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Discover how US consumers are responding to shifting economic conditions, the Iran conflict and inflationary pressures.

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Data in this research report include: Consumer sentiment, in total and by income, weekly; rates of shopping at major retailers, weekly; rates of purchasing in selected retail categories, weekly.

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Coresight Research US Consumer Survey Databank provides additional insight into US consumer behaviors from our weekly surveys.

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Executive Summary

Grocery retailers and CPG brands are contending with stretched consumer budgets, rising health-driven expectations and AI agents that increasingly sit between brands and their customers, all at once. Our team’s top insights from Groceryshop 2026 show a shift toward more disciplined, operational use of AI, in shopping assistants, demand-sensing, retail media and membership programs, so that retailers and brands can compete on speed, profitability and customer ownership rather than on promotions alone.

Coresight Research Analysis

AI-Powered Shopping Experiences—Moving Beyond Item Search to Understanding Intent

AI-powered shopping assistants are shifting grocery from item-by-item search toward full baskets built around a single stated need.
AI’s biggest value to grocery shoppers lies in reducing decision effort rather than expanding choice, a shift built around shopping intent and occasion.

Transforming and Optimizing Business Operations—Through Data, Fast Reaction and a Focus on Profitability

AI is allowing the compression of time between detecting a local shift in demand and acting on it, enabling retailers to launch targeted campaigns within minutes rather than days.
Retailers are moving from manual dashboards toward continuous, automated detection and root-cause analysis.
Online grocery profitability comes from matching the operating model to demand density using different approaches, from dense store networks to pure-play fulfilment.

Meeting Consumer Expectations—To Accommodate Stretched Budgets and Consumer Interest in Health and Wellness

Consumers are redefining value beyond price, splitting into distinct segments and finding value through different strategies—switching to lower-priced brands, shopping value channels or buying private label—rather than relying on promotions alone. Retailers are framing price as table stakes rather than the core pitch.
Health is a fast-growing extension of that value proposition: retailers are building broader healthcare ecosystems and food-as-medicine programs, while GLP-1 use is shifting baskets toward smaller portions, hydration, produce and protein.

Retail Media Opportunities and Challenges—Highlighting the In-Store Opportunity and the Importance of Identity

In-store retail media is a major growth opportunity, connecting digital and physical shopping rather than disrupting it, with displays in the front of store, the pharmacy waiting-area and screens on the point-of-sale (POS) terminal.
Retail media is shifting from lower-funnel conversion toward full-funnel impact, using identity, first-party purchase history and onsite/offsite activation to connect awareness, consideration and purchase. Traditional impression and click metrics are transitioning toward guaranteed-return products that measure and optimize performance while a campaign is still running.

Unified Commerce and Omnichannel Marketing Strategies—Success Derives from Choosing Which Channel to Pursue and Which Functions to Automate

Omnichannel success depends on channel discipline, not coverage: brands need a clear role for each channel, with digital sometimes supporting discovery-driven physical retail rather than replacing it. Expanding into a new channel requires product architecture, assortment, packaging and formats to reflect that channel’s specific purchase mission and economics.
This same discipline also applies to automating marketing production: deciding what to automate, redesign or keep human-led, guided by brand safety, privacy and governance. The goal is freeing teams for higher-value work rather than reducing headcount.

Winning and Engaging Customers—Maintaining the Relationship in an Agentic World with Memberships and Other Benefits

As AI agents take on more of the shopping process, retailers face growing disintermediation risk: the core challenge is benefiting from these tools without losing ownership of the direct customer relationship.
Paid membership is a key defense: it creates commitment because customers have already invested, and longer-tenured members tend to become more valuable and more loyal. Understanding what actually drives loyalty requires going beyond basic segmentation toward customer conversations, behavioral observation and diary studies.

What We Think (Summary)

This year’s Groceryshop conference focused more on the application of AI technology, rather than lauding it. Many of the keynotes centered on using AI chatbots to create shopping lists that follow the needs and concerns of today’s consumers such as hitting nutritional targets, staying within a budget and meeting the needs of GLP-1 users.

However, we view meal-planning/basket-building convenience as a relatively narrow use case for AI in grocery retail. Higher-impact applications include demand forecasting, inventory management, pricing, merchandising and supply chain planning. In our view, the greater opportunity lies in applying AI to the wider set of decisions and processes that influence sales, loyalty and profitability. According to a 2026 Coresight Research survey of US retail professionals, customer service leads AI adoption among retailers (83% of surveyed retailers have deployed this in production), but other prominent use cases include fraud and loss prevention (77% have deployed), supply chain optimization (72%) and in-store operations (63%)—see our new IMPACT Playbook for more analysis.

Introduction

Coresight Research is a research partner of Groceryshop 2026, which took place during September 22–24 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. Groceryshop is an annual conference that brings together global retailers, brands and technology leaders to discuss trends, innovations and strategies shaping the future of grocery and consumer packaged goods (CPG).

This year, Groceryshop attracted more than 4,000 retail professionals, including senior leaders and executives from more than 1,300 retailers, brands and technology providers.

At this event, Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research, emceed the Startup Pitch competition and served as lead judge. The competition, held on the second day of the event, saw 12 early-stage retail-technology innovators compete within two categories: “Technologies Boosting Revenue and Conversion” and “Technologies Driving Cost Savings and Efficiencies.” Within each session, the judging panel narrowed the field to two finalists, and the audience then cast the deciding vote to crown that session’s winner.

The winners were:

Technologies Boosting Revenue and Conversion Winner: Shelflife
Technologies Driving Cost Savings and Efficiencies Winner: Perfect Store Group

For more information on the competition, see our Day Two report; and for more details on the startups, see our preview report.

Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research
Source: Groceryshop

In this report, we present our top insights from Groceryshop 2026 centered around six key themes in CPG and grocery retail:

AI-Powered Shopping Experiences
Transforming and Optimizing Business Operations
Meeting Consumer Expectations
Retail Media Opportunities and Challenges
Unified Commerce and Omnichannel Marketing Strategies
Winning and Engaging Customers

Groceryshop 2026 Wrap-Up: Coresight Research Analysis

1. AI-Powered Shopping Experiences—Moving Beyond Item Search to Understanding Intent

Sessions highlighted the theme of a shift from search by item to intent- and mission-based shopping, which also reduces the mental load of shopping.

Several retailers described moving beyond retrieving recommendations to creating an entire basket fitting an expressed need. Instacart CEO Chris Rogers commented that AI is particularly suited for grocery because the category combines high frequency and high complexity. Consumers will, for example, request “a healthy meal my kids will eat under $40,” rather than build a cart item by item. Kroger discussed its customers using AI assistants to create baskets from photos, recipes and personalization signals, and Albert Heijn (Ahold Delhaize) is expanding its assistant from meal inspiration into higher-value tasks including personalized meal planning, pre-filled baskets and coupon activation. Grocery discovery is moving from product-search toward mission-based shopping to solve tasks such as meal planning, event preparation and budget-based shopping.

Speakers also discussed the value of AI in reducing decision fatigue. Coresight Research CEO and Founder Deborah Weinswig commented, “The shopper is not asking for AI; they are asking for less work.” Harshad Agashe, VP, Data Science & AI Product, Albertsons, described that a consumer could state a weekly budget, request usual items and add a request to host guests, with AI assembling the basket rather than requiring an item-by-item search. This activity follows the move from segmentation to one-to-one personalization in marketing, where AI is used to understand consumer intent and the shopping occasion, rather than only to predict likely purchases.

Chris Rogers, CEO, Instacart (Left); and Ben Miller, Founder & Host, The GrocerTalk Podcast (Right)
Source: Groceryshop

2. Transforming and Optimizing Business Operations—Through Data, Fast Reaction and a Focus on Profitability

Sessions described AI moving from isolated pilots into the processes that set a retailer’s execution speed and cost structure.

Mustafa Bartin, General Manager, Migros Grocery, described how AI is reducing the time between detecting a shift in local demand and acting on it, which is essential in the highly competitive Turkish grocery market (the home of quick commerce retailer Getir). Bartin said AI-enabled workflows now identify low demand in a neighborhood to launch a targeted campaign within minutes, which previously took days [Day 2 Write-Up]. Further, other functions such as inventory, pricing and supply-chain processes need to operate. Migros evaluates customer adoption, associate adoption, technology maturity and regulatory considerations before scaling any new capability, and consumer concerns about dynamic pricing informed its cautious rollout of electronic shelf labels.

One common theme at Groceryshop and elsewhere is the need for solid data foundations for reliable results from AI. Schnuck Markets found an effective AI assistant required substantial data preparation, such as improving nutritional information and promotion data plus turning internal expertise into structured knowledge, which was for an assistant to reliably answer consumer queries. Germán Loewe, Founder and CEO of Shalio, described a shift in digital shelf management, where AI agents are moving dashboards toward continuous detection and root-cause analysis across millions of data points spanning multiple retailers and SKUs, with decision-making and execution the next steps to be automated.

There was also discussion centering on applying operating-model logic to online-grocery profitability. The panel moderated by Daryl Porter, Senior Partner, TOMORROW, targeted profitability within four interconnected factors: basket size, order frequency, reliability and quality, and fulfillment density and cost per order. Panelists commented that different models can be successful depending on the alignment of those factors. Petr Lizner, Director of Strategy and Growth, Rohlik Group, said its pure-play fulfillment model requires a basket size large enough to cover fulfillment, last-mile delivery, marketing and overhead costs, in addition to a 95% “perfect order” rate that linked to a 90 NPS. Guilherme Cardoso, Head of Ecommerce, MC Sonae, said that the retailer evaluates e-commerce using a fully loaded profit and loss statement, leveraging its around 400-store network, rather than relying on dark stores, operating only one in higher-density Lisbon.

