Convenience is Key: Jill Pavlovich on How Albertsons is Innovating Grocery Shopping

[00:00:01] We protect our customers deeply and we use that to give them their individualized experience.

[00:00:09] Customers shop for groceries every week.

[00:00:12] Some customers more than once a week.

[00:00:14] But the frequency of those transactions gives us an opportunity through that data to make

[00:00:20] those shopping journeys seamless and easy for the customer.

[00:00:26] To thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape, brands must move in an ever-increasing pace.

[00:00:31] I'm Matt Britton, founder and CEO of Suzy.

[00:00:34] Join me and key industry leaders as we dive deep into the shifting consumer trends within

[00:00:38] their industry.

[00:00:39] Why it matters now and how you can keep up.

[00:00:42] Welcome to The Speed of Culture.

[00:00:48] Upstay we're really excited to welcome Jill Pavlovich to the show.

[00:00:52] Jill is the SVP at Digital Shopping Experiences at Albertsons Companies.

[00:00:55] I'm based in Boston.

[00:00:56] Jill, it's so great to see you.

[00:00:58] Thank you, Matt.

[00:00:59] Thank you so much for having me on today.

[00:01:01] Absolutely.

[00:01:01] So Albertsons, obviously a huge company, over 2,200 stores, one of the largest food and

[00:01:08] drug retailers in the United States.

[00:01:10] When you zoom out just on the current state of the economy and the consumer, what are

[00:01:15] some of the trends that you have your eye on here in the back half of 2024 that you

[00:01:20] want to respond to in your role?

[00:01:22] Yeah.

[00:01:23] Well, we spend so much of our time thinking about the consumer and being a traditional

[00:01:30] grocery retailer.

[00:01:32] We've spent a lot of time observing behaviors around food and trends around food and economic

[00:01:39] impacts on getting access to food.

[00:01:42] And fun fact, actually, how many times a day do you think the average person thinks about

[00:01:49] food?

[00:01:50] 11.

[00:01:51] That is what everyone says.

[00:01:52] Somewhere between like 6 and 12, 256 times a day is what research shows that we think

[00:01:59] about food.

[00:02:01] Is that the thing they think about most or is it sex?

[00:02:05] Because, well, I read a story that sex is a very high number two.

[00:02:08] It probably is.

[00:02:10] I am not the expert there.

[00:02:11] Right, exactly.

[00:02:12] I'll have to get somebody on from like an adult product to tell me that.

[00:02:17] Yes, definitely.

[00:02:18] But that's a tremendous amount of cognitive load.

[00:02:21] They're thinking about what their next meal is going to be, what they're

[00:02:24] going to cook if they're hungry now, what to have for lunch, how to feed

[00:02:28] their children, even avoiding food.

[00:02:31] And so as we think about the trends and economic impacts that's having on

[00:02:37] customers, we think about how to reduce that cognitive load, whether it's

[00:02:42] payment options like SNAP that make it easier to get access to food, whether

[00:02:46] it's fast delivery for people who need food in 30 minutes, whether

[00:02:52] it's free shoppable recipes so that people can cook healthy meals at home,

[00:02:58] whether it's just the capability to build a digital list and then easily shop

[00:03:02] the stores.

[00:03:03] We are focused on all of that and really thinking about what the customer

[00:03:08] needs and how getting access to food and convenient access to food

[00:03:14] becomes more and more important.

[00:03:16] And the way that we're going to surprise and delight our customers is

[00:03:21] by having the most convenient experience that gives them the food and

[00:03:27] health and wellness items that they need when they need it.

[00:03:31] And so we obsessively think about the evolution of customer needs on that

[00:03:37] spectrum. That's helpful.

[00:03:39] And I think a lot of what you touched on is has to do with digital

[00:03:42] connectivity into the actual physical shopping experience on the channel is

[00:03:47] a word that's thrown around a lot in your world.

