October 13, 2023 • 36 mins
Ever wondered how technology is revolutionizing the retail industry? Get ready to discover the transformative power of retail tech innovations you can discover at the NWA Tech Summit, an event designed to keep businesses at the cutting edge of technology.
We sat down with some of the leaders behind the event to bring you a sneak peak at what you may hear (and potentially see) at the summit from as Sam's Club's burger making robot to Tyson's robotic arm, and of course the autonomous bots at Walmart Store 100. Tune in and get a taste of the exciting innovations shaping the retail universe!
Buckle up for an exciting journey through the digital and physical aspects of retail technology, and discover how it's changing the way we shop and work!
RetailWire is the retail industry's premier source for news, analysis, and discussion. With a focus on the latest trends, technology, and consumer behavior, RetailWire provides a platform for industry experts and thought leaders to share their insights and perspectives. Whether you're a retailer, supplier, or service provider, RetailWire is your go-to destination for staying informed and ahead of the curve.
Be sure to leave us a comment and let us know what you think. You might even hear your comment read on the next episode!
To learn more, or to join our Daily Discussions, visit RetailWire.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
The Northwest Arca-Saw Tech Summit.
This is a big event, but howlong has it been going on and
what really sparked the idea toget it started?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Yeah, so the NWA Tech Summit is 10 years old this
year, and so it started with agroup of small business owners
who really wanted to stay aheadof the tech curve.
They wanted to discuss trends,do a little bit of forecasting
as to what was coming down thepike, and since then it's just
kind of exploded year over year,to go from depending on the
(00:37):
myth and lore that you believetwo to 300 at the very first one
to now we're anticipating over2000 registered attendees for
this year.
So it's a homegrown project.
It's always been here inBendville as part of the Chamber
of Commerce and it just keepsgrowing and has really
transformed into something morethan just a small business focus
(00:59):
, because we engage with all themajor local enterprise
companies that were born andraised here so Walmart, tyson,
jb Hunt and the University ofArkansas and then we interact
with a lot of the tech companies, including retail tech
companies that are here becauseof those big employers, so
everyone from Salesforce toMicrosoft, ibm and Google, and
(01:23):
then some new faces this year,including, like Dunhumbie, and
actually Metta is one of ourbrand new sponsors this year.
So we just continue to grow andit's so much fun to get to
showcase Northwest Arkansas as atech hub, the rivals Silicon
Valley and New York City, andthat really retail tech is king
(01:44):
here as well.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
On the retail side of it.
I know there's a retailinnovation track.
Is that something that Scott isheading up?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
So I'm supporting being involved in it, and I'm
particularly excited about itbecause, if you're from a retail
background, you get to seeevery day what an exciting and
kind of compelling way in whichtechnology is evolving and
changing the retail community.
And while this is a tech summit,it probably won't shock anybody
(02:17):
that Northwest Arkansas has apretty strong root in retailing
as well.
And not only does technologyhave an exciting impact on the
customer, on the customerexperience, but it also enhances
the worker experience.
It's the person who supportsyou in a store or in a Sam's
(02:37):
Club, in a distribution center,truck drivers.
There's so many things, so manyelements of retail that are
positively impacted bytechnology.
And then one kind ofoverarching aspect is the role
that our official intelligenceis playing and is stating that
going to play in our lives.
In many ways, our officialintelligence is going to enhance
(03:01):
a lot of different aspects ofretail.
So, even though this summit isreally about technology in the
broader context, if you're froma retail background, this is an
exciting time to see the waysthat technology is impacting the
retail business.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
What are some of those major themes that you've
seen and what would peopleexpect at the conference,
especially the retail track?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
So when you look at some of the retail tech that's
thriving here, one of ourkeynote sessions is going to be
led by Tim Simmons, who is VP atSam's Club.
I believe he leads their productwork, and what Tim is going to
talk about is some of theautomation that you're seeing
rolled out at Sam's Club andspecifically, machinery that I
(03:50):
don't think they've deployednationally yet, but everything
from automated scrubbers.
So what used to be theZamboni-like machine that
someone would drive around Sam'sClub to clean the floors now
goes on its own Drives, fullyautonomous.
For those of us who know whatit is like, I stare and watch
with complete terror at the waysome children dart in front of
(04:11):
it.
But it's immensely smart.
It knows when to stop, it knowswhen to go.
It is doing some really coolthings behind the scenes.
They even announced I don'tknow if you called it earlier
this year they had built anautomated hamburger machine
which is really funny that, ofall the things to build, it's
just so cool that at Sam's Clubthis machine can churn out
(04:33):
burgers and build them.
And so when you think likeretail innovation in terms of
like actual tech hardware,that's not something that might
immediately come to mind withWalmart and Sam's Club, but
they're leading the way in somereally interesting products and
solutions that they'redeveloping In our own backyard
here.
I know one of the things thatwe'll talk about at the summit
(04:56):
is a little bit of what's goingon at Store 100.
There's a space where whatthey're called alphabots.
They are about maybe a couplefeet wide by a couple feet tall.
They're fully autonomous littlerobots that zoom around and
pick up inventory to fill ordersthat are placed for pickup and
(05:17):
orders that are placed fordelivery, so that these bots are
zooming around with sort of asectioned off inventory area so
that workers aren't out on thefloor walking around all day.
But these bots can just zoomaround and zip back through this
charging station, get rechargedand then pick up all these
items.
It is a wonder to sit there andlook at it because it's just so
(05:39):
big and so massive in its scope,with all these different
autonomous bots now crashinginto each other, moving in
different directions, picking upthese items.
It's really cool to see, andit's not just Walmart either.
Tyson has Tyson brought out arobotic arm that was showing how
it works, sort of to help sortof move chicken items.
(05:59):
Lots of these companies hereare really engaging in some
cutting edge tech that you justwouldn't associate with Walmart
being retail.
Tyson gets labeled as justchicken, jb Hunt just gets
labeled as trucking.
I mean, all of them areexperimenting and playing around
with autonomous vehicles nowand electric vehicles, and so
(06:20):
it's really cutting edge techfrom companies that might not
always be associated with thecutting edge Most people have
become acquainted with OpenAIchat, gbt, which is moving
around language, and it can doso much, but it still is digital
thing.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
It's just moving text and images, and the stuff you
just talked about was movingphysical things, rearranging and
understanding where to go, howto not run into each other,
where to go to charge themselveswhen they get tired, right?
So are you seeing a blend ofthe two, or what do we expect
(06:57):
from the digital and physical?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
You know, that's why we really landed on the title
theme that we have for this year, the year of the machines.
Because we saw last year in thetrack that we did on mobility
and supply chain, that almostall the solutions were AI driven
and automation driven, and wewere like man, we should really
lean into this, like this iswhere it looks like it's going.
And then January-ish is when,like chat GPT really like
(07:23):
started making waves and we werelike man, we got to double down
on this, like we got to make itthe year of the machines.
We've like it's going to be bigand, sure enough, like every
other week, there's been somepress release related to AI from
every imaginal company.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Yeah, and I'll tell you, things are happening so
fast.
This recently, this week, youknow we talked about how
technology can impact thephysical elements of retail and
make them more efficient.
But I've seen this week AIsolutions for product content on
item detail pages on a website,not only creating that content
(08:01):
to begin with and doing it in avery efficient way, but in many
cases, optimizing that contentso that it is up to date from a
seasonality standpoint, so thatit is more easily found in
search queries on a website oron a mobile app.
