Latest / GrocerTalk / Kroger’s Q2 Reality Check, AI Shopping Assistants & The Changing Grocery Landscape | GrocerTalk

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Kroger’s Q2 Reality Check, AI Shopping Assistants & The Changing Grocery Landscape | GrocerTalk · GrocerTalk

• 0:00
  The last few weeks have been reporting season for many US Grocers.
• 0:04
  And we've been reporting a reoccurring picture that despite economic headwinds, grocers have been seeing sales up, full year, guidance up.
• 0:14
  Whether it's been discount like Walmart and strikingly Target dollar stores like Dollar Tree and Dollar General, or club like BJ and Sam's, it's been a similar story.
• 0:24
  Sales up, guidance up.
• 0:27
  Therefore, the Q2 results from Kroger published on Friday hit with a jolt.
• 0:32
  Sales flat, full year, guidance down.
• 0:36
  Understanding this trend resonates well beyond the borders of the U.S.
• 0:40
  kroger is, after all, the world's largest operator of supermarket format stores.
• 0:46
  So let's unpick that today.
• 0:48
  Welcome to Grocer Talk.
• 0:53
  Of all the listed supermarkets in the Q2s, Kroger's come for the best.
• 0:59
  The big two are coming for the business digitally.
• 1:01
  Amazon and Walmart are going after quick same day delivery and they're starting to have an impact.
• 1:07
  What would you want to see in that Strat update?
• 1:11
  It's like dating band.
• 1:12
  People are only as loyal as their options.
• 1:14
  And the marketplace effect on grocery is gonna make a lot of people more attractive, cheap dates over time.
• 1:20
  That's why you make the big buck.
• 1:21
  That's why you're making incredible amounts of money to do what you do.
• 1:25
  I hate it.
• 1:26
  I hate it.
• 1:26
  I hate it.
• 1:26
  I can't say it.
• 1:30
  Hello, everyone.
• 1:30
  I'm your host, Ben Miller and we are recording live this morning from Omnitalk's very own podcast studio at NRF's Big Show Europe in Paris.
• 1:40
  And I'm joined by OmniTalk Retail CEO himself, Mr.
• 1:44
  Christopher Walton.
• 1:45
  Ben, how are you doing today?
• 1:46
  I'm very good.
• 1:47
  It's been a month since we've had you on last.
• 1:49
  I know it's been a while, but yeah, we're now together in person where I came across the Atlantic.
• 1:54
  We're doing this.
• 1:54
  We're gonna unpick a lot of things.
• 1:56
  As you said in the intro, I always like when you say that.
• 1:58
  How we're gonna unpick things always makes me SM super pumped to be here.
• 2:02
  It's bright and early on.
• 2:03
  What is it?
• 2:03
  Tuesday?
• 2:04
  Tuesday morning.
• 2:04
  I lost track of time.
• 2:05
  Oh yeah, with the jet lag, trade show time.
• 2:09
  We've got really busy couple of days ahead.
• 2:11
  We are recording interviews across the next three days from the fusion booth here.
• 2:16
  E043.
• 2:18
  E043.
• 2:19
  Yep.
• 2:20
  Good man.
• 2:21
  Good on you.
• 2:22
  So we've got, I mean we've got a number of grosses.
• 2:23
  Coming up, Rainbow 1000, Catholic's franchise partner in the Middle east, we've got Bolt, the so called Uber of Europe.
• 2:31
  So it should be really interesting.
• 2:32
  Yeah, yeah.
• 2:33
  No, I'm super excited by the interviews we've got lined up.
• 2:36
  We've got the vitamin shops, Andrew Leduado's coming by first thing this morning or first thing this afternoon.
• 2:42
  I guess first thing this morning back home.
• 2:44
  And so we're gonna bring you all these great interviews all week long.
• 2:46
  I think we've got something like 10, 11 in the kitty or something like that, right, Ben?
• 2:49
  So yeah, stay tuned for that.
• 2:52
  Stick close to the YouTube page, stick close to Omnitalk, stay close to the retail daily Minute newsletter too, to hear everything these folks have to say in real time as they're saying it.
• 3:00
  Yeah.
• 3:01
  And just looking ahead, two things.
• 3:03
  Number one, next week we're doing this all over again.
• 3:06
  That's right.
• 3:07
  So with Grocery Shop.
• 3:09
  And we've got a great lineup from Grocery Shop this year.
• 3:13
  But ahead of that, Thursday, if you haven't registered already, we have our Must see tech preview.
• 3:19
  All right, so let's get into this week's Grocer Talks, which of course is brought to you with the help and support of Instacart Enterprise, Portager, Vuzion and Sifter.
• 3:31
  And in this week's Grocer Talk, we've got news on Instacart and Shipt launching AI powered shopping assistants.
• 3:38
  Walgreens deploying in store advertising screens.
• 3:41
  Albertsons expanding its board by naming its first executive chair.
• 3:46
  And Vestcom's Kim Snyder stops by for five insightful minutes on how to maximize investment in shelf edge technologies.
• 3:54
  But we start today with with Kroger's Q2 results.
• 3:59
  Oh wow.
• 4:02
  Oh my God.
• 4:03
  We get a running hot starting off.
• 4:05
  On a plus side.
• 4:07
  So headline number one is brought to you by Instacart Enterprise, which gives grocery businesses the technology to grow online and in store with one modular platform built for how grocery actually works and built to scale with you.
• 4:21
  Learn more at Company.
• 4:27
  Supermarket News reported on Friday that Kroger has cut its same store sales outlook for 2026.
• 4:35
  Kroger published its Q2s on Friday and said that it now expects full year comps excluding fuel to be between 0.2 and 0.8 versus the previous guidance of between 1 and 2%.
• 4:51
  Like Walmart previously a couple of weeks ago, Kroger cited the impact of pharmacy pricing from the Inflation Reduction act as a significant factor reducing the comps, believing it will have a negative full year impact of about 140 basis
• 5:07
  points.
• 5:07
  So significant for Q2, Kroger delivered an essentially flat quarter ex fuel after some accounting changes.
• 5:16
  Total sales were up plus 0.1%.
• 5:20
  Comps 0.2.
• 5:22
  Highlights of the quarter to call out include e commerce up 20%.
• 5:27
  Retail media profit up a very tasty 24%.
