Olivia Alvarez

Wegmans Expands Smart Cart Pilots with Instacart’s Caper Carts 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 • Caper Carts arrive in Syracuse: Instacart’s AI-powered smart carts are now available at Wegmans’ Dewitt store near Syracuse, NY. • Four-store pilot program: Wegmans Food Markets is piloting Smart Cart Test & Learn programs at four locations—Perinton and Pittsford in Rochester, Alberta Drive in Buffalo, and Dewitt in Syracuse—with two different technology partners. • Customer feedback-driven approach: Wegmans is limiting the rollout to evaluate whether smart cart technology fits with its unique product mix and customer needs. • Tech + tradition: Wegmans balances innovation with its hallmark customer service, using this trial to assess how digital tools can complement in-store experiences. • Instacart partnership perspective: Caper Carts aim to deliver a more personalized and faster shopping experience, according to Instacart’s Chief Connected Stores Officer, David McIntosh. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 ✅ Smart carts are gaining traction: Wegmans’ testing of Caper Carts signals growing retailer interest in AI-powered, in-store innovation. ✅ Test-and-learn mindset matters: By limiting the test to four stores, Wegmans is gathering vital customer insights before scaling further. ✅ Retailers walk a tech-service tightrope: This pilot highlights how grocers can explore technology while staying grounded in customer-centric values. ✅ Instacart deepens in-store role: Beyond delivery, Instacart is embedding itself in the physical store experience through connected hardware like Caper Carts. Progressive Grocer | https://lnkd.in/gq9Wydpi #retail #supermarkets #grocery #smartcarts #technology

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Store ops doesn’t need less chaos, it needs better orchestration. 👉 See how retailers can turn sales-floor complexity into revenue opportunity.

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National Retail Federation survival tips - for the upcoming 3 day tradeshow blitz. Though, these also likely work for most trade shows ... 1. No one cares what your shoes look like. So wear comfortable shoes that will easily and happily get you miles and miles of coverage. This is not the time to test out your new heels / pumps. Yes, I've had to go looking for band-aids and towels for bloody feet (not mine). The Javits Center is 3.3 million square feet. That is 137 Sprouts Farmers Market stores. 2. Get a battery for your phone, and turn your phone into "Low Power Mode". I prefer the Anker Innovations LTD batteries, including their PowerCore 10K. Large buildings act as Faraday cages, and your phone will spend all day telling the nearest cell tower "I'm here" - while draining your battery to zero. You'll need that phone at the end of the show day, when you are trying to get to dinner and cocktails. 3. Do not use the first coat check you find. Find your favorite vendor, flash a smile, and ask to store your coat in their booth. I tend to gravitate towards Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions or Accuvia Software Group or Washburn Computer Group or Brink’s Inc , but you may enjoy the company of someone else! Alternatively, go downstairs, where the lines are shorter. 4. The seating for lunch is atrocious. It will not ever get better, nor cheaper. Yes, you would think an entire conference full of retail tech could figure out the lines and payments better. They haven't. Don't complain. Just grab your coat and head downstairs and outside to the food trucks. They will only be there during a short window, so walk briskly. Once you've picked your food, huddle up with some brand new friends and talk shop - or no shop. 5. Any opportunity that you have to stand on raised / padded carpet, do so. Your body is unlikely prepared to be walking / standing on concrete for days straight. When you get back to your hotel, put your feet in an ice bath, to reduce the swelling, or likelihood of swelling, for 10 minutes. ... Stealing a page from David Weinand and his #NRF Survival Tips.

