1. Technology & Innovation

The Innovation Conversation:  Tech That Will/Can/Should Change Retail

Written by Posted on Less than 0 min read

At next month’s National Grocers Association (NGA) show in Las Vegas, Tom Furphy and Kevin Coupe, along with Michael Sansolo, will be facilitating various sessions that are part of the Technology Innovation track that kicks off the event on Sunday, February 1, from 10 am to 12 noon.  To preview some of the conversations that will take place, Tom and KC engaged in a conversation with Thom Blischok – who will be facilitating his own session on “The Future of Independent Grocery” – to answer a not-so-simple question:

What are three technology innovations that will/can/should change retail in 2026? 

We hope you enjoy.

If you’d like to listen to this Conversation as an audio podcast, click and download below.

Note:  The continuing goal of “The Innovation Conversation” is to explore various facets of the fast-changing, technology-driven retail landscape and how they affect businesses and consumers. It is territory that Tom Furphy – a former Amazon executive who led the team that developed Amazon Fresh, and currently CEO and Managing Director of Consumer Equity Partners (CEP), a venture capital and venture development firm in Seattle, WA, that works with many top retailers, manufacturers, and technology companies – is uniquely positioned to address.

You can reach Tom Furphy at [email protected].

The post The Innovation Conversation:  Tech That Will/Can/Should Change Retail appeared first on MNB.

View Original Article
Post Views: 32
Member since
For more than 30 years, Kevin Coupe has been bringing to readers and audiences a wealth of experience, sharp storytelling skills, provocative and contextual insights, unique worldview and serious levity about the world of business and consumers. https://morningnewsbeat.com
Do you like MorningNewsBeat's articles? Follow on social!

More from MorningNewsBeat

  1. Trends & External Forces

FaceTime with the Content Guy: For Food Biz, Is Ozempic Scarier Than Tariffs?

A retailer told me the other day, “People ask me all the time if I am worried about tariffs.  I’m actually a lot more worried about Ozempic.” I’m here to tell you that this isn’t hyperbole – I know exactly the degree to which taking a GLP-1 drug can affect what you eat, and therefore […]
< 1 min read
0
  1. Trends & External Forces

Your Views:  “If You Aren’t Learning, You’re Dying”

Michael Sansolo wrote a column this week about the awful Colorado Rockies, a baseball team that refuses to invest in the kind of technology and analytics that help other teams succeed.  Michael used that as a metaphor for what every business needs to do, and MNB reader James Kines, Jr responded: Always enjoy a great sports analogy.  […]
3 min read
0
  1. Data & Insights

Your Views:  AI Data, Loyalty, & A Cup More Than Half Empty

We had a story the other day about a new law being proposed in Congress – with, apparently, bipartisan support – that would require companies to report AI-related job losses. I commented: I don’t get a vote, but you can mark me down as an enthusiastic supporter of this legislation.  Not just because I believe […]
6 min read
0
  1. Technology & Innovation

Your Views:  “Accepted Differentiation” 

On the subject of Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s internal (though not for very long) memo warning that a lot of corporate jobs will be lost to AI, MNB reader Jesse Sowell wrote: I often find myself in disagreement with executive leadership in general, and with Andrew Jassy of Amazon in particular. (I find they tend […]
5 min read
0
  1. Department: Food

Your Views:  Hard Choices

MNB reader Theresa M Zaske had some thoughts about the potential end of SNAP benefits because of the federal government shutdown: I have a nephew with severe disabilities who relies on SNAP. He lives two time zones away from me. My sister and I are figuring out how to help him. That means my sister […]
7 min read
0
  1. Shopper & Customer

FaceTime with the Content Guy:  Customer Service Perception & Reality

Got a lesson in great customer service the other day, from an unexpected source … and with a rather chastening lesson. The post FaceTime with the Content Guy:  Customer Service Perception & Reality appeared first on MNB. View Original Article Marketing: Social Media Shoppers Post Views: 31 MorningNewsBeat Member since October 25, 2020 Loading + […]
< 1 min read
0
  1. Channel: Ecommerce & Digital

