March 18, 2025 • 36 mins
Retail is undergoing an exhilarating transformation, largely driven by the integration of omnichannel strategies and advanced technology.
Entrepreneurial partners JS Bull and Eric Howerton join host Andy Wilson to highlight how businesses can leverage artificial intelligence to create a personalized shopping journey.
We dive deep into the modern retail environment, where customers expect seamless shopping experiences across all platforms, and how AdFury, the latest AI-powered venture from JS and Eric, can scale advertising on retail media networks.
Eric and JS share their expertise on the future of shopping. They discuss how AI is not just a trend but a powerful ally in improving the relevancy and personalization of marketing strategies.
Discover how brands and agencies can harness AI to ensure that they resonate with their target audiences while remaining competitive in a crowded marketplace.
We also explore the crucial relationship between agencies and brands, emphasizing how collaboration can enhance advertising efforts. With omnichannel retail complexity ever-increasing, understanding AI’s role in easing these burdens becomes indispensable.
The trio shed light on simplifying processes, ensuring adherence to advertising guidelines, and enhancing the creative output.
The discussion circles back to how organizations can focus their efforts on ensuring that customers receive the products and services they desire, ultimately leading to enhanced loyalty and satisfaction.
Stay tuned as we provide valuable insights that not only illuminate the future of retail but also encourage innovative thinking.
Subscribe, share, and leave a review so you won’t miss the latest trends shaping the world of shopping!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Well, hello everyone.
Welcome to Doing Business inBentonville.
I'm AB Wilson, I'm your hosttoday and we're so glad you're
joining us today.
Before we get started with thepodcast today, I want to say to
all of our viewers thank you.
Thank you so much.
You are just doing great.
You're sharing the podcast.
I love your comments.
You can always check and writeto me text me on LinkedIn.
(00:27):
I'd love to hear from you andbecause of your viewership, we
are now viewed in over 90countries.
We have over 2,000 viewers aday now on doing business in
Bentonville.
It's all because of you.
So, thank you.
Okay, we're going to getstraight into our podcast this
morning.
Two great guys, two greatfriends.
(00:48):
I'm so excited.
Eric Howerton, js Bull welcome.
Thank you so much.
Oh, my goodness, I can'tbelieve we're finally doing this
.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I know it's fantastic .
Speaker 1 (00:58):
What a great day, over 90 podcasts.
We're doing business inBentonvilleville and finally, I
get you guys here.
I mean, we're hard to book.
I'm telling you, okay, you know, as you all know, our viewers
and listeners.
You know that we focus onOmnichannel Every day, every
podcast, because our vision,eric, is the mystify Omnichannel
(01:22):
.
We're going to do that today.
We're going to do that today.
Yeah, we're going to demystifythis and I have a few opening
comments and then we're going toget straight into with these
guys.
You want to really lean inbecause, first of all, of course
, omnichannel and we have a bigannouncement today that you
don't want to miss about theseguys and what they're going to
do in the future withOmnichannel.
(01:44):
In fact, it's just going to beawesome, but you guys really are
going to do something reallygreat.
Thank you, and I can't wait totell everybody.
But hold on, okay, let's talkabout the future of Omnichannel.
I have a few comments about itand, of course, we live in the
space of Walmart here and othergreat retailers.
We live in the space of Walmarthere and other great retailers.
(02:07):
Do we get to lean in and hearfrom the experts and what
Walmart and Doug McMillan andthe leaders have to say about
Omnichannel.
But as we look, if we take astep back, retail is changing.
It's exciting, isn't it guys?
It is.
Why is this happening in retail?
I go back to 40 plus years andand starting with brick and
(02:27):
mortar at Walmart and now, tosee where we're at and where you
guys are going to take us.
Yeah, I'm so excited about it.
I love that.
Yeah, you know, as I mentioned,the future of retail is shaping
up into what I will calltechnology innovation.
It's involving around thecustomer expectations.
(02:48):
Those are two things we willget into today, because we want
to talk about innovation.
We want to talk about thecustomer.
You can't have either, or youhave to have both.
So we're going to talk aboutthat, but the lines between
online shopping continue to blur.
What you guys are going to sharewith us today is help create
(03:09):
what I call clarity into thisonline process of shopping and
delivery.
You know retailers what theyhave got to do and you're going
to help them what I'm callingthe seamless experience across
all channels.
You know, as we shop today,it's not just brick and mortar,
it's on your phone, it's on yourlaptop, it's on the website.
(03:34):
You know there's multiplechannels today the way we shop.
I love it.
I'm telling you there's nothingbetter to order from Walmart.
Plus, it's going to bedelivered and I don't have to
leave my house, yeah, you know.
Or I can do it wherever on myphone.
It's so awesome.
So let's get straight into whatyou gentlemen are about to do.
(03:58):
So, eric JS, tell us about theannouncement.
What are you guys about to do?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Well, andy, thank you .
We are rejoining ourpartnership.
Js and I are to create a newcompany called AdFuryai, and it
kind of sounds like what it is.
It's a fury of integrating anddistributing and getting
relevant ads out to the customerthrough retailer media networks
(04:30):
, and we're using AI models anda model flow orchestration to
make sure that all those thingsare as automated as possible, as
relevant as absolutely possible, and it gets down to the
customer, to where they can makea really confident purchasing
decision, just like you'retalking about with on Omni
channel, right.
And so you know, the biggest Ithink the most exciting thing is
(04:52):
sitting next here with JS anddoing this venture again
together.
Uh, cause, we had some time atwhite spider back in the day and
did pretty well as partners andwe don't hate each other yet.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Yeah, they'll love each other.
It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
With JS.
Let's talk about thispartnership.
Yeah, Because both of you areat White Spider.
How many years did you worktogether?
It was close to five.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Yeah, okay, five years.
Yeah, directly in the business.
In the business, yeah, that'sright, I was on the board of
White Spider for a while before,so you've known each other for
a long time.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Both of you are extremely incredible in what
you've done and the impactyou've had, not only on a great
company and the people, but thecommunity.
You've done that so well, sothank you for having such an
impact in northwest Arkansas.
So, JS, when you guys wereworking together, what brought
you together?
(05:49):
What's going to bring you backtogether?
What is that?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I'm interested to hear this.
Yeah, no, I mean, to sum it up,it's really easy, it's vision.
I mean, eric has tremendousvision, yes and forever.
He was telling everyone hey,walmart e-commerce is coming,
you better get ready.
And people didn't want tolisten.
And he built a company aroundit and I caught on and said you
know what?
I think you're right, it iscoming Back in 2019.
(06:15):
And sure enough, you know,online pickup and delivery
quickly followed and the wholemarket changed and Omni became a
real thing.
Yeah, right, yeah.
And Eric's just had a visionfor what is next and what is
changing, especially in thisretail environment.
Right, and so I was prettycomfortable.
(06:36):
I took a year break afterleaving White Spider.
I got involved in someinvestment groups advising other
CEOs, some charity stuff, andEric started telling me about
AdFury and the idea behind itand I went from man this is
going to be tough, a lot of workto do here To having some
(06:57):
really serious FOMO and goingyou know what.
Maybe I want to get in on this.
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Yeah, yeah, the response is always let's this,
let's do it, yeah, yeah.
The response is always let's go, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
You're the man, oh man, this is exciting, yeah, you
know.
Okay, eric, let's jump intothis AI.
Okay, because I know you'repassionate about it and we know
that AI will play a criticalrole in personalizing the
shopping experience, right?
(07:29):
Yep, so it's going to includeAI-powered recommendations.
It can include chat boxes andvirtual assistants.
It can be personalizedmarketing and promotion.
I mean, all of that can be partof it, and much more.
We'll talk about it, but talkabout AdFury.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Okay, all right.
