Sustainability 
 

Advancing circular energy solutions with Moment Energy

Included in this new round of investments is Moment Energy, a pioneer in repurposed battery energy storage systems (BESS) and the first company in North America to manufacture certified, commercial-scale systems using second-life electric vehicle batteries. Built on the principle that every battery deserves a second life, Moment Energy’s platform extends EV battery lifespan, preventing premature recycling and landfill waste while enabling more sustainable energy use. Its cost-effective BESS solutions deliver reliable and flexible energy storage at scale across grocery retail infrastructure as well as in settings including data centers, hospitals, factories and microgrids. 

As Ingrid Maes, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of W23 Global, noted, “Moment Energy is meaningfully advancing what’s possible in sustainable retail infrastructure and supply chain circularity. As grocery operations face rising energy costs and increasing demand pressures, Moment Energy's second-life storage systems give retailers a faster, cleaner path to reliable backup power, while significantly reducing peak-demand utility costs.” 

Optimizing energy portfolios with Verse 

W23 Global is also investing in Verse, an energy intelligence platform that helps large-scale energy consumers manage increasingly complex energy portfolios. Its core product, Aria™, centralizes utility bills, contracts, and power purchase agreements across thousands of sites, providing a unified view of energy data. This enables retailers to compare forecasts to actual performance across stores, distribution centers and other physical assets, make smarter procurement decisions, and optimize costs and risk. With the addition of Dispatch Intelligence, Verse also orchestrates on-site energy resources in real time, helping AI infrastructure come online faster in a constrained grid environment. 

AI-enabled operations
 

Enabling secure agent-driven commerce with Skyfire

Expanding its focus to the emerging landscape of AI-driven commerce, W23 Global is investing in Skyfire, which is building a cross-ecosystem trust and permission layer for the agentic economy. The platform provides a secure identity and financial stack that enables retailers to distinguish trusted AI shopping agents from malicious automation. Through verified “Know Your Agent” (KYA) credentials and integrated payment capabilities, Skyfire allows businesses to safely open their digital channels to autonomous shoppers. 

"Skyfire is providing the critical infrastructure required to turn the rise of autonomous AI into a new frontier of growth for retailers," said Ingrid Maes, CEO and CIO of W23 Global. "By upgrading traditional commerce stacks with a dedicated agent identity and payment layer, Skyfire provides the key to unlock high-intent agent demand while shielding systems from the surge of bot-driven cyber risk. Skyfire provides the infrastructure retailers need to capture and process automated transactions securely and instantly.” 

Scaling compliant marketing with Haast

Among its latest investments, W23 Global is investing in Haast, an AI-native platform designed to automate marketing compliance and brand protection for consumer industries. Founded in 2023, Haast supports retailers in managing compliance across the full content lifecycle, from pre-publication review to continuous monitoring of live channels. Operating across text, image, video, and audio, the platform helps ensure consistent, compliant messaging while accelerating approval processes. It helps marketing, legal, and compliance teams save time, reduce risk, and speed up content approvals in a complex regulatory environment. 

Elevating customer experience with Cresta 

W23 Global also announces its investment in Cresta, a unified platform in human-centric generative AI for contact centers. Cresta’s platform combines autonomous AI agents with real-time coaching and conversation intelligence for human teams. Originating from the Stanford AI Lab and led by the co-founder of Google’s AI Contact Center, the company helps teams work more effectively by turning conversational data into live agent assistance. Their scalable technology has already delivered measurable operational results for global enterprises, with over 80 businesses as customers. 

As Ingrid Maes, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of W23 Global, noted, "Customer service has become a critical point of differentiation for retailers. The opportunity is no longer simply to automate interactions, but to deliver faster, more personalized and more consistent customer experiences while fundamentally improving the economics of service. We believe Cresta is one of the companies best positioned to help retailers achieve both." 

About W23 Global

W23 Global is a global grocery retail venture capital fund backed by five leading grocery retailers: Tesco (UK, ROI, Europe), Ahold Delhaize (U.S., Europe, Indonesia), Woolworths Group (Australia, New Zealand), Shoprite Group (Africa), and Empire Company Limited (Canada). W23 Global invests in innovative start-ups and scale-ups developing technology to transform grocery retail. Its work focuses on supporting companies that build solutions with practical application across markets, helping advance the way retailers operate and serve customers while addressing sustainability challenges. As technology continues to shape the future of grocery retail, W23 Global remains focused on solutions that make a tangible difference for both customers and retailers.  

For more information about W23 Global, visit www.w23.vc. 

KickstartAI was founded in 2019 based on the shared belief that the Netherlands needs not only strong technology and talent, but above all, organizations that know how to apply AI to issues that truly matter. That is why it focuses on applications that have a direct effect on societal challenges.  

Knowledge sharing through KickstartAI is helping Ahold Delhaize brands solve some important challenges. For example, bol is using AI models to optimize the prediction of parcel volumes, resulting in more efficient transport. Albert Heijn is driving waste reduction through dynamic mark downs and Delhaize is lowering food waste through improved forecasting. 

The foundation is also helping us attract, develop and retain top talent, contribute to academic and societal debate around AI decision making, and drive community and social impact. KickstartAI works with organizations such as Erasmus MC and the National Police on projects that show what is needed not only to develop and test AI, but also to truly implement and scale it in practice. 

