How SpartanNash's Amy McClellan Wants to Build Customer Connection in 2022

Amy McClellan was promoted in January to chief marketing officer of Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer and distributor SpartanNash after serving for 10 months as the company's VP of fresh merchandising. A veteran of Martin's Super Markets—where she got her start in grocery as a part-time cashier in high school—McClellan helped lead that banner's integration into the SpartanNash family of brands when SpartanNash acquired Martin's in 2019. In an interview with WGB, McClellan discussed the invaluable perspective lent by being in stores through the height of the pandemic and where SpartanNash wants to stand out in 2022.

Christine LaFave Grace: The retail segment was SpartanNash's top performer in 2021. What excites you as we get farther into 2022?

Amy McClellan: Retail has a lot of momentum here at SpartanNash, and I think one of the ways in which we’ve earned that momentum is just the connections we have and the communities we serve. Through COVID, I think people put a new level of importance on their grocery store, and our teams delivered with service and just taking care of our communities through those times. We’ve really learned from that and will continue to make connections with the communities we serve. That’s one of the things I’m most excited about—how we can differentiate and be that local, community, neighborhood gathering place.

Being on the front lines is absolutely the best way to learn from shoppers. In the height of COVID, I spent weeks out in stores helping associates and helping shoppers, and I learned a lot more than I would have sitting behind a desk.

In those experiences in stores during the height of the pandemic, were there any stories that stood out to you about the kind of impact you’re having?

I would say just being an ear for shoppers, just being there to listen from their perspective. There were people who hadn’t left their homes other than to go to the grocery store, and I was there every day. It was a fantastic learning opportunity to connect with shoppers as they were experiencing the pandemic.

Today, two years after the start of the the pandemic, what are some of the biggest pain points you're seeing and hearing from the store floor?

People are busy; convenience is king. I think that’s part of the solution that we need to deliver today and in the future. So we need to anticipate, how can we be even more convenient for our shoppers? How can we add value? How can we save them time? How can we help them live a better life?

I’m excited to bring health and wellness initiatives to our differentiation, the way we tell our story. I think there’s a great way in which we can connect with shoppers and help our independents connect with shoppers as folks are looking to live healthier lives.

We’ve got a couple of health and wellness advisers on our team, and we’re looking to leverage their skills for store tours for dietary needs, [such as] low-sodium or diabetes [needs]. Inviting groups of folks and partnering with health providers in the communities we serve to identify needs and then solve for those needs. No one’s very excited if you get referred to a dietitian, and if you meet with that dietitian in a clinical setting, you’re not likely to be as successful as you might be if you were meeting in a supermarket where you can see and touch and feel the product and learn from the expertise that we have available. That’s a way in which I think we can build a relationship with a shopper that goes way beyond selling them groceries.  

Also, in our fresh departments, we have some new owned-brand fresh programs that will be coming to market soon that will be exciting and different. For our owned-brands teams, [fresh] will be an area of focus. It’s not just the box of cereal on the shelf; it’s the full solution for the shopper to make convenience top of mind.

SpartanNash is a Fortune 400 company, and you're serving more than 140 corporate-owned stores in nine states in addition to independent grocers across the country, but it seems like when people think about a particular SpartanNash-served store, that is their store—their Family Fare, their Martin's. How do you help cultivate that localization, that sense that a store is an integral part of its neighborhood?

Some of our stores are community neighborhood grocery stores. They’ve gotten to know us over the years, and we’ve been a partner in the community for many years.

I’m impressed by the tenure out in our stores. The years of experience in our store management teams and their passion for food and for providing solutions—that fully aligns with our winning recipe here at SpartanNash and our desire to be a food solutions company delivering ingredients for a better life.

Through our wholesale distribution business, I think we have the ability to provide solutions to our independent retailers that they may not otherwise be able to offer to their shoppers as a one- or two-store chain. We bring scale and thought leadership to those smaller retail groups who are serving communities just like we are. Many of them have been in the business for a long, long time and they’re passionate about serving their community. That fits our mission very well.