By: Doug Baker, Vice President, Industry Relations - Private Brands, Technology, Food Marketing Institute
According to FMI’s 2019 U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends report, 43% of shoppers now report buying groceries online at least once in the past year. With this in mind, food retailers need to understand how the physical store changes will set them up for omnichannel opportunities and how technologies will help them deliver on integrated experiences. That’s why FMI will be hosting sessions and participating at the second annual Groceryshop conference, September 15-18, 2019 at the Venetian in Las Vegas. The event brings together 3,000 leaders from established and startup CPG brands, grocery retailers, investors and more to educate and prepare them for these changes.
On the first day of Groceryshop, attendees will hear about the number of ways physical grocery stores are changing within a session track dedicated to the Future of the Store. In the opening session on New Store Formats and Footprints, forward-thinking companies will discuss how they're trialing new store locations, testing new store concepts and layouts, and broadening store experiences to engage shoppers. Perspectives on future store formats will be shared by Jean-Marie Tritant, president of the U.S. for Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, a leading shopping center owner based in France. He’ll discuss how U.S. malls—like their European counterparts—are increasingly bringing in grocery retailers as tenants.
During the Experiential Stores session, leaders from innovative consumer-facing startups and established grocery chains will dive into how grocery retailers are creating new physical environments that allow shoppers to experience their products in more immersive and memorable ways. Mike LaVitola, co-founder & CEO of Foxtrot Delivery Market, will share his modern-day convenience store that combines in-store events and coffee-shop vibe with grab-and-go essentials for time-crunched shoppers. Chris Potestio, vice president at Stew Leonard's, will showcase how the family-owned grocery retailer that’s renowned for its interactive stores, designs its locations to delight both parents and kids.
Finally, leading grocery retailers and manufacturer brands will share best practices for deploying emerging technology solutions that are helping improve the in-store customer experience. The Technology-Enabled Store session will cover groundbreaking technologies that are making the store smarter, more interactive and more efficient, from revolutionary monitoring techniques for inventory and foot traffic, to self-checkout solutions and digital signage. This session will feature Bruno Mourão, head of IT strategy & architecture at Sonae, who will discuss how the leading Portugal-based retailer is incorporating technology into its stores.
Those interested in learning even more about the transformation of physical stores should be sure to attend a joint keynote on Sunday afternoon featuring Amy Shecter, CEO of Glamsquad and Sri Rajagopalan, senior vice president, eCommerce & digital sales at Revlon. This wide-ranging conversation on the future of beauty sales will feature insights from Glamsquad on its services-oriented partnership that’s live in CVS stores, BeautyIRL.
Attend Groceryshop
Photo Credit: SpartanNash
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