That practical experience is urgently needed. The Netherlands faces major societal and economic challenges, from declining productivity growth and rising healthcare costs to climate pressure and congested infrastructure. AI can help deliver concrete progress on precisely these types of issues, provided that organizations make the transition from experimentation to application at scale. 

“KickstartAI not only provides a valuable place to exchange knowledge and jointly develop and implement AI applications,” said our CEO Frans Muller, “it also gives us the opportunity to apply our knowledge and experience beyond our own business, in areas where the impact is significant.” 

“The biggest challenge around AI right now is not the technology itself, but the step from ambition to application,” said Erick Webbe, CEO of KickstartAI. “Real progress happens when you work together on concrete solutions, learn from them and share those lessons so others can move faster. In this new phase, we want to expand our group of partners so that successful applications and practical lessons can spread more quickly to other sectors and further increase the positive impact of AI in the Netherlands.” 

About KickstartAI 
KickstartAI is an independent foundation, founded by Ahold Delhaize, ING, KLM and NS, that helps organizations move from individual AI pilots to demonstrable societal impact. KickstartAI shows where AI works in practice, what is needed to scale successful solutions, and how those lessons can be applied more broadly in the Netherlands. For more information, visit kickstart.ai. 

By combining the expertise of local brand teams, our central customer & digital platform team, and external partners, we have created a model that drives faster innovation, stronger collaboration, and cost efficiencies across Europe.  

A shared foundation 
The ambitious digital transformation delivered six apps across five brands in under twelve months – launching first with Albert in the Czech Republic, followed by Maxi in Serbia, Delhaize in Belgium and Luxembourg, Mega Image in Romania, and culminating with Alfa Beta in Greece.  

The new customer app puts everything customers need in one place; from online shopping and personalized offers to loyalty rewards and in-store features. As their needs evolve, so does the app, creating a more seamless and connected experience across every touchpoint. 

For our local brands, the app is built on a shared foundation that lets each brand move faster and innovate more efficiently, while staying true to their own identity and the preferences of their local customers. 

“Converging our apps into one unified, modular platform became a real springboard for us. The foundation we built helps us deliver faster, with greater impact and better cost efficiency. The principles and rituals we introduced are still very much alive today, creating a shared sense of purpose that helps every brand succeed in its market”, said Nataliia Bertrand, Head of Product Customer & Loyalty. 

Growing the business 
Since the app launched at Alfa Beta a year ago, the unified app has demonstrated its value through uplift in customer engagement and business growth. Across all brands, the initiative has achieved:  

•  12% increase in e-commerce sales through the app 

•  31% growth in weekly active app users 

•  33% increase in personal offer activations 

These metrics underscore the platform's success in creating a more engaging, personalized shopping experience that customers across Europe have embraced enthusiastically. 

Simplifying meal planning 
Customer-facing enhancements have focused on making the shopping journey in the new app faster, more intuitive and more rewarding. The introduction of the “frequently bought” feature has transformed how customers shop, enabling a more seamless and personalized omnichannel experience. The new preference center allows customers to save food preferences and receive tailored recipe recommendations, simplifying meal planning. In Belgium, customers can now fast charge their e-vehicles and earn SuperPlus loyalty points through a digital partnership with Elektra, extending value beyond traditional grocery shopping. 

Payment convenience has also advanced significantly with the integration of Google Pay and Apple Pay across the platform. In Serbia, Maxi became one of the first supermarkets to use the payment method Payten, reinforcing our role as an innovation partner in the fintech space. At the same time, the subscription program Delivery+ was refreshed with simplified plans, improved pricing, and double points on every order to strengthen conversion and loyalty. New content provides richer inspiration beyond transactions, while expanded cross-sell capabilities help customers discover complementary products and increase basket value. 

Responding to market dynamics  
The impact of these enhancements is reflected not only in performance metrics, but in the platform’s ability to scale and adapt. As Maxime Zwart, Director Digital Experience, Intelligence & Operations, explains: “The strong growth in sales, users and engagement shows that customers appreciate the experience we’ve built. Even more important is the foundation now in place for continuous innovation. This platform gives us the agility to respond to changing customer needs and market dynamics faster than ever.” 

Behind the scenes, substantial infrastructure upgrades have strengthened performance and scalability. Mega Image implemented a new backend that enables faster, more efficient store fulfillment, directly improving the end-to-end customer experience. B2B capabilities were also enhanced, including improved registration flows and overall user experience to better serve business customers. 

The platform includes advanced A/B testing functionality, allowing teams to continuously improve the app based on real customer behavior. Strengthened collaboration with payment providers has improved security and reliability across markets. At the same time, expanded in-app retail media capabilities are unlocking new revenue streams, demonstrating how a robust digital backbone can simultaneously drive operational excellence, customer satisfaction and business growth. 

Maxime shares more about her experience in working on this project in the video below.

Strengthening product development with Keychain
One of the two announced investments is Keychain, an AI-powered manufacturing platform used by eight of the ten largest retailers in the U.S. – along with 7-Eleven and Whole Foods. Through Keychain’s proprietary platform, Keychain Search, the AI-based system helps manufacturers manage their production cycle with greater speed, visibility, and intelligence. It also gives retailers clear insight into how existing products are made, helping them reproduce or improve formulas with trusted manufacturers, as well as enabling them to create entirely new products from the ground up. The platform uses AI to recommend the best production options to meet retailers' goals for quality, cost and sustainability. 