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Ever feel like your brand is “at retail” but not really “winning at retail”? You’ve got: ✔️ A great product ✔️ Distribution momentum ✔️ Investors pushing to scale ✔️ Retailers asking for programs ✔️ Sales teams asking for tools ✔️ And marketing stretched way too thin Most growing CPG brands don’t need a full-time VP of Shopper or Omnichannel - yet. But they do need someone who’s already solved the problems they’re facing right now: • Translating brand strategy into retailer-ready execution • Reducing over-reliance on discounting and trade spend • Building retail playbooks instead of one-off tactics • Turning retail media into a growth lever, not a cost center • Helping Sales win in-market with clear, usable tools • Creating structure without slowing momentum If you’re an emerging or growth-stage CPG founder thinking: “Marketing shouldn’t feel this hard,” let’s talk. I’m Kim Barker, and I help CPG brands launch smarter, scale faster, and win at retail - without hiring ahead of growth. https://lnkd.in/gX_dCAHV

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The Daily Dilemma: Margin or Market Share? . . . It’s the scenario every electronics Category Leader dreads. It’s Q3, TV sales are soft, and your Sales Ops teams are pushing hard for a massive weekend promo to hit their volume targets. Do you slash the price to chase market share (Volume), or hold firm to protect an already thin bottom line (Margin)? This isn't just a pricing tactic; it is the defining test of true P&L ownership. Anyone in retail can move units by selling a rupee for ninety paise. Real leadership is managing the "blend." We know that while Top Line feeds the ego, Bottom Line feeds the business. The tension between short-term pressure and long-term health is acute in tech. The temptation for the quick volume win is immense, especially with depreciating inventory. But constant discounting is a dangerous drug. You risk "training" your electronics customer to never buy at full price again, eroding brand value and crushing future profitability. The solution isn't binary; it’s strategic portfolio management. You need the low-margin "traffic drivers"—like gaming consoles or entry-level laptops—to get footfall. But a healthy P&L requires balancing those with high-margin attach items: premium cables, extended warranties, and accessories. Knowing which lever to pull, and when, is the job. Electronics leaders, how do you balance the daily pressure for immediate market share against long-term category health? #CategoryManagement #RetailStrategy #ElectronicsRetail #PnLOwnership #Leadership #consumerdurables #smartphones #India #moderntrade srikant gokhale Pradeep Bhosale Satyajeet Gandhi

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🔥 Ecommerce leaders: 70% of carts won’t convert this Q4 — not because of your product, but because shoppers get confused or stuck. Did you know... 💬 80%+ of shoppers expect an answer right away when they’re ready to buy.
 Not an email.
Not “we’ll get back to you.”
 Right now — while they’re in buying mode. This is the moment where revenue is won or lost. Game on or game over! After 25+ years helping brands grow online, here’s what I can tell you with full certainty: 🎯 Your highest-intent buyers are already on your website.
You’re just not talking to them fast enough. Ouch... I know that hurts! This Q4, I’ve been tightening up conversion strategies, & real-time support keeps coming up as one of the biggest, simplest wins. This is why I’ve been testing LiveChat powered by Text as part of my holiday prep. Not as a nice-to-have. Not as a gimmick. But because it solves the exact moment where most sales fall apart. Here’s what more ecommerce teams need to understand: 1️⃣ LiveChat shows you who’s ready to buy right now. You can actually see shoppers browsing in real time.
When someone hesitates, you can meet them in the moment. Visibility like that changes everything. CONNECTING with your customer at the moment of hesitation is a game changer! 2️⃣ Real-time answers proactively remove friction before it becomes an abandoned cart. Most shoppers aren’t leaving you…
they’re leaving their own confusion. 🫤 “Will this arrive in time?”
 “Is this the right size?”
 “Do you have this in another color?” LiveChat helps you answer on the spot so they keep moving toward checkout. 💳 3️⃣ AI handles the repetitive so your team can stay focused on revenue moments. Order status lookup ~> automated
 FAQs ~> automated
 Routing ~> automated Your humans get to be...human.
(And sane during Q4 😅) 4️⃣ Product cards in the chat shorten the buying journey. Share the product ~> they click ~> it’s in their cart.
 No extra steps. No new tabs. No distractions. 5️⃣ Setup is lightning fast. Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Squarespace…
Connect within minutes! Read this part, then read it again: 👇 👉 Confused customers don’t convert.
 Real-time conversation fixes that instantly. 💬 If Q4 is your biggest season, this is one of the easiest, highest-ROI moves you can make. Give LiveChat powered by Text a try free for 14 days — and enjoy an extra 10% off with my link: https://bit.ly/43OEd5a #LiveChatForEcommerce LiveChat Text *Partner collaboration with LiveChat