[00:03:49] Our consumers of the mindset and have adopted habits as such that it's

[00:03:56] intuitive to them where they're logging into your app or they're going on their

[00:03:59] phone before they go to a grocery store or a while or after because the old

[00:04:04] school grocery shopper would never have dreamed of going on their phone

[00:04:08] and completing a task or getting information before they go into a supermarket.

[00:04:13] How has that changed over time?

[00:04:15] Well, COVID was a really rough time for us.

[00:04:18] But it was also a forcing mechanisms for the grocery industry.

[00:04:23] A once very traditional, non digitally enabled with zero only channel industry

[00:04:30] and to go through a digital transformation.

[00:04:34] At first it was just, oh my goodness, get people access to food online

[00:04:39] and do it like now. Right? You're already late.

[00:04:42] So there is the beginning of COVID this urgency.

[00:04:46] How do you even enable commerce?

[00:04:48] What experiences do you have?

[00:04:50] How do you build first party capabilities and do it overnight?

[00:04:54] And so while COVID was a terrible time,

[00:04:57] it was also a great moment for the industry to reimagine the customer

[00:05:02] experience and to play catch up, frankly, to the rest of the retail industry.

[00:05:09] And as we went through that transformation of frankly, we're still in it.

[00:05:13] I would say the grocery industry is still scratching the surface

[00:05:16] and that we're only getting started with some of the capabilities.

[00:05:20] But there was a moment as we kind of emerged from COVID and the world opened back up

[00:05:25] and people were eating out again.

[00:05:28] And we were like, oh, is he commerce over for the grocery industry?

[00:05:32] We have not seen that.

[00:05:34] In fact, we've seen at Albertson's adoption of our digital properties

[00:05:37] and digital capabilities rapidly increase.

[00:05:40] And as we reported in our recent earnings, we're seeing digital sales up over 20%.

[00:05:46] Is that buy online pickup in store or is that delivery?

[00:05:50] It's a combination by online pickup in store and delivery as well.

[00:05:55] So we're just getting started.

[00:05:57] People, they try it.

[00:05:58] They realize what a massive time savings it is.

[00:06:01] They realize that the prices that Albertson's offers online

[00:06:06] are the exact same as the prices they offer in store.

[00:06:08] So they're only getting more of their money.

[00:06:10] The product offerings are the same.

[00:06:13] We have tools and capabilities that make it easy for them to find what they're

[00:06:17] looking for, like quick start card and buy it again that accounts for both

[00:06:21] their in store shopping trips as well as their digital shopping trips.

[00:06:25] So we're bringing that all together for them so they can build a basket

[00:06:28] and just clicks.

[00:06:30] Yeah.

[00:06:31] And I think what a lot of people don't realize is that millennials,

[00:06:35] which is the first generation to go up with the internet and the household,

[00:06:37] right? The first generation of digital natives, so to speak.

[00:06:40] The youngest millennials are actually as old as 30 years old right now.

[00:06:44] The oldest one, you'll as old as 45.

[00:06:46] So that's your core head of household shopper that is now millennial.

[00:06:51] And that was not the case 10 years ago when your core head of household

[00:06:55] shopper was a Gen X or who did not grow up with the internet.

[00:06:58] I was told.

[00:06:58] So I think part of it is just the demographic shift and the mindset

[00:07:02] and makeup of your core shopper where they have an expectation

[00:07:05] and a better intuitive understanding of this type of technology.

[00:07:10] That's totally right.

[00:07:11] They do, but that sometimes makes an industry who is behind in technology

[00:07:17] have a bigger gap to fill to catch up because they have expectations.

[00:07:22] They've been shopping online for as long as they can remember

[00:07:26] everything else they purchase in their subscriptions and everything else

[00:07:29] is already online.

[00:07:31] So they already know what they expect and you have to meet that

[00:07:35] and meet them where they are.

[00:07:37] So it made us take an even more giant leap than where a lot of other

[00:07:42] industries got to start and grow up with them.

[00:07:45] We had to just jump ahead and catch up to them for sure.

[00:07:49] And how price sensitive is the Albertian shopper

[00:07:52] and how much does price play a central role in your overall messaging?

