Groceryshop 2026, scheduled for Las Vegas, will bring together more than 150 confirmed speakers from grocery, mass retail, club, drug, dollar, convenience, pharmacy, and consumer packaged goods sectors (RetailNews.ai). Senior leaders from Instacart, Unilever Wellbeing, Kroger, DoorDash, Sam's Club, BJ's Wholesale Club, Mercado Libre, Dollar General, and Diageo are expected to participate. The conference agenda reflects an industry under pressure to make faster, more disciplined decisions while investing in new technology, responding to consumer behaviour shifts, and building additional revenue streams.
Three distinct trends—AI, retail media, and GLP-1 adoption—are no longer separate strategic concerns but are beginning to influence the same decisions around assortment, marketing, pricing, product development, and digital shopping journeys (RetailNews.ai). AI is shifting from product search toward autonomous decision-making, with retailers asking not whether AI will influence commerce but how much of the shopping journey it will control. A session featuring experts from Bain, Kantar, and Euromonitor International will examine what is actually driving consumer adoption of AI-powered tools, focusing on product discovery, purchasing behaviour, and the future of agentic commerce. For commerce practitioners, this means the next phase of AI investment will be shaped less by novelty and more by measurable results—reducing friction, improving conversion, increasing basket size, and strengthening loyalty.
Retail media's expansion into physical stores, GLP-1's impact on assortment and nutritional priorities, and the reconnection of brand-building with performance marketing represent additional growth vectors. Unilever Wellbeing's portfolio, which includes Liquid I.V., OLLY, Nutrafol, and Grüns, is worth more than $2.5 billion (RetailNews.ai). The conference will also facilitate over 30,000 co-matched meetings through its Meetup programme, underscoring how structured connection has become essential for retailers, brands, and technology partners seeking to test and scale solutions.