It helps both the retailer andthe brand owner, the person
(08:25):
who's built the product, toenhance their copy and tell
their story of their product ina way that not only helps the
consumer once they've locatedthat product, but makes it
easier to find a relevantproduct or a certain group of
products on a website.
And just like placement of aproduct in a physical store is
(08:47):
critical to its success,consumers gotta be able to find
it.
That same thing occurs on awebsite and on a mobile app, and
if you're shopping forsomething and you can't find it,
it doesn't exist to you as aconsumer.
And AI is improving the way thatcontent and how findable a
product is in a shoppingexperience, and that's so
(09:10):
critical, particularly inretailers like Walmart and Sam's
Club and others that have anominee channel presence,
because in many cases thedigital experience isn't just
about a digital sale, but inmany cases it leads to a sale in
a physical store, and thattechnology is now making easier
to find it, and consumers, moreand more, are time-starved and
(09:33):
the ability to research and buyan item online and then go pick
it up in a physical store is ause case that, while it
accelerated during the pandemic,it's now kind of settled in as
a significant part of how retailtransactions are done, and so
brand marketers, retailers,product managers all have an
(09:54):
important desire to see thatwork and technology is impacting
the digital side in addition towhat Chris was just talking
about in terms of the physicalsides of retailing.
So that's kind of exciting.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
And there's a desire to like, blur the line between
the two, like with the wholemetaverse and augmented reality.
You know people from thesimplest aspects of like.
You know using your cell phoneto figure out where your item is
in the store instead ofwandering like I did that at
Lowe's the other day, becauseanytime I'm in Lowe's I get lost
I'm being able to like, figureout on a map like okay, this is
(10:28):
what I'm looking for, here'swhere I go, so I don't have to
try to find somebody.
But, even down to things likejust different in-store
experiences that blur the linebetween the physical and digital
, which is really gonna continueto get weird and fun and
interesting as we blur thoselines moving forward.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
It's exciting times to see how technology is
positively impacting theshopping experience as well as
making the retailer and thebrand more efficient and more
effective in the consumer needs.
We all live through the supplychain issues coming out of the
pandemic in the last few years,and that's a use case where AI
(11:09):
and other technologies willenhance supply chain planning
from factory through thedistribution chain to a store
shelf and into consumers homesin ways that hopefully will make
that a thing of the past goingforward, because every person,
every organization, has acomponent of that supply chain
(11:31):
is now gonna be more effectivein what they do because of where
technology is headed.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
So, yeah, there's a lot happening and it's blowing
my mind, but more so than thatstruggle to learn and keep up,
there's a fear of missing out, aFOMO how do you help those who
are overwhelmed?
And Fear of missing out?
And just there's too muchinformation right now.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Okay, I tell you, I think that's part of why the
summit is so important, becausebeing a student, learning,
listening, hearing from peoplewho are on the cutting edge of
some of these technologies, Ithink is how you start to answer
that question.
No matter what role you play inthe technology space broadly or
in retail Specifically, you'vegot to be a student, you've got
(12:19):
to listen, you got to attendevents like this one, where you
hear people that are on thecutting edge of what's happening
, and at least kind of keep youryour knowledge level and your
opportunity to kind of seeLeaders in that space and then
just continue to learn, and Ithink it's one of those that you
know the true solutions willhappen over time.
(12:40):
You're gonna have to experiment.
Whether you're a consumer,brand, a retailer, part of
supply chain, whatever role youplay in the broader ecosystem of
retail, a Marketer, you've gotto, you've got to try things and
you've got to learn from peoplewho are doing things well and
Just continue to, to watch andsee how it can improve your
(13:03):
business case.
Now, one of the things I'll alsotell you is, I think if you're
a business person, no matterwhat role you play, you have an
obligation, of my view, tochallenge Technology people who
develop technology with.
Here's a business challenge,here's a business problem that
we're facing.
How can you help me solve that?
Because that's when some of thebest technology solutions
(13:26):
Happen, when they're in responseto some sort of business
challenge.
Either the retailer has, theconsumer has, or whoever that
might be.
And so Get in the game, beinvolved, learn, ask questions,
attend events like this.
I think is is the advice Iwould give folks in our industry
.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
So yeah, and I think one of the really Interesting
things about the tech summit isit's so accessible.
We'll have everybody from highschool students and college
students all the way up throughC-suite level execs and that's.
That may sound like too big ofan umbrella, but we make a
really good effort trying totell our presenters that you
(14:04):
know, we want you to do deepdives but also play in the
shallow end of the pool, a bitlike we want people to be able
to walk away with some somecaptivating information that
they wouldn't have known before,to really help Continue to
build a tech pipeline of, youknow, kids who are interested in
tech, kids who are interestedin staying here Locally to
(14:26):
pursue a career in tech, ratherthan moving to to Silicon Valley
or to New York City.
We want them to think you know,man, if I want to go into AI
and automation, I could.
I could really look at TysonWalmart or JB Hunt, and that's
the kind of inspirational eventthat we hope we build, so that I
mean people who even just havea low threshold of Personal tech
(14:49):
capabilities, like myselfincluded.
I love the event, I love goingto it, even though a lot of
conversation will go straightover my head Once we we dive
really deep into the weeds, butit's a really cool playground to
see like what's cutting edge,what's being deployed and and
kind of what's on the horizon,so that everybody can can access
it and then build some reallyInteresting networks and
(15:12):
relationships to follow up on.
If you have a specific interest, I know that just this week we
had a news article that hitwhere three ignite students
which is a program out of ourlocal Bentonville Public Schools
three ignite students met upwith a University of Arkansas
professor last year at the TechSummit and have been doing work
(15:32):
on some projects ever since, andthis was the event where they
connected and Started theconversation and so we actually
we have them coming to presentand share about what they've
done, because I was like that'stoo cool a story not to have you
guys be on stage.
Like that's the kind of thingwe want to highlight Among all
the other types of presentations.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
That's so fun.
Yeah yeah, I see how there'sthis vision beyond just Making a
commercial Conference.
Is that what I'm hearing?
There's a deeper layer.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
There's, there's a couple lanes that we try to
operate in.
You know, because we're part ofthe Chamber of Commerce, we
really take pride in Ineconomically developing the area
by showcasing this region byyou know, by looking at our
audience the fact that, forexample, microsoft or or Google,
like they've got teams ofpeople who live here.
They'll come to the conference,but they're also going to bring
(16:25):
in speakers from probably thecoasts or another major
metropolitan area, and sothey'll come in and see this
place, maybe even for the firsttime.
We love being able to showcaseNorthwest Arkansas as a place
where innovators can thrive andwhere technologists can remote
work or Move and, and you know,build a business, grow a
(16:47):
business, because that's that'sa beautiful story of like
Walmart, tyson and JB Hunt.
They are, whether or not theylook like it, they are all now
technology companies and theyall got their start right here.
And there's even someIncredible startups following in
their footsteps, like ox.
That's a local retail techcompany that's booming and
(17:08):
growing right here in NorthwestArkansas, and so we're working
to do that lane of economicdevelopment.
We're working to improve, like,access and equity when it comes
to tech, so that students,educators, entrepreneurs,
active-duty military andveterans can all apply for
complementary tickets to come.
We know that those groups tendto look for careers in tech.
(17:29):
They want to find out theskills that they need, or maybe
how to reskill, an upskill, forsome jobs in tech.