[00:07:57] Every customer is price sensitive.

[00:07:58] Every customer wants a good what I would call value,

[00:08:03] regardless of that status, regardless of where they're shopping.

[00:08:08] Did they get good value?

[00:08:09] Whether that is a discount on the deal, a great service with a good product,

[00:08:16] bulk for a reasonable price, bulk assortment for a reasonable price.

[00:08:19] It's extremely important and even the higher income households

[00:08:23] are becoming more and more price sensitive.

[00:08:27] Yeah, I'm sure.

[00:08:28] And obviously a big part of you driving your business is maintaining

[00:08:32] your customer base and not having to find new ones just like any other business.

[00:08:36] So loyalty plays a huge role.

[00:08:38] And loyalty, I imagine plays a huge role in your job

[00:08:41] in terms of shopping experiences because you want to make sure that

[00:08:44] people are enjoying the experience and coming back over and over again.

[00:08:47] What are some of the tactics that you found successful at building

[00:08:49] that loyalty amongst your customer base?

[00:08:52] Yeah, well, you mentioned deals and price sensitivity

[00:08:55] deals for our loyal shoppers.

[00:08:58] When you sign up with an account, whether that's just putting in your phone

[00:09:01] number or downloading the app, you get access to all of your local stores.

[00:09:07] Deals you get access to digital only deals for each purchase.

[00:09:11] You earn rewards that you can redeem for cash off of your next order.

[00:09:15] All of this creates that loyalty flywheel.

[00:09:19] And then when you have capabilities in those digital properties,

[00:09:24] the ability to build a list and push it to cart or when you mistakenly build

[00:09:28] a cart and now you're going to go to the store and push that to list

[00:09:31] and organize that list by aisle or open in store mode and easily shop your list

[00:09:37] or get access to over 8000 proprietary chef created recipes

[00:09:42] that are shoppable with a button like you can literally plan

[00:09:45] a week's worth of recipes in under four minutes for a family of four to six

[00:09:50] in things like budget mode on the recipes so we can tailor the ingredients

[00:09:54] and we match to the recipe or the products that we match to the recipe

[00:09:59] ingredients based on your budget needs.

[00:10:01] Then when you start to experience all of these convenient tools,

[00:10:05] the Swiss Army knife of grocery tools,

[00:10:09] that really amplifies that loyalty find out because they're coming.

[00:10:13] They have deals, they have rewards, they have ways to save money

[00:10:17] or points to put to their next shop and all these convenience features

[00:10:22] that helps them shop the way they need to shop at that particular moment in time.

[00:10:27] For sure.

[00:10:28] And obviously, first party data is so incredibly important right now

[00:10:32] in this marketplace and so many brands that don't sell directly

[00:10:36] to the consumer are struggling in a world where we are entering

[00:10:40] a hopeless world, though Google recently backtracked a little bit from that.

[00:10:43] So how important is first party data

[00:10:46] and what are some of the ways that you guys are mining this data

[00:10:49] to be more contextually relevant to your customer base?

[00:10:52] Because I would think that all Albertsons customers aren't created equal

[00:10:55] in different segmentation within that.

[00:10:58] So how are you looking at first party data and its growing importance over time?

[00:11:02] The first thing is the customer's data is the customer's data

[00:11:05] and we use that and we protect our customers deeply

[00:11:08] and we use that to give them their individualized experience.

[00:11:13] Customers shop for groceries every week.

[00:11:17] Some customers more than once a week, but the frequency of those transaction

[00:11:22] gives us an opportunity through that data to make those shopping journeys

[00:11:26] seamless and easy for the customer.

[00:11:30] Buy it again.

[00:11:31] All of that everything they bought in their last trip available for them

[00:11:35] to add today, helpful recommendations where we know

[00:11:39] that you buy bananas every week and you forgot to add them.

[00:11:42] Did you forget to add helpful recommendations across the journey

[00:11:47] as well as helping discovery, something that we're constantly told by our customers

[00:11:52] is like discovering newness or those impulse purchases is hard online.

