long trial process. You know what my foot looks like. You know what we did last time. What do you recommend now? It's six months later and I need a new pair of shoes.
Kristin Carpenter:
Well, and let's also just state for captain obvious purposes, nobody going through that, having that wow experience is like, "I want the lowest price shoe please."
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Right. That's a huge component, but I think that's going to become more important again, Kristen, as we start to see Amazon using this. I mean, they're already using this technology. They're continuing to roll out Amazon Style, so it's going to create this expectation for the customer and it needs to. For the technology to be successful, I'm going to need to be able to use that scan of my body, whether I'm shopping at REI, I'm shopping at Amazon, or I'm shopping at Fleet Feet. You really want to have that full picture, and how can companies leverage that sort of experience? One is a loyalty play and two, just as a way to provide the most optimal experience for the customer and saving me, as the retailer, time, resources, returns of that product. It's a win-win for everybody.
Kristin Carpenter:
It is, and you guys do such an amazing job, I think, pulling out the best in technology and sharing it with your audience, because I do know there are a lot of brands that we work with and executives listening today who count on retail partners, but they're also their own retailers.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Yes.
Kristin Carpenter:
I mean, all brands are on some level, but some of them are investing in more stores and trying to really drive that experience more. So really I invite you to check out the work that Anne and Chris do because I think that you're just taking the mystery out of what you should be looking at. Yeah. Oftentimes we're just so busy. We have people calling and trying to sell us things. I like that you explain it from the consumer's point of view and it reverse engineers its way back into retail into the brand, through that consumer perspective, which I think is huge.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Right, yeah. That's important.
Kristin Carpenter:
It is.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
It's got to start with a consumer first and work backwards.
Kristin Carpenter:
Absolutely. Yeah, even if the consumer is so tough to pin down right now, there are things we know are not going to go away. They want to belong. They want to feel like, "Oh, this brand knows me." Like you said, I just had this great experience. That loyalty is real and it's not going away when we do a great job with it. I think it's also important because of Amazon continuing to train our consumer, let's talk a little bit more about one additional idea that you have that we can't leave behind, which is your lockers concept. Because again, it's really trying to really disrupt the ecosystem that the consumer's in around your retailers and brands.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Yeah. I mean, we talked about this at the summit, Kristen. Best Buy started doing 24/7 lockers that were actually built in. They cut a hole in their store to build these rear fed lockers in, and that was really to facilitate a 24/7 experience for the Best Buy customer. Again, helping customers help themselves is a key theme going forward. So if I do know exactly what I want, I just want to go pick up my charger and it's 11:00 o'clock and I'm on the way home from the airport. I want to be able to do that on the way home, get that done. Then allowing for the associates in the store to focus on the people that need to come in and need to buy a new TV or computer, or really need your time and attention. I think where we're start to seeing this take off, Verizon just launched lockers for their stores.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
We're starting to see this become more and more of a trend because one, it's really easy with a lot of the locker partners that are out there to start small. I mean, you can have six lockers outside of your store and start there and see what kind of traffic you're seeing, who it's bringing into the store. Yes, they're there to pick something up out of a locker, but it might have them come in and purchase or pick up a couple of things. It's easy to then build that up. So if you need to add two more scores of lockers, you've got two more banks of lockers, that's something that you can build up and scale really simply. I think where we're also starting to see this evolve, which is really cool, is in facilitating peer to peer exchange. There's a company called Cleveron who I mentioned earlier did the parcel robot in the Zara store. In Estonia, they've also built up these peer-to-peer lockers.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
So instead of just being a place where you would say it's outside of your Fleet Feet store, instead of picking up my Fleet Feet shoe that I've ordered, that I don't have to try on again because I know. Because I used personalization technology is going to fit me, instead of just going there to pick that up, you can also start to think about facilitating peer-to-peer transactions in these lockers. So what I mean is, you belong to a run club on Facebook, you find something, you find an accessory, a running accessory, a water bottle or a fanny pack that you want to buy. Now, instead of me having to go to wherever, 50 miles away to pick up that pack from that customer, now you can start to think about leveraging the lockers that are in front of your store as a place for your community to do that peer-to-peer transaction.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
So I can now put that water bottle in the locker. Somebody else just comes, scans a QR code, the locker pops open, they get that, and then I go into Fleet Feet and get socks and get the other things that I'm there to get or pick up a purchase already. So it's really thinking about, again, what technology, what assets you're investing in, and then how much opportunity do you have once that road is built, how many more cars can you put on it? What other uses can you get out of that technology or that road that you've set up? I think that's one way that it's so simple for retailers to just test out, then be able to scale quickly if it's working for your customers.