3. Meeting Consumer Expectations—To Accommodate Stretched Budgets and Consumer Interest in Health and Wellness

Sessions discussed consumers redefining value as more than just price and grocery retailers extending their value proposition into health.

Nicole Collida, SVP and Managing Director, US Retail, NielsenIQ, sees a segmented consumer base in which “strugglers” account for approximately one-third of consumers and “thrivers” for around 9%. Rather than just seeking promotions, consumers are finding value in different ways: approximately 40% are switching to lower-priced brands, around one-third are shopping value channels and around one-third are buying private label. Myron Frazier, EVP and Chief Merchandising Officer, Sam’s Club, summarized the retailer’s proposition as “a great item, at a disruptive price, delivered as only Sam’s Club can.” Jeremy Gosch, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Hy-Vee, cited price as “table stakes” and pointing to the 1,400 new private-label products launched in the past year, including a health-focused “Nothing But The Truth” brand, as the basis for differentiation.

Health emerged as a fast-growing area where retailers are extending the broader value proposition. Hy-Vee has built a healthcare ecosystem spanning grocery, pharmacy, pharmacy benefit management, telemedicine and direct primary care. Gosch described a food-as-medicine pilot in Nebraska in which high-risk diabetes patients received incentives to buy fresh food, work with dietitians and track outcomes. Many participants brought their A1C levels into the normal range, and 90% of those completing the six-month program continued those healthier behaviors afterward. GLP-1 also represents a meaningful health category. Coresight Research data identifies 13.0% of US adults as GLP-1 users, with usage peaking among younger consumers (approximately 18%) and Hispanic consumers (approximately 21%). The most common dietary change is smaller portion sizes, with shopping baskets orienting towards hydration, fresh produce and protein.

Myron Frazier, EVP and Chief Merchandising Officer, Sam’s Club (Left); and Chris Walton, President and CEO, Omni Talk (Right)
Source: Groceryshop

4. Retail Media Opportunities and Challenges—Highlighting the In-Store Opportunity and the Importance of Identity

Sessions described retail media evolving from being advertising inventory to connected ecommerce platforms that need to prove a return.

Brian Monahan, SVP, Retail Media, Albertsons Media Collective argued that in-store media is a major opportunity since it can offer sponsored content at the moment of shopping. Leanne Gibson, SVP, Loblaw Advance believes that retail media should connect digital and physical experiences rather than disrupt them, with the customer journey being the starting point. CVS considers its physical footprint as a key advantage, with 9,000 locations, 67% of customers visiting weekly. The retailer is multiple in-store formats including, waiting-area screens in the pharmacy section, front-store displays and point-of-sale (POS) advertising, and the use of displays has expanded to 50% of its fleet.

Bobby Watts, SVP of AD Retail Media, Ahold Delhaize USA, sees the opportunity in combining customer identity, first-party purchase history and offsite and onsite media activation to reach consumers with a higher likelihood of purchasing. He further argues that retail media should connect awareness, consideration and purchase, rather than being restricted to lower-funnel conversion. Matt Knust, VP, Practice Lead (CPG), InMarket, argued that impressions, clicks and reach are delivery metrics, rather than the incremental demand that marketers actually need: traditional campaign reporting often arrives six to 10 weeks after a campaign ends — too late to optimize while it is still running. His response is a guaranteed iROAS (incremental return on ad spend) product, which sets a minimum incremental return before a campaign begins and measures performance against it while the campaign is active, enabling in-flight optimization.

Left to Right: Andrew Lipsman, Independent Analyst & Consultant, Media Ads + Commerce; Brian Monahan, SVP, Retail Media, Albertsons Media Collective; Parbinder Dhariwal, VP and General Manager, CVS Media Exchange; and Leanne Gibson, SVP, Loblaw Advance
Source: Groceryshop

5. Unified Commerce and Omnichannel Marketing Strategies—Success Derives from Choosing Which Channel to Pursue and Which Functions to Automate

Sessions centered on how omnichannel growth now depends on channel discipline rather than channel coverage, and this discipline is also changing how marketing content itself gets produced.

In the session “Designing a Multichannel Commerce Strategy,” Eric Le, VP of Growth Marketing and Insights, Siete Foods, argued that omnichannel success does not mean pursuing every available channel: brands need to define the role of each channel and invest accordingly. He continued, saying Siete Foods remains retail-led despite a strong digital community because stores continue to drive discovery, with owned digital channels used, rather, to learn about highly engaged consumers, test innovation and build relationships with superfans. Suman Nag, Head of Ecommerce, Freshpet, added that operating models shape these decisions directly: its refrigerated product requires strong physical retail execution, and therefore expansion into additional channels requires considering infrastructure, economics and customer expectations before committing. The panel agreed that channel expansion requires product adaptation, since a product architecture built for one channel cannot simply be copied into another, and assortment, packaging and formats need to reflect the purchase mission and economics of each environment.

This same discipline extends to producing marketing content. Andrew Pearson, Head of Content, North America, Diageo, argued that teams should determine what should be automated, what should be redesigned and what should remain human-led, rather than be automated simply because it is possible. Pearson continued, saying the goal was not reducing creative headcount, but rather freeing teams to spend more time on higher-value creative and strategic work. Brand safety, privacy and governance were identified as the key requirements for deciding which workflows to automate.

6. Winning and Engaging Customers—Maintaining the Relationship in an Agentic World with Memberships and Other Benefits

Sessions centered on the risk to customer relationships: as AI agents take on more of the shopping process, retailers need to keep consumers directly engaged, and membership programs are one of the strongest tools for accomplishing this.

The Groceryshop Key Takeaways session explored whether AI agents could become a new layer between consumers and retailers.

Chris Walton, President and CEO, Omni Talk, said expectations around agentic grocery have shifted towards how retailers will maintain relationships if consumers increasingly rely on external agents. Deborah Weinswig described large language models could become the “operating system” for commerce that lets consumers and retailers connect through AI-driven interfaces, and retailers building their own agentic capabilities around their customer relationships, data and assets. Ben Miller, Founder and Host, The GrocerTalk Podcast, framed the core challenge as disintermediation: retailers must determine how to benefit from emerging AI capabilities without losing ownership of the customer relationship.

Panelists in the session “Gaining a Competitive Advantage through Membership Programs” argued that membership is one concrete answer, provided the model is built on sustainable benefits and a deeper understanding of the customer. The panel distinguished paid membership from traditional loyalty programs: paid models create commitment because customers have already invested. April Lane, Chief Merchandising Officer, Thrive Market outlined that its longer-tenured paid members generally become more valuable and more loyal, whereas Reba Hatcher, Chief Commercial Officer, ButcherBox described moving beyond basic recency-frequency-monetary segmentation by combining data with customer conversations, behavioral observation and diary studies to understand which benefits actually change shopper behaviors. In an agentic commerce future, differentiated benefits could give retailers another way to remain relevant as AI agents influence more purchase decisions.

Left to Right: April Lane, Chief Merchandising Officer at Thrive Market; Reba Hatcher, Chief Commercial Officer at ButcherBox; Danielle Sheridan, Global Head of Membership & Loyalty at Uber; and Brendan Witcher, Global VP, Product & Content, at Shoptalk & Groceryshop
Source: Groceryshop

What We Think

However, we view AI as having much greater potential application across grocery retail and CPG, and we consider meal-planning/basket-building convenience to be a relatively narrow use case. Higher-impact applications include demand forecasting, inventory management, pricing, merchandising and supply chain planning. In our view, the greater opportunity lies in applying AI to the wider set of decisions and processes that influence sales, loyalty and profitability. According to a 2026 Coresight Research survey of US retail professionals, customer service leads AI adoption among retailers (83% of surveyed retailers have deployed this in production), but other prominent use cases include fraud and loss prevention (77% have deployed), supply chain optimization (72%) and in-store operations (63%)—see our new IMPACT Playbook for more analysis.

Notes and Methodology

Data and conclusions in this report are as of September 26, 2026.

Companies mentioned in this report are: Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE: ACI), ButcherBox, CVS Health Corporation (NYSE: CVS), Diageo plc (NYSE: DEO), Freshpet, Inc. (NasdaqGM: FRPT), Getir, Groceryshop, Hy-Vee, Inc., InMarket, Instacart—Maplebear (NasdaqGS: CART), Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V. (Amsterdam: AD.AS), Loblaw Companies Ltd. (Toronto: L.TO), MC Sonae, Migros Ticaret A.S. (Istanbul: MGROS.IS), NielsenIQ, Omni Talk, Perfect Store Group, Rohlik Group, Sam’s Club, a division of Walmart Inc. (NasdaqGS: WMT), Schnuck Markets, Inc., Shalio, Shelflife, Shoptalk, Siete Foods, The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), Thrive Market, TOMORROW, Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER).

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Read this report to discover answers to these and other questions:

What are Coresight Research’s projections for year-over-year retail sales growth in each of the next 12 months?
How has the proprietary Retail Growth Outlook Score changed compared to previous reporting periods?
Which macroeconomic indicators are currently having the greatest impact on retail performance and consumer spending?

Data in this report include: US retail sales forecasts; model-predicted vs. actual retail growth; labor force, wage, and inflation metrics; consumer sentiment and disposable income trends; housing market data.

Alongside this report, you can access the data behind key charts and tables in the Excel download above.

Other relevant research:

Coresight Research monthly reports keep you up to date on retail sales (in total and by sector) and key consumer indicators in the US.
All our coverage of tariffs
The US Retail Sales Databank features retail sales values and year-over-year growth, in total and by sector, by year and by month. This Databank is updated monthly.
The Coresight Research US Consumer Survey Databank provides additional insight into US consumer behaviors from our weekly surveys. Our Weekly US Consumer Sentiment infographic series complements our survey reports with selected findings on consumers’ financial and economic expectations each week.

