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 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