And so we do some of thatworkforce development by putting
them in touch with thesepotential employers, showing
them what, what they need toknow, to, to keep their skills
current.
And then, beyond that, there'sa lot of networking that happens
among these businesses, wherecompanies will rub elbows at
(17:52):
this conference, share a stage,share drinking, some food, and
just new collaborations are born, and so we do a little bit of
all those things which makes itso much fun of a playground to
play in.
And now, scott, you'veexperienced it.
I'm curious, kind of like whatyou would say like what are the
takeaways of that engagement ona personal level?
Speaker 3 (18:15):
I got to tell you that my experience, not only
when I was with Walmart andSam's Club, but since I've been
part of the broader community,is relationship building and
just the interaction of folksfrom across the spectrum of
technology and retail techspecifically is where great
(18:36):
ideas happen and whererelationships are born.
You gave a great example, butthere's countless others and
I've seen it.
But I think the other thing isis, while our area, our region,
is known for retailing, fortrucking and for meat production
because of the big companieshere, now we're being known for
(18:56):
so many other things, so manyother aspects of retail, as well
as the beautiful area that wehave.
I was on a call with someonejust the other day from Chicago
and they knew about our mountainbiking.
They knew about how nice it isdown here, how the area is
developing, how much recreationthere is, and so if you could
(19:16):
have both quality of life andexciting economic development
activity that's going on, that'skind of a neat thing and part
of what I think Chris and theteam get to kind of showcase by
having folks come here fromother parts of the country and
see our area and participate inthe summit as well.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
And, like all good marketing, content is king.
We take great pride in that.
We get the best speakers, thebest leaders in the area and
beyond.
Like this year it's going to beI think our highest ranking
person from Walmart is going tobe the Chief Product Officer,
john Alphornis.
We've got some incredible otherspeakers that just when you go
(20:00):
to a conference, you may seesome B or C list technologists,
maybe one or two A listers, buthere, like the depth of tech in
Northwest Arkansas and the widerange they have to pull from to
bring in speakers is justastronomical.
We have some great content that, if for nothing else, if you
(20:22):
are coming to learn about tech,you're going to get your fill.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Indeed, that's so exciting.
There was something you saidabout major retailers or
basically technology companies.
Now, and at the core of itstill is people centric, like
the actual retail industry isone of the most people oriented
businesses.
But traditionally people wouldsay, well, I don't want to get
(20:48):
into retail because I'm notreally a people person and I'm
like you know.
I tried working at a store whenI was younger.
I just don't like people.
And now there's room and almosta necessity to bring in people
who aren't the necessarily theoutgoing people person, the
salespeople.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
I got to tell you that it's interesting how
retailing has evolved because,to your point, in many cases, if
you had a customer facing roleand you weren't a people person,
one would question whetherretailing was the right career.
The thing and I taughtretailing for a period of time
at Texas A&M and one of thethings we told students there is
(21:29):
there's not really an area ofinterest or career growth or an
opportunity that retailingdoesn't somehow touch, and I can
recall when David Glass was theCEO of Walmart, him talking
about in a meeting that youcould have so many different
careers within a retailorganization like Walmart and
(21:53):
that, to your kind of to yourpoint, is, no matter what role
you play, you could be anengineer, you can be a supply
chain person, you can be a coder, you can be a marketer, you can
be someone who loves to be infront of people, you can be
someone who prefers not.
There are so many differentareas that you can play a role
within retailing and obviouslyspent my entire adult adult life
(22:17):
involved in retailing and loveit.
But part of what's so neat isthe number of people I've
encountered, including myself,for whom retailing was going to
be a temporary.
I'm just going to do this till Iget out of college or till I
solve this problem or thatproblem in my, in my life and
then fell in love with it andstayed with it, and I think
(22:37):
that's that's the neat thingabout retailing broadly is the
career, and particularly now astechnology is enabling so many
different new career paths thatare still tied back to retailing
.
It's a fun time and and it's anexciting time and you can just
have so many different careerswithin retailing.
If you're not a people person,it's still okay.
(23:00):
If you can contribute anotherway, I'm pretty sure we want you
involved in the industry andand this is this is a great this
event is a great way to kind offind some of those
opportunities for you as aprofessional.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Yeah, I think there are a lot of people who are at
that spot in their career wherethey may be looking for a change
, or also just younger studentsgoing.
I don't really know what I wantto do.
Retail has all these components.
It's not just moving productanymore.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Yeah, one of my favorite things that I've heard
Doug Mcmillan say a couple timesin public settings recently and
I hope I get this quote exactlyright.
But he viewed Walmart as techenabled but people let and yeah
that's one of the recurringthemes that I think is is
concerns people.
As technology and the evolutionof technology a bad thing?
(23:50):
Does it eliminate jobs?
No, first of all, it's a toolto help run a business and help
serve customers, but it feelsvery likely that it will create
more jobs than in eliminates in.
Those jobs will be far moreexciting, compelling career
choices for people from acrossthe different spectrums and
(24:12):
different walks of life and Ithink that's some of the things
that the people will see at thisevent is there's so many
different ways in whichtechnology will positively
impact that that the careeropportunities that will stem
from it.
As part of why I'm so excitedthat Chris and the team have
high school students, collegestudents and they have a broad
community people attending,because the ideas and the, the
(24:35):
career inspiration, as well asthe technology inspiration that
comes out of an event like thisis just so very powerful.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
So, yeah, Do you have any examples of technology that
is going to be demoed?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
For tech that's going to be demoed.
I don't know okay so we can.
We can talk about what I hopepeople will bring to the event,
because we've had conversationsabout it One, one really cool
piece of technology that I'dlove to see on display.
I'm going to be talking to DrJung at the Institute for
integrative and innovativeresearch, IQ Darth University of
(25:11):
Arkansas.
If you don't know Dr Jung, sheshe has this amazing piece of
biomechanical tech that'sessentially a prosthesis that
you can get if you've lost yourarm or your hand, and while
that's not a new technology,what's so different about hers
(25:32):
and she recently, I believe, putit in the first patient here in
Arkansas is that it actuallyrestores some form of sensation
with it, which is wild to thinkthat that is like some of the
tech that you.
It sounds crazy for me to beasking people I'm like bring the
hand with you, like bring thehand.
(25:53):
People are going to want to seethis, so I know that's.
That's one of the things thatthat we hope to have on display.
You know, last year we hadrobotic dogs.
I know that some people areplanning on bringing out some,
some robotic machinery.
Walmart and Sam's Club actuallyhadn't named that scrubber.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
And I was like how do you have a robot?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
and not give it a name.
And so then it took a couple ofemails and they were like OK, I
think we finally come down toSamuel Scrub.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
I'm like.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
I'm so on brand for you guys Like that's.
I don't know why I even asked.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Like that's that's perfect.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
But but things like that I know we we hope to have
on display.
I know Gaddick, one of ourreally amazing startups that
does middle mile delivery withautonomous vehicles.
They'll bring out one of theirnew trucks.
They were doing this deliveryfor Walmart.
They just announced recentlythat they're now doing it with
(26:47):
Walmart and Tyson and so ifyou're in Bentonville driving
around, there's a good chanceyou might see a Gaddick truck
without someone sitting in thedriver's seat Still, someone
sitting in the passenger seatfor a while until regulation
catches up with our technologyand everybody feels comfortable.