[00:11:57] Customers often like to walk the stores to see new products

[00:12:01] or what the outposts are or what new fruit they might like to try

[00:12:06] depending on the types of shopper they are.

[00:12:08] And so understanding what they've tried and liked in the past

[00:12:12] allows us to make that moment of discovery, find a new brand,

[00:12:17] see a limited edition Star Wars Oreo.

[00:12:20] We can proactively expose that to customers when we know

[00:12:23] that that's the type of shopping that they like to do it.

[00:12:26] They like to be inspired and they like to discover

[00:12:29] versus a transactional shopper that's like I have my list.

[00:12:32] I know what's on sale.

[00:12:33] I just want to get that and get out.

[00:12:35] We can also cater to customers as well.

[00:12:38] That's interesting because as you speak, it dawns on me that

[00:12:41] by doing this, you're really increasing the switching costs with a customer

[00:12:44] because the more you know about them,

[00:12:48] the better of an experience you can give them over time.

[00:12:50] And we'll talk about some new technological advancements in a second.

[00:12:54] But over time, you basically know your customer

[00:12:57] and it's so hard for them to go somewhere else where

[00:13:00] the store doesn't know the customer.

[00:13:02] So why wouldn't they stay with you?

[00:13:04] And by you driving things like Discovery,

[00:13:06] you're driving a higher basket size for your customer,

[00:13:08] which drives our ROI along the way.

[00:13:11] Totally. If we do right by our customers,

[00:13:14] they don't want to leave and then we have to lean in on the convenience.

[00:13:18] We have to lean in on the product selection.

[00:13:21] We have to lean in on non food necessarily.

[00:13:24] We have to make sure that we have their favorite toothpaste

[00:13:26] and paper towels that they want.

[00:13:29] We have to offer programs that are compelling against certain competitors

[00:13:33] that make convenience easy with subscription programs.

[00:13:36] So Albert Sins actually has our subscription program for customers

[00:13:40] where they can put 60% of their basket if they want on autopilot.

[00:13:44] Because we do see that customers orders week over week,

[00:13:48] 60% of the items are the same.

[00:13:50] We'll be right back with the speed of culture after a few words from our sponsors.

[00:13:53] So a lot of what you're talking about obviously depends on

[00:13:57] technology that you can deploy.

[00:13:59] And obviously we're in a world here in 2024

[00:14:01] where AI is the key buzzword.

[00:14:04] How has the evolution of the tools that you can tap into as a marketer

[00:14:09] change and got more sophisticated over time?

[00:14:12] And where do you think those tools are going

[00:14:15] to potentially unlock new capabilities for someone like yourself

[00:14:18] on behalf of Albert Sins?

[00:14:20] The rate at which technology is evolving has never been faster.

[00:14:26] It can almost make your brain spin sometimes.

[00:14:30] But certain things that we've really found inspiring for our customers

[00:14:34] and things that we weren't able to do before,

[00:14:37] something like generative AI came on to the scene

[00:14:41] was ingest our customers' recipes.

[00:14:44] So one of the things they've always told us is,

[00:14:46] gosh, I love shopping these recipes.

[00:14:47] It makes my life so easy, but I have a bunch of my own.

[00:14:50] How can you make those shoppable?

[00:14:52] And we were like, how can we make those shoppable?

[00:14:55] Well, at the intersection leveraging Gen AI

[00:14:57] and a few other technologies, we're actually able to ingest

[00:15:01] customer recipes, whether they upload a picture into their private app,

[00:15:05] whether they upload manual or they input a URL.

[00:15:10] We can ingest that recipe, make sense of it,

[00:15:13] match it back to our product catalog

[00:15:15] and make it instantly shoppable for them,

[00:15:18] essentially creating their own digital recipe book.

[00:15:21] So these are moments where you're like, OK, cognitive load.

[00:15:24] They've liked some recipes.

[00:15:25] They've got all their browsers saved.

[00:15:27] They like some recipes and old traditional cookbooks.

[00:15:30] I've got cards from my grandmother for the Gilea, her pierogi recipes.

