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- [00:00]
Shree Rajagopalan
Retail media is rapidly becoming the go to channel for brands, aiming to engage consumers with measurable performance along the path to purchase. Retailers are increasingly empowering brands to accurately target meaningful audiences based on their longitudinal purchasing behaviors and execute media impressions across on site, off site and in store channels throughout the entire marketing funnel. For brand marketers, effectively incorporating retail media into their marketing budgets is essential for growth in today's omnichannel landscape. To address this critical need, Cornell University has partnered with the CPG Guys, along with leading industry executives and visionaries from around the world to launch the first ever retail Media Strategy Executive Education program. This immersive four day program at Cornell Tech May 5th to the 8th, 2025 brings together industry thought leaders and renowned faculty to share best practices for building compelling retail media platforms. You'll discover how to collaborate on creating best in class tech stacks measure performance to ensure brands Access the necessary KPIs based on Campaign objectives and establish strong partnerships between brands and retailers. In addition, the program covers optimizing brand strategies using AI driven campaign design at scale to achieve marketing goals. By the end of the Retail Media Strategy program, you'll have gained a deep understanding of the retail media ecosystem and how both brands and retailers can accelerate organizational transformation to thrive in the future of performance marketing. See the link in the digital liner note to this episode to learn more about the Retail Media Strategy Executive Education Program at Cornell Tech May 5th through the 8th, 2025.
- [01:40]
Diana Marshall
I'm Diana Marshall with Sam's Club and today I'm here with the CPG Guys.
- [01:47]
Shree Rajagopalan
Welcome to the CPG Guys Podcast. Your host Shree Rajagopalan and Peter Vs explore how brands and retailers engage consumers in an increasingly digitally driven world. And now here are the CPG Guys.
- [02:06]
Peter V.S. Bond
Hello folks, this is sri and welcome to the CPG Guys Podcast and of course co Founder, co host of the CPG Guys and co Founder partner at Think Blue. And joining me today is none other than my BFF and business partner on the journey of CPG guys. Mr. PBS Bond. How are you doing man?
- [02:23]
Shree Rajagopalan
Hey Sree, I'm doing well. I'm really looking forward to exploring today's episode which we recorded in Las Vegas at the kickoff to CES 2025. It was a great conversation with a tremendous industry luminary and we were very fortunate to get her time to record this episode. So I'm doing great. You know, we're into 2025, a lot of things going on. You and I have got so many plans this year and it's really, you know, it's taken up a lot of precision timing to make them all hit one right after the other. But I'm glad I'm doing it with you, man.
- [03:05]
Peter V.S. Bond
Busy, busy, busy. Peter Reminder to audience with a simple ask if you're listening to this episode, please take a minute and actually give us a rating on Apple Podcasts. That rating means so much to us. You build the show, you told us who to bring. That rating is how you make us more findable as well as you tell us do we have the right programming with the right guests. We're very excited that to kick off Women's Month 2025 also Women's History Month on the CPG guys, we have none other than Diana Marshall, EVP and Chief Experience Officer of Sam's Club herself. At the time of recording of this episode at CES January 2025, Diana was the Chief Growth Officer at Sam's Club and her role has evolved since then to being the first ever Chief Experience Officer for Sam's Club. Welcome to the show, Diana.
- [03:56]
Sri
We're thrilled that we can do this with a view all the way from Las Vegas, Nevada at ces.
- [04:00]
Unknown
A view of the In N Out Burger.
- [04:02]
Sri
I'll take that, man. It's still a bunch of mountains and it's a beautiful hill in the morning. Always an exhilarating thing. So Diana, I'm going to jump right into it and let's start straight with your career that spans Walmart merchandising and now Sam's Club is cgo. Take us through the years and you know, just becoming that expert in merchandising, different categories and how that's actually really adding value as a CGA in everyday decision making. Bunch of people listening to this are going to be I want to be Diana. What advice do you have for them?