But they should have one oftheir trucks there on display as
well, so that kind of cool techshould definitely be there,
(27:11):
aren't the folks?
Speaker 3 (27:11):
from Drone Up going to be.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I don't think Drone Up is going to be showing off a
drone this year.
I know that we've got somedepartments at the university
that do everything from Doeverything, including drones.
It would surprise me if theydon't bring some of them out.
We did have a drone up dronelast year.
It's there's just so much cooltech that's in our backyard here
(27:34):
and it's been amazing to thelike when we put stuff out on
LinkedIn and online, who willreach out and claim they've got
some some different piece oftech?
I got a weird email with a guywho was just two lines and he
was like I've retrofitted asemi-autonomous vehicle.
You want me to bring it and I'mlike what is going on?
(27:57):
Like I don't want you to bringsomething that's probably not
street legal and show off Likeit just concerns me but, people
are eager to show off their cooltech toys at this event.
It's amazing what you get whenyou open Pandora's box and say
send me what you want to bring.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
I want to see robots In the Ozarks, yeah, yeah let's
you never quite know what you'regoing to get.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
So that's exciting.
Yeah, that's really cool.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
What other?
Do you have any other notes oranything you'd like to slip in
here?
Speaker 2 (28:33):
You know, on every podcast, almost to a fault, I
forget to say the dates andwhere people can get info.
So I'll go into my short stumpspeech.
The tech summit happens October29th through November 1st.
We'll kick things off on the29th in the evening with a
welcome celebration at theAmazium, which is a children's
museum here in town that we'regoing to rent out and have some
(28:56):
good food and drinks, somepersonal electric vehicle tech
to play with.
If you've never ridden a onewheel, or if you don't know what
one is, you should Google a onewheel and check it out.
We're going to have some ofthose on display.
You can try out some peopledoing stunts on them.
We'll have live music, we'llhave a drinks and drinks and
we'll also have virtual reality.
(29:17):
So the drinks and the virtualreality games could be really
interesting.
Yes, the Six Dimension VR is acompany that's local here in
town.
They'll have a whole game setup for people to play.
That kicks off the party andthen the the conference runs all
day Monday, tuesday andWednesday.
We'd love to have you come out.
Tickets are available atnwatechsummitcom and if you are
(29:40):
a student, educator,entrepreneur or military and
veteran, shoot me an email, goto the website, find a way to
contact us and we will try toget you a complimentary ticket.
Any crazy retail stories thatyou want to tell Scott, like
anything that when we talk techsummit cutting edge tech you've
really seen take shape and lastlike a year or two, that maybe I
(30:02):
haven't even been aware ofbecause I just haven't Retail's
not always the lane I'm in.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Yeah, so you know you .
You gave that story aboutrobotic order fulfillment in in
the micro fulfillment facilityover here.
What's what's interesting isthat it probably won't shock you
that companies were pitchingthat to Walmart years ago, in
fact, while I was still there.
And what's funny is now there'stechnology out there that I was
(30:30):
under NDA and it's seen andthought was so cool and could
never talk about.
Now it's out there and it'sbeing used and it's that.
But I had to keep that secretfor years and that's kind of
like, you know, luke Skywalkerhaving to know that Darth Vader
was his father but he couldn'tsay it.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
That's frankly.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
I knew about that, knew it was coming in, and now
it's here, it's going to becomeincreasingly mainstream, and so
that's, that's been kind of fun.
But I'll tell you one otherquick story.
Before I came to Walmart, I waswith a catalog retailer called
service merchandise, and when Iand while I was there was was
(31:11):
right when e-commerce wasstarting to emerge, and I was
fascinated by it, particularlybecause I was an electronics
buyer and electronics was thecategories that first really
could took off in e-commerce.
And when I landed the job withwhat was then called Walmart
online, which is now Walmartcom,I went in and obviously gave
(31:36):
notice that service merchandiseand the CEO of service
merchandise came and called meinto his office wanting to know
why I was leaving.
And I explained to him and andhere's the the most important
quote is he said you know, scott, this whole internet retailing
thing is just a fad.
Okay, it's not really going totake off.
(31:58):
And, and I don't even know whyyou're you're leaving us to go
and be involved in the, in this,this idea of of internet
retailing.
You know, and I said, well,respectfully, sir, I think it is
, and I think a catalog retailerlike service merchandise would
be well positioned because thinkabout it they took pictures of
every item, they haddescriptions of every item, they
(32:20):
had the ability to pick, packand ship individual products and
send them to your house.
Everything about a catalogretailer was perfect for it to
become an internet retailer.
And if you're all knowing aboutretailing, you know service
merchandise went chapter 11,then chapter seven got shut down
and he bought all the assets ofthe company, including the name
(32:41):
, all those facilities, out ofbankruptcy and today he operates
service merchandisecom out ofhis office in in Florida.
And so I just occasionally Ilike to call him up and say I
could have saved you a littlebit of pain.
But it's funny to see how, inthe context of technology
(33:04):
obviously, e-commerce went frombeing this cutting edge emerging
, not sure if it's going to work, not sure if anybody can make a
money at it.
Yeah, element of retailing towhere, nominally now, is that a
very viable part of retailing?
But people used to talk aboutit as two separate things Stores
and e-commerce, two separatesilos, separate things.
(33:27):
And now today we're seeing howthe two things come together to
serve a customer and that'sthat's kind of great, a great
thing to see.
But it all started with a?
You know, this is the fads got.
Well, respectfully, sir, Idon't think it is Okay.
See how it turned out.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
So you're talking about retail tech fads.
I found out some retail techtrivia the other day.
Do you know when and whoinvented the QR code?
I do not.
Okay, so new sponsor this year.
Denso was on the call with meand I didn't know much about
Denso.
Way back in 1994, denso wave,which was part of Denso as a
(34:06):
Japanese automobilemanufacturing company, they
created the QR code to manageyour inventory and so, like I
was just stunned that, as he'slike explaining to me his
company because I didn't knowmuch about him, he's like oh
yeah, we created the QR code.
I'm like what company can saythat?
I mean, I figured somebody hadto, but I was like that's really
(34:27):
awesome.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
But so they thought it was an industrial application
, not a consumer application,and now today it's kind of both.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Well, it went up and then disappeared for a while,
and then COVID, when nobodywanted to touch anything.
It had its full resurgence andnow it's just, it's ubiquitous
with everything.
Now.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
QR codes everywhere.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Now the latest kind of global standards are that a
can of coke would have a QR codeand then it would give all that
information, not just a barcode, which is a one line.
It also gives you whichmanufacturing facility the data
was made, and they're savinglives.
When there's a salmonellaoutbreak, you get to the
checkout and it will go thisthing of lettuce.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
It's been flagged.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
It's been flagged.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
You talk about applications of old things.
That's yeah.
Now it's like an item isrecalled.
Yeah, it's dangerous.
One wheel, by the way, yeah onewheels.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Oh yeah, I will be in full body suit by the end of
the body cast, by the end of thetext on it, on one wheels.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
This is great guys.
Thank you for being on thepodcast.
We will be rooting for it.
We'll actually be there, yeah,yeah, capturing some of that
great content learning from thepresenters, meeting people that
are part of this next wave oftechnology and being growth
minded, always learning, yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
That's the way to be in technology broadly and in
retail technology specifically.
So that's, I think you guys aregoing to see a lot of it.
Your readers will see a lot outof it.