[00:15:35] Like, can we bring that all together for customers before?

[00:15:39] We couldn't. Now we can.

[00:15:41] And where do I think it's going? No idea.

[00:15:44] But I do think there is a lot of productivity gains for businesses

[00:15:49] that I think is going to be that continue to be a major unlock

[00:15:52] with this new generative AI technology

[00:15:55] and where it's going for customers.

[00:15:57] I'm really intrigued by the agent capabilities,

[00:16:00] not just a standard chat, but agents that are smart

[00:16:04] and intuitive and conversational, that can actually

[00:16:08] change a conversation with a customer from, hey, I need items

[00:16:12] X, Y, Z to what do you want to eat?

[00:16:15] We'll populate the items for you.

[00:16:17] Yeah. I mean, I think people could have their own digit Alpertons shopper

[00:16:21] over time, your Alpertons digital agent.

[00:16:23] And then you're putting this in.

[00:16:25] It has your historical information, but it knows information about your family.

[00:16:29] And maybe it knows it has access to your calendar and it knows

[00:16:32] that you're traveling over the month of August.

[00:16:34] So you don't need as much of certain things because you don't want them to spoil.

[00:16:38] But over time, the more it knows about you.

[00:16:40] And I think that's the opportunity for brands with AI is

[00:16:44] if you gain enough trust with the customer where they're connecting

[00:16:47] third party data inputs, whether it be their calendar or their budget

[00:16:51] or their recipes, that's a starting point.

[00:16:54] The more and more of that that you can get, you're essentially building

[00:16:56] a brain like an LLM that's dedicated to our customer.

[00:17:00] And the agent activates on that LLM and basically starts to make recommendations

[00:17:05] and then takes away all the cognitive load.

[00:17:07] That's ultimately where it's scary, but also it adds so much value

[00:17:11] to the customer because the one thing we all need more of is time.

[00:17:14] Right? We all need time.

[00:17:16] Right. And Alpertons mission is to bring people together around

[00:17:19] the joys of food and inspire well being.

[00:17:21] And the only way you can do that is by giving people back time.

[00:17:25] Absolutely. So let's talk a little bit about you and your career.

[00:17:28] So before Albertsons, you spent six years at Wayfair,

[00:17:32] which obviously wasn't e-commerce darling, especially during the pandemic.

[00:17:37] And I see you were there through the pandemic and a very impactful

[00:17:39] business in terms of the evolution of e-commerce.

[00:17:43] And now you're in your fourth year at Albertsons.

[00:17:46] What have you done across your career before that at Perielus?

[00:17:50] And how have you managed to stay relevant in your career?

[00:17:53] Keep your finger on the pulse of where things are going.

[00:17:56] Obviously, we're just talking about all these technological

[00:17:57] environments and you have to have a certain level of savviness

[00:18:00] in that area as well.

[00:18:02] So talk to me about how you spend time developing yourself.

[00:18:06] Well, you know, I grew up in traditional fashion,

[00:18:09] merchandising and design, working for traditional fashion houses

[00:18:14] like Calvin Klein and Perielus, Donna Karen.

[00:18:18] And I actually thought I'd always be in fashion, right?

[00:18:21] I thought I would always be a merchandiser designer.

[00:18:25] It taught me amazing business rigor.

[00:18:29] It taught me absolute customer obsession because when you are

[00:18:33] merchandising and designing, let's say a set of swimwear,

[00:18:37] you have six weeks to sell it.

[00:18:39] You have five square feet of physical retail space.

[00:18:45] You get three styles, three tops, three bottoms, six total.

[00:18:50] And it was an extra long winter and coats aren't off the floor yet.

[00:18:55] There is like no stress like that.

[00:18:58] And there is no customer obsession that can be learned

[00:19:03] better than something like that because you have to get it right.

[00:19:07] You do not have a window to not get it right.

[00:19:10] So it taught me the business rigor,

[00:19:14] but it also taught me the customer obsession rigor.

[00:19:17] Truly, un-fucking-the-trends.

