TECH TALK
By Randy Hofbauer
Think Like a Tech Company DOING SO COULD BE WHAT TRULY MAKES GROCERY RE TAIL A HOT SECTOR FOR RECENT COLLEGE GR ADUATES IN STEM FIELDS
t was just more than a year ago when, while attending an industry event, I overheard someone make the case that product and service providers today are thinking of themselves less as providers of goods and services and more as technology companies. And while my initial reaction was slight confusion, it’s amazing what a year can do to bring clarity to such a statement. I look at what I use in my everyday life. Uber for ridesharing. Warby Parker for eyeglasses. Blue Apron (on and off, admittedly) for meal kits. This month, I even signed up as both a member of Dollar Shave Club for male grooming goods and a subscriber to Quip for an electric toothbrush and accessories. And while the grocery channel often has been nearly or dead last in adapting to a changing market and adopting innovations, this past year has seen come to fruition what I heard that man suggest a year ago: Grocers are now learning how to become technology companies. Moreover, they’re embracing the opportunity to help put their respective hometowns on the map as the next potential Silicon Valley. Sure, plenty of food retailers have made important hires, expanded ecommerce partnerships and more to improve their omnichannel operations, but several have gone so far as to invest millions in laboratories, digital headquarters and even incubators to really drive technological innovation. Some examples include:
Texas grocer H-E-B, which is opening a facility in East Austin next spring that will be dedicated to innovation and grocery technology. The recently renovated industrial warehouse will become a “creative and collaborative workspace” for Austin-based associates on the San Antonio-based grocer’s digital team, as well as the headquarters for its Favor delivery division. 98
progressivegrocer.com
International grocery company Ahold Delhaize, which is working to increase its focus on the development of artificial intelligence technology by joining with the Innovation Center for Artificial Intelligence, in Amsterdam, to open its first laboratory. Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., whose Kroger Technology division is furthering its technological prowess by building an innovation lab within the University of Cincinnati’s 1819 Innovation Hub. Housed within the Uptown Innovation Corridor, the 1819 Innovation Hub serves as a “beacon of community innovation and impact in partnership with higher education,” and is claimed to be the region’s newest destination for “thinking, making, doing, discovery and delivery.” Kroger also has revealed plans to open a new headquarters in downtown Cincinnati for its digital team, for which it aims to grow headcount from 600 to more than 1,000 over the next three years. Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons Cos., which has partnered with venture capital firm Greycroft to launch an incubator to help grow emerging companies and technologies in the grocery sector. Intended to eventually have $50 million in funds, the incubator will benefit from Greycroft’s investment expertise and connections in the early-stage technology industry and Albertsons’ grocery expertise and coast-to-coast footprint. Several business news outlets are claiming places like Austin, Boise and Cincinnati to be the next big tech hubs, boasting startup-friendly cultures with lower costs of living than the Bay Area or New York, low unemployment rates, and a growing number of amenities. For new college graduates in STEM fields, this not only makes these metropolitan areas hot, but also can do the same for careers in grocery retail. So the question is, then, what are you, as a grocer, doing, regardless of your size or even the size of the initiative, to think a little more like a technology company? If you think about it, that could be what truly makes both your hometown and a career in grocery retail hot commodities for recent graduates.