B (3:29)

Oh, Jesus.

A (3:30)

What would you, what would you have asked them in that five minutes?

B (3:33)

Oh, my God, we're right. And we're day four in Vegas. Day five in Vegas. I know I'm able to start out the show here.

A (3:41)

Yes, I'm curious. I'm curious.

B (3:43)

Let me think about that one, first of all. So, yeah, Jack Sinclair and Tim Steiner. You know Jack, Jack was great. Jack was a great interview. Very affable guy. Everyone loved him. I think, I think he and I had a pretty solid conversation. I would have liked to have five more minutes with Tim, Tim Steiner. There are more questions I would have liked to ask. And for example, the last question I asked him, which was really interesting to me, I said, what's your prediction for the future? How is grocery shopping going to change? And he said something which I bet 95%, if not more of the audience disagrees with him, which he, you remember he said, he said he thinks there'll become a day where E Commerce fulfillment is actually the cheapest way to fulfill your customers demands for groceries, you know, and, and that's kind of staggering when you think about it. So I would have liked to have. And he was pretty confident in it. So I would have liked to have asked him, what is your degree of, of, of confidence in that prediction? Yeah. Are you like 95? 100. I think he would have said 100% if I'd asked him. He's, you know, that's kind of my take. But, you know, I would have liked to know if he would have hedged a little bit on that. You know, if I said like by 10, I could see he was saying like by 10 years. I think if I remember right. So, you know, that would be my man.

A (4:58)

I mean, I feel like we need to have flying cars at that time or like some sort of drone delivery that is more capable than anything for that to, to happen. But what, I mean, what is your probability that that prediction comes through? I mean, do you think that's possible?

B (5:15)

I actually think it's. I think it's more likely than not. I don't know what time frame it will be, but I think, I think we'll hit an inflection point at some point. I'll probably talk about this on stage later today when we do the takeaways, but we'll hit some inflection point where the cost of automation and technology will go down. Right. And those facilities will be easier to stand up. They'll get more efficient as well. The cost of delivering in the last mile will get more efficient too, as automation comes into play there. And then on the other side, the cost of labor will continue to go up in the stores too. So at some point that line is going to cross. And Tim might be right. You know, that's what's crazy when you think about it. And so that's why all this change with agentic AI and OpenAI getting into, you know, e commerce and Amazon pushing groceries like it's all the current day, but, you know, none of us know, 10 or 15 years out is going to look like.

A (6:07)

Yeah, yeah, that's true. Well, we'll see what predictions come true and just how soon that will happen. And we'll play back the tape, we'll play back the tape of when you thought that and when Jack thought that. And it's Jack, Tim. I keep getting Tim and Jack.

B (6:23)

Tim and Jack. Well, they're two garden variety names, you.

A (6:26)

Know, we'll see if what Tim said comes to play. Yes.

B (6:30)

Yeah, yeah. And one's a Brit and one's a Scotsman, so. And very, very proud Scotsman too. Did you see where Jack Sinclair wore all blue on stage because of his proud Scottish heritage? What a great dude. All right, should we get to the headlines? Anne?

A (6:43)

The brave heart of grocery.

B (6:45)

Yes, that's great. That's great. That's a great line.

A (6:48)

Yes. Let's get to the headlines.

B (6:49)

All right, in this week's Fast5, we've got news on early data on the impact of Costco's new early opening schedule. Amazon shutting down all its UK Amazon Fresh stores sprouts opening 20 in store coffee shops in California Doordash adding reservations and in store rewards to its app. And AWS's Daniela Stropa stops by to help us hand out this month's retail tech startup of the Month award. But we begin today with big news. I've already talked about it. And big news out of OpenAI.

A (7:23)

Yeah, I mean, I agree. I think this is maybe one of the biggest headlines that we're going to look back on. I'm already putting this down for headline of the year.

B (7:32)

For me, it's probably a good point.

A (7:34)

So headline number one. OpenAI announced ChatGPT Instant Checkout. According to CNBC, the new feature will allow users to make single item purchases directly from merchants through ChatGPT. Instant Checkout initially supports single item purchases from US Etsy sellers, and more than 1 million Shopify merchants are coming soon. The feature is available to us ChatGPT+Pro and free users, and OpenAI plans to expand regional availability in the future. Also of note, shares of Etsy closed up nearly 16% on Monday with the news and Shopify stock closed up more than 6%. Chris, this is also not surprisingly, the A and M put you on the spot question. They want to know, geez, let's make.