Yeah, so really the premise andI think it starts with the pain
point right of you know, a, thecustomer and the shopper.
We can start with that at thatlevel, and then it leads up into
how brands are able to promotetheir products relevantly for
that customer Right, which thenleads to the agencies that are
(08:09):
helping the brands to promotethe relevancy to the customer,
okay, which then leads to theretailers that want to make sure
that their customers have afantastic, relevant experience
on their site.
Okay, right.
And so really, all the premiseof it is is that when a customer
goes into a retailer ecosystemand they're topping in looking
(08:31):
for products that are specificfor their need at that very
moment which is crazy, right,you know, you brought it up in
the beginning about the changingof the behaviors, right?
Everybody yourself, myself,every listener here we know that
we're becoming more and morehave a higher expectations to
get what we want when we want itand immediacy, right.
(08:52):
And so today, a lot of times, ifa customer goes to a retailer
and they type in a query lookingfor a very specific thing or a
question about a product, therelevancy of what populates may
not always be as accurate asneeded and it can lead to
frustration, which can lead tobuying other products or, even
worse, exiting and going to adifferent ecosystem to buy
(09:12):
Exactly, exactly, even worse,yeah, even worse, right.
And then everybody loses.
And I mean, look I think JS canprobably speak to this even
more than I can but, man, a lotof respect for the creative
agencies, the ad agencies outthere, the media buying groups,
the brands Everybody is workingso hard and spending so much
time to ensure that customershave that experience.
(09:36):
And then we put in AdFury.
It just comes in and it helpssave a lot of time, a lot of the
stress, a lot of the knowledgegaps or pressures that are there
in this changing ecosystem, andthat's what our tool does.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah, and I mean honestly, if we were to get into
the details of the tool soeverybody understands what we're
talking about.
A lot of times the creativedesigners they've got to design
a campaign right, that got todesign a campaign right, and
this campaign has to be in 12different formats.
For a display campaign onwalmartcom, with Walmart Connect
(10:10):
, right, and so that's 12 piecesof creative that they've got to
put together.
You can't get query specific,right and as relevant in the
shopper's own voice, because ifyou were going to target 10
queries, you'd be creating 10times the 12 formats and 120
pieces of creative.
(10:31):
That'll take a ridiculousamount of time.
No one does it, and so thebeauty is our system will
individualize and create thesespecific, different display
campaigns in a variety offormats and messages, right,
using ai logic, using research,information on retail websites
(10:53):
and what more, right to put itin the customer's voice and be
more specific, and which meansmore relevant to the customer.
So our system saves thecreatives time.
It doesn't replace what they'redoing.
Right, right, right.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yeah, there's a Genesis of creative right that
we're, we're.
We're not even trying to getinto that space.
Like, how do you generatebeautiful, creative ads?
Is not really our space.
Now what we do is we take thatbeauty that the creatives have
built right Whether on theinternal in-house marketing team
they're an agency, you know ortheir brand themselves and we
(11:28):
take that asset that jf's istalking about, and then we just
we we multiply it, scale itacross, augment the messaging on
it yep, augment the messagingso it's relevant with those
keywords, all right.
And then we just multiply it.
Now you have 100 different adunits that you can deploy
immediately at the same amountof time that you could with one,
and so all that means is, ifwater falls down into this
(11:50):
relevancy, it's about gettingthat exact phrase for that exact
customer at the exact time andthen adding to cart and moving
on with their shoppingexperience.
That's the win.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
You know that's really huge and because it's
going to simplify yes, I mean itreally will.
You know, I was reading anarticle that Doug McMillan was
interviewed on recently and hetalked about the changes in
retail in the past.
(12:20):
But the changes in the futureare going to be much greater,
yep, and it's going to get evenmore complex.
But what you gentlemen aredoing, you're taking that
complexity, if you will, andyou've figured out a way to
improve the complexity for theshopper.
(12:40):
So the benefit for you talkedabout brands, agencies,
retailers and customers, andwe'll get.
I'd like to just drill down abit in each of those four areas,
your vision and how you seethat.
So let's take brands for amoment and let's spend a moment.
(13:03):
Tell us how many of you arethinking around how this is
going to simplify brand.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
I think it all comes down to the impact that the ads
have.
If you can speak in thecustomer's own language and be
more relevant to the customer,then you get a higher return on
investment, more clicks.
One of the things we did atWhite Spider that set us apart
is we got query-specific both inour organic optimization for
(13:35):
product pages as well as ourWalmart Connect campaigns, and
it put us ahead of the otheragencies in this area because we
took the time to get in thecustomer's language and become
more relevant in these ways, andnow we're taking that same
concept and that understandingand knowing what drove a lot of
our success.
Now we're taking that sameconcept and that understanding
(13:55):
and knowing what drove a lot ofour success and we're applying
it here to AdFury with a systemthat builds ads quickly, and so
some brands have their owncreative groups inside them,
right, and so we'll probablyaddress the agency advantage and
it'll kind of overflow intothat.
But I think in general generalyou want a higher return on
(14:16):
investment, you want to be morerelevant, you want to uh,
shoppers to appreciate whatthey're seeing, not resent it
and brands will sell.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Yes, right, we'll show that product.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Well, they, they want to be discovered yeah when a
customer's researching ornavigating, searching, trying to
buy something, and then they,you know, and then they JS is
the main point, which is like,if they type in a very specific
thing like gluten-free rightBread or whatever it might be,
or muffins, like you want tomake sure that your ad restates
(14:48):
that.
So it's a one-to-one, because,like reality is we can, reality
is we can all testify to thisexperience Like I want to see
some.
I don't want to think when I'mshopping right, you know, I'm
not trying to be a professionalshopper, I'm trying to get stuff
from my home, right, and thenfeed my family or feed myself or
whatever it is it's so, if Ithink, if I have to look at an
(15:10):
ad that just says muffins,chocolate chip muffins, because
there's one creative Right, butyou're searching gluten-free,
yeah, you think this doesn'teven apply to me Exactly.
So therefore, you don't click,you just scroll on.
But if it said gluten-freechocolate chip muffins, I might
go click.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Well, it's that simple.
You said speed.
That's exactly what we want asconsumers.
We're busy.
I mean, there's a lot comingout of consumer all the time and
I love that, and I think speedfor the brand is critical.
Yep, and that's what you'redoing.
Agencies Talk about that.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, so I mean, like you know, it does, like JS
mentioned, it does overflow,right, because typically you
have your agencies that areworking on behalf of the brands
to get a higher return oninvestment, to be more relevant,
right, that's theirprofessional services, that they
do, and they're the onesusually that are doing this deep
thinking, psychographic,demographic type thinking about
(16:07):
what these customer groups wantfor a product and how they're
relating to it.
It's really beautiful magic ina lot of ways on what they do.
I mean so much for a productand how they're relating to it.
It's, it's really beautifulmagic in a lot of ways on what
they do.
I mean, I have so much respectfor it, you know.
But after all that work and nowyou get down and a lot of this
has to do, I think honestly, js,like with just the, the advent
of online, the advent of thesmartphone, you know, just
(16:31):
everything starts multiplyingand just gets deeper and deeper,
right, and so agencies havethis complexity to try to get
down to the customer level.
Well, the customer level iscoming, like you mentioned, from
all angles and all thesedifferent environments, and so
they're making, they're makingsubconscious decisions on this
stuff, and so the agencies, whenthey can take a brand creative
(16:53):
that has that high point brandstory, but then they can
crystallize that down in thosespecifics, it starts making a
huge difference and our toolallows them to work really fast
yeah, I mean yeah, if you pullit down, it's, you're gonna,
we're gonna save them atremendous amount of time, yep,
and make the ads more relevant,more specific and better.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
right, so we're going to improve the product.
And one of the terms we keepusing is we're removing friction
from the process.
