Shoptalk to launch new Grocerytalk program in March 2018

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Jun 21, 2017

Shoptalk announced on Tuesday the launch of Grocerytalk, a new program for the grocery and consumer packaged goods industries to take place during Shoptalk on March 18-21, 2018 at The Venetian in Las Vegas.

 
Founded by Anil Aggarwal, Jonathan Weiner and Don Kingsborough, Shoptalk is a platform for large retailers and brands, venture-backed direct-to-consumer startups, tech and Internet companies, investors, media, Wall Street analysts and others to come together to learn, collaborate and evolve.
 
The first Shoptalk conference in 2016, which was focused on the technologies and trends that will determine how consumers will discover, shop and buy, saw over 3,100 attendees, including 400 CEOs, and led to the launch of Shoptalk Europe, which will be held in Copenhagen from October 9 through 11.

"Since we launched Shoptalk just over two years ago, we've created an entirely new and modern retail and ecommerce narrative and community of innovators, breaking down major, now-stale silos across the industry," said Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Shoptalk. "Our third U.S. event is tracking for over 7,500 attendees up from 5,600 in 2017 and 3,100 in 2016—making Shoptalk the largest American conference for retail and ecommerce innovation."
 
Grocerytalk, Shoptalk’s new platform, will feature experiences that focus on the evolution of how consumers discover, shop, and buy groceries and consumer packaged goods in a digital age, including the latest technologies, trends and business models, as well as networking and content. The Food Market Institute will support the development and marketing of the new program.
 
The launch of Grocerytalk follows Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. The acquisition came as a shock, according to Reuters, but it seemed fitting with the Seattle-based company having worked on its grocery store project since 2012 and opened its first grocery store without a checkout line in December.
 
Amazon acquiring Whole Foods and introducing new ways to shop for groceries may be topics at Grocerytalk in March 2018.
 
"Quite bluntly, moving our tech focus into the context of Shoptalk with the launch of Grocerytalk allows us the best of two worlds – maintaining the capacity to focus on the unique retail and ecommerce needs of food, but doing so in the grander, more possibility-rich context of the retail world's exploration of the topic," said FMI president and chief executive officer, Leslie G. Sarasin. "In sunsetting our traditional trade show, FMI Connect, FMI promised its members a bolder and more deliberate events strategy. Just as technology evolves, so too will FMI and its portfolio of member services and benefits."