March 11, 2025 • 40 mins
Dive into the new era of adaptive retail in our latest episode, where we explore how the pandemic has reshaped the retail landscape and consumer expectations. Join Scott Benedict and his guest Andy Wilson as they delve into Walmart's groundbreaking report on adaptive retail, which reveals how digital convenience is merging with traditional shopping channels. Learn how retailers are leveraging technology to enhance customer experiences and meet their needs more efficiently than ever before.
Throughout the episode, we discuss the implications of adapting retail strategies to align with changing consumer habits. You'll hear about the trends driving today's shopping behavior, such as the growing importance of personalization, convenience, and technology integration. As consumers increasingly expect seamless transitions between online and offline shopping, understanding their demands becomes crucial for any retailer's success.
The conversation is packed with insightful anecdotes and practical tips for both large and small retailers looking to navigate this new shopping environment. As we look forward to the future, we encourage you to reconsider your own shopping habits and how they might evolve with these rapid changes in the retail world. If you find our episode valuable, don’t forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Digital Front
Door.
I'm Scott Benedict.
It would likely be a prettysignificant understatement to
say that the pace of change inretailing has accelerated in the
years following the COVID-19pandemic.
The pandemic drove a largenumber of customers to try
(00:28):
digital commerce, to purchaseproducts as varied as big ticket
home furnishing items to asvaried as their weekly grocery
shopping trip because of thedangers of shopping in a
physical store during thepandemic.
Now, if you fast forward a fewyears and a population we have
(00:50):
now is a lot more comfortablewith online shopping from a
mobile device or from their homecomputer, and they've become
more comfortable withtechnologies like artificial
intelligence and personalizationthat have made their digital
shopping experience moredesirable, and I say that across
(01:11):
age, demographics and certainlyacross the broader population.
Now, at the same time,consumers have returned back to
physical stores.
In a post-pandemic world, aninterplay between digital and
physical shopping has shiftedfrom one of separate channels
into really more integratedpaths to purchase that we've
(01:34):
used through the lens of theterm of omni-channel retail.
Now, this past year, walmartpublished a report on the
evolution of what they refer toas adaptive retail, and I have
to be honest and say that I'vebeen fascinated to the findings
of that report and theimplications to modern retail
(01:56):
contained within the report.
Quite frankly, I've been goingon and on about this topic to
the point that I've begun tokind of get on people's nerves a
little bit.
And it's good to have friendswho understand when you become
that passionate and thatfascinated with something.
And I've got such a friend, mygood friend Andy Wilson from
(02:18):
doing business in Bentonville.
Andy, thank you for indulgingme and agreeing to kind of have
a conversation a little bitabout this topic today.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Well, first of all, I love it, and so thank you,
scott, for asking me to be partof this today, and thank you all
for joining Doing Business inBendville and Digital Front Door
, because Scott and I go wayback Walmart together, indeed,
and we both have this passion ofretail and Omnichannel, so it's
(02:49):
great to be here with you,indeed.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I'm excited and I thought, probably what we ought
to do for our viewers is, beginwith, when we use this term
adaptive retail, we shouldprobably define it for the
audience, and so one of thethings I mentioned, the report
that Walmart issued here's howthey define it for the audience.
And so one of the things Imentioned, the report that
Walmart issued here's how theydefine it and they say, simply
put, adaptive retail is anevolving form of retail that
(03:14):
brings shopping to the customerexactly the way they want and
they need.
It goes beyond the blending ofthe best of online and offline
to adapting experiences based onunderstanding of the deeper
context behind the purchase, allto meet unique customer habits
and preferences.
(03:35):
So, andy, kind of what the nameimplies is this is a goal.
The goal of this exercise is tomake a retail experience adapt
to the needs of the consumers,whether it happens in a store or
online, right?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
you know you're right and I think you know scott, you
mentioned earlier, a moment ago, about covid and the pandemic,
and you know that is a.
The covid is a timestamp, it'sa date, yes, today, and so much
changed after that veryunfortunate situation in our
country.
But it just shows the impact ofthe consumer.
(04:09):
You know, because we, welearned a lot through that.
Yes, we had to.
You know all that we had todeal with during covid and and.
But now think of all thishappening today, how retail, to
your point, is adapting to thetrends of the consumer.
(04:34):
And you and I grew up at Walmartand we understand that.
We talked about the customerall the time, and what you're
doing today is this clarity ofthis definition about the
customer.
Yes, and that's that's soexciting to me, that it is yeah,
yeah, I mean I, I will tell youI got a sam's order in a
(04:56):
walmart order yesterday why.
You know you and I werevisiting and I, I, you know we,
we got off zoom and and there itwas.
So I was pretty busy hangingout with you yesterday.
Yes, we were talking retailadaptable and then, when I left
my home office, went down, therewas my tours.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah, it's interesting, andy, because in my
life, since I left Walmart andSam's Club as a consultant in
academia, there's so muchconversation about retail
strategies and I have toconstantly remind people who
aren't like you and I, whodidn't work at Walmart, to say
most great retail strategiesbegin with the customer and
(05:40):
understanding how to serve theirwants and needs.
And that's one of the thingsI'm so glad as I know you are,
that had the experience ofworking there, because generally
, if you start with a customer,you end up serving them much
better and it's generally apathway to success in retailing.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
It is, and you can look at success of retail
companies the companies thatfocus on the customer it begins
and ends with that customer arethe most successful ones.
Indeed, and what you're goingto teach us today is that, in
order to continue that success,there's these trends and
(06:19):
expectations and all thesethings you're going to share
with us today that I hope ourviewers and listeners lean into
this, because what you're goingto do is say this is how you
make this work for your companyor organization.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Indeed, indeed, no.
I think that's exactly right,and it's interesting that so
many things about retailingchange and change constantly and
yet some things are unchanged.
It's just how you accomplishthat, and I think that's at the
root of what Walmart is talkingabout in this report.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
It's not, but you know.
You know we got.
You know we were fortunateenough to hear the teachings
from Sam Walton and then, youknow, sam used to tell us all
the time he said the mostconsistent thing at Walmart is
change.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yes, change, yes, and what we're talking about today
is the most consistent thing.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Let's get into this.
I'm excited about it.
Sure, let's talk a little bitabout it, good, well, um, I you
know, one of the things that Ithink so amazing is what I call
you know the key trends in theshopper expectation.
Yeah, you know these are.
You know, you have studied this, you work on this a lot, so you
(07:30):
know for our audience.
What do you see here?
Speaker 1 (07:34):
What you know are the key change or expectations yeah
, I think the interesting thingthat this report brought to
light is that we're travelingrapidly down a road of a change
in mindset in our industry, fromlooking at physical stores and
online as these two separatechannels of serving a customer
(07:59):
and of driving sales.
And while that's not necessarilynot true, it's much bigger than
that and much more than that,and I think what's interesting
about this report on adaptiveretail is how you connect stores
, online and technology in newways to adapt to the needs of a
(08:21):
consumer, in some cases, evenbefore they know that they need
it.
But your example of havingdeliveries come to your house is
just one element of this, whichis how do you serve a customer,
when, where and how they wishto be served?
And this concept that theWalmart has articulated about
adaptive retail is really aboutusing all of your assets, all of
(08:45):
the elements of your business,including technology, to
anticipate customer needs andthen serve them in a way that's
not only really wonderful forthem, but you can do very
efficiently so that you can keepprices low.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Right, I think that's so amazing and I thought of a
story after we visited yesterday, when I spent quite a bit of
time in Japan and you know whatthe convenience stores would do
because you know it's publictransportation on trains.