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Discover how retailers can test their AI strategy against the Coresight Research IMPACT framework, covering investment and infrastructure, model choices, policy and security, operational applications, the consumer experience and workforce transformation. Read this report to uncover answers to these and other questions:

How can retailers ensure AI investment, data quality and systems integration are strong enough to scale AI use cases across stores and channels?
Should retailers use a provider’s AI model, adapt it with their own data, or build proprietary models—and how should that build-vs.-buy decision be tested?
What policies, security safeguards and accountability structures are needed to keep AI actions safe, compliant and reversible?
Which AI applications should retailers prioritize, and how can they measure adoption and net benefit against a credible cost and service baseline?
How is agentic AI reshaping product discovery, order completion and fulfillment—and what must retailers get right to stay visible and trusted in AI-mediated shopping?
How should retailers redesign workflows, decision rights and incentives so that time freed up by AI turns into real service or cost gains rather than stalled pilots?

Ready for the next step? Read our Playbook report for a more detailed “how-to” guide to achieve agentic AI readiness with our IMPACT framework.

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Discover how retail readiness for agentic AI is moving from isolated pilots to enterprise-wide capability, as shared infrastructure, task-tested models, governed decision boundaries and consumer-ready agentic commerce reshape how retailers compete. Read this report to uncover answers to these and other questions:

How does shared data and infrastructure investment determine whether AI pilots scale into repeatable business capabilities?
What should determine whether retailers buy, adapt or build their own AI models?
What decision boundaries, safeguards and “kill switches” are needed to contain the risks of increasingly autonomous AI agents?
Which AI applications are retailers prioritizing to scale, and how should they measure adoption and net benefit against a baseline?
How ready are consumers and retailers for agentic commerce, and what workflow and organizational changes are needed to capture AI’s efficiency gains?

Companies mentioned in this report include: Alphabet (Google); Amazon; Anthropic; Kroger; Microsoft; Mistral AI; OpenAI; Perplexity AI; RELEX Solutions; Target; and Walmart.

Data in this report include: North American retail decision-makers’ survey findings on AI governance barriers; Coresight Research consumer survey data on GenAI shopping adoption and purchase completion; shopper comfort levels with autonomous AI grocery purchasing, by retail membership status; the most attractive features of AI shopping assistants to US shoppers; AI deployment rates across retail business functions.

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Each Analyst Corner features highlights and insights from the respective week’s “Report of the Week”—our featured must-read research report. This week, our featured report was Market Navigator: Inside the $1 Trillion US Value Retail Market.

Discover how US mass merchandisers, warehouse clubs and discount stores are reshaping the retail landscape as sector sales exceed $1 trillion, e-commerce accelerates and value-focused consumers change where and how they shop. Read this report to uncover answers to these and other questions:

What is driving growth across US mass merchandisers, warehouse clubs and discount stores, and why are warehouse clubs expected to lead the sector through 2030?
How will cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Shein, Temu and Amazon Haul intensify competition for dollar stores, particularly in discretionary and nonfood categories?
How will changes to SNAP eligibility and state restrictions on eligible products affect grocery spending, basket composition and discretionary purchases?
How can dollar stores respond to rising online competition through private labels, exclusive products, faster merchandise rotation and discovery-led shopping?

Companies mentioned in this report include: Amazon; BJ’s Wholesale; Costco; Shein; Sam’s Club; Target; Temu; Walmart.

Data in this report include: US mass merchandiser, warehouse club and discount store sales forecasts through 2030; warehouse club sales growth and CAGR estimates; global e-commerce growth for mass retailers; warehouse club sales trends from 2021 to 2025; and consumer sentiment toward leading US mass merchandisers and warehouse clubs.

Other relevant research:

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Executive Summary

Discussions on the third and final day of Groceryshop 2026 highlighted how grocers are balancing structural pressures, such as low margins, changing consumer behavior and intensifying competition, with new opportunities created by AI, personalization, health-oriented propositions and differentiated business models. While technology featured prominently throughout the day, speakers consistently emphasized that technology itself is not the objective. The focus should be on solving specific consumer and business problems, including helping shoppers decide faster, improving relevance, strengthening loyalty and creating operational efficiency.

Coresight Research Analysis

1. AI and Personalization: Moving from Segments to Individual Customer Needs

Retailers are moving beyond detailed customer segmentation toward true one-to-one personalization. AI is enabling them to understand customer intent, shopping occasions and desired outcomes, such as building the right basket within a budget, rather than just predicting what consumers are likely to buy.

2. The Biggest AI Opportunity: Reducing Decision Fatigue

AI’s biggest value in grocery is simplifying shopping. From creating weekly baskets to planning meals around budgets, preferences and dietary needs, AI can reduce the mental effort consumers face when making everyday purchase decisions.

3. Agentic Commerce: Retailers Must Protect Direct Customer Relationships

As AI agents become a new interface for shopping, retailers face the challenge of maintaining direct customer relationships. Building proprietary AI capabilities around customer data, loyalty and retailer-owned assets will be key to avoiding disintermediation.

4. Retailers Are Expanding the Definition of Value Beyond Price

Affordability remains a key consumer priority, but retailers are redefining value through a mix of price, quality, convenience and trust. Retailers are using private label, differentiated products and stronger service experiences to give shoppers more reasons to choose them beyond price alone.

5. Private Label and Curated Assortments Strengthen Differentiation

As price comparison becomes easier, differentiated private-label offerings can help retailers stand out. Misfits Market is using its Odds & Ends brand to deliver value through high-quality staples and upcycled products that align with its food-system mission.

6. Health and Food-As-Medicine Expand Grocery’s Role

Grocery retailers are becoming broader health partners by combining food, pharmacy, wellness services and nutrition support. Food-as-medicine programs are creating deeper customer relationships and new growth opportunities.

7. Membership Evolves from Rewards Program to Relationship Platform

Membership programs are increasingly important tools for creating loyalty in a market where consumers can easily switch between brands and retailers. Paid membership programs create commitment because customers have already invested, but businesses must ensure benefits generate enough value without becoming an unsustainable cost burden.

Introduction

The sessions at Groceryshop 2026 were categorized into six major themes, which we presented in our guide to the event:

AI-Powered Shopping Experiences
Transforming and Optimizing Business Operations
Meeting Consumer Expectations
Retail Media Opportunities and Challenges
Unified Commerce and Omnichannel Marketing Strategies
Winning and Engaging Customers

In this report, we present key insights from the third and final day of Groceryshop 2026, which mainly covered the topics of personalization, agentic commerce, value and affordability, health-focused grocery strategies, loyalty and membership models and private-label differentiation.

Groceryshop 2026 Day Three: Coresight Research Insights

1. AI and Personalization: Moving from Segments to individual Customer Needs

AI-driven personalization was one of the strongest themes across Day 3 discussions, with speakers exploring how retailers can move beyond traditional segmentation toward more contextual, individual experiences.

Sabrina McPherson, SVP at Publicis Sapient, described the next phase of personalization as the ability to “notice what one person needs, right when they need it.” She highlighted that AI is changing both customer engagement and internal workflows, but achieving this requires organizations to rethink ownership, governance and roles rather than simply adding technology.

McPherson outlined several operational implications:

Manual processes slow down personalization
Poor inputs create downstream challenges
More effort does not always translate into better outcomes
Organizations need to identify where AI can remove friction and where human judgment remains necessary

The panel discussion demonstrated that many companies are still transitioning from segmentation-based personalization toward true one-to-one experiences.

Cristian Arcangeli, VP, Marketing, Strategy & Digital Business at illy caffè, said companies are currently doing more segmentation than personalization. He noted that businesses may have moved from smaller customer groups to much deeper segmentation, but this still differs from understanding the individual customer. In illy’s case, approximately 80% of current efforts remain segmentation-based, although segments are becoming increasingly detailed.

Harshad Agashe, VP, Data Science & AI Product at Albertsons, emphasized that personalization should focus on customer outcomes. He described the importance of understanding not only what customers buy but also what they are trying to achieve, such as building a basket for a specific occasion while managing budget constraints.

Vinicius Oliveira, Tech Director at iFood, described a more advanced approach using AI models trained on transactional and ecosystem data. He explained that iFood is using its own large commerce model to create experiences based on the individual customer and context. Rather than simply recommending products, the model can adapt the shopping experience based on context. For example, it can understand that a customer’s needs differ between a weekday lunch order and a weekend evening order.

2. The Biggest AI Opportunity: Reducing Decision Fatigue

Although AI capabilities are expanding, Day 3 discussions repeatedly returned to the idea that consumers are primarily seeking easier shopping experiences.

During the Groceryshop Key Takeaways session, Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research, summarized the consumer perspective: “The shopper is not asking for AI, they are asking for less work.” The implication is that AI adoption will depend less on whether consumers interact directly with AI and more on whether it makes shopping simpler.

Harshad Agashe described one example of AI helping customers express an intended outcome rather than search item by item. A customer could explain that they want to spend a certain amount for the week, purchase usual items and also host guests, with AI helping build the basket. He said removing mental effort could encourage customers to explore more, while recognizing that experimentation is still required.

The Groceryshop closing discussion also highlighted Instacart’s meal-planning examples. Weinswig noted that AI assistants could help customers solve common grocery challenges, such as planning a meal within a budget, shopping across retailers and managing food allergies.

3. Agentic Commerce: Retailers Must Protect Direct Customer Relationships

As AI agents become more capable, speakers discussed the potential shift in how consumers interact with retailers.

The Groceryshop Key Takeaways session explored whether AI agents could become a new layer between consumers and retailers. Chris Walton, President & CEO of Omni Talk, said expectations around agentic grocery have evolved, with greater attention now on how retailers maintain relationships if consumers increasingly rely on external agents.

