The future of grocery shopping may depend on robots.
Online grocery sales continue to surge across the United States as a Statistica report reveals 138 million Americans spent over $327 billion on online groceries in 2025. That number is expected to reach $455 billion by 2029.
Retailers face mounting pressure to deliver orders faster, more accurately and more efficiently, all while finding a path to profitability. Making money through ecommerce has been an elusive feat for many businesses, though, especially in online grocery.
So, how do companies make ecommerce and online groceries profitable? Leaders from across the U.S. gathered in the Cincinnati Innovation District for the Future of Commerce: AI+Robotics Summit 2026, where industry and automation experts broke down how responsible robotics could offer an innovative solution.
As online shopping increases, so do the pressures confronting ecommerce. For grocers, these issues are even greater, requiring businesses to balance customer expectations with operational realities. Below are a few contributing factors:
Alongside these challenges, ecommerce companies are navigating a competive, fast-moving market where speed and customer experience are key differentiators. For grocers, the continued growth of online shopping presents both opportunities and incentives to develop new technologies and business models that can drive long-term success.
AI and robotics experts gathered at the University of Cincinnati's 1819 Innovation Hub and Digital Futures complex to tackle these issues during the Future of Commerce: AI+Robotics Summit 2026. The featured session "Physical AI and Nano Automation" focused on the operational and logistical hurdles facing ecommerce businesses, with a particular emphasis on the demands of online grocery fulfillment.
"The solution for ecommerce that's been put in play over time has been heavily centered on two solutions," he says. "Aggregate large volume of demand in large, automated facilities, bring the goods to a picker who does that final touch and then take that to the customer … The alternative is do everything manually from the store."
Neither approach has fully delivered on the grocery industry's goals. According to Cosset, collecting large grocery volumes in a warehouse and having pickers perform the finishing touches requires significant demand to operate efficiently. This may create a greater distance between Kroger and its customers. Meanwhile, in-store fulfillment offers closer proximity to shoppers but can introduce cost and consistency challenges related to quality and reliability.
Fulfil offers an online shopping solution: place ambient, refrigerated and frozen items in dense structures near each other and let mobile robots pick and pack customers' needs. The compact nature of Fulfil's design means it can be added at the back of stores, while sensors and cameras manage inventory and allow robots to pack items appropriately.
As a leader at Kroger, Cosset understands why responsible robotics technologies could play a major role in the future of ecommerce.
"Years from now, 30, 40, 50% of grocery will be transacted as ecommerce channels," he says. "You can't afford to do that and not have a model that is high-quality, able to grow and sustainable economically. And that's where AI and robotics in particular are going to have to play a critical role in that solution."
Ideally, thoughtfully planned in-store automation provides a rapid, cost-effective means for companies to meet soaring online grocery expectations. The right combination of robotics with AI wouldn't just reduce costs for businesses like Kroger; it would also boost product accuracy and recency while leading to quicker, more predictable order fulfillment times.
"Automation has to be small, fast, cheap and close to customers on retailers' turf and price," Aamir, the head of Fulfil, says. "[That] technology is now available and being used to solve problems and doing it in a profitable manner."
National ecommerce leaders converged in Cincinnati to explore how responsible robotics and AI are opening new possibilities for ecommerce. The focus was on practical, innovative solutions with the potential to reshape the industry in meaningful ways.
UC's Digital Futures complex and the 1819 Innovation Hub - positioned at the heart of the Cincinnati Innovation District - made sense as hosts of this year's Future of Commerce: AI+Robotics Summit.
Groundbreaking tech is born every day in the Cincinnati Innovation District, giving 1819 partners such as Procter & Gamble (the largest consumer packaged goods company in the world) and Kroger (the country's biggest traditional grocer) access to research and innovation unmet on the coasts.
This year's AI+Robotics Summit highlighted the strides being made in ecommerce automation, but the real robotics work is being done every day in labs across Southwest Ohio.
Featured image at top: In-store grocery shopping remains prevalent, but online shopping is quickly catching up. Photo/Amigo Mobility via Unsplash