[00:19:19] Not just that blue is trending.

[00:19:22] Well, what about the blue and why blue?

[00:19:25] And how do you get that blue to attract a customer from five feet away

[00:19:30] when you only have five seconds to capture their attention

[00:19:33] on a huge department store floor?

[00:19:35] And so that was just great training.

[00:19:39] And as I came up through that industry,

[00:19:43] in those positions I was watching kind of the slow

[00:19:47] some may call it a demise,

[00:19:49] they call it a change,

[00:19:50] they call it an evolution of department stores.

[00:19:53] Traditional retail was massively changing.

[00:19:56] Flashtails were the big thing.

[00:19:58] Everything was moving online.

[00:20:00] Fast fashion. Fast fashion was evolving.

[00:20:03] That's right. H&M, Zara, all of that was hitting the scene.

[00:20:06] And I knew deep down that I had to evolve.

[00:20:12] I couldn't be in this industry

[00:20:14] whether I wanted to say in fashion or move to another one

[00:20:16] without deeply understanding technology and e-commerce.

[00:20:21] And I was selling product at the time to like Macy's.com.

[00:20:24] Of course, I was considered a door at Macy's

[00:20:26] in order to learn of the traditional retailers.

[00:20:29] But then that was the extent of my e-commerce experience.

[00:20:33] So I set out on a journey at the end of 2014 to start over.

[00:20:38] I essentially thought I needed to start over,

[00:20:40] read everything I could on technology,

[00:20:42] had no idea what I would do for a tech company.

[00:20:45] And the stars aligned and I met folks from Wayfair

[00:20:49] and they were at a really interesting intersection

[00:20:51] in their journey as well, where they had,

[00:20:54] at the time, I think their slogan was actually

[00:20:56] a zillion things home.

[00:20:57] They had done a great job at curating all of the suppliers.

[00:21:02] But they needed help merchandising.

[00:21:04] So one thing I knew how to do,

[00:21:06] how to take this three million product options

[00:21:08] and organize the catalog not by supplier that nobody knew,

[00:21:13] but by style and price point.

[00:21:15] And so I joined Wayfair

[00:21:17] and that is where I got my crash course in technology.

[00:21:22] Amazing company, by the way.

[00:21:24] Yes, it was a darling.

[00:21:25] It will always be a darling in my heart.

[00:21:27] They taught me everything

[00:21:29] and they gave me so much leeway to do product management.

[00:21:32] I think I even wrote a line of code at one point,

[00:21:35] first and only line.

[00:21:36] I ran a business called Exclusive Brands.

[00:21:39] I got to develop over 100 brands and trademark them,

[00:21:43] create curation tools and product technology

[00:21:46] and reorganize the catalog and the taxonomy

[00:21:48] and help people shop for furniture online.

[00:21:51] It was an amazing, amazing experience

[00:21:54] and just an amazing learning opportunity.

[00:21:57] And I got to build a team from scratch,

[00:21:59] which as an emerging leader, you led teams.

[00:22:03] And I had led teams in the past

[00:22:04] and I was put into specific roles that had teams.

[00:22:07] But here at Wayfair, I was end of one.

[00:22:10] Way more entrepreneurial, right?

[00:22:12] Yeah, it was much more entrepreneurial.

[00:22:14] And I got to build a team over time

[00:22:16] based on how the customer responded to what we did.

[00:22:20] And so by the end of my career,

[00:22:21] there I was writing what we call our Exclusive Brands program

[00:22:24] and it was just the most amazing opportunity.

[00:22:28] And then I took everything that I learned there

[00:22:30] and all of my traditional fashion,

[00:22:33] merchandising and design and brought it to my next role here

[00:22:36] at Albertsons to help them on their digital transformation

[00:22:39] really begin to reimagine that customer experience.

[00:22:44] And I talked about you wrote a single line of code.

[00:22:46] Maybe you'll write more one day, you never know.

[00:22:48] But how much time are you spending actually hands on keyboard

[00:22:51] with some of these tools and customer experience

[00:22:53] and data analysis, et cetera?

