H-E-B will hire hundreds of employees for the new digital HQ in Austin

HEB will put all of its Austin digital team under one roof and hire hundreds of employees to equip its new digital headquarters – the latest in a series of major projects to strengthen the company's mobile and online businesses .

The San Antonio grocer, who operates 400 stores in Texas and Mexico, announced Wednesday that he is planning a "world-class technology lab and innovation lab" to consolidate his digital operating team. currently in Austin with Favor, based in Austin. HEB bought for an undisclosed amount earlier this year.

Employees of the H-E-B digital team in San Antonio will stay here, said company spokeswoman Dya Campos.

H-E-B and Favor plan to hire several hundred workers to fill positions "in all areas of expertise", including product management, product design and software engineering.

"This state-of-the-art space will be a center of creativity and innovation as we continue to develop the ultimate digital experience for our customers," said Jag Bath, H-E-B Digital Manager and Favor CEO.

The San Antonio retailer has made great strides in the digital arena while retail giants Amazon, Target and Walmart are making progress in the grocery industry and trespassing H-E-B in Texas.

Consumers are increasingly looking for offers that make grocery shopping easier, said analyst Jan Kniffen. And once a category of retail products, such as books or electronics, begins to see online sales growth, that growth does not stop, Kniffen said.

"The grocery store will be the same thing," Kniffen said. "People who do not believe that have not looked at all other categories."

But it is unclear whether low-margin grocers can take advantage of new digital offerings such as grocery delivery, mobile payment applications and allow customers to order online and get them back online. in shops.

"Grocery is the last frontier of the digital realm," said Paula Rosenblum, managing partner of RSR Research. "The challenge is that there is no market, the challenge is whether you can make money and I do not think you can."

HEB has added delivery of home grocery products and curbside recycling to more than 100 stores in Texas and is poised to add services to 165 establishments in Texas by the end of 2018. .

Other retailers have also aggressively added delivery options and grocery shopping to their services.

Amazon – which bought Whole Foods Market last year in Austin for $ 13.4 billion – has extended the delivery of Whole Foods products to San Antonio and Houston by Prime Now in postal codes where the distribution service by Prime Now subscription runs in June.

This announcement was made the same day that Walmart announced a partnership with the DoorDash mobile email company, offering delivery of items for at least $ 30 for a $ 9.95 delivery fee. Walmart, which has been marketing in-store grocery products at its stores since the program's launch in 2013, is also piloting its own last-mile grocery delivery service, the company said Wednesday.

And Target bought Shipt's grocery delivery company for $ 550 million in December, saying it would deliver the same day on orders for groceries, clothing and electronics, among others.

H-E-B is also piloting a mobile payment app, H-E-B Go, in three San Antonio area stores – a service that Walmart and Sam's Club are increasingly offering to their customers.

H-E-B bought Favor in February, a rare acquisition for the company of $ 25 billion. Three months later, H-E-B appointed Bath to the newly created position of Digital Manager, overseeing H-E-B's digital products and services. Last month, the company hired Mike Georgoff, of Austin's digital marketing firm, to lead the strategy, design and development of its digital products as a product manager.

For the digital chair, IA Interior Architects will customize a 81,000-square-foot, two-storey workspace in a newly remodeled warehouse located at 2416 E. 6th St., East Side of Austin, less than 10 minutes from downtown. Austin city. l & # 39; space. The installation is expected to open in spring 2019.

The announcement of the headquarters also marks the last move of H-E-B to Austin. The chain consolidated its regional operations last year by purchasing approximately 100,000 square feet of office space on the North Side of Austin.

H-E-B continues to strengthen its presence in San Antonio. City Council members waived $ 1.5 million for HEB to build a $ 130 million distribution center at an 870-acre site southwest of East Houston Street and South Foster Road .

Joshua Fechter is a San Antonio-based retail and tourism editor. Read it on our free website, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | [email protected] | Twitter: @JFreports