How Albert Heijn Is Winning with Gen Z and Generative AI | Sjoerd Holleman Live at WRC 2025

Live from the Grand Ballroom Foyer and the VusionGroup Podcast Studio at World Retail Congress 2025, Omni Talk catches up with Sjoerd Holleman, SVP and Executive Board Member of Albert Heijn, to talk digital grocery, personalization, and why the company calls itself a "food tech" leader. Holleman reveals how the grocer balances the needs of 4.7M unique weekly customers across generations—leveraging everything from GenAI assistants to a booming loyalty app ecosystem.⏱ Key Moments:0:33 – Meet Sjoerd Holleman: Background and Albert Heijn overview1:14 – Albert Heijn as a “food tech” company with 125,000 employees2:54 – WRC first impressions and why it’s worth attending3:22 – Panel recap: How customer behaviors are shifting with age and social trends4:35 – The impact of aging populations and dietary needs on grocery innovation5:17 – Albert Heijn’s 12% e-commerce business and true omnichannel approach5:45 – Scaling the app from 200K to 5M active users6:51 – Why app-first personalization is the key to future loyalty7:46 – Inside their new GenAI-powered shopping assistant8:31 – User adoption across demographics, including older shoppers9:47 – What’s next: Deeper personalization, content orchestration, and loyalty data10:30 – How Albert Heijn is preparing for hyper-personalized, household-specific experiences10:42 – Final thoughts on digital transformation and data ethics#albertheijn #retailai #generativeai #worldretailcongress #omnitalkretail #foodtech #GroceryInnovation #PersonalizedRetail #retailtech #DigitalGrocery #futureofretailThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy