From Aisles to Algorithms: The Digital Shift Powering Grocery Innovation
From improving efficiency to cutting costs and enhancing agility, digital transformation unlocks new potential across the grocery industry. Yet, for many, navigating this shift is easier said than done.
To explore how grocers can effectively embrace digital strategies, Progressive Grocer spoke with Christopher Martin, a principal at CLA. With deep industry experience, Chris shares actionable insights and real-world strategies to help retailers overcome digital hurdles and seize new opportunities for growth.
What’s driving the evolution of the grocery industry, and how can operators stay ahead in a competitive landscape?
Christopher Martin: The grocery industry is experiencing what most of us are in this digital age, which is a need to adapt at the rapid pace of technological advancement. With the democratization of artificial intelligence, wider availability of technology, and a thirst for understanding all the data at our fingertips, grocers are realizing the benefits of accelerating their digital journey to stay competitive. Most consumers visit more than one store per week, which includes big box retailers and other alternatives to supermarkets. Getting consumers back into the supermarket aisles is causing grocers to look at every aspect of the business to better suit the shopper’s needs, and technology is at the center of that in one way or another.
What factors are driving the evolution of the grocery industry, and how can operators stay ahead of an increasingly diverse and competitive landscape?
CM: The consumer is still at the center of everything that is driving grocery evolution. When we walk through a grocery store or order online, convenience is the impetus for much of this change. It also is causing grocers to further analyze their omnichannel marketing methods. Understanding what consumers want and how to capitalize on their buying habits goes back to data and harnessing all available information in a way that can be analyzed and used to drive more revenue. Which brings me to another major factor — the cost of products and labor. Labor costs became a major focus in many states that started raising minimum wage over the past several years, and grocers have further felt the burden of shrinking margins with rising product costs. We know every cent matters in terms of the bottom line in a grocery store. This makes it even more important for grocers to use data to get a better handle on inventory and supply chain management, using technology to better manage shrink and other trends, in addition to analyzing ways labor is deployed in areas of the store to drive consumer engagement.
How does CLA uniquely support grocers in navigating what can be an overwhelming transformation journey?
CM: Our promise to know and help our clients starts with our industry-focused approach and goes beyond our compliance services. We have a team that spends most of their time working with grocers in a variety of ways, including CLA’s digital team. We work with grocers to understand their needs and craft a digital roadmap to help integrate and implement tools that can help them run their stores more efficiently. This approach allows us to work side-by-side with grocers along every step of their digital journey across software, data, and cybersecurity.
Can you share specific examples of how CLA has partnered with grocery clients?
CM: We are currently working with a grocer migrating from an outdated accounting software siloed from all other operational systems. By sitting down with the grocer to understand the gaps in their technology and data strategy, we were able to provide options for new software they can integrate natively with existing operational systems more effectively. This allows them to better leverage technology they already have, while providing them a way to extract data that can help them run their business more proactively, not reactively. We are also working with another grocer to better harness the data they have within their systems so they can better analyze vendor payments. By creating a comprehensive dashboard within a user-friendly business intelligence tool, their accounting and operational personnel can better understand who they are paying, how often they are paying them, and look at trends, among numerous other things. The possibilities are limitless when there is a good data foundation and powerful tools that can help leverage data insights. We can continue to scale this tool based on their needs and as the business continues to evolve.
To learn more, visit: www.claconnect.com