B (8:22)

My brain work today.

A (8:23)

Yes, yes. Every, every headline, every time we come to you, it's going to be a zinger. Okay, Chris, A and M wants to know. Allowing shoppers to discover and buy products in ChatGPT without leaving the chat should steamroll the classic E Comm funnel from Search Cart to check out in one fell swoop. What are the biggest challenges brands and retailers face in making their online content and product categories agent friendly versus just consumer friendly?

B (8:55)

Oh my God, there's so much to that question. All right, well, the first thing I would say is the first thing that the retailers and the brands have to ask themselves is do they want to make their, you know, content agent friendly at all? You know, we heard from David Dorff on the five insightful minutes last week, which is a great interview, folks. If you have not listened to that yet, stop what you're doing right now, hit pause and go back to last week's episode and listen to what David had to say because it was very, very insightful. But we learned from him. You know, basically you have two options. You can either block the bots or you can let them in. And if you want to accept them, then you have to get your site geo optimized and everyone's trying to figure out what the heck that means. That's been a very big topic of conversation here at Grocery Shop. And then it sounds like if, if you're okay with that, then you also, it sounds like have to plug into Chat GPT for checkout in some Way, shape or form too. So if you want to start experimenting with that, you want to start understanding what your customer sees from that experience and what you can offer them up to close the deal. I think that's the, that's the key thing here, that that's what you have to start experimenting with. We heard Lauren Steinberg of Loblaw, who was incredibly impressive when we interviewed her, and she was very open with it. She said, yeah, we're experimenting. We're welcoming it. We're experimenting with. We don't know what it is until we try it. So we're not going to, you know, we're not going to close ourselves down. We're going to try to think and think and experiment our way through this. So, Net. Net. I don't know. I mean, things are changing so fricking fast that I think that's the approach. But I do wonder for me, and I just don't know, like, is there a Trojan horse here? Is this Pandora's box? How many people will retrench and just try to thwart all bots from going to their site? Which I don't know. I'd like to actually think about this in a boardroom with people to say, what are all the different, you know, outcomes that could happen? And like we said with Tim, which ones are more probable that they are going to happen? Because I do worry about the Trojan horse effect here too, that all this will just end up fueling OpenAI and anyone else that tries to do this in the long run. So I don't know. I honestly have no idea. I mean, that's. That's my big takeaway here.

A (11:08)

Yeah, I don't think anybody does. I mean, that is resoundingly clear among all of the retailers and brands that I feel like we've come across in the last few days in Vegas at grocery shop. I think the biggest challenge is that no one's ready for it. But I see I'm going to lean a little bit heavier because I do think this is like, you know, the Google of. Of 2025 lean heavier.

B (11:31)

Which way?

A (11:31)

I think I would lean heavier in preparing for bot traffic because there's a study that just came out from similar web that says that consumers that use search platforms like, like ChatGPT are seven times more likely to convert. So I think retailers have to come up for a plan of how to do both, how to sell to agents, how to show up in those searches, and then figuring out how to still manage and create a desirable experience for the consumers that are coming directly to their site. But I think there's two things that have to happen for or that retailers should be focused on for them to be successful in addition to, you know, just starting to test like Lauren Steinberg was talking about from blah blah, blah. The first thing I think it's cultural changes including, including like new teams. I know back a few weeks ago when Lululemon hired their chief AI officer, we were kind of like, does that make sense?

B (12:23)

But yeah, David Dorff said that too. Right.

A (12:25)

I actually think that the more that we're hearing about this from retailers, it's going to require this creation of a cross functional team that kind of helps think about this outside of the silos. And then the second thing is, is I think they're going to have to rely more heavily on third party content from both creators and retailers are going to have to rely on brands for that content so that they can start testing this and so that they can start showing up more readily in some of those agentic type searches. So there is a lot ahead for consumers, there's a lot ahead for the retailers and brands in this space. But it's here now, like this is, this is the headline to me that says that like there's no more like consideration. It's here, you have to be tested.