Deborah Weinswig discussed the possibility of large language models becoming an “operating system” for commerce, allowing different vendors and retailers to connect through AI-driven interfaces. She noted that retailers are responding by developing their own agentic capabilities using their customer relationships, data and assets.

Ben Miller, Founder & Host of The GrocerTalk Podcast, highlighted the challenge around disintermediation: retailers need to determine how they avoid losing ownership of the consumer relationship while still benefiting from emerging AI capabilities.

4. Retailers Are Expanding the Definition of Value Beyond Price

Consumer affordability pressures remained a central theme, with speakers emphasizing that value now combines price, quality, convenience and trust.

Brendan Witcher, Global VP, Product & Content at Shoptalk & Groceryshop, framed grocery innovation through the industry’s approximately 2% profit margin. Unlike higher-margin industries, grocers have less capacity for failed experimentation, meaning technology and strategic investments must demonstrate clear business value.

Several retailers argued that competing purely on price is insufficient.

Jeremy Gosch, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Hy-Vee, said Hy-Vee views price as “table stakes” and differentiates through service, quality and customer trust. The company developed 1,400 new private-label products last year and has invested in differentiated offerings such as its “Nothing But The Truth” health-focused brand.
Katie Kobus, VP, Marketing at Save A Lot, similarly described value as helping shoppers feel confident about their purchases. She highlighted the importance of communicating local ownership, fresh-cut meat programs and private-label products designed to match national-brand quality.

Jeremy Gosch, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Hy-Vee
Source: Groceryshop

5. Private Label and Curated Assortments Strengthen Differentiation

Private label emerged as a major strategic theme, with speakers discussing how exclusive products and differentiated assortments could become increasingly important in an environment where consumers and AI agents can compare prices more easily.

Abhi Ramesh, founder and CEO of Misfits Market, explained that the company began by selling imperfect produce but expanded after identifying opportunities to sell excess and short-dated CPG inventory through e-commerce. One early example involved approximately 50,000 units of salad dressing with around 180 days of shelf life remaining. The product sold out online within approximately 30 minutes, helping validate expansion beyond produce.

Today, Misfits operates as a curated online grocery business with fewer than 2,000 SKUs across produce, pantry, deli, dairy, meat and seafood. Produce remains central, representing around half of units in the basket, while approximately one-third of the total basket remains connected to the original imperfect or rescued-produce proposition.

Its Odds & Ends private-label business combines:

“Ends” — high-quality staple products sourced at attractive value
“Odds” — upcycled products designed to reduce food waste.

6. Health and Food-As-Medicine Expand Grocery’s Role

Health was another area where retailers discussed creating deeper relationships with consumers.

Hy-Vee has built a broader healthcare ecosystem that includes:

Grocery
Pharmacy
Pharmacy benefit management
Telemedicine
Direct primary care partnerships

Jeremy Gosch described healthcare as central to the company’s mission. It has also developed food-as-medicine initiatives using loyalty data, pharmacy touchpoints and dietitian support.

For example, one Nebraska pilot involved 575 high-risk diabetes patients. Participants received incentives to purchase fresh foods, engage with dietitians and track health outcomes. Gosch said many participants improved their A1C levels into the normal range, and 90% of participants who completed the six-month program continued healthier behaviors.

GLP-1 medications were also highlighted as a potential shift in grocery demand. Brendan Witcher cited research showing:

21% of US households now include a GLP-1 user, compared with 9% in 2025
54% of users have been on treatment for more than a year
Grocery spending declined by 5.3% within six months for households with at least one GLP-1 user

Coresight Research data add depth to these findings. As of 2026, we identify 13.0% of US adults as GLP-1 users, with usage peaking among younger (about 18%) and Hispanic (about 21%) consumers. We regularly track GLP-1-driven behaviors, and our consumer data confirm that the biggest dietary shift is simply consuming smaller portion sizes, as part of a repertoire of changes in how GLP-1 users consume. We have pointed to the grocery basket rotating toward hydration, produce and protein—the categories that retailers should prioritize when curating GLP-1-specific assortments: retailers can reallocate shelf space and focus on health-forward categories like protein foods, hydration, vitamins and functional foods. Find more data and analysis in our reports What Will a Retail Health Offering Look Like in the Future, and How Can AI Support That? and Playbook: Strategic Responses for Brands and Retailers to the GLP-1 Consumer Boom.

7. Membership Evolves from Rewards Program to Relationship Platform

Membership programs were positioned as increasingly important tools for creating loyalty in a market where consumers can easily switch between brands and retailers.

A panel featuring Danielle Sheridan, Global Head of Membership & Loyalty at Uber; Reba Hatcher, Chief Commercial Officer at ButcherBox; and April Lane, Chief Merchandising Officer at Thrive Market, emphasized that successful membership models depend on sustainable benefits and deeper customer understanding.

Speakers distinguished paid membership from traditional loyalty programs. Paid models create commitment because customers have already invested, but businesses must ensure benefits generate enough value without becoming an unsustainable cost burden.

Thrive Market uses paid membership as part of its core business model, with April Lane explaining that longer-tenured members generally become more valuable and loyal.

Reba Hatcher described moving beyond basic recency-frequency-monetary segmentation by combining data with customer conversations, behavioral observation and diary studies to understand what benefits actually change behavior.

The panel also discussed membership’s potential role in an agentic commerce future. As AI agents influence purchase decisions, differentiated membership benefits could give retailers another way to remain relevant.

Left to Right: April Lane, Chief Merchandising Officer at Thrive Market; Reba Hatcher, Chief Commercial Officer at ButcherBox; Danielle Sheridan, Global Head of Membership & Loyalty at Uber; and Brendan Witcher, Global VP, Product & Content, at Shoptalk & Groceryshop
Source: Groceryshop

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Reasons to Read

Discover the latest trends in UK retail store openings and closures for 2026 and gain insights into the evolving market landscape.

Read this report to discover answers to these and other questions:

How many store closures and openings have UK retailers announced year to date in 2026 and how do these totals compare with the same period in 2025?
Which retailers are driving the latest changes in our 2026 major UK store closures and openings tracker?
How do full-year 2025 store closures and openings compare with 2026 year-to-date trends?

Companies mentioned in this report include: Flying Tiger Copenhagen, Hollister, House of Cavani, Lakeland, Loeffler Randall, Lukfook, Marks & Spencer, Oak Furnitureland, Søstrene Grene, Tala, The Range, The Works and Uniqlo.

Data in this report include: week-by-week comparisons of UK store closures and openings for 2026 and 2025; rankings of major retailers by total store closures; rankings of major retailers by total store openings; tabulated confirmed versus planned store activity by retailer and sector.

Other relevant research:

The full collection of Store Tracker reports, including our US-focused series
The US and UK Store Tracker Databank is the definitive resource for information on store openings and closures by sector in the US and UK retail industries.
The Corporate and Financial Developments Databank includes details of management changes, financial guidance updates, retail and tech layoffs and capital raised by major retail companies.
The Retail Bankruptcies Databank details bankruptcies of US and UK retail companies, restaurants and gyms since March 2020.

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This document was generated for

Reasons to Read

Uncover the latest shifts in the retail landscape and stay ahead of key trends that impact store openings, closures and the broader consumer market.

Read this report to discover answers to these and other questions:

What are the top store openings and closures in the US for 2026 so far?
Which retailers are expanding in 2026 and which brands are downsizing?
How do store closures and openings compare between 2025 and 2026 in key retail sectors?

Companies mentioned in this report include: Bandai Namco, Birkenstock, Primark, RH, Roland, Rosa Clará, Save A Lot, The Children’s Place and World Market

Data in this report include: weekly totals of US store closures and openings for 2026 and 2025; retailer-level breakdowns of announced versus confirmed closures/openings; total store counts by retailer; total US retail bankruptcies year to date.

Other relevant research:

The full collection of Store Tracker reports, including our UK-focused series
The US and UK Store Tracker Databank is the definitive resource for information on store openings and closures by sector in the US and UK retail industries.
The Corporate and Financial Developments Databank includes details of management changes, financial guidance updates, retail and tech layoffs and capital raised by major retail companies.
The Retail Bankruptcies Databank details bankruptcies of US and UK retail companies, restaurants and gyms since March 2020.

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Please select an access option to view the full report. Hide Options - Show Options +

Get unlimited access to all our research with one of our subscription plans.

View Subscription Plans

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Reasons to Read

Executive Summary

Groceryshop Day 2 showed how retailers are moving beyond AI pilots and starting to apply the technology to day-to-day execution, including faster marketing, redesigned workflows and more conversational shopping experiences. At the same time, value is increasingly being defined through curation, convenience and trust rather than price alone. Retail media is evolving toward identity-led, measurable commerce, while brands are rethinking channels, digital shelves and consumer engagement around connected journeys.

Coresight Research Analysis

1. AI Moves from Pilots to Operational Transformation

AI is moving beyond individual use cases in retail, with companies looking at how it can be built into broader business processes. Retailers are using AI to compress the time between identifying a customer or market signal and taking action, enabling faster marketing activation and more responsive operations.
The advantage from AI will come less from deploying individual tools and more from rebuilding end-to-end processes around speed, trust and human oversight. Retailers must address adoption across customers, employees, technology infrastructure and governance before AI can scale effectively.

2. AI Shopping Assistants Shift Grocery Discovery from Products to Missions

Grocery discovery is moving from a product-search model toward a mission-based shopping experience. Instead of asking shoppers to know exactly what they need, AI assistants can help solve broader tasks such as meal planning, event preparation, dietary management and budget-based shopping.
This creates a new opportunity for retailers and brands to influence demand earlier in the purchase journey. However, winning in AI-driven discovery will depend on the quality of underlying product data, inventory accuracy and digital shelf readiness, as poor data will limit recommendation quality.

