Those were the takeaways from the two winning presentations out of the six heard at the Capstone conference of the Food Industry Management Program on April 6 at the University of Southern California.
In stores of the future, retailers will go above and beyond to personalize the experience for shoppers.
But exactly what the personalization will look like will vary from store to store.
Chief operating officer Lauren Johnson says the family-owned store was the first in Oregon to use electronic shelf tags eight years ago, and it recently upgraded its self-checkouts and added Apple Pay technology.
That dating game is not for the faint of retailer hearts.
One, because new products hit the market in a seemingly endless loop, sure, but that doesn't mean they're innovative.
"The missions of FMI and Retail Leader are closely aligned: to provide information about the highest standards and quality of the food supply in the world." – Harry Stagnito,
President and CEO