• 5:32
  Wow, look at you.
• 5:34
  And also Tasty, their premium private label private selection sales up 14%.
• 5:40
  All of which helped keep full year profit guidance the same.
• 5:44
  All right, Chris, what do you see as the reason behind Kroger's stalled performance?
• 5:50
  Is this a Kroger issue?
• 5:52
  Is it a supermarket format issue?
• 5:55
  Or are we seeing the impact of consumer confidence here?
• 5:59
  Oh man.
• 6:00
  Can I say yes to all of those?
• 6:01
  I think you can.
• 6:02
  I think I can.
• 6:04
  I think it really is yes to all those that you said.
• 6:07
  I mean, I think I was on the show when we talked about this, right?
• 6:11
  Like, you know, like when I think I was on the show when we first talked about this, where I said like, you know, I was a little, I was not necessarily pleased with how the reporting was done the
• 6:22
  last quarter where they were hyping up their digital performance to such a degree.
• 6:25
  And I was like, well, yeah, 20 sounds good.
• 6:27
  But when you look at the marketplace, when I look at the brick meets click data, which has become my monthly bible ban, it was actually falling short of that.
• 6:35
  And retail media, you could take retail media growth for what you want.
• 6:38
  It's not necessarily correlated with in store performance either.
• 6:41
  In fact, I worry that it's a distract.
• 6:42
  It's starting to become a distraction for a lot of grocers in terms of how they're playing on it.
• 6:46
  And we can potentially get into that more.
• 6:49
  But no, so I think, you know, I think it's indicative of all those things.
• 6:54
  And for me, macroeconomically, I'd point to three specific factors really.
• 6:58
  So the first is the big two are coming for the business digitally like Amazon and Walmart are going after quick same day delivery and they're starting to have an impact.
• 7:08
  And you can see that in the numbers.
• 7:10
  The second thing is online is more convenient and it's more budget friendly.
• 7:15
  And so it just takes a little bit of that to move over into the digital space, to start hitting the basket sizes and to start hitting the numbers of Kroger's and others as we're starting to see in the
• 7:25
  marketplace.
• 7:26
  So I think that's what's going on here.
• 7:28
  And so this is a very telling predicament I think for Kroger too, because the other Thing you have to ask is where do they sit in the landscape?
• 7:36
  The.
• 7:36
  They're not.
• 7:37
  Are they going to play on Price?
• 7:38
  Gentek AI is coming.
• 7:40
  That's going to make Price more transparent.
• 7:41
  There's a whole lot of things here that are not where the gun is pointed directly at them.
• 7:45
  So I think they're in a tough spot.
• 7:46
  Yeah, I think that's, I think that's really interesting.
• 7:48
  And Chris, I completely agree.
• 7:50
  I think it is all three put together.
• 7:53
  I think from Kroger's perspective, look, we know they know they're in a turnaround.
• 8:00
  Greg Foran has talked openly that the performance has not been where he wanted to be.
• 8:05
  The fact that they have just brought in both a dedicated lead for E Commerce and a new person to run the stores.
• 8:13
  So that's the two bits of the business.
• 8:15
  Bringing in new leadership.
• 8:16
  Great point.
• 8:17
  And dedicated leadership is a clear sign that they know that they weren't where they needed to be and they wanted to bring more people in.
• 8:23
  So I think that's all fair.
• 8:24
  I was actually talking over the weekend to Jason Goldberg about this and he made a really interesting point.
• 8:33
  Of all the listed supermarkets in the Q2s, Kroger's comps were the best.
• 8:39
  So if we're saying what's the Kroger issue versus what's the market issue, there is a challenge around that supermarket format.
• 8:49
  And I think you've hit the nail on the head that Amazon's moving to same day item delivery.
• 8:55
  Removing so many of these top up and convenience shops is having a significant impact on the market.
• 9:00
  Yeah, yeah.
• 9:01
  The other point I think was funny about this announcement is he, he used the, the retailer equivalent of blaming the weather for grocery of saying the cyclospora outbreak was, was a direct hit to the numbers.
• 9:12
  And it's like, okay, yeah, but it was for everybody, you know, like that's the thing.
• 9:15
  But the other point too before we move on Ben is I think, you know, he started in forehand, started February, I think February 1st of this past year.
• 9:24
  So that means he's six months in now.
• 9:26
  So how many more months does he have before he's got to put up or shut up?
• 9:30
  I think it's, you know, he's got what, three more months maybe where he can kind of use these excuses.
• 9:34
  But come that next quarter it's got to, he's got to start to show results.
• 9:38
  So that's, that's the quarter I'm watching right now.
• 9:40
  None of this really matters in terms of the reset of the strategy to Me, it's all going to come in that first quarterly report of 2027.
• 9:48
  And Kroger went to Lent in the report to say that actually there was no strategic update.
• 9:55
  There's a Strat Update coming on the 20th of October when we'll learn more.
• 9:59
  Interesting.
• 10:00
  Chris, what I want to ask is, what would you want to see in that Strat update?
• 10:05
  We talked about all the challenges for Kroger.
• 10:08
  What do you want to see them doing to find that elusive growth for a supermarket format?
• 10:14
  That's a really good question.
• 10:14
  I mean, I think they got to get back to the basics, which is probably why they brought Ibbotson in to try to do what he does in those what to do and knows how to do it.
• 10:21
  And Foran knows how to do that too.
• 10:22
  I think on the digital side, the digital side is much more complicated in terms of keeping pace.
• 10:27
  I think especially with agentic AI coming on the 4 and pricing becoming more transparent and Kroger not really knowing its price position.
• 10:35
  Because what I do worry about is with all the pricing actions that they're taking to stay competitive, that they're starting kind of a price war, you know, in the landscape.
• 10:43
  And can Kroger win that in the long run?
• 10:46
  I don't know.
• 10:47
  So that's something like that I'm very concerned about.
• 10:49
  In terms of digitally, what do they do?
• 10:52
  I don't know, Ben.
• 10:53
  It's not a place I'd want to be in.
• 10:55
  And I hate commenting on strategies when I feel like I've got a leg in the hole, but that's just how I feel.
• 11:01
  So I think you've got to invest in the store side first and foremost to keep those people coming and keep them loyal and also invest in loyalty too, I think.
