From Part-Time Cashier to Fortune 500 CCO: Amy McClellan's Shopper-First Approach To Grocery
Join us for an exclusive interview with Amy McClellan, newly appointed Chief Commercial Officer at SpartanNash, as she shares her journey from part-time cashier to Fortune 500 executive. Discover how SpartanNash is putting shoppers at the center of every commercial decision, leveraging technology partnerships with Simbe and serving diverse customers from independent grocers to military commissaries.
🕒 TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Amy's new Chief Commercial Officer role at SpartanNash
2:00 - Strategic direction: putting shoppers at the center
3:28 - "Delivering ingredients for a better life" across diverse customers
4:46 - Innovation through product, service, and convenience
5:55 - Technology partnerships: Simbe robots, AI ordering, pricing solutions
7:04 - From part-time cashier to Fortune 500 executive
8:28 - The community service mission of retail
Thanks to Simbe for making our SpartanNash Conference coverage possible!
#SpartanNash #ChiefCommercialOfficer #WholesaleGrocery #IndependentGrocers #RetailStrategy #ShopperInsights #RetailTechnology #Fortune500 #GroceryIndustry #RetailLeadership
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Transcript
Hello, everyone.
Speaker A:This is Omnitok Retail.
Speaker A:I'm Anne Mazinga.
Speaker B:And I'm Chris Walton.
Speaker A:And we are coming to you once again, day two here of the Food Solutions Expo by Spartan Nash.
Speaker A:We are in the Simbi and Omnitok booth here at the show.
Speaker A:We're so excited because we get to have back one of our favorite guests.
Speaker A:We have Amy McClellan.
Speaker A:She's the EVP and chief commercial Officer for Spartan Nash.
Speaker A:Amy, welcome back.
Speaker A:How are you?
Speaker C:Thank you for having me.
Speaker C:I'm excited to be a favorite here, so I am humbled and honored.
Speaker A:You walked up and my face lit up.
Speaker A:I was excited to talk to you again, so thank you for making the time.
Speaker C:Very cool.
Speaker B:Anne got a big smile on her face.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So as Ann mentioned, we interviewed you last year, I think about a year ago, maybe a little over a year ago.
Speaker B:So tell our audience.
Speaker B:For those maybe that don't remember or maybe are new to our program, tell us about yourself and also about your role.
Speaker C:Sure.
Speaker C:Great to be back.
Speaker C:And I am the EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at Spartan Ash.
Speaker C:It's actually a newly created role.
Speaker C:So I transitioned into this role just a couple of months ago from the chief Customer officer role where I was responsible for the wholesale revenue in our business and services for our independent grocers.
Speaker C:So in this chief Commercial officer role, I'm also now responsible for the merchandising organization.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker C:And we're thinking about the business more commercially as we deliver plans to both our corporately owned retail stores and our independents.
Speaker A:Will you dive into that a little bit more, Amy, and just explain, because that.
Speaker A:That's a big announcement, I think, for the organization.
Speaker A:But what does it say, do you think about kind of the strategic direction of Spartan Dash and where your focus is going to be with that change to your title?
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker C:First and foremost, it puts shoppers in the center of every commercial discussion at Spartan Nash.
Speaker C:And so we are focused on solutions for our wholesale customers that deliver what shoppers need in their stores.
Speaker C:We run a significant retail business at Spartan Ash.
Speaker C:And so leveraging the insights from that retail business to deliver what our independent wholesale customer needs.
Speaker C:That is the idea behind the commercial organization, and it's our mission to deliver growth.
Speaker B:So, Amy, let's put your feet to the fire on that a little bit.
Speaker B:How do you actually do that, though?
Speaker B:So how do you take the insights from the wholesale business and bring them back in and vice versa, you know.
Speaker C:A lot of different ways.
Speaker C:So putting the salespeople in the same room with the merchandising people, you know, we can share firsthand experiences from our independents out in the field to help the merchants better inform discussions with the vendor community.
Speaker C:Our retail portfolio, we have stores in regions where all of our customers have stores.
Speaker C:We have formats and banners that cater to different kinds of shoppers.
Speaker C:And so we can leverage all of those different experiences.
Speaker C:It's one of the benefits of having multiple banners under our portfolio.
Speaker C:We can leverage the banner differentiation for our independent wholesale customers as well.
Speaker A:So one of.
Speaker A:One of the taglines that I just learned about, Amy, is that Spartan Nash tagline is delivering the ingredients for a better life.
Speaker A:What I'm excited to ask you about is how does this focus on the customer and the innovation on the, you know, what you're providing for the customer through your wholesale business?
Speaker A:How does that across a very, I would say, diverse customer base, from independent grocers that have, you know, four or five stores all the way to, like, military commissaries that are serving thousands of people.