3. Digital Shelf Management Becomes an Agentic Workflow

The digital shelf is becoming too complex for traditional monitoring approaches, with brands managing millions of data points across retailers, SKUs, content formats and performance signals. AI is shifting digital shelf management from reactive reporting toward continuous detection, diagnosis and recommended action.
The future model will involve specialized AI agents working together across functions—identifying issues, determining root causes and triggering actions through existing business systems.

4. Value Is Being Redefined Through Curation and Convenience

Retail value propositions are evolving beyond price competition. Consumers increasingly evaluate value through the combination of product quality, curated assortments, convenience and reduced shopping friction. Retailers are differentiating by making shopping easier while delivering products that feel more relevant to customer needs..

5. Connected Commerce Requires Channel Discipline

Omnichannel growth is shifting from a “be everywhere” approach to a more deliberate channel strategy. Brands need to define the unique role of each channel—whether discovery, relationship building, convenience or reach—and invest based on consumer behavior and operational strengths.

Introduction

Coresight Research is a research partner of Groceryshop 2026, which is taking place during September 22–24 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. Groceryshop is an annual conference that brings together global retailers, brands and technology leaders to discuss trends, innovations and strategies shaping the future of grocery and consumer packaged goods (CPG).

The sessions at Groceryshop 2026 are categorized into six major themes, which we presented in our guide to the event:

AI-Powered Shopping Experiences
Transforming and Optimizing Business Operations
Meeting Consumer Expectations
Retail Media Opportunities and Challenges
Unified Commerce and Omnichannel Marketing Strategies
Winning and Engaging Customers

In this report, we present key insights from the second day of Groceryshop 2026, which mainly covered the topics of AI-driven retail transformation, evolving consumer value propositions, connected commerce and supply chain transparency. We also highlight details of the Startup Pitch competition on day two of the event.

Groceryshop 2026 Day Two: Coresight Research Insights

Startup Pitch Competition

The startup pitch competition saw 12 early-stage retail-technology innovators compete across two themed sessions: “Technologies Boosting Revenue and Conversion” and “Technologies Driving Cost Savings and Efficiencies.” Within each session, the judging panel narrowed the field to two finalists, and the audience then cast the deciding vote to crown that session’s winner. Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research, emceed the pitch competition and served as lead judge.

For more information on the companies, see our preview report.

The winners were:

Technologies Boosting Revenue and Conversion Winner: Shelflife
Technologies Driving Cost Savings and Efficiencies Winner: Perfect Store Group

Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research
Source: Groceryshop

We present key highlights from sessions on day two of Groceryshop 2026.

1. AI Moves from Pilots to Operational Transformation

Retailers Focus on Speed, Trust and Business Process Redesign

At Amazon Web Services’ (AWS’s) breakfast session, Aparna Galiasso, Lead for Retail, Restaurants and CPG Business Development, AWS; Jack Gibbs, Lead Consumer Industries, OpenAI; and Mustafa Bartin, General Manager of Migros Grocery, discussed how retailers are moving AI into production while managing trust, cost and organizational change.

Bartin explained that Migros has historically experimented with new technologies because of the operational pressures of the Turkish grocery market. The retailer operates in a highly competitive quick-commerce environment, where speed has become a core customer expectation.

Migros currently:

Operates more than 300,000 online grocery orders per day.
Completes almost 60% of online grocery orders in under 30 minutes.
Operates in a market where 75–80% of online grocery orders are delivered within one hour.

Bartin explained that AI is helping compress marketing execution cycles. Previously, identifying a neighborhood demand issue and creating a targeted campaign could take days. With AI-enabled workflows, Migros can detect low demand in a geography and launch a campaign within minutes.

However, Bartin stressed that successful technology adoption depends on more than technical capability. Migros evaluates the following before scaling solutions:

Customer adoption
Associate adoption
Technology maturity
Government and regulatory considerations

He cited electronic shelf labels (ESLs) as an example. Migros first experimented with ESLs in the 1990s, but the technology was not sufficiently mature. When the retailer later reintroduced ESLs, it approached dynamic pricing cautiously, deliberately avoiding autonomous pricing decisions. Instead, it positioned the system as algorithmic support with manual checks.

A recurring theme in the discussion was reducing operational latency. Speakers identified three forms:

Signal latency: how quickly information becomes available
Decision latency: how quickly teams determine what to do
Execution latency: how quickly actions are implemented

Bartin argued that speeding up marketing alone is insufficient. Inventory, pricing and supply chain processes must also become faster if retailers want to fully capture AI’s potential.

Jack Gibbs highlighted that organizations are seeing uneven AI adoption, with some departments pushing transformation faster than others. He also stressed the importance of trust and security as AI capabilities expand, noting that open-weight AI models will give malicious actors access to increasingly powerful tools.

Aaron Cheris described the current AI transition as similar to the reengineering movement of the 1990s, calling it “reengineering 2.0.” His advice was “don’t digitize the cow path.” In other words, companies should not simply apply AI to existing processes but should rethink processes end-to-end.

2. AI Shopping Assistants Shift Grocery Discovery from Products to Missions

DoorDash Sees AI Expanding Basket Discovery

Andy Fang, Co-Founder of DoorDash, described how AI is changing grocery shopping behavior. The company recently launched its Ask DoorDash AI shopping assistant, allowing customers to interact conversationally, including uploading recipe ideas and generating shopping carts.

Fang shared several early results:

At launch, AI shopping generated a 35% increase in cart size
Checkout occurred three times faster
These metrics later increased to a 50% cart-size increase and five-times faster checkout

DoorDash’s view is that consumers increasingly want help solving problems rather than searching for individual SKUs. Fang gave examples such as:

Planning a child’s birthday party
Finding ingredients for a specific meal
Managing dietary restrictions
Shopping within constraints such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility

DoorDash found that customers using AI order 60% more unique SKUs, suggesting that AI can broaden discovery rather than simply accelerate repeat purchases.

Fang also emphasized that AI performance depends on retailer data foundations. Product descriptions, inventory accuracy and catalog quality become increasingly important because AI recommendations are only as good as the information available.

Andy Fang, Co-Founder of DoorDash
Source: Groceryshop

3. Digital Shelf Management Becomes an Agentic Workflow

AI’s impact on grocery e-commerce is also extending into digital shelf operations, where brands are increasingly looking beyond dashboards and manual analysis toward automated decision support.

Germán Loewe, Founder & CEO of Shalion, discussed how AI can help brands manage increasingly complex digital commerce environments.

Loewe described the digital shelf challenge as one of scale. Brands must manage:

Millions or billions of data points
Multiple retailers
Large numbers of SKUs
Different content, visibility and performance issues across platforms

He outlined the current digital shelf workflow as five steps:

Orient around priorities
Detect issues
Analyze root causes
Decide what action to take
Execute the change

According to Loewe, AI insight-generation agents are already helping with the first three steps—orientation, detection and analysis. The next stage will involve AI systems supporting decisions and activation.

He argued that the future will not be a single general-purpose agent but a network of specialized agents, each focused on specific tasks.

Examples could include:

A product-description optimization agent
A campaign recommendation agent
A digital shelf performance agent

Loewe described a future workflow where an AI interface such as ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot could coordinate across different business systems.

For example:

AI detects that a brand has lost market share at Walmart
A digital shelf agent identifies the cause
Recommendations are generated
Actions are communicated through Slack and email to relevant teams

4. Value Is Being Redefined Through Curation and Convenience

Consumer value was another major Day 2 theme, particularly as shoppers continue to balance affordability with expectations for convenience and quality.

Myron Frazier, EVP and Chief Merchandising Officer, Sam’s Club, explained how the retailer defines value. Frazier summarized Sam’s Club’s value proposition as: “A great item, at a disruptive price, delivered as only Sam’s Club can.”

Frazier noted that value is not limited to price. Convenience is also a critical component. Sam’s Club has invested in reducing friction through:

Scan & Go, allowing members to scan products while shopping and skip checkout
Exit arches, creating a more frictionless store departure experience
Delivery and curbside options

Sam’s Club highlighted its Member’s Mark private brand as an example of how customer insight can shape product development. Frazier explained that the company does not simply decide internally what products should become. Instead, members provide direct feedback through the Member’s Mark community.

The community includes:

More than 200,000 members
More than 4,000 items managed through highly systematized processes

The retailer uses customer feedback to determine:

Which ingredients to remove
What features create value
How products should evolve

Myron Frazier, EVP and Chief Merchandising Officer, Sam’s Club (Left); and Chris Walton, President and CEO, Omni Talk (Right)
Source: Groceryshop

5. Retail Media Evolves Toward Identity, Incrementality and Connected Commerce

Bobby Watts, SVP of AD Retail Media, Ahold Delhaize USA, discussed how retailers can use identity data and first-party insights to improve campaign effectiveness.

Watts explained that the opportunity is in combining customer identity, first-party purchase signals and offsite and onsite media activation to find consumers with a higher likelihood of purchasing.

A key point was that the customer journey is no longer linear. Consumers may move between digital advertising, retailer websites, stores and other touchpoints before purchase.

Watts argued that retail media should not be restricted to lower-funnel conversion. Instead, retailers should think about connecting awareness, consideration and purchase.

Matt Knust, VP, Practice Lead (CPG), InMarket, challenged traditional media measurement approaches. Knust said that impressions, clicks and reach are delivery metrics, while marketers ultimately care about incremental demand and sales.

He highlighted a measurement challenge: traditional campaign reporting often arrives six to 10 weeks after campaigns end, meaning marketers cannot optimize campaigns while they are running.

InMarket’s approach focuses on incremental outcomes. The company’s Guaranteed iROAS activation product:

Establishes a minimum incremental return before a campaign begins
Measures incremental performance during the campaign
Allows optimization while campaigns are active

6. Connected Commerce Requires Channel Discipline

Omnichannel success does not mean pursuing every possible channel. Instead, brands need to define the role each channel plays and invest according to consumer behavior and operational capabilities.