• 11:11
  What do you think?
• 11:11
  Well, I think next week at Grocery Shop, where growth and energy for the supermarket sector comes from, is going to be one of the big discussion points and it certainly should be.
• 11:22
  Look, part of that.
• 11:24
  I've got the privilege.
• 11:25
  On the final day of Grocery Shop, I'm interviewing the CEO of Hy Vee.
• 11:28
  Yeah, can't wait for that.
• 11:30
  Jeremy Gosch.
• 11:31
  That should be a really great interview.
• 11:33
  And the whole premise of the interview is how does a regional grocer.
• 11:37
  They're winning market share at the moment.
• 11:40
  So look, sneak preview.
• 11:41
  We've been working with Jeremy and the team prepping for it.
• 11:44
  They're going to talk about a realization that they've come to about basically being the best Hy Vee they can be.
• 11:50
  So they are currently converting their discount format stores back into core hy vee.
• 11:54
  They tried to be other things and they've recognized their strength within the brand.
• 11:59
  So that's going to be a really interesting conversation.
• 12:01
  It's also for me a worry for Kroger with the number of different banners and brands they've got.
• 12:06
  I worry about their ability to build that brand impact through the structure that they have.
• 12:11
  And I think that's something, I mean, that's like a sacred cloud that needs to be talked about within the Kroger business.
• 12:15
  It's funny, I was thinking about that too last night.
• 12:17
  I was kind of like, okay, well, like, you know, you know, because a lot of those places where you see that the brands have some very big local cachet and I just don't, I don't know if that's true
• 12:27
  of all the Kroger brands like that are out there.
• 12:29
  And so I wonder like, you know, how much affinity is there for like Ralph's in California, like, or is it just my local shop?
• 12:36
  Because it's my local shop.
• 12:37
  And so that's where I wonder like, you know, could Kroger take that step, bite the bullet on the big $64,000 question that you're talking about and at least try to do it to a larger degree than it is
• 12:48
  today?
• 12:49
  Maybe it's just time.
• 12:51
  Maybe it's time.
• 12:51
  I don't know.
• 12:52
  It's a big risk, it's a big move, but is it that big of a risk?
• 12:55
  I don't know.
• 12:57
  And also if you say about scale, can they compete on price, that 150 billion grosser, you know, they should be the one that could and are they doing that thing?
• 13:07
  So I think next week it's tough.
• 13:09
  When you're going against Walmart though.
• 13:10
  Oh boy.
• 13:11
  Okay.
• 13:12
  Which moves us straight on to headline number two, which is sponsored by Portager, a groundbreaking purpose built AI platform for retail negotiations and joint business planning, helping merchants prepare smarter, negotiate stronger and maximize value.
• 13:29
  Visit Portager AI to learn more.
• 13:32
  Okay, headline number two this week comes from Grocery Dive, which reported that last Wednesday both Instacart and Shipt separately announced the launches of AI powered shopping assistants.
• 13:45
  It also noted that both companies highlighted how their marketplace AI assistants aim to ease the mental burden of shopping whilst factoring in a consumer's budget.
• 13:59
  Adding to our collection of AI assistant names, Instacart Clementine is now available to customers across North America on the Instacart marketplace.
• 14:09
  It enables shoppers to ask contextual conversational questions like suggest high protein, easy dinings for two and Then utilize real time availability at the shopper's chosen store and their past purchase history to make personalized ready to buy recommendations in
• 14:30
  seconds.
• 14:32
  In its accompanying press release, Instacart claims that Clementine pulls from a Data foundation of 1.6 billion orders, a catalogue of more than 2 billion items, and more than 10 million daily inventory signals from 100,000 stores across North America.
• 14:50
  Grocer Talk partner Instacart Enterprise also updated further grocers that are adopting its Cart assistant.
• 14:57
  That's its white label, AI Shopping Assistant that is incorporated.
• 15:02
  Oh.
• 15:02
  Into their own websites.
• 15:03
  Right.
• 15:03
  Okay.
• 15:04
  All right, Chris, this is really the latest in a stream of AI Shopping Assistant announcements.
• 15:11
  And I know that there's more coming this week.
• 15:14
  Grocery shop.
• 15:14
  So what do you think is the CX end game that retailers should be shooting for for AI powered shopping?
• 15:23
  Oh, my God.
• 15:24
  That's like the cataclysmic question of the year.
• 15:27
  Getting big today?
• 15:27
  Yeah, I mean, I'm going big.
• 15:28
  I mean, I alluded to this before, and I'm.
• 15:30
  I'm glad we're talking about it now because I can get into a little more detail in terms of what I was alluding to, which I think is important.
• 15:35
  But like I said, I think this is the cataclysmic question that every retailer is facing right now.
• 15:40
  And I say that because of the potential here, particularly for Instacart in this announcement.
• 15:46
  And the reason I say that is Ben Miller, and this was us talking about with Kroger, too.
• 15:50
  What if Instacart starts allowing weekly shopping list budget comparisons across different grocers?
• 15:59
  What if, like, that's a big what.
• 16:01
  If complain through this scenario.
• 16:03
  And the way you said it makes me think that they're not very far from that.
• 16:06
  And why wouldn't they allow that?
• 16:08
  They have multiple grocers on their platform, and they should be.
• 16:11
  They should be in a place or a position to enable their shoppers to budget, optimize their weekly grocery shopping and have Instacart decide how to deliver it and package it up and get it to their doorstep as quickly
• 16:23
  as possible.
• 16:24
  So that is what AI is built to do.
• 16:26
  Marketplaces are powerful for that reason, and that's why it's a good position to be in.
• 16:31
  So, so the retailers, then you have to say, well, what's the recipe?
• 16:34
  What do I do?
• 16:35
  Right.
• 16:35
  Which is your question.
• 16:36
  So the first question you have to ask yourself is, I need to choose my marketplace options really carefully.
• 16:41
  Like now I actually start to think about, do I stay on a marketplace or do I Pick the people that I really feel confident in, can help me to deliver on my strategy and my promises.
• 16:51
  Because, like, the one thing I can't understand, Ben, is like, why are regional grocers plugging into Amazon?
• 16:57
  Because you know Amazon's going to do this.
• 16:59
  You know they are.
• 17:00
  And so that's a big question.