I like that.
It just smooths everything out,it streamlines it, it makes it
faster, it makes it better.
And then the other thing isthese agencies.
They want to be thought leaders.
They always want to bringsomething new to the table to
the brands like look, what we'redoing for you no one else is
(17:35):
doing.
Right, ad fury gives anopportunity for early adopters
to get in and say look, we'reutilizing ai to create more
specific, better, more relevantads and it's going to increase
performance and we're one of thefirst ones beta testing it or,
you know, adopting it right, youknow another thing too, that
when I think about the agencies,I want to make sure that that
(17:56):
they understand we recognizelike so F URI plays in the
retail media network space.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Right, we're not on socials, we're not in Google and
all this stuff.
We're playing this space whenwe're launching, as of today,
that space, you know, is reallyit's it's required a different
level of the experience.
So when a customer comes into aretail media network, they're
kind of ready to buy, you know,and they're looking for things.
(18:22):
But one of the challengesagencies might have with the
RMNs or retail media networks,is that every one of them has
very specific guidelines andspecifications on how those ads
have to be formatted, to beplaced correctly.
You take an RM, a sophisticated,advanced RMN like Walmart
Connect, that is not just a onebanner image display platform,
(18:47):
there's 12 ad units, you know,when you get into their display
ads and that means if I have onead message I wanted to do, I
need to break that down into 12different formats so that it can
go across Walmart's ad platformecosystem, which is superior
right now because it's going onmobile devices, it's going
everywhere.
And so that attention to thatknowledge of those specs and
(19:10):
guidelines and the tone of voiceWalmart expects we do that.
That's where our AI comes in.
We're making sure thateverything's abiding by those
specs.
Now, like JS mentioned, theagency is able to get back to
work on really the great thingsthat they can do and that
they're really great at, and wetake care of that knowledge
center.
It allows them to work morefreely with confidence, yeah,
(19:35):
and speed.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Speed is so critical and I know we keep saying it,
but it is.
But.
But you're creating speed, yeah, by helping them to get back to
what they need to be working onthe agency.
Okay, two more things I wantedyou know.
Let's talk about retailers andthen we'll get to talk about
customers, but talk about, again, the impact of retailers.
I know we talked about Walmartalready, but it's got to be.
(19:56):
It's part of that, right?
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yeah, I mean I think that you know we're, we're
really, you know we love Walmart.
We work, live, play here.
We want to, we want to helpWalmart win.
You know that's our ambitionand so we're coming out, you
know, as Walmart Connect in thatplatform and then Retail
Meeting and specializing in thatright out of the gate.
And so I think that when itcomes to the retailer and Jess,
(20:20):
please add to this but my firstthought is they want to be
relevant to that customer.
That's their ultimate demand.
The customer that comes toWalmart, that enters the Walmart
ecosystem, it doesn't matter ifthey came in to get a tire
fixed, it doesn't matter.
However it happens, or theyGoogled something, they landed
at Walmart, but when they're inthat ecosystem, it's extremely
(20:41):
important that that customer hasa fantastic experience, and one
of those experiences is findingwhat I'm looking for.
It's got to be easy, it's gotto be relevant, right, and that
there's, you know, so manypoints in the details of that.
And where we're playing atagain is that relevancy of
search and so that ad promotionis relevant.
(21:01):
So now I'm like you know what Iexpect, but I can't wait to one
day where we can be on stageand cheering right With Walmart
and the community is going.
We really helped this customerexperience and because of the
tool and the work that we did,everyone won, especially the
customer, because now there's aretail meeting network that has
(21:24):
really great ads right that areto the point and accurate.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
That help and matter right, but I think another big
piece for the retailers is thatif we're removing the friction
from the system to create thesedisplay ads, you have more
people, more brands, productsable to be promoted through it
and so you're increasing volumeinto the system, which increases
Walmart Connect revenue.
And, as you know, omnichannelis changing.
(21:50):
Retailers are changing.
Their media networks areproducing a ton of the profit
for the company and it's justgrowing.
So the more advertisers thatcan get in easier, the better.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
And we really believe that AdFury is a superior tool
to help increase that volume,unlike anything that's in the
market.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
I will tell you.
You know, we study Omnichannelall the time.
That's what we do, this is ourbusiness, and and I'm what
you're what you're describing toour viewers today is definitely
cutting edge.
Yeah, no question about it.
I don't.
I don't know if it's out there,but it's wonderful.
Now, the most important pieceof all this is that customer.
You know so, sam Walton, onFridays, saturday morning
(22:32):
meetings, he would remind all ofus the most important person is
the customer.
So I happen to have a book withme.
It's called, you know it's made.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Is that that's made?
Speaker 1 (22:47):
And I know this, you know, with Sam, when I would
talk to my team, I would saychapter 12.
Everyone knew what chapter 12was, because chapter 12 is what
Sam wrote about is making thecustomer number one.
I will tell you, I heard and Ihad the opportunity to travel
(23:07):
with Sam, travel with DavidGlass and other great leaders at
Walmart.
But I would tell you, everytime we traveled with Sam, it
was about the customer, it wasabout the customer, it was about
the customer and they werenumber one.
And if I can, I'd like to reada quote from Sam.
I'd love to hear you, gentlemen, talk about the customer and
the points there.
(23:27):
But you know, sam says here hesays I love how he started this.
He said I love how he startedthis.
He said I know you're sick todeath of hearing this.
That's what he said.
I mean, this is in the book.
I've heard him say that so manytimes and you knew what was
coming.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
You know, and but he says here.
He said the secret ofsuccessful retailing is to give
your customers what they want.
You guys have done a great jobtalking about what we want as a
customer with your new AI system.
(24:05):
That's what we've been talkingabout.
I read this the other day andwhat little I knew in my
research about what you guys aregoing to talk about today.
You have nailed the number onepoint Sam Walton said.
He said the secret ofsuccessful retailing is to give
the customers what they want.
And then he goes on and saysand really, if you think about
(24:29):
it from your point of view as acustomer, you want everything.
You want wide assortment, goodquality merchandise, lowest
possible prices, guaranteedsatisfaction, friendly,
knowledgeable service,convenient hours and free
parking.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Okay, walmart has always done that well.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Let's break that down just for a moment.
If we listen to what sam saidwe should do on customer service
, you know he says here a wideassortment.
I think you're doing that wouldyou agree?
Speaker 3 (25:04):
I'm dot com.
That's the widest assortmentyou can have.
Right there you go, it's thewidest assortment period and
what you're.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
What you're doing, you're taking that wide
assortment and you're making itmuch easier informing the
customer about the products.
Quicker, easier, faster, rightRight, that's what you're doing.
Okay, I think we can check thatone off.
Then he talks aboutknowledgeable service.
Are you improving knowledge on?
Speaker 3 (25:28):
product.
Yeah, if we're speaking in thecustomer's language, right to
exactly what they're searchingfor.
Right, we're providing themwhat they're looking for.
Yeah, if we're speaking in thecustomer's language, right To
exactly what they're searchingfor Right.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
We're providing them what they're looking for, yeah,
and you and I know this becausewe've been working on the, on
the, on the software.
But that's not like an easy get, it's not like just something.
I mean, it's actually a prettycomplicated scenario because
it's not like you can go talk tosomebody and interview them
about their product andunderstand what they're doing.
What we're doing is we're usingthe information that that
product has available within thecatalog.
(25:58):
Right To understand.
This product has the attributea here's keyword in this, this
matches, and so building thatsophistication to make it
automated and immediate isreally the big challenge of what
we're doing Not just that, butalso just the category of
research that we've built intoour models.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
Yeah Right, and so not only does our AI understand
your product from your productinformation, but it also
understands what shoppers arewanting in the category and how
to draw the line between the two.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
And Sam says knowledgeable service.
