Taking Stock Of Agentic Commerce In Grocery, Plus Walmart’s Slam Dunk And Sprouts New CEO | GrocerTalk

In this episode, sponsored by Instacart Enterprise, Portager, Vusion, and Sifter Solutions, Ben Miller is joined by Sarah Engel, President of digital marketing agency and consultancy January Digital and one of Adweek’s 50 most influential marketing executives, to take stock of the latest developments in Agentic Commerce and unpack the global grocery news stories from this week that we believe are worth paying attention to. This week, they discuss: • Anthropic’s new blueprints for Shopping and Merchant Agents, Amazon’s latest Alexa for Shopping update, and what the rise of Agentic Commerce means for grocery: https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/anthropic-launches-ai-agent-blueprints-retailers-ahead-holiday-shopping-season-2026-09-02/ • Sprouts Farmers Market’s CEO succession plan, with Jack Sinclair stepping down and COO Nick Konat set to take over.: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/sprouts-names-ceo-nick-konat/829368/ • Kroger and Meijer’s September wellness events, and whether in-store health and wellness activations can really move the needle: https://progressivegrocer.com/kroger-takes-health-focused-message-across-country-wellness-tour • Walmart expanding restaurant delivery through Dunkin’, and why the move could be a smart way to build delivery demand and order density: https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2026/09/walmart-expands-restaurant-delivery-with-dunkin • Aldi letting shoppers vote on new private label coffee creamer flavors, and whether it’s smart engagement or simply a fun gimmick: https://progressivegrocer.com/aldi-takes-store-strategy-instagram-facebook Plus, GrocerTalk Grab & Go brings even more stories to the table, including Aldi’s Barbie-themed UK exclusive, Sarah’s pick of the week, and Ben questioning whether Starbucks’ new UK autumn menu is helping clarify what the brand actually wants to be. A few things worth checking out from this week’s episode: • Register for our Fall Conference “Must See” Tech Preview on September 17: https://www.linkedin.com/events/omnitalk-sfallconferenceseason-7486477216600518656/theater/ • Watch Jack Sinclair’s Groceryshop keynote from last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPdm5IAecYc GrocerTalk is your weekly dose of the trends, tech and big ideas shaping grocery and CPG. Episode 004. Welcome to GrocerTalk. P.S. Be sure to check out all our other podcasts from the past week here, too: https://omnitalk.blog/category/podcast/ Music by hooksounds.com