Groceryshop 2026: Dates, Agenda, Retailers & Sponsors

Who Should Use This Groceryshop Guide?

This guide supports sales, partnerships, retail media, commerce, field marketing, and event teams targeting grocery, CPG, mass retail, convenience, pharmacy, and related categories.

Exhibitor and Retailer Prospecting

Build separate lists for retailers, brands, technology providers, and partners. Prioritize accounts by channel fit, transformation needs, and public investment signals, then match outreach to specific themes such as AI, retail media, personalization, unified commerce, or operations.

How to Prepare

• Define the retail and brand segments that match your offer.
• Review exhibitors, speakers, and the agenda for active initiatives.
• Apply early for official meeting programs where eligible.
• Book additional conversations before attendees arrive in Las Vegas.

Build a Decision-Ready Event Plan

Start with a specific learning, buying, partnership or pipeline outcome. Then use the official agenda and exhibitor information to choose a manageable set of sessions and companies.

Priority areas

• retail media and commerce
• store operations and automation
• merchandising and supply chain
• loyalty, payments and customer data

Questions that improve vendor and partner conversations

• Which retailer workflow or margin problem is addressed?
• What data and integration access is required?
• How is impact measured across store and digital channels?
• Can the vendor provide a comparable retail deployment?

Relevant stakeholders

• retail executives
• merchandising and e-commerce
• store and supply-chain operations
• CPG and retail technology teams

Record the reason each company fits, the evidence still needed and one owned next step. Lensmor can help organize public exhibitor and company information into a reviewable account list with verified decision-maker contacts. Event participation is context, not proof of purchase intent, so keep human review before outreach.

How to Prioritize Exhibitors Before Arrival

1. Group companies by the priority areas above instead of reading the directory alphabetically.
2. Define one relevant use case, buying question or partnership hypothesis for every shortlisted company.
3. Identify the stakeholder who can answer that question; a generic contact is rarely enough.
4. Check the official directory again for additions, removals or booth changes.
5. Rank targets by fit, evidence and the value of a live conversation.

Event Research Checklist

• Verify the official date, venue, registration status and access rules.
• Save the current agenda, exhibitor directory and floor-plan links.
• Separate must-attend sessions or meetings from optional discovery.
• Write comparable evaluation questions before speaking with vendors.
• Capture the company, person, evidence, constraint and agreed follow-up in every note.
• Assign owners and due dates within 48 hours of the event or research review.

Build an Agenda That Leaves Room for Meetings

Schedule fixed-capacity sessions and priority meetings first, group exhibitors by hall or category, and leave buffer time for travel and notes. A completely full calendar usually produces weaker follow-up because there is no room for discovery or extended conversations.

Before the event or next-edition announcement

• Choose one primary business outcome and two supporting questions.
• Build a short account list with explicit inclusion criteria.
• Prepare role-specific outreach that explains why a conversation is relevant.
• Decide what evidence would justify a demo, pilot, technical review or commercial discussion.

During research or onsite conversations

• Use the same core questions for comparable companies.
• Distinguish product claims from live evidence, customer references and published documentation.
• Record constraints, integrations, implementation resources and service coverage.
• End with a specific next action instead of collecting an unqualified contact.

After the event

Consolidate duplicate notes, score companies against the original criteria and close low-fit follow-up quickly. For priority accounts, send the promised material, schedule the next technical or commercial step and update the owner. Measure decisions, meetings and qualified opportunities rather than badge scans or raw contact volume.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is Groceryshop 2026?

Groceryshop 2026 runs from September 22 through September 24, 2026.

Where is Groceryshop 2026?

The event is held at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

How can Lensmor help?

Lensmor converts event, exhibitor, and retailer signals into prioritized account lists and outreach-ready contacts for pre-show meeting campaigns.