You know people were walkingfrom business to offices, to
trains and what 7-Eleven woulddo, that in the mornings they
(09:24):
would have breakfast.
Yes, you could take with you,and you didn't eat on the trains
because you just didn't there.
But, yeah, you take to youroffice, or at lunch you could go
get it.
Then dinner, then you couldpick up dinner on your way.
So you didn't eat on all thepublic transportation, but you
could package a package whereyou could take it with you to
your home.
Public transportation, but youcould package a package where
you could take it with you toyour home.
(09:45):
Yes, and if you think about it,they were anticipating those
three different food customers.
Yes, you could eat in or takeout, but it was about takeout at
home and that now in the US ishappening everywhere.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yes, you know home and that now in the US is
happening everywhere.
Yes, and it's interestingbecause to many people it's this
new, stunning innovation.
And I was fortunate enough,like you were, to spend a couple
of years of my Walmartexperience in the international
division, and one of thegreatest takeaways that I have
to this day is that not allgreat retail innovations emanate
from the United States.
(10:25):
We're pretty good at a lot ofthings, but great ideas like
that where different culturalnorms, traveling so much more by
public transportation than bycar, created examples like what
you're talking about.
But it's all tied back to whatis the need of the customer and
how can we efficiently servethat customer in new and
(10:45):
exciting ways, and that's partof what's transforming our, our
business and our industry here.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
But great ideas come from all over the world you know
you're right, and you know wehad this program at walmart, and
when I was in merchandising, Iknew you two did the same thing.
It was called Eat what you Cook.
Yes, and so you know, for ourviewers and listeners, you know,
and I was a boyswear buyer atthe time, and so I had to go out
(11:13):
and travel stores because wedid that all the time.
We just, a get closer to thecustomer and B our associates
that worked in the stores, butparticularly a couple times a
year as merchandisers, we had togo and do eat what you cook.
In other words, we bought allthe stuff.
Let's go see if it cooked.
Well, we would go, and we'dinterview the associates that
(11:36):
worked in those departments.
So then we'd interviewcustomers what they liked or
disliked about it.
What we were learning weretrends.
I got the wrong colors, Ibought the wrong style.
Yeah, customers rejected it orthey purchased it.
Why did you purchase it?
And the thing you know you havehere about trends is that the
(12:01):
learning is if you are inmerchandising, it is very
important to stay close to yourcustomer.
Indeed, listen, yes, go listento that customer, and the great
thing about and we'll get intothis is the information you can
now gain.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
That's the thing.
Is that concept of eat what youcook?
Yeah, still exists, but it'smanifesting itself in different
ways based on the technologythat's available to us, and I
think that's part of the at theroot of this is that
understanding customer needs andit's the listening is happening
(12:41):
in different ways, and that'sso.
The basic premise is stillthere, but how we accomplish it
is changing because of theadvances of technology.
I get excited talking about it.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Indeed.
Let's dig deeper into yourknowledge of this.
As we know, we're all connected.
All generations of us areconnected now, yes, multiple
ways.
So, as you think about this andtalk about this generation, the
(13:13):
connectivity of this generationand how that impacts, I would
call the shopping experience.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
It is, and I'll kind of frame it in some of the key
trends that were identified inthis report.
One of the big trends thatWalmart and the team at Morning
Consult who worked with Walmartto kind of survey consumers
ahead of this report was thatthere was an exgeneration of
(13:40):
conveniences.
This concept like we knew howto serve a consumer on the train
when they needed it.
Well, now, personalizationtechnology has allowed us to
have access to more information,more information about the
consumer, and then provide themwith more relevant products,
(14:02):
more relevant services and in amore relevant context.
In other words, it may makesense that sometimes a store is
the way I want to be served.
In some cases it's picking upsomething in the store that I
ordered online.
In some cases it's having thatproduct delivered to me.
But next generations ofconvenience powered by
technology is really, andcurating it to where customer
(14:24):
interests are is one of thetrends.
One of the next ones was anunderstanding of the consumer
and the fact that they aremultitaskers.
In other words, shopping isn'talways a dedicated activity.
In some cases it's somethingthat you do while you're doing
something else watching TV,watching a sporting event, doing
household chores, cooking,whatever, taking care of
(14:47):
children.
So in some cases, retailing andpurchasing for your family's
needs isn't a standaloneactivity.
It's something that happenswhile you're doing other things.
And then this kind of movingpast what they call the blend is
the third thing.
In other words, not just sayingwe have an online store and a
(15:09):
physical store, but how do thosethings work together?
In some cases, you're using amobile device while standing in
a physical store.
In some cases, you're sittingat home with a laptop or an iPad
and doing research on somethingthat you may ultimately go into
a store to pick up.
So that was the third thing.
And then the fourth thing theytalk about in this report was
(15:33):
what they call channelindifference.
In other words, a customerinteracts with your brand.
The concept of stores or onlineis not separate things to them.
You are one brand.
As a retailer or even as aconsumer packaged good brand,
you're one brand.
The consumer is, so servingthem in a way that's convenient
(15:56):
for them wherever and wheneverthey and however they want to
acquire that item.
That's kind of the key of theway things are headed.
So those are really some of thebig trends at a high level were
identified through this report.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
You know, I think you're right, I think all those
are excellent, and one of thethings that is very challenging
for some retailers and and Ithink the grocery some of the
grocery companies are, uh, arestruggling with us, yes, is is
that you know, as you talkedabout the brand, but it's you
(16:34):
know, how do you, how do youhave the seamless online and
in-store shopping?
Yes, I mean seamless.
Yes, and I will tell you, thewinters that are going to win
are going to do that.
Yes, the people that are goingto lose haven't done that.
Yeah, are they struggling withit?
And it takes about five minutesfor a customer now to walk
(16:59):
through that and see if they'restruggling or not.
And I recently was in somegrocery stores and you've
written pretty extensively aboutthis in your information on
LinkedIn and stuff about Krogerand other companies.
You know the two and people arelaying Kroger.
I think you've had an articletoday about Kroger laying off
and other things that's going onin the grocery industry because
(17:23):
of the situation that happenedthe failed merger yeah, the
merger right, and it shows thatthey were.
Here's my takeaway from yourarticle today it shows that they
were so focused on the mergerthey lost sight of the customer.
Yes, that is dangerous today, Iwould agree.
And because as consumers, ascustomers, we're pretty
(17:48):
impatient.
Yes, and I know I meansometimes when my order is
incorrect, online gets delivered.
It's just the process of goingback correcting that takes so
much time now.
Or you can do what one of mycompany did to me when they sent
(18:10):
me their own item.
They said do not send this back, the new one is going to be
expedited.
I went okay, in other words, Idon't have it immediately, but I
have it tomorrow.
Yes, and I don't have to go anddrop this at a drop-off place.
Yeah, they said you know, andthose are going to win.
(18:34):
And what are your thoughts?
Speaker 1 (18:38):
on that can forgive a retailer for making a mistake,
but they sure have difficulty ina retailer that won't give
their best efforts.
And, to your point, it's veryeasy to switch.
It's not a matter of gettingback in a car and traveling to a
different store.
It's a matter of pulling up adifferent screen on your
(18:59):
computer or switching to adifferent app on your website or
on your phone.
Here's, though, the interestingthing that I learned, maybe in
the last six months, that I viewas foundational to all this,
and that is that you have asingle view of the customer.