Amazon Looks To Open New Big-Box Format Store

From The Information: “Amazon has started laying the groundwork to open a big-box retail store in the Chicago suburbs, according to planning documents. That marks a return to similar plans for a Target-like store that Amazon shelved a few years ago. In recent weeks, Amazon has sought approval from the village of Orland Park, Ill., […]
2 min read
0
  1. Retailer Media

The Innovation Conversation: Assessing The Retail Media Network Ecosystem

There were three major conferences in recent weeks that all focused on the burgeoning retail media network universe, featuring technology vendors creating the networks, manufacturers looking to access them for advertising purposes, and retailers looking to use them to communicate with shoppers and create ancillary revenue streams.  Tom Furphy and KC look at common themes, […]
< 1 min read
0
  1. Agencies & Vendors

Welcoming Back JOH, A Returning MNB Charter Sponsor

A Note From The Content Guy… I love it when companies believe in MNB’s value proposition – to provoke original thinking, innovation, and strategic investments in the future, and to do so while creating sustaining relationships with readers who make up our community.  It is even better when companies decide they want to sponsor MNB […]
2 min read
0
  1. Channel: Grocery

Has Wegmans Lost A Step?

In Rochester, New York, WHEC-TV News has a story suggesting that “Wegmans shoppers may be seeing a drop in satisfaction, according to an annual report from the American Customer Satisfaction Index. “The index measures customer satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 100. Wegmans got a score of 78 — a 6% drop from the […]
3 min read
0
  1. International

FaceTime with the Content Guy:  My Bags Are Packed, I’m Ready To Go

I was heading home to the east coast from Southern California – booked on a flight that would take me to Newark International Airport.  (Perhaps you’ve heard about the epic technology and personnel meltdowns that have, shall we say, diminished that facility’s ability to operate?)  It wasn’t looking good, but then I was reminded how […]
< 1 min read
0
  1. Trends & External Forces

Truth & Consequences:  Tariffs, Retailers, & Your Views

There continues to be reaction to President Trump’s insistence that Walmart should not raise its prices to compensate for the costs of tariffs and that instead should simply eat the extra costs because it made so much money last year. Here’s what was said: I commented on this story yesterday, writing, in part: Have I […]
5 min read
0
  1. Technology & Innovation

OffBeat:  “Fast Is Smooth, Smooth Is Fast”

“F1,” just out in theaters, is every bit the slick, fast-paced, finely tuned entertainment vehicle as the race cars that form the center of its story. The plot is simple, and in its own way, classically structured.  Aging race car driver, long off the circuit, gets a chance at redemption.  He faces obstacles in the […]
< 1 min read
0
  1. Trends & External Forces

Football As A Metaphor For Private Label

Once again, Sportico is out with its annual list of the Top 100 Most-Watched TV Broadcasts of the past year. And once again, the National Football League “accounted for 83 of the most-watched transmissions in 2025.” It was the NFLK’s second-best performance ever;  two years ago, it accounted for 93 of the most-watched broadcasts. Of […]
< 1 min read
0
  1. Media & Marketing

FaceTime with the Content Guy:  Hope As A Variant of Known Significance

I spent the weekend in San Francisco, where I was privileged to serve as emcee for  City of Hope’s 45th Annual Festival Ball, hosted by the Northern California Food Industries Council.  I had the opportunity to hang with a number of MNB readers, which always is great fun, but the best part of the evening […]
< 1 min read
0
  1. Trends & External Forces

FaceTime with the Content Guy:  From WAFC, “The Case For GSAs”

The programming highlight of Tuesday’s Western Association of Food Chains (WAFC) annual convention again was a Capstone presentation by recent graduates of USC’s Marshall School of Business’s Food Industry Management Program, focusing on the case for Grocery Savings Accounts (GSAs) in the mold of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).  I thought their arguments were compelling, I’ve […]
< 1 min read
0
  1. Department: Food

What Really Matters:  A Missive

This is one of the best emails I’ve ever gotten, in the sense that it illustrates how a single person in a retail business can make an enormous difference.  It comes from MNB reader Stacy McCoy: I was not an early adopter of having groceries delivered to my house. During the height of Covid in […]
3 min read
0
Next