Kristin Carpenter:
That is something I guarantee you a lot of people are not thinking about when they are making the consideration and looking at these purchases, and again, it's looking at how your consumer's utilizing their channels today already. How you can tap into that and start to be in front of them as a solution that may or may not involve a purchase from you, but it will certainly build loyalty and trust with you.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Right, exactly, and just that community element. Again, leaning into what people are looking to you for. A lot of the listeners today, you have those advocates who love to interact with your brand. How much more can you do to help serve them, to get them to come to your store, even if they're not in the mood to purchase something? Are you creating that place that they want to keep coming back to and how do you facilitate that?
Kristin Carpenter:
I love it. These are all fabulous ideas, and this is just one morning looking into Anne's brain, everyone. Be sure you join them. I mean, it's multiple times a week that they're producing content, but I would definitely say a great hub is on LinkedIn, and I'll put all of the links, as I always do, in the show notes for this episode but please. If you're looking for inspiration, they've tried and tested a lot of the technology you might be getting pitched on right now and potentially looking to purchase. I know that you're growing what you do to try and de-risk these purchases by putting yourselves in as users but also, don't you have something that you've been building in actually Minnesota itself that you might want to share a little bit about today?
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Yes. Which part are you talking about?
Kristin Carpenter:
Okay. I should have warned you.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Sorry.
Kristin Carpenter:
I was talking about the part that I learned before the pandemic and I'm like, "Maybe this isn't happening anymore," where you were going to create a place to try technology.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Oh yes. We are not doing that anymore.
Kristin Carpenter:
Okay, okay. So we'll be able to-
Anne M. Omnitalk:
So I apologize. With can edit that part out.
Kristin Carpenter:
No, I totally just did a drive by on that. My bad.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Appreciate it, I appreciate it. We're still in the same space, but one of the startups that we had working out of the space, they got a bunch of funding so now they took over the space. So we're still recording out of here, but at mid pandemic, we had to pause.
Kristin Carpenter:
Totally. Okay. Is there anything that you do, before I go back into the questioning, anything you do want to announce? Or am I too early?
Anne M. Omnitalk:
I don't-
Kristin Carpenter:
You look like there's something.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Think so I mean, I guess I would say just we-
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Trying to think of... I mean, I guess I would say just we've really put a lot of effort into our retail store tour videos. So I would say that's an important area of the YouTube channel and of our content to really focus on. We're going all in on trying to experience as many of these things firsthand so that we can truly evaluate the technology from a customer's experience, but then also try to understand through those retail store tours, what it means for the store to have to implement that.
Kristin Carpenter:
Okay. So I will make sure I edit out all of that. My apologies. I just got like-
Anne M. Omnitalk:
No, that's great.
Kristin Carpenter:
The journalist in me. But as we look to kind of wrap up here, now that we're not... We're going to edit this out. Is there any way we need to talk about the Starbucks card or did we already cover that through the lockers?
Anne M. Omnitalk:
No, we can talk about that because we didn't cover that. I mean we could just add that onto the last segment maybe. And just say is there something that is kind of out there, but any last thing that you would call to mind and I could bring up the retailers as banks.
Kristin Carpenter:
Perfect. And then when I say thank you so much, it was great to have you I'll say that you and Chris have been investing a ton in store visits where you're really... Check out the videos and then you can do the call out.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Perfect. Perfect.
Kristin Carpenter:
Okay. So let's start that again. That's a fantastic, I think beta on the locker concept and really looking at that more in a way that what is your consumer already... Where are they already from a channel standpoint and how can you bring them in through something like locker infrastructure in a physical retail store? So that's fantastic. Is there anything else before we wrap up today that you might want to talk about that our audience might want to hear from you?