That is really what you'redoing.
I mean, he was speaking of itfrom a brick-and-mortar
standpoint, but as you talkabout what you're doing online,
it is knowledgeable service.
That's right Because they havemuch more knowledge than about
that product.
That's right, and it helps themmake a faster, more informed
decision.
I think what you're doing isincredible.
I really do.
I you're doing is incredible.
(26:51):
I really think.
I think I think what you'redoing is that that you know, as
we think about the future ofretail for a moment, as we
started, you know, because it'sthe future is about creating
personalized, seamless andengaging experiences for the
customer.
You're doing that's it.
You have taken to, in myopinion, what sam walton says.
(27:17):
I'm just I'm going to tell youwhen he says it, I believe it.
Yeah, and uh, it's proof, it'sdone.
Yeah, but what he and what is,if he, you know what?
When I talk and hear doug dougmcmillan talk, you know about
the future retail.
It's grounded in these criticalbases that someone taught us,
(27:37):
or retail.
These are the things he taughtus.
You have taken those things andyou're moving that into the to
the future.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Yeah, you know, I think that, uh, omni-channel
retail is such a complex space,right, I mean, like it's
daunting.
What I always love is thatthose values are still true.
Yeah, you know, because they'retimeless, right, they're
timeless.
Yeah, because it's like there'sall these complexities actually
just distract us from whatreally a product or a business
(28:08):
is supposed to provide which isrendering a really great service
.
And you know, and when you lookat software and AI and all this
stuff that's going on, it'seven easier to forget what
you're doing and what we'vetalked about with the brands,
the agencies, the retailer andthe customer.
We're providing this service tothem through this boxed in
technological product.
(28:29):
You know, yeah, and, and I feellike that, what we've done
really well here is, in theminutes of all this complexity,
what the opportunity is is thatwe can go really deep, a mile
deep, inch wide, which is whatwe did at white spider, and you
know, and, and so we're in thisrmn space, retail media network
space, we're focused on these,these display video ads, right,
(28:51):
right, and making that allreally excellently delivered in
this space.
And so if you go in the middleof this complexity and chaos of
the future retail, I think it'sgoing to be down into the devils
and the details, right.
It's about how do we get moregranular in all these extra
verticals that are popping up,versus trying to be the
all-in-all, be-all type ofsoftware that's trying to do too
(29:14):
many things, and that way wecan work deeper in it and get
even better.
Right, the tool's super cool.
I wish that we could.
We'll have our site will belaunched by the time that this
airs and people can check it out.
We'll probably have a littlebit of a small demo in there,
but I mean and initially we'llhave a, a beta.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Yeah, we're going to sign up to join um by the time
this airs, so um people cancheck that out yeah, and we're,
and we're really looking forthose beta.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
You know customers like they need to register.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
We're going to award those because we want, we want
beta partners, you know, thatare helping us to further give,
giving us feedback, listening toour customer right and making
changes, giving them what theywant Exactly, at which, you know
, we're already bringing ourpotential customers into the
design process of this, whichWhite Spider again gave us great
partners that we could lean onfor this venture.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Yeah, you know, and I think what's pretty neat about
this scenario again which Ireally appreciate, like when JS
and I worked together at WhiteSpider, you know, I mean we were
man, we were dogging it out,right, I mean we didn't have, we
bootstrapped the heck out of it, we bootstrapped the heck out
of it, you know.
Yeah, it's awesome, but it wasgreat.
I mean, he's best CEO I've everworked with Best one.
(30:32):
I know I put Doug McMillan upthere as well.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
I mean, you know I mean, but you know this is the
first and last time I've beencompared to.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
But in my, my mind, right, and I mean, like you know
, so when JS came in at WhiteSpider, you know, really helped
us, you know, give vision to ourto get over that second stage
growth.
What's cool about this time isthat because we've kind of been
there and done that, we likefall right in the seam.
I mean, when we agreed on thisand we had a handshake it was
like, okay, we're going to getthe documents done, but we know
(31:06):
what's going on and I know whathe's going to do.
I know what I'm going to do.
My stress level went way down.
Mine went way down.
What I'm going to do, my stresslevel went way down.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Mine went way down, you know it was part of the deal
.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
It was a perfect partnership.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
It was part of the handshake.
Is that my stress was going togo up?
But yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
That's great Okay.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
When is this going to launch?
Yeah, so we're launching.
We're going to the Adobe Summitby the time this airs.
We'll be at the Adobe Summit onMarch 17th and we're launching
it there, and then the very nextweek that's going to be in
Vegas, and then the very nextweek we're going to Shop Talk,
and also in Vegas.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Also in Vegas.
So we've got a nice two-weekgetaway in Vegas, and I think
it's important to mention alsothat we're going to the Adobe
Summit to launch, because we area partner with Adobe and Adobe
is embedded into our software,which is really a huge thing,
yeah, especially with us beingcoming out of the gates, yeah,
(32:01):
yeah, with the greatest, thelargest creative partner, um,
and so people who aresubscribers to Adobe.
You'll be able to utilize Adobewithin our software to manage
and edit their display ads and,of course, publish direct to
walmartcom and to Walmart,connect and create campaigns in
our system that publish.
So, again, we're reducing thefriction.
(32:22):
You don't have to downloadthings, create your own campaign
somewhere else.
It's all built within thesystem.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Which is a great value add for the agencies and
the brands that have those Adobesubscriptions.
It's just so streamlined.
It really is.
It really is, it really isAwesome.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
This is exciting.
Yeah, it's fun.
I'm excited for you both.
I will tell you it's great tosee you back together.
Thank you, it is.
It's good to be back together.
It's great to see you backtogether.
I know I feel that way.
Yeah, no, it's great, but I cansense it.
I mean you guys are going to dogreat together and I think this
(32:59):
is just the beginning of whatyou all will do in order to help
us through creating thiscomplexity of Omnichannel,
creating simplification to it,just like you know the vision
that doing business inBentonville we talked about that
.
You said we have got to createclarity, we've got to do
(33:21):
something around this, andthat's what we're working on
every day, and what you're bothdoing is exactly that is
demystifying this whole thingaround Omnichannel.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Yeah, I hope it is and I hope that you know.
I know that JS and I, I, wehave a, you know, very succinct
vision like we see this problem.
We know we can provide thesolution, right, us in class.
That's awesome and but it'salso a catalyst, an example,
another, another check mark,like what we had, a white spider
, you know, like what nickdozier did, you know, with atlas
, and then I was doing withengine.
(33:51):
I mean, there's all these casestudies of our local communities
, you know, stepping up to solvethis massive, massive
opportunity, yeah, challenges,right, yeah, and checklists,
yeah, and so that's what Ialways get excited about.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Well, the best of both of you and your company.
I know you've got a great teamthat you have to surround
yourselves with.
That's working tire you youhave to surround yourselves with
, yes, working, uh, tireless onthis.
So, uh, best of them.
Uh, it's been so great havingyou both on.
It's been too long.
Um, now we we need to get anupdate on this in a couple
(34:25):
months.
Yeah, right, yeah, that'd begood.
Can you guys come back?
Absolutely okay, let's getanother update on this, see
where you are, see where thingsare going.
And so it's's been a greatdiscussion, thank you.
Thank you, it's been great.
Appreciate it To our viewers.
Thank you so much.
Doing Business in Bentonville isfocused on Omnichannel.
(34:46):
We are your source.
We have experts like this allthe time.
So when you need informationyou're looking for the future of
retail, check us out and checkour website out.
Again, thank you to our viewersfor all that you do.
We really, really appreciateyour loyalty to us.
You know, as we close out, weall know that technology is a
(35:10):
major driving force in retailtoday, but what I've heard too?
That you can't take the humanelement away.
