At Groceryshop, grocery leaders moved AI and “value” conversations from theory to early results

The useful part

As it turns out, the biggest topics on grocery's mind are the same ones—AI and the concept of "value"—as last year. As retailers have executed more consumer-facing applications for AI, discussions became more results-driven than theoretical, while many grocers shared a more nuanced approach to the idea of value than in years past. Since the assistant's launch, the company has seen 50% higher basket sizes for shoppers who use Ask DoorDash compared to those who don't, while also checking out five times faster, he said.

How it works

• "I think the industry will probably end up working with [Anthropic, Gemini, and OpenAI], but I also think that it's up to us and everybody here to make sure that the absolute best agentic experiences are on...
• "And to do that, we need to make sure that we're obtaining our valuable data and we're putting that data to work." DoorDash Co-Founder Andy Fang also took the stage to discuss the delivery platform's new AI...
• Glaser said the company will "probably be in this test phase until this format starts to grow and get governed by some of the other retail media network principles." "It's too soon to say it's going to...
• A wide-ranging approach to value Seemingly anyone who talked about the concept of "value" at the show was quick to mention that the term's definition goes beyond price, an evolution of last year's...
• They're also buying 60% more unique SKUs compared to non-AI shoppers, as the bot offers suggestions for meal planning and related products like plates or utensils a consumer might forget to add to cart...

What to take from it

"Every week can look different for every type of consumer." Copy About the author Erin Cabrey Erin covers beauty, grocery/food & beverage, and the wider CPG industry. Kroger, too, recently launched the latest version of its AI shopping assistant in July, which Chief Digital Officer Yael Cosset noted has helped narrow the gap between consumers' inspiration and basket building with Kroger. Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.

Example or evidence

• Rogers emphasized the importance of grocers building these assistants.
• Price is now "table stakes," Hy-Vee CEO Jeremy Gosch noted, and service (which he defined as "whatever the customer needs, whenever they want it, wherever they want it") and quality need to be held to the...
• As the concept of value has become more multifaceted, Thacher said she believes retailers and brands must stop considering "value-conscious" consumers as a specific demographic.
• "We're all looking for value, whether that's in price or whether that's in convenience, time, and making your life a little bit easier," she said.

Details worth keeping

They weren't necessarily retreading old ground: Mike Glaser, VP of commerce media at PepsiCo, said the CPG giant has found 1 in 3 US grocery shoppers are turning to AI in their shopping, but consumers' growing use of LLMs doesn't mean PepsiCo is particularly bullish about the opportunities for retail media in that space. Rogers noted Instacart is pushing its grocery partners to invest in price, sharing that retailers on Instacart without marked up prices are growing 10 percentage points faster than their counterparts—and they're retaining those customers.

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