I'm really looking forward toit and it's going to be a great
time, and it's all here in NorthWest Arkansas, which is kind of
cool.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
I'll tell you, the biggest let down is November 2nd
, the day it's all done.
The day it's all done.
I wake up and I'm like what doI do now?
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Chris is going to be like Santa on December 26th.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Yeah Right, I gave out all the cool stuff.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
What do I do now?
Right, I would go to Floridaand relax and buy a new Chris.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Actually, I got family in Florida.
That's where we're going forChristmas.
So that's the plan.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
And then start planning next year, then next
year.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Thank, you guys.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
Thank you, thank you.
The Northwest Arca-Saw Tech Summit.
This is a big event, but howlong has it been going on and
what really sparked the idea toget it started?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Yeah, so the NWA Tech Summit is 10 years old this
year, and so it started with agroup of small business owners
who really wanted to stay aheadof the tech curve.
They wanted to discuss trends,do a little bit of forecasting
as to what was coming down thepike, and since then it's just
kind of exploded year over year,to go from depending on the
(00:37):
myth and lore that you believetwo to 300 at the very first one
to now we're anticipating over2000 registered attendees for
this year.
So it's a homegrown project.
It's always been here inBendville as part of the Chamber
of Commerce and it just keepsgrowing and has really
transformed into something morethan just a small business focus
(00:59):
, because we engage with all themajor local enterprise
companies that were born andraised here so Walmart, tyson,
jb Hunt and the University ofArkansas and then we interact
with a lot of the tech companies, including retail tech
companies that are here becauseof those big employers, so
everyone from Salesforce toMicrosoft, ibm and Google, and
(01:23):
then some new faces this year,including, like Dunhumbie, and
actually Metta is one of ourbrand new sponsors this year.
So we just continue to grow andit's so much fun to get to
showcase Northwest Arkansas as atech hub, the rivals Silicon
Valley and New York City, andthat really retail tech is king
(01:44):
here as well.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
On the retail side of it.
I know there's a retailinnovation track.
Is that something that Scott isheading up?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
So I'm supporting being involved in it, and I'm
particularly excited about itbecause, if you're from a retail
background, you get to seeevery day what an exciting and
kind of compelling way in whichtechnology is evolving and
changing the retail community.
And while this is a tech summit,it probably won't shock anybody
(02:17):
that Northwest Arkansas has apretty strong root in retailing
as well.
And not only does technologyhave an exciting impact on the
customer, on the customerexperience, but it also enhances
the worker experience.
It's the person who supportsyou in a store or in a Sam's
(02:37):
Club, in a distribution center,truck drivers.
There's so many things, so manyelements of retail that are
positively impacted bytechnology.
And then one kind ofoverarching aspect is the role
that our official intelligenceis playing and is stating that
going to play in our lives.
In many ways, our officialintelligence is going to enhance
(03:01):
a lot of different aspects ofretail.
So, even though this summit isreally about technology in the
broader context, if you're froma retail background, this is an
exciting time to see the waysthat technology is impacting the
retail business.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
What are some of those major themes that you've
seen and what would peopleexpect at the conference,
especially the retail track?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
So when you look at some of the retail tech that's
thriving here, one of ourkeynote sessions is going to be
led by Tim Simmons, who is VP atSam's Club.
I believe he leads their productwork, and what Tim is going to
talk about is some of theautomation that you're seeing
rolled out at Sam's Club andspecifically, machinery that I
(03:50):
don't think they've deployednationally yet, but everything
from automated scrubbers.
So what used to be theZamboni-like machine that
someone would drive around Sam'sClub to clean the floors now
goes on its own Drives, fullyautonomous.
For those of us who know whatit is like, I stare and watch
with complete terror at the waysome children dart in front of
(04:11):
it.
But it's immensely smart.
It knows when to stop, it knowswhen to go.
It is doing some really coolthings behind the scenes.
They even announced I don'tknow if you called it earlier
this year they had built anautomated hamburger machine
which is really funny that, ofall the things to build, it's
just so cool that at Sam's Clubthis machine can churn out
(04:33):
burgers and build them.
And so when you think likeretail innovation in terms of
like actual tech hardware,that's not something that might
immediately come to mind withWalmart and Sam's Club, but
they're leading the way in somereally interesting products and
solutions that they'redeveloping In our own backyard
here.
I know one of the things thatwe'll talk about at the summit
(04:56):
is a little bit of what's goingon at Store 100.
There's a space where whatthey're called alphabots.
They are about maybe a couplefeet wide by a couple feet tall.
They're fully autonomous littlerobots that zoom around and
pick up inventory to fill ordersthat are placed for pickup and
(05:17):
orders that are placed fordelivery, so that these bots are
zooming around with sort of asectioned off inventory area so
that workers aren't out on thefloor walking around all day.
But these bots can just zoomaround and zip back through this
charging station, get rechargedand then pick up all these
items.
It is a wonder to sit there andlook at it because it's just so
(05:39):
big and so massive in its scope,with all these different
autonomous bots now crashinginto each other, moving in
different directions, picking upthese items.
It's really cool to see, andit's not just Walmart either.
Tyson has Tyson brought out arobotic arm that was showing how
it works, sort of to help sortof move chicken items.
(05:59):
Lots of these companies hereare really engaging in some
cutting edge tech that you justwouldn't associate with Walmart
being retail.
Tyson gets labeled as justchicken, jb Hunt just gets
labeled as trucking.
I mean, all of them areexperimenting and playing around
with autonomous vehicles nowand electric vehicles, and so
(06:20):
it's really cutting edge techfrom companies that might not
always be associated with thecutting edge Most people have
become acquainted with OpenAIchat, gbt, which is moving
around language, and it can doso much, but it still is digital
thing.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
It's just moving text and images, and the stuff you
just talked about was movingphysical things, rearranging and
understanding where to go, howto not run into each other,
where to go to charge themselveswhen they get tired, right?
So are you seeing a blend ofthe two, or what do we expect
(06:57):
from the digital and physical?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
You know, that's why we really landed on the title
theme that we have for this year, the year of the machines.
Because we saw last year in thetrack that we did on mobility
and supply chain, that almostall the solutions were AI driven
and automation driven, and wewere like man, we should really
lean into this, like this iswhere it looks like it's going.
And then January-ish is when,like chat GPT really like
(07:23):
started making waves and we werelike man, we got to double down
on this, like we got to make itthe year of the machines.
We've like it's going to be bigand, sure enough, like every
other week, there's been somepress release related to AI from
every imaginal company.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Yeah, and I'll tell you, things are happening so
fast.
This recently, this week, youknow we talked about how
technology can impact thephysical elements of retail and
make them more efficient.
But I've seen this week AIsolutions for product content on
item detail pages on a website,not only creating that content
(08:01):
to begin with and doing it in avery efficient way, but in many
cases, optimizing that contentso that it is up to date from a
seasonality standpoint, so thatit is more easily found in
search queries on a website oron a mobile app.
It helps both the retailer andthe brand owner, the person
(08:25):
who's built the product, toenhance their copy and tell
their story of their product ina way that not only helps the
consumer once they've locatedthat product, but makes it
easier to find a relevantproduct or a certain group of
products on a website.
And just like placement of aproduct in a physical store is
(08:47):
critical to its success,consumers gotta be able to find
it.
That same thing occurs on awebsite and on a mobile app, and
if you're shopping forsomething and you can't find it,
it doesn't exist to you as aconsumer.