B (13:11)

It. Yeah. And Etsy is a perfect partner too because what did David say? And he said that we're going to start to see this explode at the holiday season because you can literally and you know, Etsy is perfect for that because you're like, hey, I want to get a cool, you know, unique gift for my wife or my, you know, girlfriend or whatever. And now I can put that in a chat. They can help me even like potentially, you know, refine that search and then Etsy will pop up and you know, give me something really unique.

A (13:33)

It's so easy. I just posted a video last night to LinkedIn of my search and in a matter of seconds I have the click to buy and I have a gift from Etsy. Like it was so smooth. So check out that video. Try it out for yourself. It's live now. You can see, you can just see how, how this is really going to redefine how we find and discover products.

B (13:57)

Yeah. The other part about it too is like the Shopify angle. So Shopify is coming, right? Like the thing for me is like why would Shopify do this? Because can't chatgpt end up becoming Shopify in the long run, like an easy way to stand up sites. So that's why I'm like the Trojan horse dynamics here are craz or is Shopify working some deal on the back end with open AI? Who the hell knows. But anyway it's it's fun to watch and scary too. All right, Headline number two Costco's extra hour for executive members has shifted visits earlier, it appears, According to Placer AI a Placer AI blog post our friends at Placer AI since June 30, 2025, Costco has offered executive members an extra hour to shop at many warehouses and by September the PERC expanded company wide. The additional morning hour appears to have encouraged some executive members to shift their trips earlier in the day, which in turn has reduced traffic concentration during late morning and afternoon peaks. Shoppers using early access also seem to shop more efficiently, with Costco seeing a rise in 30 to 45 minute visits and a drop in 45 to 60 minute visits for following the implementation of the extended hours. Reportedly, the policy has also improved customer experience without requiring additional staff. And is this early data from Placer clearly indicative of early morning shopping being a big win for Costco?

A (15:21)

100% I actually think.

B (15:23)

100%. No hedge at all.

A (15:25)

No, I think this is another big headline because I think this has changed the Costco shopping experience from a once a week or once a month stock up trip to a daily or multiple times per week trip. Because if you look at the data from Business Insider, one of the biggest demographics shopping during this time, this executive time from 9 to 10am is millennials and younger families. So this means that going there just to grab milk, eggs, diapers, whatever you need on the way to work, you know, you know, as your morning errand run like now, this is going to be as quick for people as a trip to Walmart or to Kroger to get those things. I mean they're saying 30 minute shopping trips, that means you can get in, get what you need and get out. And that changes what Costco is for me as a grocery retailer, as a mass retailer, in the whole scheme of like do I go there today? No, I think it's completely out of the consideration set for people because of the time and the traffic that you have to deal with. So I think this is a huge move for Costco and best of all, they don't have to do anything with employees. They're not adding any overhead. They're just collecting more like this additional subscription revenue and I would certainly pay for it. Like I think people are going to, right? So to me this is a genius move by Costco And I'm really excited to see, like, in the next six months even, hopefully, Placer will put some more data out for us. But I'm. I'm interested to see what this does for Costco's business. But would you pay extra for this membership? Are you going to go to Costco without having to deal with any other people?

B (17:10)

Oh, I don't know. I don't know if I'd pay extra for it, but I think, you know, if. If this was important to me, I would pay extra for it. You know, I think, you know, what I got think about was the line from Jaws. I'm going to need a bigger boat. I think if people are doing what you're saying, they're going to need a bigger fridge. But, yeah, I think I'm with you. I mean, I was trying to think of, like, why would this data be wrong in any way, shape or form, or what could we be missing? Maybe not wrong, but, like, what could we be missing in the data? And it's really hard to say. Like, I think I'm with you. It's like 100%. It seems like a good move. It's a total case study in operations management. It feels like something I would have studied and SAT and debated in, like, the Harvard Business School back in the day. Like, like you said, the staff is already there. Costco has a known congestion problem. You have people that are paying more for this executive membership, so they want to pro. Everyone wants to get out with less hassle. Like, that's kind of a universal truth, right? Nobody wants to. Nobody wants to, you know, deal with the parking lots and the amount of people that are Costco.

A (18:05)

I have to do like a sanity break, like, in my car, like a meditation before I go in there. Like, okay, this is.