In other words, is Andy orScott one customer who happens
(19:24):
to shop both in stores andonline, or are they two separate
customers?
And my point here is that wehave our Northwest Arkansas Tech
Summit every fall here, and oneof the speakers I heard this
past fall talked about the factthat so many retailers still
have the purchase data thathappens in stores and the
(19:48):
browsing, the purchase data thathappens on their website in two
separate silos.
They're not connected to oneview of the Scott or any other
customer, and so it's difficult,kind of, to bring about what
you're talking about, which is ahigh quality of service for the
customer if they don'tunderstand all of your, not just
(20:10):
here in the U?
S but in other parts of theworld.
As I've learned through some ofmy consulting activities is
that that's such a foundationalpiece of bringing about this
(20:33):
better future that we're we'retalking about through technology
that if you don't have thatsingle view of the customer, you
don't understand them very well, you can't provide them with
great service and you certainlycan't be proactive in what you
propose to them because youdon't have a full understanding
of them you know, I think I, Ithink we have to underline your
point.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
I think that's such an excellent point you're making
and for our viewers, I hopethey're they're listening
because to have two quickexamples, number one I recently,
uh, I noticed on Amazon thatthey've added Whole Foods to my
account.
Now when I shop Whole Foods andI shop Amazon, it's all there.
To your point yes, I didn'tknow they were going to do that
(21:14):
and when they did it, I wentthat's smart.
Yes, now, also recently, Iexperienced another delivery
from a retailer and that orderwent to another address.
So it didn't come a potentialdelivery, but it didn't show up.
(21:37):
So then in the research, what Ihad to do was to completely
finally got through all thecredits, got the credit, but
then I had to completelyre-enter every item because they
didn't have a history of it.
I thought what a miss.
What a miss, because the Amazonrecently just happened this
other retailer it was about anhour or so of looking through it
(22:01):
and I went okay, they don'tknow who I am.
Yes, on in-store versus online.
So your point, I underline, iscritical and if you're in this
space, go do what you should do.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
You've got to have the foundational pieces in place
, because no strategy is goingto work out well if it's not
rooted in a fundamentalunderstanding.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Yeah, you're so right , yeah, yeah, you're so right.
So what is value-based shopping?
How do you define that?
Because I thought that was veryinteresting.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Well, both you and I having come from Walmart, you
would think that the first thingyou think of as value is price,
and while you wouldn't be wrong, it's more than that.
And while you wouldn't be wrong, it's more than that.
There's elements of convenienceand time savings that are also
elements of value in the eyes ofa modern consumer, and a lot of
(22:54):
that came through as I wasreading this report, and it made
sense in the context of my ownexperience as a merchant, as an
e-commerce person.
So I think the thing thatWalmart advocates in this study
and certainly my own experiencebears it out is that, yes, price
(23:18):
is an important element ofvalue, but it's not the only
element of value.
Having a breadth of assortmentthat allows access to a wide
array of products to help findthe one product or products that
you're looking for, having aconvenient way to get it to your
example about yeah, I don'teven have to go to the store now
if it appears on my doorstep,or I can pick it up at a pickup
(23:39):
point on the way, uh, home, uh,and that, if you could, all that
shopping happens whenever,wherever.
However, this concept ofmultitasking that they talk
about in the port, where you maybe busy doing something else
and it occurs to you.
I need to get more dog food, Ineed to get more laundry
detergent, I need to pick upsocks for my child, whatever
(24:00):
that is.
Those are elements of value inmodern adaptive retail in
addition to price, not separateprice.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
You know, I think this whole space is so
interesting to me, especiallywhen I tour retailers and I see
the personal shopper, if youwill, and they're fast, they're
timed, it's all that.
It's a productivity issue andthey do multiple, multiple times
(24:33):
a day.
But I will tell you that job iscritical because the consumer
is not, you know, not picking upmerchandise.
I'm selecting the merchandiseand you know, it always makes me
smile if I'm in the producearea and I see that shopper
(24:55):
looking at those bananas,looking at that apple, you know,
and instead of just taking itand throwing it in the cart, and
I see that, and when I see thatit says to me number one, that
Harper cares, number two,somewhere in that whole process
of training and development,they've taught that, yes, you
know, just treat it like it'syours, yes, and do a great job.
(25:18):
And that, to me, is critical.
That, to me, is critical.
And I know packaging a productproperly is critical if you're
outside of the discount orretail.
What we're talking about todayand my daughter's in charge of
online as a store she works atand I was talking to her one day
(25:41):
and I said how do you do it?
And she said well, the criticalpiece is the packaging.
Now, this is upscale brand, butthe point is how she packaged
it, wrapped it with a note, yes,and you know, with a personal
note.
But they can do that.
The discounters can't do that,but you know those kind of
retail.
But that's that personalization, yes, and if you're where you
(26:06):
can afford to do that, thoselittle things are so helpful
because it's personal.
It says that to you as acustomer.
You're special here, yeah, andI want to take a moment to write
you a note and thank you.
Yeah, you're special here, yeah, and I'm going to take a moment
to write you a note and thankyou, yeah, you know.
(26:26):
So I I think there's hundredsof things you can do to um, to
create like, as you said, it'snot just value-based shopping.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
All right, indeed, and it's interesting because you
know, one of the things thatwalmart has has said, uh, that
they've kind of modified theirmission statement, was that they
were people-led buttechnology-enabled.
And what you just described isan example where it's still
people-led, it's still apersonal touch in taking care of
(26:55):
the customer, but to the degreethat technology can be used to
not only do that kind of greatservice at scale but do it very
efficiently that doesn't addcosts, is one of the exciting
elements of the age that we livein.
I'll give you one quick example.
We've seen a lot on electronicshelf labeling, electronic
(27:15):
signage at the shelf in thestore and at first glance you
look at that technology and say,well, that's just so we don't
have to spend labor on updatingsigns, and you wouldn't be wrong
.
But there are elements of thattechnology that make it faster
for someone who's picking anonline order in a store, because
(27:37):
the signs will light up ofhere's the next item, here's the
next item.
So now you can go faster andgive that speed element to a
customer.
We're going to get your pickfaster and have it ready to go,
either if you're going to pickit up or have it delivered, uh.
And so this, this concept of uh, people-led tech enabled, yeah,
(27:57):
is is really starting to cometo life, because the technology
enables the people, the humans,to give a better quality of
service and to do it moreefficiently than perhaps before
some of these great innovationscame to life.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Yeah, I think that I think chef labeling and I know
you've talked a lot about it, Ihave a whole episode about that.
I know which I like, I knowwhich I like but what you're
suggesting and encouragingretailers to do is use
technology in the proper wayhere.
(28:35):
Yes, and that's definitely anexcellent way and it's going to
be savings not only just forshopping, but changing prices
and all that.
It's going to be incrediblesavings of labor.
And you know one of the thingsthat when I know, when I was in
a conversation at Walmart, wewere talking about
self-checkouts and we probablywent too far at the beginning.
(28:59):
But you know, one of thediscussions I was on and I had
the opportunity to participatein is that we were talking about
really the relocation of labor,and that was really it's okay.
We're going to save labor atthe front end.
Where are we going to move thatlabor to?
We didn't reduce the labor,they moved the labor.
(29:20):
It caused personal shoppers,you know, which is a much more
exciting job than standingbehind the cash register all day
.
So you know, and then know theymade, made the adjustments and
all that and getting it.
