Inside Danone's Blueprint for Omnichannel Success
Danone is implementing a shopper-centric strategy to navigate a complex, nonlinear path to purchase by integrating digital influence with in-store conversion. The company’s approach focuses on making it easy for consumers to choose Danone brands by aligning insights, solutions and team execution.
“What does shopper-centric mean?” Ariel Dalton, Danone USA’s head of strategic insights, planning & connected commerce, said during an InStore Ignite keynote presentation on Nov. 11 in Chicago. “In its simplest form, you find an insight, you build a solution around that insight with the shopper in mind, and you align your teams, investments and capabilities around the moments that matter. And the reason we do this is because in a world that's complex and constantly changing, we have to make it easier for shoppers to choose us.”
Dalton said that's the goal at Danone — to make it easy to choose. She said the goal rests on three truths:
- The shopper journey is nonlinear and multitouch (often six-plus touchpoints), and it’s increasingly influenced by AI. Physical and digital are one connected journey.
- Every single touchpoint matters; each is a moment to either win or lose consumer confidence. In-store decisions happen in 12 seconds or less, with 40% of shoppers changing their minds based on in-store displays, packaging or experiences.
- Organizational alignment is critical. No single team owns the path to purchase. Overcoming internal silos requires integrating teams across people, partners and processes.
Danone merged its media, digital, e-commerce and shopper teams into one connected commerce organization with shared objectives. It aligned agencies and external partners under a unified vision and consistent KPIs. And it is developing a proprietary evergreen commercial success activation guide to ensure systematic execution.
“It was a massive undertaking, and it took a lot of time,” Dalton said. “But once we did it, I think we very quickly saw the benefits of connecting those teams.”
The company’s “Home’rista” campaign served as a successful pilot for this integrated model, utilizing influencers, retail media and in-store features like shelf talkers and sampling to drive trial across brands such as International Delight and Stok Cold Brew.
“Not only did we see all the KPIs that we had set out for, but the campaign was recognized internally as a global best practice for sales and marketing, giving us a blueprint to scale,” Dalton said.
The industry took notice as well, as it won multiple awards, including a 2026 P2PI OmniShopper Award.
At its headquarters, Danone has created an immersive physical and digital shelf simulation to help cross-functional employees (including HR and finance) understand the evolving shopper journey.
“In an increasingly complex and fragmented world, we have to look for ways to increase connection, both externally as well as in our own buildings,” Dalton said. “And for us, that meant looking at it through the lens of people, partners and process. All of this is an attempt to make it easy for shoppers to choose us. That is how you scale relevance in a complex world.”
