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Speaker 1: and Charlie how at the dial. The SMP NEZDAC all
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Speaker 1: That's a Bloomberg Business flash. This is taking stock with
Speaker 1: Kathleen Hayes and Pin Box on Bloomberg Radio. Shares of
Speaker 1: Walmart stores down about a tenth of a percent today
Speaker 1: trades lower by eight cents at seventy dollars and eighty
Speaker 1: seven cents. This comes after Walmart says it's far to
Speaker 1: test grocery delivery service with Uber Technologies and Lift all
Speaker 1: part of Walmart's effort to compete head to head with
Speaker 1: Amazon dot Com. Let's find out more from Shannon Petty,
Speaker 1: piece US consumer reporter for Bloomberg News. Shannon, always a pleasure,
Speaker 1: Thanks for being with us. Yeah, glad to be here.
Speaker 1: All right, So you at the meeting, CEO. This was
Speaker 1: Doug McMillan's effort to kind of say, look, where in
Speaker 1: the technology business as much as we're in the retail business. Uh,
Speaker 1: the annual shareholder meeting today, they're going to start this
Speaker 1: grocery delivery service in Denver and Phoenix later in the month.
Speaker 1: Is this really what's going to turn Walmart around as
Speaker 1: it needed. Well. I think what they're doing here with
Speaker 1: this grocery delivery and also this grocery pickup service is
Speaker 1: they're really trying to like fortify the walls of the
Speaker 1: fort around their grocery business. Grocery accounts for more than
Speaker 1: half of Walmart's US business, Like, they can't lose in grocery.
Speaker 1: And when you have Amazon, Google, Um Target dipping their
Speaker 1: toes into grocery delivery, I think Walmart knows. Yes, they
Speaker 1: obviously they sort of missed the boat on the Internet,
Speaker 1: and you know with Amazon when it comes to general merchandise,
Speaker 1: they've been trying really hard to play catch up. But
Speaker 1: when it comes to grocery, they cannot lose their like
Speaker 1: they cannot be caught behind, and so doing things like
Speaker 1: testing this grocery delivery service they announced today where you
Speaker 1: place your order online, an uber or a lift dry
Speaker 1: ever in these two cities that are testing it, goes
Speaker 1: and picks it up, drives it to your house for
Speaker 1: a seven to ten dollar delivery. See UM. The other
Speaker 1: thing they've gone as this grocery pickup service, So you
Speaker 1: order your groceries online and then um you drive into
Speaker 1: the Walmart parking lot, you send a notification to the
Speaker 1: store that you're there, and in less than five minutes,
Speaker 1: an employee wheels a card out, put them in your trunk,
Speaker 1: and you never have to get out of the car.
Speaker 1: Like they're trying to do all of these things to
Speaker 1: really make sure they aren't going to be losing any
Speaker 1: grocery business and hopefully picking up some more, hopefully attracting
Speaker 1: customers who want a shop at Walmart, who will because
Speaker 1: of the convenience, and then of course just improving their
Speaker 1: brand in general with customers. Hey, we're a company with
Speaker 1: a website and we do stuff online. You're in the
Speaker 1: parking let's get groceries. Don't you want to stop in
Speaker 1: and pick up some kids clothes? You know, and then
Speaker 1: it will sort of trickle out to the rest of
Speaker 1: their business. So Shannon share some of the color as
Speaker 1: you uh report all day at the Bud Walton Arena
Speaker 1: on the University of Arkansas campus at the Walmart Annual Meeting,
Speaker 1: because it strikes me too, this seems on a very
Speaker 1: practical of that's it's huge, you know, get the groceries
Speaker 1: out there, maintain this business. But isn't also something about saying, Hey,
Speaker 1: we're not the old Walmart Walmart, we are kind of
Speaker 1: hip and cool. Isn't that part of what they are
Speaker 1: trying to get out to customers and and people who
Speaker 1: buy their stock. Yeah, that's a really interesting question, and
Speaker 1: something I've been thinking about the past few days as
Speaker 1: I've been here is this sort of mix between old
Speaker 1: Walmart new Walmart. So they've been bringing some things back
Speaker 1: from the past. Um, these smiley face logo that UM
Speaker 1: in the nineteen eighties and the nineteen nineties was all
Speaker 1: over Walmart marketing material. When there was a low price,
Speaker 1: they had that miley face next to it. Like that
Speaker 1: went away in two thousand six, and they announced at
Speaker 1: this meeting they were bringing that back. A few and
Speaker 1: maybe it was last month, they brought back the door
Speaker 1: greeters who had sort of been dispersed to other parts
Speaker 1: of the store UM to do other tasks the companies
Speaker 1: that they're bringing those to the door. The old hallmark
Speaker 1: of Sam Walton layaway over Christmas, they brought that back.
