Preparing Retail for What's Next with Wesley Wilson on AI Innovation | CGF 2026

Hello, this is omnitalk Retail.

I'm Chris Walton.

I'm coming to you live from day three at the Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit in Vienna, Austria.

And we are of course in the CGF Leadership Studio, which is sponsored by Vuzion.

Now, joining me is a man, this is his second time with us.

We interviewed him last year at cgf.

And of course I'm talking about Wesley Wilson, who's the regional director of North America for the Consumer Goods Forum for cgf.

Wesley, how are you doing today?

How's day three?

How are you holding up?

Excellent, excellent, excellent.

Great week.

Thank you for having me.

Yeah.

You holding up?

Yeah, yeah.

In the home stretch here today.

This is fun.

Yeah, it's great to see everything, right?

Yeah.

It's a culmination of a lot of work, right?

It is, it is, it is.

It's fun to see the, the work that the team has put together and it's just fun to see the magic happen and to see everyone enjoy it and get so much from it.

I bet, I bet.

No doubt, no doubt.

So when we spoke to you last year, I remember you were pretty new in roll, like six months, right?

Not even, not even six months.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You were like very, very new.

You're like, sure, I'll talk to you, but I don't know what I'm gonna say exactly.

Yeah, but, but try to explain this, but funny enough, I went back and I looked at what you said and you, you really outlined three pillars already in your, in your short time in role.

You said you're focused on leadership development.

Yeah.

Industry wide innovation.

Yes.

And also making an impact.

Yes.

So I'm curious, which of those three have demand demanded in the past year?

Most of your time.

And is that what you expected going in?

That's a good question.

So those three themes have stuck for us, right?

I mean, those are at the very heart of what we do.

I would say that the thing that I've ended up spending the most time on is actually developing our innovation activities.

Oh, really?

So I think that especially as we think about San Francisco and 2027 and kind of leaning into that, it really has been a process, even kind of looking in the process of this year.

Leadership is of course at the heart of cgf.

CGF does this really well and that we really kind of have more established impact.

That's true as well.

And so CGF just does that in a really excellent way.

We do innovation well as well, but we have the opportunity to kind of take that to the next level.

In kind of the US Environment and leaning into San Francisco.

So I think I have been surprised to be spending and delighted actually to be spending more of my time there over the course of this year.

Yeah, that wouldn't have been on my bingo card too.

Of the three innovations, I wouldn't have.

Thought that where I thought it was gonna be.

I wouldn't have thought that either.

No.

But the board has kind of leaned in of cgf, has leaned in there and said, like, with the selection of San Francisco and kind of recognition of the disruption that's going on in the industry, really saying, like, hey, we recognize that change is happening and so help us innovate, help us look at this, help us lean into this.

Cool.

And just so everyone back home knows too, especially if you're in the grocery industry or the CPG in North America, what Wesley's talking about is CGF's going to be in San Francisco next year.

Right.

And so, yeah, so if you're interested and have never been able to get out to Amsterdam last year or Vienna this year, keep a lookout for that because it's going to be coming our way.

U.S. americans way.

8Th through 11th, June 8th through 11th, 2027.

Awesome.

San Fran, one of my favorite cities ever.

I loved living there.

Loved there for four years.

Can't wait to get back.

All right.

The other thing you talked about last year was the trade off between affordability and wellness.

So I'm curious, where in your mind does that tension stand now?

Is it still, is it, is it worse?

Is it better?

Is it about the same?

Like, what's your summation of that?

Yeah, I, I think that there.

That tension, of course is there.

I think the, the instability of the macroeconomic environment.

There are a lot of things going on both with supply chains, tariffs, other things that have, that have really impacted that and continued to exacerbate that tension.

I think the challenge for the industry is to really.

And there have been some good sessions around GLP1s.

They're not everything, but they are kind of a catalyst for this conversation.

And what you do see and what kind of this, some of this research is showing, which is we've released in partnership with some of the consulting firms, is that there is this, let's call it a flight to nutritional quality.

Okay, so you do see.

Heard that a lot of people.

And so there.

But there is that kind of tension.

How do you provide, like nutritional quality and that's really what the customer is looking for instead of quantity?

How do you do that in a way that is efficient and is affordable.

And when some of your traditional levers for affordability fall away because of these pressures, and how do you find new levers in the supply chain, in the ecosystem, so that the industry can continue to deliver that for customers and their families?

Wesley, are you feeling that AI is one of those levers for the industry too?

Yeah.

You are?

Definitely.

How so?

I think AI, Well, I think wellness, nutrition, health, it's personalized.

That personalization leads to a complexity for industry.

And AI can be good if applied correctly.