- [04:35]
Diana Marshall
Sure, sri. Happy to jump into it. You know, if I think about where I began, I actually started a merchandising operations and I think learning how to collaborate and work across horizontally early certainly has made a difference throughout my career, including this role. But I have to say when I was a merchant over, I was in categories both in consumables as well as in the general merchandise space in Walmart us. It's a true privilege and I loved getting to serve America every single day. Getting to make choices to make sure we provided the best value and we made their life better. Whether it was a want or need to to really get to lead those teams and make a difference. And I do have to say I'm known for becoming passionate no matter what the category was whether it was tools in the hardware and paint business or when I had the chance to lead the baby consumables and hardlines, it was definitely a privilege. But I think as I think about the transition from for those 18 inch years on the Walmart US side over into the Sam's Club business in this role, you know, now I have the privilege as the chief growth officer to lead our membership marketing, our financial services data and insights, as well as our e commerce and advertising teams. And you know, I think the early lessons I learned on collaboration have certainly helped set me up for this one. I spend a good portion of my time and weeks and months on really thinking about how do we work across Sam's Club and how do we think about the sort of end to end journey for our members to make sure that we're enhancing the experience no matter what the areas that we're working on, we want to make sure we're making great decisions for both our members, our associates as well as our suppliers and advertising partners. And you know, I think to me, if I was going to give advice, there's probably a few things that certainly come to mind. One, I think being really curious and learning how to collaborate is certainly the first one asking good questions. I remember when I was early on in my career, somebody would sit me in a meeting room every week and they would sort of go through the five whys. And it really taught me to make sure that you get to the bottom and you identify the true root cause. And so I think that's really important in this role as well as all the other role I had the privilege to leave. I think the second thing I would say is really being customer and member of cess. If you can find joy in learning about consumer behavior. I have a tendency to sort of watch things happen even just in my personal life as I'm walking through the airport. You can learn so much about what matters to humans and what makes a difference and how do you think about translating that into the retail business to really serve them better. And so I think that obsession about just looking for ways to make a difference and serve them is really critical. And then lastly I'd say enjoy the journey. Certainly when I started in retail 20 years ago, I had no idea that I'd get the chances and get to learn as much as I have and certainly a journey and definitely have to be open to opportunities and learn to say yes, even when sometimes you're a little bit nervous or it's not what you expected. So I think those are the three things that give advice on love, love.
- [07:37]
Sri
Love, that you actually closed that out with life as a continuous journey of learning. Even the simple moments of life, like walking through an airport, just that curiosity of observation. You can just learn so much about humans. And translating that into retail has gotta be pretty powerful.
- [07:53]
Diana Marshall
Yes.
- [07:54]
Unknown
Diana. Welcome to the cpt guys. We are so happy to have you here. Particularly kicking off Women's Month on the podcast, I'd like us to talk a little bit about retail media. Now, one of the things that is so unique about Sam's Club within the larger Walmart family is that 100% of every single item that's purchased through Sam's Club stores or online is household identifiable. It's member identifiable. It gives you a very rich data set off of which to build audiences. So I guess my question is, how do you see retail media as being an integral component to growth at Sam's Club?
- [08:31]
Diana Marshall
Yes. You know, I am so excited about mat, which is our member access platform or ads business at Sam's Club. And it is really a key enabler of our growth. And let me tell you why. The thing that I love about MAP is we're focused not just on growing our ads business, but really having it add value both to our members as well as our advertisers. And I think, as you mentioned, we have membership data. We're a warehouse club, and so we have a unique opportunity that we can better understand membership behaviors and actually serve our ads partners better because of that. So, you know, we have sort of a comprehensive ad solution. We cover the full funnel, whether it's on site, off site, in our app, or even in club. And actually, the fact that we have such high digital engagement at Sam's Club is actually a pretty unique opportunity for us in the retail media space. So one of the things that's on my sort of top 10 list of last year's wins was actually our scan and go display at launch. And this is something where we're able to leverage the fact that you're in the club, you're on our app, which is privacy compliant, and we're able to serve you ads. And we can do that because we know you and we know your behaviors, but we can make it where it's good for you and it's good for our advertisers. And we've seen some really strong results from that launch last year. We've seen 71% incremental reach versus other opportunities, which is you have to work really hard to get that expansive of a reach that drives incrementality. Certainly we're seeing 10x the click through rate on those scan and go ads and we're also seeing an average of 15 and a half percent sales slip. So I think the opportunity that we have to continue to lean into that membership data and serving our members better and our advertisers better is actually really pretty fun in the ads business and in the retail media network industry.
- [10:19]
Unknown
I think you've, I think you've done a really great job of integrating digital into the omnichannel experience and enriching that with the data set. So kudos to Sam's Club by the way.
- [10:28]
Sri
Those numbers that you just spoke to me just glanced over, those are insanely.
- [10:32]
Unknown
Good at great numbers.
- [10:34]
Diana Marshall
Yeah, really proud of the team and more to come certainly if I think about the year, the year that's in front of us, I think there's quite a bit that we can do to continue to lean into both scan and go display ads. But really even our Omni experience, you know, how great is it that we can sort of double down to have in club experience tying digital media together and really making everyone's day better as a result of it and driving growth for advertisers as well. The one thing I'm actually really excited about is we're sort of testing and piloting a new measurement at SAM stuff because we are a membership model and beyond just thinking about roas we're actually testing a customer lifetime value model and this is really helping us think about how do we drive high impact and how can we identify members that are more likely to purchase as well as those how will they stay loyal to the brand And I think this is going to be sort of the next big game changer for us as we work through it. So lots to come for Sam's Club and in this space Diana winning.
