Fast Five Pod | Gap Grounds Its Retail Media Plans, Panera Pilots Palm Pay & Levi’s Loses Its AI Mind

Hello Omni Talk Fans! Anne and I returned from Shoptalk in Las Vegas yesterday a little tired, a little hungover, and 100% reenergized!

It was another great Shoptalk conference. One that saw us:

• Moderate panels onstage a combined four times (three for Anne – she crushed it – and one for me)
• Conduct 10 live interviews from SES-imagotag’s booth (huge thank you to them for sponsoring our efforts at the show)
• Receive medals from superfan Jenny Wolski of Petco
• Reunite with old mentors we haven’t seen in over 20 years
• And, of course, get incredibly hot in here dancing our ass*s off to Nelly on Tuesday night with about 3,000 of our closest colleagues in retail!

Shoptalk is the best conference in the business for a reason, and, if you haven’t already, you should definitely put it on your roadmap for next year.

In Today’s Fast Five Podcast, the A&M Consumer and Retail Group’s Billy Christensen and Lakshman Lakshmanan joined Anne and me to discuss:

• The interesting loyalty angles behind Panera and Amazon’s new palm pay partnership
• Choice Market’s unique advantage in rolling out autonomous mini-marts
• Whether Gap is clairvoyant or foolish in shutting down its retail media efforts
• How much to make of Telfar’s new creative pricing scheme
• And closed with a look at whether Levi’s has lost its freaking mind over AI

There’s all that, plus CEOs making like baristas, post-travel illnesses, and chance encounters in the airport with Omni Talk fans when we really have to use the bathroom.

Listen to This Week’s Fast Five Podcast

Be careful out there,

-- Chris, Anne, and the entire Omni Talk team

P.S. Speaking of trade shows, this summer Anne and I are planning to head for the first time to the CommerceNext Ecommerce Growth Show on June 20-21 in New York City.

We’ll be livestreaming from the show, and you can learn from over 120 industry-leading speakers across more than 50 sessions. 

Scaled retailers and brands also get FREE admission! 

Just click on the big image right below this sentence or go to commercenext.com/conference and use VIP code “FAST FIVE" to register for your complimentary ticket TODAY.