• 17:02
  So I think you got to look at those relationships and decide which ones you're going to keep, which ones you're going to divest.
• 17:06
  Second, you've got to invest in right pricing, whether strategically or from a technology perspective, because things are going to be more transparent.
• 17:14
  So you got to get your pricing right.
• 17:15
  And then third, you got to get generative AI live on your own platforms.
• 17:18
  It sounds like Instacart's enabling that for their own platforms where they're doing the white label, which you said.
• 17:23
  And then lastly, as I mentioned on the Kroger story, you got to give people a reason to stay loyal.
• 17:27
  So you got to invest in your loyalty programs to keep people coming back to your properties so that they don't go to these marketplaces, they don't go to these AI engines to do what ultimately is going to happen.
• 17:37
  So it's like dating, Ben.
• 17:39
  People are only as loyal as their options.
• 17:42
  And the marketplace effect on grocery is going to make a lot of people more attractive, cheap dates over time because the prices are going to be that more transparent.
• 17:50
  Oh, my God.
• 17:51
  Right.
• 17:52
  Okay, Chris, talk me through your scenario.
• 17:54
  Okay.
• 17:54
  Okay.
• 17:54
  So you've got a hypothetical situation where you put your shopping basket, your ass into a marketplace that is AI enabled.
• 18:05
  It then works out the cheapest way to fulfill that basket.
• 18:08
  Does it, does it identify the cheapest store on average, or is it delivering that basket from four or five outlets?
• 18:16
  Maybe, maybe not.
• 18:17
  I don't know.
• 18:18
  That's a great thing, is with AI, you have the ability for any marketplace to decide how they want to do that and how they want to make it as clear as possible for their consumer.
• 18:26
  And the consumer is going to tell us ultimately how they want to do that.
• 18:29
  But I think the demand is there because you're seeing it in the fact that digital allows people to save money.
• 18:34
  AI is going to allow people to save even more money.
• 18:36
  And so how it all gets coordinated and collected on the back end is still up for determination.
• 18:40
  But I think it's going to happen.
• 18:42
  And it's not that.
• 18:42
  It's not that inconceivable, even if you just simply said, hey, I want Mac and cheese, I want Campbell's soup, I want.
• 18:50
  Find the Best options, minimally, you could be like, okay, I'm Instacart.
• 18:54
  I can fulfill these items from Kroger, I can fulfill these items for Walmart.
• 18:58
  Do you want me to do that for you?
• 19:00
  I'm assuming.
• 19:00
  I know they're not all on the platforms, everybody.
• 19:02
  But like, just go with me on the analogy.
• 19:04
  They say, okay, yep, we can either deliver it to you together, we can deliver it to you separately.
• 19:08
  What do you care?
• 19:09
  I don't really care.
• 19:10
  So, like that, I'm gonna get it.
• 19:13
  That's the bit I'm not there on yet.
• 19:15
  Okay, let me tell you why.
• 19:18
  The principle of the price transparency I completely get.
• 19:23
  But like, almost 30 years now with Ecom, we've been talking about the ability to be able to build up composite baskets from different places to be able to get it through.
• 19:35
  That hasn't happened.
• 19:37
  And why hasn't that happened?
• 19:39
  Because it's difficult enough to get the economics to work, to deliver just one basket from one retailer.
• 19:46
  Trying to build a basket from multiple retailers.
• 19:48
  Any sense you're saving on an item here, an item there, you're going to completely blow and deliver it.
• 19:53
  So unless there is a fundamental change in delivery economics, I think this composite basket idea, no matter what the technology enables, is really hard.
• 20:03
  Well, that's for Instacart to figure out.
• 20:05
  That's why the marketplace enables us in a different conversation.
• 20:08
  Because Instacart's sending the shoppers into both those grocers to begin with and they're just deciding where to parse it out then.
• 20:14
  Yeah, I mean, even without that potential scenario, it's expensive.
• 20:19
  I mean, look, I really like this move from both Instacart and Shipt.
• 20:23
  I think you've got two things.
• 20:25
  One, on the Instacart and the Shipt platforms you're putting on, I've gotta be so careful.
• 20:31
  Yeah, right.
• 20:32
  Explicit rating on this.
• 20:34
  We're in Paris, Ben, come on.
• 20:36
  Decor.
• 20:38
  It gives the ability to deliver some really powerful personalization based on preferred stores in store positions.
• 20:45
  That's great.
• 20:46
  And then for Instacart, for its partners, it can take into white label it.
• 20:49
  And again, the benefit, because if you are a grocer and you haven't got the ability to run contextual commerce, you're getting left behind really, really quickly.
• 20:57
  The other thing about that example, though, that we were talking about, and you're pushing me on, if you get right down to it, at the end of the day, you know who wins those baskets?
• 21:05
  Amazon and Walmart.
• 21:07
  Like, they just win them by default.
• 21:09
  And so that's what's going to end up happening here, is the AI is just going to push everyone into Amazon and Walmart on price even more quickly than they are today.
• 21:22
  And joining us now for five insightful minutes is Kim Snyder, VP of sales for Vestcom North America Retail at Avery Denison.
• 21:31
  Kim is here to share how grocers can think about maximizing their investment in shelf edge technologies.
• 21:38
  Kim, Investcom is well known as a pioneer of paper shelf execution.
• 21:44
  Yeah, 40 odd years now.
• 21:45
  But with grocers investing heavily in digital solutions for shelf labeling, frankly, get us started.
• 21:52
  What is vescom's role in this world?
• 21:55
  Thanks Ben.
• 21:55
  It's really great to be here.
• 21:57
  And you bring up a really great point.
• 21:59
  I think the biggest misconception is that Vescom is just a paper tag printer.
• 22:05
  At our core, we're really data experts at the shelf edge.
• 22:09
  The magic lies in our data composition capabilities.
• 22:13
  We're the engine that ingests massive amounts of data and sometimes that data is pretty messy.
• 22:19
  And we seamlessly manage the high frequency and complexity of promotions, media, pricing, all the things that go along in grocery, regardless of whether that output is paper or digital.
• 22:31
  So here's the reality.
• 22:33
  Electronic shelf labels can be a very great tool, but without intelligent software behind them, it's just an expensive piece of hardware.
• 22:41
  Going digital doesn't magically solve the brutal complexity of pricing rules, promo stacks and SKUs.