Technology is a major drivingforce in retail today, but what
I have heard too, that you can'ttake the human element away
because it's critical to oursuccess.
You have integrated both ofthose into your process.
It sounds like Yep.
It's wonderful.
I think you're going to havegreat impacts on the four points
we talked about, from suppliersto brands, to agencies to
(35:32):
retailers, and the mostimportant is, sam Walton has
reminded us the end of the day,a customer right.
So thank you, gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Anything before we we get out of here at furyai
a-v-f-u-r-yai.
Check it I love sign up for thebeta.
We'd love to get your feedbackand work with you in partnering
and conquer okay, eric, how I'mdoing.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Yes, thank you okay.
Thank you everyone.
Thanks, andy.
Well, hello everyone.
Welcome to Doing Business inBentonville.
I'm AB Wilson, I'm your hosttoday and we're so glad you're
joining us today.
Before we get started with thepodcast today, I want to say to
all of our viewers thank you.
Thank you so much.
You are just doing great.
You're sharing the podcast.
I love your comments.
You can always check and writeto me text me on LinkedIn.
(00:27):
I'd love to hear from you andbecause of your viewership, we
are now viewed in over 90countries.
We have over 2,000 viewers aday now on doing business in
Bentonville.
It's all because of you.
So, thank you.
Okay, we're going to getstraight into our podcast this
morning.
Two great guys, two greatfriends.
(00:48):
I'm so excited.
Eric Howerton, js Bull welcome.
Thank you so much.
Oh, my goodness, I can'tbelieve we're finally doing this
.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I know it's fantastic .
Speaker 1 (00:58):
What a great day, over 90 podcasts.
We're doing business inBentonvilleville and finally, I
get you guys here.
I mean, we're hard to book.
I'm telling you, okay, you know, as you all know, our viewers
and listeners.
You know that we focus onOmnichannel Every day, every
podcast, because our vision,eric, is the mystify Omnichannel
(01:22):
.
We're going to do that today.
We're going to do that today.
Yeah, we're going to demystifythis and I have a few opening
comments and then we're going toget straight into with these
guys.
You want to really lean inbecause, first of all, of course
, omnichannel and we have a bigannouncement today that you
don't want to miss about theseguys and what they're going to
do in the future withOmnichannel.
(01:44):
In fact, it's just going to beawesome, but you guys really are
going to do something reallygreat.
Thank you, and I can't wait totell everybody.
But hold on, okay, let's talkabout the future of Omnichannel.
I have a few comments about itand, of course, we live in the
space of Walmart here and othergreat retailers.
We live in the space of Walmarthere and other great retailers.
(02:07):
Do we get to lean in and hearfrom the experts and what
Walmart and Doug McMillan andthe leaders have to say about
Omnichannel.
But as we look, if we take astep back, retail is changing.
It's exciting, isn't it guys?
It is.
Why is this happening in retail?
I go back to 40 plus years andand starting with brick and
(02:27):
mortar at Walmart and now, tosee where we're at and where you
guys are going to take us.
Yeah, I'm so excited about it.
I love that.
Yeah, you know, as I mentioned,the future of retail is shaping
up into what I will calltechnology innovation.
It's involving around thecustomer expectations.
(02:48):
Those are two things we willget into today, because we want
to talk about innovation.
We want to talk about thecustomer.
You can't have either, or youhave to have both.
So we're going to talk aboutthat, but the lines between
online shopping continue to blur.
What you guys are going to sharewith us today is help create
(03:09):
what I call clarity into thisonline process of shopping and
delivery.
You know retailers what theyhave got to do and you're going
to help them what I'm callingthe seamless experience across
all channels.
You know, as we shop today,it's not just brick and mortar,
it's on your phone, it's on yourlaptop, it's on the website.
(03:34):
You know there's multiplechannels today the way we shop.
I love it.
I'm telling you there's nothingbetter to order from Walmart.
Plus, it's going to bedelivered and I don't have to
leave my house, yeah, you know.
Or I can do it wherever on myphone.
It's so awesome.
So let's get straight into whatyou gentlemen are about to do.
(03:58):
So, eric JS, tell us about theannouncement.
What are you guys about to do?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Well, andy, thank you .
We are rejoining ourpartnership.
Js and I are to create a newcompany called AdFuryai, and it
kind of sounds like what it is.
It's a fury of integrating anddistributing and getting
relevant ads out to the customerthrough retailer media networks
(04:30):
, and we're using AI models anda model flow orchestration to
make sure that all those thingsare as automated as possible, as
relevant as absolutely possible, and it gets down to the
customer, to where they can makea really confident purchasing
decision, just like you'retalking about with on Omni
channel, right.
And so you know, the biggest Ithink the most exciting thing is
(04:52):
sitting next here with JS anddoing this venture again
together.
Uh, cause, we had some time atwhite spider back in the day and
did pretty well as partners andwe don't hate each other yet.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Yeah, they'll love each other.
It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
With JS.
Let's talk about thispartnership.
Yeah, Because both of you areat White Spider.
How many years did you worktogether?
It was close to five.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Yeah, okay, five years.
Yeah, directly in the business.
In the business, yeah, that'sright, I was on the board of
White Spider for a while before,so you've known each other for
a long time.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Both of you are extremely incredible in what
you've done and the impactyou've had, not only on a great
company and the people, but thecommunity.
You've done that so well, sothank you for having such an
impact in northwest Arkansas.
So, JS, when you guys wereworking together, what brought
you together?
(05:49):
What's going to bring you backtogether?
What is that?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I'm interested to hear this.
Yeah, no, I mean, to sum it up,it's really easy, it's vision.
I mean, eric has tremendousvision, yes and forever.
He was telling everyone hey,walmart e-commerce is coming,
you better get ready.
And people didn't want tolisten.
And he built a company aroundit and I caught on and said you
know what?
I think you're right, it iscoming Back in 2019.
(06:15):
And sure enough, you know,online pickup and delivery
quickly followed and the wholemarket changed and Omni became a
real thing.
Yeah, right, yeah.
And Eric's just had a visionfor what is next and what is
changing, especially in thisretail environment.
Right, and so I was prettycomfortable.
(06:36):
I took a year break afterleaving White Spider.
I got involved in someinvestment groups advising other
CEOs, some charity stuff, andEric started telling me about
AdFury and the idea behind itand I went from man this is
going to be tough, a lot of workto do here To having some
(06:57):
really serious FOMO and goingyou know what.
Maybe I want to get in on this.
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Yeah, yeah, the response is always let's this,
let's do it, yeah, yeah.
The response is always let's go, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
You're the man, oh man, this is exciting, yeah, you
know.
Okay, eric, let's jump intothis AI.
Okay, because I know you'repassionate about it and we know
that AI will play a criticalrole in personalizing the
shopping experience, right?
(07:29):
Yep, so it's going to includeAI-powered recommendations.
It can include chat boxes andvirtual assistants.
It can be personalizedmarketing and promotion.
I mean, all of that can be partof it, and much more.
We'll talk about it, but talkabout AdFury.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Okay, all right.
Yeah, so really the premise andI think it starts with the pain
point right of you know, a, thecustomer and the shopper.
We can start with that at thatlevel, and then it leads up into
how brands are able to promotetheir products relevantly for
that customer Right, which thenleads to the agencies that are
(08:09):
helping the brands to promotethe relevancy to the customer,
okay, which then leads to theretailers that want to make sure
that their customers have afantastic, relevant experience
on their site.
Okay, right.
And so really, all the premiseof it is is that when a customer
goes into a retailer ecosystemand they're topping in looking
(08:31):
for products that are specificfor their need at that very
moment which is crazy, right,you know, you brought it up in
the beginning about the changingof the behaviors, right?
