Explore every episode of the podcast The Future In-Store

"If you know the cart, you know the heart," says Christine Foster, Group Vice President of Commercial Strategy and Operations at Kroger Precision Marketing.

She believes grocery shopping is uniquely personal — and that creates both an opportunity and a responsibility for retailers using that data.

Christine joins host James Kotecki to share Kroger's vision for in-store retail media that inspires, not just sells.

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Topics include:

• Why Kroger doesn’t want to be “Times Square” with in-store screens

• The "near-endemic" opportunity for brands

• Agent Monday: Kroger's AI-powered tool for automated weekly sales analysis

• Kroger Precision Marketing’s data science foundation

"I always say that the perks program is cultural in our markets," says Heather Feather, Senior Director for Digital, E-commerce, and Retail Media at Giant Eagle.

That deep loyalty engagement across 4 million households — which yields a 90%+ in-store scan rate — is the engine behind Leap, Giant Eagle's retail media network. With 95 years of community roots and a loyalty program customers plan their lives around, Giant Eagle brings a unique perspective to the retail media conversation.

Heather joins host James Kotecki to discuss

• The omni-channel customer journey: from digital discovery to in-store reinforcement to checkout measurement

• Bringing merchandising and marketing together

• Expanding retail media in health, beauty & wellness

• Building Leap with integrated partners

• Community connection — from storm relief to the NFL Draft to HBO’s “The Pitt”

Learn more about Looma:

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"Bananas are the number one selling item in grocery," says Bobby Watts, SVP of Ad Retail Media, Digital Merch, and Marketing at Ahold Delhaize USA.

"But selling media and working with advertisers and working with our partners is different than selling groceries."

Bobby joins host James Kotecki to discuss Edge, Ahold Delhaize USA's new ad tech platform built in collaboration with European counterparts.

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Topics include:

• Why Europe is a leader in digital screen adoption

• The strategic screen placement at entry points, ‘front racetrack,’ and pharmacy

• How agentic AI tools will transform media planning in 2026

• The "connected store" vision beyond digital screens

“That connection with consumers we're seeing across the industry - it's no longer about impressions, it's really about engagement.”

Sometimes the customer journey is literally a trip in a car on the way to a store. Uber Advertising’s Jess Shuraleff connects ridesharing to retail on the latest episode of The Future In-Store.

https://theloomaproject.com/

Topics include:

• Engagement throughout the journey that drives conversion - whether in-app or in-store

• The "Gen Uber" consumers demanding surprise and delight moments

• The surprising percentage of riders who keep the sound up for ads in Ubers

• The misconception that mobility media solutions are only for endemic brands

• Why driverless vehicles could create even more engagement opportunities

“Counterintuitively,” says Swiftly co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Sean Turner, “brick and mortar stores have a superpower when it comes to driving digital engagement.”

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Turner joins host James Kotecki to explore topics including:

Topics include:

• The "magical attachment" we have to our favorite grocery store

• The technology gap: competing against retailers with thousands of engineers

• Why legacy systems burden large retailers more than regional players

• How platforms can beat custom-built technology

• Why national brands are better off reaching consumers through regional and independent grocers

• How scaling retail operations is like flying a plane

"There's been a lot of pushes to take a screen and slap it everywhere, and I think there's a lot of risk in doing that," says Looma VP of Product Denny Cmiel.

"You end up with kind of an experience that doesn't feel like it was designed to be there. It feels like it was stitched on or kind of stuck on as a Band-Aid."

Denny joins host James Kotecki to share Looma’s product philosophy for screens that are actually in the right place.

https://theloomaproject.com/

Topics include:

• The Looma mantra "it's not the screens, it's what you put on them" that guides product development

• How "Project Nightcap" expanded from cocktail recommendations to mattress selection

• Why AI serves as an "efficiency machine" and "sounding board" rather than decision maker

• The misconception that in-store screens necessarily reach shoppers at the point of decision

• The balance between standardization and customization for individual store locations

"I think that ROAS is overhyped," says Liz Roche, VP of Media and Measurement at Albertsons Media Collective. "It's something that we live and die by, but it doesn't show the full picture at all."

Liz joins host James Kotecki to talk measurement from the perspective of one of America's largest grocery retailers, reaching 37 million customers per week across 2,200+ stores.

https://theloomaproject.com/

Topics include:

• Surprising silos - and the power of breaking them down

• How Albertsons leverages local store formats for testing and learning at scale

• Tech for tracking shopping cart movement through stores

• A vision for holistic measurement that goes beyond the campaign level

• The value of "spirited debate"

“I think retail media is very chaotic right now,” says Claire Wyatt, The Trade Desk's GM Client Service - Retail. “We're still really in the wild, wild west. I think retail media is in its teenage years.”

