Winning with Technology

Grocery Shop: the tech is new; the organizational change process isn’t Last year, we attended the inaugural Grocery Shop, a conference put on by ShopTalk to focus on the disruptions, technologies, and new business models in the CPG and retail grocery industries. It was everything we hoped for: great insights into a world of emerging technologies and strategies that represent

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For 40 years, Doug Tinney had built Alliance Sales and Marketing through relationships with suppliers and hundreds of retailers in his area around Birmingham, Alabama. He had added some technology along the way, but he was old-school, handling things with a mix of paper and early generation software that had long served both his business and his customers. When he

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These Beliefs Persist, Despite the Data:  Out-of-Stocks Aren’t a Problem Today  For some reason, brands think that out-of-stocks are a problem of the past. Maybe they trust inventory control tech to make sure it never happens. Whatever the reason, out-of-stocks are even a bigger risk in the omnichannel world. With online purchasing, click-and-collect, and delivery companies like Instacart and Shipt, competing with traditional in-store shoppers, there are

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The Yin and Yang between CPG Field Sales and Digital Marketing  Social media has engulfed itself in every aspect of our lives, from finding the newest restaurant to buying organically sourced toothpaste. More and more CPG brands are tapping into social media and sharing content that resonates with today’s young consumers, from their core values to natural ingredients. All this

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How The Gig Economy Can Solve Retail Grocer’s Workforce Worries A study by Intuit predicts that by the year 2020, 40% of American workers will be a part of the gig economy, or in other words: “a freelancer”. What’s the force driving the push to become a part of the gig workforce? The biggest reason is the digital age —

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What If The Grocery Store Was Part Of Your Workout Regimen? Not everyone loves going to the gym or sticking to their diet but most everyone want’s to live a somewhat healthy lifestyle creating an amazing opportunity for retail grocers. What if grocers could use heart monitor carts, ocular scans, and AI health profiles to help shoppers obtain that healthy

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The Strategic Approach to Creating  Competitive Price Zones Expanding into a new market is a formidable challenge for any retailer. It requires a thoroughly planned-out strategy beginning with understanding your new customer demographics, market shift trends, and the competitive landscape. And success in one city or neighborhood doesn’t necessarily promise success in another one with a different customer base. In

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Young CPG Salesforce? Try These 4 Unconventional Forms of Motivation If you’ve got a young CPG salesforce, trying to use old methods of motivating them is about as effective as looking for the gas tank on a Tesla. This generation is wired differently. Not completely differently, of course, we’re all human, but different enough that you have to learn different

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The Retailers Next Big B2B Partnership Made Possible by Data Sharing  Grocery retailers have gotten involved in some pretty awesome partnerships. Like having bank offices, hair salons, or opticians right in the store. This makes life easier for customers and makes the grocery store more and more central to customers’ lives. Obviously, the more parts of life customers conduct at

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With a New Makeover Hard Discount Grocery Stores Are Ready to Disrupt the US Market Customer experience is key. Hard discounters—like German retailers Aldi and Lidl—are famous for less than-stellar customer experience: dark stores with few employees, questionable looking products still in packages. The whole shopping experience has been sort of dingy and sad. Not anymore. These two stores, in

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