• 22:48
  In fact, if you're balancing both paper and digital, it actually doubles the complexity.
• 22:54
  Vescom bridges that gap with our storelink software solution.
• 22:58
  It acts as a central brain that coordinates across both paper and digital, ensuring consistency and accuracy from a single source of truth.
• 23:08
  So Kim, help unpack that for me because I know Ben and I are a big proponent of electronic shelf labels.
• 23:13
  They're big capital costs as well, but they, you know, they basically unlock labor savings and they ensure price compliance.
• 23:18
  You know, at the end of the day that's some of their big value.
• 23:21
  But so how do you embed yourselves with the major grocers then?
• 23:25
  How do you really help them unlock the benefits of, of digital shelf label technology?
• 23:30
  Digital shelf labels are such a major capital investment, the focus naturally lands on the hardware.
• 23:36
  And the biggest risk we find is when hardware is installed and the systems just don't allow for the operational intricacies that exist in the retail world.
• 23:45
  As you probably know, grocery data is notoriously complex.
• 23:50
  What shows up on a shelf tag isn't just a static price from a database file.
• 23:54
  Every tag is built on layers and layers of logic from localized promos to item rules and batching and template selection.
• 24:02
  If the back end systems aren't built to handle that level of sophistication, it orgs end up spending hundreds of hours writing custom code just to manage complex pricing data rules, promo formats and store level exceptions.
• 24:17
  In the meanwhile, store associates also are wasting time manually hunting down errors on the sales floor.
• 24:23
  So instead of saving labor, you end up with operational friction that erodes the ROI you promised the board.
• 24:30
  That's why intelligent software management is so vital.
• 24:34
  And that's where Vescom comes in.
• 24:36
  We handle the heavy lifting right up front.
• 24:39
  Cleaning up the data and getting it to the shelf edge in a way that the digital investment actually delivers on its promise.
• 24:48
  So Kim, let me just reflect this.
• 24:50
  So my take and tell me, tell me if I'm reading this right.
• 24:53
  Your view is that once a grocer has made that investment to go digital with the shelf labeling, then you're of the belief that it's the software layer that is also crucial to unlocking the full potential from their capex.
• 25:06
  Yeah, that's exactly right.
• 25:08
  So like we said earlier, you know, hardware procurement naturally takes the spotlight because of the massive capex investment, but the software orchestration is really the hero behind the scenes that actually determines whether your rollout succeeds or falls flat.
• 25:23
  And that's why we built Storling to be hardware agnostic.
• 25:26
  So no matter what tag technology a grocer chooses, our role is to help them get the absolute most out of that investment.
• 25:34
  So in grocery, you know, you're dealing with thousands and thousands of SKUs, ongoing price execution, complex marketing and promo offers.
• 25:41
  The hardware at the end of the day simply is displaying an image.
• 25:45
  It's the software engine behind the scenes that cleans up the complex data, applies the rules and the logic.
• 25:51
  It resolves discrepancies and builds an accurate shelf visual all at the same time.
• 25:59
  The platform also catches the sync failures that may happen before shoppers ever see a wrong price or an associate gets pulled away to troubleshoot or fix a tag.
• 26:07
  So Kim, I don't want to let you off the hook here.
• 26:09
  I want to put your feet to the fire a little bit.
• 26:11
  Because you mentioned Solink, I'm curious, how does it actually work?
• 26:14
  How does it actually work to maximize the ROI of the ESLs in a store?
• 26:19
  As you said earlier, Vescom has 40 years of shelf experience and expertise.
• 26:25
  And we took all of the things that we've been doing for 40 years.
• 26:29
  The complex data, logic, the rules, the execution, know how all the things that We've mastered over 40 years of paper tag printing.
• 26:36
  And we translated that all into the store link software engine.
• 26:40
  And that's designed to protect grocers from a couple of big operational pitfalls, the first being avoiding vendor lock in.
• 26:48
  We separated the software from the hardware to create a completely agnostic platform.
• 26:53
  So that means if a retailer acquires a new brand that's running on a different hardware, or if they decide to switch vendors down the road, they can seamlessly integrate without having to overhaul their entire data infrastructure.
• 27:05
  The second is we're eliminating the hybrid friction.
• 27:08
  So as we know, most stores aren't going to be 100% digital overnight.
• 27:12
  Some may never be completely digital.
• 27:14
  Storelink acts as a single source of truth, managing across both print and digital simultaneously.
• 27:20
  And the last is removing the operational blind spots that we talked about.
• 27:25
  Storelink works in the background to proactively monitor both the data and the physical devices.
• 27:30
  It catches sync delays, layout errors, and offline tags before shoppers ever see a wrong price on the shelf Let me.
• 27:37
  Get you out of here.
• 27:38
  I've got one last question.
• 27:39
  If you're sitting across from a grocery CEO or a CIO who's about to to implement an ESL rollout, from all of your experience, what's the one piece of advice that you'd give them?
• 27:53
  So my single piece of advice is this.
• 27:56
  Don't allow the software component of your project to be an afterthought.
• 28:01
  It's easy to forget that labels are just at the end of the they're the display at the end of a massive data pipeline.
• 28:07
  Hanging a digital tag on the shelf is actually the pretty easy part.
• 28:12
  The real work is ensuring software can automatically stream clean data, resolve sync errors, and execute complex template variations across every store and every generation of hardware deployed.
• 28:24
  If you treat software as a secondary detail, the gaps you experience will quietly erode your roi.
• 28:31
  But if you get the software layer right from the beginning, your execution will scale, it will go smoothly, and your hardware investment will deliver every dollar you promise to the board.
• 28:42
  Yeah, that's especially true, Kim, when you think about it like no retailer is going to go fully digital right out of the get go.
• 28:47
  Like they're probably going to have some hybrid solution like you mentioned before, of electric electronic shelf label and paper shelf tag too.
• 28:55
  So that's a great point as you think about managing this whole complexity.
• 28:59
  And to that point, you know, before we let you go, you also just recently published an article on this topic, which many of our listeners also like to read and ingest as much information as they can.
• 29:09
  So what's the best way for them to find that article?
• 29:12
  Thanks, Chris.
• 29:12
  I agree, this has been really great.