Speaker 1: So there's been a number of big things that used
Speaker 1: to be hallmarks of Walmart that went away that they're
Speaker 1: bringing back. So in a sense, there's this little bit
Speaker 1: back to the future, but at the same time we've
Speaker 1: got all this new tech coming out saying we're also
Speaker 1: a new hip company. So it's an interesting dynamic. Channon
Speaker 1: Petty Peace, thank you so very much. Interesting conversation about
Speaker 1: Walmart at the annual meeting today. We're breaking news this
Speaker 1: afternoon Tony Fidel sitting stepping down as the head of
Speaker 1: Nest Labs, a blow to Google, which bought the company
Speaker 1: just two years ago. Joining us now is Jack Clark
Speaker 1: Jack interesting story. You say it's a blow to Google
Speaker 1: to have Tony Fidel leaving, but they some say he
Speaker 1: was a problem. So they've been employee complaints about Nest
Speaker 1: for the last few months. They've also been delays on product.
Speaker 1: At the same time, Fidel has said in the blog
Speaker 1: post that this is a personal decision that's been underway
Speaker 1: since last year. However, it is a blow to Google
Speaker 1: to lose a high profile CEO of one of its
Speaker 1: alphabet ventures, probably the most high profile of the non
Speaker 1: Google businesses. Jack, is there any indication at the three
Speaker 1: point two billion dollars that Google paid for Nest is
Speaker 1: it an acquisition they regret or is it just just
Speaker 1: an executive issue they're portraying it as an executive issue.
Speaker 1: They point out the revenues have grown. Internet of things
Speaker 1: products are a crucial part of Alphabet's future. But you
Speaker 1: may notice that Google just announced Google Home, which is
Speaker 1: a smart AI powered virtual system that will sit in
Speaker 1: your living room and talk to you, much like Amazon's Echo.
Speaker 1: That's being done out of the Google business rather than Nest,
Speaker 1: So they're certainly hedging their bets with another products line
Speaker 1: not coming from Nest. Now, well, next move for Tony
Speaker 1: Fidel any ideas quickly? Well, he's got a start up
Speaker 1: that he's sort of involved in that does internet connected
Speaker 1: go karts for children, So he's going to be working
Speaker 1: on that for a while. He's already been working on
Speaker 1: that for a few weeks. So it became public, I believe,
Speaker 1: last month. And he's a lifelong hardware tinkerer. I don't
Speaker 1: think this is the last will hear from him? Jack Clark,
Speaker 1: thank you so very much, Bloomberg News reporter about Tony
Speaker 1: Fidel leaving Nest two years after Google bought the company, Pam,
Speaker 1: we got a big day on Monday. Janet Yellen speaks
Speaker 1: at twelve thirty. What will she say about the economy
Speaker 1: and future interest rate moves, Yes and a big day
Speaker 1: beginning on Tuesday for us. Were broadcasting live from Pershing's
Speaker 1: Inside sixteen conference at the Higatt Regency in Portlando. Thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today on taking stuff, Keep it
Speaker 1: right here on Bloomberg Radio for Bloomberg Law coming up.
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