News Briefs

The Kroger Co. has made several key retail leadership appointments.

Joe Kelley, president of Kroger’s Colorado-based King Soopers & City Markets division, has been named senior vice president of retail divisions. 

With nearly 40 years of industry experience, Kelley has held a number of executive leadership roles across a variety of retailers, including Price Chopper, Ahold Delhaize USA’s Stop & Shop, and Albertsons Cos.’ Star Market and Shaw's. Kelley joined the Kroger enterprise in 2019.

"[Kelley] is a customer-centric leader who brings broad industry experience, with a strong track record of making stores great places to shop," Ron Sargent, chairman and CEO of Kroger, said in a media release.

Kelley succeeds Kenny Kimball, who returns to the Utah-based Smith's division as president after three years as SVP of retail divisions. Kimball joined the Kroger enterprise in 1984.

"We are grateful for [Kimball's] leadership as he stepped up to oversee multiple retail divisions in addition to Smith's," Sargent added. "He will continue to play a key role in our enterprise, supporting strategic priorities and mentoring young leaders."

Chris Albi, group vice president of operations at King Soopers & City Markets, will succeed Kelley as president of the division. Albi joined the Kroger enterprise in 1981 as a courtesy clerk and has held numerous leadership roles in her tenure, including grocery category manager, VP of merchandising for the Michigan division and president of QFC.

Kendra Doyel will lead the California- and Illinois-based Food 4 Less as president, succeeding Bryan Kaltenbach. Doyel joined the Kroger enterprise in 1998 as a pharmacist in the Fry's division. Since then, she has held several leadership roles across multiple departments for Fry's, Ralph's and Food 4 Less.

Kaltenbach will retire after more than 50 years in the grocery industry. He joined the Food 4 Less team in 1994 and held several leadership positions, including store manager, director of store operations and director of sales and marketing. Kaltenbach was named division president in 2010.

Independent commerce media provider SmartCommerce is expanding its "OmniCommerce" strategy, further helping brands capture and convert buyer intent across all consumer touchpoints. 

Mealme.ai, a provider of embedded transaction functionality, is a flagship integration partner in this expansion along with other commerce-optimizing tools.

To help accelerate integration and expansion, SmartCommerce has closed an insider capital raise, led by The Argentum Group.

SmartCommerce's Click2Cart platform is already used by top CPG/adjacent multichannel manufacturers, their agencies and their retailer partners to accelerate commerce.

The expansion adds fully embedded checkout, promotional opportunities, new platform partners and trustmarks that help consumers and brands connect and convert at the point of decision, as well as integrated reporting that helps brands prove and improve ROI. 

"Right now, brands and consumers are truly on the same side of the table. They all need to achieve more with less spend," SmartCommerce CEO Jennifer Silverberg said in a news release. "This service expansion is intended to help unlock the potential of advertising to be the next-generation marketplace: where brands, consumers and retailers connect directly, seamlessly, to the benefit of all."

Matt Bouchner, CEO of MealMe, a provider of embedded and agentic transaction services, added: "SmartCommerce is the perfect integration partner to accelerate adoption of our embedded ordering platform in new applications. We're already enjoying strong consumer adoption in embedding food ordering into AI agents, but expect this SmartCommerce integration to build overnight visibility and usage across all types of on-demand transactions."

The funding round was led by Argentum Capital Partners IV, L.P., with First Analysis Corporation and Mathers Associates participating.

Instacart is bringing its Carrot Tags technology to Dierbergs Markets, a 27-store independent grocer based in the St. Louis area, as part of a new partnership aimed at improving in-store picking efficiency and accuracy for online grocery orders.

Dierbergs will integrate Instacart’s Carrot Tags software solution with its electronic shelf labels hardware (also known as ESLs or digital shelf labels). The integration will help couriers (also called “Instacart Shoppers”) quickly locate products in-store and reduce order errors through its “pick to light” functionality.

The functionality highlights items on a shopper’s picking list directly through the Instacart courier app by triggering lights on the corresponding ESLs.

[Also Read: Wave of Grocers Adopt Instacart's In-Store Technologies]

According to Instacart, this enhancement improves fulfillment accuracy and boosts overall e-commerce efficiency and customer satisfaction. Carrot Tags is part of Instacart’s Connected Stores suite of technologies, which aims to better connect the in-store and online shopping experience.

