Find These Red Oval Partners at The NGA Show 2026

This 2-hour forum will feature innovative speakers leading the way for tech disruptions in the retail industry. As big retailers invest in major tech initiatives, it becomes more important than ever for independent and regional retailers to identify and work with exceptional partners. Join moderators Kevin Coupe, Michael Sansolo, and Tom Furphy as they unpack insights from today's leaders.

• 10:50 AM Breakout - Defining Effective Collaboration
  • Instacart & Allegiance Retail Services, facilitated by Tom Furphy (Grand 111)
  • SAS & RSA America - County Fair Foods, facilitated by Michael Sansolo (Grand 112)

Financial Forum | 2:15-4:15 p.m. | Grand 123-124 | Houchens Insurance Group

Elevate Your Financial Insight and Improve Your Outcomes

Independent grocers are operating in an increasingly demanding environment. Rising costs, labor uncertainty, changing consumer behavior, and growing industry consolidation require operators to make faster, more informed decisions with greater confidence.

The 2026 FMS Financial Forum is designed to help independent grocers translate financial insights into action. Through three focused sessions, industry experts will explore how to understand financial performance, manage controllable costs, and prepare for business continuity through effective succession planning.

• Controlling Insurance Costs | Presented by Brian Burgess and Wells Gunn of Houchens Insurance Group
  Explore effective methods for managing insurance expenses through risk awareness, operational discipline, and proactive cost control strategies.

Monday, February 2

8:00- 9:00 a.m. | Main Stage (Grand Ballroom) | Sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company

Shaping the Shopper Journey: AI's Role in the Future of Supermarkets & The Woman of the Year Award Presentation

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most talked about and transformative forces in business today, yet for many in the supermarket industry, its true impact remains unclear. How will AI shape the shopper journey? What opportunities—and risks—does it present for retailers?

This session, presented in collaboration with the Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council, will share early findings from a new study on AI in grocery. Attendees will hear directly from council members as they react to initial insights, discuss practical applications, and explore how supermarkets can prepare for the future of AI-driven shopper engagement.

Sponsored by Coca-Cola & Women Grocers Association.

9:15-10:00 a.m. | Grand 113 | Webstop

Engagement that Lasts: Evolving Your Marketing Mix for Today's Shopper

As shopper behavior evolves, retailers’ marketing must adapt to keep pace. Today’s grocer is faced with navigating various shopper preferences as they seek to maintain high levels of customer engagement. This means taking a critical look at their current marketing mix and finding areas to update and adjust. From the weekly ad to in-store displays to coupons, each tactic must be analyzed and adapted to fit today’s environment and keep shoppers coming back.

During this panel discussion, you’ll hear how select retailers are modernizing their marketing to appeal to their current and potential shoppers. From hybrid print/digital approaches to digital-only circulation, retailers will share how their strategies have delivered and what they are planning moving forward. Whether you are a retailer who embraced digital transformation enthusiastically or a retailer who has avoided innovation entirely, this session will leave you with actionable takeaways to keep your marketing effective and relevant in the years to come.

9:15-10:00 a.m. | Grand 114 | BRdata

Tech-Driven Transformation: How Grocers Are Using AI to Simplify Operations

Join a panel of forward-thinking independent retailers as they share how artificial intelligence and automation are transforming the way they run their businesses. From improving inventory accuracy to optimizing labor and financial processes, these grocers are using technology to solve real operational pain points. Learn what tools they’re using, what’s worked (and what hasn’t), and how they’ve brought their teams along in the process. This session offers a practical, peer-led look at where AI is making the biggest impact on grocery operations today.

9:15-10:00 a.m. | Grand 123 | IGA, The Coca-Cola Company, NielsenIQ

Unlocking Independent Grocery's Untapped Retail Media Potential: What CPG Brands Want, What's Missing, and What Comes Next

Despite representing millions of high-value shoppers and more than $250BN in annual spend, the independent grocery segment has captured only a small fraction of national retail media spending, and far less than projections. Why? Because from the CPG brand and media-agency perspective, independent grocery retail remains fragmented, operationally inconsistent, and hard to buy.

In this candid discussion, senior retail media leaders from top CPG manufacturers share what brands really want from retail media partners, and why independent grocery retailers have yet to unlock their enormous potential.

This session will help retailers, wholesalers, and technology partners understand exactly what brands need to increase investment and will creatively illuminate how new models (including consortium-style approaches) will unlock national media scale for the independent segment.

10:15-11:00 a.m. | Grand 113 | ShopToCook, an AppCard Company

Interactive Digital Media: How In-Store Digital Change the Game for Independent Retailers

For years, whether through web, social, email, or other channels, digital marketing efforts have focused on reaching shoppers before they make the trip to the store. Meanwhile, once the shopper walked through the front door of the store, there was a gap in digital engagement at the most important part of the shopping experience – the point where purchase decisions are made! Learn from a panel of retailers who have successfully closed that digital gap in order to enhance the in-store experience for their shoppers and increase accessibility to their digital programs.

