2022 INNOVATION OUTLOOK
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Grocery Gets a Tech Upgrade Eight action areas on every grocer’s ahead-of-what’s-next agenda. By Progressive Grocer Staff
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ention the word “innovation” in grocery, and the first thought that comes to mind is technology. There isn’t an aspect of food retailing that hasn’t been touched by technology, from how products are grown, harvested, transported, packaged, merchandised and marketed, to how stores operate, are integrated digitally and leverage data to optimize decision-making. Progressive Grocer’s annual Innovation Outlook offers a practical look at the pervasive impact of technology as well as overarching consumer trends. “Practical” is the key word. By design, this isn’t an exercise in futurism to look at how grocers will operate in the metaverse — whatever that is — or to predict when digital currencies displace dollars and autonomous vehicles and robotics rule the retail landscape. While each of these things have long-term implications, PG took a more constructive, near-term approach in developing our Innovation Outlook. We focused on what’s in front of the industry right now, as in 2022. We isolated eight broad areas where innovation is occurring on multiple dimensions. These
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are areas where, over the course of 2021, we witnessed profound change and expect more change in the coming year. The grocery industry is transforming in profound ways in the following areas: Artificial Intelligence: Retail is a data-driven industry and grows more so every day. However, as data sets grow larger and legacy systems obstruct the execution of strategies, a key determinant of success in 2022 will be the ability to unify data sources and apply AI to make optimal decisions. Ethical Eating: Americans have embraced this concept in a big way. Whether it’s the consumption of plant-based products, humanely raised conventional proteins or fair-trade certified goods, a fundamental shift in shopper behavior is intensifying. Retailers and brands will need to appeal to shoppers in new, authentic ways, backed by transparency, to drive shopper trust.
