Mondelēz on creating the future of ecommerce, AI 'is not about who goes fastest’

By 2030, Mondelēz wants 20% of its revenue to come from digital commerce, including through digital shopping channels and direct-to-consumer offerings, Ahluwalia previously shared​.  

Working towards this goal, Mondelēz first identified target consumers and what individual brands and categories need to grow ecommerce, Ahluwalia told FoodNavigator-USA in a video interview.

“It starts with having one conversation with a customer ... and how do we drive category growth. It does not matter if it is online or in store,” Ahluwalia said. “There might be tactics, which might be different online, but it is all at the service of driving the category growth, driving your brand growth.”

Investing in AI comes with ‘a lot of risk’

AI could enhance omnichannel shopping experiences — from creating content for display pages faster to predicting what a consumer might buy on a specific platform. However, implementing these technologies comes with “a lot of risk,” Ahluwalia admitted.

“You have to straddle both the short term and the long term. Long term, [it is] absolutely critical that we are laying the foundations now on things like generative AI or AI in general, which will basically drive efficiencies in the near future. But it is also about delivering the now, and that is where focus is very important,” Ahluwalia said. “Rather than saying that we would go after all the use cases, all the countries, all the brands, for example, we will pick up where we can land maximum impact and test and learn.”

Ahluwalia suggests companies think more strategically about deploying these technologies and how they can deliver on specific goals.    

“[AI] is not about who goes fastest. It is who is smarter and is able to invest at the right time so that you are able to drive growth and efficiencies at the same time,” Ahluwalia said.

Engaging product display pages are crucial to ecommerce

Currently, Mondelēz is working to ensure customers receive engaging online content on product-display pages and investing in retail media that goes towards its larger ecommerce goals, Ahluwalia explained. “Online is informing in-store actions,” he noted.

“In the physical world, it is all about your packaging, but in the online world, consumers interact with the digital content first. So, really making sure that we are able to communicate that grand story online through a product display page,” Ahluwalia said.

Additionally, Mondelēz can use their ecommerce capabilities to work around out of stocks, Ahluwalia explained. If a consumer is searching online for a product, Mondelēz can filter out the retailers that have a product out of stock, so shoppers can ensure they get results for retailers with product on hand, he said.  

'Ecommerce is a team sport'

Mondelēz also “upskilled close to 15,000” employees to understand how to win in ecommerce and made organizational changes to support its goals, Ahluwalia said.

“We have built and clarified processes ... so that all the functions, whether you are in brand marketing, whether you are commercial, whether you are in the supply chain, you know the role you need to play to drive that digital commerce growth. As we say, ‘e in ecommerce is everyone,’ which only made it because just one team is not going to try the massive growth agenda we have, we need everybody in the organization vested and contributing to the digital commerce growth. Ecommerce is a team sport.”

He added, “The onus is on the digital commerce team. As I always say, 'We are truly the glue in the company, which is [bringing] the folks together.’”