Speaker 1
Um, Susan, question I want to start with, um, value perception, you know, sort of variability across your markets, you know, how we spread from best to worst. How do you think about that? Is that now changing, say in the last six months because of, you know, pressure on the consumer? And then I know you care about, um, absolute performance, but do you think you're gaining share in the supermarket channel.
Speaker 2
Hi, John. So, from a value perception perspective across the company, you're right. We have different competitive sets, different customer bases that we're serving. And even if I step back for a second and look at the total industry units, we are definitely seeing different unit pressure. As an example, the West seems to be more under pressure from an industry perspective on units than the middle part of the country and the East. So as we think about our opportunities, and this goes back to why we're being very surgical and selective about our price investments, it's not a one-size-fits-all answer. And, again, we have the tools and AI modeling on elasticities to be able to manage that effectively. And, of course, ACI Edge is about giving us not only the tools and information to do that, but fuel for that growth as we seek productivity. From a share perspective, you know, we don't share specifically, but we are – and again, it varies across the company. I would say we're doing – our share with traditional food is in a better spot than multi-outlet as a whole.
Speaker 1
Yep, yep. Maybe as a follow-up, so with the new org structure, so what do you think you'd get, the biggest changes to come out of that, do you think execution-wise? And then I know at some point you were looking at a strategic review of markets. Do you think there are now markets that you think you'd like to exit or you need to get through ACI Edge first before you know?
Speaker 2
So going back to ACI Edge, thanks for the question because, yes, it's a restructuring, but it's really about running the company in a better way. It's about getting greater scale where customers don't always see it, where it's less relevant to them when we do it well, and then gaining greater local relevance where they do see it, and then finding the productivity to reinvest in value. And for us, again, yes, of course, that's price, but it's also fresh, personalization and digital. And that's the combination where we believe that we can improve units, earnings, and shareholder returns over time. With regards to the markets, we're constantly evaluating our business and making decisions where strategically we want to lean in and grow and where perhaps some areas are less strategic and we want to exit. The ACI edge is more about optimizing our operating model to improve execution end-to-end through the organization and accountability. It's not necessarily about exiting markets. And I think we've shared this before. Over time, there are probably a handful of smaller areas that we would look at. But our primary focus right now is on our core business and driving an inflection in unit growth.
Speaker 2
Thank you. The next question comes from Tom Palmer with J.P. Morgan. Please proceed.
Operator
Good morning. Thanks for the question. And Sharon, congratulations on your retirement. I wanted to maybe just start off on the gross margin side. You noted the pressure in the quarter and that it did come, I think, from fulfillment costs for digital. But at the same time, there was the call out that e-commerce was profitable in the quarter. And I think the digital growth was actually a bit lower than we've seen in recent years. So maybe expand a bit on on, you know, one, how you were able to kind of drive that profitability in that business despite the gross margin call out and really where the gross margin pressure is coming Thanks, Tom.
Speaker 2
So what I would say about the profitability of digital is we continue to see the economics improve through higher order density, better fulfillment productivity, and stronger customer engagement. And I think we've talked to you before about some of our proprietary tools that we use But Sharon, let me turn it over to you.