Albertsons Companies Earns Progressive Grocer's 2026 GroceryTech Innovation Award, Underscoring Commitment to AI and Digital Innovation

It's an award-winning year for Albertsons Companies, and we're proud to share we've been named the recipient of Progressive Grocer's 2026 GroceryTech Innovation Award in the Large Chain Retailer category.

This recognition reflects how we're putting AI and digital innovation to work in practical, meaningful ways that simplifies shopping, ensures our brands remain discoverable and competitive in an AI-driven retail landscape and strengthens our associates' capabilities. 

At Albertsons Cos., our AI strategy spans the enterprise and includes a set of Big Bets designed to scale AI solutions that improve productivity and drive growth. Across the business, we're embedding intelligence into the moments that matter most for customers and associates alike.

Making shopping more intuitive and personal
We're transforming how customers plan, shop and discover with AI-powered tools like Ask AI and our Albertsons AI shopping assistant. These experiences are designed to remove friction and help customers build carts, plan meals, restock essentials, digitize shopping lists and shop from recipes with ease.

The Albertsons AI shopping assistant also brings a new level of inspiration to everyday moments and special occasions. Whether planning a birthday, baby shower or holiday gathering, customers can explore curated ideas, discover relevant offers and quickly bring their plans to life, making shopping faster, more seamless and more personalized.

At the same time, our participation in OpenAI's advertising program pilot is helping us better understand and shape the future of agentic commerce, where AI plays a more active role in connecting customers with the right products and experiences.

Enabling smarter, faster decisions across the business
Behind the scenes, AI is helping drive better decision-making at scale. Our patent-pending Merchandising Intelligence tool is designed to support merchants with predictive, explainable insights, enhancing transparency, improving speed and enabling more confident category-level decisions.

We're also investing in our people to ensure they can fully leverage these advancements. As a frontier firm retailer in Microsoft's Enterprise Skilling Initiative, we're expanding access to AI training and resources, enabling associates to work across no-code, low-code and pro-code environments. As we scale these capabilities in 2026, more teams will be able to rapidly prototype and adopt AI-driven workflows.

Advancing quality across the supply chain
Our focus on innovation extends well beyond the digital experience. Most recently, we launched our patent-pending Intelligent Quality Control tool, an AI-powered solution that uses computer vision to support distribution center associates in maintaining high standards for fresh produce. Developed in-house by our technology and supply chain teams and powered by Google Cloud's Gemini Enterprise, including Vision AI capabilities, the tool enhances quality inspection processes, helping ensure customers consistently receive fresh, high-quality fruits and vegetables.

Building for what's next
This recognition underscores the momentum we've built, and the opportunity ahead. We'll continue expanding our agentic commerce capabilities, growing off-platform AI discovery and extending our merchandising intelligence tools to unlock new value.

By building advanced intelligence layers across forecasting, store operations, sourcing and enterprise analytics, we're scaling the impact of AI across our business and creating a more connected, responsive and customer-focused experience.

We're honored to be recognized by Progressive Grocer and proud of the teams driving this work forward. Winners were announced and celebrated at the GroceryTech Conference in Charlotte, N.C., alongside industry leaders shaping the future of grocery.