Albertsons increased its digital and total sales in its fiscal Q3 2025, though its net income decreased by more than a quarter year over year, the grocer reported.
Net sales and other revenue at Albertsons reached $19.12 billion in its fiscal Q3, which ended Nov. 30. That’s a 1.9% increase from $18.77 billion in the prior year’s Q3. However, Albertsons net income was $293.3 million in Q3. That’s about a 26.8% decrease compared to the year before, when it was $400.6 million.
CEO Susan Morris told investors on the retailer’s quarterly earnings call that Albertsons has continued working toward its strategic priorities, which include scaling its digital engagement (and sales as a result), monetizing its retail media network and improving productivity gains. As a way to work toward those objectives, it has increasingly turned to artificial intelligence (AI) over the past year.
She said Albertsons’ cloud data infrastructure provides the foundation for the retailer to scale AI solutions and other enterprise-wide business processes.
“We’re not just adopting AI,” she told investors. “We’re working to scale it across the enterprise to fundamentally change how we operate and how customers experience Albertsons. This is not incremental.”
Furthermore, she said Albertsons’ AI strategy is to improve its speed, intelligence and personalization. She cited that Albertsons is working with Google, OpenAI and Databricks in an effort to improve efficiency and customer experience.
Albertsons is currently 18th in the Top 2000 Database. The database ranks North America’s top online retailers by their annual ecommerce sales and more. Albertsons owns and operates its namesake store, Albertsons, as well as brands including Carrs, Haggen, Jewel-Osco, Lucky, Safeway and more.
Albertsons digital sales in Q3
In Q3, Albertsons digital sales increased 21% year over year. That’s nearly 10 times more than identical sales, which grew 2.4%.
Albertsons digital sales penetration reached 9.5% in its fiscal Q3, Morris said.
During Q3, Albertsons delivered more than half of its digital sales in three hours or faster, according to Morris. She said more than 95% of the retailer’s households that opt for delivery are eligible to receive deliveries in as fast as 30 minutes.
“Digital customer experience is a critical pillar of our growth strategy,” Morris said. “By leveraging AI, we’re creating differentiated experiences that go beyond convenience. They increase basket size, drive repeat trips and deepen loyalty.”
She called early results “compelling.” Among them, she cited that Albertsons’ “Ask AI” search tool has produced a 10% increase in digital cart sizes among consumers using it. She said that signals a “meaningful revenue upside as adoption scales.”
The retailer’s AI agents have also delivered “frictionless personalization journeys,” which she said keep Albertsons’ omnichannel customer experience “modernized and on trend.”
“This AI-powered assistant enables customers to interact in natural language, receive personalized recommendations and build smarter baskets faster, whether they’re planning meals, discovering new products or shopping for specific occasions,” Morris said.
Albertsons is also using AI to optimize pricing, promotions and assortment decisions, according to Morris. That helps improve category management and margins, she added. In stores, Albertsons is using generative AI to “optimize labor forecasting and scheduling,” she said.
How Albertsons is using its retail media network
Albertsons grew its loyalty program by 12% year over year to more than 49 million members in Q3.
Members transact more frequently, redeeming more rewards and spending more, according to Morris. She noted that 40% of engaged households continue to choose the “cash off” option in their rewards. That underscores “the appeal of immediate value” for Albertsons’ most digitally engaged and loyal customers, according to Morris.
“Loyalty also serves as a rich data source for our merchants and for our media collective, enabling targeted marketing and monetization,” she said.
She cited Albertsons’ partnership with Uber that connects the companies’ membership rewards.
Also in Q3, on-site media grew double digits, she said, not quantifying the growth specifically. Morris said Albertsons strengthened retail media network performance by adding transaction capability to off-site ad units. Those improvements drove higher return on investment for Albertsons’ clients, according to Morris.
“While the retail media space remains highly competitive, our advantage lies in the depth of our loyalty data and omnichannel reach, which enable targeted, measurable campaigns that improve both partner outcomes and the customer experience,” Morris said. She added that “few companies possess the depth of store level, customer level and category level data that we do, and we’re increasingly using that data to deliver a more relevant, localized and differentiated customer experience.”
How many stores does Albertsons operate?
Through its fiscal Q3 2025, Albertsons operates 2,243 stores, with 1,708 in-store pharmacies. It also operates 404 associated fuel centers, 22 dedicated distribution centers and 19 manufacturing facilities.
It operates across 35 states in the U.S. as well as the District of Columbia, under 22 brand banners.
In Q3, Albertsons opened two new stores, completed 23 remodels and closed 16 locations it determined were underperforming.
Check back for more earnings reports. Here’s last quarter’s article on Albertsons digital sales.
Do you rank in our databases?
Submit your data and we’ll see where you fit in our next ranking update.
Sign up
Stay on top of the latest developments in the online retail industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail News. Follow us on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and YouTube. Be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes news content.