Everybody yourself, myself,every listener here we know that
we're becoming more and morehave a higher expectations to
get what we want when we want itand immediacy, right.
(08:52):
And so today, a lot of times, ifa customer goes to a retailer
and they type in a query lookingfor a very specific thing or a
question about a product, therelevancy of what populates may
not always be as accurate asneeded and it can lead to
frustration, which can lead tobuying other products or, even
worse, exiting and going to adifferent ecosystem to buy
(09:12):
Exactly, exactly, even worse,yeah, even worse, right.
And then everybody loses.
And I mean, look I think JS canprobably speak to this even
more than I can but, man, a lotof respect for the creative
agencies, the ad agencies outthere, the media buying groups,
the brands Everybody is workingso hard and spending so much
time to ensure that customershave that experience.
(09:36):
And then we put in AdFury.
It just comes in and it helpssave a lot of time, a lot of the
stress, a lot of the knowledgegaps or pressures that are there
in this changing ecosystem, andthat's what our tool does.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah, and I mean honestly, if we were to get into
the details of the tool soeverybody understands what we're
talking about.
A lot of times the creativedesigners they've got to design
a campaign right, that got todesign a campaign right, and
this campaign has to be in 12different formats.
For a display campaign onwalmartcom, with Walmart Connect
(10:10):
, right, and so that's 12 piecesof creative that they've got to
put together.
You can't get query specific,right and as relevant in the
shopper's own voice, because ifyou were going to target 10
queries, you'd be creating 10times the 12 formats and 120
pieces of creative.
(10:31):
That'll take a ridiculousamount of time.
No one does it, and so thebeauty is our system will
individualize and create thesespecific, different display
campaigns in a variety offormats and messages, right,
using ai logic, using research,information on retail websites
(10:53):
and what more, right to put itin the customer's voice and be
more specific, and which meansmore relevant to the customer.
So our system saves thecreatives time.
It doesn't replace what they'redoing.
Right, right, right.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yeah, there's a Genesis of creative right that
we're, we're.
We're not even trying to getinto that space.
Like, how do you generatebeautiful, creative ads?
Is not really our space.
Now what we do is we take thatbeauty that the creatives have
built right Whether on theinternal in-house marketing team
they're an agency, you know ortheir brand themselves and we
(11:28):
take that asset that jf's istalking about, and then we just
we we multiply it, scale itacross, augment the messaging on
it yep, augment the messagingso it's relevant with those
keywords, all right.
And then we just multiply it.
Now you have 100 different adunits that you can deploy
immediately at the same amountof time that you could with one,
and so all that means is, ifwater falls down into this
(11:50):
relevancy, it's about gettingthat exact phrase for that exact
customer at the exact time andthen adding to cart and moving
on with their shoppingexperience.
That's the win.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
You know that's really huge and because it's
going to simplify yes, I mean itreally will.
You know, I was reading anarticle that Doug McMillan was
interviewed on recently and hetalked about the changes in
retail in the past.
(12:20):
But the changes in the futureare going to be much greater,
yep, and it's going to get evenmore complex.
But what you gentlemen aredoing, you're taking that
complexity, if you will, andyou've figured out a way to
improve the complexity for theshopper.
(12:40):
So the benefit for you talkedabout brands, agencies,
retailers and customers, andwe'll get.
I'd like to just drill down abit in each of those four areas,
your vision and how you seethat.
So let's take brands for amoment and let's spend a moment.
(13:03):
Tell us how many of you arethinking around how this is
going to simplify brand.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
I think it all comes down to the impact that the ads
have.
If you can speak in thecustomer's own language and be
more relevant to the customer,then you get a higher return on
investment, more clicks.
One of the things we did atWhite Spider that set us apart
is we got query-specific both inour organic optimization for
(13:35):
product pages as well as ourWalmart Connect campaigns, and
it put us ahead of the otheragencies in this area because we
took the time to get in thecustomer's language and become
more relevant in these ways, andnow we're taking that same
concept and that understandingand knowing what drove a lot of
our success.
Now we're taking that sameconcept and that understanding
(13:55):
and knowing what drove a lot ofour success and we're applying
it here to AdFury with a systemthat builds ads quickly, and so
some brands have their owncreative groups inside them,
right, and so we'll probablyaddress the agency advantage and
it'll kind of overflow intothat.
But I think in general generalyou want a higher return on
(14:16):
investment, you want to be morerelevant, you want to uh,
shoppers to appreciate whatthey're seeing, not resent it
and brands will sell.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Yes, right, we'll show that product.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Well, they, they want to be discovered yeah when a
customer's researching ornavigating, searching, trying to
buy something, and then they,you know, and then they JS is
the main point, which is like,if they type in a very specific
thing like gluten-free rightBread or whatever it might be,
or muffins, like you want tomake sure that your ad restates
(14:48):
that.
So it's a one-to-one, because,like reality is we can, reality
is we can all testify to thisexperience Like I want to see
some.
I don't want to think when I'mshopping right, you know, I'm
not trying to be a professionalshopper, I'm trying to get stuff
from my home, right, and thenfeed my family or feed myself or
whatever it is it's so, if Ithink, if I have to look at an
(15:10):
ad that just says muffins,chocolate chip muffins, because
there's one creative Right, butyou're searching gluten-free,
yeah, you think this doesn'teven apply to me Exactly.
So therefore, you don't click,you just scroll on.
But if it said gluten-freechocolate chip muffins, I might
go click.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Well, it's that simple.
You said speed.
That's exactly what we want asconsumers.
We're busy.
I mean, there's a lot comingout of consumer all the time and
I love that, and I think speedfor the brand is critical.
Yep, and that's what you'redoing.
Agencies Talk about that.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, so I mean, like you know, it does, like JS
mentioned, it does overflow,right, because typically you
have your agencies that areworking on behalf of the brands
to get a higher return oninvestment, to be more relevant,
right, that's theirprofessional services, that they
do, and they're the onesusually that are doing this deep
thinking, psychographic,demographic type thinking about
(16:07):
what these customer groups wantfor a product and how they're
relating to it.
It's really beautiful magic ina lot of ways on what they do.
I mean so much for a productand how they're relating to it.
It's, it's really beautifulmagic in a lot of ways on what
they do.
I mean, I have so much respectfor it, you know.
But after all that work and nowyou get down and a lot of this
has to do, I think honestly, js,like with just the, the advent
of online, the advent of thesmartphone, you know, just
(16:31):
everything starts multiplyingand just gets deeper and deeper,
right, and so agencies havethis complexity to try to get
down to the customer level.
Well, the customer level iscoming, like you mentioned, from
all angles and all thesedifferent environments, and so
they're making, they're makingsubconscious decisions on this
stuff, and so the agencies, whenthey can take a brand creative
(16:53):
that has that high point brandstory, but then they can
crystallize that down in thosespecifics, it starts making a
huge difference and our toolallows them to work really fast
yeah, I mean yeah, if you pullit down, it's, you're gonna,
we're gonna save them atremendous amount of time, yep,
and make the ads more relevant,more specific and better.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
right, so we're going to improve the product.
And one of the terms we keepusing is we're removing friction
from the process.
I like that.
It just smooths everything out,it streamlines it, it makes it
faster, it makes it better.
And then the other thing isthese agencies.
They want to be thought leaders.
They always want to bringsomething new to the table to
the brands like look, what we'redoing for you no one else is
(17:35):
doing.
Right, ad fury gives anopportunity for early adopters
to get in and say look, we'reutilizing ai to create more
specific, better, more relevantads and it's going to increase
performance and we're one of thefirst ones beta testing it or,
you know, adopting it right, youknow another thing too, that
when I think about the agencies,I want to make sure that that
(17:56):
they understand we recognizelike so F URI plays in the
retail media network space.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Right, we're not on socials, we're not in Google and
all this stuff.
