The goal of "The Innovation Conversation" is to explore some facet of the fast-changing, technology-driven retail landscape and how it affects businesses and consumers. It is, we think, fertile territory ... and one that Tom Furphy - a former Amazon executive, the originator of Amazon Fresh, and currently CEO and Managing Director of Consumer Equity Partners (CEP), a venture capital and venture development firm in Seattle, WA, that works with many top retailers and manufacturers - is uniquely positioned to address.
Tom and Kevin get together to talk about two recent stories about moves that threaten to reshape retail's competitive landscape - DoorDash's opening of DashMart, which competes with its own c-store retail partners, and Walmart's pilot with Instacart, offering one-day delivery but also putting Walmart on the same platform as Kroger, Albertsons, Costco and numerous other retailers that would describe Walmart as the enemy. The writing is on the wall, but Tom and Kevin argue that too few people are reading it.