• 29:14
  And if the listeners are interested in learning more, they can follow Vescom and LinkedIn.
• 29:19
  That's where they'll find the recent article and they can connect with me also if they'd like to talk further.
• 29:23
  Okay, that's been great.
• 29:24
  Thank you so much for joining us.
• 29:25
  Great.
• 29:25
  Thank you, Ben.
• 29:26
  And thank you, Chris.
• 29:27
  Thanks, Kim.
• 29:29
  Headline number three is brought to you by proud sponsor Vuzion.
• 29:32
  We are sat here literally on the Fusion booth right now.
• 29:35
  The global leader in connected retail solutions, helping grocers improve productivity, execution and customer experience.
• 29:43
  From shelf to checkout, visit vuzion.com okay, headline number three comes from chainstoreage, which reports the drugstore chain Walgreens.
• 29:53
  Through its retail media network, Walgreens Advertising Group will implement in store screens from Luma to 1200 of its 8 and a half thousand stores by early 2027.
• 30:08
  Luma's technology enables remote content management, digitizes end caps, and claims to provide full funnel performance measurements.
• 30:18
  The content that airs on Luma's network, this is really interesting.
• 30:21
  Is produced or edited by a global network of independent filmmakers, editors and creators who specialise in point of decision content.
• 30:32
  Other retailers have already implemented luma screens, including BJ's and the aforementioned Kroger.
• 30:38
  Chris, do you like this approach to install digitization for Walgreens?
• 30:43
  So working with a partner that provides hardware studio content and measurement, or would you rather see them building out this capability in house?
• 30:51
  Oh, man.
• 30:53
  This one, I hate my job, Ben.
• 30:55
  I really do.
• 30:56
  This one, I hate my job because John Storms was quoted in that article.
• 31:00
  He's a good friend of mine.
• 31:01
  Like, I know him pretty well, but I.
• 31:03
  And that's where I got to be honest.
• 31:05
  I got to be frank.
• 31:06
  This is why people come to Omni.
• 31:07
  I'm worried about this move, Ben.
• 31:08
  Okay, well, I'm worried about it.
• 31:10
  I can't fault him for doing it like he's tasked to do it.
• 31:14
  You know, he's tasked to grow retail media.
• 31:15
  So In Store is a great place to invest, you know, and it's likely being pushed by Sycamore Partners, which, you know, owns Walgreens.
• 31:22
  You know, so they're.
• 31:23
  They've got, you know, aggressive goals that they're trying to hit.
• 31:27
  And so.
• 31:28
  But it's not going to cure what the reason I don't like it is In Store Media.
• 31:33
  And I alluded to this in the Kroger headline too.
• 31:35
  In Store Media Growth is not going to cure what ails Walgreens.
• 31:40
  It's not.
• 31:41
  It's going to help profit, but it's not necessarily going to cure what ails Walgreens.
• 31:46
  And so I think there are better avenues for investments to cure what ails Walgreens in the long run.
• 31:52
  Then very expensive digital hardware infrastructure that is hard to maintain becomes obsolete very quickly.
• 31:59
  And Walgreens of all people should know that because of the investment they put into cooler screens and how that went.
• 32:05
  So this just.
• 32:06
  If I was them, I would not be making this move right now.
• 32:11
  Yeah.
• 32:11
  And you know what?
• 32:12
  That's the exact reason why I don't dislike it.
• 32:15
  Really.
• 32:15
  And let me tell you.
• 32:16
  All right, let's get into a debate.
• 32:17
  Let me tell you for why.
• 32:18
  Because I think the two are mutually excited exclusive.
• 32:21
  Okay.
• 32:22
  I E.
• 32:22
  Of course you have to fix the fundamentals of why should people want to make that trip to Walgreens.
• 32:28
  But that's independent of their ability to grow out a retail media network and benefit from the traffic that is going through their stores.
• 32:36
  And what intrigues me of going down the route to working with Illuma is you are not trying to do it yourself.
• 32:41
  I'd be more worried if they were trying to build the capability in house, if they were having to spend the capex to do it all themselves.
• 32:49
  Actually working on a.
• 32:51
  On a revenue share model with an organization like Luma, I think is more compelling for them right now than if they were taking other routes.
• 33:00
  Yeah, right.
• 33:01
  But the store met.
• 33:03
  But.
• 33:03
  There's always a but, Ben.
• 33:04
  Yeah, I think that makes sense when you're like in the mutually exclusive worlds, when the worlds are mutually exclusive.
• 33:09
  But when you actually put these things into a physical retail operation, that means store employees have to get involved with them, maintenance has to get involved in them.
• 33:18
  It's much more complicated than I think people realize and distracting than people realize too.
• 33:24
  And customers also get involved in them and in front of them and then get confused by them or enticed by them too.
• 33:30
  And so that's an element here too.
• 33:32
  It's not as clean of a break that we all think it is.
• 33:36
  From my store manager.
• 33:37
  It is.
• 33:37
  And having done a lot of experimentation with digital screens in store and just knowing how hard it is, one, to get people to engage with them and two, keep them doing what they're supposed to be doing each and
• 33:48
  every day, which is what we saw with cooler screens too.
• 33:50
  Like half the time, those things on all those social media videos, they even work.
• 33:54
  Yeah, I think that's very Fair.
• 33:55
  And I think we should.
• 33:56
  We should invite your friend John to come on.
• 33:58
  We should.
• 33:59
  Yeah.
• 33:59
  Because 1200 stores is sizable.
• 34:01
  It's a lot.
• 34:02
  I think they're gonna find out really quickly.
• 34:04
  It'll be great.
• 34:04
  It's.
• 34:05
  See what they've learned from this.
• 34:06
  Yeah.
• 34:06
  It's a lot.
• 34:07
  All right.
• 34:07
  Headline number four, which is brought to you by Sifter.
• 34:10
  Sifter Solutions.
• 34:11
  Powerful API seamlessly integrates advanced, medically tailored dietary and nutritional filtering into virtually any grocery or wellness platform.
• 34:23
  Sifter makes healthy outcomes possible.
• 34:26
  So learn more@siftasolutions.com okay.
• 34:30
  Our fourth headline this week comes from Grocery Dive, which reports that Meg Whitman will join the board of Albertsons in a newly created role, their first executive chair.