Speaker A:Explain that a little bit for us.
Speaker C:Sure.
Speaker C:The shopper.
Speaker C:So putting the shopper at the center of our wholesale business is highly critical.
Speaker C:We need solutions that help our retailers meet shopper needs.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:And, you know, the shopper needs in a commissary aren't so dissimilar from shopper needs in a rural store in a small town.
Speaker C:And so we have solutions that can be created and curated for neighborhoods, communities big and small.
Speaker C:And there's the power that can be unlocked from the scale.
Speaker C:When you think about all of those communities and how we can serve the needs of those communities, that's powerful.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker A:What are you seeing as, like, some of those innovations, Amy?
Speaker A:Like, are there new demands on what customers are wanting in those commissaries and in those rural locations?
Speaker C:Thanks for bringing me back, because I didn't answer the innovation piece, and that's super important.
Speaker C:Innovation can be product.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:But it can also be service and convenience.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:And I think, you know, shoppers, when they're thinking about, where am I going to spend my dollar?
Speaker C:And they're thinking about many different things.
Speaker C:And so how do we help our customers create a value proposition that can break through the clutter and actually win in the space?
Speaker C:I mean, shoppers are the most important ingredient in what we, you know, in the needs that we're meeting.
Speaker C:You can't sub out a shopper from the recipe.
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:You can't fire them.
Speaker C:You can't sub them out.
Speaker C:And shoppers ultimately tell us if we're winning or losing the game.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:And we can win that game with convenience, service indulgences, taste profile.
Speaker C:So we think about innovation in the way we meet shopper needs and that can be with product and or services.
Speaker B:The other way innovation comes through too.
Speaker B:Amy, is technology right?
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker C:I knew you were going to go, did you?
Speaker B:I did, yeah.
Speaker B:I'm ready for that.
Speaker B:That's kind of my wheelhouse.
Speaker B:So how do you think, how do you think about technology though in terms of adapting to the shoppers needs and giving you a competitive advantage across, you know, all the different avenues within which you do business?
Speaker C:Technology can play and does play a critical role in helping us stay ahead of understanding those needs.
Speaker C:So how we use data and insights.
Speaker C:Simbi, for example, great tech partner for us, the tally robots in the stores, again they are informing us with insights in a way that we can react more quickly to the changing needs and demands of our shoppers.
Speaker C:You know, we've got computer assisted ordering with AI enhancements.
Speaker C:We're looking at pricing solutions that introduce tech.
Speaker C:We're partnering with Dunhumby on merchandising, analytics.
Speaker C:And so there are many ways in which we're using technology both to be more efficient but also more effective in how we're approaching the shopper at the center of those commercial decisions.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Well, Amy, I want to close it out with a story that you told us the last time that we talked to you.
Speaker A:You started in this business like a lot of the people at this conference, as a part time cashier at a Martin's.
Speaker A:Now your leading strategy for a massive Fortune 500 company.
Speaker A:What have you taken from your early days in the store as a part time cashier into this role now that you think is most important or has helped you have the success that you've.
Speaker C:Had being relentlessly focused on the shopper.
Speaker C:You've heard me talk about the shopper quite a bit and when I worked in the grocery store it was all about making someone's day.
Speaker C:Having someone smile back when you meet their need with a simple solution was just so gratifying for me.
Speaker C:And now I think about the ways in which I interact with my teams at Spartan Ash to encourage them to deliver the same ingredients for a better life to our stores and our customers.
Speaker C:But I just love this business.
Speaker C:It's about the people connecting with the people in the stores, serving the communities.
Speaker C:You know, my best days now are spent with independent customers out in the field chatting about how they serve their community.
Speaker C:And so the community service of our industry is really what's, what's kept me going all these years.
Speaker B:Yeah, well, that's what drew us to retail, too, you know, I mean, I think that's the great thing about retail.
Speaker B:You can see it right there in the store when you go into the store, you can see how you're impacting people's lives.
Speaker B:And you can see the work you're doing, too.
Speaker B:It's very tangible.
Speaker B:That's one thing we love about it, too, so.
Speaker B:Well, Amy, thank you so much for joining us again.
Speaker B:We're gonna have to make this an annual tradition, I think.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:I'm in.
Speaker B:I'm in.
Speaker B:All right, good.
Speaker B:Don't want to put you on the spot, but, yeah, we got to get you back every year.
Speaker B:Congrats on the new role, too.
Speaker B:That's awesome.
Speaker B:And thanks to Spartan Nash and Simby for making all of our coverage from the Spartan Nash Food Solutions Expo possible.
Speaker B:And until next time, Anne, be careful out there.
