Local Express

10/14/2026

Every holiday, the same last-minute rush. New banners, new codes, every store page updated by hand.

Shoppers who see the offer before they plan the meal build a bigger basket, and they come back sooner. In grocery, the holidays make the quarter.

Grocers, try this instead. One holiday banner, live on your website, app and kiosk at once.

Want it for one holiday week, in 2 stores or 200, with a coupon and pickup or delivery ready? Set the dates, and it comes down on its own.

Your team stays on the floor. Every click and every code stays in your data, not a marketplace’s.

10/13/2026

Own the holiday basket. Retailers with their own AI agent grew holiday sales 6.2%. Those without grew 3.9%.

A general AI gives ideas. A store’s own agent knows today’s prices, the pickup slots and what the Friday regulars buy. Grocers already own that knowledge.

That is why we built ShopAssist on the grocer’s own catalog. A shopper types “Christmas Eve dinner, two kids, one vegetarian” and gets a full cart from your shelves, at your prices, under
your brand.

If you want to see it on your store before the holidays, let’s talk.

10/09/2026

10/09/2026

The cake said Sal. It was supposed to say Sam. That’s still how Q4 goes at a lot of delis. Holiday tray orders come in over the phone and get scribbled on a notepad.

By Thanksgiving that pad’s three pages deep, and the 11:30 lunch starts falling through the cracks between the phone and the kitchen.

Made-to-Order takes the phone out of it.

Shoppers order the tray in the size they need, type what goes on the cake, and grab a pickup time.

The ticket prints at the right station with a prep time on it, and a barcode goes on when it’s done.

Is your deli taking trays and cakes online, or just the grocery cart?

10/06/2026

In grocery, the holidays are won before the turkey goes in the oven. The store that takes the order early keeps the entire table.

For grocers, that table gets booked a month ahead. Orders placed in late October land on the deli’s prep schedule weeks before Thanksgiving.

FreshOrder is live on Local Express storefronts. Holiday catering: cakes, sides, and platters route to the right kitchen station.

Every holiday order builds your customer file, not a marketplace’s.

See it in action. Link in the first comment.

09/30/2026

“Reorder my usuals.” Three words on a button. Carts up 50%. Checkout 5x faster.
DoorDash shared it at Groceryshop.

Your shoppers want the same button in your store and your app.

Two steps to get there.

1. Clean your data.
2. Sync your data.

That’s the whole recipe.

The button only works when every household’s history sits in one place: POS, loyalty, baskets, this week’s deals.

No time for steps one and two? Our DataSync does both for you, and enriches your catalog with 50+ attributes per product while it’s at it.

Not a project for 2028. This quarter.

My bet: the first regional chain to nail those three words wins more repeat trips in 2027 than anyone.

09/29/2026

IGA turns 100 this year. Congratulations to John Ross and every retailer in the Independent Grocers Alliance.

In 1926, independent grocers decided they were “stronger united than alone.” They joined forces without giving up ownership, identity or their place in the community.

A century later, more than 7,500 IGA stores worldwide still run on that idea. Only a business people rely on every day lasts a hundred years.

This week at BRdata World on Long Island, our Director of Business Development, Jonathan Alexander, congratulated John in person after his keynote on independent grocers acting together. The argument has not aged.

To IGA’s second century! Join us in congratulating the IGA team.

09/27/2026

We're at Gather California 2026! 🎉

The Local Express team is on the ground at The Westin Rancho Mirage all weekend (September 27–29) - meeting with California grocery operators about how to grow online sales, modernize the in-store experience, and run delivery in-house.

Want to connect while we're on-site? Book a meeting here → https://hubs.la/Q04m-XG10

See you in Rancho Mirage! 🌴

09/23/2026

No one is more into it than Ryan Webb, our VP of Marketing, on day 2 of Groceryshop. So many great convos about the future of grocery.

The conversations keep landing on the same three AI agents for grocery retailers.

PriceWatch. See the competitive set before the shopper takes the trip next door.

Data Sync. One item, one price, one stock across POS, site, app, and fulfillment.

Market View. Local assortment, price moves, and demand in one picture. Not last week’s file.

Booth 1009. Live through September 23 and 24.

09/23/2026

Despite all the technology changes, even now with AI, the vast majority of GDP still flows through neighborhoods. Through brick and mortar. Grocery is a huge part of that.

That was the frame Andy Fang, co-founder of DoorDash, set in How DoorDash Crafts AI-Powered Shopping Experiences.

The rest of the fireside stayed on the same point.

AI is useful when it makes the trip easier for the shopper and the basket larger for the grocer. Not when it pretends the store disappeared. Loved the format. A real conversation, not a slide dump.

Thank you, Andy Fang, and thank you to Groceryshop for putting this one on the stage.