News Briefs

Barrows Connected Store has appointed Becca Bocci as head of data and insights, North America.

Bocci will advance innovation across in-store analytics, with a focus on the metrics that matter most to brands, agencies and retailers. She will elevate the quality and consistency of client reporting and serve as a senior advisor to brands and retail partners on Connected Store performance.

In her role, Bocci will be a key part of evolving Barrows' measurement approach. This will ensure methodologies are rigorous, transparent and aligned with industry standards while partnering closely with product, engineering and data science teams to shape future capabilities.

Bocci also will represent Barrows in the marketplace as a thought leader in retail media measurement, contributing to industry dialogue and helping define best practices for in-store analytics.

"There is a significant opportunity to elevate how in-store performance is measured and understood, and I look forward to unlocking greater value for our clients using advanced, data-driven tools," Bocci said.

Bocci brings more than a decade of experience spanning early work at Triad, one of the pioneers in retail media, to most recently serving as a senior data scientist at Dynata and Nielsen.

"[Bocci's] ability to turn complex data challenges into valuable, scalable solutions makes her an exceptional addition to our team," said Tim Bagwell, chief product and data officer at Barrows Connected Store.

Barrows recently named Kathryn Mazza as chief growth officer, NA.

Topsort, an AI-native, auction-based retail media infrastructure company, has launched In-Store Ads, a self-service ad format that integrates physical retail inventory, specifically in-store digital screens, into the same self-service infrastructure used for on-site retail media. 

The capability addresses the operational bottlenecks and reliance on manual coordination that typically slow in-store programs. Now, marketplaces and advertisers can launch, manage and measure in-store campaigns faster, increase advertiser participation, improve inventory transparency and unify campaign management with their existing on-site media efforts. 

"Retail media teams are under pressure to scale new surfaces without increasing operational complexity," Regina Ye, CEO of Topsort, said in a media release. "In-store has always been valuable, but difficult to operationalize. By bringing it into the same self-service infrastructure, we're making it easier to activate, manage and scale."

Axonet, the convenience-store retail media network, announced a letter of intent to acquire RightSense AI, a provider of AI-driven analytics solutions supporting data-based decision-making.

Upon the acquisition's closing, Axonet would integrate RightSense's Fusion AI platform, technology, team and customer base into its operations.

The transaction supports Axonet's long-term vision to become a retail intelligence, media and measurement company, further strengthening its position at the intersection of retail media, data and technology.

By incorporating RightSense's tools, Axonet expects to reinforce the AI foundation of its ad-tech platform, Sophia AI, while also growing Axonet's retail intelligence capabilities.

The acquisition also expands Axonet's technical leadership with the planned appointment of RightSense CEO Sangam Sangameswara as Axonet's first CTO.

In this role, Sangameswara will lead Axonet's technology strategy and innovation roadmap across AI, data science and platform development.

RightSense and Axonet began working together last year, Sangameswara said in a statement. The acquisition reflects a shared vision to accelerate innovation and solve complex problems.

"RightSense's innovative approach to incorporating AI agents into impactful decision-making has impressed us since Day 1 of working with Sangam and [the] team," Axonet CEO Patrick Raycroft said.

The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.

Instacart is now available as a connector in Claude, Anthropic’s conversational AI interface, enabling users to build a grocery cart while interacting with the chatbot — from a recipe, a weekly list or a prompt — with live inventory and personalization from an Instacart account. 

"Claude connects to Instacart’s experience, surfacing real options from nearby stores, with live product inventory and personalized results from your Instacart account," wrote Instacart CTO Anirban Kundu in a recent blog post. "Any cart you build stays in sync with your Instacart account, so you can pick up where you left off in our app or on our website whenever you’re ready to order."

Making this possible, according to Kundu, "is the intelligence layer Instacart has built over time. Millions of customers shopping across our platform have given us a deep understanding of how people actually buy groceries: what they substitute, what they won’t, where they shop and how. We also understand how preferences shift by season, occasion, and household through Smart Shop, our personalization engine. The experience isn’t generic — with Instacart’s understanding, it reflects your stores, your staples, your preferences. And that’s what you’ll see when you log in to Instacart in Claude."

He went on to describe Instacart as "the grocery infrastructure layer for agentic AI — present wherever the journey starts, whether that’s in our own app, through AI Solutions powering our retail partners’ digital experiences, or with AI assistants like Claude."

San Francisco-based Instacart partners with more than 2,200 retail banners — representing nearly 100,000 stores.

Grocery TV is working with ABCS Insights to bring independent, third-party sales lift measurement to in-store retail media. The partnership enables brands that advertise on Grocery TV's in-store digital advertising platform to directly link ad exposure to verified product purchases, both in-store and across other retail environments.

Investment in retail media continues to grow, and Grocery TV's partnership with the measurement and analytics platform provides a transparent, third-party measurement infrastructure to brands in the brick-and-mortar space. ABSC Insights' 41-million household panel combines receipt and card transaction data to deliver in-depth measurement of campaigns. 

Among early findings, per Grocery TV:

• A national candy brand delivered an 11.7x incremental return on ad spend (iROAS) and drove $2.7 million in incremental sales during a two-month seasonal product launch campaign. 
• A leading beverage brand achieved 5x iROAS, $1.4 million in incremental sales, and a purchase frequency increase of 5%. On-platform ad exposure also drove a 16% sales lift.

"In-store media delivers measurable results across the full shopper journey, and our measurement approach reflects that," Marlow Nickell, co-founder and CEO, Grocery TV, said in a media release. "ABCS adds an important layer of rigor for sales lift, so brands can see the incremental impact of their campaigns with independent verification."

This partnership builds on Grocery TV's full-funnel measurement offerings. In 2025, Midwestern grocer Hy-Vee was the first to deploy Grocery TV's closed loop measurement tools. ABCS Insights' partnership builds on these capabilities with a third-party, panel-based approach, offering added transparency and scale.

Emerging retailer Beautyspace is partnering with U.S. department store chain Belk to expand its brick-and-mortar presence.

To bring beauty brand discovery to a broader audience, Belk in late March launched Beautyspace in five shopping mall locations across North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama.

Beautyspace is using a dedicated shop-in-shop concept that features a carefully curated mix of emerging, founder-led and high-growth brands across skincare, hair care, body care and fragrance.

The assortments will prioritize product efficacy, inclusivity and storytelling, while aligning with the Belk customer, according to a news release.

In‑store brands include Rose Inc., IGK, Oak Essentials, Algenist, Briogeo, Malin + Goetz, Floral Street, Patchology and more, with an even broader assortment available online.

The partnership aligns Beautyspace’s contemporary, discovery-driven retail model with Belk's established regional footprint and loyal customer base.

The two retailers aim to redefine the in-store beauty experience by combining Beautyspace's curated variety of brands with Belk's easy-to-shop store environment.