- [11:33]
Sri
Are you saying you were willing to actually share an LTV score or some. Again, more to come so we'll see what unveils but LTV2 brands because that's a major, major somebody's really talking to.
- [11:47]
Unknown
Us about all the time. How do I get that? Because they can't get it themselves. They rely on a partner. They can't do it either and they don't have to do it.
- [11:54]
Diana Marshall
Right. We believe that we have the opportunity to partner together on this and we're in pilot mode. We're testing and learning but certainly more to come and I think it will be a game changer for advertiser.
- [12:04]
Unknown
Yeah, I think what'll Be what'll be good as you start to evolve. That is thinking about what does LTV mean to a diff to different brands like LTV to a cereal brand is fundamentally different than LTV to say a diaper brand. Right. Because it's about what is the lifetime of of a consumer in that category. So more to come. That's very exciting.
- [12:22]
Diana Marshall
I'm excited to think about a mattress to cereal to milk. I think there's lots of lessons to be learned and I think it will help us continue to evolve our impact.
- [12:32]
Sri
We were literally having this discussion with somebody else yesterday on a podcast. LTV and the importance of the new world we live in. With all the volume challenges for the large market cap brands. Brands are very hungry for ltv, especially to bring back households they've lost. And this would be one good way of understanding where that they gone wrong or erred in the ltv.
- [12:54]
Unknown
But I think there's one thing I want to add to that. I think what, what it's also going to do, it is going to further accelerate the transition from the old world of linear television and print media. This is something that will get brands to invest in performance marketing platforms like map.
- [13:11]
Diana Marshall
Yes.
- [13:12]
Unknown
Great.
- [13:12]
Diana Marshall
We're excited.
- [13:13]
Sri
Awesome. So you guys actually the. While there's a lot of talk about GO technologies, you guys actually the pioneers with scan and go, that 71% makes so much sense now that I think about it, because it's actually at the point of purchase.
- [13:26]
Diana Marshall
Right.
- [13:26]
Sri
Can't get better than that, especially having the technology in store during a purchase cycle. You mentioned data quite a bit, so I'd like to move over to data. You kind of revealed the part a little bit here by saying LTV is something you guys are already working on and it's in early test stages. But can you share more about when your partners, your vendors come to you and they actually sign up for the MAP platform? They sign up to get access to the outcomes via data. What sort of data do you share and do you personally believe in your current role that data sharing is a must and a collaborative exercise for the joint growth of you and your vendors?
- [14:06]
Diana Marshall
Yes. I think data sharing is critical to having a great partnership and to driving growth together. So I think maybe before I answer the MAP specific how we're using it, I'd really just make sure everyone's aware of how much we use data in everything we do at Sam's Club. And the thing that I love is we're focused on listening to our members and so we actually start every Monday Going through our own data on what did our members love last week, what made them unhappy, how do we drive improvement this week? What do we need to focus on and really leaning into? I think there's about 15 different pieces that we look at verbatims as well as scores to help us understand is.
- [14:42]
Sri
That slightly or LT accountable to.
- [14:44]
Diana Marshall
Yes, yes. We go through it, we set goals and we revisit those every single week. And we have actions to follow up in the week if something's not working. And then we sort of take all that data and then we make choices based on what we're hearing on how do we want to go improve the experience and how does that help us prioritize our road paths ahead? So I think that's something that I'm really proud of and that I love. What's making a difference for Sam's Club specifically? I think as we think about sort of our data platform, which we call Madrid at Sam's Club, you know, it's really sort of a comprehensive go to for all insights and analytics to help drive your business, whether you're in supply chain, whether you're thinking about sales. And what we've done with the map business specifically is we've made it sort of a near real time dashboard where you're able to see performance of a campaign and actually make adjustments, which I think is pretty unique, certainly. And we have that measurement by Circana as their party to make sure that we're not, you know, checking our own homework, certainly. But we think that the ability to take the insights from, from the data and then actually turn into audiences and into advertising is, is something that we're really proud of and we'll continue to evolve as we get into this year. Next.
- [15:53]
Sri
Awesome. Those numbers that he quoted earlier, again, I've already mentioned it, were awesome. The fact that you're this collaborative on data just should make your vendors and suppliers feel that this is a partnership they want to lean into.
- [16:05]
Diana Marshall
Yes.
- [16:06]
Unknown
All right, we're going to shift from SRI's favorite topic of retail media to mine, which is loyalty. Clearly you have one of the best data assets around your members. What I'd like to understand is what's the secret sauce to getting new members into your club stores? What, what is it that needs to be true? Obviously, proximity is a major factor, but what else is it that you focus on to deliver value that brings new members?