Claire tells host James Kotecki that retail media networks have had “a little bit of a grace period. They don't really have that grace period anymore.”

https://theloomaproject.com/

Topics include:

• America’s in-store experience lags behind global peers
• Implementation challenges: cost and logistics
• AI for media optimization
• The dream of connected on-site, off-site, and in-store media
• The central role of consumer privacy

The Ad Council's Director of Media Engagement Maya Warburg joins host James Kotecki to explore how and why its iconic social impact campaigns are showing up for shoppers. 

Retail media networks provide scale, audience alignment, and attentive consumers for messages that make a difference.

https://theloomaproject.com/

Topics include:

• The full-funnel “superpower” of retail media

• The Ad Council’s position on tech’s cutting edge

• How augmented reality is fighting hunger

• The role of localization in national campaigns

• How The Ad Council gives partners confidence to tackle serious issues

"Content still drives the majority of incremental sales," says Bayer's Vice President of Emerging Digital Platforms Chelsey Alexander. 

Retail media can’t just be about the technology - she emphasizes that content quality and clear differentiation remain fundamental to success.

https://theloomaproject.com/

Interview topics include:

• The importance of execution for merchandise-integrated media

• Why storytelling is becoming more important as consumers learn to tune out advertising noise

• The importance of understanding specific shopping experiences when designing in-store media

• The inconsistent state of retail media measurement

• The return of “retail-tainment”

Looma's Chief Creative Officer Ned Brown joins James Kotecki to discuss the creative vision behind effective in-store digital media. 

Brown shares insights on balancing commercial performance with authentic storytelling, and how "stubborn intentionality" helps Looma create experiences that serve both brands and shoppers in the increasingly screen-rich retail environment.

https://theloomaproject.com/

Topics include:

• How brand goals, screen types, and specific in-store locations guide content strategy

• Why adding audio is powerful - and how it can go wrong

• Whether artificial human hosts have a place in stores

Instacart VP, Ads Product Ali Miller joins host James Kotecki to explore how smart shopping carts and retail media transform the in-store experience.

https://theloomaproject.com/ 

Topics include:

• The unique challenges of retail media in physical stores - where shelves can't dynamically change like they do online

• Instacart's Caper smart cart: how sensors, cameras, and screens help shoppers track spending and find products

• Promising results: why smart carts can boost basket size by 10%

• Adding value through patterns, not personal data: why smart carts don't need to know who you are

• Building "connected stores": how smart carts could interact with deli counters, shelf labels, and in-store screens

• From test phase to industry standards: in-store retail media is at the beginning of its growth journey

• Why in-store retail media “starts to make omni-channel real”

• Why our kids will love smart carts - and how gamification could make grocery shopping fun for the whole family

• Measuring impact: from awareness and impressions to causal incrementality

• Technical challenges from WiFi connectivity to weights and measures certification

Ali Mirian, advisor to retail media and tech startups, joins host James Kotecki to discuss why retailers face an existential moment as they transform their traditional brick-and-mortar operations into digitally-sophisticated, omnichannel businesses.

https://theloomaproject.com/ 

Topics include:

• Retailers’ “slow-burn innovators dilemma” - the tension between what’s happening today and what’s coming tomorrow

• Why retail's digital transformation echoes the decline of local news – and what that could mean for your favorite stores

• The surprising truth about retail media's real size: why focusing only on digital touchpoints misses the bigger picture

• Inside the shopper's mind: why reaching the right person isn't enough if you catch them in the wrong "mode"

• Words collide: when your supplier is also your customer, terms like “inventory” get tricky

Looma Founder & CEO Cole Johnson in conversation with James Kotecki.

https://theloomaproject.com/ 

Topics include:

• Addressing the skepticism surrounding in-store digital media, focusing on past failures due to poor technology, content, and ROI.
• The equipment and installation process for in-store digital media, including end cap screens and holistic design approaches.
• Managing the in-store audio experience to ensure it is clear yet unobtrusive.
• Creating authentic, story-driven, and educational content rather than repurposing TV commercials.
• Consumer attitudes towards ads in stores, highlighting the preference for engaging stories over traditional advertisements.
• Different screen types (atmospheric, merchandise-integrated, and in-aisle interactive) and their relative effectiveness in driving sales.
• Various KPIs for measuring the success of in-store digital media campaigns, including impressions, incremental first-time customers, and incremental sales.
• What it costs to implement Looma in stores.
• Utopian vs. dystopian future - comparing a seamless, inspirational shopping experience to an overwhelming, ad-saturated environment.

What’s the future of in-store retail media?

Subscribe to our leadership interview series to find out!

Industry experts share their insights as we explore The Future In-Store.

Presented by Looma:

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