[00:22:55] Or are you leaving that to the agencies and the people that work for you

[00:22:58] and you more just playing more of a strategic role?

[00:23:01] No, both.

[00:23:02] I would say hands on a lot of keyboards right now, not coding,

[00:23:06] but there are programs that I still locked as a product manager for.

[00:23:10] And I am a call myself a manager doer perhaps.

[00:23:15] I really like to understand what's happening in the experience.

[00:23:20] I spend all of my time here on this guy,

[00:23:23] checking out all of our variety of apps every single day.

[00:23:27] If there's an issue, I'm probably the one that's going to find it.

[00:23:31] Exactly.

[00:23:33] And you mentioned kind of running a team at Wayfair.

[00:23:36] In your opinion, moving forward, if there's a young professional

[00:23:39] that wants to come in and be in your seat one day,

[00:23:42] what are some of the areas you think they should be focusing on?

[00:23:45] Particularly earlier in their career to set them up for a long term

[00:23:48] success in digital marketing space?

[00:23:51] I would call myself maybe an expert in customer experiences,

[00:23:56] maybe not even an expert.

[00:23:57] I just have a passion for them, definitely not an expert

[00:24:00] in digital marketing per se, but somebody who wants to be

[00:24:04] on the customer facing side, whether that's marketing

[00:24:08] or product development, building the technology

[00:24:11] and working with the engineering team that's doing the code

[00:24:13] for leading a team of business professionals

[00:24:18] who are bringing to the go to market strategy

[00:24:21] for new products and services to life.

[00:24:23] Any of those roles, I think you just have to have a passion for the customer

[00:24:27] and you have to be willing to do whatever it takes to understand

[00:24:32] the customer.

[00:24:33] For in my role, you know, I've been in digital for a long time now,

[00:24:37] like getting out from behind the computer

[00:24:39] and you're doing digital experiences go in stores.

[00:24:42] And I don't just mean to use it stores, work in them,

[00:24:45] shop them, cut meat behind the deli counter

[00:24:49] if you're in traditional retail or a traditional grocery retail.

[00:24:52] If you're in fashion, like go work the stores, learn the customer

[00:24:57] and use those experience from that.

[00:24:59] It'll make you better and vice versa.

[00:25:01] If you're working in stores, spend a lot of time

[00:25:04] on the digital properties to truly understand how customers

[00:25:07] see their bridge in the only channel experience as they flip

[00:25:11] flop back and forth between in store and online shopping.

[00:25:14] So I think the best thing anybody who wants one of these types

[00:25:17] of roles can do is be super customer obsessed.

[00:25:21] We think there's problems.

[00:25:22] We can imagine solutions.

[00:25:24] We put them out in the market and customers don't use them.

[00:25:26] Why? Because it didn't actually solve their problem or their need.

[00:25:31] And so that's why I go back to when somebody on my team asked me,

[00:25:35] what can I do?

[00:25:36] What should I be focused on like 226 times a day?

[00:25:40] Customers are thinking about food.

[00:25:42] How do we help them 226 times a day?

[00:25:47] And when you start to orient your thinking,

[00:25:51] whether regardless of what industry you're in around those customer problems,

[00:25:55] it changes the way you see developing the customer experience.

[00:26:00] That's a fascinating stat.

[00:26:02] And I think throughout our conversation,

[00:26:04] it's clear that you're really just focused on what you call cognitive load.

[00:26:08] I haven't heard that term before relative to your role when you do.

[00:26:12] But it makes so much sense because ultimately it's about mind share

[00:26:15] and about making the customers life easier.

[00:26:18] And that sounds like really what you're trying to accomplish.

[00:26:22] And it makes so much of the other thing observation I have

[00:26:24] in terms of how you answered the question of how young people should prepare is.

[00:26:28] And we hear this a lot as they need to be curious.

[00:26:30] They need to really want to know what the customer thinks,

[00:26:33] how they shop, how they experience your stores, etc.

[00:26:36] Yeah.

[00:26:37] And I think like the other thing and I'm going to sound so old when I say that.