- [16:37]
Diana Marshall
Yes. So, you know, the thing that is super special about Sam's Club is that membership is the lifeblood of our business. And I think that really, to me, our secret sauce is listening to members. So I think going back to my previous answer of we start every Monday looking through the data, understanding what's happening and really using that to help drive our business. And you know, we're really focused on sort of our member value proposition which is around value assortment, experience and trust and continuing to evolve that. And one example in the past year where we listened to members feedback, we were seeing it, we decided to make a change, was actually changing our shipping proposition. So we announced midway through the year where we unlocked club fulfillment to be free for any buzzer number over $50. And then we also launched Express, which is you can get an order for $8 for three hours or less from the club as well, which is certainly I know myself over the holidays and my husband put it to good use and we're seeing, you know, that immediate need, certain difference. But that all happened those decisions from listening to our members and really taking their feedback and then making choices on how do we think about the impact and the growth that we can have on improving the experience.
- [17:53]
Unknown
Great.
- [17:53]
Sri
That is so awesome. So in today's volume challenge times, and when I say volume, large market cap brands have struggled now for about a year and a half due to inflationary trends. You've already shared a lot about, hey, obsessing on members is one way to certainly think about how to achieve outcomes. What advice do you actually have for brands to get back to volume growth ways that they've historically had with you?
- [18:18]
Diana Marshall
Yes. So you know, I'm first really proud of the growth that we're having at Sam's club. And I think the one big call out that I would make sure everyone keeps top of mind is the value proposition. Our members look for value number one and they want it to be a clear. Oh my goodness, I can't believe I'm finding this because they've already paid us to shop in this place. It's not available to everyone. It is a membership model. And so I think that value proposition and being aware of how you show up for your brand specifically is really important. There's probably four things though that I would, I would think about of how do you drive growth at Sam's club and how you partner think. 1. The value proposition as I mentioned too.
- [18:59]
Sri
Diana, can you highlight a little bit of when you say value value proposition. What do you mean? Does the member typically walk in, look at a price point as value proposition. Is it the unit count? Is it the price per unit?
- [19:11]
Unknown
It's the quality. While there are a Lot value is. Value is in the eye of the beholder, Right?
- [19:16]
Diana Marshall
Yes. I think for me, I'd think about it. If you compare the price at Sam's Club to broader retail, how do you think about the price perception and being able. It doesn't always have to be a specific price point, but for the average member to walk in and clearly know, oh my goodness, this is a value to market that I just can't pass up.
- [19:36]
Sri
So it's more like, hey, I shop a basket. I got a good deal at Sam's Club. I walked away with a great value versus one item. Individually, it's the basket.
- [19:45]
Diana Marshall
I would say it's an item and a basket. I think every item must exist with its own value.
- [19:50]
Sri
Sure. Without that you don't have a basket.
- [19:52]
Diana Marshall
Yes.
- [19:52]
Unknown
And some of them are driving the traffic. Right. I have to go because there are some items I need, but beyond that there's some discovery and they get value out of that.
- [20:01]
Diana Marshall
Yeah. And so that would actually lead to my number two, which would be quality. So, you know, for us the sort of value is number one, gets them in, but then the quality is actually number two and it is an expectation. So whether it's the sort of treasure hunt surprise that they might find and maybe one of our seasonal areas or the home area or it's the produce or the meat that's making a difference. I know our, our steaks that we made over the holidays, certainly the quality of them was. Was called out by everyone that enjoyed them. So I'd say that would be actually my number two.
- [20:33]
Sri
How do you judge. How do you judge quality? Is it customer reviews? Not necessarily like four star reviews and five star reviews that. How do you actually judge quality?
- [20:42]
Diana Marshall
So depending on the category, I think it's different, but we do have sort of certainly reviews. A four star or higher is an expectation at minimum. I think the. If you look at how long it lasts or you know, the type of materials or if it's an apparel item, the brand that it is that you may be surprised to find in a warehouse channel. I think depending on the category it differs a bit. But certainly four star minimum ratings is required in this. Let's play on the same scale club.
- [21:15]
Sri
Example of an innovation. So let's say a new item is coming into Sam's Club. Right. And your members are actually very excited that they can find it at Sam's Club. How do you judge quality for a new item? Do you talk to your peers, the merchandising side, and you give them some basis? Hey, we Want to see at least this, this innovation should have done a minimum apply in the marketplace things of that nature.
- [21:37]
Diana Marshall
So I think let's talk about members. Mark, for example, we actually have our members of our community where we get all the feedback on items before they launch and we take verbatim feedback on. Is the value right? Is the quality right? Do you like the taste? Do you like the color, how's the material? And that's actually how the teams are innovating. I think from a national brand standpoint, I would make sure that before you show up or pitch an item that you've done the same work and that you have feedback on how will it resonate. Is the value right? Do people have perception that this is, you know, surprise and delight? And I think that's how we can work through on making sure we launch items that aren't successful.
- [22:16]
Sri
So you said four items. I think we've talked a lot about value quality.