And AI is improving the way thatcontent and how findable a
product is in a shoppingexperience, and that's so
(09:10):
critical, particularly inretailers like Walmart and Sam's
Club and others that have anominee channel presence,
because in many cases thedigital experience isn't just
about a digital sale, but inmany cases it leads to a sale in
a physical store, and thattechnology is now making easier
to find it, and consumers, moreand more, are time-starved and
(09:33):
the ability to research and buyan item online and then go pick
it up in a physical store is ause case that, while it
accelerated during the pandemic,it's now kind of settled in as
a significant part of how retailtransactions are done, and so
brand marketers, retailers,product managers all have an
(09:54):
important desire to see thatwork and technology is impacting
the digital side in addition towhat Chris was just talking
about in terms of the physicalsides of retailing.
So that's kind of exciting.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
And there's a desire to like, blur the line between
the two, like with the wholemetaverse and augmented reality.
You know people from thesimplest aspects of like.
You know using your cell phoneto figure out where your item is
in the store instead ofwandering like I did that at
Lowe's the other day, becauseanytime I'm in Lowe's I get lost
I'm being able to like, figureout on a map like okay, this is
(10:28):
what I'm looking for, here'swhere I go, so I don't have to
try to find somebody.
But, even down to things likejust different in-store
experiences that blur the linebetween the physical and digital
, which is really gonna continueto get weird and fun and
interesting as we blur thoselines moving forward.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
It's exciting times to see how technology is
positively impacting theshopping experience as well as
making the retailer and thebrand more efficient and more
effective in the consumer needs.
We all live through the supplychain issues coming out of the
pandemic in the last few years,and that's a use case where AI
(11:09):
and other technologies willenhance supply chain planning
from factory through thedistribution chain to a store
shelf and into consumers homesin ways that hopefully will make
that a thing of the past goingforward, because every person,
every organization, has acomponent of that supply chain
(11:31):
is now gonna be more effectivein what they do because of where
technology is headed.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
So, yeah, there's a lot happening and it's blowing
my mind, but more so than thatstruggle to learn and keep up,
there's a fear of missing out, aFOMO how do you help those who
are overwhelmed?
And Fear of missing out?
And just there's too muchinformation right now.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Okay, I tell you, I think that's part of why the
summit is so important, becausebeing a student, learning,
listening, hearing from peoplewho are on the cutting edge of
some of these technologies, Ithink is how you start to answer
that question.
No matter what role you play inthe technology space broadly or
in retail Specifically, you'vegot to be a student, you've got
(12:19):
to listen, you got to attendevents like this one, where you
hear people that are on thecutting edge of what's happening
, and at least kind of keep youryour knowledge level and your
opportunity to kind of seeLeaders in that space and then
just continue to learn, and Ithink it's one of those that you
know the true solutions willhappen over time.
(12:40):
You're gonna have to experiment.
Whether you're a consumer,brand, a retailer, part of
supply chain, whatever role youplay in the broader ecosystem of
retail, a Marketer, you've gotto, you've got to try things and
you've got to learn from peoplewho are doing things well and
Just continue to, to watch andsee how it can improve your
(13:03):
business case.
Now, one of the things I'll alsotell you is, I think if you're
a business person, no matterwhat role you play, you have an
obligation, of my view, tochallenge Technology people who
develop technology with.
Here's a business challenge,here's a business problem that
we're facing.
How can you help me solve that?
Because that's when some of thebest technology solutions
(13:26):
Happen, when they're in responseto some sort of business
challenge.
Either the retailer has, theconsumer has, or whoever that
might be.
And so Get in the game, beinvolved, learn, ask questions,
attend events like this.
I think is is the advice Iwould give folks in our industry
.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
So yeah, and I think one of the really Interesting
things about the tech summit isit's so accessible.
We'll have everybody from highschool students and college
students all the way up throughC-suite level execs and that's.
That may sound like too big ofan umbrella, but we make a
really good effort trying totell our presenters that you
(14:04):
know, we want you to do deepdives but also play in the
shallow end of the pool, a bitlike we want people to be able
to walk away with some somecaptivating information that
they wouldn't have known before,to really help Continue to
build a tech pipeline of, youknow, kids who are interested in
tech, kids who are interestedin staying here Locally to
(14:26):
pursue a career in tech, ratherthan moving to to Silicon Valley
or to New York City.
We want them to think you know,man, if I want to go into AI
and automation, I could.
I could really look at TysonWalmart or JB Hunt, and that's
the kind of inspirational eventthat we hope we build, so that I
mean people who even just havea low threshold of Personal tech
(14:49):
capabilities, like myselfincluded.
I love the event, I love goingto it, even though a lot of
conversation will go straightover my head Once we we dive
really deep into the weeds, butit's a really cool playground to
see like what's cutting edge,what's being deployed and and
kind of what's on the horizon,so that everybody can can access
it and then build some reallyInteresting networks and
(15:12):
relationships to follow up on.
If you have a specific interest, I know that just this week we
had a news article that hitwhere three ignite students
which is a program out of ourlocal Bentonville Public Schools
three ignite students met upwith a University of Arkansas
professor last year at the TechSummit and have been doing work
(15:32):
on some projects ever since, andthis was the event where they
connected and Started theconversation and so we actually
we have them coming to presentand share about what they've
done, because I was like that'stoo cool a story not to have you
guys be on stage.
Like that's the kind of thingwe want to highlight Among all
the other types of presentations.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
That's so fun.
Yeah yeah, I see how there'sthis vision beyond just Making a
commercial Conference.
Is that what I'm hearing?
There's a deeper layer.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
There's, there's a couple lanes that we try to
operate in.
You know, because we're part ofthe Chamber of Commerce, we
really take pride in Ineconomically developing the area
by showcasing this region byyou know, by looking at our
audience the fact that, forexample, microsoft or or Google,
like they've got teams ofpeople who live here.
They'll come to the conference,but they're also going to bring
(16:25):
in speakers from probably thecoasts or another major
metropolitan area, and sothey'll come in and see this
place, maybe even for the firsttime.
We love being able to showcaseNorthwest Arkansas as a place
where innovators can thrive andwhere technologists can remote
work or Move and, and you know,build a business, grow a
(16:47):
business, because that's that'sa beautiful story of like
Walmart, tyson and JB Hunt.
They are, whether or not theylook like it, they are all now
technology companies and theyall got their start right here.
And there's even someIncredible startups following in
their footsteps, like ox.
That's a local retail techcompany that's booming and
(17:08):
growing right here in NorthwestArkansas, and so we're working
to do that lane of economicdevelopment.
We're working to improve, like,access and equity when it comes
to tech, so that students,educators, entrepreneurs,
active-duty military andveterans can all apply for
complementary tickets to come.
We know that those groups tendto look for careers in tech.
(17:29):
They want to find out theskills that they need, or maybe
how to reskill, an upskill, forsome jobs in tech.
And so we do some of thatworkforce development by putting
them in touch with thesepotential employers, showing
them what, what they need toknow, to, to keep their skills
current.
And then, beyond that, there'sa lot of networking that happens
among these businesses, wherecompanies will rub elbows at
(17:52):
this conference, share a stage,share drinking, some food, and
just new collaborations are born, and so we do a little bit of
all those things which makes itso much fun of a playground to
play in.
And now, scott, you'veexperienced it.
I'm curious, kind of like whatyou would say like what are the
takeaways of that engagement ona personal level?
