Groceryshop 2024 Day Three: Best Practices for Innovation and Unified Shopping Experiences

Introduction

Coresight Research is a research partner of Groceryshop 2024, which took place during October 7–9, 2024, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Groceryshop is an annual conference that helps businesses navigate the evolving grocery landscape, exploring the latest business models, advanced technologies and shifting consumer behaviors.

This year, the conference covered five major themes in retail: seizing new opportunities in retail media; building profitable, efficient and resilient businesses; implementing and scaling AI (artificial intelligence) applications; delivering convenient, seamless and unified shopping experiences; and embracing collaboration, innovation and new partnership structures. (Not all coverage reports cover all five themes.)

We present key insights from the third and final day of Groceryshop 2024.

Groceryshop 2024 Day Three: Coresight Research Insights

1. Embracing Collaboration, Innovation and New Partnership Structures

During a session titled “Boosting Innovation Across the Organization,” executives from Giant Eagle, Shnuck Markets and The Save Mart Companies delved into how innovation functions within their respective companies and offered recommendations based on their experiences.

While they often agreed, there were notable differences. For instance, Chris Edwards, Head of GetGo Technology at Giant Eagle, said that having a dedicated “innovation lead” role can work for a company—especially companies with lots of different departments and teams or a large IT team. In contrast, Tamara Pattison, Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at The Save Mart Companies, and Dave Steck, Vice President of IT Store and Emerging Technologies at Schnuck Markets, believe that each senior lead should be responsible for bringing innovation to the table for their department. Steck took this a step further, cautioning that independent innovation teams can be a risk as “when belt tightening occurs, innovation is often the first to go.” Instead, he advocated for embedding innovation within every department to ensure it continues regardless of budget constraints.

The panel also debated on the role of committees in the innovation process. While Steck expressed concern that committees can halt projects before they even take off, Pattison argued that a single committee can prevent projects from costing a company too much time, effort or funding. Edwards offered a middle-ground perspective, stating that there is “no single way to innovate” and that companies should work determine which method works best for them—an idea that both Pattison and Steck agreed with.

When it came to the return on investment (ROI) from specific innovations, all the speakers agreed that solving a real problem experienced by team members or customers must come before considering ROI. They emphasized that companies should ask themselves, “Whose life am I making easier?” instead of simply “innovating for innovation’s sake.” After determining what problem they are solving, companies should then look to use outside consultants to understand the potential ROI on specific innovations, as teams can often become too tied to a certain innovation, becoming blind to the potential ROI (or lack thereof).

Echoing sentiments we heard throughout all three days of the conference, the panelists agreed that partnering with startups can be a great way to quickly bring technology-driven innovation to a company. However, they cautioned that retailers need to have strong legal teams to review all partnership contracts, ensuring that they are not giving away too much data and that the deal is beneficial for all parties involved.

Overall, the session highlighted the complexities of fostering innovation across organizations of all sizes. While Edwards, Pattison and Steck had very different opinions on leadership roles and committee structures, they were quick to underscore a clear fact: there is no one-size-fits-all approach to innovation. Instead, companies must tailor their innovation strategies to their individual structures while simultaneously ensuring that they address the genuine needs of shoppers or employees (or both) and protect the company’s core interests.

Left to right: Steck, Edwards, Pattison
Source: Groceryshop

 

In his track keynote, “Reshaping Offerings for the Dynamic Multicultural Consumer,” Antonio Escalona, Senior Vice President of Emerging Business at PepsiCo Foods North America, discussed the demographics and substantial buying power of the Hispanic market, stating, “Hispanic consumers represent $3.8 trillion in GDP and are a young demographic.” He said that PepsiCo is making efforts to reach out to that group, including by increasing its use of granular data and partnerships with brands that the demographic already trusts.