- [22:20]
Diana Marshall
What was the other value quality? Thirdly, I would say in stock. While, you know, that seems to be like retail 101, surprisingly, we are not perfect at it. And so making sure that you're set up to be in stock in all the channels all the time is really important. We see members transition quickly from shopping, curbside pickup, maybe the next day they're in the club and then they're doing a delivery from club express order. But all of the networks have to be in stock every day. And so ensuring that your supply chain is set up and ready to support that business, I think is really critical.
- [22:53]
Sri
At the highest level, though, there was obviously a crazy period, 2020, let's say the end of 2022, where in stock was tough to take for granted. But two years later, RBP in a position now where you can confidently tell your members or listeners, hey, we're in great shape within stock. And that's, that's a minimum must have from your vendors and suppliers.
- [23:15]
Unknown
Yes.
- [23:15]
Sri
And it's non negotiable.
- [23:16]
Diana Marshall
Yes, non negotiable. We need to be in stock, pitch us an item and it makes space in Sam's club.
- [23:22]
Unknown
And that's important for retail media because the last thing you want to do is advertise something that, that, that. That the member can't get.
- [23:29]
Diana Marshall
That's right.
- [23:30]
Sri
I think of a worse use of brand.
- [23:32]
Unknown
Yes.
- [23:32]
Sri
Or in Europe.
- [23:33]
Diana Marshall
Yes. And thinking about the mix of what do you put online in fulfillment versus what do you get in the club, you know, we're continuing to learn and behaviors continue to shift. So it's a really partner together to continue to lean in there. I think the other call out I would have would be thinking about your content. So whether it's making sure you partner with Map to launch new items, we see about a 28% sales lift when we launch items together with MAP campaigns. So that's sort of a game changer as you think about making sure new items do well, but also making sure your content in your PDP is best in class and that you're really proud of it. We know that, you know, 41% of our searches begin online and drive 37% of our in club sales. So whether members are buying it in the club or online, that content has to be very clear, needs to be robust and needs to give them the reasons why they should choose choose the product.
- [24:27]
Unknown
Awesome. So no person at Sam's Club among the associates has more of a responsibility of looking forward strategically than the Chief Growth Officer. So to that end, what trends are you really focused on for thinking about how Sam's Club needs to build a sustainable growth strategy?
- [24:50]
Diana Marshall
Yes, no pressure.
- [24:51]
Unknown
Peter okay, none. None whatsoever. Just chatting among friends, there are a.
- [24:56]
Sri
Couple words that actually to make it easier, we'll give you a couple words that make their rounds frequently on the CPG guys from Leaders. One is artificial intelligence and the other one is clean rooms. So love to hear are those trends you follow? Are there other trends you look at?
- [25:12]
Diana Marshall
I would say yes, certainly those are trends. And it wouldn't be an appropriate podcast in the year 2025 without mentioning AI, certainly. But I think for me, I try to really take a broad approach to how I follow trends. So whether it's thinking about Sams club specific member trends that we're seeing, we listen to associate feedback as well. But then also I think about like just making sure myself that I'm a lifelong learner. You know, my grandfather who was blind for the last 25ish years of his life told me every day you need to learn something new. And so whether it's learning something new about AI, learning a new article, reading something that's happening in the industry, listening to podcasts like this one, or even or even reading daily articles, I think it's a responsibility to make sure that we stay on top of whatever is happening. Certainly data is becoming more and more important and a currency to really protect and be aware of, partner together on. But then also what can we do from an AI standpoint and what are other people doing that we can learn? So I try to be really thoughtful about investing time there, whether it's I would say formal or informal. Last year, I decided because cyber security is such a hot topic, I actually got certified in cybersecurity through nacd, which I'm a member of.
- [26:40]
Sri
Wasn't expecting that one, but wow.
- [26:43]
Diana Marshall
But it's like, hey, everybody hears about the breaches. What are the questions I should be asking? How do I prepare myself to make sure that I understand why it's so important? And what are the precautions?
- [26:52]
Unknown
So what are the questions asked if something happens?
- [26:55]
Sri
Yeah, yeah, totally understand. I mean, you're accountable for millions of members, private data. Totally understand, but I wasn't expecting it. And it is a wow, because you're the first who's come on the show and said, I am cybersecurity certified.
- [27:09]
Unknown
There you go. I like that.
- [27:10]
Sri
That's a big deal. Okay. But it might set a little bit of a trend now that others might want to copy you.
- [27:16]
Diana Marshall
Well, you know, it helps everybody. The. The less issues we have, certainly the better off we all are.