Speaker 3 (18:15):
I got to tell you that my experience, not only
when I was with Walmart andSam's Club, but since I've been
part of the broader community,is relationship building and
just the interaction of folksfrom across the spectrum of
technology and retail techspecifically is where great
(18:36):
ideas happen and whererelationships are born.
You gave a great example, butthere's countless others and
I've seen it.
But I think the other thing isis, while our area, our region,
is known for retailing, fortrucking and for meat production
because of the big companieshere, now we're being known for
(18:56):
so many other things, so manyother aspects of retail, as well
as the beautiful area that wehave.
I was on a call with someonejust the other day from Chicago
and they knew about our mountainbiking.
They knew about how nice it isdown here, how the area is
developing, how much recreationthere is, and so if you could
(19:16):
have both quality of life andexciting economic development
activity that's going on, that'skind of a neat thing and part
of what I think Chris and theteam get to kind of showcase by
having folks come here fromother parts of the country and
see our area and participate inthe summit as well.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
And, like all good marketing, content is king.
We take great pride in that.
We get the best speakers, thebest leaders in the area and
beyond.
Like this year it's going to beI think our highest ranking
person from Walmart is going tobe the Chief Product Officer,
john Alphornis.
We've got some incredible otherspeakers that just when you go
(20:00):
to a conference, you may seesome B or C list technologists,
maybe one or two A listers, buthere, like the depth of tech in
Northwest Arkansas and the widerange they have to pull from to
bring in speakers is justastronomical.
We have some great content that, if for nothing else, if you
(20:22):
are coming to learn about tech,you're going to get your fill.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Indeed, that's so exciting.
There was something you saidabout major retailers or
basically technology companies.
Now, and at the core of itstill is people centric, like
the actual retail industry isone of the most people oriented
businesses.
But traditionally people wouldsay, well, I don't want to get
(20:48):
into retail because I'm notreally a people person and I'm
like you know.
I tried working at a store whenI was younger.
I just don't like people.
And now there's room and almosta necessity to bring in people
who aren't the necessarily theoutgoing people person, the
salespeople.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
I got to tell you that it's interesting how
retailing has evolved because,to your point, in many cases, if
you had a customer facing roleand you weren't a people person,
one would question whetherretailing was the right career.
The thing and I taughtretailing for a period of time
at Texas A&M and one of thethings we told students there is
(21:29):
there's not really an area ofinterest or career growth or an
opportunity that retailingdoesn't somehow touch, and I can
recall when David Glass was theCEO of Walmart, him talking
about in a meeting that youcould have so many different
careers within a retailorganization like Walmart and
(21:53):
that, to your kind of to yourpoint, is, no matter what role
you play, you could be anengineer, you can be a supply
chain person, you can be a coder, you can be a marketer, you can
be someone who loves to be infront of people, you can be
someone who prefers not.
There are so many differentareas that you can play a role
within retailing and obviouslyspent my entire adult adult life
(22:17):
involved in retailing and loveit.
But part of what's so neat isthe number of people I've
encountered, including myself,for whom retailing was going to
be a temporary.
I'm just going to do this till Iget out of college or till I
solve this problem or thatproblem in my, in my life and
then fell in love with it andstayed with it, and I think
(22:37):
that's that's the neat thingabout retailing broadly is the
career, and particularly now astechnology is enabling so many
different new career paths thatare still tied back to retailing
.
It's a fun time and and it's anexciting time and you can just
have so many different careerswithin retailing.
If you're not a people person,it's still okay.
(23:00):
If you can contribute anotherway, I'm pretty sure we want you
involved in the industry andand this is this is a great this
event is a great way to kind offind some of those
opportunities for you as aprofessional.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Yeah, I think there are a lot of people who are at
that spot in their career wherethey may be looking for a change
, or also just younger studentsgoing.
I don't really know what I wantto do.
Retail has all these components.
It's not just moving productanymore.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Yeah, one of my favorite things that I've heard
Doug Mcmillan say a couple timesin public settings recently and
I hope I get this quote exactlyright.
But he viewed Walmart as techenabled but people let and yeah
that's one of the recurringthemes that I think is is
concerns people.
As technology and the evolutionof technology a bad thing?
(23:50):
Does it eliminate jobs?
No, first of all, it's a toolto help run a business and help
serve customers, but it feelsvery likely that it will create
more jobs than in eliminates in.
Those jobs will be far moreexciting, compelling career
choices for people from acrossthe different spectrums and
(24:12):
different walks of life and Ithink that's some of the things
that the people will see at thisevent is there's so many
different ways in whichtechnology will positively
impact that that the careeropportunities that will stem
from it.
As part of why I'm so excitedthat Chris and the team have
high school students, collegestudents and they have a broad
community people attending,because the ideas and the, the
(24:35):
career inspiration, as well asthe technology inspiration that
comes out of an event like thisis just so very powerful.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
So, yeah, Do you have any examples of technology that
is going to be demoed?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
For tech that's going to be demoed.
I don't know okay so we can.
We can talk about what I hopepeople will bring to the event,
because we've had conversationsabout it One, one really cool
piece of technology that I'dlove to see on display.
I'm going to be talking to DrJung at the Institute for
integrative and innovativeresearch, IQ Darth University of
(25:11):
Arkansas.
If you don't know Dr Jung, sheshe has this amazing piece of
biomechanical tech that'sessentially a prosthesis that
you can get if you've lost yourarm or your hand, and while
that's not a new technology,what's so different about hers
(25:32):
and she recently, I believe, putit in the first patient here in
Arkansas is that it actuallyrestores some form of sensation
with it, which is wild to thinkthat that is like some of the
tech that you.
It sounds crazy for me to beasking people I'm like bring the
hand with you, like bring thehand.
(25:53):
People are going to want to seethis, so I know that's.
That's one of the things thatthat we hope to have on display.
You know, last year we hadrobotic dogs.
I know that some people areplanning on bringing out some,
some robotic machinery.
Walmart and Sam's Club actuallyhadn't named that scrubber.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
And I was like how do you have a robot?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
and not give it a name.
And so then it took a couple ofemails and they were like OK, I
think we finally come down toSamuel Scrub.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
I'm like.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
I'm so on brand for you guys Like that's.
I don't know why I even asked.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Like that's that's perfect.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
But but things like that I know we we hope to have
on display.
I know Gaddick, one of ourreally amazing startups that
does middle mile delivery withautonomous vehicles.
They'll bring out one of theirnew trucks.
They were doing this deliveryfor Walmart.
They just announced recentlythat they're now doing it with
(26:47):
Walmart and Tyson and so ifyou're in Bentonville driving
around, there's a good chanceyou might see a Gaddick truck
without someone sitting in thedriver's seat Still, someone
sitting in the passenger seatfor a while until regulation
catches up with our technologyand everybody feels comfortable.
But they should have one oftheir trucks there on display as
well, so that kind of cool techshould definitely be there,
(27:11):
aren't the folks?
Speaker 3 (27:11):
from Drone Up going to be.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I don't think Drone Up is going to be showing off a
drone this year.
I know that we've got somedepartments at the university
that do everything from Doeverything, including drones.
It would surprise me if theydon't bring some of them out.
We did have a drone up dronelast year.
It's there's just so much cooltech that's in our backyard here
(27:34):
and it's been amazing to thelike when we put stuff out on
LinkedIn and online, who willreach out and claim they've got
some some different piece oftech?