[00:26:41] I'm going to say anyway, there is no shortcut for hard work.

[00:26:44] There is no shortcut to the top.

[00:26:47] There is no fast track without hard work.

[00:26:52] And some of the other thing I always tell people is

[00:26:55] you might want a different job.

[00:26:57] You might feel that you are aspiring to be above where you are.

[00:27:03] But the only way you can get above where you are or pass where you are today

[00:27:07] is to kill the job you have.

[00:27:09] You have to crush it.

[00:27:10] That's how you fast track yourself.

[00:27:12] And remember that no job as you're learning is below you.

[00:27:17] Do them all and do them all well because I don't want to call employee, right?

[00:27:22] You'll be better at whatever it is that you're doing.

[00:27:24] You will be a better leader because you've done all the jobs

[00:27:28] and you yourself will be better and have more knowledge because of the jobs.

[00:27:33] Absolutely. I think a lot of people in this Instagram

[00:27:36] obsessed each are just they lack patience, you know, because they see everybody else

[00:27:41] who they think is doing better than them because of that.

[00:27:43] They're looking ahead and to your point not focusing on the job in front of them

[00:27:47] and just crushing that job in front of them, which really will set them up

[00:27:50] for the future, not only exerting their path to go to higher levels,

[00:27:54] but also the learning you get by doing it, actually doing the work.

[00:27:58] It's really what's going to set you up throughout your career,

[00:28:01] which is clear that that has been the case for you.

[00:28:03] So to wrap up here, Jill, and this has been such a great discussion.

[00:28:06] We'd love to hear if you have a quote or mantra that you like to live by.

[00:28:09] You seem like such a thoughtful person.

[00:28:11] I just want to know if anything comes to mind there.

[00:28:13] I do. I always tell people that I'm here to make it better

[00:28:17] for those that come behind me, whether that's being a working mom

[00:28:21] in the workforce, whether that's being a female leader,

[00:28:26] whether that's just being a digital leader or an old fashioned

[00:28:29] merchandiser who made the transition into digital.

[00:28:33] Whenever that means to the individual that I'm either leading

[00:28:37] or mentoring, my stamp is to make it better and easier

[00:28:43] for those that come behind.

[00:28:44] And I also apply that to customers.

[00:28:46] Everything that we do, every customer that comes and experiences

[00:28:50] that as we continue to progress, they should have a better,

[00:28:53] more robust, more personalized experience.

[00:28:56] I love that.

[00:28:57] Well, I want to thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and your wisdom

[00:29:00] today on Speed of Culture by against it's so great.

[00:29:03] And on all honesty, I definitely want to check out Albertsons now.

[00:29:06] Maybe just not in my region where I live,

[00:29:09] but I want to see this experience come to light.

[00:29:11] So you can treat me enough as a customer.

[00:29:14] I think you'd have to leave New York City.

[00:29:16] I know. Exactly.

[00:29:17] But there are kings and Balducis, I believe in your stratosphere.

[00:29:24] Well, I'm going to hit it off and I'm going to get back to you

[00:29:26] and let you know what I think.

[00:29:27] But I really appreciate you sharing everything with us.

[00:29:29] And I can't wait for Artie to hear it.

[00:29:31] On behalf of Susie and AdWiTeen, thanks again to Jill Pavelovich,

[00:29:34] SVP of Digital Shopping Experiences at Albertsons.com

[00:29:36] for joining us today.

[00:29:38] Be sure to subscribe, rate, review the Speed of Culture podcast

[00:29:40] on your favorite podcast platform.

[00:29:41] Until next time, see you soon, everyone. Take care.

[00:29:48] The Speed of Culture is brought to you by Susie

[00:29:50] as part of the AdWiT podcast network and Agust Creator Network.

[00:29:54] You can listen, subscribe to all AdWiT's podcasts

[00:29:56] by visiting adweek.com slash podcast.

[00:29:59] To find out more about Susie, head to Susie.com

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[00:30:12] On behalf of the team here at Susie, thanks for listening.