Simplifying grocery shopping for millions
- ClientAlbertsons
- IndustryFood & Beverages
- ServicesCustomer Experience · Technology · Marketing
- CapabilitiesConnected Retail · Improvement & Optimization · Customer Experience · Digital Product Development · Content strategy · User Experience Mapping and Strategy
How Albertsons simplified grocery shopping for millions
One of the largest food and drug retailers in the US, Albertsons feeds more than 15% of the population. They approached Code and Theory to unify their disjointed digital ecosystem into a more cohesive, scalable, and modern experience.
Ahead, you’ll see how we aligned teams around a shared digital vision, shaped the experience strategy, and set the foundation for scalable execution—without revealing the details until later.
Key Takeaways
Modernized the e-commerce experience
Created a scalable design system
Integrated 10+ disparate apps into one, reducing overhead
Launched in six months
Impact
For Albertsons, this work helped simplify grocery shopping for millions by making key digital experiences easier to use and more consistent across touchpoints. The result is a smoother customer journey that supports stronger adoption of digital services and reinforces loyalty through more convenient, reliable shopping experiences.
A Design System Built for Scale
Since inception, our design system has averaged 18K+ weekly component inserts (or uses) across the Albertsons team. The new system includes a new point of view on color, type, bespoke icons and 150 illustrations that modernized the interface to appeal to a new demographic: young families.
Optimizing a Single Codebase
Our Engineering team optimized Albertsons’ existing, single codebase and ensured it could accommodate multiple themes by combining 200k lines of code in the span of 3 months.
With a CI/CD pipeline (continuous integration and continuous deployment) in place, Albertsons can quickly build, test, and release updates across iOS (Swift) and Android (Kotlin)—keeping the experience fast, reliable, and ready to scale.
Engineering Built for Speed
Speed is everything for customers — our engineering team replaced thousands of lines of code, wrote new code, and implemented new automation frameworks to keep the Albertsons experience fast, reliable, and ready to scale. That foundation set the stage for the customer-facing improvements that follow, turning performance gains into everyday moments that make grocery shopping simpler.
A Seamless Path From Browse to Savings
No more clipping coupons at checkout. Now shoppers can scan products, see details, and apply discounts instantly—helping make grocery shopping simpler for millions.
The impact shows up in the numbers too, with a 93% retention rate.
A Bridge From Perks to Product Experience
Loyal shoppers spend 300% more than casual shoppers, so we launched FreshPass™ to reward them with perks. We also built personalized features like meal planning, shopping lists, and auto-replenishment for customers’ favorite products.
Together, these updates make it easier to plan ahead, save time, and keep essentials stocked—so the experience stays seamless from one trip to the next.
Reduced Friction through UX Design
Built to scale across a complex ecosystem, the design system and optimized codebase improved consistency, speed, and maintainability—making it easier to ship updates across platforms while keeping the experience cohesive for millions of shoppers. Performance and UX refinements reduced friction in key journeys, helping customers browse faster, find what they need with less effort, and move from discovery to checkout with greater confidence.
Enhancements to browse-to-savings flows, FreshPass value moments, and personalization made deals and relevant items easier to surface—supporting smarter choices and more rewarding trips. Here are a few highlights from the experience in motion.
What We Did
Improved the end-to-end grocery shopping flow to make it faster and easier for customers
Simplified navigation and wayfinding so shoppers can find products and complete tasks with less effort
Reduced friction in checkout to support smoother cart-building and purchase completion
Delivered a clearer, more consistent experience that helps millions of shoppers shop with greater confidence
A clearer path from intent to checkout
For Albertsons, the focus was on simplifying grocery shopping for millions. The work centered on reducing friction and making the experience easier to navigate. Every decision supported a clearer path from intent to checkout.
The result is a more direct route from finding what customers need to completing checkout with less effort. By prioritizing simplicity, the experience better supports everyday routines at scale. It’s a practical shift that helps Albertsons meet customers where they are.
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newbiz@codeandtheory.comCode and Theory is a proud member of Stagwell Group. Stagwell is the challenger network built to transform marketing. We deliver scaled creative performance for the world’s most ambitious brands, connecting culture-moving creativity with leading-edge technology to harmonize the art and science of marketing. Led by entrepreneurs, our 13,000+ specialists in 34+ countries are unified under a single purpose: to drive effectiveness and improve business results for their clients. Join us at www.stagwellglobal.com
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