Overall, Escalona’s insights revealed that there are various marketing approaches that brands and retailers can take to tailor their product portfolios to appeal to specific groups, including brand collaborations. However, he reminded the Groceryshop audience that companies also need a diverse talent base to understand the trends, wants and needs of each consumer base; otherwise, marketing strategies and partnerships will fail to be effective.

Escalona highlights the Hispanic community as a growth opportunity
Source: Groceryshop

 

Lindsay Rowles, General Manager of Retail and Property at Foodstuffs North Island, touched on partnerships in the grocery space, revealing that while collaboration is critical in grocery, partnerships cannot thrive without a mutual understanding and respect between partners. Foodstuffs North Island’s partnerships have enabled the company to increase its social responsibility. For example, it has partnered with local welfare groups to create “small supermarkets” for shoppers on government assistance, which allow those consumers to shop with both “dignity and choice.”

Rowles emphasized social responsibility as a benefit of establishing partnerships
Source: Groceryshop

 

2. Building Profitable, Efficient and Resilient Businesses

Environmental sustainability emerged as a critical topic in the conversation around building resilient businesses. Two food and beverage brands, MadeGood (Riverside Natural Foods) and Sparkling Ice (Talking Rain), both confirmed at Groceryshop that they have reduced the use of plastics in their product packaging, and Sparkling Ice is also using recyclable aluminum cans.

Reducing plastics is an initiative that resonates strongly with modern consumers, according to Coresight Research survey findings: Of the sustainability practices that consumers consider most important for retailers, reducing plastics ranks top of the list.

Left to right: Tiffany Boyd, Vice President of Omnichannel Marketing at Talking Rain; Nicole Bleiwas, Vice President of Marketing at Riverside Natural Foods; Zahra Mohamed, Content Director, Groceryshop (Interviewer)
Source: Groceryshop

 

Discussing how retailers can maintain a competitive edge and futureproof their businesses, Ethan Chernofsky, Senior Vice President of Marketing at location data analytics company Placer.ai, shared his vision for grocery retailing, which centers on three primary predictions:

• Innovation in retail in general will focus on the growing role of the store as a platform.
• A balance between physical and digital will be key to grocers’ success.
• The battleground in grocery will be loyalty and “share of list”—i.e., gaining a greater share of customers’ shopping lists, which are often spread among a larger number of retailers.

Chernofsky shares his vision for the future of grocery retailing
Source: Groceryshop

 

In the same session, Amishi Takalkar, Co-Founder and CEO of shopper behavior analysis company Nailbiter, offered three pieces of advice to retailers looking to build stronger businesses:

• Make stores more inviting and desirable.
• Trigger “impulsive exploration” through effective displays.
• Build stronger shopper connections via mobile apps.

Finally, Prashant Agrawal, Founder and CEO of demand-forecasting and inventory-optimization software vendor Impact Analytics, took a look at the boom in GLP-1 medication adoption and its implications for grocery retailers. He explained that healthy food is harder to forecast and has shorter lifecycles, so as consumers shift toward healthier food, demand forecasting will become more challenging for retailers. Still, he expects that demand will shift, not decline, meaning the key to continued success in the sector will be to adapt with product portfolio adjustments.

• For more on the industry impact of GLP-1 drugs, see our report, Decoding the GLP-1 Trend: How Is the Ozempic Economy Impacting CPG Retail?

Agrawal considers the impact of GLP-1 adoption on grocery retail
Source: Groceryshop

 

During her keynote presentation, Carla Vernón, CEO of The Honest Company, also discussed the growing impact of consumers’ increased focus on health and wellness, which she explained supports demand for clean products. Even with many shoppers remaining price-conscious, she noted that a general shift toward lower-priced products in retail would not translate to health categories, as consumers purchase these products based on need and personal values. For example, Vernón cited that the number of children with allergies has doubled since 1997, and consumers are unlikely to trade down to products with ingredients they deem to be harmful or unnecessary.