But the point here is, as youthink deeply about this
technology, you know, is thatyou've got to say, okay, if I
(29:42):
could do this and save time andmoney, where would I push that
into this area?
Because now you're not justlooking to brick and mortar, as
you said.
We're looking much broadly now,and so I think that thinking
has to go deep into this process.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Indeed, it does.
I'll tell you, one of the neatthings about self-checkout
specifically is that so much ofthe focus has been on the labor
issues and many people will justtotally trash it on social
media.
And what's interesting is thata good retailer doesn't do it in
(30:26):
100% of the cases.
If you still have this bigweekly grocery shop where the
cart is full, you still have aperson that can help you check
that out, and that's great.
One of the things I've reallyliked and specifically I have
seen it both at Walmart and atSam's is the concept of Scan and
Go, and that's where you canscan items into your cart on
(30:50):
your mobile app while you areshopping, so that then, in the
case of Walmart, you go up tothe self-checkout register, scan
a QR code and it processes yourorder, gives you the digital
receipt and sends you on yourway, so you're not stopping the
checkout again.
You've kind of checked out asyou were going and the step at
(31:12):
the self-checkout was just thefinishing piece.
So that makes it better for thecustomer than that at sam's
club, where we we had thattechnology a little bit further
back.
You literally can only scanitems as you go through, but you
can actually finish, pay for it, yeah, have a digital receipt
and just show that to the extragreeter and they'll they'll let
(31:32):
you pass on.
Yeah, and for all the thingsthat I learned through my sam's
club career to respect aboutcostco, the one place that they
have not innovated is on acheckout.
That's still much longer lines,yeah, than sam's club does
every day.
Now you throw this capabilityin there and you you can
literally pass by the wholecheckout process at a Sam's Club
(31:53):
in a way that you know we comeback to this adapting to the
needs of the consumer.
That's just a wonderful way inwhich the technology has made
the shopping experience gofaster and made you, as a
retailer, more efficient ingetting customers checked out
and on their way to go livetheir lives.
(32:14):
That's just wonderful to see itis.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
I enjoy it and you know because what it does for a
customer, it gives me back time,yeah, and saves me time.
Gives me back time and time is,you know, is precious.
We only have so much of thatevery day.
All of us have the same amount.
And so you know if we can beproductive and I think that's
one of the trends from aconsumer standpoint.
A customer standpoint is thatyou know if you can give back to
(32:43):
your customer time and throughyour efficiencies ever in the
store or not in the store I willtell you.
Those customers will stay withyou, yes, and if you do that
really well, they will stay withyou.
Yes, they will become veryloyal.
You know, loyalty was when youwent to that store every day.
Now, let's see if you go tothat store or go online.
(33:05):
It's going to that store, yes.
So you've got to think aboutonline and going to that store,
yeah, and you got to track that,you got to look at that, you
got to listen to those customers, you got to reach out to those
customers or surveys.
You got to listen to thembecause it's just, it's the same
as going to the brick andmortar, if not more, and I
believe what you?
(33:25):
You know, if you look at thegenerations and things, it's
going to continue and so it'sjust exciting, Anyway.
So, scott, the next thing is asyou look to the future of
evolution on this, what do yousee?
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Well, we've talked and you and I even did an entire
episode about personalizationand the benefit of all of the
data that a retailer has aboutyour purchase behavior in a
store, your browsing andpurchase behavior online, the
services you take advantage of,how often you shop for certain
(34:04):
items, is going to make theretailer smarter about what your
needs are and I say your needs,customers broadly, you and I
specifically about what do Ivalue?
How often do I shop for dogfood versus paper towels and
then figure out how they canserve those needs better.
(34:25):
Right, we talked about, andthey talk about in the report,
this concept of multitasking andnow shopping from a television,
from the smart tv.
If you watch during the, thefootball season every thursday,
amazon has a football game thatthey sponsor on prime video, and
(34:46):
when they go to commercial,there are commercials for items
that you can then push a buttonto either learn more about or to
buy from amazon.
Right?
So now that's that's my mostliteral current version of this
multitasking.
There's going to be more of itevolving as we go forward, but
(35:07):
now something as enjoyable aswatching a television show, or
watching a football game morespecifically, can be
interspersed with.
That's a neat new item, that's aneat new service, that's a neat
new car model, it's whateverthat is.
I like to learn more about that.
Press a button and you get anemail, or you get a text message
or you can actually buy theitem.
(35:28):
Right, you can actually buy theitem, and so that feels like
kind of.
The next wave is is how do youtake this data and use it in a
way that makes both the productsand the services that the
consumer wants to engage witheasier, both in terms of how
easy it is to buy, but in anycontext, while they're doing
(35:48):
something else?
It's now it's easier for me toshop.
It's not.
I don't.
Shopping doesn't have to be aseparate activity.
It can be integrated with therest of my life, right?
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Well, I think you're right and you know.
One of the things I would add,as you know, on this is that
when I you know, scott and Istudy retail, we're in this
business every day and we thinkabout it a lot.
We have some wonderful guestsin.
That really challenges ourthinking, and one of the things
that recently I've been thinkingabout from the standpoint of
(36:20):
evolution is that don't leaveall this innovation up to the
big retailers.
I think there's a tremendousamount of local-owned companies
can do this better.
Yes, and get to your customergroup, and there's unique ways.
(36:42):
And if you have a local-ownedbusiness, our encouragement is
learn how to connect with thatcustomer more than physically.
Learn how to connect with thatcustomer more than physically.
Learn how to connect with themonline.
Learn their you know God'salready challenged.
You know their habits, knowtheir likes, know their colors,
know their sizes.
(37:04):
All of that, whatever it is.
Have a I'll use this wordintimate, without consumers
needs.
Yes, and and if you do that asa local owned business, it will
set your part, you, so you'llset yourself well apart from
others.
And because it's not, if thisis going to happen, it's when
(37:27):
this, all this is going tohappen.
Indeed, you know, because yousaid at the very top of the
podcast, it is a lot going to behappening quickly in the future
and we better buckle up.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
What's neat, andy, is that I'm sure a lot of smaller
retailers or smaller consumerbrands go.
Well, I don't have theresources for everything that
Walmart, sam's Club, procterGamble, coca-cola have.
Well, the fact is is thattechnology is also becoming less
expensive and more readilyaccessible.
Right that small businesses,small brands, small retailers
(38:05):
can access some of the basiccapabilities that larger
companies can, and it's becomingeasier and easier.
So some will try and use it asan excuse.
I would respectfully submitit's not a legitimate excuse to
your point and that just kind ofkeep your eyes and ears open.
And there's so many differentways that something as now
(38:28):
mainstream as artificialintelligence can be used for a
small to medium retailer or asmall or medium consumer brand.
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
If you haven't embraced AI, do it, because it's
amazing how much speed it willgive you and time will save you
in the speed of what you'reneeding to do.
Indeed yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Well, I got to tell you.
First of all, I appreciate youhearing me and letting us have
this conversation about thistopic, and I've been in your ear
about it.
I find it so fascinating.
It's one of the reasons whypeople like you and I love
retailing so much is becauseit's never boring.
That's right.
It's always something exciting.
Exciting and specifically aboutthis report when Walmart put
(39:13):
this out, one of the things theysaid was that it's an annual
report, so I take that to meanthat they will have updates on
kind of their views about thestate of technology, the
acceptance by the consumer ofsome of these new innovations
and invariably not all of themwill work and some will not be
embraced by a consumer of someof these new innovations and
invariably not all of them willwork and some will not be
(39:33):
embraced by a consumer.
