This is an exciting time in the grocery and CPG industries. New technologies and changes in consumer tastes and behavior have reduced barriers to entry, provided the ability to ship directly to the consumer and enabled brands to market to precisely defined customer segments.
Learning from emerging brands is important for anyone in grocery or CPG who wants to keep on top of these technological and consumer shifts. That’s one reason I’m excited that FMI will be participating in the second annual Groceryshop conference, which takes place September 15-18, 2019 at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Groceryshop will convene 3,000 leaders including some of the most prominent emerging CPG brands, as well as iconic established brands, grocery retailers, investors and more who want to understand and embrace innovation.
Opportunities to hear from groundbreaking emerging brands abound at Groceryshop. Seth Goldman, Executive Chair, Beyond Meat & Co-Founder & TeaEO Emeritus, Honest Tea, will give a main stage keynote on industry transformation.
Emerging brands face challenges evaluating market opportunities and understanding what makes a brand resonate with today’s shopper. A Groceryshop session titled Building and Launching New Brands will feature Brad Charron, the CEO of ALOHA, Noah Gelbart, the Chief Revenue Officer of CAA-GBG and Mike Lackman, the CEO of Trade Coffee, discussing how new entrants in the food and CPG categories are embracing data-driven approaches to these questions.
Of course, emerging brands aren’t just disruptors to established companies — they can also be incredibly important partners, too. Groceryshop’s Working with Startups to Transform the Business session will showcase three leaders who evaluate opportunities to incubate, accelerate or invest in startup brands. Gulrez ‘Gary’ Arora, the Global Launchpad Lead and Head of the Seeds of Change Accelerator at Mars Incorporated, Lauren Jupiter, the Managing Partner at AccelFoods and Andreas Wuerfel, the Director US Strategic Partnerships at METRO Group will each bring a unique point of view to this topic.
All brands need to understand the needs of today’s shopper, while looking ahead to the future. On the first topic, Bryan Crowley, the CEO of Soylent, will address the importance of attributes like sustainability and transparency in a session on Building a Conscious Brand. Rachel Drori, the Founder & CEO of Daily Harvest, will speak about helping even time-constrained consumers eat healthily on a session called Catering to Convenience.
Looking forward, Zak Normandin, the Founder and CEO of Iris Nova, will speak on a session on Next Generation Mobile Shopping about his company’s smartphone-centric market strategy. Benjamin Witte, the Founder and CEO of Recess, will speak to pioneering an exciting new category on a session titled The Future of CBD. And Marc Oshima, the Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of AeroFarms, will share a vertical farm’s perspective on industry evolution on a session called The Future of Food.
The FMI team will be hosting a variety of sessions at Groceryshop as well. https://groceryshop.com/agenda/fmi
Groceryshop provides direct-to-consumer and tech startups with an unparalleled opportunity to form important fundraising, product, distribution and other partnerships with retailers, brands, tech companies, investors, real estate operators, media, analysts and more. https://groceryshop.com/#startups
We encourage you to join us to learn from these and other exciting emerging brands in Las Vegas this September. We hope to see you there.