• 34:41
  So as well as chairing the board, as well as chairing the board, Whitman will serve as an operations quote and strategic advisor to CEO Susan Morris.
• 34:51
  And her appointment has already taken effect.
• 34:53
  She started on Tuesday.
• 34:55
  Whitman brings 40 years of experience to Albertsons, having served as CEO of eBay for a decade and President, CEO and Chair of Hewlett Packard.
• 35:06
  She was also, and I think this is the first time ever said on omnitalk, the United States Ambassador to Kenya.
• 35:13
  Yes, that is the first time from 2022 through 2024.
• 35:16
  Whitman's appointment came at a time when.
• 35:19
  Com store sales are negative, the company's reorganizing its op model, and the current CFO has announced her plans to.
• 35:25
  To retire.
• 35:26
  So that's a quite a trifecta.
• 35:28
  Look, Chris, you and I, we don't sit on the Albertsons board.
• 35:31
  We don't.
• 35:32
  We can't yet.
• 35:33
  We can't know the internal conversations behind it.
• 35:37
  So I guess my question is more, what do you think this move signals to the industry?
• 35:42
  Oh, God, Ben, I.
• 35:44
  I hate this move.
• 35:46
  I hate it.
• 35:46
  I hate it.
• 35:47
  I hate it.
• 35:47
  I hate it.
• 35:48
  I can't say it enough.
• 35:49
  What is.
• 35:49
  What is Meg Whitman going to bring to the board?
• 35:51
  You know, like, that's my thing.
• 35:52
  She's a big name.
• 35:53
  Like, she's a big name, honestly.
• 35:55
  But she's a big name from, like, 20 years ago.
• 35:58
  What has she really done since she rode the tailwind of eBay?
• 36:01
  From 1998 to 2008, she was the CEO of Hewlett Packard.
• 36:05
  How'd that go?
• 36:06
  Like, she got bounced pretty quickly, if I remember right.
• 36:08
  Then.
• 36:09
  Quibi.
• 36:09
  Anyone?
• 36:10
  Anyone remember Quibi before the ambassadorship to Kenya?
• 36:13
  So, like, what does Meg Whitman really know that's still relevant, particularly in the coming age of grocery and how things are going to change.
• 36:21
  So I just, I just don't get it.
• 36:23
  It seems like they got swayed by the, by the aura of celebrity board director.
• 36:29
  And I just, I don't know, I just don't see why she's going to be that valuable to this board.
• 36:35
  I think there's other better people you could probably pick that are going to help you along the lines of where you need the help and probably cheaper.
• 36:42
  All right, so separating the individual from the strategic move.
• 36:46
  Yeah.
• 36:47
  Do you like the fact that they're bringing in an exec chair so they're bringing in some more senior support onto that board?
• 36:54
  I do.
• 36:54
  I do like.
• 36:55
  I do like that.
• 36:56
  I do like when boards are tend to be separated.
• 36:58
  Like the chairman of the board is separate from the CEO.
• 37:01
  I do like that.
• 37:02
  I think it adds a level of governance that's not there otherwise.
• 37:05
  But you don't always see people doing that.
• 37:06
  So, yes, I would say I like that.
• 37:08
  Okay.
• 37:09
  I mean, for me, there's mixed messages in it.
• 37:13
  I mean, is this a move to say we are supporting our CEO or is it saying we're undermining our CEO?
• 37:21
  And I think you can absolutely read it both ways.
• 37:24
  And I think that's the point I wanted to get at.
• 37:25
  When companies make moves like this, the market and the industry tries to unpick what's going on.
• 37:32
  So I think one thing I would say there was an article last week that pointed out that 14 US grocers have already changed their CEOs this year.
• 37:46
  And last week when Sarah Engle and I were talking about Jack Sinclair and Sprout, we talked about the number of leading global grocery CEOs that have been in the job since 2020.
• 37:58
  And I think we could call out two or three, like Raver, Catholic.
• 38:02
  It's down to a handful.
• 38:05
  The top job.
• 38:06
  And you earlier, Chris, were already saying, come on, Greg Foran, you've been in the job for more than six months now.
• 38:14
  We should be seeing.
• 38:15
  So, yeah, it's like this pressure.
• 38:17
  It's worse than a Premier League football manager getting changed.
• 38:20
  So I don't dislike.
• 38:24
  How do you support.
• 38:25
  How do you back the person you've brought in?
• 38:28
  But I do think it's challenging for the industry to really.
• 38:31
  To think about that.
• 38:33
  It's not a we need more help here signal.
• 38:36
  Yeah.
• 38:36
  But that's also where I, where like I kind of, I put out the smallest violin in the world too, for all these CEOs, because, like, that's why you make the big bucks.
• 38:45
  Like, that's why you're making incredible amounts of money to do what you do.
• 38:48
  And I also think the difference between successful CEOs in one place versus another is not as large as people like to think that it is.
• 38:55
  Like, there's a lot of people that could do a lot more people that could do these jobs and actually get the chance to do them as well.
• 39:01
  So that's where I'm like, I'm like.
• 39:03
  I think that's just a function of timing and generational shifts, too.
• 39:07
  I don't necessarily.
• 39:08
  There's been a lot of change in the grocery industry, but, like, a lot of people are just retiring and moving on.
• 39:12
  Like, Doug McMillan retired, Jack Sinclair retired.
• 39:16
  Like, so they brought in their successor.
• 39:18
  Fine, whatever.
• 39:19
  Like, this is correlation is not necessarily causation in terms of what's happening across the industry, from my perspective on that one.
• 39:27
  But I don't know.
• 39:28
  I mean, like I said, I think it's a good move to split it out.
• 39:30
  I just don't like the celebrity hire that comes with this.
• 39:35
  And all that gets wrapped up in that, Ben, you know, at the end of the day.
• 39:39
  Yeah, well, I know it's going to be fascinating to watch that one play through.
• 39:43
  Okay, come on.
• 39:44
  Before we let you go, Chris, before we get on talking to the amazing interviews we've got lined up, we're going to do grocer talk, grab and go.
• 39:50
  So this is where we both share a couple of stories that caught our eye in the world of grocery retailing, things we think we should be talking about.
• 39:58
  And I don't know what you've picked.
• 40:00
  Go on, Chris, hit me.
• 40:01
  Okay, first story.