B (18:12)

No, it's like the worst of passive aggressive Minnesotans. When you go to. When you go to the Costco parking lot, it's terrible. So, like, yeah, so, like, and, and. And the other thing, too is those people are going to be easier for the store employees to manage, too, because they're just getting in and out. They're not the ones that need a lot of help. They're not the ones that are going to complain. They got it. They're on a mission. They want to get in and out. So. So I think it's incredibly. I don't use this word very often, but I think it's incredibly savvy by Costco and not surprised it's working. I mean, that's the fundamental thing here.

A (18:42)

I think the key thing, if you got me thinking though, if they are going to watch out for something, I think they have to avoid problem at the airport where suddenly everyone has this executive membership and I think about that purpose too.

B (18:56)

So it just shifts, it just ships it to a different time of day.

A (19:00)

Right, right.

B (19:00)

That's a big issue though, potentially. They got to watch for that.

A (19:04)

All right, let's go to headline number three. Amazon is closing all of its fresh grocery stores in the U.K. chris. All of them. According to CNBC, the company said in a Tuesday blog that it is preparing to close all 19 of its fresh UK stores, quote, following a thorough evaluation of business operations and the very substantial growth opportunities in online delivery, end quote. Five of the fresh locations are expected to be converted into whole food stores, Amazon said. Chris, what do you think of Amazon closing its fresh stores in the uk? Do you think the move says anything about Amazon's grocery ambitions here in the us?

B (19:43)

Oh, wow. This is a lot of great stories this week. I got a number of thoughts on this one too. And I mean, I think first, first off, it confirms what we've always said on this show, which is grocery is incredibly hard. It's incredibly difficult to unseat the incumbents with well established value propositions and scale already under their belt. Like it's, it's damn near impossible when you think about it. Like, there's very few examples of people doing it successfully. In fact, I can't even really name one. And then the second part I'd make, which is why I'm personally short on Amazon's grocery ambitions here in the States, is they can't win on freshness and quality because they don't have the scale of their operations to get the best produce right and the best fresh meat. They can't win on price because they're going up against Aldi, Walmart, Costco, Sam's Club, you name it. It's going to be hard to break into that. They could try, but it's not, it's going to be hard to get the brand recognition for that. And then it's impossible to win on experience or like or, you know, anything of that nature because you don't have stores and grocery shopping is a very local and personal experience for many folks. So I just look at Lido, who we interviewed, their CEO of the US here, you know, at grocery shop Joel Rampel, and they're having trouble, you know, establishing their value proposition in the United States for those very same reasons. And, and here's the thing, they have 200 stores already.

A (21:05)

Right.

B (21:05)

And have been at it for a long time. So. So Amazon Fresh in the US to me is dead on arrival. It's doa. And, and here's the other point though. I think this is important too, and I'm curious what you think on this. I think they're making similar mistakes with Whole Foods. Like this week they said a grocery shop, they're going away from the whole paycheck connotation, which I think that actually is what you want people to say about your brand. You want it to be prestigious, you want it to be something aspirational. And now you're trying to go away from that. It just shows me that you're, you're so frickin lost here in terms of what's going on.

A (21:39)

Yeah, I think that, I mean you made some great points there. I think the, the real point of contention, I think for Amazon here is that Sprouts, Lidl, Aldi, all of these players are beating their main mission. We heard from, you know, all of them that they're really focused on only opening in locations where they can have distribution centers close by where they can ensure that they're getting you the freshest, most local as possible product for the lowest price. And if, I mean, Whole Foods isn't going to be able to compete with that, their model is just not set up that way either. And these new players are already the go to on price. And so I think that that's the, that's the challenge here. Amazon can't survive on tech. Convenience and tech is not enough. It's about price, it's about quality. And as you mentioned, Amazon just doesn't have the scale or the infrastructure to do either one of those well right now. So I'm, I'm, I'm in agreement. I think it's very concerning. The one thing question that I had for you though is like, why the move towards Whole Foods, do you think why are they keeping these five stores in the UK and doing a Whole Foods concept for like what benefit is there there? Are they trying to see if they can test, you know, this low price freshness like the new Whole Foods not whole paycheck concept?

B (23:02)

Like, yeah, I don't know. My, my hunch is some consultant did some Venn diagram of the opportunity of Whole Foods in the, in the UK market and they said, okay, let's try it here. And you know, Amazon's famous for experimenting, so who knows if it'll work too. And sure, who knows what concept they're doing? Maybe they're Trying their daily shop concept that they're all big on here too, you know, I don't know.

A (23:18)

Yeah.

