What Grocers Can Do to Create a Superior Customer Experience
Customer experience, while defined in several different ways, is a linchpin in food retail that should be examined from many different perspectives. Today’s consumers demand convenience and value, but they also want a seamless experience throughout their shopping journey.
Progressive Grocer talked with several grocery industry players at this week’s Groceryshop conference in Las Vegas about what they see as the most important aspect of creating a great customer experience in the next two years.
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Employing Digital Shelf Labels
Bryan Leach, CEO, Ibotta:
“I think that’s an enormous opportunity to bring retail media into the aisle. You need to bring promotions to life, because otherwise consumers won’t have a reason to stare at a tablet on their grocery cart or even on their phone. Why would I do that when I’m in the store? Now, 75% of purchase decisions are made in the aisle, and today it’s just placement of the product, packaging and price. If you can turn down the aisle and it pops up and says ‘Here’s four products recommended for you, an associated offer and video, or information about sustainability,’ that is a huge surface area that’s not happening today.”
Eliminating Friction for Shoppers and Manufacturers
Luke Beatty, SVP, digital commerce, Acosta Group:
“Make it easy. Make it convenient and just eliminate the friction. You have to eliminate the friction, especially if it’s a digital shopper. We know that people are using their mobile device in store to aid in their shopping purchases, and they have different motivations for that. Push and partner with the manufacturers to make it frictionless for them to help activate against your vision. I think that is key.”
Digitizing the Physical Store
Brad Bogolea, co-founder & CEO, Simbe Robotics:
“When you think about the consumer experience, all the consumer purchasing power is happening with what’s on the store shelf. We always come back to digitizing the shelf, getting that true visibility and understanding through execution is the biggest thing. If you look at where the consumer pain point is, if they actually found what they were looking for on the shelf, they wouldn’t have to ask someone. It all starts there.”
Looping in Physical With Digital
Ethan Chernofsky, SVP of marketing, Placer.ai:
“How do we empower works in the store to provide that experience? Inherently what we’re all looking for is the least amount of work to reach the most amount of people, and that’s the in-store worker. It’s ‘Hey, I’m in the store and I’m looking for something, how do I find it?’
When we think about how omni is evolving in the grocery space, it’s not online and offline, it’s a loop between them. If you go to the store, you grab a big package of paper towels, I want someone to walk up to you and say ‘Do you want this delivered to your house again next month?’ I want the digital touches to loop in the physical and the physical to loop in the digital.”
Increased Automation and Retail Imaging
John Carroll, president, digital commerce & analytic services, Acosta Group:
“Profitability in the e-commerce space – picking, packing and delivery – it’s cut into overall low margins from a retail standpoint. I think there’s going to be a significant investment from a capital standpoint in automation. You’re going to see backrooms change, you’re going to see more automation, you’re going to see a lot from a retail imaging and technology standpoint that will help make better decisions from a space-planning standpoint and a selection standpoint.”
*Responses have been edited for length and clarity