And that I think the industry is still learning, but it is a lever.

It is a tool that can help you to deal with complexity efficiently.

And so taking.

I think there are a lot of things in the wellness and the nutritional space that if you look back two or three years, we really would have had a hard time doing.

Right.

But now you are able to deploy large language models in a way that help you deal with that complexity in a sophisticated and an efficient way, and you're able to deliver that in a.

Deliver that value to the customer in a way that they can access.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

We've heard that part and parcel from almost everyone we've interviewed here at the conference too.

Is that right?

Yeah, it is.

It has been a really palpable theme of the interviews I've conducted.

I think I've conducted almost 20 now.

I've heard that almost to a person.

I think there are some part of the conversation yesterday.

Of course there are the.

I think there are the large language models that everyone knows about and kind of that are out there in the ecosystem.

But part of the conversation, one of the sessions that we put together yesterday with partners and members, Nvidia Blue Yonder, Microsoft, was how do you use open source as part of your tech stack to really help to drive that efficiency?

So can you bring.

How is open source not only a part of your technology decision, but how is it a business decision so that you can help to keep costs down, so you can help to keep transparency and again, deliver that value for the customer.

Yeah, because it all comes back to the customer.

At the end of the day, the customer's gonna demand value, but they're also.

The other thing I've heard from every interview I've done, literally to a person, again, is they are, like you said, they're demanding more nutrition from what they're eating.

Yes.

Yeah, nutrition, definitely a flight to nutritional quality.

Yep.

Yeah, and I'm come back to GLP1s in a sec.

But before I do, you know, it's funny, like you were only enrolled for a little bit of time.

But there was another nugget I pulled out from your interview too.

And you said, you said that, you know, AI and digital, they're very competitive issues.

I think those were your exact words.

Yeah.

But you also said there are pre competitive elements to them that require collaboration.

So what did you mean by that now that you're in and what perspective you have on it now?

I think in, in any innovation space there is a kind of pre competitive.

We're figuring this out together, right?

We're figuring some of the fundamentals out, but then is the application of, okay, this is how we apply this in our business, in our ecosystem and gain our competitive advantage.

So the kind of reference to open source, that's an excellent example where, hey, here are some great tools, here are some great elements that are kind of out there.

They are pre competitive.

They're out there for everyone to use.

Now how you take those and apply those in your ecosystem, I mean, that is definitely a question of competitive advantage.

But, but in any kind of innovation or technological space, there's always kind of the ramp up or the lead up of like, okay, what are the fundamentals here?

What are the things?

And this is what, one of the things that I think CGF really excels at in kind of its role in the industry is how do we kind of work together as an industry?

And you see this in other industries too.

If you look at like the pharmaceutical industry, right?

There's the early in the pipeline, there's a lot of collaboration on problems that are too hard for any one company to solve, right?

But then once that's cracked, then everyone kind of takes their competitive angle on that and goes after it.

Right?

And so definitely, you know, consumer, with technology kind of playing a bigger role in the consumer goods industry and in retail that I think pre competitive collaboration is becoming more important in terms of, okay, you know, how do you, how do you do that together?

And then, but then, you know, it does come very competitive.

Yeah, yeah.

No, the other thing, I mean, I think I've learned from the discussion about this conference.

It's almost a requirement now in a lot of ways just get the business done.

Because there are, like you said, there's so many, especially when you start looking upstream, there's so many difficult challenges in terms of like, you know, the supply chain and, and the efforts around climate, the efforts the industry is collectively putting in around climate change.

You have to come together on those things.

And to the point again, the consumer is starting to demand it more.

Yeah, well, that's the thing, I think, is that in order, it's really a question of how do you serve the consumer?

Well, right.

You want to collaborate in a way and you want to have those pre competitive conversations.

In a way.

It is a question about not, you know, yes, serving the businesses, but at the end of the day, is the customer best served by that collaboration?

And we are finding.

It's a great way to put it,.

You know, as technology becomes a stronger part of our space that.

Yes.

Yeah.

There are things that we actually do are able to serve the customer more efficiently, lower cost, and in the end create, ironically, a more competitive industry by having that kind of initial kind of pre competitive collaboration.

Yeah, I really, I really like how you said that.

I really like how you said that.

I'm going to.

I might pull that out and steal that at some point.

Wesley, that was really, really, really articulate.

Yeah, I will.

Yeah, I'm sure you're like, sure, go for it, man.

All right.

So you said.

So you said, I want to come back to GLP1s.

Sure.

I want to touch on it before we close up here.

So you said you're focused on innovation, you know, particularly that's been kind of.

That's taken up the majority of your much a significant portion of your time.