10:15-11:00 a.m. | Grand 122 | Flipp

Bridging the Flyer Gap: How to Reach the Shoppers You're Missing, Every Week

The weekly circular used to do the heavy lifting and has been a long-standing retail staple but today’s shopper journeys are anything but linear. In an increasingly fragmented media landscape, retailers can no longer rely on a single tool or touchpoint to influence behavior. This session explores how retailers can stay top-of-mind in a world where conversion can happen in seconds, and relevance requires 5–10 touchpoints.

We’ll unveil a fresh, shopper-first framework designed to help you reach the right audiences with the right content. We’ll focus on maximizing access, increasing frequency, and delivering value-driven content that actually meets customers where they are, and reaches those that you’re missing. Whether you’re flyer-first, digital-forward, or somewhere in between, you’ll learn how to evolve your promotional strategy to drive measurable results (not just impressions) and stay top-of-mind, week in and week out.

10:15-11:00 a.m. | Grand 124 | Lipari Foods

Labels that Sell: Claims & Certifications Driving Today's Shopper

Today’s grocery are taking a new approach when analyzing what’s printed on a product’s label—and those words can make or break a purchase decision. This session will explore the product claims and certifications that are capturing shopper attention across today’s grocery aisles. From sustainability and sourcing to health, wellness, and transparency, attendees will gain insight into which labels resonate most with modern consumers and why. Designed for independent grocers, this session will help retailers better understand evolving shopper expectations and how label claims influence trust, perception, and buying behavior.

Key takeaways include:

• The most impactful product claims and certifications influencing today’s shoppers
• Emerging label trends to watch as consumer values continue to evolve

11:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. | Boulevard Stage | NielsenIQ

Reimagining Grocery: Building Borderless, Predictive, and Consumer-Centric Ecosystems

The grocery industry isn’t disappearing—it’s expanding into new possibilities. The winners in this new frontier will be those who stop thinking in terms of shelves and start designing ecosystems that anticipate, adapt, and integrate seamlessly into consumers’ lives. As consumer expectations evolve and technology accelerates, grocers have the chance to lead a transformation that makes shopping more intuitive, personalized, and purpose-driven. The future isn’t about losing control—it’s about gaining influence in ways that matter most to consumers.

Tuesday, February 3

9:15-10:00 a.m.| Grand 113 | Ideal

Storytelling and Independent Grocery - THE Competitive Edge

In times of increased competition and economic pressures, storytelling is possibly the most powerful tool independent grocers can capitalize on to differentiate themselves from their big box retail competitors. The independent grocer has the unique advantage of connecting community, heritage, relatioships and so much more. In this breakout session, we will explore how retailers are leveraging this advantage within some key areas:

• Community involvement and commitment - highlighting partnerships with schools, local businesses and charities, community events and milestones
• Personal relationships and emotional connections with customers - sharing nostalgic stories about the independent's heritage and personal connection between shoppers and store associates
• Unique and local products and relevancy, in-store experiences and elevated service levels - sharing local farmers, producers and artisans who supply fresh, unique, hard-to-locate items plus leveraging in-store "theater"

9:15-10:00 a.m.| Grand 123 | IGA, The Coca-Cola Company, Webstop

Recipes as Retail's Untapped Growth Engine: How Inspiration, Paid Media & CPG Partnerships Convert Shoppers into Buyers

Independent grocers are fighting for shopper attention in an increasingly digital, inspiration-driven world. Today, more than 70% of consumers begin their meal planning online—not in the circular, not in the store—and whoever captures that moment of inspiration often wins the entire grocery trip. Yet most independent retailers are not capitalizing on one of the most powerful and proven tools for driving trips, bigger baskets, and loyalty: shoppable recipes amplified through paid media and CPG partnerships.

This high-impact panel will bring together digital retail experts, CPG brand leaders, and commerce strategists to demonstrate how recipes—once considered “content”—have become a measurable conversion engine. Attendees will see how retailers are using recipe hubs, QR-enabled in-store displays, and targeted paid media to pull shoppers into a whole-meal mindset that increases basket size by 7+ items, lifts cross-category sales, and strengthens store preference. At the same time, CPG sponsors gain new high-ROI opportunities to integrate products into meal solutions, fund retail media campaigns, and drive household penetration in ways static ads cannot.

For NGA Show attendees, this session delivers actionable, margin-growing strategies that can be implemented by independents of any size. It also reinforces the growing importance of retailer-CPG collaboration, which helps independents unlock funding, media investments, and innovation typically reserved for national chains.

Looking for the full IGA schedule at The NGA Show? Click here.