We're playing this space whenwe're launching, as of today,
that space, you know, is reallyit's it's required a different
level of the experience.
So when a customer comes into aretail media network, they're
kind of ready to buy, you know,and they're looking for things.
(18:22):
But one of the challengesagencies might have with the
RMNs or retail media networks,is that every one of them has
very specific guidelines andspecifications on how those ads
have to be formatted, to beplaced correctly.
You take an RM, a sophisticated,advanced RMN like Walmart
Connect, that is not just a onebanner image display platform,
(18:47):
there's 12 ad units, you know,when you get into their display
ads and that means if I have onead message I wanted to do, I
need to break that down into 12different formats so that it can
go across Walmart's ad platformecosystem, which is superior
right now because it's going onmobile devices, it's going
everywhere.
And so that attention to thatknowledge of those specs and
(19:10):
guidelines and the tone of voiceWalmart expects we do that.
That's where our AI comes in.
We're making sure thateverything's abiding by those
specs.
Now, like JS mentioned, theagency is able to get back to
work on really the great thingsthat they can do and that
they're really great at, and wetake care of that knowledge
center.
It allows them to work morefreely with confidence, yeah,
(19:35):
and speed.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Speed is so critical and I know we keep saying it,
but it is.
But.
But you're creating speed, yeah, by helping them to get back to
what they need to be working onthe agency.
Okay, two more things I wantedyou know.
Let's talk about retailers andthen we'll get to talk about
customers, but talk about, again, the impact of retailers.
I know we talked about Walmartalready, but it's got to be.
(19:56):
It's part of that, right?
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yeah, I mean I think that you know we're, we're
really, you know we love Walmart.
We work, live, play here.
We want to, we want to helpWalmart win.
You know that's our ambitionand so we're coming out, you
know, as Walmart Connect in thatplatform and then Retail
Meeting and specializing in thatright out of the gate.
And so I think that when itcomes to the retailer and Jess,
(20:20):
please add to this but my firstthought is they want to be
relevant to that customer.
That's their ultimate demand.
The customer that comes toWalmart, that enters the Walmart
ecosystem, it doesn't matter ifthey came in to get a tire
fixed, it doesn't matter.
However it happens, or theyGoogled something, they landed
at Walmart, but when they're inthat ecosystem, it's extremely
(20:41):
important that that customer hasa fantastic experience, and one
of those experiences is findingwhat I'm looking for.
It's got to be easy, it's gotto be relevant, right, and that
there's, you know, so manypoints in the details of that.
And where we're playing atagain is that relevancy of
search and so that ad promotionis relevant.
(21:01):
So now I'm like you know what Iexpect, but I can't wait to one
day where we can be on stageand cheering right With Walmart
and the community is going.
We really helped this customerexperience and because of the
tool and the work that we did,everyone won, especially the
customer, because now there's aretail meeting network that has
(21:24):
really great ads right that areto the point and accurate.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
That help and matter right, but I think another big
piece for the retailers is thatif we're removing the friction
from the system to create thesedisplay ads, you have more
people, more brands, productsable to be promoted through it
and so you're increasing volumeinto the system, which increases
Walmart Connect revenue.
And, as you know, omnichannelis changing.
(21:50):
Retailers are changing.
Their media networks areproducing a ton of the profit
for the company and it's justgrowing.
So the more advertisers thatcan get in easier, the better.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
And we really believe that AdFury is a superior tool
to help increase that volume,unlike anything that's in the
market.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
I will tell you.
You know, we study Omnichannelall the time.
That's what we do, this is ourbusiness, and and I'm what
you're what you're describing toour viewers today is definitely
cutting edge.
Yeah, no question about it.
I don't.
I don't know if it's out there,but it's wonderful.
Now, the most important pieceof all this is that customer.
You know so, sam Walton, onFridays, saturday morning
(22:32):
meetings, he would remind all ofus the most important person is
the customer.
So I happen to have a book withme.
It's called, you know it's made.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Is that that's made?
Speaker 1 (22:47):
And I know this, you know, with Sam, when I would
talk to my team, I would saychapter 12.
Everyone knew what chapter 12was, because chapter 12 is what
Sam wrote about is making thecustomer number one.
I will tell you, I heard and Ihad the opportunity to travel
(23:07):
with Sam, travel with DavidGlass and other great leaders at
Walmart.
But I would tell you, everytime we traveled with Sam, it
was about the customer, it wasabout the customer, it was about
the customer and they werenumber one.
And if I can, I'd like to reada quote from Sam.
I'd love to hear you, gentlemen, talk about the customer and
the points there.
(23:27):
But you know, sam says here hesays I love how he started this.
He said I love how he startedthis.
He said I know you're sick todeath of hearing this.
That's what he said.
I mean, this is in the book.
I've heard him say that so manytimes and you knew what was
coming.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
You know, and but he says here.
He said the secret ofsuccessful retailing is to give
your customers what they want.
You guys have done a great jobtalking about what we want as a
customer with your new AI system.
(24:05):
That's what we've been talkingabout.
I read this the other day andwhat little I knew in my
research about what you guys aregoing to talk about today.
You have nailed the number onepoint Sam Walton said.
He said the secret ofsuccessful retailing is to give
the customers what they want.
And then he goes on and saysand really, if you think about
(24:29):
it from your point of view as acustomer, you want everything.
You want wide assortment, goodquality merchandise, lowest
possible prices, guaranteedsatisfaction, friendly,
knowledgeable service,convenient hours and free
parking.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Okay, walmart has always done that well.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Let's break that down just for a moment.
If we listen to what sam saidwe should do on customer service
, you know he says here a wideassortment.
I think you're doing that wouldyou agree?
Speaker 3 (25:04):
I'm dot com.
That's the widest assortmentyou can have.
Right there you go, it's thewidest assortment period and
what you're.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
What you're doing, you're taking that wide
assortment and you're making itmuch easier informing the
customer about the products.
Quicker, easier, faster, rightRight, that's what you're doing.
Okay, I think we can check thatone off.
Then he talks aboutknowledgeable service.
Are you improving knowledge on?
Speaker 3 (25:28):
product.
Yeah, if we're speaking in thecustomer's language, right to
exactly what they're searchingfor.
Right, we're providing themwhat they're looking for.
Yeah, if we're speaking in thecustomer's language, right To
exactly what they're searchingfor Right.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
We're providing them what they're looking for, yeah,
and you and I know this becausewe've been working on the, on
the, on the software.
But that's not like an easy get, it's not like just something.
I mean, it's actually a prettycomplicated scenario because
it's not like you can go talk tosomebody and interview them
about their product andunderstand what they're doing.
What we're doing is we're usingthe information that that
product has available within thecatalog.
(25:58):
Right To understand.
This product has the attributea here's keyword in this, this
matches, and so building thatsophistication to make it
automated and immediate isreally the big challenge of what
we're doing Not just that, butalso just the category of
research that we've built intoour models.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
Yeah Right, and so not only does our AI understand
your product from your productinformation, but it also
understands what shoppers arewanting in the category and how
to draw the line between the two.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
And Sam says knowledgeable service.
That is really what you'redoing.
I mean, he was speaking of itfrom a brick-and-mortar
standpoint, but as you talkabout what you're doing online,
it is knowledgeable service.
That's right Because they havemuch more knowledge than about
that product.
That's right, and it helps themmake a faster, more informed
decision.
I think what you're doing isincredible.
I really do.
I you're doing is incredible.
(26:51):
I really think.
I think I think what you'redoing is that that you know, as
we think about the future ofretail for a moment, as we
started, you know, because it'sthe future is about creating
personalized, seamless andengaging experiences for the
customer.
You're doing that's it.
You have taken to, in myopinion, what sam walton says.