The session “Designing a Multichannel Commerce Strategy” featured Angus McOuat, Partner at McKinsey & Company; Peter Sarkis, VP of Digital Growth at Pressed Juicery; Suman Nag, Head of Ecommerce at Freshpet; and Eric Le, VP of Growth Marketing and Insights at Siete Foods.

The panel emphasized that each channel should have a clear purpose.

Le explained that although Siete has a strong digital community, the company remains retail-led because stores continue to play an important role in discovery.

Owned digital channels serve different purposes:

Learning about highly engaged consumers
Testing innovation
Building relationships with superfans

Sarkis described different channel roles across the business:

Retail stores support discovery, service and relationships
Wholesale expands reach
Owned digital extends customer relationships
Delivery provides convenience and immediacy

Nag highlighted how operating models influence channel decisions.

Freshpet’s refrigerated product model makes grocery particularly important because the category requires strong physical retail execution. Expansion into additional channels, such as Amazon, requires consideration of infrastructure, economics and customer expectations.

The panel also emphasized that channel expansion requires product adaptation. A product architecture designed for one channel cannot simply be copied into another. Assortment, packaging and formats need to reflect the purchase mission and economics of each environment.

Wellness Becomes a Core Driver of Consumer Behavior

Jostein Solheim, CEO, Unilever Wellbeing, discussed how consumer definitions of health and beauty are changing.

Solheim identified three major shifts:

Health is moving from absence of disease to lifestyle: Consumers increasingly view health as an ongoing lifestyle choice rather than simply a medical concern.
Beauty and wellbeing are converging:
Nine in 10 consumers see beauty and wellbeing as one connected concept
- 86% say they cannot feel beautiful if they do not feel well
Digitalization is changing access to information
- Consumers can now access science, data and health information at a much greater level than before.

Solheim explained that Unilever has expanded its wellbeing portfolio through acquisitions and brand development. The company acquired Olly in 2019, described as an original disruptor of the vitamin shelf, and now has eight wellbeing companies, including brands such as Liquid I.V. and Nutrafol.

He also highlighted changing consumer attitudes around healthy aging, noting that younger consumers are increasingly thinking about long-term health earlier in life.

Jostein Solheim, CEO, Unilever Wellbeing
Source: Groceryshop

Supply Chain Transparency Moves Toward Traceability and Smart Packaging

The AWS luncheon session “The Transparent, Resilient Supply Chain: From Traceability to Autonomous Operations” examined how retailers and CPG companies are preparing for increased traceability requirements. Speakers included John Phillips, PepsiCo; John Maxwell, Mondelez; and Anand, Infosys.

A major topic was FSMA 204, the FDA Food Traceability Rule that mandates enhanced digital recordkeeping for high-risk foods to help trace contamination within 24 hours. The regulation requires significant data sharing, process changes, supply chain coordination across retailers and CPG companies.

The discussion highlighted challenges in food traceability, particularly for complex categories.

For example:

Produce may need tracking back to an individual field
Some products contain multiple inputs
High-risk categories include items such as cheese, greens and nut butters

Speakers emphasized that evolving and integrating GS1 standards into supply chain systems will be critical to enabling the identification, capture and sharing of the required data.

The session also explored how packaging is becoming more digitally connected.

The GS1 Digital Link standard uses 2D QR codes to carry more product information and enable greater consumer engagement.

Examples discussed included PepsiCo’s SmartLabel approach, where digital product information can provide:

Ingredient details
Allergen information
Additional consumer content

Speakers noted that smart packaging applications could eventually support:

Digital recalls
Product information updates
Recipes
Promotions
Additional brand engagement opportunities

This document was generated for

Reasons to Read

Executive Summary

Groceryshop Day 1 sessions pointed to a common theme across consumer behavior, e-commerce, AI assistants, retail media and marketing operations: retailers and brands need stronger foundations to succeed in an increasingly intelligent grocery landscape.

The companies making progress are not just adopting AI tools; they are improving data quality, identifying high-value customer problems, establishing trust through governance and building differentiated experiences as consumers increasingly use AI in their shopping journeys.

Coresight Research Analysis

1. AI Shopping Assistants Move Grocery from Search Toward Intent-Based Commerce

AI assistants are shifting grocery from item-by-item search toward intent-driven shopping experiences that help consumers solve complex needs such as meal planning, dietary requirements, budgets and household preferences. For example, Instacart is using AI to help shoppers express broader needs and generate relevant solutions, while Kroger is using AI assistants to create shopping baskets from inputs such as photos, recipes and personalization signals.
Retailers are moving beyond recommendations toward more advanced AI capabilities, including personalized baskets, conversational shopping journeys and automated tasks that reduce consumer friction. Albert Heijn is expanding its AI assistant from meal inspiration into higher-value shopping journeys, including personalized meal planning, pre-filled baskets and service tasks such as coupon activation.

2. Data Quality Is the Foundation for AI Discoverability

AI-driven grocery experiences depend on accurate, structured and connected data. Retailers must improve product information, pricing, promotions, nutrition details and operational knowledge to ensure AI systems can deliver reliable answers and recommendations. Schnuck Markets found that building an effective AI assistant required significant data preparation, including improving nutritional information, promotion data and translating internal expertise into structured knowledge that could support consumer queries.
AI readiness requires more than technology investment; retailers and brands need strong governance, trusted data connections and clear use cases to make AI solutions effective.

3. Consumers re Redefining Value: Less About Discounts, More About Relevance and Trade-Offs

Consumers are becoming more selective about where they spend, moving from broad consumption toward more curated choices shaped by priorities such as affordability, health, transparency and brand relevance.
Value is increasingly being assembled through different combinations of brands, channels and formats, with shoppers balancing price alongside factors such as quality, nutrition, trust and differentiation. Consumers are using multiple strategies to create value, including switching to lower-priced brands, shopping value channels and choosing private label, while continuing to prioritize categories such as fresh produce, health, nutrition and pet care.

4. Online Grocery Profitability Depends on Matching Operating Model to Demand Density

Online grocery success requires balancing convenience with sustainable economics through factors including basket size, order frequency, reliability, fulfillment density and cost per order. Rohlik Group’s pure-play fulfillment model focuses on larger baskets and same-day service to support the economics of online grocery.
Different operating models can succeed depending on market conditions, but customer trust, order accuracy and consistent execution are becoming increasingly important drivers of online grocery growth. Shipt’s Preferred Shopper program builds customer confidence by allowing shoppers to develop relationships with individual customers and improve order reliability.

5. Retail Media Evolves Toward Full-Funnel, Measurable Commerce Platforms

Retail media is evolving beyond advertising inventory toward connected commerce platforms that link digital and physical shopping journeys and provide more contextual customer experiences. CVS Media Exchange is leveraging its physical retail footprint, including in-store touchpoints such as screens, displays and point-of-sale advertising, to connect media experiences with customer journeys.
As retail media scales, measurement remains critical, with retailers focused on proving incremental impact and demonstrating that media exposure drives outcomes beyond sales that would have occurred naturally. Loblaw Advance emphasized the importance of measuring the true impact of retail media by distinguishing incremental sales driven by media exposure from purchases that would have happened regardless.

Introduction

The sessions at Groceryshop 2026 are categorized into six major themes which we presented in our guide to the event:

AI-Powered Shopping Experiences
Transforming and Optimizing Business Operations
Meeting Consumer Expectations
Retail Media Opportunities and Challenges
Unified Commerce and Omnichannel Marketing Strategies
Winning and Engaging Customers

In this report, we present key insights from the first day of Groceryshop 2026, which mainly covered the topics of AI shopping assistants, consumer behavior, grocery e-commerce and retail media.

Groceryshop 2026 Day One: Coresight Research Insights

1. AI Shopping Assistants Move Grocery from Search Toward Intent-Based Commerce

The most consistent consumer use case discussed across Day 1 was solving the recurring household challenge of “what’s for dinner?” Retailers increasingly see AI assistants as a solution to reduce the cognitive burden of grocery shopping by understanding intent rather than requiring consumers to build baskets item by item.

Instacart: Reducing Grocery’s Mental Load Through Intent-Based Shopping

Chris Rogers, CEO, Instacart, positioned AI as a major opportunity to simplify grocery shopping by understanding consumer intent rather than requiring shoppers to manually build baskets. Rogers argued that grocery is particularly suited to AI because the category combines high frequency with high complexity: shoppers repeatedly balance preferences, dietary needs, budgets, promotions and household requirements. Instead of searching item-by-item, consumers could express a broader need, such as “give me a healthy meal my kids will eat under $40,” allowing AI to assemble a relevant solution.

Rogers said Instacart’s ambition is to become “the world’s leading grocery technology company,” providing retailers with technology capabilities across e-commerce, fulfillment, advertising, in-store technology and AI rather than requiring each retailer to build these capabilities independently. He emphasized that Instacart’s scale comes from operating across brick-and-mortar retail: “100% of our volume” comes from physical stores, positioning the company as a technology layer for retailers rather than a replacement for them.

Instacart also highlighted the importance of combining convenience with affordability. Rogers acknowledged that online grocery can carry additional costs compared with store shopping, but argued that consumers continue to value convenience because time and mental energy are increasingly scarce. The company is therefore focused on helping retailers improve affordability while maintaining digital convenience through loyalty integration, promotions and fulfillment capabilities.

Instacart’s AI roadmap includes Clementine, its consumer-facing AI experience, and Cart Assistant, which helps retailers provide more intelligent shopping journeys. Rogers argued that Instacart’s accumulated grocery data—including 1.6 billion orders to date—creates an advantage in making AI experiences more relevant to real grocery decisions.