B (23:19)

The one caveat I would have in terms of what we're saying, it goes back to we said at the outset too, which is like, you know, it seems like Amazon, as much as they don't want to admit it, I think Amazon already knows what we're saying and that's why they're pushing the online side of the business so hard. Yeah, the online side of the business is still so hard for the reasons we said. It's. You still face all the same factors in terms of differentiation, but at the end of the day, like, you know, you go back to Tim Center's comment, can they get to a point where it is the cheapest, most preferred way for consumers to shop? Not now, but 10 to 15 years out. But I still think Amazon has a tough challenge to win that battle because Walmart is better positioned in the US Even, you know, even Walmart, maybe even Kroger or maybe even the, you know, somebody in that realm is better positioned for all the reasons we said so.

A (24:06)

Right.

B (24:07)

It just, I just think it's going to be a hard battle.

A (24:09)

Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Another fun one to watch though for the next couple months here.

B (24:15)

Yeah. What a great show so far. All right, now let's bring Danele onto the show. Let's give a big army talk welcome back to AWS's Danele Stropa to hand out this month's Retail Tech Startup of the Month award. Danelle is the worldwide technical lead for AWS Partners in Retail at Amazon Web Services, where he drives the technical strategy for AWS Partners in Digital Commerce, Customer Engagement and Generative AI Danelia, it's great to have you back. Without further ado, who is September's Retail Tech Startup of the Month? Right.

C (24:56)

So Chris, this month we are highlighting Tritium Tradium is a company that's really revolutionizing the product experience and retail media networks for brands and retailers. Right. So there are transforming the way that brands, retailers, they create, they manage, they even monetize on their digital product assets through advanced 3D visualization technology. I think one thing that is quite interesting about what Tridium is doing is the way that they enable brands to create immersive advertising formats that can then be displayed across a variety of digital touch points from the e commerce sites to retail media network to different form of displays and different sizes as well.

A (25:49)

Denali, what's an example of that that we might see or something that our audience might Be a little bit more familiar with.

C (25:58)

Sure. So let's say that you have a travel coming up, you're looking for a new suitcase perhaps. And the ad that you see, instead of just seeing a flat image of that suitcase, you actually see the 3D view of the 3D visualization of that suitcase. You can actually spin it around, you can probably interact with the ad itself, you can open it up and you can actually see experience almost the product itself before getting to that purchase point. So it increased the confidence in the buyers make that purchase decision and it also provides a better experience throughout the shopping journey.

A (26:51)

Yeah, you definitely have more confidence in that, that piece that you're investing in. What do you think sets 3D apart then from some of the other providers in the space?

C (27:02)

Right. So I think there's a couple of things here. Obviously the, the impact on retail media and advertising I think is quite important. As retailers are looking to grow their retail media network presence. The technology that Raydium provides really enables them to offer these more engaging formats like we just described. Right. And their customers, Tradeum's customers are already seeing the results in terms of reducing the cost to create these type of assets, but also in terms of increasing conversion. So a 12% boost in conversion is quite a good result, I would say. Tritium is also the first B Corp. Certified spatial web infrastructure company and this gives them a bit of the edge as well, making them one of the most sustainable option in the market to create this type of asset. So I think that's quite unique and quite important to highlight as well.

A (28:15)

And Daneli, why is sustainability so important in a software product? Like, I've never even heard of that. Like you said, they're the first ones.

C (28:24)

Yeah, I think the way that the industry and the trends are going, especially with these, with more and more AI powered workloads, I think it's important for customers, but for everyone really to keep that in mind. These workloads they generate, they consume a lot of power, a lot of energy, compute power. And so working with a company that really keeps that in mind and still gives you excellent results, but also with an eye on the environmental impact, I think is quite unique and something that again, we all should be taking into account.

B (29:15)

So Daniela, let's get you out of here on this then. So I've heard you say conversion, definitely something that you have to be thinking about in this space. The sustainability angle is really interesting. That's something I had never thought about in terms of software, in terms of the computing power that you got to be factoring in here. But I'm curious, like, are there other implications that retailers, retail executives listening specifically need to be thinking about three 3D technology on their websites or on their platforms? Like, how quickly should they be rushing after this?