Ingrid Maes, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of W23 Global noted, “Keychain’s AI-powered platform streamlines private label sourcing and enables retailers to bring quality private label products to customers faster and more efficiently.” With more than 30,000 manufacturers and 20,000 brands and retailers in its network, Keychain is helping modernize product development across the sector.
 

Expanding retail media capabilities with Topsort
W23 Global has also invested in Topsort, an AI and auction-based retail media infrastructure company that aims to democratize Silicon Valley’s monetization secrets to retailers and marketplaces by using innovative bidless auction technology. Topsort’s auction-based formats include sponsored listings, banners, off-site media without heavy engineering lift. By combining scalable infrastructure, AI automation, and omnichannel capabilities, Topsort is building a future where retail media is not just an add-on, but a core driver of retail growth while remaining cleaner, more connected, and global.

As Ingrid Maes highlighted, “Topsort’s innovative bidless auction technology empowers retailers to expand their media networks, while offering more sellers the chance to effectively reach relevant customers.” By simplifying the retail media ecosystem, Topsort makes it easier for retailers to connect advertisers with customers in more relevant, transparent and efficient ways.
 

A continued commitment to innovation
Together, these investments reflect W23 Global’s ongoing work to support start-ups delivering technology with real-world, cross-market impact. Through its investment in W23 Global, Ahold Delhaize is actively shaping the future of grocery retail, advancing practical innovations that address industry challenges and help retailers operate more efficiently, serve customers better, and respond to evolving market needs.


About W23 Global
W23 Global is a global grocery retail venture capital fund backed by five leading grocery retailers: Tesco (UK, ROI, Europe), Ahold Delhaize (US, Europe, Indonesia), Woolworths Group (Australia, New Zealand), Shoprite Group (Africa), and Empire Company Limited (Canada).

W23 Global invests in innovative start-ups and scale-ups developing technology to transform grocery retail. Its work focuses on supporting companies that build solutions with practical application across markets, helping advance the way retailers operate and serve customers while addressing sustainability challenges. As technology continues to shape the future of grocery retail, W23 Global remains focused on solutions that make a tangible difference for both customers and retailers.


For more information about W23 Global, visit www.w23.vc.

This modern, cloud-based platform allows Ahold Delhaize USA brands – Food Lion, The GIANT Company, Giant Food, Hannaford, and Stop & Shop – to serve more than 26 million customers each week. It supports thousands of online orders daily and powers digital interactions that make shopping easier and more personalized.


Putting customers first through innovation
The platform was designed and built by Ahold Delhaize USA’s in-house technology teams to meet the changing needs of customers. It offers faster site performance, simpler account management, personalized promotions, and a more integrated online ordering and fulfillment experience. These improvements help customers shop how they want – whether in-store, online, or both.


 “This achievement represents the culmination of a journey to create a scalable digital and e-commerce platform that meets the evolving needs of customers and positions Ahold Delhaize USA brands for growth,” said Keith Nicks, Chief Commercial and Digital Officer for Ahold Delhaize USA. “We’re excited to harness the full potential of this platform to accelerate omnichannel capabilities, deliver more seamless experiences and innovate for the future.”

A foundation for growth and empowering teams
The first brand launched in 2020, and the subsequent rollout involved phased implementations across more than 2,000 stores and robust e-commerce operations, contributing to Ahold Delhaize USA’s annual sales of $59 billion. It now powers thousands of daily online orders and digital interactions, supporting the company’s Growing Together strategy. 


Developed and managed by in-house technology teams, the platform serves as the foundation of Ahold Delhaize USA’s digital ecosystem, powering e-commerce, digital engagement and personalized customer experiences for each brand, including improved site performance, simplified account management, personalized promotions, a more integrated online ordering and fulfillment experience, and enhanced opportunities in advertising and retail media. The platform also enables faster deployment of new features and efficiency of resources across the Ahold Delhaize USA portfolio.


“Completing the platform rollout across all brands is not just a technology milestone, it’s a business transformation,” adds Keith. “We’re proud of the teams whose collaboration and commitment have made this possible, and we’re energized by the innovation this foundation will continue to unlock.”


With all five brands now on the proprietary platform, Ahold Delhaize USA is well-positioned to lead in digital transformation and omnichannel retail while remaining focused on meeting customer needs.

Working for more sustainable, local agriculture
With the Cultivation Academy, growers will receive guidance and support in adopting regenerative agriculture practices. The goal of the academy is to bring Belgian growers together so they can share knowledge and experiences to improve and optimize their cultivation methods.

Delhaize strongly believes in the power of collaboration. By working with local farmers, the brand contributes to the shift toward a more sustainable agricultural sector and supports Belgian consumers in making more environmentally conscious choices. The seasonal vegetables offered by Delhaize are not only good for personal health but also for the planet. Regeneratively grown produce promotes biodiversity and strengthens soil health.

Sustainable growth
For Delhaize, sustainable growth means reducing the environmental impact of agriculture. Because every field, crop, and farm have unique needs, the brand takes a tailor-made approach to working with growers. The Cultivation Academy supports farmers in transitioning to more sustainable practices, such as planting cover crops and using water more efficiently. Regenerative agriculture is at the core of this strategy—a farming method that not only respects nature but actively restores and enhances it.

As farmers adopt regenerative methods, they implement new techniques and technologies that can initially result in higher costs or lower yields. To encourage the transition, the partnership includes an additional compensation model for participating growers.