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Retailers vs. Reality: Are technology investments meeting shopper expectations? Chatmeter’s new 2025 In-Store Specialty Retail Report analyzed 500,000+ reviews across the sector. The findings reveal a gap: while retailers are modernizing, shoppers still feel their in-store experiences aren’t keeping pace. Get the full report and uncover the insights → https://lnkd.in/eMNnVFfs #Chatmeter #RetailTrends #CustomerExperience #SpecialtyRetail #RetailTech #BusinessIntelligence

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💥 Are your reviews secretly killing your conversions? Most store owners think more reviews equals more sales. Wrong. If your reviews aren’t 100% verified, recent, and strategically placed — they’re actually costing you buyers, visibility, and trust. We’ve uncovered the 𝟳 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘆 𝗲𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘆 — and 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝘅 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 (𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗱𝘀). 👉 Download the checklist 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 and see which of these mistakes your business is making right now. https://lnkd.in/dyiJQf4X #reviews #OnlineTrust #AITips #SEO #BusinessGrowth

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Sensormatic Solutions ShopperTrak Analytics shows an overall year-over-year (YoY) decline of 2.9% in March for U.S. in-store retail traffic https://buff.ly/gN1EtQU

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TARGET REPORTS 3Q25 EARNINGS, MISSES GROWTH, MODERATES FULL YEAR GUIDANCE I like to cover the retailer earnings as well because I think its important operators have a handle on which potential retail partners have momentum when they go through their decision cycle - Target is not one of them. Same store sales decreased -2.7% YoY vs wall street expectations of 2.1%, though the company did beat on earnings per share. Further, management expects earnings per share for FY25 to be $7.00, when they originally forecasted a range of $7-9.00 EPS Target also announced a partnership with OpenAI where customers can browse target[.]com within ChatGPT Target shares are down nearly 40% YTD

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While Target posted softer numbers yesterday, with sales slipping again, Walmart continues to move forward with close to $177 billion in Q3 revenue, up around 4–5% year on year. What strikes me isn’t just the scale — it’s how they’re quietly transforming themselves. What I see, both from experience and from the numbers, is that there’s no inevitability in retail. Being a big-box retailer isn’t a handicap… provided you reinvent yourself. Walmart has done exactly that: turning into a true omni-channel player, investing heavily in e-commerce, building an advertising business that’s growing fast, and using its stores as an operational backbone for online fulfilment. Consumers today shop in many different ways, sometimes online, sometimes in-store, sometimes both at the same time. They’re hybrid, and they expect brands to be hybrid too. This is where winners are emerging. Retailers who embrace a multi-touchpoint approach, who make it easy to browse, test, click, collect, return, or get delivered — whenever and however the customer wants — are the ones who stay relevant. Walmart isn’t just surviving; it’s reinventing the rulebook. And from a manufacturer or supplier perspective, the shift is just as important. The future will belong to companies that can manage a true multi-channel strategy, balancing direct sales, indirect sales through partners, and online sales. But for me, it goes further than that: successful channel management must be tied to clear product differentiation, with specific products, configurations or even brands dedicated to each channel. When product strategy and channel strategy are aligned, pricing makes sense, conflicts are avoided, and value is protected. This coherence will define the winners of tomorrow. I’ve always had a positive experience working with Walmart as a key partner in the past, and their evolution doesn’t surprise me. They’ve understood something essential: the store of tomorrow isn’t a place, it’s an ecosystem.

