Welcome coffee & networking.

AI is rapidly moving from experimentation to enterprise-wide impact, creating new opportunities to improve customer experience, unlock productivity, and reshape how consumer and retail businesses operate. This session will help executives cut through the hype, understand the risks and realities of today’s AI landscape, and identify practical ways to turn emerging capabilities into measurable business value.

Retailers are pouring money into AI, but much of that investment is invisible—or irrelevant—to actual shoppers. This session digs into the gap between where grocery tech budgets are going (from personalization engines to in‑store “wow” tech) and what truly drives consumer behavior, like switching grocers or channels. RETHINK Retail will walk through fresh data on consumer expectations in grocery, highlight where AI-led initiatives have failed to move the needle, and showcase the plays that do change loyalty and basket size. The presentation will cover a simple framework for evaluating AI projects through a consumer-impact lens, case examples from grocery and adjacent retail, and practical questions CIOs/CTOs can use to pressure-test their current roadmap.

Beth Brickel will unveil exclusive data from the latest annual benchmark study, focusing on how Canadian grocers are balancing automation with the "human element".

This practical, experience-led discussion explores how grocers align strategy with market changes while accelerating automation, systems integration, and customer-experience improvements. Looking through a distinct Canadian lens, industry experts separate proven tactics from experimental hype to focus strictly on where investments deliver measurable value. Attendees will walk away with a clear decision framework for automation alongside real-world examples of how connecting existing platforms reduces friction and enables faster iteration. Ultimately, this candid conversation delivers the exact "stop doing / start doing" insights needed to successfully scale transformation into execution.

Connecting retail tech to the physical shelf. Because retail success is measured at the shopping cart, not the loading dock.

A high-level discussion on navigating enterprise-wide modernization, featuring leadership from Canada's top grocery chains.