Chris and Anne close out 2025 with their annual awards show, joined by Chad Lusk of the A&M Consumer and Retail Group to hand out the Omni Awards recognizing the year's retail standouts, strategic blunders, and emerging trends.
The awards cover Retailer of the Year with debates over Aldi’s expansion versus Walmart’s dominance and Costco’s resilience, Headline of the Year highlighting Doug McMillon’s retirement announcement and agentic AI integration, and Technology of the Year examining electronic shelf labels and operational AI. The discussion also recognizes Doug McMillon as CEO of the Year for his transformative decade at Walmart, questions whether agentic AI commerce deserves its hype as Most Overhyped Tech, and celebrates strategic turnarounds at Macy’s and Gap. Other categories include Best Partnership featuring Walmart’s luxury resale collaboration and IKEA’s Best Buy kitchen integration, and the Most Laughable Headline award for Starbucks blaming mobile pickup for lost warmth. The episode concludes with predictions for 2026, including OpenAI payment platforms and an explosion in agent commerce.