In terms of your three priorities that you outlined last year, where does GLP1 sit in that?

Like, how has GLP1 started to bubble the surface in your role and how has it changed what you're doing?

Yeah, it's changing what we do significantly in part because it is, I think, bringing into very sharp focus this conversation that has been emerging around lifespan and health span.

So we've seen the customer, the kind of interest for themselves, interest for their families migrating in that direction for quite a while now.

And GLP1s really have provided that catalyst, I think, in the industry in a way that's been somewhat surprising where it's actually crystallized these trends that have been emerging.

And so now what we see is there's kind of a really sharp focus, kind of brought it into resolution.

Okay.

And so, and so now the conversation has kind of become quite sharp.

Okay.

And I think to steal a turn of phrase from.

I think it was from Colleen Wegman yesterday.

She was kind of talking about that customers have.

Well, it was Colleen and it was Leah Wickert from Kohl's.

They were talking about the customer having a job to do.

Right.

So it's not as much we tend in the industry to think in terms of channels, we think about our categories, we think about those types of things, but the customer doesn't think about those things.

Right.

They think about, I have a job to do, I have something that I want to accomplish.

I love that framework.

And so I think with GLP1s, it's really kind of brought into focus this conversation around health and the customer's focus on health outcomes.

And increasingly for both retailers and in manufacturers that focus on health outcomes, that is what the customer views.

They want to be the seat again from, from Colleen and Leah, like they want to be the.

And Danielle from Barrett, like they want to be the CEO of their health.

Right, Right.

So that, that's part of their role for them, themselves and their families.

And so they want to pull that together.

And the question is, is how does industry kind of help them do that job and how own that, that kind of part of their lives for themselves and for their families?

Right.

That's a great.

We always, we always talk about that on our weekly show at Omnitart.

What is the job that needs to be done?

Yeah, you're right.

I never thought about that with GLP1s.

Like, the job that needs to be done is I need to eat, I need to feed myself.

But what I used to do to accomplish, the tools I used to use to accomplish that job are now different.

They're now different.

And it's.

And I want a lasting impact.

I don't want to invest in something that is a short term gain.

You know, I've taken the step to engage with GLP1s because I want to see an outcome.

Right, right.

So how do I accomplish that?

How do I sustain that and then how does that reflect on others that I know and love as well?

Yeah, it's a lot of new mental math for a lot of folks.

Yes.

All right, so lastly, I'm gonna get you out here on this.

So you came into the role, your specific task was to strengthen the presence of the Consumer Goods Forum in the US and Canada for the most part.

So.

So I'm curious, what turned out to be harder than you expected in terms of that being one of the main goals.

So that.

So the easy, I would say the part that has surprised me in terms of being easier is I think that it's the people.

Right?

Yeah.

Right.

Seems like you guys got a good group of people.

Well, it's a great group of people.

It's a great community.

You know what my kind of discussion about the Consumer Goods Forum is?

It's.

Yes, we're an association.

And yes, we do trade stuff, but really this is a community.

This is an ecosystem of people that know each other and have worked with each other over many years.

And so that I think is the most, that's, that's the easiest part.

I think the hardest part actually has been beginning, I would say our.

Not in a bad way, but we've started our kind of preparations and work for the Global Summit in San Francisco early.

So usually we leave a little bit, but with all the opportunities that, that presents with the challenges that are on the table for the industry, the opportunities to address those.

So we actually jumped into that extra early, so kind of late last year, if you can believe it.

And start.

Yeah, wow.

No, I believe it for sure.

And so that added a whole, you know, so preparing for two summits at once, in addition to everything else that we're doing, that, that was, that, that surprised me.

But, but again, it's a ton of fun.

I mean, the conversations that we're having already in preparation for, for 2027 are exciting.

I don't think I personally could prepare for two CGF summits at once.

I think, I think I'd lose about £20, which maybe, maybe I need to.

But hey, but yeah, man.

Wow.

Good, good on you.

That's, that's great.

But, yeah, again, you know, this.

So next year, yeah, San Francisco, you guys will be there.

And yeah, if you're in the industry and you want to check it out, I think, you know, if you've never been, it's a great love to have you.

Great show.

It's on the cutting edge of all the issues that are facing the industry for the most part, so.

Well, Wesley, thank you for joining us.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you for being here.

It's been a real pleasure.

Yeah, no, I wouldn't miss it.

Hope you've had a good week.

I love it.

I love it.

I love this conference.

This is a great conference.

And thanks to cgf and thanks to Vuzion for enabling us to come and provide all these great executive interviews all three days, like with Wesley here.

And to all of you, be careful out there.