C (29:45)

Yeah, definitely. The, the ad conversion revenue stream. I think those are things to, to keep in mind. Sustainability is going to be a bigger and bigger part in our decisions going forward. I think one of the other aspects quite unique to Tritium and something that can have a long term implication as well, is their ability to provide further insights on how users are interacting with products and then generate insights from that. And those insights can obviously be used to optimize your advertising strategies, but then also to influence new products and new product creations and how we want to maybe launch a new line or anything like that. So those are things that tritium provides and I think that's also been recognized by the industry. Deloitte has selected Tritium as one of the top five fastest growing tech companies in emea. And so I think that also suggests that they are really well positioned to shape the future of written media and advertising and 3D visualization.

B (31:13)

Great stuff, Ari. Looking forward to next month.

A (31:16)

Thanks.

C (31:17)

Thank you.

B (31:23)

Okay, headline number four. Four Sprouts says it's going to open 20 in store cafes across Southern California, According to Grocery Dive. Sprouts Farmers Market announced Wednesday it is expanding its partnership with Klatch Coffee. Klatch Coffee. Good alliteration there. Although it's not really alliteration because it's a K and a C to open 20 new in store cafes. The specialty grocer plans to open cafes inside stores in Southern California in two phases, beginning late this year and lasting into 2026. And the story about sprouts adding 20 coffee shops to new stores this week definitely intrigued you because I know you wanted to include it in this week's Fast 5 roundup. Why was that?

A (32:03)

Well, I think we ran into Nick Conant from Sprouts. Yeah, the COO here at Grocery Shop. And we were talking to him about this. I was like, I'm really curious about what, you know, what this is all about. What do you think about it? And I think what became abundantly clear during that conversation is that this, this is just adding an enhancement to the Sprouts experience in a way that Sprouts can uniquely provide their customers. The Sprouts trip is a destination. The consumer is already going there in a different mindset. They're not going there with like a bang, bang, bang. I gotta get as many things as possible like that's an additional trip. Sprouts knows that. And so they're making this just a little added convenience while you're there to get you to feel like, yes, go talk to the chief foraging officer's team that's in the store showing you their new products. Go into the beauty and vitamin area and spend some time talking to the sprouts associate there to learn about the new products that they have there. Like it's a completely different mindset. So this to me is like, you know, getting a glass of champagne while you're shopping at a fancy department store, like getting a locally like unique independent brands cup of coffee while you're shopping just is so on point for them. And I think it's just going to make the Sprouts experience even better.

B (33:21)

Yeah, I mean, I agree. I think, you know, I don't, I don't think the move itself is like that big and noteworthy because it's been done before. But I think you put it in the context of what Sprouts is. It's, it's, you know, it's important. So like, you know the phrase I keep using after talking to Jack on stage and, and I've talked about this, we've talked about this before because we talked about sprouts being the 2024 retailer of the year, if I remember right. But it's dry powder. They have so much dry powder in their k. Get sprouts in terms of things that are going to help growth. So like you said, and they've got a value proposition with a defined target market. They've got an optimized store prototype that is smaller. They actually went smaller. And it's working, it's showing the payback. Yeah, they're only in 24 states right now, so they've got a ton of growth opportunity. Just geographically they don't even have a loyalty program, man, that's the craziest thing. They don't even have a loyalty program stood up yet.

A (34:12)

And now they're started it, right?

B (34:14)

Yeah, yeah. They're just starting to roll it out nationally. So. And now they're putting coffee shops in to, you know, gives another reason that gives another traffic hook to go to Sprouts versus somewhere else. It also gives you a better basket size because you know, you get the coffee. And to your point, Anne, here's the other thing. You shop with a coffee, you're not shopping as quickly. And when you're not shopping as quickly in grocery, you tend to buy more stuff. And that's the key here. So, so They've got so many, so many bullets in the gun, so to speak, to, to go out and continue to grow. So I wish, I wish, I wish there's probably many CEOs that wish they had as many growth opportunities lying on the ground for them to pick up as Sprouts and Jackson Claire have in. In my opinion.