- [27:21]
Sri
Indeed. So you gave quite a masterclass on how to be successful working with Sam, especially member obsession is a piece of it. But what are the four tenets of truly tripling down in being successful within Sam's Club when vendors and suppliers come to you? So I'd like to talk a little bit about leadership over the years. Very few are successful with our mentors who have uplifted them, coached them, guided, and, you know, some use the word mentor. It could be a coach, word sponsor, advocates, sponsor advocate. These are all words that come to mind. Yes. Over your career, you know, especially as you transition from merchandising to member obsession and truly tripling down on the marketing elements of Sam's Club. Have you had mentors on the way? Have you had coaches on the way? What stories would you like to share with the industry? And then I'd love to also ask you, how are you paying it back?
- [28:20]
Diana Marshall
Sure. You know, I think I have been really privileged to have early mentors in my career that made a huge difference. And I am ever grateful for those that invested me early on and answered all my questions and helped me learn some basic skills. As I thought about retail and had aspirations to do more. I think probably more recently, as I transitioned into my career, I actually learned the most from my peers and even transitioning into this role, calling and asking, you know, we have the best retailers and some of the best experts in our own company. And so I've called and just add very basic questions. Help me understand this. How would you think about it? What would you suggest what podcasts would you listen to? What should I read, who should I follow?
- [29:06]
Sri
And hey, podcast, has anyone recommended the CPU guys yet?
- [29:10]
Diana Marshall
Yes, actually, when I first moved in, actually this was into this world. So I was like, oh, that's a good one. Just to hear about it. And it's just kidding, but it was actually recommended. So good news.
- [29:20]
Unknown
The nicest thing we hear from people is that I've had, I had a dope. SRI and I were at a conference in Chicago in November and this young woman came up to us and we were talking and I could see her kind of in the periphery and she was being very polite and patient and I just stopped my conversation, turned to can I help you? And she just said, I got into this industry three years ago, I didn't know much about cpg. And the way I got up to speed was just listening to your podcast. So thanks. So for us, that is the highest praise we can, we can possibly accept.
- [29:50]
Sri
Yeah, we're actually, we're actually building some custom content on the healthcare side with Walmart as well.
- [29:56]
Diana Marshall
Yeah, okay, that's good. It makes a difference. And you never know who's listening and who's learning and making a difference in industry as a result. So certain mentorship. Yes, I think I would say paying it forward has probably become a passion for me. Frankly, I'm pretty intentional. Some people joke about I have a wait list for my maturing circle that I re up every year with a new group of sort of enterprise associates.
- [30:21]
Unknown
Sri's been on my list for a couple of years.
- [30:23]
Shree Rajagopalan
I haven't let him in yet.
- [30:24]
Sri
I keep putting him up.
- [30:25]
Diana Marshall
Maybe this is the, I don't know.
- [30:26]
Sri
This could be the year I got to imagine people will give an arm and a leg to get on a wait list. Yeah. To be on a mentoring circle under you. So how do you manage that and set expectations? Because that can be.
- [30:37]
Unknown
How do you structure it? Like, how do you think about what's right for each person?
- [30:41]
Diana Marshall
Yes. So I think one, making sure I have a broad, diverse group of individuals is most important and I make sure the total enterprise is recommended. Last year we had somebody from India, so the time change was a little bit, you know, it's something you have to think through. And at the beginning I'm like, here's the expectation. If you want to participate, this is what I expect of you. I assign follow up homework so that they can not only learn from me, but they actually build networks. And so we are pretty intentional on not just leadership lessons, but also making sure we Talk about what's happening in the company, what's happening in the industry, and then also giving them access to leaders as well. I think about some of the best moments or the biggest lessons I learned early on was when I would get to listen to Doug McMillan or listen to Judith or Greg Furry and some of the leaders that we've had in the past where a small setting could be a little more intimate. So I try to do a mix as we go through the year and then have sort of a fun wrap up on celebrating all the promotions and the changes that happen through life. So it's funny actually recently I went through and I was thinking about, okay, I've been doing this for few years at this point in the, in the same way, like is it helping? Is it making a difference? And I actually went through and counted in the merchant team on the Walmart US side where I spent quite a bit of time. I was like, okay, there's over 20 officers now that has been through sort of my own mentoring program. I was like, I'm actually really proud step that don't swimming. Certainly something that I invest time in but also really grab to see the results and people sort of get access to ask me questions or call me and see if I can help them as they're making decisions in the year or even. I caught up with someone recently that I was in a couple of years ago.
- [32:20]
Sri
So one of the, one of the follow ups on that one I have for you is having spent most of my career in the in store side of the business and then transitioning to more Omni Channel later in my career, especially over Covid, I learned the hard way that staying abreast of the in store business is very important. And the way I did that is by taking a lot of store walks.
- [32:39]
Diana Marshall
Right.
- [32:40]
Sri
I'd have my leadership team go with me in store by, you know, from the world. I come from brand, you look at it by retailer. Yeah. How important do you think in leadership it is and is it part of your mentorship tenants that you ask people to be in store?
