A grocery disruptor is surging, hype is reshaping demand, and AI might quietly become your favorite holiday shopper. We sit down with Claire Reed to unpack Aldi’s value-first playbook, from lean operations and private labels to a smart Instacart partnership that skips building a retail media network from scratch. The takeaway: when quality meets price discipline, traffic follows, and Aldi’s store growth and rising visits prove it. From there, we dive into hype marketing that actually works. ...