Kroger: Using AI to Remove Friction While Expanding Customer Creativity

Yael Cosset, EVP and Chief Digital Officer, Kroger, described meal planning as a universal consumer problem: a shopper may need to consider family preferences, dietary restrictions, available ingredients and personal tastes before building a basket. Kroger’s AI shopping assistant uses photos, handwritten recipes and personalization signals to create shopping baskets and remove friction from the process.

An important observation from Kroger’s experience was that simplifying the shopping process does not necessarily reduce basket size. Cosset noted that removing friction can provide consumers with more freedom to explore and be creative, potentially increasing engagement and basket opportunities.

Kroger has also moved beyond customer-facing applications into operational AI. Cosset described the company’s evolution from assisted AI to augmented AI and now autonomous AI, including automated workflows around replenishment forecasting. The company has built an AI architecture combining Kroger’s own data assets with frontier models rather than relying on a single model provider.

Albert Heijn: Moving from Conversational Assistance Toward Agentic Shopping

Sjoerd Holleman, Chief Product, AI & Specialty Brands Officer, Ahold Delhaize, described a similar progression. The company’s Albert Heijn banner began with an AI assistant focused on meal inspiration to solve the “what’s for dinner?” challenge, grounding the experience in its recipe database of more than 20,000 recipes. The retailer then expanded the assistant into higher-traffic shopping journeys as customer adoption increased.

The next stage is moving beyond recommendations toward action. Future capabilities include personalized meal planning, pre-filled baskets, conversational preference updates and service tasks such as coupon activation or changing store selection.

Holleman emphasized that persistent memory will be essential because customer preferences change. An effective AI assistant must understand not only past behavior but also new information provided by shoppers over time.

Chris Rogers, CEO, Instacart (Left); and Ben Miller, Founder & Host, The GrocerTalk Podcast (Right)
Source: Groceryshop

2. Data Quality Is the Foundation for AI Discoverability

While AI assistants dominated discussion, several sessions emphasized that retailers cannot build effective agents without fixing underlying data challenges.

Schnuck Markets: Practical Lessons from Building an AI Assistant

Caleb Carr, Head of Data Science & Engineering, Schnuck Markets, shared lessons from Schnucks’ rollout of an AI assistant. The retailer discovered that seemingly straightforward consumer questions required significant data preparation. A shopper asking for a meal under a specific calorie level requires nutritional information; a shopper asking about promotions requires accurate pricing and promotion data translated into consumer-friendly language. Schnucks ultimately chose to answer 70% of questions very well rather than attempt 100% coverage with lower accuracy.

Kelly Pedersen, Global Retail Leader, PwC US, framed AI readiness around four capabilities: visibility, connectivity, transactability and operations. She emphasized that product data quality is becoming essential for being discovered by AI systems, summarizing the challenge as “garbage in, invisible out.”

The implication is that AI will create a new form of retail discoverability. Retailers and brands will need structured, accurate product information so AI systems can correctly understand attributes such as nutrition, pack size, usage occasions and availability.

Brand and Retailer Collaboration Requires Trusted Data

An Amazon-sponsored session on collaborative commerce reinforced that AI depends on stronger data connections between brands and retailers.

Marie Catenzaro, VP of Customer Development, Mars, explained that retailers and brands each hold different valuable data assets: brands understand products and positioning, while retailers understand customer purchase behavior and baskets. Combining these assets requires accurate data integration and clear processes.

Catenzaro noted that Mars previously relied heavily on manual spreadsheet processes and that cloud-based approaches helped reduce manual effort while improving consistency. She cited eliminating approximately 20 hours of manual work each week as one benefit.

The discussion emphasized that technology alone is insufficient. Jason P., GTM leader, Slalom, said that “the tech is the easy part” and highlighted trust, governance and clear use cases as the harder elements of successful agentic implementation.

Caleb Carr, Head of Data Science & Engineering, Schnuck Markets (Left); and Kelly Pedersen, Global Retail Leader, PwC US (Right)
Source: Groceryshop

3. Consumers Are Redefining Value: Less About Discounts, More About Relevance and Trade-Offs

Consumer behavior sessions highlighted a shopper who is becoming more deliberate and selective in how and where they spend. The discussion moved beyond the idea that consumers are simply cutting spending, pointing instead to a more complex picture in which shoppers are reallocating spending across categories, channels and brands based on their priorities.

Value Is Being Assembled Across Brands, Channels and Formats

Nicole Collida, SVP and Managing Director, US Retail, NielsenIQ, argued that the traditional concept of an “average shopper” is becoming less useful because financial pressure is affecting households differently.

Collida described a polarized consumer environment, with “strugglers” representing approximately one-third of consumers and “thrivers” representing around 9%.

Rather than simply seeking promotions, consumers are assembling value through different choices:

Approximately 40% are switching to lower-priced brands
Around one-third are shopping value channels
Around one-third are buying private label

This aligns closely with Coresight Research consumer data, which regularly confirm that switching brands (the most-cited action), switching to private label and changing retailers, as well as simply cutting how many items they purchase, are among a repertoire of actions that grocery shoppers are taking in response to price pressures.

Collida described this as “spending by exception,” where every purchase faces greater scrutiny. However, price alone is not enough—consumers continue to prioritize areas such as fresh produce, health, nutrition and pet-related spending.

Private label was highlighted as an important structural shift. Rather than serving only as a lower-price alternative, private label is increasingly becoming a source of differentiation in areas such as health, nutrition and trust.

AI Increases the Importance of Differentiation

Karen Fang Grant, Managing Director – Global Research Lead, Accenture, highlighted that consumers are becoming both more demanding and more willing to delegate decisions.

Accenture research cited during the session found:

83% of consumers had abandoned a cart because they were unsure the items were what they wanted
74% of consumers were willing to delegate a task to an AI agent
9% were willing to allow an agent to build a basket and complete purchase without further involvement

Grant suggested that AI assistants could reduce decision fatigue but may also challenge traditional loyalty models. If an AI agent can compare options across brands and retailers, brands will need stronger differentiation rather than relying primarily on habit or familiarity.

4. Online Grocery Profitability Depends on Matching Operating Model to Demand Density

Day 1 e-commerce discussions focused on a central challenge: how to deliver convenience while achieving sustainable economics.

A panel featuring Petr Lizner, Director of Strategy and Growth, Rohlik Group; Guilherme Cardoso, Head of Ecommerce, MC Sonae; and Courtney Owumi, VP, Consumer Experience and Membership Engagement, Shipt, examined the different operating models being used to build profitable online grocery businesses.

Basket Size, Frequency, Reliability and Density Remain the Core Economics

Moderator Daryl Porter, Senior Partner, TOMORROW, framed online grocery profitability around four interconnected factors:

Basket size
Frequency
Reliability/quality
Fulfillment density and cost per order

The panel emphasized that different operating models can work depending on market conditions.

Guilherme Cardoso of MC Sonae explained that the company evaluates e-commerce using a fully loaded P&L, including direct e-commerce costs and underlying costs that would remain even if e-commerce disappeared.

MC Sonae generally uses its store network rather than shifting heavily toward dark stores. The company operates a dark store in higher-density Lisbon but sees value in strengthening its approximately 400-store network.

Petr Lizner of Rohlik Group, highlighted how a pure-play fulfillment model can work when volume and customer proposition align. Rohlik operates 12 fulfillment centers and provides same-day service. The company targets an average order value of approximately €100, reflecting the importance of larger baskets in covering fulfillment, last mile, marketing and overhead costs.

Rohlik emphasized order quality as a driver of customer equity. Lizner said the company achieves a 95% “perfect order” rate, defined as orders without delays, claims or substitutions, and linked this reliability to a 90 net promoter score.

Shipt approached the challenge differently. Courtney Owumi argued that technology is becoming increasingly common while human connection is increasingly valuable. Shipt’s Preferred Shopper program allows customers to develop relationships with individual shoppers, reducing uncertainty around how orders will be selected and handled.

5. Retail Media Evolves Toward Full-Funnel, Measurable Commerce Platforms

Retail media discussions on Day 1 reflected a market moving beyond simply creating advertising inventory toward building connected commerce platforms.

In-Store Retail Media Connects Physical and Digital Journeys

A panel featuring Brian Monahan, SVP, Retail Media, Albertsons Media Collective; Parbinder Dhariwal, VP and General Manager, CVS Media Exchange; and Leanne Gibson, SVP, Loblaw Advance, focused on taking in-store retail media from concept to scale.

Brian Monahan argued that in-store media is a major opportunity because it can present sponsored content at the moment of shopping, helping stimulate and simplify customer journeys.

Leanne Gibson emphasized that retail media should connect digital and physical experiences rather than disrupt them. She noted that the starting point should be the customer journey, with media formats designed to add value rather than interrupt shopping.

Parbinder Dhariwal highlighted CVS’s physical footprint as a key advantage.

CVS has:

9,000 locations
67% of customers visiting weekly
Multiple in-store opportunities including waiting-area screens, front-store displays and point-of-sale advertising

Dhariwal highlighted the importance of contextual relevance, including placing messages where they fit naturally into customer journeys. CVS is also expanding point-of-sale advertising, having launched POS ads across 50% of its fleet.

The panel emphasized that retail media must prove incremental impact. Loblaw highlighted the importance of measuring what happened because of media exposure rather than taking credit for sales that would have occurred anyway.

Left to Right: Andrew Lipsman, Independent Analyst & Consultant, Media Ads + Commerce; Brian Monahan, SVP, Retail Media, Albertsons Media Collective; Parbinder Dhariwal, VP and General Manager, CVS Media Exchange; and Leanne Gibson, SVP, Loblaw Advance
Source: Groceryshop

6. AI Reshapes Marketing Workflows by Removing Low-Value Production Tasks

AI discussions extended beyond consumer-facing experiences into marketing operations.