The Honest Company offers eco-friendly, clean products across multiple categories, from baby and skincare to household cleaning and toiletries. To achieve its standard of clean, natural products, it has a substantial list of 1,300 ingredients that cannot be used, Vernón said.

Vernón revealed that The Honest Company is currently undergoing a transformation to enhance its profitability and inventory efficiency.

Vernón discusses consumer demand for clean products in the health and wellness category
Source: Groceryshop

 

3. Delivering Convenient, Seamless and Unified Shopping Experiences

The traditional purchase funnel “has become ancient history,” said Ben Miller, Vice President of Original Content & Strategy at Groceryshop, as he discussed next-generation customer journeys in the “The Grocery Zeitgeist 2024” session. Today, it is crucial that brands and retailers understand the customer experience and path to conversion across different channels. To do this, retailers can look beyond their peer group and to other industries for inspiration, Miller advised. He added that removing friction is paramount, as shoppers move from the consideration phase faster than ever.

Considering the future role of physical grocery stores in the omnichannel landscape, Rocquan Lucas, VP of Content at Groceryshop, recommended that retailers maximize the return on their physical store portfolios, investing in technology and structures that unlock the value of stores as a physical marketing channel and utilize stores as the heart of e-commerce fulfillment strategies.

Miller urges retailers to understand the modern customer journey across channels
Source: Groceryshop

 

The “Accelerating Growth Across Sales Channels” session explored strategies for delivering unified shopping experiences:

• Cristina Marinucci, Global Head of Shopper Excellence Insights and Analytics at Mondelēz International, highlighted the company’s shift toward “media-to-shelf” activations, focusing on insights-led strategies rather than upper-funnel projects that are not connected to what the consumer actually experiences in their preferred channel.
• Justin Coaldrake, Head of Omnichannel Guest Experience and Media at Casey’s, explained that the company uses its pizza business to drive cross-channel sales, converting pizza buyers into convenience-store customers (and vice versa).
• Rowles of Foodstuffs North Island asserted that “omnichannel is here to stay.” He described how data from online channels can enhance brick-and-mortar operations, stating that omnichannel “makes better stores better” because the data and skills learned via the online channel “flow back” into brick-and-mortar stores.

Throughout the session, all three speakers stressed the importance of data-driven strategies in creating unified shopping experience and the need for balance, including balancing immediate growth efforts with long-term brand sustainability.

• Mondelēz International is working to balance promotions and pricing to ensure customers across all channels are happy while striving to maintain brand integrity, according to Marinucci.
• Casey’s is focusing on engaging with customers across all channels and cohorts, according to Caoldrake.
• Foodstuffs North Island aims to balance omnichannel growth with community support, according to Rowles.

Without balance across multiple aspects of unified commerce, it is quite possible that a company could become too focused on one channel or cohort, ultimately putting them in a challenging position when expanding to new regions, channels or consumer groups.

Coaldrake (left) and Ethan Sinick, Managing Director, Shirland Ventures (Interviewer) (right)
Source: Groceryshop

 

4. Seizing New Opportunities in Retail Media

While not the main discussion point of his fireside chat, Coaldrake of Casey’s briefly explained his company’s approach to retail media: Casey’s is developing its strategy alongside its “enterprise marketing plans,” which creates a “very powerful retail media offering,” according to Coaldrake.

During the “The Grocery Zeitgeist 2024” session, Groceryshop’s Lucas and Miller discussed how retailers can embrace adjacent revenue streams to improve margins. However, they warned that retailers must not lose sight of creating long-term value for customers, meaning that they need to be clear on their long-term strategies.

The Groceryshop team also gave attendees a quick preview of a new retail media-related “hub,” named “New Market,” that will feature as part of Shoptalk Spring 2025. Per the announcement, New Market “will bring together media buyers, technology solutions, retail media networks, agencies and next-generation publishers to shape the future of the attention industry.”

Miller (left) and Lucas (right) announce the “New Market” retail media-related hub for Shoptalk Spring 2025
Source: Groceryshop