Recently, Albertsons Companies, an $80 billion US-based food and drug retail giant, launched its Global Capability Centre (GCC) in Bengaluru, marking a step in its technology transformation journey. By tapping into Bengaluru’s deep tech talent pool, the company plans to scale its Indian workforce with the help of ANSR, from 300 to nearly 1,000 employees over the next 18 months.
This move comes as India continues to solidify its position as a global hub for innovation. As of 2024, the country hosts over 1,700 GCCs, employing 1.9 million professionals and generating $64.6 billion in revenue.
The momentum has only grown in 2025, with new entrants such as Feuji, Ferguson, Heineken, MODEC, Assent, Entain, and Sonatype establishing their presence in the Indian market.
In this wave of global expansion, Albertsons’ entry stands out not merely for cost efficiency or access to talent, but for a deeper strategic shift in how it views technology’s role in retail.
“Albertsons Companies India is truly a strategic investment for us. We are not seeing this as a support site. It’s really a key part of our company’s strategy to modernise and own systems,” said Jill Pavlovich, SVP of digital shopping experiences at Albertsons Companies to AIM.
Why India? Why Now?
Pavlovich mentioned that the decision to set up operations in India was less about offshore support and more about strategic enablement. “We are building this global technology leadership team extending our North America capabilities to now include Bengaluru.”
India’s thriving tech ecosystem, specifically Bengaluru’s deep retail tech talent pool and culture of innovation, played a decisive role. “We were blown away by the continuous improvement mindset here, it’s embedded into the talent,” Pavlovich said. While cities like Hyderabad and Chennai are contenders, Bengaluru’s maturity in hosting major tech and retail players gave it the edge.
Furthermore, Albertsons Companies India is envisioned as a true global headquarters, not a satellite. The company has plans to build autonomous, cross-functional teams involving software engineers, architects, product managers, UX designers, DevOps engineers, AI specialists and others.
“It’s not about growing fast, it’s about growing strategically,” Pavlovich pointed out, speaking about their vision of building IP-led, scalable technology systems in-house, rather than relying on SaaS or third-party contractors.
AI-Powered Retail Transformation
With grocery being a low-margin, high-volume industry, Albertsons is leveraging AI as a core advantage. From conversational search to real-time inventory alignment, and from automated meal planning to personalised promotions, AI is at the core of the company’s transformation efforts.
One standout innovation is their shoppable recipes and digital recipe box powered by OCR and generative AI. Customers can upload family recipes, URLs, or even handwritten notes, which are then converted into shopping lists tied to real-time inventory — bridging sentiment with utility.
“Imagine a world where customers don’t need to think about what to buy — they just tell us their goals, and we do the rest,” Pavlovich said, hinting at future possibilities with generative AI.
Unlike many retailers that view digital as a distinct e-commerce channel, Albertsons is driving a true omnichannel approach. Pavlovich highlighted an insight that became a design pillar for the company’s product roadmap: “People think about food 226 times a day.” That insight drove the company to focus on reducing customer cognitive load across the buying journey — online and offline.
From pricing and inventory consistency to two-way chats between pickers and customers, every step is engineered to elevate the end-to-end shopping experience.
While Pavlovich did not divulge specifics about upcoming solutions, she assured that India will be at the center of innovation. The GCC will lead efforts in fulfillment optimisation, personalised AI models, and customer-centric automation, with a strong focus on building proprietary systems from the ground up.
“Gen AI enables what we could only imagine three years ago. Now, we can bring that to life for our customers,” she said.
Overview of Retail GCC Market in India
India is now home to nearly 25% of all retail Global Capability Centres (GCCs) worldwide, employing over 50,000 professionals.
These retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) GCCs are rapidly becoming hubs of innovation, driving transformation for their parent companies by setting up R&D labs, centres of excellence (CoEs), and tapping into the thriving start-up ecosystem through both in-house incubators and external accelerator programs.
Leading global brands such as Target, Tesco, Lowe’s, JCPenney, Fossil, Lululemon, H&M, Circle K, and 7-Eleven have established strong GCC operations in India. Many of these centres are either highly mature in their digital transformation journeys or are actively evolving to deliver increasing value across the enterprise.
While India’s retail market is ripe, Albertsons currently has no plans to launch physical stores. However, Pavlovich didn’t rule it out entirely: “Never say never.”
The post Why Albertsons Has Chosen India for Retail Transformation appeared first on Analytics India Magazine.