But it will continue to play animportant role in serving the
consumer wherever, whenever andhowever they wish to shop and
how they wish to be served.
And it's exciting to see whatwill be coming next in next
year's version of the report andhow our marketplace continues
(39:55):
to evolve.
And so, first of all, thank youall for watching.
Thank you, andy, for joining ustoday on behalf of Doing
Business in Bentonville For theDigital Front Door, I'm Scott
Benedict.
Thanks for watching.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Thank you.
Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Digital Front
Door.
I'm Scott Benedict.
It would likely be a prettysignificant understatement to
say that the pace of change inretailing has accelerated in the
years following the COVID-19pandemic.
The pandemic drove a largenumber of customers to try
(00:28):
digital commerce, to purchaseproducts as varied as big ticket
home furnishing items to asvaried as their weekly grocery
shopping trip because of thedangers of shopping in a
physical store during thepandemic.
Now, if you fast forward a fewyears and a population we have
(00:50):
now is a lot more comfortablewith online shopping from a
mobile device or from their homecomputer, and they've become
more comfortable withtechnologies like artificial
intelligence and personalizationthat have made their digital
shopping experience moredesirable, and I say that across
(01:11):
age, demographics and certainlyacross the broader population.
Now, at the same time,consumers have returned back to
physical stores.
In a post-pandemic world, aninterplay between digital and
physical shopping has shiftedfrom one of separate channels
into really more integratedpaths to purchase that we've
(01:34):
used through the lens of theterm of omni-channel retail.
Now, this past year, walmartpublished a report on the
evolution of what they refer toas adaptive retail, and I have
to be honest and say that I'vebeen fascinated to the findings
of that report and theimplications to modern retail
(01:56):
contained within the report.
Quite frankly, I've been goingon and on about this topic to
the point that I've begun tokind of get on people's nerves a
little bit.
And it's good to have friendswho understand when you become
that passionate and thatfascinated with something.
And I've got such a friend, mygood friend Andy Wilson from
(02:18):
doing business in Bentonville.
Andy, thank you for indulgingme and agreeing to kind of have
a conversation a little bitabout this topic today.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Well, first of all, I love it, and so thank you,
scott, for asking me to be partof this today, and thank you all
for joining Doing Business inBendville and Digital Front Door
, because Scott and I go wayback Walmart together, indeed,
and we both have this passion ofretail and Omnichannel, so it's
(02:49):
great to be here with you,indeed.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I'm excited and I thought, probably what we ought
to do for our viewers is, beginwith, when we use this term
adaptive retail, we shouldprobably define it for the
audience, and so one of thethings I mentioned, the report
that Walmart issued here's howthey define it for the audience.
And so one of the things Imentioned, the report that
Walmart issued here's how theydefine it and they say, simply
put, adaptive retail is anevolving form of retail that
(03:14):
brings shopping to the customerexactly the way they want and
they need.
It goes beyond the blending ofthe best of online and offline
to adapting experiences based onunderstanding of the deeper
context behind the purchase, allto meet unique customer habits
and preferences.
(03:35):
So, andy, kind of what the nameimplies is this is a goal.
The goal of this exercise is tomake a retail experience adapt
to the needs of the consumers,whether it happens in a store or
online, right?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
you know you're right and I think you know scott, you
mentioned earlier, a moment ago, about covid and the pandemic,
and you know that is a.
The covid is a timestamp, it'sa date, yes, today, and so much
changed after that veryunfortunate situation in our
country.
But it just shows the impact ofthe consumer.
(04:09):
You know, because we, welearned a lot through that.
Yes, we had to.
You know all that we had todeal with during covid and and.
But now think of all thishappening today, how retail, to
your point, is adapting to thetrends of the consumer.
(04:34):
And you and I grew up at Walmartand we understand that.
We talked about the customerall the time, and what you're
doing today is this clarity ofthis definition about the
customer.
Yes, and that's that's soexciting to me, that it is yeah,
yeah, I mean I, I will tell youI got a sam's order in a
(04:56):
walmart order yesterday why.
You know you and I werevisiting and I, I, you know we,
we got off zoom and and there itwas.
So I was pretty busy hangingout with you yesterday.
Yes, we were talking retailadaptable and then, when I left
my home office, went down, therewas my tours.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah, it's interesting, andy, because in my
life, since I left Walmart andSam's Club as a consultant in
academia, there's so muchconversation about retail
strategies and I have toconstantly remind people who
aren't like you and I, whodidn't work at Walmart, to say
most great retail strategiesbegin with the customer and
(05:40):
understanding how to serve theirwants and needs.
And that's one of the thingsI'm so glad as I know you are,
that had the experience ofworking there, because generally
, if you start with a customer,you end up serving them much
better and it's generally apathway to success in retailing.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
It is, and you can look at success of retail
companies the companies thatfocus on the customer it begins
and ends with that customer arethe most successful ones.
Indeed, and what you're goingto teach us today is that, in
order to continue that success,there's these trends and
(06:19):
expectations and all thesethings you're going to share
with us today that I hope ourviewers and listeners lean into
this, because what you're goingto do is say this is how you
make this work for your companyor organization.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Indeed, indeed, no.
I think that's exactly right,and it's interesting that so
many things about retailingchange and change constantly and
yet some things are unchanged.
It's just how you accomplishthat, and I think that's at the
root of what Walmart is talkingabout in this report.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
It's not, but you know.
You know we got.
You know we were fortunateenough to hear the teachings
from Sam Walton and then, youknow, sam used to tell us all
the time he said the mostconsistent thing at Walmart is
change.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yes, change, yes, and what we're talking about today
is the most consistent thing.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Let's get into this.
I'm excited about it.
Sure, let's talk a little bitabout it, good, well, um, I you
know, one of the things that Ithink so amazing is what I call
you know the key trends in theshopper expectation.
Yeah, you know these are.
You know, you have studied this, you work on this a lot, so you
(07:30):
know for our audience.
What do you see here?
Speaker 1 (07:34):
What you know are the key change or expectations yeah
, I think the interesting thingthat this report brought to
light is that we're travelingrapidly down a road of a change
in mindset in our industry, fromlooking at physical stores and
online as these two separatechannels of serving a customer
(07:59):
and of driving sales.
And while that's not necessarilynot true, it's much bigger than
that and much more than that,and I think what's interesting
about this report on adaptiveretail is how you connect stores
, online and technology in newways to adapt to the needs of a
(08:21):
consumer, in some cases, evenbefore they know that they need
it.
But your example of havingdeliveries come to your house is
just one element of this, whichis how do you serve a customer,
when, where and how they wishto be served?
And this concept that theWalmart has articulated about
adaptive retail is really aboutusing all of your assets, all of
(08:45):
the elements of your business,including technology, to
anticipate customer needs andthen serve them in a way that's
not only really wonderful forthem, but you can do very
efficiently so that you can keepprices low.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Right, I think that's so amazing and I thought of a
story after we visited yesterday, when I spent quite a bit of
time in Japan and you know whatthe convenience stores would do
because you know it's publictransportation on trains.
You know people were walkingfrom business to offices, to
trains and what 7-Eleven woulddo, that in the mornings they
(09:24):
would have breakfast.
Yes, you could take with you,and you didn't eat on the trains
because you just didn't there.
But, yeah, you take to youroffice, or at lunch you could go
get it.
Then dinner, then you couldpick up dinner on your way.