“As a grower, I’m proud to host this training in my fields and to learn more about regenerative agriculture alongside my colleagues. Using natural fertilizers helps store carbon in the soil more effectively, which is an ecological benefit. We’re given tools to monitor soil health and take direct action ourselves. At every step, we consider the impact on the soil and the plant—because without plants, there are no vegetables.

For me, it’s a true win-win: I manage my land more sustainably while still achieving good yields, and I contribute to more sustainable vegetables on supermarket shelves,” says Gilke Croket, grower and Cultivation Academy participant.

“By applying regenerative techniques, we ensure that the vegetables produced by our growers are not only nutritious but also contribute to healthier soil and a more sustainable ecosystem. This benefits not just today’s consumers, but future generations as well,” says Inge De Paepe, Sustainability Manager at Delhaize.

More about Bakker Belgium
Since November 2019, Bakker Belgium has been a strategic partner of Delhaize. As part of the Greenyard Group, it supplies a large portion of the fresh fruit and vegetable range to Delhaize’s distribution centers. Their shared ambition is to increase fruit and vegetable consumption for a healthier future while creating a more sustainable food supply. Bakker Belgium has sister companies in the Netherlands (Ridderkerk) and the Czech Republic (Divisov), which also serve Ahold Delhaize. Find more information here.

Learn more about Arvesta
Arvesta is building the agriculture of tomorrow in a sustainable way through its unique expertise and smart farming innovations. Active in animal nutrition, agriculture, horticulture, and retail, Arvesta helps farmers grow and increase their yields. With more than 2,300 experts and 40 strong brands, Arvesta serves as a knowledge center for both farmers and consumers. As a full-service provider for farmers and growers, Arvesta is a leading player in Belgium and operates internationally in the Netherlands, France, and Germany. Find more information here.

Highlights from bol’s 2024 report 
The report reflects bol’s mission to make more sustainable choices easier for customers and partners, while continuously improving the platform’s own operations. “We’ve made great progress, but there’s still a lot to do,” says Dennis van den Berg, Head of ESG at bol. “We must continue to learn, continue to improve. Sustainability is not a KPI that you check off. It’s a responsibility that we must take seriously every day.”  A number of highlights from the report are included below: 

Reducing environmental impact  
Bol is focused on reducing the climate impact of its operations through various initiatives, including cutting emissions from its logistics and packaging. 

• In 2024, 9% of items were shipped without an outer box, resulting in a reduction of 4 million kg cardboard. Bol also uses recycled cardboard to reduce waste. 
• Bol converted two packaging machines to “Folding Green Machines”, which reduce carbon emissions per package by approximately 28%. The brand plans to convert more machines in 2025 to further reduce cardboard and glue usage.  
• Overall, carbon emissions per package decreased by over 5% compared with 2023.  

Supporting the circular economy  
Bol is making strides by introducing and expanding circular propositions, with a focus on extending the life of products through initiatives like second-hand sales, product repair and refurbished electronics. 

• In 2024, 159,000 broken products were sent in for repair, of which 90,000 were repaired and given a second life (the rest were recycled). 
• The brand also launched its refurbished electronics proposition, including smartphones, tablets, laptops and smartwatches. 
• Bol is collaborating with quality partners to ensure refurbished items meet high standards, including rigorous quality checks and a two-year warranty. 
• For 2025, bol plans to further expand its refurbished assortment by adding more partners and product categories. 

Collaborating with suppliers to reduce emissions  
Bol recognizes the critical role of supplier collaboration in achieving broader climate goals, and is actively engaging with suppliers on this topic.  

• The brand is working with suppliers to reduce carbon emissions, acknowledging that 80% of emissions come from the top 250 suppliers.  
• Bol launched the Climate hub (“Klimaathub” in Dutch) to help suppliers calculate, set and report on Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) goals for their carbon emissions.  
• In 2024, bol’s largest suppliers shared information about their emissions, providing a better understanding of the total carbon emissions within their supply chain. 

Promoting social impact and inclusion 
Bol is committed to creating positive social impact through various initiatives focused on enhancing inclusion and equity. 

• The Bollebozen program aims to improve language, reading and digital skills among children. In 2024, this program reached over 800,000 children and their caregivers. 
• The brand donated over 441,000 books to children in the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname. 
• Bol is focused on increasing diversity and inclusion in its workplace, with programs like Women in Product & Tech and Women in Leadership. The proportion of women in leadership positions increased to 43.4%, and women in Tech roles reached 28%. 

Working towards a more sustainable assortment 
Bol continues to develop ways of guiding customers towards more sustainable choices.  

• The platform is increasing the visibility of products with the “Goede Keuze” (good choice) label, which helps customers identify products with significant sustainability advantages over comparable items – such as recycled materials or the Fairtrade hallmark. 
• In 2024, there were 1.5 million “Goede Keuze” products on the platform. 

For the first time, bol’s 2024 Impact Report aligns with Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) standards, offering more transparent insights into key topics such as the environment, human rights, diversity and working conditions. Read the full report here

In honor of International Girls in ICT Day, we interviewed Anette Schouls, VP Digital Customer Products, who is leading digital innovation and transformation for customer-centric products at Ahold Delhaize Europe. She talks about her career journey, her experiences of innovation and mentorship in technology, and her advice for the next generation of women in ICT. 