A (34:55)

Yeah. 100. I think that was one of my favorite takeaways from what he said when you were talking to him on stage. He's like, like, we're only going to the areas where we have the audience that we want, we have the distribution close by to, like, to ensure that this product of Sprouts is going to be a knockout in every market that we go into was so, so impressive. All right, well, let's go on to the last headline, Chris. DoorDash has launched going out, adding reservations and insta rewards to its app. According to a DoorDash press release, the launch makes dining out more rewarding for consumers while unlocking new opportunities for restaurants to attract diners and fill tables. For the first time, diners will be able to book restaurant reservations directly through the DoorDash app and earn credits with every booking toward future DoorDash orders. And via the new Going out tab in the DoorDash app, users can also discover and redeem exclusive in store offers and earn rewards for repeat visits to their favorite establishment. Chris, are you buying or selling? Making your dinner reservations via DoorDash. And some people may already know the answer to it if they're listening to the Retail Daily minute.

B (36:04)

Yeah, Right, right. Good call. Yeah. Or if they listen to this show at any point in the time where we talked about DoorDash. No. And I'm going to full on Billy Joel here. I'm, I'm, I'm going out. You know, like, how many things that song. But yeah, moving out.

A (36:16)

I'm moving.

B (36:17)

I know it's moving out. Yeah.

A (36:18)

But. Yes. Okay. Okay.

B (36:20)

Yeah. All right. So, you know, I was thinking, and when I heard this story yesterday, you know, the number one app that anyone would have to pry out of my dead Cold Hands is DoorDash. Like, I can get by without Walmart Plus. I'm curious what you think too, actually, because I know you're a big Walmart plus fan. I can get by without Walmart Plus. I can definitely get by without Amazon because Now I use Walmart plus over Amazon. But DoorDash, to me, if you took it away, it would drastically change my life. And now with this, these incentives like booking restaurants and then getting incentivized to go out. That makes it even more sticky to me. So I'm all in on this one too. Sign me up today. I can't wait till these features roll out. You tried them, right? They're not quite ready for prime time yet, but I can't wait till I get them available to me, especially the reservations. And yeah, I'm like a kid on Christmas with this one.

A (37:13)

Yeah. I mean I think this is like as close to a full service super app that we can get. I mean, I think that.

B (37:21)

I know I didn't want to drop that word because I'm not quite there yet, but yeah, I hear what you're saying.

A (37:25)

I think it's, it's on the way to it. I mean, I don't think we'll ever have super that Asia does. Yeah, exactly. But like in terms of like a full on utility, like what app can you have right now that can basically give you the convenience of, of any commerce experience, including dining, which is a very sticky use case for a lot of consumers at your fingertips. And that is 100% DoorDash. You know, the only, the only thing if we're. Again, I was like, what, what could be a challenge here or what, what would be something that from a user's perspective I really going to watch out for. And the only thing I could think of was like, this has to be like in ingrained in the doordash app experience without me having to like do the Groupon days where I'm like, here's my code and here's my barcode. And I think that, you know, like at a restaurant experience, like if I have to do any of that or it's not just automatically.

B (38:21)

Yeah. Collection geolocated or something. Yeah.

A (38:24)

Yes. Which, I mean, I think the Lyft, the Lyft integration that they've done already gives me confidence that they've thought through that process. So, you know, they'll tie into the credit card that you have stored in your doordash account or something. So if you're using that to pay at the restaurant, they'll be able to like, like sync that all up on the back end. But I think that's the only thing that, that could provide a more sour experience for a customer is, you know, what they'll actually have to do. And like you said, we haven't been able to try this out first, so we haven't seen it in action. And what, what this experience actually looks like, but I think a huge benefit not just to consumers but also to the restaurants who are participating in this who are seeing a pretty significant increase in traffic to their restaurants, not just for the doordash pickup and delivery. So that. That's the other part here that I think will give them even more momentum as they continue to test this in more cities. All right, let's move on to the lightning round. Chris.

B (39:20)

Let's do it.

A (39:21)

Question number one. Mountain Dew is coming out with Mountain Dew dirty. A dirty cream soda meant to appeal to Gen Z consumers and the dirty soda trend. Which do. Would you do dirty or classic?

B (39:34)

Oh, and a dirty cream soda. That sounds fantastic. I, you know, I like many things dirty. What? I don't even know what the dirty soda trend is, though. What is that?

A (39:45)

Oh, my gosh. Have you noticed?

B (39:46)

Sounds good, but I don't know what it is.

A (39:48)

Oh, you have to be on TikTok. And the real. The Secret Lives of Mormon wives is the best. That's the best. Like, education for dirty soda, I think. But basically, dirty soda is like adding coffee creamer or like a flavored syrup, like a coffee syrup to a soda, and mixing all these concoctions. So, like, there's a whole like an.