So you didn't eat on all thepublic transportation, but you
could package a package whereyou could take it with you to
your home.
Public transportation, but youcould package a package where
you could take it with you toyour home.
(09:45):
Yes, and if you think about it,they were anticipating those
three different food customers.
Yes, you could eat in or takeout, but it was about takeout at
home and that now in the US ishappening everywhere.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yes, you know home and that now in the US is
happening everywhere.
Yes, and it's interestingbecause to many people it's this
new, stunning innovation.
And I was fortunate enough,like you were, to spend a couple
of years of my Walmartexperience in the international
division, and one of thegreatest takeaways that I have
to this day is that not allgreat retail innovations emanate
from the United States.
(10:25):
We're pretty good at a lot ofthings, but great ideas like
that where different culturalnorms, traveling so much more by
public transportation than bycar, created examples like what
you're talking about.
But it's all tied back to whatis the need of the customer and
how can we efficiently servethat customer in new and
(10:45):
exciting ways, and that's partof what's transforming our, our
business and our industry here.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
But great ideas come from all over the world you know
you're right, and you know wehad this program at walmart, and
when I was in merchandising, Iknew you two did the same thing.
It was called Eat what you Cook.
Yes, and so you know, for ourviewers and listeners, you know,
and I was a boyswear buyer atthe time, and so I had to go out
(11:13):
and travel stores because wedid that all the time.
We just, a get closer to thecustomer and B our associates
that worked in the stores, butparticularly a couple times a
year as merchandisers, we had togo and do eat what you cook.
In other words, we bought allthe stuff.
Let's go see if it cooked.
Well, we would go, and we'dinterview the associates that
(11:36):
worked in those departments.
So then we'd interviewcustomers what they liked or
disliked about it.
What we were learning weretrends.
I got the wrong colors, Ibought the wrong style.
Yeah, customers rejected it orthey purchased it.
Why did you purchase it?
And the thing you know you havehere about trends is that the
(12:01):
learning is if you are inmerchandising, it is very
important to stay close to yourcustomer.
Indeed, listen, yes, go listento that customer, and the great
thing about and we'll get intothis is the information you can
now gain.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
That's the thing.
Is that concept of eat what youcook?
Yeah, still exists, but it'smanifesting itself in different
ways based on the technologythat's available to us, and I
think that's part of the at theroot of this is that
understanding customer needs andit's the listening is happening
(12:41):
in different ways, and that'sso.
The basic premise is stillthere, but how we accomplish it
is changing because of theadvances of technology.
I get excited talking about it.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Indeed.
Let's dig deeper into yourknowledge of this.
As we know, we're all connected.
All generations of us areconnected now, yes, multiple
ways.
So, as you think about this andtalk about this generation, the
(13:13):
connectivity of this generationand how that impacts, I would
call the shopping experience.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
It is, and I'll kind of frame it in some of the key
trends that were identified inthis report.
One of the big trends thatWalmart and the team at Morning
Consult who worked with Walmartto kind of survey consumers
ahead of this report was thatthere was an exgeneration of
(13:40):
conveniences.
This concept like we knew howto serve a consumer on the train
when they needed it.
Well, now, personalizationtechnology has allowed us to
have access to more information,more information about the
consumer, and then provide themwith more relevant products,
(14:02):
more relevant services and in amore relevant context.
In other words, it may makesense that sometimes a store is
the way I want to be served.
In some cases it's picking upsomething in the store that I
ordered online.
In some cases it's having thatproduct delivered to me.
But next generations ofconvenience powered by
technology is really, andcurating it to where customer
(14:24):
interests are is one of thetrends.
One of the next ones was anunderstanding of the consumer
and the fact that they aremultitaskers.
In other words, shopping isn'talways a dedicated activity.
In some cases it's somethingthat you do while you're doing
something else watching TV,watching a sporting event, doing
household chores, cooking,whatever, taking care of
(14:47):
children.
So in some cases, retailing andpurchasing for your family's
needs isn't a standaloneactivity.
It's something that happenswhile you're doing other things.
And then this kind of movingpast what they call the blend is
the third thing.
In other words, not just sayingwe have an online store and a
(15:09):
physical store, but how do thosethings work together?
In some cases, you're using amobile device while standing in
a physical store.
In some cases, you're sittingat home with a laptop or an iPad
and doing research on somethingthat you may ultimately go into
a store to pick up.
So that was the third thing.
And then the fourth thing theytalk about in this report was
(15:33):
what they call channelindifference.
In other words, a customerinteracts with your brand.
The concept of stores or onlineis not separate things to them.
You are one brand.
As a retailer or even as aconsumer packaged good brand,
you're one brand.
The consumer is, so servingthem in a way that's convenient
(15:56):
for them wherever and wheneverthey and however they want to
acquire that item.
That's kind of the key of theway things are headed.
So those are really some of thebig trends at a high level were
identified through this report.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
You know, I think you're right, I think all those
are excellent, and one of thethings that is very challenging
for some retailers and and Ithink the grocery some of the
grocery companies are, uh, arestruggling with us, yes, is is
that you know, as you talkedabout the brand, but it's you
(16:34):
know, how do you, how do youhave the seamless online and
in-store shopping?
Yes, I mean seamless.
Yes, and I will tell you, thewinters that are going to win
are going to do that.
Yes, the people that are goingto lose haven't done that.
Yeah, are they struggling withit?
And it takes about five minutesfor a customer now to walk
(16:59):
through that and see if they'restruggling or not.
And I recently was in somegrocery stores and you've
written pretty extensively aboutthis in your information on
LinkedIn and stuff about Krogerand other companies.
You know the two and people arelaying Kroger.
I think you've had an articletoday about Kroger laying off
and other things that's going onin the grocery industry because
(17:23):
of the situation that happenedthe failed merger yeah, the
merger right, and it shows thatthey were.
Here's my takeaway from yourarticle today it shows that they
were so focused on the mergerthey lost sight of the customer.
Yes, that is dangerous today, Iwould agree.
And because as consumers, ascustomers, we're pretty
(17:48):
impatient.
Yes, and I know I meansometimes when my order is
incorrect, online gets delivered.
It's just the process of goingback correcting that takes so
much time now.
Or you can do what one of mycompany did to me when they sent
(18:10):
me their own item.
They said do not send this back, the new one is going to be
expedited.
I went okay, in other words, Idon't have it immediately, but I
have it tomorrow.
Yes, and I don't have to go anddrop this at a drop-off place.
Yeah, they said you know, andthose are going to win.
(18:34):
And what are your thoughts?
Speaker 1 (18:38):
on that can forgive a retailer for making a mistake,
but they sure have difficulty ina retailer that won't give
their best efforts.
And, to your point, it's veryeasy to switch.
It's not a matter of gettingback in a car and traveling to a
different store.
It's a matter of pulling up adifferent screen on your
(18:59):
computer or switching to adifferent app on your website or
on your phone.
Here's, though, the interestingthing that I learned, maybe in
the last six months, that I viewas foundational to all this,
and that is that you have asingle view of the customer.
In other words, is Andy orScott one customer who happens
(19:24):
to shop both in stores andonline, or are they two separate
customers?
And my point here is that wehave our Northwest Arkansas Tech
Summit every fall here, and oneof the speakers I heard this
past fall talked about the factthat so many retailers still
have the purchase data thathappens in stores and the
(19:48):
browsing, the purchase data thathappens on their website in two
separate silos.
