From Online to Last Mile: How Digital, AI and Flash Fulfillment Are Powering Albertsons Companies’ Omnichannel Growth

From Online to Last Mile: How Digital, AI and Flash™ Fulfillment Are Powering Albertsons Companies' Omnichannel Growth

As grocery retail continues to evolve, one truth is becoming increasingly clear: sustainable growth isn't driven by a single channel or technology. It's built by strengthening the connections among loyalty, digital engagement, eCommerce and fulfillment, anchored in trust, relevance, and operational excellence powered by a seamless, cross-channel experience using reliable technology.

At Albertsons Companies, our fiscal year 2025 results reinforced the strength of our differentiated omnichannel and loyalty ecosystem. That ecosystem is designed to deepen customer engagement, extend lifetime value and support a seamless journey across in-store, digital and eCommerce experiences, increasingly made easier and more effective with our people and customers using AI throughout the ecosystem.

Digital and eCommerce at Scale

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, digital penetration surpassed 10% of sales, marking a new milestone for our omnichannel ecosystem. That momentum reflects how deeply digital is now embedded in how customers plan, shop, and engage with us.

Growth continues to be driven primarily by our first-party ecosystem. Nearly 90% of our 16% digital sales growth in Q4 came from our own digital platforms, reflecting strong customer adoption and ongoing improvements to the end-to-end experience. As customers engage more deeply with our app, we're seeing stronger retention, deeper relationships and more durable value over time.

AI is playing an increasingly important role in simplifying the grocery experience. Our AI-enabled shopping assistant - already demonstrating meaningful lift in basket size - helps customers plan meals, discover products and complete trips more efficiently. Just as important, these early proof points are fueling acceleration and allowing us to move faster from insight to improvement as customer adoption grows.

"What's exciting is how quickly we're learning from these early proof points. As customers engage with AI-enabled shopping, it's helping us accelerate improvements and unlock more ways for AI to assist shoppers across their journeys." - Jill Pavlovich

We remain grounded in real, everyday grocery needs rather than novelty. As adoption increases, these learnings are informing continuous improvements we're making, like expanding how AI can completely remove the chore from grocery shopping and make it more fun and delightful.

Flash™ Fulfillment: Speed Powered by Local Stores and Communities

Just as important as the digital front end is how orders are fulfilled. Grocery shopping is deeply local, shaped by fresh food, timing and trust we build through every customer connection. Our store-based fulfillment model is built for those realities. Flash pickup and delivery bring that model to life, meeting customers' everyday food needs on their terms and on their timelines.

Flash delivery offers fast, reliable grocery fulfillment with delivery available as soon as 30 minutes*. Customers often turn to Flash for quick wins such as last-minute lunchbox items before the school bell rings or a hot meal from our deli on a busy night. What continues to surprise shoppers, however, is that Flash isn't limited to small baskets. Many are delighted to see maximum basket size orders promised and delivered as soon as half an hour.

That experience isn't magic. It's an operational advantage built at the community level in our stores. Flash is powered by stores embedded in the neighborhoods we serve, with people who know the products and the local customer base, using on-demand picking supported by our AcuPick platform to seamlessly coordinate curbside pick-up or with last-mile delivery partners.

"Flash isn't just about speed. It's about designing fulfillment around how customers shop, using our local stores and technology together to deliver reliability and convenience at scale." - Stephen Menaquale

These capabilities enable speed without tradeoffs. We continue to fulfill more than half of digital orders in under three hours, and the vast majority of delivery households are eligible for 30-minute flash delivery.

Importantly, this convenience is designed to remain accessible and value driven. Flash delivery is priced at $11.95 for all households and $2 for FreshPass® members, with item price always being the same as the in-store price.

Loyalty Membership is Our Front Door to Omnichannel Engagement

Underpinning our digital and eCommerce momentum is one of our strongest competitive advantages: our loyalty ecosystem.

In fiscal 2025, membership grew 12% to more than 51 million members, driving more frequent transactions, easier reward redemption and higher spend among engaged households. Customers are gravitating toward immediate, relevant value, reflecting the importance of simplicity in a value-focused environment.

As loyalty engagement deepens, it fuels a flywheel that benefits customers, brand partners and the business. Because these experiences are built and operated within our own first-party ecosystem, we're able to learn faster, improve continuously, and apply AI responsibly while preserving trust and service quality.

Growing Our Future

Our digital and ecommerce business continues to be a strong growth engine, supported by one of the largest loyalty ecosystems in the U.S., increasingly enhanced by AI-enabled experiences, and differentiated by a store-based fulfillment model designed for speed at scale and building strong, local connections with customers.

By accelerating digital and ecommerce adoption, we've built an omnichannel model designed to endure. Together, these elements reflect a disciplined approach to growth by scaling what works, investing where customers are responding, and applying AI where it delivers real value and empowers our people and customers.

*The Service is available only in select areas and the operating hours of the Service vary by store. Please check with your local store for more details. The maximum basket size for an order placed through the Service is 35 items; provided, however that this maximum may be reduced based on your delivery location (i.e., delivery locations further from store location may be subject to reduced maximum for Service delivery option). Not all items sold by Albertsons are available to be ordered through the Service. Any displayed fulfillment time is not a guarantee and is subject to traffic and weather conditions.