B (40:08)

Italian soda back in the day. That's what we're talking about here.

A (40:11)

Yeah. I mean, that's close enough, but it's dirty because they're adding other ingredients to it. But my favorite words to say, they're all. They're expanding all across. We just got a couple of these dirty soda fountains here in Minnesota, so you'll have to check them out. Yeah, but dirty do never. Never something I thought I'd be talking about in. In my entire life.

B (40:34)

Dirty cream soda sounds good. I like a good cream soda, too. But speaking of dirty, you're in Las Vegas. Are you taking a taxi or an Uber when you're here?

A (40:43)

I think we found if you're at the airport, you take a taxi. If you are anywhere else, I would say Uber, I think.

B (40:49)

Really?

A (40:50)

I think it's the most affordable and convenient way to get around Vegas. But no, you're just all taxi all the time.

B (40:57)

Yeah, I don't know. I don't really care. I'm definitely. I'm definitely taxi from the airport for sure. Like, the Uber line from the airport is a disaster. It's absolutely a disaster.

A (41:08)

Oh, all right, Chris. This one made me think of you instantly.

B (41:12)

Oh, great.

A (41:13)

Public toilets in China are now requiring patrons to scan a QR code and watch an ad in order to gain access to. To the toilet paper. As someone who carries their own toilet paper, would you spare a Square. If you were in China and somebody didn't have their phone with them in the bathroom, which I don't think is a bad thing, what, what would you do there?

B (41:35)

Yeah, I mean, I probably, I think, I think I would spare a square. I mean, I've offered my, my spare roll of toilet paper to you and we've traveled. You've never taken me up on it. So I'm not, I'm not sure actually anyone would want a square of my spare.

A (41:48)

But it depends. It depends on the situation. If you don't have, you can't watch. I mean, if it's nothing or some. A stranger spare square.

B (41:55)

Right, that's true. That's a good point. Like the timing of the offering is important here. So if I offer it free, it's probably going to get turned out, but if it needs to be offered post, it's probably going to be accepted. That's what you're telling me here?

A (42:07)

Yes, yes, yes.

B (42:09)

All right. That actually makes a ton of logical sense.

A (42:12)

And all right, sometimes I do that. Sometimes I make sense. It's not often, but that's funny. But when it comes to toilet paper stalls in China, ye. Yes, I can sense of sensibility there.

B (42:23)

All right, all right, last one. Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban are calling it quits after 19 years of marriage. My question for you is this. Which of the two do you think is more likely to jump into the dating pool first?

A (42:38)

Oh, for sure. Keith Urban.

B (42:39)

I. I'm already there.

A (42:41)

I'm willing to bet that he's already been jumping in the dating pool and that's why the. This 19 year of marriage is coming to an end. But look, I think Nicole Kidman is just gonna go off and live her best life if she isn't already with Reese Witherspoon and Sandra Bullock and all of her like girlfriends of the same Hollywood era who are now single. Just like doing them. I think it's amazing. So go Nicole. I'm very excited to see what happens to you next. And she's a needed man. She's great.

B (43:12)

She had that movie where she like had that affair with like the 20 something too.

A (43:16)

Yeah, baby Girl. I still haven't seen it, but I heard it.

B (43:19)

That was called Baby Girl. All right, well, speaking of baby girls, happy birthday today to Brie Larson, Beck Bennett and to the lovely Maria Von Trapp herself, the great Julie Andrews who turns anything but a baby. 90 years old today. And 90 years old, Mary Chicken. 90 years old today. Wow. Yeah, congrats to her. And remember, if you can only read or listen to one retail blog in the business, Make It Army Talk, the only retail media outlet run by two former executives from a current top 10 US retailer. Our Fast Five podcast is the quickest, fastest rundown of all the week's top news, and our daily newsletter, the Retail Daily Minute, tells you all you need to know each day to stay on top of your game as a retail executive and also regularly feature special content, content that is exclusive to us and that Ann and I take a lot of pride in doing just for you. Thanks as always for listening in. Please remember to like and leave us a review wherever you happen to listen to your podcast or on YouTube. You can follow us today by simply going to YouTube.com omnitalkretail so until next week, on behalf of all of us at Omnitalk Retail and myself and even producer Ella in the background, as always, be careful out there.