They're not connected to oneview of the Scott or any other
customer, and so it's difficult,kind of, to bring about what
you're talking about, which is ahigh quality of service for the
customer if they don'tunderstand all of your, not just
(20:10):
here in the U?
S but in other parts of theworld.
As I've learned through some ofmy consulting activities is
that that's such a foundationalpiece of bringing about this
(20:33):
better future that we're we'retalking about through technology
that if you don't have thatsingle view of the customer, you
don't understand them very well, you can't provide them with
great service and you certainlycan't be proactive in what you
propose to them because youdon't have a full understanding
of them you know, I think I, Ithink we have to underline your
point.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
I think that's such an excellent point you're making
and for our viewers, I hopethey're they're listening
because to have two quickexamples, number one I recently,
uh, I noticed on Amazon thatthey've added Whole Foods to my
account.
Now when I shop Whole Foods andI shop Amazon, it's all there.
To your point yes, I didn'tknow they were going to do that
(21:14):
and when they did it, I wentthat's smart.
Yes, now, also recently, Iexperienced another delivery
from a retailer and that orderwent to another address.
So it didn't come a potentialdelivery, but it didn't show up.
(21:37):
So then in the research, what Ihad to do was to completely
finally got through all thecredits, got the credit, but
then I had to completelyre-enter every item because they
didn't have a history of it.
I thought what a miss.
What a miss, because the Amazonrecently just happened this
other retailer it was about anhour or so of looking through it
(22:01):
and I went okay, they don'tknow who I am.
Yes, on in-store versus online.
So your point, I underline, iscritical and if you're in this
space, go do what you should do.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
You've got to have the foundational pieces in place
, because no strategy is goingto work out well if it's not
rooted in a fundamentalunderstanding.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Yeah, you're so right , yeah, yeah, you're so right.
So what is value-based shopping?
How do you define that?
Because I thought that was veryinteresting.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Well, both you and I having come from Walmart, you
would think that the first thingyou think of as value is price,
and while you wouldn't be wrong, it's more than that.
And while you wouldn't be wrong, it's more than that.
There's elements of convenienceand time savings that are also
elements of value in the eyes ofa modern consumer, and a lot of
(22:54):
that came through as I wasreading this report, and it made
sense in the context of my ownexperience as a merchant, as an
e-commerce person.
So I think the thing thatWalmart advocates in this study
and certainly my own experiencebears it out is that, yes, price
(23:18):
is an important element ofvalue, but it's not the only
element of value.
Having a breadth of assortmentthat allows access to a wide
array of products to help findthe one product or products that
you're looking for, having aconvenient way to get it to your
example about yeah, I don'teven have to go to the store now
if it appears on my doorstep,or I can pick it up at a pickup
(23:39):
point on the way, uh, home, uh,and that, if you could, all that
shopping happens whenever,wherever.
However, this concept ofmultitasking that they talk
about in the port, where you maybe busy doing something else
and it occurs to you.
I need to get more dog food, Ineed to get more laundry
detergent, I need to pick upsocks for my child, whatever
(24:00):
that is.
Those are elements of value inmodern adaptive retail in
addition to price, not separateprice.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
You know, I think this whole space is so
interesting to me, especiallywhen I tour retailers and I see
the personal shopper, if youwill, and they're fast, they're
timed, it's all that.
It's a productivity issue andthey do multiple, multiple times
(24:33):
a day.
But I will tell you that job iscritical because the consumer
is not, you know, not picking upmerchandise.
I'm selecting the merchandiseand you know, it always makes me
smile if I'm in the producearea and I see that shopper
(24:55):
looking at those bananas,looking at that apple, you know,
and instead of just taking itand throwing it in the cart, and
I see that, and when I see thatit says to me number one, that
Harper cares, number two,somewhere in that whole process
of training and development,they've taught that, yes, you
know, just treat it like it'syours, yes, and do a great job.
(25:18):
And that, to me, is critical.
That, to me, is critical.
And I know packaging a productproperly is critical if you're
outside of the discount orretail.
What we're talking about todayand my daughter's in charge of
online as a store she works atand I was talking to her one day
(25:41):
and I said how do you do it?
And she said well, the criticalpiece is the packaging.
Now, this is upscale brand, butthe point is how she packaged
it, wrapped it with a note, yes,and you know, with a personal
note.
But they can do that.
The discounters can't do that,but you know those kind of
retail.
But that's that personalization, yes, and if you're where you
(26:06):
can afford to do that, thoselittle things are so helpful
because it's personal.
It says that to you as acustomer.
You're special here, yeah, andI want to take a moment to write
you a note and thank you.
Yeah, you're special here, yeah, and I'm going to take a moment
to write you a note and thankyou, yeah, you know.
(26:26):
So I I think there's hundredsof things you can do to um, to
create like, as you said, it'snot just value-based shopping.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
All right, indeed, and it's interesting because you
know, one of the things thatwalmart has has said, uh, that
they've kind of modified theirmission statement, was that they
were people-led buttechnology-enabled.
And what you just described isan example where it's still
people-led, it's still apersonal touch in taking care of
(26:55):
the customer, but to the degreethat technology can be used to
not only do that kind of greatservice at scale but do it very
efficiently that doesn't addcosts, is one of the exciting
elements of the age that we livein.
I'll give you one quick example.
We've seen a lot on electronicshelf labeling, electronic
(27:15):
signage at the shelf in thestore and at first glance you
look at that technology and say,well, that's just so we don't
have to spend labor on updatingsigns, and you wouldn't be wrong
.
But there are elements of thattechnology that make it faster
for someone who's picking anonline order in a store, because
(27:37):
the signs will light up ofhere's the next item, here's the
next item.
So now you can go faster andgive that speed element to a
customer.
We're going to get your pickfaster and have it ready to go,
either if you're going to pickit up or have it delivered, uh.
And so this, this concept of uh, people-led tech enabled, yeah,
(27:57):
is is really starting to cometo life, because the technology
enables the people, the humans,to give a better quality of
service and to do it moreefficiently than perhaps before
some of these great innovationscame to life.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Yeah, I think that I think chef labeling and I know
you've talked a lot about it, Ihave a whole episode about that.
I know which I like, I knowwhich I like but what you're
suggesting and encouragingretailers to do is use
technology in the proper wayhere.
(28:35):
Yes, and that's definitely anexcellent way and it's going to
be savings not only just forshopping, but changing prices
and all that.
It's going to be incrediblesavings of labor.
And you know one of the thingsthat when I know, when I was in
a conversation at Walmart, wewere talking about
self-checkouts and we probablywent too far at the beginning.
(28:59):
But you know, one of thediscussions I was on and I had
the opportunity to participatein is that we were talking about
really the relocation of labor,and that was really it's okay.
We're going to save labor atthe front end.
Where are we going to move thatlabor to?
We didn't reduce the labor,they moved the labor.
(29:20):
It caused personal shoppers,you know, which is a much more
exciting job than standingbehind the cash register all day
.
So you know, and then know theymade, made the adjustments and
all that and getting it.
But the point here is, as youthink deeply about this
technology, you know, is thatyou've got to say, okay, if I
(29:42):
could do this and save time andmoney, where would I push that
into this area?
Because now you're not justlooking to brick and mortar, as
you said.
We're looking much broadly now,and so I think that thinking
has to go deep into this process.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Indeed, it does.
I'll tell you, one of the neatthings about self-checkout
specifically is that so much ofthe focus has been on the labor
issues and many people will justtotally trash it on social
media.
And what's interesting is thata good retailer doesn't do it in
(30:26):
100% of the cases.