• 40:02
  Okay, my first one.
• 40:03
  I'm super excited about this one.
• 40:04
  I think I'm gonna talk about this on the Fast 5 this week, too.
• 40:07
  I can't remember.
• 40:07
  I haven't fully picked my topics yet, but fresh off its delivery news last week, Walmart has announced that pizza chain Papa John's will be the first national restaurant brand available through Walmart express delivery that is filled entirely from
• 40:23
  restaurant locations outside of Walmart stores.
• 40:26
  Yeah, it's big.
• 40:27
  Look out Doordash and Instacart.
• 40:29
  That's why I picked that one, Ben.
• 40:30
  Look out Doordash and Instacart because a nice foreign exchange student just showed up at your high school.
• 40:35
  I mean, this story has moved quick, hasn't it?
• 40:38
  We've got.
• 40:38
  Oh, my God, we've gone from a LinkedIn post.
• 40:40
  The next week is Duncan and the next week of Hit with Papa John's.
• 40:44
  That's.
• 40:44
  Yeah, this is what's Next.
• 40:46
  Exactly.
• 40:47
  You know, because they're not stopping there.
• 40:48
  Yeah.
• 40:49
  All right, go on.
• 40:49
  I'm going to give you.
• 40:50
  This is.
• 40:50
  This story has intrigued me.
• 40:53
  So Aldi Sut, which is the.
• 40:55
  The more global of the two, Aldi Y has acquired a minority stake in Dali Everyday Grocery.
• 41:03
  Are you familiar with Dali Everyday Grocery?
• 41:05
  Correct.
• 41:05
  Oh, yeah, I, I shopped their entire assortment bag.
• 41:08
  They are a limited line discount chain in the Philippines.
• 41:11
  Oh, right.
• 41:12
  So this is.
• 41:13
  Yeah, this is a brand new geography for Aldi.
• 41:17
  It's also the first time that Aldi has taken a stake in a business, albeit one modelled on Aldi, but allowed all the coverage says, allowed the local team to operate it independently rather than making a full acquisition.
• 41:32
  I mean, there's a few things that fascinate me.
• 41:34
  So number one, okay, Dali has more than 31,300 stores, but he only opened his first store in 2020.
• 41:42
  What?
• 41:43
  Okay.
• 41:44
  Number two, Dali.
• 41:47
  Dali D A L I is an anagram of Aldi.
• 41:51
  Oh, wow.
• 41:52
  And number three, this local Philippine chain is actually headquartered in Zug in Switzerland.
• 41:59
  So I think there's more going on than meets the eye here.
• 42:02
  And I'm going to be watching this with great intelligence interest.
• 42:04
  That's so random on so many levels.
• 42:07
  I can't believe they have that many stores in five, six years.
• 42:09
  And especially 2020 was a pandemic to put that.
• 42:12
  That's wild, isn't it?
• 42:13
  That's just absolutely nuts.
• 42:15
  All right, my next one.
• 42:16
  I can't get off the delivery news lately, Ben.
• 42:18
  I was joking with somebody on the phone the other day.
• 42:20
  I was like, man, if I do another delivery story, but guess what?
• 42:23
  I'm going to.
• 42:24
  Okay, Skims is tapping doordash for its entry into on demand delivery.
• 42:30
  Skims, the shapewear company brought to you by Kim Kardashian is bringing its full US Retail store footprint and its undergarments and apparel to the platform.
• 42:39
  Ben.
• 42:41
  Marketplaces.
• 42:41
  Marketplaces, Marketplaces.
• 42:42
  That's all I can say, Ben.
• 42:44
  I mean, can you believe that now I can get my shapewear and my meatball hoagie all in the same.
• 42:50
  All in the same door dash order.
• 42:53
  I can double dash shapewear and hoagies.
• 42:55
  In nitty 50 as creates two items that I've never bought.
• 42:58
  Right, exactly right.
• 43:00
  50 years of life.
• 43:01
  Yeah, Well, I buy the hoagies every week, so, like.
• 43:03
  Yeah, and maybe Mrs.
• 43:04
  Omnitok is getting some shapewear this week too with that double dash order.
• 43:07
  But isn't that nuts?
• 43:08
  It is nuts.
• 43:09
  It is nuts.
• 43:10
  Right, Mutt?
• 43:11
  Though my last story comes from Gallup.
• 43:14
  A Gallup survey.
• 43:15
  A survey.
• 43:16
  Okay.
• 43:16
  Versus Galloping.
• 43:17
  Yes.
• 43:17
  Gallop survey which shows that US alcohol consumption remains, Chris, an all time low.
• 43:26
  So drinking rates are stabilizing after a multi year decline.
• 43:31
  But 54% of U.S.
• 43:34
  adults say they drink alcohol, so the levels are at their lowest point since 1939.
• 43:40
  Wow.
• 43:41
  And look, that particularly caught my eyes because in a couple of days I'm getting on a plane to the US for grocery shops.
• 43:47
  So I now feel more duty bound than ever to support the hard working colleagues in the U.S.
• 43:52
  beer, wines and spirits industry.
• 43:54
  So I will be doing my bit to help next week.
• 43:57
  Well, you did your job last night at dinner because I'd been off alcohol for three weeks.
• 44:01
  And when you got that bottle of wine, I think I ended that streak pretty, pretty, pretty well last night and feel it a little bit this morning too, my friend.
• 44:10
  But it was a good time.
• 44:11
  We had a good time at dinner last night.
• 44:12
  Very nice bottle of French red.
• 44:13
  Okay, on that note, it's time to wrap.
• 44:15
  So today's this podcast was produced, as ever, with the help and support of Ella SEO.
• 44:20
  Thank you Ella.
• 44:21
  And is brought to you exclusively as part of the Omnitalk Podcast network.
• 44:26
  Omnitalk exists to highlight the trends, technologies and innovation shaping retail and grocertalk does this specifically for the global grocery and CPG industry.
• 44:37
  Thanks as always for listening in.
• 44:39
  Please remember to leave us a review wherever you have to listen to your podcasts or on YouTube.
• 44:44
  You can follow us today by simply going to forward/omnitalkretail.
• 44:51
  So until next week, Chris, on behalf of yourself, yes, myself and everybody at Grocer Talk and Omnitalk Retail, thank you for tuning in.