As part of the collaboration, Dierbergs is also launching same-day delivery via the Instacart app, with fulfillment available in as fast as one hour. Customers can now shop Dierbergs online through the Instacart app or website. A limited-time promotion offers $15 off orders of $50 or more.

[Also Read: Dierbergs Connects Digital, In-Store Experiences]

“Our new partnership with Dierbergs is an exciting milestone, underscoring how Instacart’s solutions can amplify an independent grocer’s digital and in-store experience,” Nick Nickitas, general manager of local independent grocery at Instacart, said in a media release.

With this rollout, Dierbergs joins more than 1,800 retail banners on the Instacart platform.

Regional grocer Northeast Grocery Inc. (NGI) is expanding its retail media efforts through a new partnership with in-store digital advertising platform Grocery TV. 

Grocery TV will power digital screens in NGI's nearly 300 stores across its six-state footprint, allowing for more dynamic promotions. 

Grocery TV worked with NGI to ensure its digital signage seamlessly integrated into each store's unique layout, according to a media release. Strategically placed screens will highlight relevant content throughout high-traffic zones, such as the entrance, checkout and pharmacy, per the release. 

Notably, Northeast Grocery will incorporate Grocery TV's recently launched Digital Ironman to replace traditional print signage at store entrances for a cleaner look and feel. Digital Ironman is upgraded signage, including a more modern sanitation attachment and circular attachment, which marries traditional and digital marketing. 

"With nearly 90% of grocery purchases still happening in-store, we're focused on creating opportunities for retailers and brands to engage with shoppers at the most impactful moments while upholding the store experience retailers work so hard to create," Don Oelke, co-founder and chief operating officer of Grocery TV, said in the release. 

"We prioritize partnerships that enhance our omnichannel experience, and this adds another valuable, impactful way for us and brands to connect with our shoppers," added Diane Colgan, senior vice president of marketing for NGI.

Grocery TV powers the in-store network for nearly 6,000 stores and plans to announce additional expansions and partnerships throughout 2025. Recent retailer partners include Hy-Vee, Giant Eagle and Redner's Markets.

Omnichannel advertising platform Skai has introduced Celeste AI, a generative artificial intelligence marketing agent. The new tool is designed to help brands and agencies streamline commerce media operations.

Baby wipes brand WaterWipes and retail services provider Advantage Solutions as well as marketing agencies Acosta Group and Tinuiti are among the first industry players to participate in an exclusive closed beta, per a media release.

As commerce media becomes increasingly complex, Celeste AI aims to unify and analyze data from multiple sources, including first-party advertiser data, publisher insights, digital shelf data and competitive intelligence. The platform is designed to generate actionable marketing recommendations and optimize performance across retail media and other advertising channels.

"Celeste is an intelligent system that turns data into action, leveraging Skai’s knowledge graph," Yoav Izhar-Prato, CEO of Skai, said in the release. "Our goal is to help marketers make smarter, data-driven decisions."

The AI-driven tool allows marketers to interact with their data through direct queries, helping them identify growth opportunities, optimize budgets and refine their advertising strategies. According to Skai, Celeste AI will integrate with over 200 publishers to provide cross-channel insights and tailored campaign recommendations, such as having an always-on marketing analyst.

The exclusive beta is gradually expanding, with more announcements to be shared in the coming weeks. The full solution will be unveiled at the company’s flagship event, ShopAble, in New York on May 14.

“As AI becomes the new [user interface], marketers must look beyond feature comparisons when selecting their tech partners and focus on intelligence,” added Gil Sadeh, President of Skai. “If you’re not asking your vendors for their Gen AI innovation roadmap, you’re risking being left behind.”

Boston-based Breaktime Media has hired Sarah Gillmer as senior sales director.

Gillmer will focus on continuing to grow Breaktime’s business with Walmart suppliers.

Previously Gillmer was the senior director of partnerships at Shopkick and the senior director of business development at Field Agent. She served three years each at both companies.

Gillmer joins a slate of previous hires, including Brad Godwin and Carly Michaels.