- [32:55]
Diana Marshall
Yes. So certainly being in store and being in competition is really important. I've also encouraged, you know, as we move into digital, like how do you make sure you're doing sitewalks? I think sight walks of competitors selves are just as important as doing a store walk. And that's something new because I grew up in the stores and spending days walking through it, which is critical. But I think what I love the most in my groups is I've actually Paired up. I'll have market managers that will be in the group and then pair them up with merchants. And it's actually really fun. A few of them sent me a note saying like, that's awesome. We're still best friends. We call each other and help each other out all the time. So I really try to think about the connection, but also thinking about, okay, don't just think about the standards of what we've always done. Like what's something new that you can add as a result of these conversations.
- [33:40]
Sri
And thinking more digitally, don't be surprised if there's a lovely T shirt in the future that says quote unquote, slide walks. Dash Diana Marshall, Sam's Club we're we're.
- [33:51]
Unknown
No deep for immortalizing quotes on T shirts.
- [33:54]
Sri
That's going to happen.
- [33:55]
Unknown
It's going to T shirt.
- [33:56]
Sri
You good with that one? Can we do that one?
- [33:57]
Unknown
That one?
- [33:59]
Sri
It's happened.
- [34:00]
Unknown
All right, so let me close this out. And we touched on it a little bit earlier, but no conversation on our podcast of late is complete without talking about AI. Would love to hear how you see AI in any form playing a role in accelerating growth at Sam's Club.
- [34:21]
Diana Marshall
You know, I am really proud as what we've done at the Sam's Club with AI over the past years and also what we're doing today. And if I think about just our general focus as a company, we're thinking about how can we be human, LED and tech powered. And if you think about some things that we've done historically with AI, we have launched autonomous floor scrubbers that are not just cleaning the floors which they look amazing, you haven't noticed when you walk through, but also helping us with our inventory at the same time. And so really proud of that. But actually, funny enough, last year when we were at ces, we actually announced our technology which uses computer vision and AI to allow for our members to simply walk out. And we're seeing really strong improvement. We announced it last year and now it's actually fully rolled out. So in the year 2024, we made that happen and our members love it. We heard from from them on feedback of long lines back to that listing. We don't like, we don't like waiting for the receipt checks. And so we're continuing to advance and leverage AI to increase the number that can simply just walk out. So more to come certainly there as we think about the year ahead. I think the other thing that I'm really proud of is we've used AI in our clubs to remove over 100 million tasks. And that's really important for us because it's critical to our members. Number 100 million? Yes, big number, not small. But it's critical for us that our members actually give us verbatim feedback about associate friendliness and just their willingness to come in and ask for a specific associate or the fact that they want to be walked over to an item and maybe talk about it as well. And the more tasks and the mundane work that we can remove, leveraging AI actually is the difference maker in us as we think about improving our experience and leaning into that friendliness. So, you know, I. I'm really proud of the work we're doing and actually pretty excited about what's to come. I think personally, I've been thinking about, okay, how can I go on my own personal journey? So over the holidays, certainly with my voice, we had lots of fun making lots of different work. None of us are artists, but certainly in a generative AI world, we're much better. So we practice our skills there. But also I've had the chance to read Co Intelligence by Ethan Mollick last year and actually had the chance to meet him recently. And one of the things that's been top of mind for myself as well as my boys and also my team is like, how can you become an expert prompter to leverage it to actually sort of continue to improve? How do you think and how you come up with better ideas? And so that's been something top of mind for me. One of the challenges he gave me when we chatted was like, you should think about having a dressium. And so I've also been having it give me feedback, you know, as my fashionable friend, what do you think about this outfit? What should I change? And it's been fun to not just, you know, professionally think about how do you change the business, but also personally, how do you really leverage AI to make your day a little easier, a little different than how you might approach things? So I think of it as really an area for us to lean into on sort of enabling human benefits and success by leveraging AI. And I'm excited about what's ahead and what will change this year, both at Sam's Club, as well as what I'll figure out first today.
- [37:38]
Sri
Awesome word about what AI is going to say about the CPG guys. I don't know.
- [37:44]
Unknown
Javier. Haute couture with our. With our swag? Come on. You know that's true.
- [37:48]
Sri
Well, first of all, I want to say thank you. This is early morning ces. You Got a million things to do over here but you actually gave us time. We don't take your freedom at that. I gave an awesome masterclass on how to be member obsessed and be successful at Sam's Club. Covered the spectrum of trends from like AI, what's up for the future. You made a, you actually shared a big, big, big, big, big one. This more earlier this morning in terms of measurement and metrics, ltv very important, I want to say a first in the industry and brands desperately need that. We've talked about mentorship, leadership. Got a power packed episode over here to kick off women's mark on the CPG guys. So sincerely thank you for joining.