I got a weird email with a guywho was just two lines and he
was like I've retrofitted asemi-autonomous vehicle.
You want me to bring it and I'mlike what is going on?
(27:57):
Like I don't want you to bringsomething that's probably not
street legal and show off Likeit just concerns me but, people
are eager to show off their cooltech toys at this event.
It's amazing what you get whenyou open Pandora's box and say
send me what you want to bring.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
I want to see robots In the Ozarks, yeah, yeah let's
you never quite know what you'regoing to get.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
So that's exciting.
Yeah, that's really cool.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
What other?
Do you have any other notes oranything you'd like to slip in
here?
Speaker 2 (28:33):
You know, on every podcast, almost to a fault, I
forget to say the dates andwhere people can get info.
So I'll go into my short stumpspeech.
The tech summit happens October29th through November 1st.
We'll kick things off on the29th in the evening with a
welcome celebration at theAmazium, which is a children's
museum here in town that we'regoing to rent out and have some
(28:56):
good food and drinks, somepersonal electric vehicle tech
to play with.
If you've never ridden a onewheel, or if you don't know what
one is, you should Google a onewheel and check it out.
We're going to have some ofthose on display.
You can try out some peopledoing stunts on them.
We'll have live music, we'llhave a drinks and drinks and
we'll also have virtual reality.
(29:17):
So the drinks and the virtualreality games could be really
interesting.
Yes, the Six Dimension VR is acompany that's local here in
town.
They'll have a whole game setup for people to play.
That kicks off the party andthen the the conference runs all
day Monday, tuesday andWednesday.
We'd love to have you come out.
Tickets are available atnwatechsummitcom and if you are
(29:40):
a student, educator,entrepreneur or military and
veteran, shoot me an email, goto the website, find a way to
contact us and we will try toget you a complimentary ticket.
Any crazy retail stories thatyou want to tell Scott, like
anything that when we talk techsummit cutting edge tech you've
really seen take shape and lastlike a year or two, that maybe I
(30:02):
haven't even been aware ofbecause I just haven't Retail's
not always the lane I'm in.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Yeah, so you know you .
You gave that story aboutrobotic order fulfillment in in
the micro fulfillment facilityover here.
What's what's interesting isthat it probably won't shock you
that companies were pitchingthat to Walmart years ago, in
fact, while I was still there.
And what's funny is now there'stechnology out there that I was
(30:30):
under NDA and it's seen andthought was so cool and could
never talk about.
Now it's out there and it'sbeing used and it's that.
But I had to keep that secretfor years and that's kind of
like, you know, luke Skywalkerhaving to know that Darth Vader
was his father but he couldn'tsay it.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
That's frankly.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
I knew about that, knew it was coming in, and now
it's here, it's going to becomeincreasingly mainstream, and so
that's, that's been kind of fun.
But I'll tell you one otherquick story.
Before I came to Walmart, I waswith a catalog retailer called
service merchandise, and when Iand while I was there was was
(31:11):
right when e-commerce wasstarting to emerge, and I was
fascinated by it, particularlybecause I was an electronics
buyer and electronics was thecategories that first really
could took off in e-commerce.
And when I landed the job withwhat was then called Walmart
online, which is now Walmartcom,I went in and obviously gave
(31:36):
notice that service merchandiseand the CEO of service
merchandise came and called meinto his office wanting to know
why I was leaving.
And I explained to him and andhere's the the most important
quote is he said you know, scott, this whole internet retailing
thing is just a fad.
Okay, it's not really going totake off.
(31:58):
And, and I don't even know whyyou're you're leaving us to go
and be involved in the, in this,this idea of of internet
retailing.
You know, and I said, well,respectfully, sir, I think it is
, and I think a catalog retailerlike service merchandise would
be well positioned because thinkabout it they took pictures of
every item, they haddescriptions of every item, they
(32:20):
had the ability to pick, packand ship individual products and
send them to your house.
Everything about a catalogretailer was perfect for it to
become an internet retailer.
And if you're all knowing aboutretailing, you know service
merchandise went chapter 11,then chapter seven got shut down
and he bought all the assets ofthe company, including the name
(32:41):
, all those facilities, out ofbankruptcy and today he operates
service merchandisecom out ofhis office in in Florida.
And so I just occasionally Ilike to call him up and say I
could have saved you a littlebit of pain.
But it's funny to see how, inthe context of technology
(33:04):
obviously, e-commerce went frombeing this cutting edge emerging
, not sure if it's going to work, not sure if anybody can make a
money at it.
Yeah, element of retailing towhere, nominally now, is that a
very viable part of retailing?
But people used to talk aboutit as two separate things Stores
and e-commerce, two separatesilos, separate things.
(33:27):
And now today we're seeing howthe two things come together to
serve a customer and that'sthat's kind of great, a great
thing to see.
But it all started with a?
You know, this is the fads got.
Well, respectfully, sir, Idon't think it is Okay.
See how it turned out.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
So you're talking about retail tech fads.
I found out some retail techtrivia the other day.
Do you know when and whoinvented the QR code?
I do not.
Okay, so new sponsor this year.
Denso was on the call with meand I didn't know much about
Denso.
Way back in 1994, denso wave,which was part of Denso as a
(34:06):
Japanese automobilemanufacturing company, they
created the QR code to manageyour inventory and so, like I
was just stunned that, as he'slike explaining to me his
company because I didn't knowmuch about him, he's like oh
yeah, we created the QR code.
I'm like what company can saythat?
I mean, I figured somebody hadto, but I was like that's really
(34:27):
awesome.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
But so they thought it was an industrial application
, not a consumer application,and now today it's kind of both.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Well, it went up and then disappeared for a while,
and then COVID, when nobodywanted to touch anything.
It had its full resurgence andnow it's just, it's ubiquitous
with everything.
Now.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
QR codes everywhere.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Now the latest kind of global standards are that a
can of coke would have a QR codeand then it would give all that
information, not just a barcode, which is a one line.
It also gives you whichmanufacturing facility the data
was made, and they're savinglives.
When there's a salmonellaoutbreak, you get to the
checkout and it will go thisthing of lettuce.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
It's been flagged.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
It's been flagged.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
You talk about applications of old things.
That's yeah.
Now it's like an item isrecalled.
Yeah, it's dangerous.
One wheel, by the way, yeah onewheels.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Oh yeah, I will be in full body suit by the end of
the body cast, by the end of thetext on it, on one wheels.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
This is great guys.
Thank you for being on thepodcast.
We will be rooting for it.
We'll actually be there, yeah,yeah, capturing some of that
great content learning from thepresenters, meeting people that
are part of this next wave oftechnology and being growth
minded, always learning, yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
That's the way to be in technology broadly and in
retail technology specifically.
So that's, I think you guys aregoing to see a lot of it.
Your readers will see a lot outof it.
I'm really looking forward toit and it's going to be a great
time, and it's all here in NorthWest Arkansas, which is kind of
cool.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
I'll tell you, the biggest let down is November 2nd
, the day it's all done.
The day it's all done.
I wake up and I'm like what doI do now?
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Chris is going to be like Santa on December 26th.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Yeah Right, I gave out all the cool stuff.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
What do I do now?
Right, I would go to Floridaand relax and buy a new Chris.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Actually, I got family in Florida.
That's where we're going forChristmas.
So that's the plan.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
And then start planning next year, then next
year.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Thank, you guys.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
Thank you, thank you.
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