1. What inspired you to pursue a career in digital products, and how did you break into the tech space? 
From a young age, I was fascinated by innovations like flip-phones, iPods, and Xbox 360 and their potential to transform lives. After completing my master's at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, I followed my passion for technology and joined a start-up agency specializing in mobile app development. I'm happy I did, as I'm still excited by the transformative power of technology and how it can reshape industries and improve lives. 
 

2. What excites you most about the future of the digital products field, and how do you see your role evolving? 
What excites me most is the opportunity to shape the future through innovations. Rapid advancements in AI are transforming our daily work and enabling us to create seamless, personalized customer experiences. I see my role evolving to focus even more on fostering a culture of customer-centricity and promoting sustainability, diversity, and inclusion. My goal is to continue driving digital transformation and scaling our digital capabilities across our retail brands, ensuring our initiatives align with broader business goals. 
 

3. Leadership in tech can be demanding. What values or habits have helped you lead successfully, especially in such a fast-paced, constantly changing environment? 
A former CDO had a sign that said, “Done is better than perfect,” which resonates with me. In tech, perfection is always evolving, so having a solid vision and plan is crucial, but progress and adaptability are even more important. Open and authentic dialogue is key. By leveraging the wealth of knowledge among our colleagues and co-creating, we often find better and more sustainable solutions. 
 

4. Representation in tech is still a work in progress. What challenges have you faced as a woman in this space — and how have you navigated them? 
As a woman in tech, I’ve faced biases and assumptions regarding my technical knowledge and leadership ambitions. Speaking up with a mix of humor and authenticity has often helped clear the air. I’m a daughter of entrepreneurs, so I learned to have a positive mindset and take initiative to achieve what I believe in. Social media might promote a tendency to compare yourself to others; I prefer to focus on personal growth. Building a strong network of allies and advocating for my growth opportunities has been crucial. For example, I’ve actively sought mentorship and asked to take on projects out of my comfort zone to evolve my capabilities.  
 

5. Let’s talk innovation. Can you share a project or product you’re particularly proud of and what made it meaningful to you? 
Probably our largest undertaking was the introduction of the new modular mobile app, designed to deliver a seamless and cohesive online shopping experience for customers shopping at five of Ahold Delhaize’s European brands. It has been fantastic to work with a highly talented and diverse group of professionals across business and technological disciplines. Together, we can achieve so much more!  
 

6. This year’s Girls in ICT theme is about empowerment and inclusion. What advice would you give to young women and girls who are curious about a career in technology? 
My advice is to be curious, experiment, build resilience, take initiative, and speak up about your opportunities for learning and growth. Surround yourself with supportive mentors, allies, and peers who can guide you along the way.  
 

7. Mentorship plays a huge role in growth. Did you have any mentors or champions who helped you? And how do you pay it forward? 
Yes, I’ve been fortunate to have mentors and sponsors, both male and female, who have supported me throughout my career. Their insights, honest feedback and encouragement have been crucial to my growth. One of my mentors was an architect who patiently provided invaluable knowledge following every question I had. Another was a more senior leader and a great storyteller, providing me feedback to better communicate and negotiate. 

To pay it forward, I actively mentor and support others in the industry. I’ve also focused on creating opportunities for women in my teams, promoting diversity, and actively participating in initiatives that support inclusion in tech. Simple mentions, introductions or connections can make sure their talent is seen, they’re included in decision-making, or not overlooked for growth opportunities.  

8. Tech teams are more diverse than ever — across age, background, and gender. How do you foster a culture of collaboration and creativity within your teams? 
Encouraging everyone to be authentic, thrive both at work and at home, and ensuring open communication are key. We celebrate birthdays, for example, where we learn about everyone’s hobbies and enjoy their favorite snacks, and have cooking sessions to prepare our teams’ favorite local dishes. These activities normalize our diversity and integrate it into our work. 

While virtual collaboration is efficient, meeting colleagues in different brands and countries is crucial to understanding local dynamics. These interactions often result in eye-opening “aha” moments, clarifying the objectives behind digital innovation needs and fostering a collaborative and creative environment. 
 

9. From your perspective, what’s one common misconception people have about working in digital products or tech in general? 
A common misconception is that tech is solely about coding. As Steve Jobs said, “You've got to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology.” While technical foundations are important, the field also requires a strong understanding of customer needs, strategic thinking, and the ability to collaborate across various functions. When creativity happens, real problems are solved, and real value for our customers is created. 

10. Finally, what would you share with young women or women in general about taking the leap into the world of Information & Communication Technology? 
The industry is full of opportunities to experiment, make a difference, and shape the future. As the book Invisible Women says, today’s world is designed by men for men. So each woman in ICT can make a difference. Enjoy the journey while putting in the hard work. You will meet tons of interesting people with great humor, diverse backgrounds, and a wealth of knowledge. 

As we celebrate International Girls in ICT Day, Anette’s interview reminds us that innovation starts with dialogue and mentorship. By sharing knowledge and supporting one another, we can help close the gender gap in tech – and build a stronger, more inclusive, digital future for everyone. 

Part of Ahold Delhaize’s Growing Together strategy involves leveraging technology and data to drive customer innovation and operational excellence. With the growing popularity of AI, machine learning operations (MLOps) is developing rapidly as a field, and is critical for a food retail company like Ahold Delhaize and its brands – as well as many other tech-driven companies. 

