AWS for Industries

6 takeaways from GroceryShop 2023

Last week at GroceryShop, Scott Langdoc, Justin Honaman and I enjoyed seeing various members of the Grocery ecosystem (brands, retailers, solution providers and all of us as shoppers and consumers) come together to learn from each other.

This week, reading everyone’s take on GroceryShop has proven to be as insightful as attending GroceryShop itself.

Adding to the conversation, here are some observations and opinions:

  1. The consumer remains at the center of the grocery ecosystem, and brands, retailers and providers are coming together in new ways in service of consumers. Collaboration and co-opetition are being thought of less as a redistribution of value (that is, the pie is sliced differently), and more as a way to unlock new consumer demand/activate new need-states (that is, the pie is growing). Thanks John S. Phillips for sharing how his team at PepsiCo is collaborating with retailers and the Consumer Brands Association and GS1 on SmartLabels.
  2. Winners will need to stand out in a “sea of sameness” and debunk the notion of “grocery is grocery”. We heard about how hard it is to find the right combination of “ingredients” across customer engagement, associate enablement and operations excellence to drive a truly differentiated and memorable brand experience. One interesting example is Lowes Foods experience-driven retail approach and how they “audition” associates for in-store positions. To add complexity, what works for one customer does work for another, and there is an endless list of ingredients to choose from.
  3. When you look at these ingredients, what was new is now old in that investments such as social media marketing, self-checkout capabilities, various fulfillment options are now table stakes. To stand out, some are going “back to the basics” and what was old is new again through investments such as radio ads and long-form podcasts for discovery (Ritual, a digitally native brand at that), and credit cards and cash back for loyalty (Walmart).
  4. At the same time, brands and retailers continue to explore technology to enable new in-store and online experiences. It remains difficult to build the business case for technology investments. While the industry universally recognizes that an omnichannel shopper is more valuable, getting budgets, prioritizing use cases and selecting partners has proven to be less straight-forward. Carefully selected KPIs to quantify the impact of technology solutions can help (for example, visit frequency, basket profitability, offer conversion, labor cost reduction, profit-per-square-foot).
  5. When it comes to technology, generative artificial intelligence (AI) is just one of the items we need in our shopping basket. It shouldn’t be an “automatic add to cart” if not “bundled” with well-established AI/machine learning (ML) innovations that embed intelligence (for example, predictive insight and automated analysis-to-action) into all functions within an organization. Once bundled, these technologies can be used to accelerate value (at a pace we have never seen before) across virtually all functions of a company—whether that’s category management, supplier collaboration, customer personalization, or basic customer support.
  6. The only thing that is certain is that the future is uncertain—consumer preferences and expectations will change. Brands + retailers + providers have to “build to adapt, compared to build to last” (thanks Deepak Jose for sharing the example of the Honduran bridge). Having an agile mindset needs to permeate all aspects of strategy and operations. It affects how we think about data foundations, composable tech., qualities we look for in hiring, and much more.

Additional topics of discussion at GroceryShop were: Loss Prevention/Shrinkage, Retail Media, Loyalty, Unified Commerce, Omnichannel Fulfillment, Seamless/Frictionless Store Experiences, Robotics and Automation.

These topics were on the agenda for virtually all grocery players. The Retail + CPG team at Amazon Web Services (AWS) are actively curating solutions to address each topic in a way that helps our customers on both sides of the table (brands and retailers) profitably grow. Rather than continue, I’ll share two perspectives about AWS solutions for grocery:

  1. How the grocery industry can innovate and transform with AWS, by Scott Langdoc
  2. Generative AI – the catalyst for revolutionizing physical retail, by Justin M. Swagler

Finally, while in Vegas, I stumbled upon the site for the latest Hudson store powered by Just Walk Out technology at the Las Vegas (LAS) airport. Can’t wait to grab some snacks and beverages from my favorite brands as I pass by the store next spring on my way to Shoptalk.

Image of new Hudson store under construction at LAS airportImage of new Hudson store under construction at LAS airport

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Aparna Galiasso

Aparna Galiasso

Aparna Galiasso leads CPG Go-to-Market Strategy & Solutions for North America at AWS. She spends a majority of her time with CPG customers, both learning from and sharing with them to build and scale CPG solutions. With close to 15 years serving CPG customers as a strategic advisor at Monitor Deloitte, she has deep experience in helping customers drive benefits across the entire value chain; ranging from driving plant – level productivity improvements to designing new ways to help clients innovate at the edge of their current businesses and entrenched capabilities. She is particularly passionate about helping CPGs activate new capabilities within the Commercial, Technology and HR functions and help them prepare to win in an uncertain and volatile tomorrow.