Not Your Momma’s Market: The Grocery Store Embraces Technology
Like all other MULO (multi-location) industries, grocers or more correctly the grocery store sector is amplifying its use of technology to aid the shopping experience, increase consumer preference, and streamline buying and inventory management.
Swiftly, a leading integrated retail technology platform trusted by grocers like Target, IGA, and Save Mart, recently announced a major expansion of their leadership team with the appointment of Keith Kirk as CFO and Anthony Viglietti as COO.
Kirk joins Swiftly from Instacart, where he served as vice president of finance. Viglietti most recently held the role of President at TheSkimm. We reached out to Swiftly to find out more about their views for the future of the grocery industry.
Why is technology so important in the MULO (multi-location) grocery world?
Vigliettia responded:
“The key thing to understand is that multi-location, multi-SKU, multi-customer businesses tend to generate quantums of data that are almost impossible for a person to assess and manipulate themselves.
To find the best product to offer a customer in a simple marketing outreach creates a very high number of possibilities. If the average customer spends $131 on 33 items, and a grocery chain has 180 stores, and 30,000 customers per store per week, then over a week you’ve created 178M transaction records and over a year, just under 10B transaction records, being able to measure and discern which products to send to which customers at which time, so as to be effective has only really been made possible by technology. Swiftly is at the forefront of helping retailers capture that information on customers and using it to helpfully put the right content in front of the right customers at the right time, so as to be effective in changing behavior and increasing the number of trips a customer makes to a store and the amount they spend when there.”
We asked Viglietta, “How can tech differentiate one grocery brand from another?”
“Tech can help amplify the marketing program of any retailer – regardless of what the actual program is. If one grocer is trying to stand for freshness and the quality of their produce, and that’s the message they want customers to have, then tech can amplify that message in both frequency, depth and relevance to an optimized audience of customers where the message will most strongly resonate and drive the best response in terms of engagement with the retailer.”
Who do you think is doing a great job of tech-powered grocery marketing and shopping? Why?
Says Kirk:
“Swiftly. That’s why I joined. We understand grocers’ need to develop a digital storefront to match their physical store and just like in the physical world we are experts at what layout, flow, hot spots, and engagement strategies have the best impact, whether in an app, website, loyalty platform or e-commerce tool. But grocers also know that having the best store in the world is irrelevant if you don’t have any visitors to the store, so we have developed a suite of solutions with our Audience OptimizerTM product to bring visitors to the digital store front, boosting the number of regular users of the apps and websites. Our personalization engine is able to target specific customers with relevant personalized content that will prompt greater numbers of customers to come to the store in response to what they’ve been shown digitally. 90% of all purchases still happen in-store so the more you can influence those purchases using digital solutions the better, whether you are a retailer or a brand.”
How can CPG and grocery brands collaborate to use tech to boost traffic and revenue?
Kirk replied:
“There has been a symbiotic relationship between CPG brands and grocery brands for many years. CPG brands typically create new category opportunities through New Product and Occasion Development, which are often at a premium to the category average, and grocery brands typically help provide those solutions at a lower price point after time, once customers have demonstrated a demand for them within the category. They play complementary roles to one another as long as they are in balance. Both should be using digital tech to identify customers that have a propensity and desire to buy their products.”
What will the grocery store of the future look like, according to Kirk?
“Fewer checkouts and less friction, but not too dissimilar to today. However, your digital experience while walking the aisles will be materially different with all sorts of augmentation and helpful prompts occurring to help you engage in your shopping pursuit.”
For more about how AI and technology is changing the MULO ecosystem, including groceries, convenience stores, retailers, restaurants, and service businesses, please join us in September at Street Fight LIVE 2025!