The conference provided an ideal platform for professionals to share insights and solutions while exploring the latest advancements in this rapidly growing sector. Focused on machine learning, the event highlighted the importance of optimizing AI model deployment and accelerating innovation across various industries by reducing time to production. 
 

Key highlights from the speakers 

This year’s event brought together inspiring speakers from some of the Netherlands' leading companies, including ABN AMRO, Adyen, Ahold Delhaize, Albert Heijn, bol, Booking.com and Eneco . These experts presented cutting-edge MLOps strategies and shared the challenges they are tackling in their respective fields. The conference covered three key topics that are crucial for the future of MLOps:  

• How infrastructure for MLOps should be organized 
• How to organize teams to speed up time to market for machine learning products  
• How to go about challenging machine learning projects  

 Building a GenAI platform at ABN AMRO 
Rafael Pierre, GenAI Engineering Lead & Architect at ABN AMRO, introduced the company’s secure platform for deploying open-source large language models (LLMs). He explained the strategies to mitigate risks, including vulnerability scanning and centralized model management. 

MLOps at Adyen 
Asia Krajewska, MLOps Tech Lead at Adyen, shared the company’s approach to building reliable machine learning systems for payment processing, ensuring high availability and low latency. She explained how Adyen uses a mix of open-source and custom tooling to meet the demands of real-time payment transactions. 

Scalable and secure data platform at Ahold Delhaize 
Aoife O'Callaghan, Manager Data platform at Ahold Delhaize, showcased how the company is building a scalable and secure data platform using Azure and Infrastructure as Code (IaC). Key highlights included the integration of FinOps and fostering a culture of collaboration and self-service with robust security and scalability guardrails. 

Workflow orchestration at Albert Heijn 
Niels van den Berg, Senior Machine Learning Engineer at Albert Heijn, shared the team’s journey in automating workflow orchestration with Databricks. The session highlighted challenges faced and how Databricks Asset Bundles improved scalability in their operations. 

Real-time product recommendations at bol 
Binyam Gebre, Senior Data Scientist at bol, shared insights into the challenges of generating real-time recommendations for over 13 million customers and 40 million products. He detailed how bol uses Vertex AI and BigTable to maintain up-to-date user embeddings and ensure fast, accurate recommendations. 

Ultra-low-latency feature serving at Booking.com 
Başak Eskili, Machine Learning Engineer at Booking.com, presented the success story of their custom feature store, built to handle 200K RPS with latency under 25 ms. She explained the technical implementation and cost-efficient strategies that support real-time applications at scale. 

Building MLOps teams in non-tech companies 
Raphaël Hoogvliets, MLOps Tech Lead at Eneco, discussed strategies for establishing MLOps teams in non-tech environments. He emphasized leadership buy-in, long-term product thinking, and practical staffing strategies to ensure the long-term success of MLOps initiatives. 

Deploying recommendation models with mono-repo workflows 
Victor Pion, Data Scientist, and Jonathan Torres, Machine Learning Engineer, at Ahold Delhaize, discussed the company’s shift to a mono-repo workflow for deploying recommendation models. They showcased how this approach improved flexibility, simplified deployments, and accelerated iteration cycles for their teams. 

LLM security and adversarial prompts 
Folkert Stijnman, ML engineer at NS, provided an eye-opening talk on the growing threats of prompt injections and adversarial attacks on large language models. He emphasized the importance of proactive testing and developing defense mechanisms to safeguard AI systems. 

Future collaboration 

This year’s MLOps conference not only showcased the innovative work being done by Ahold Delhaize and its industry peers but also reinforced the growing importance of collaboration across sectors to solve the challenges of deploying and scaling machine learning models. The success of this event marks another milestone in Ahold Delhaize’s journey to harness the power of technology to enhance operations, improve customer experiences, and create new opportunities for growth. With the continued evolution of MLOps, the company is excited about the future of AI and its transformative impact on the retail industry and beyond. 

Ahold Delhaize’s digital convergence journey 
This launch marks the final milestone in a six-country implementation. The first market to go live was Albert in the Czech Republic in February 2024. It was followed by Maxi in Serbia and Delhaize in Belgium in July, Delhaize Luxembourg in September, Mega Image in Romania in November and Alfa Beta in Greece completing the rollout. 

Gerhard van der Bijl, CTO Ahold Delhaize Europe & Indonesia: “Our new app showcases the value of engineering, of implementing technology at scale for our brands across Europe. We take pride not only in the product delivery, but also in the collaborative journey that made it possible. Successfully delivering all releases in a complex, multi-brand environment underscores our commitment to agility and innovation. This initiative not only enhances our customer experience but also drives substantial business value and positions us for sustained growth in the future. With this newly developed customer platform we have a strong foundation for customer innovation in the future.”  

Key features for customers of Ahold Delhaize’s European brands 

• Intuitive interface: Enhanced communication and improved accessibility for a seamless user experience.  
• Web-based login and registration: improved security measures to keep our customer data safe. 
• Retail media integration: Special offers and products recommended to customers based on their shopping history. 
• Cookie consent management: Ensuring transparency and giving customers control over how their data is used.  
• Larger product images and improved customer navigation: Making online shopping easier while offering a more visually appealing experience.  
• Multiple quantities of free products in exchange for points: Enabling customers to redeem more rewards. 

