🚀 What a week at Groceryshop! It was a reminder of how incredible the people in
By Lauren Livak Gilbert · September 25, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
🚀 What a week at Groceryshop! It was a reminder of how incredible the people in this industry are and how much this space is constantly changing.
My favorite part of the week was, the people! 🩷 From my tactical learning session with Ashley Paige Becker, to great dinners with Ben Galvin, Jennifer Buckert, Ethan Stein, Viviana Muci, Gregor Murray, Declan Kearney, Arthur Sylvestre, Ryan Close, incredible events with Amanda Wolff, podcast recordings with Todd Hassenfelt, Matt Van Gilder and Andrea K. Leigh to some great conversations with Eric Heller, Julie Clifford, Karen Fang Grant and many more...it was a fantastic week!
Some of my big themes (more to come in a full write up):
🤖 AI is still the copilot, not the driver. DoorDash, Instacart, Kroger, Albert Heijn's Stein, every serious agent this week kept the human as the one who says yes. AI builds the basket faster and is a partner to consumers.
👉 Getting found by AI is still top of mind, but getting chosen is still the whole game. AI referral traffic is up 376% since last January, and fewer and fewer products are being surfaced to brands.
🍪 Value quietly stopped meaning "cheap" and is the main focus for consumers. Sam's Club, Dollar General, Hormel, all landed on the same idea from different angles: time saved, trust earned, and feeling understood now do more work than price.
🌟 Why do people love my brand? Is the question that should be asked. The brands and products everyone loves focus on feeling and brand building.
📣 AI amplifies the good and the bad. Every real success story this week paired serious tech investment with something worth amplifying in the first place. The brands without that "something" aren't getting a pass from AI.
Now back to the east coast but very soon to be across the pond in London for Digital Shelf Summit Europe!