If you still have this bigweekly grocery shop where the
cart is full, you still have aperson that can help you check
that out, and that's great.
One of the things I've reallyliked and specifically I have
seen it both at Walmart and atSam's is the concept of Scan and
Go, and that's where you canscan items into your cart on
(30:50):
your mobile app while you areshopping, so that then, in the
case of Walmart, you go up tothe self-checkout register, scan
a QR code and it processes yourorder, gives you the digital
receipt and sends you on yourway, so you're not stopping the
checkout again.
You've kind of checked out asyou were going and the step at
(31:12):
the self-checkout was just thefinishing piece.
So that makes it better for thecustomer than that at sam's
club, where we we had thattechnology a little bit further
back.
You literally can only scanitems as you go through, but you
can actually finish, pay for it, yeah, have a digital receipt
and just show that to the extragreeter and they'll they'll let
(31:32):
you pass on.
Yeah, and for all the thingsthat I learned through my sam's
club career to respect aboutcostco, the one place that they
have not innovated is on acheckout.
That's still much longer lines,yeah, than sam's club does
every day.
Now you throw this capabilityin there and you you can
literally pass by the wholecheckout process at a Sam's Club
(31:53):
in a way that you know we comeback to this adapting to the
needs of the consumer.
That's just a wonderful way inwhich the technology has made
the shopping experience gofaster and made you, as a
retailer, more efficient ingetting customers checked out
and on their way to go livetheir lives.
(32:14):
That's just wonderful to see itis.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
I enjoy it and you know because what it does for a
customer, it gives me back time,yeah, and saves me time.
Gives me back time and time is,you know, is precious.
We only have so much of thatevery day.
All of us have the same amount.
And so you know if we can beproductive and I think that's
one of the trends from aconsumer standpoint.
A customer standpoint is thatyou know if you can give back to
(32:43):
your customer time and throughyour efficiencies ever in the
store or not in the store I willtell you.
Those customers will stay withyou, yes, and if you do that
really well, they will stay withyou.
Yes, they will become veryloyal.
You know, loyalty was when youwent to that store every day.
Now, let's see if you go tothat store or go online.
(33:05):
It's going to that store, yes.
So you've got to think aboutonline and going to that store,
yeah, and you got to track that,you got to look at that, you
got to listen to those customers, you got to reach out to those
customers or surveys.
You got to listen to thembecause it's just, it's the same
as going to the brick andmortar, if not more, and I
believe what you?
(33:25):
You know, if you look at thegenerations and things, it's
going to continue and so it'sjust exciting, Anyway.
So, scott, the next thing is asyou look to the future of
evolution on this, what do yousee?
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Well, we've talked and you and I even did an entire
episode about personalizationand the benefit of all of the
data that a retailer has aboutyour purchase behavior in a
store, your browsing andpurchase behavior online, the
services you take advantage of,how often you shop for certain
(34:04):
items, is going to make theretailer smarter about what your
needs are and I say your needs,customers broadly, you and I
specifically about what do Ivalue?
How often do I shop for dogfood versus paper towels and
then figure out how they canserve those needs better.
(34:25):
Right, we talked about, andthey talk about in the report,
this concept of multitasking andnow shopping from a television,
from the smart tv.
If you watch during the, thefootball season every thursday,
amazon has a football game thatthey sponsor on prime video, and
(34:46):
when they go to commercial,there are commercials for items
that you can then push a buttonto either learn more about or to
buy from amazon.
Right?
So now that's that's my mostliteral current version of this
multitasking.
There's going to be more of itevolving as we go forward, but
(35:07):
now something as enjoyable aswatching a television show, or
watching a football game morespecifically, can be
interspersed with.
That's a neat new item, that's aneat new service, that's a neat
new car model, it's whateverthat is.
I like to learn more about that.
Press a button and you get anemail, or you get a text message
or you can actually buy theitem.
(35:28):
Right, you can actually buy theitem, and so that feels like
kind of.
The next wave is is how do youtake this data and use it in a
way that makes both the productsand the services that the
consumer wants to engage witheasier, both in terms of how
easy it is to buy, but in anycontext, while they're doing
(35:48):
something else?
It's now it's easier for me toshop.
It's not.
I don't.
Shopping doesn't have to be aseparate activity.
It can be integrated with therest of my life, right?
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Well, I think you're right and you know.
One of the things I would add,as you know, on this is that
when I you know, scott and Istudy retail, we're in this
business every day and we thinkabout it a lot.
We have some wonderful guestsin.
That really challenges ourthinking, and one of the things
that recently I've been thinkingabout from the standpoint of
(36:20):
evolution is that don't leaveall this innovation up to the
big retailers.
I think there's a tremendousamount of local-owned companies
can do this better.
Yes, and get to your customergroup, and there's unique ways.
(36:42):
And if you have a local-ownedbusiness, our encouragement is
learn how to connect with thatcustomer more than physically.
Learn how to connect with thatcustomer more than physically.
Learn how to connect with themonline.
Learn their you know God'salready challenged.
You know their habits, knowtheir likes, know their colors,
know their sizes.
(37:04):
All of that, whatever it is.
Have a I'll use this wordintimate, without consumers
needs.
Yes, and and if you do that asa local owned business, it will
set your part, you, so you'llset yourself well apart from
others.
And because it's not, if thisis going to happen, it's when
(37:27):
this, all this is going tohappen.
Indeed, you know, because yousaid at the very top of the
podcast, it is a lot going to behappening quickly in the future
and we better buckle up.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
What's neat, andy, is that I'm sure a lot of smaller
retailers or smaller consumerbrands go.
Well, I don't have theresources for everything that
Walmart, sam's Club, procterGamble, coca-cola have.
Well, the fact is is thattechnology is also becoming less
expensive and more readilyaccessible.
Right that small businesses,small brands, small retailers
(38:05):
can access some of the basiccapabilities that larger
companies can, and it's becomingeasier and easier.
So some will try and use it asan excuse.
I would respectfully submitit's not a legitimate excuse to
your point and that just kind ofkeep your eyes and ears open.
And there's so many differentways that something as now
(38:28):
mainstream as artificialintelligence can be used for a
small to medium retailer or asmall or medium consumer brand.
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
If you haven't embraced AI, do it, because it's
amazing how much speed it willgive you and time will save you
in the speed of what you'reneeding to do.
Indeed yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Well, I got to tell you.
First of all, I appreciate youhearing me and letting us have
this conversation about thistopic, and I've been in your ear
about it.
I find it so fascinating.
It's one of the reasons whypeople like you and I love
retailing so much is becauseit's never boring.
That's right.
It's always something exciting.
Exciting and specifically aboutthis report when Walmart put
(39:13):
this out, one of the things theysaid was that it's an annual
report, so I take that to meanthat they will have updates on
kind of their views about thestate of technology, the
acceptance by the consumer ofsome of these new innovations
and invariably not all of themwill work and some will not be
embraced by a consumer of someof these new innovations and
invariably not all of them willwork and some will not be
(39:33):
embraced by a consumer.
But it will continue to play animportant role in serving the
consumer wherever, whenever andhowever they wish to shop and
how they wish to be served.
And it's exciting to see whatwill be coming next in next
year's version of the report andhow our marketplace continues
(39:55):
to evolve.
And so, first of all, thank youall for watching.
Thank you, andy, for joining ustoday on behalf of Doing
Business in Bentonville For theDigital Front Door, I'm Scott
Benedict.
Thanks for watching.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Thank you.
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