(27:17):
I'm just I'm going to tell youwhen he says it, I believe it.
Yeah, and uh, it's proof, it'sdone.
Yeah, but what he and what is,if he, you know what?
When I talk and hear doug dougmcmillan talk, you know about
the future retail.
It's grounded in these criticalbases that someone taught us,
(27:37):
or retail.
These are the things he taughtus.
You have taken those things andyou're moving that into the to
the future.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Yeah, you know, I think that, uh, omni-channel
retail is such a complex space,right, I mean, like it's
daunting.
What I always love is thatthose values are still true.
Yeah, you know, because they'retimeless, right, they're
timeless.
Yeah, because it's like there'sall these complexities actually
just distract us from whatreally a product or a business
(28:08):
is supposed to provide which isrendering a really great service
.
And you know, and when you lookat software and AI and all this
stuff that's going on, it'seven easier to forget what
you're doing and what we'vetalked about with the brands,
the agencies, the retailer andthe customer.
We're providing this service tothem through this boxed in
technological product.
(28:29):
You know, yeah, and, and I feellike that, what we've done
really well here is, in theminutes of all this complexity,
what the opportunity is is thatwe can go really deep, a mile
deep, inch wide, which is whatwe did at white spider, and you
know, and, and so we're in thisrmn space, retail media network
space, we're focused on these,these display video ads, right,
(28:51):
right, and making that allreally excellently delivered in
this space.
And so if you go in the middleof this complexity and chaos of
the future retail, I think it'sgoing to be down into the devils
and the details, right.
It's about how do we get moregranular in all these extra
verticals that are popping up,versus trying to be the
all-in-all, be-all type ofsoftware that's trying to do too
(29:14):
many things, and that way wecan work deeper in it and get
even better.
Right, the tool's super cool.
I wish that we could.
We'll have our site will belaunched by the time that this
airs and people can check it out.
We'll probably have a littlebit of a small demo in there,
but I mean and initially we'llhave a, a beta.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Yeah, we're going to sign up to join um by the time
this airs, so um people cancheck that out yeah, and we're,
and we're really looking forthose beta.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
You know customers like they need to register.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
We're going to award those because we want, we want
beta partners, you know, thatare helping us to further give,
giving us feedback, listening toour customer right and making
changes, giving them what theywant Exactly, at which, you know
, we're already bringing ourpotential customers into the
design process of this, whichWhite Spider again gave us great
partners that we could lean onfor this venture.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Yeah, you know, and I think what's pretty neat about
this scenario again which Ireally appreciate, like when JS
and I worked together at WhiteSpider, you know, I mean we were
man, we were dogging it out,right, I mean we didn't have, we
bootstrapped the heck out of it, we bootstrapped the heck out
of it, you know.
Yeah, it's awesome, but it wasgreat.
I mean, he's best CEO I've everworked with Best one.
(30:32):
I know I put Doug McMillan upthere as well.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
I mean, you know I mean, but you know this is the
first and last time I've beencompared to.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
But in my, my mind, right, and I mean, like you know
, so when JS came in at WhiteSpider, you know, really helped
us, you know, give vision to ourto get over that second stage
growth.
What's cool about this time isthat because we've kind of been
there and done that, we likefall right in the seam.
I mean, when we agreed on thisand we had a handshake it was
like, okay, we're going to getthe documents done, but we know
(31:06):
what's going on and I know whathe's going to do.
I know what I'm going to do.
My stress level went way down.
Mine went way down.
What I'm going to do, my stresslevel went way down.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Mine went way down, you know it was part of the deal
.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
It was a perfect partnership.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
It was part of the handshake.
Is that my stress was going togo up?
But yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
That's great Okay.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
When is this going to launch?
Yeah, so we're launching.
We're going to the Adobe Summitby the time this airs.
We'll be at the Adobe Summit onMarch 17th and we're launching
it there, and then the very nextweek that's going to be in
Vegas, and then the very nextweek we're going to Shop Talk,
and also in Vegas.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Also in Vegas.
So we've got a nice two-weekgetaway in Vegas, and I think
it's important to mention alsothat we're going to the Adobe
Summit to launch, because we area partner with Adobe and Adobe
is embedded into our software,which is really a huge thing,
yeah, especially with us beingcoming out of the gates, yeah,
(32:01):
yeah, with the greatest, thelargest creative partner, um,
and so people who aresubscribers to Adobe.
You'll be able to utilize Adobewithin our software to manage
and edit their display ads and,of course, publish direct to
walmartcom and to Walmart,connect and create campaigns in
our system that publish.
So, again, we're reducing thefriction.
(32:22):
You don't have to downloadthings, create your own campaign
somewhere else.
It's all built within thesystem.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Which is a great value add for the agencies and
the brands that have those Adobesubscriptions.
It's just so streamlined.
It really is.
It really is, it really isAwesome.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
This is exciting.
Yeah, it's fun.
I'm excited for you both.
I will tell you it's great tosee you back together.
Thank you, it is.
It's good to be back together.
It's great to see you backtogether.
I know I feel that way.
Yeah, no, it's great, but I cansense it.
I mean you guys are going to dogreat together and I think this
(32:59):
is just the beginning of whatyou all will do in order to help
us through creating thiscomplexity of Omnichannel,
creating simplification to it,just like you know the vision
that doing business inBentonville we talked about that
.
You said we have got to createclarity, we've got to do
(33:21):
something around this, andthat's what we're working on
every day, and what you're bothdoing is exactly that is
demystifying this whole thingaround Omnichannel.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Yeah, I hope it is and I hope that you know.
I know that JS and I, I, wehave a, you know, very succinct
vision like we see this problem.
We know we can provide thesolution, right, us in class.
That's awesome and but it'salso a catalyst, an example,
another, another check mark,like what we had, a white spider
, you know, like what nickdozier did, you know, with atlas
, and then I was doing withengine.
(33:51):
I mean, there's all these casestudies of our local communities
, you know, stepping up to solvethis massive, massive
opportunity, yeah, challenges,right, yeah, and checklists,
yeah, and so that's what Ialways get excited about.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Well, the best of both of you and your company.
I know you've got a great teamthat you have to surround
yourselves with.
That's working tire you youhave to surround yourselves with
, yes, working, uh, tireless onthis.
So, uh, best of them.
Uh, it's been so great havingyou both on.
It's been too long.
Um, now we we need to get anupdate on this in a couple
(34:25):
months.
Yeah, right, yeah, that'd begood.
Can you guys come back?
Absolutely okay, let's getanother update on this, see
where you are, see where thingsare going.
And so it's's been a greatdiscussion, thank you.
Thank you, it's been great.
Appreciate it To our viewers.
Thank you so much.
Doing Business in Bentonville isfocused on Omnichannel.
(34:46):
We are your source.
We have experts like this allthe time.
So when you need informationyou're looking for the future of
retail, check us out and checkour website out.
Again, thank you to our viewersfor all that you do.
We really, really appreciateyour loyalty to us.
You know, as we close out, weall know that technology is a
(35:10):
major driving force in retailtoday, but what I've heard too?
That you can't take the humanelement away.
Technology is a major drivingforce in retail today, but what
I have heard too, that you can'ttake the human element away
because it's critical to oursuccess.
You have integrated both ofthose into your process.
It sounds like Yep.
It's wonderful.
I think you're going to havegreat impacts on the four points
we talked about, from suppliersto brands, to agencies to
(35:32):
retailers, and the mostimportant is, sam Walton has
reminded us the end of the day,a customer right.
So thank you, gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Anything before we we get out of here at furyai
a-v-f-u-r-yai.
Check it I love sign up for thebeta.
We'd love to get your feedbackand work with you in partnering
and conquer okay, eric, how I'mdoing.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Yes, thank you okay.
Thank you everyone.
Thanks, andy.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.