Grocers' Content Strategy Can Determine Online Shopper Loyalty

Offering shoppers content that’s relevant to them and their needs could solve a major problem online grocers are facing: lack of loyalty to any particular store, new research from experience personalization solutions provider RichRelevance reveals.

Today, online grocery shoppers haven’t pledged their loyalty to any one grocer: More than one-third state that they currently shop at more than one online grocery store. Among those who don’t currently grocery shop online, six in 10 are willing to explore a new grocer when they will.

Retailers can shift the odds in their favor, however, by providing solution-focused content. The top features that would push consumers to shop more online range from presenting frequently purchased items, favorites (56 percent each) and alternatives (50 percent) to suggestions for completing a meal (26 percent) and personalized apps/pages (37 percent). Linking to a connected fridge ranked last, at 8 percent.

The effectiveness of content could explain Amazon’s strong early lead in online grocery, as the Seattle-based ecommerce giant is known for its content-rich platform. The research shows that it attracts twice as many shoppers (60 percent) as traditional supermarkets (27 percent) and big-box retailers (27 percent), and about four times as many as club chains such as Costco (15 percent).

Currently, digital grocery is hardly a mature category, as just more than half of Americans (56 percent) have yet to shop online for any types of groceries, and, of those who do, six in 10 admit they only shop rarely. This means grocers still have time to set up a content strategy that’s ready to inform and inspire people as they begin shopping for groceries online.

“As the fight for category leadership in digital grocery heats up, experience personalization will take center stage in 2018,” said Michael Ni, CMO of San Francisco-based RichRelevance. “Grocery buying is increasingly becoming a lifestyle choice beyond produce. This is creating opportunities for new grocers to engage consumers with new and fresh ideas, gather key customer browsing and buying behavior, and personalize their various brands, creating a virtuous cycle of loyalty. Grocers need to learn from the early mistakes of traditional retailers and not simply try to compete with Amazon on convenience, but focus on the new opportunity that online shopping provides.”

Personalization is just one of six types of content grocery industry experts believe retailers need to provide shoppers, Progressive Grocer reported last November. Read about that and the other five here.