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Target just lost its beauty edge. Ulta just leveled up. When Ulta Beauty partnered with Target in 2021, the timing was perfect. Target was a retail darling — a loyal customer base, a clear values-led brand, and a reputation that made shoppers choose it over other mass retailers. Ulta brought prestige beauty into the mix. Target brought cultural credibility. But that credibility didn’t last. In 2024, Target quietly walked back its DEI commitments — pulling inclusive products, scaling back internal teams, and softening its public stance. The backlash was immediate. Brand trust cratered. Loyal customers felt betrayed. And despite public backpedaling, Target hasn’t recovered. Ulta, meanwhile, has only gone from strength to strength: 💄 Record Q1 sales ($2.8B, up 4.5%) 🌍 International expansion through Space NK 🤝 New category and cultural partnerships (K-Beauty World) 📈 A prestige-meets-accessibility strategy that hasn’t wavered from its values The difference is telling: Ulta exits with stronger brand equity, a bigger audience, and global momentum. Target loses its prestige differentiator — and the partner that gave it. Let’s be clear — this decision not to renew wasn’t mutual. Ulta no longer needs Target’s reach. And it certainly doesn’t need the reputational baggage. Leadership lesson? Target rented prestige. Ulta built it. When the partnership ends next August, only one brand walks away stronger. Because you can recover from a sales slump — but from a values slump? That’s a different game entirely.

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Why do customers leave their cart without buying? We explain why it happens and how automation changes the game. 👉 Watch till the end to see the solution for your store.

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Burlington Stores, Inc.'s CEO, Michael O'Sullivan, said they want to "aggressively chase sales" in 2026. After a year of intentionally pulling back. Burlington spent most of 2025 protecting margins from tariff pressure. They cut back on home categories, left sales on the table, and chose earnings over top line growth. It worked. 21% EPS growth in Q4. 11% total sales growth. Beat on every metric that mattered. Now they're done playing defense. 104 net new stores opened last year. 110 more coming in 2026. Comparable inventory up 12% heading into Q1. A new distribution center coming online in Savannah. They're not just growing. They're building the infrastructure to move more product, faster. For CPG brands sitting on excess inventory: Burlington said on the earnings call that assortment gaps in home and gifting categories hurt them last holiday season. They know where the holes are. They're actively filling them. The open-to-buy is real. The question is whether your brand is positioned to take advantage of it. That's the work we're doing at Common Shelf.

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A 21% increase in eCommerce sales at Weis Markets during FY2025. Fantastic achievement on the demand side, but can the operational cost of fulfilling that rate of growth start to become a drag on the P&L? It’s at this point that the question shifts from “how do we grow?” to “how do we make this sustainable?”

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🏃🏽‍♀️‍➡️ 🏃🏽‍♂️‍➡️ Go Where Your Consumer Lives: A Gen Z Playbook From Ulta Beauty Ulta Beauty’s 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗨𝗽 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿 is a smart case study. Partnering with 𝗛𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘀, Ulta took back-to-school essentials 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗶𝘅 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘀, turning everyday student spaces into hands-on brand experiences. Think: a custom Ulta truck, freebies and treats, interactive photo moments, surprise influencer drops, and on-the-spot 𝗥𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 sign-ups with 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗸𝘀 (10% off, BOGOs) and even a sweepstakes entry for Ulta Beauty World 2026. They also curated pop-ups with Gen Z–resonant names—𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘆, 𝗦𝗻𝗶𝗳, 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗚𝗶𝗿𝗹 𝗦𝘂𝗻𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻, 𝗔𝗻𝘂𝗮, 𝗜𝘀𝗺𝗶𝗮, 𝗗𝗜𝗚𝗜 𝗕𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝘆—showcasing assortment depth while letting students discover new favorites in real time. 💪🏽 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 If Gen Z is your target, 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱—𝗱𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀, 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘀, 𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘀, 𝗴𝘆𝗺𝘀—and pair memorable micro-experiences with low-friction ways to join your ecosystem. Attention is scarce; presence + convenience win. 💪🏽 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Loyalty grows faster when you go to the consumer and keep your brand consistently in front of them—with the right partners, offers, and reasons to come back https://lnkd.in/g_ZbdAs7 Olivia Condell #GenZMarketing #CollegeMarketing #ExperientialMarketing #RetailMarketing #BeautyIndustry #ConsumerEngagement #LoyaltyMarketing #PopUpExperience

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