HDS
The grocery store forgot who you are.
We taught it to remember.
Reimagining the grocery store around the individual.
Although the company didn’t recover from that blow, the central idea remains one I still believe in: the future of retail isn't simply faster fulfillment.
It's making every customer feel known.
When Louis Borders asked me to help shape the strategy for Home Delivery Service, the vision was ambitious: combine AI-powered robotics with concierge-level customer service to reinvent grocery delivery.
But as I dug into the opportunity, I realized robotics weren't going to be the differentiator.
Everyone would eventually have automation. The real opportunity lay elsewhere.
Looking back through the history of grocery stores, I realized we'd lost something important.
Before the rise of the modern supermarket, neighborhood grocers knew their customers by name. They stood behind the counter, remembered what each family regularly bought, recommended products based on personal knowledge, and measured out exactly the quantities people needed. Shopping wasn't anonymous. It was personal.
Mid-century supermarkets changed all that. Self-service aisles, standardized packaging, and economies of scale made shopping faster and more efficient—but they also erased the relationship between merchant and customer.
That insight reframed the opportunity; we weren't trying to invent an entirely new shopping experience. We were trying to restore one.
Rather than simply offering customizable products, I envisioned an online grocery experience built around true personalization.
Every recommendation and product assortment would adapt to the individual shopper and their family’s dietary needs. Vegetarians wouldn't browse snacks including beef jerky. Families managing allergies wouldn't need to double-check every label because they’d never be populated SKUs that included peanuts in them at all. People following kosher, halal, keto, or other dietary lifestyles would see a store designed specifically for them.
Technology wasn't replacing the neighborhood grocer.
It was making that level of personal service possible again.
The strategy reshaped the product vision and eventually extended to naming the company itself. I developed the name oona, inspired by una ("one"), reflecting a brand built around each individual customer.
Our engagement was so successful that, after a year of consulting, the company offered me a VP of Brand role, which I accepted. As we were finalizing the details for me to come on-board, full-time, the pandemic hit and, well…