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Yeah, Kristen, we just did an interview last week with a company called Alviere and Yuval Brisker is their CEO. And he was talking about this concept that Chris and I have kind of been interested in for the last six months since we got turned onto the company in the first place. And that is retailers acting as banks, which sounds super complicated. But I think the best example of how I can describe this and the real light bulb moment for me was thinking about the Starbucks card and how millions of people have the Starbucks app or card. You're preloading money onto that card, and it does nothing for you. You get the reward of a free drink every so many points, but really we're funding Starbucks as customers and we get no advantage from doing that.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
And so this concept at Alviere is thinking about you as a retailer. You have these loyal advocates of your brand. They're already spending money with you, especially when they... You know they've got some loyalty and you can give them whether it's a discount or whether it's rewards points, you can give them something for preloading money into an account, just like you would a Starbucks card.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
But now the retailers who are working with Alviere and with other companies like Alviere, they're able to really act as a bank in this case. So you're putting money into, let's say you're REI account. You've got a hundred dollars in there and now REI could act as the bank. So instead of just being able to spend that a hundred dollars at REI, now you can spend that money at REI and get your rewards there, but you can also use that same card to shop at the grocery store, to shop at your Target or Walmart, to get your essentials and stock up. And you can shop at REI and you're getting the benefit, not only of the rewards that you were getting before, but you're also getting interest paid on that money that you're having, or you're getting other benefits that REI can offer you.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
And it's giving them a brand new source of revenue, which I say now my theme for the last few months is it's not enough to just be a retailer anymore. You got to start thinking of ways to bring in new sources of revenue. And this was a really cool way I think that some retailers are starting to think about how to do that.
Kristin Carpenter:
But it's not a credit card.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
No, it's not a credit card. It's really thinking about preloading funds with that retailer.
Kristin Carpenter:
That's awesome.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Who essentially now is acting just as... You can now spend those funds wherever and however you want, but you're maximizing the reward and the loyalty that you're able to get from that relationship with that retailer.
Kristin Carpenter:
I can think of so many cool ways to do something, use something like that. That's fantastic.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Yeah.
Kristin Carpenter:
And there is an episode or a video that you did recently on that that I'll make sure I put in the show notes.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Yeah. Yep.
Kristin Carpenter:
Okay. You guys have really been upping the number and quality. I mean, you've always done top quality, but the sheer volume of really well thought out content that you're putting out there on store tours and whatnot is incredible. Can you talk a little bit about your content focus now and where our audience can find you?
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Yeah, I mean, I think based on the things that we've talked about today, what our focus for this next year is really going to be getting out there and seeing the test that retailers are doing, so that it's not just talking about them, but what does it feel like to be in the store? How are people really interacting with this once it's out in the world? Instead of just, this is a new concept. Let's put it out there. Let's talk about the pros and cons and then let it sit. We've been focusing on really going out to these stores ourselves, really trying to understand what customers experiences are going to be, and more importantly, how the retailers are going to be able to execute a concept like that in their store, and what the puts and takes are of that implementation and scaling it as well.
Kristin Carpenter:
That's awesome. That is truly a one of a kind resource.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
It is. It requires a lot of time, but of all the tours that we've done from Madrid to Chicago, the last couple of years, it's been really rewarding. And that's what our listeners and viewers are saying is important to them. So we're going to keep doing it.
Kristin Carpenter:
That's awesome. Well, I applaud how much you've grown, how close you are with your listener and audience. You really stay so close and provide things that we need to look around the corners and make educated guesses as we're out there. Just literally, we're having to change so much and handle risk mitigation right along the way, and what you all are providing is helping so much with that. So I just can't emphasize enough how important it is to check out Anne and Chris's channel at omnitalk.blog. Every that's a hub for everything.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Yes.
Kristin Carpenter:
You can find what you need there. And then especially check out their LinkedIn. They're exceptional on LinkedIn. So thank you so much. It was an honor to have you on here.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Thank you.
Kristin Carpenter:
I learned so much. I just literally... Like what's in your brain is amazing and I just can't wait to have you back on the show. And I know we want to have you back at The Summit in 2023.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Yes.
Kristin Carpenter:
You all just really crushed it out there.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Oh, well, yes. Like I said, it was truly one of the best organized and informational experiences, especially that group of people. I mean, I think that's a really important thing. There's definitely a sense of community there. I think a lot of the other conferences it's like, who are you and are you my friend or foe? And this place was like, no, let's solve the problems together and let's thanks for getting everybody in a room so we can do it and learn. And I love that about that summit.
Kristin Carpenter:
Me too. I can't wait. I can't wait to get out there again. So thank you again, Anne. I really look forward to having you back on. And again, thank you and Chris for all you do.
Anne M. Omnitalk:
Thanks, Kristen.

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The Channel Mastery podcast is presented by Verde Brand Communications and Life Time, Inc., owner of the Sea Otter Classic and producer of the Sea Otter Classic Summit outdoor recreation executive gathering, taking place April 18-20, 2023, in Monterey, Calif.