The journey ahead 
This series of launches is a strong example of strategic collaboration among Ahold Delhaize brands, as well as a foundation for delivering a vibrant customer experience that leverages scale and operational excellence​. Ahold Delhaize and its brands remain committed to continuously strengthening their shared technology foundation to drive cost efficiencies, accelerate innovation and support the customers of tomorrow.  

Unified app vision 

The unified app project is designed to harmonize the digital shopping experience across multiple brands and countries through a modular e-commerce and loyalty app. By leveraging our scale while preserving each brand's unique identity, we ensure a tailored experience that resonates locally. With the Mega Image app, Romanian customers can now enjoy a consistent and intuitive interface that aligns with other Ahold Delhaize brands, such as Albert in the Czech Republic, Maxi in Serbia, and Delhaize in Belgium and Luxembourg. This cohesive approach ensures that customers receive a familiar and user-friendly experience, regardless of their location. 

What’s unique about the Mega Image App? 

Mega Image customers in Romania have access to a fast two-hour delivery service in select cities, including Bucharest, Brașov, Ilfov, and Iași. Designed for those moments when you need groceries now—not later—the app offers a convenient option to shop on-demand, right from your phone. Whether it’s ingredients for dinner or last-minute essentials, our fast delivery service is here to make shopping fit your schedule, not the other way around. 

Additionally, the new Mega Image app comes with an eye-catching, refreshed visual identity. Moving from the classic design, the new Mega Image app comes with an eye-catching, refreshed visual identity. Moving from the classic green-red to a sleek blue-red palette, this change aligns Mega Image’s omnichannel experience, creating a unified look across web and app channels. This visual update not only enhances the aesthetics but also simplifies navigation, allowing customers to enjoy a modern, clean interface that’s consistent across all digital touchpoints. 

The benefits page has been upgraded to provide an enhanced member experience, featuring all benefits at a glance, a clean layout, and a well-organized information structure. The app also offers optimized product listings easier access to loyalty benefits, and a streamlined checkout process, all designed based on extensive user research to enhance the overall shopping experience. 

Building a digital future for our customers

The launch of the Mega Image app is a testament to Ahold Delhaize's commitment to digital transformation and customer-centric innovation. By harmonizing app experiences across brands, we aim to provide a platform that is fast, intuitive, and tailored to meet the unique needs of each customer. 

Adnan Olmez, IT Director CoE Digital Operations, shared: “We are thrilled with this successful launch of the new app in Romania! Thanks to close collaboration with all teams, Digital Experience, Digital IT teams and Mega Image business and local IT stakeholders we were able to deliver the new app on time with the right quality”.

What’s next? 

With the successful rollout of the Mega Image app, Ahold Delhaize is on track to complete its six-country unified app initiative, with upcoming launches planned for Greece early December. Each launch brings us closer to our goal of delivering a connected and engaging digital experience for all our customers across Europe. 
Experience the future of shopping with the new Mega Image app—download it today and enjoy a seamless and personalized shopping journey. 

Below you can see the difference between the old and new app for the personal benefits section of the app. 

To kick off this year’s Groceryshop event, our CEO Frans Muller had the honor of hosting the keynote opening on stage together with Melissa Repko, retail reporter for CNBC New York. Frans took more than 3,500 people in the audience on a journey of what we at Ahold Delhaize are working on day in, day out. As not everyone knows Ahold Delhaize – but they certainly know Food Lion, Stop & Shop, The GIANT Company, Giant Food or Hannaford from their own shopping experiences – Frans and Melissa explained how next to being the largest retail group on the U.S. east coast, Ahold Delhaize’s brands across the pond are #1 or #2 in all of our markets in Europe. Frans also zoomed in on what’s important for us: staying closely connected to the 63 million customers our brands serve every week and how our new company strategy, Growing Together, is guiding our vision to be your most trusted local food retailer.  

Business cases for AI and GenAI 

Next stop in the conversation was innovation and how Ahold Delhaize invests heavily in AI and Generative AI solutions. Frans shared the example of dynamic markdowns in The Netherlands, where Albert Heijn uses AI to mark down products nearing expiration every 15 minutes. This provides great value to customers, and it reduced more than 250 tons of food waste in its first year. Frans also shared how our U.S. brands introduced Gen AI-based semantic search, allowing customers to search for products by intent, rather than keyword search.  For example, “birthday ideas for 8 year-olds”, would in the past show limited results. Now, it shows birthday cakes, decorations and more, enhancing customer experience and boosting revenue. These are just some of the many examples of innovation going on.  

Setting strong targets on private brand

When a company like Ahold Delhaize sets a strong target, you get questions. Melissa asked about the companywide target of growing towards 45% of private brand food sales by 2028. Frans explained how private brands (or labels) offer great value as they allow us to be innovative and agile (in terms of price, packaging, reformulations and time to market). At the same time, we believe in a strong balance of private brand and national brands for our customers. And every market has its own diamond mix for private brand sales, depending on the customer preferences. In the Benelux for example, private brand makes around 50% of sales, while in the U.S. it makes 30% of sales.

Growing retail media

Our target for complementary revenue streams also intrigued Melissa, especially the retail media side of this. How does Ahold Delhaize and our local brands make sure customers receive personalized promotions and suggestions, without losing great customer experience? At Ahold Delhaize, we believe retail media actually enhances the customer experience. The promotions you’re seeing as a customer, need to relate to you – offering promotions on the products you usually buy, or suggesting a similar product that might be nice to explore. Strong data and strong data protection is at the heart of all of this.  