- [38:31]
Diana Marshall
Thanks for having me.
- [38:32]
Peter V.S. Bond
Wow, Peter, what a wonderful conversation with Diane and it went just like I thought it would. She shared so much insights on MAP and how they're going to focus on the future. Measurement being a big anchor, but true, full funnel measurement. What do you think about that?
- [38:47]
Shree Rajagopalan
Yeah, it's interesting. So comparably speaking, Diana Marshall has a role at Sam's Club that effectively our friend Seth Delaire has at Walmart, the parent company. And she's looking at Sam's Club and the MAP program in particular as an enabler for its members to get them more engaged to create meaningful, highly personalized experiences, not only online, but certainly when they're in the club store. And I think with the introduction of Sam's Club Maps, new Scan and Go personalized mobile ads, this to me, SRI is the first example of what is arguably a truly scalable personalization in store experience. Much more so than any of the smart carts that we've seen because of the massive capital expenditures. I'm really bullish. I'm also bullish because we know that when they launched Scan and Go as a checkout mechanism in Sam's Club, it wasn't long before that rolled into Walmart. I fully see this as a tool that ultimately will be rolled into Walmart. So for brands that get invested in understanding how to activate through Sam's Club and this personalized Scan and Go, they are going to be set up to do so at a much larger scale when it moves into Walmart. What do you think?
- [40:14]
Peter V.S. Bond
I do want to discuss that for a quick second from my side, Peter, because I think as part of retail media, it's actually a very profound one. And the simple reason I use such a word is it's at the point of purchase and no better way to hook a consumer other than the point of purchase. So if you're a brand, I'd Pay a lot of attention to this new point of purchase. Scan and go retail media capability. Media capability, call it what you may because it's the way impulse brands now have a direct mechanism to drive attention to what they have to offer. I think you all do want to get in touch with the guy who runs map, which is Harvey Ma, our close friend and we know Harvey is really doubling down on this capability with an intent to help it drive lower funnel activation. Starting with upper funnel impressions for you all. So do get in touch. Let's talk a little bit about loyalty, data access, things of that nature. Peter, what was your takeaway there?
- [41:12]
Shree Rajagopalan
Yeah, I think what Sam's Club has a distinct advantage over its parent company is that 100% of all items purchased through Sam's Club are household attributable and that's because you can't shop at a Sam's Club without having a member card. That's fundamentally different than the challenges that Walmart has, particularly in making its customer purchase data available through its Scintilla application. Right. There's a lot of transactions happening at Walmart that are cash only and you really can't tokenize that data. Sam's Club doesn't have that problem. Sam Club does have a problem with its retail media street which is because it has a limited assortment. It means that the auction density for lower funnel product listing ads is challenging.
- [42:07]
Unknown
Right.
- [42:08]
Shree Rajagopalan
You don't have four or five brands in a category, you typically have two and then the private brand. So their ability to monetize.
- [42:20]
Unknown
The mid.
- [42:20]
Shree Rajagopalan
To lower funnel, the conversion aspect of owned and operated is not nearly as lucrative as its parent company Walmart. So they have to focus on other things. I think that's why the scan and go personalized ad brings upper funnel discoverability into the physical club stores and that's incredibly appealing to brands.
- [42:44]
Peter V.S. Bond
Two things come to mind though Peter, that very limited assortment can also play an advantage in that same limited density media world. If you're launching innovation, your competitive set is actually low and you can really highlight your innovation with excellent content. Rise to the top as you get it into the clubs. And the second thing is one of the skill sets that they really honed down on, you know, listening to Diana, is they're willing to work with vendors aka brands, share data the appropriate way, not necessarily PIIs, of course that would not be what brands would ask for either but work on cohorts, targeted advertising things on that that nature that a competitor of there's another club warehouse actually does not want to share the data again I'm not critical, it's just philosophies, but I think it's an advantage for Sam's.
- [43:35]
Shree Rajagopalan
Yeah, I would not describe Sam's as a walled garden. I would describe them more as what is being referred to as a hedged garden. The data is accessible, you can use it, you can help build audiences, you can measure performance. And to your point, yeah, the limited assortment for brands that are driving innovation through Sam's Club is a huge opportunity for them. Yeah, I would say there's so much that can be done at Sam's Club. Diana has got a great team assembled, she's got great capabilities and products. And ultimately the parent company Walmart is going to be able to benefit from these innovations that are coming through their club format.
- [44:20]
Peter V.S. Bond
You're 100% right, Peter. That's a wrap of this episode. Let me remind our audience you can find all of our content simply by going to cpguys.com if you or anyone you know has some thought leadership to contribute to a community discussion, drop us an email@contactpguys.com to all our followers. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We will see you soon. Another Episode of the CPG Guys.
- [44:53]
Unknown
The.
- [44:53]
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