Andrew Pearson, Head of Content, North America, Diageo, emphasized that companies should not automate simply because automation is possible. Instead, teams should identify what should be automated, what should be redesigned and what should remain human-led.

A key example involved creative production workflows. Diageo demonstrated an Adobe-based workflow where a small number of core creative layouts could automatically generate multiple required sizes, reducing work that previously required hours into seconds. The objective was not reducing creative headcount, but allowing teams to spend more time on higher-value creative and strategic activities. Brand safety, privacy and governance were identified as important requirements when deciding which workflows to automate.

Andrew Pearson, Head of Content, North America, Diageo
Source: Groceryshop

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Discover how AI, data integration and emerging technology are reshaping retail marketing personalization and shopper loyalty.

Read this report to discover answers to these and other questions:

Which technology companies are providing solutions and services for retail marketing personalization, and what capabilities do they offer?
How is AI compute power helping retailers drive individualized experiences, amid growing data privacy concerns?
Why has personalization moved from a marketing nice-to-have to a cornerstone of long-term loyalty?
Why will technology and data integration be paramount to achieving personalization excellence?

Companies mentioned in this report include: Crescendo, Gorgias, Rep AI, Siena, Zowie, Amperity, BlueConic, Contentstack, Tealium, Treasure AI, Brandfolder, Bynder, Canto, Cloudinary, Frontify, Competera, Intelligence Node, Prisync, Quicklizard, Anyword, Hypotenuse AI, Iterable, Jasper, MoEngage, Optimizely, Vue.ai, Writesonic, Antavo, Attentive, Auxia, Braze, CleverTap, Klaviyo, Smile.io, Algolia, Bloomreach, Constructor, Nosto, Syte and Zoovu

Data in this report include: Consumer survey findings on personalization and loyalty; retail marketing personalization trends; profiles of 40 technology companies; technology categories and capabilities

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This report offers a detailed analysis of US retail sales performance in August 2026, breaking down key trends by sector and providing insights into inflation trends affecting the market.

Read this report to find answers to these questions:

What were the year-over-year changes in total retail sales (excluding gasoline and automobiles) between August 2025 and August 2026?
How did retail sales perform across different sectors in August 2026 and August 2026?
What is the estimated retail-only inflation trends from September 2025 to August 2026?

Other relevant research:

Our monthly reports keep you up to date on retail sales (in total and by sector) and key consumer indicators in the US.
Complementing our monthly reports, the Coresight Research US Retail Sales Databank brings together retail sales data to help you understand the scale and trajectory of US retail.

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Executive Summary

Coresight Research Analysis

AI-Powered Shopping Experiences—Moving Beyond Item Search to Understanding Intent

Transforming and Optimizing Business Operations—Through Data, Fast Reaction and a Focus on Profitability

Meeting Consumer Expectations—To Accommodate Stretched Budgets and Consumer Interest in Health and Wellness

Retail Media Opportunities and Challenges—Highlighting the In-Store Opportunity and the Importance of Identity

Unified Commerce and Omnichannel Marketing Strategies—Success Derives from Choosing Which Channel to Pursue and Which Functions to Automate

Winning and Engaging Customers—Maintaining the Relationship in an Agentic World with Memberships and Other Benefits

What We Think (Summary)

Introduction

Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research Source: Groceryshop

Groceryshop 2026 Wrap-Up: Coresight Research Analysis

1. AI-Powered Shopping Experiences—Moving Beyond Item Search to Understanding Intent

Chris Rogers, CEO, Instacart (Left); and Ben Miller, Founder & Host, The GrocerTalk Podcast (Right) Source: Groceryshop

2. Transforming and Optimizing Business Operations—Through Data, Fast Reaction and a Focus on Profitability

3. Meeting Consumer Expectations—To Accommodate Stretched Budgets and Consumer Interest in Health and Wellness

Myron Frazier, EVP and Chief Merchandising Officer, Sam’s Club (Left); and Chris Walton, President and CEO, Omni Talk (Right) Source: Groceryshop

4. Retail Media Opportunities and Challenges—Highlighting the In-Store Opportunity and the Importance of Identity

Left to Right: Andrew Lipsman, Independent Analyst & Consultant, Media Ads + Commerce; Brian Monahan, SVP, Retail Media, Albertsons Media Collective; Parbinder Dhariwal, VP and General Manager, CVS Media Exchange; and Leanne Gibson, SVP, Loblaw Advance Source: Groceryshop

5. Unified Commerce and Omnichannel Marketing Strategies—Success Derives from Choosing Which Channel to Pursue and Which Functions to Automate

6. Winning and Engaging Customers—Maintaining the Relationship in an Agentic World with Memberships and Other Benefits

Left to Right: April Lane, Chief Merchandising Officer at Thrive Market; Reba Hatcher, Chief Commercial Officer at ButcherBox; Danielle Sheridan, Global Head of Membership & Loyalty at Uber; and Brendan Witcher, Global VP, Product & Content, at Shoptalk & Groceryshop Source: Groceryshop

What We Think

Notes and Methodology

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Executive Summary

Coresight Research Analysis

1. AI and Personalization: Moving from Segments to Individual Customer Needs

2. The Biggest AI Opportunity: Reducing Decision Fatigue

3. Agentic Commerce: Retailers Must Protect Direct Customer Relationships

4. Retailers Are Expanding the Definition of Value Beyond Price

5. Private Label and Curated Assortments Strengthen Differentiation

6. Health and Food-As-Medicine Expand Grocery’s Role

7. Membership Evolves from Rewards Program to Relationship Platform

Introduction

Groceryshop 2026 Day Three: Coresight Research Insights

1. AI and Personalization: Moving from Segments to individual Customer Needs

2. The Biggest AI Opportunity: Reducing Decision Fatigue

3. Agentic Commerce: Retailers Must Protect Direct Customer Relationships

4. Retailers Are Expanding the Definition of Value Beyond Price

Jeremy Gosch, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Hy-Vee Source: Groceryshop

5. Private Label and Curated Assortments Strengthen Differentiation

6. Health and Food-As-Medicine Expand Grocery’s Role

7. Membership Evolves from Rewards Program to Relationship Platform

Left to Right: April Lane, Chief Merchandising Officer at Thrive Market; Reba Hatcher, Chief Commercial Officer at ButcherBox; Danielle Sheridan, Global Head of Membership & Loyalty at Uber; and Brendan Witcher, Global VP, Product & Content, at Shoptalk & Groceryshop Source: Groceryshop

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Executive Summary

Coresight Research Analysis

1. AI Moves from Pilots to Operational Transformation

2. AI Shopping Assistants Shift Grocery Discovery from Products to Missions

3. Digital Shelf Management Becomes an Agentic Workflow

4. Value Is Being Redefined Through Curation and Convenience

5. Connected Commerce Requires Channel Discipline

Introduction

Groceryshop 2026 Day Two: Coresight Research Insights

Startup Pitch Competition

Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research Source: Groceryshop

1. AI Moves from Pilots to Operational Transformation

Retailers Focus on Speed, Trust and Business Process Redesign

2. AI Shopping Assistants Shift Grocery Discovery from Products to Missions

DoorDash Sees AI Expanding Basket Discovery

Andy Fang, Co-Founder of DoorDash Source: Groceryshop

3. Digital Shelf Management Becomes an Agentic Workflow

Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research
Source: Groceryshop

Chris Rogers, CEO, Instacart (Left); and Ben Miller, Founder & Host, The GrocerTalk Podcast (Right)
Source: Groceryshop

Myron Frazier, EVP and Chief Merchandising Officer, Sam’s Club (Left); and Chris Walton, President and CEO, Omni Talk (Right)
Source: Groceryshop

Left to Right: Andrew Lipsman, Independent Analyst & Consultant, Media Ads + Commerce; Brian Monahan, SVP, Retail Media, Albertsons Media Collective; Parbinder Dhariwal, VP and General Manager, CVS Media Exchange; and Leanne Gibson, SVP, Loblaw Advance
Source: Groceryshop

Left to Right: April Lane, Chief Merchandising Officer at Thrive Market; Reba Hatcher, Chief Commercial Officer at ButcherBox; Danielle Sheridan, Global Head of Membership & Loyalty at Uber; and Brendan Witcher, Global VP, Product & Content, at Shoptalk & Groceryshop
Source: Groceryshop

Jeremy Gosch, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Hy-Vee
Source: Groceryshop

Left to Right: April Lane, Chief Merchandising Officer at Thrive Market; Reba Hatcher, Chief Commercial Officer at ButcherBox; Danielle Sheridan, Global Head of Membership & Loyalty at Uber; and Brendan Witcher, Global VP, Product & Content, at Shoptalk & Groceryshop
Source: Groceryshop

Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder, Coresight Research
Source: Groceryshop

Andy Fang, Co-Founder of DoorDash
Source: Groceryshop

Myron Frazier, EVP and Chief Merchandising Officer, Sam’s Club (Left); and Chris Walton, President and CEO, Omni Talk (Right)
Source: Groceryshop

Jostein Solheim, CEO, Unilever Wellbeing
Source: Groceryshop

Chris Rogers, CEO, Instacart (Left); and Ben Miller, Founder & Host, The GrocerTalk Podcast (Right)
Source: Groceryshop

Caleb Carr, Head of Data Science & Engineering, Schnuck Markets (Left); and Kelly Pedersen, Global Retail Leader, PwC US (Right)
Source: Groceryshop

Left to Right: Andrew Lipsman, Independent Analyst & Consultant, Media Ads + Commerce; Brian Monahan, SVP, Retail Media, Albertsons Media Collective; Parbinder Dhariwal, VP and General Manager, CVS Media Exchange; and Leanne Gibson, SVP, Loblaw Advance
Source: Groceryshop

Andrew Pearson, Head of Content, North America, Diageo
Source: Groceryshop