While several other topics were discussed in the keynote opening, there are three key takeaways from Frans that we’d like to share: 

• Omnichannel is and will remain the way forward. It’s all about the seamless customer experience via all our channels, connected via our loyalty system. 
• The local brand strategy is sometimes challenged because it can reduce efficiency. The advantage of having true local connections to those local communities, to have that brand that you know and trust, overcompensates for this tremendously. Ahold Delhaize is harmonizing the ‘back office’, but will always leave room for the local brands to shine.  
• Great people. Our company exists because of the dedication our amazing colleagues show every day. 

That concludes the highlights from a busy and buzzing Groceryshop conference. 

If you have any questions around these topics, please contact the Ahold Delhaize external communications team via Media.Relations@aholddelhaize.com. 

Driving value and savings through loyalty programs

This quarter, several of our brands leveraged their loyalty programs to allow great savings and value for customers. For example, Giant Food lowered the prices of hundreds of its own-brand items and expanded its Flexible Rewards loyalty program to include double points on Giant brand items purchased. Additionally, 1.2 million customers from The GIANT Company took advantage of their ‘Weekly Pro Pick’, a newly launched program that features items customers need the most at the best value. The value delivered with our brands’ loyalty programs were supported by the many recognitions they received. Like Food Lion, Giant Food, Stop & Shop being listed in Newsweek’s 2024 American’s Best Loyalty Programs. The GIANT Company was also recognized as a leader in the grocery industry by the 2024 Dunnhumby Retailer Preference Index for its visible discounts and sale items, as well as its advertising of low prices and being competitive in its promotions and rewards.  

In Europe, our Czech brand Albert celebrated the third anniversary of their ‘My Albert’ app which now offers a 15% discount on Nature’s Promise healthy products and organic food to its active users. This makes Albert our third European brand that rewards customers for choosing healthy products, following the Delhaize SuperPlus program and the Albert Heijn Premium program. Additionally, Albert Heijn reached a milestone of reaching more than 1 million subscribers to its Premium subscription which allows customers a 10% discount on all organic and AH Terra products, Albert Heijn’s fully plant-based own-brand product line.  

Steps in health and sustainability

This quarter, we were proud to announce that Ahold Delhaize priced a €1.6 billion multi-tranche transaction, including a Sustainability-Linked bond and Green bond. The proceeds will be applied to finance or refinance new or existing Eligible Green Projects to help us reach our sustainability targets.  

In Europe, all our brands launched their climate hubs to support suppliers in their carbon emission reduction. Additionally, Albert Heijn made strides in prioritizing healthier options as they revealed that in 2023 they reduced 115 million sugar cubes, 62,000 kilograms of salt and 275,000 kilograms of saturated fat from their own-brand products compared to 2022.  

In the U.S., Ahold Delhaize USA and our brands were recognized for their commitment in supporting the White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities, announcing an investment of nearly $1 million in nutrition programming for children in 2024. 

Scaling tech capabilities and innovation

This quarter five of our European brands: Alfa Beta, Albert, Delhaize Belgium, Maxi and Mega Image spearheaded the delivery of an app convergence project that resulted in a unified, scalable, modular app framework designed to streamline and enhance the shopping experience for customers. Additionally, Ahold Delhaize USA launched its partnership with DoorDash to make an additional on-demand grocery delivery marketplace available to customers. 

In April, Ahold Delhaize announced its collaboration with four other leading grocery retailers to establish W23 Global, a collaborative venture capital fund. The fund will seek to invest in innovative start-ups and scale-ups that deploy technology to enhance customer experiences, transform the grocery value chain and address the sector’s sustainability challenges. We also launched AD/01, a new tech studio in Bucharest, Romania where top tech talent will work on innovative solutions that help provide leading customer experience solutions across our European brands.  

Lastly, our Dutch e-commerce retailer celebrated its 25th silver jubilee this quarter. 25 years ago, bol's very first product was sold digitally. Today, bol now has more than 13.5 million customers, a range of 38 million items and around 50,000 sales partners.  

Throughout 2024, we will remain focused on our brands’ customers and the developments we will announce at our Strategy Day on May 23. Stay tuned on our social media channels to learn more!  

Pivotal role 

AD/01 will play a pivotal role in strengthening Ahold Delhaize’s capabilities as part of its digital, data and tech ecosystem. The teams will work on a wide range of topics, from web and app development to joining and initiating strategic projects in the areas of eCommerce, Infra, Data, Loyalty, Core Retail and beyond.
 

Wouter Kolk, CEO Ahold Delhaize Europe & Indonesia: “Our great local brands strive to create the leading local food shopping experience. As part of our tech ambitions, we focus on providing seamless digitally enabled experiences, whether in-store down the aisles, at the checkouts, or behind the scenes. With the evolving needs of our customers come new challenges, which is why we are creating AD/01. This tech studio will bring together sharp minds to develop innovations that serve people today and tomorrow and serve all our European brands. In doing so we are also investing in the Romanian market, where we already operate through our local brand Mega Image.” 
 

A community for growth and collaboration  

AD/01 aims to foster a vibrant inclusive engineering culture. The first talents are currently coming on board; the plan is to have around 250 top tech talents involved in this tech studio within the next few years. Recruiting activities for the tech studio will further solidify in the coming period and are primarily focused on the Romanian market which has one of the largest pools of skillful tech talent in Europe.