If you are in Canada then you have probably spent a good portion of your grocery, drug and other living expenses at a store owned, operated or franchised by Loblaw.
Loblaw Companies Limited is the largest Canadian food retailer operating under 22 different brand banners (including Loblaws), as well as pharmacies, banking and apparel. They are massive. With over 136,000 full-time and part-time employees they are the second largest employer in the country. They also have their own private label products under brands include President's Choice, No Name and others.
So other than their size, what makes them so interesting? Well, they are in the middle of a massive transformation, helping millions of customers transition from using a shopping cart in their stores, to using a different kind of shopping cart from their homes, work or anywhere on their phone. Yes, we are talking about migrating from those metal and plastic shopping carts used in physical stores, to the digital carts on the different e-commerce websites for each of the brands. How big of a transformation? Well they hit $1 Billion in e-commerce revenue, in 2019, doubling from their 2018 results.
In order to handle this transformation, the digital team has to manage changing customer expectations, massive performance needs and incredibly complex relationships with their retails stores, distribution centers and supplier partners. Lauren Steinberg, VP Product, UX and Digital Marketing spends some time with me talking about all of these challenges and how Loblaw is changing the face of retail in Canada, and getting noticed around the world.