Category Archives: On-line food shopping

Grocery shopping trends, On-line food shopping, Process improvement

Amazon Reduces Waste with New ‘Curbside Recyclable’ Delivery Packaging

SupermarketNews recently reported that Amazon has unveiled a new sustainable food packaging solution for the point of delivery.

The article referenced a statement from Stephenie Landry, vice president of Amazon Grocery, indicating perishables deliveries from Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market now will come in “curbside recyclable” insulated paper packaging.

“Rolling out just in time for Thanksgiving, Amazon’s new packaging is made from recycled paper and is curbside recyclable. Whether customers are ordering turkey, green beans, or frosty pints of ice cream, chilled and frozen foods from Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market will arrive insulated in packaging that is easy and convenient for customers to recycle at home.”

As part of Amazon’s overall sustainability effort, they say the new packaging will replace of the plastic liners and bubble bags that are often used to insulate chilled and frozen items. It will also cut back on material waste they claim, replacing about 735,000 pounds of plastic film, 3.15 million pounds of natural cotton fiber and 15 million pounds of non-recyclable mixed plastic annually.

Key considerations in developing the new packaging included sending less material to landfills and more back into the circular economy loop while ensuring that the insulated material properly chilled the food inside and was compact, flexible, easily recyclable, inexpensive and scalable, according to a company spokesperson.

Grocery shopping trends, On-line food shopping

Online Shopping Preferences

A recent SupermarketNews article shared the results of the latest NielsenIQ omnibus poll, which indicated U.S. online shoppers value speed of delivery.

“Same-day delivery, same-day pickup and next-day/later pickup all gained traction among online consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic, whereas two-day and next-day delivery lost interest,” the article said.

Their findings were based on NielsenIQ’s Omnichannel Shopping Fundamentals Survey, conducted in February and March 2021. Other findings of note include:

  • 61% of online grocery shoppers said they prefer same day deliver. This compares to only 27% of shoppers saying they considered same day delivery in September of 2020, versus only 20% in 2019
  • 39% of online shopper panelists claimed a preference for having their product deliveries consolidated in one shipment to reduce packaging and frequency of trips, even if it extended the delivery time
  • 63.2% of homes with children favored quick delivery versus 59.8% of households without kids
Grocery shopping trends, On-line food shopping, Process improvement

Tech-Driven Improvements an Emerging Trend in Supermarkets

The mounting demand for e-commerce due to COVID-19, and the expectation that it will be necessary to continue offering many of the “new normal” services post-COVID, has resulted in a number of grocery chains making major changes to their infrastructure and improvements in their processes.

As reported by SupermarketNews, some of the process and facility enhancements include:

  • Conversion of store or shelf-space to accommodate online order fulfillment
  • Creation of automated micro-fulfillment centers (MFC’s) to support automated fulfillment for grocery delivery, sometimes referred to as “dark stores” since they have no retail space
  • Curbside pickup
  • Installation of automated pickup points, enabling customers and delivery personnel to drive up, scan a code and retrieve their orders

The expectation is that those retailers who are able to convert store space or operate MFC’s will be better able to scale their business as the demand for e-commerce continues to grow.

“For grocers to adapt and stay relevant — and for consumers to eat the cost of the last mile — grocery retailers need to embrace curbside pickup,” said Rob Wilson and Shang Saavedra in a recent report from L.E.K. Consulting.

“Given that stores are designed for optimal in-store shopping, it’s often inefficient for staff to wander through aisles to assemble orders and, when it comes to operating margins, far from sustainable. Moreover, stores have been forced to quickly create online pickup areas, leading to messy front-of-store experiences for consumers.”

Clearly the costs associated with some of the major changes such as building stand-alone MFC’s favor the larger retailers. One possible solution for smaller chains might be the use of “solution partners” to get the job done.

Either way, and as noted in a recent SupermarketNews article, all indicators say that online grocery shopping and curbside pickup are here to stay.

Customer engagement, Grocery shopping trends, On-line food shopping

2020 Saw Big Growth in Omnichannel Shopping!

A recent SupermarketNews article reported that omnichannel consumption grew by 50% this past year, and nearly half of all consumer goods purchases were made via e-commerce.

The report was based on new research from Nielsen.

Not surprisingly, both food and nonfood products have seen marked shifts in omnichannel shopping since the COVID-19 outbreak, and the number of shoppers who deem themselves as “heavy” or “exclusive” online shoppers for everyday items jumped 133% from September 2019 to September 2020.

The article went on to quote Nikhil Sharma, vice president of North America consumer analytics at Nielsen, who said, “Within the U.S., new behaviors have emerged that retailers and manufacturers must acknowledge, accommodate and swiftly act on — especially as online shopping habits begin to solidify. While we do expect a return of some kind to pre-pandemic habits, consumers will not be returning to a pre-pandemic retail environment.”

Order History Tool Most Popular as Consumer Preferences Shift
The article also pointed out that, when making online transactions, 29% of consumers polled by Nielsen found the order history tool to be the most helpful feature when shopping for nonfood items.

In a final statemen Mr. Sharma added, “Undeniably, consumers have more choices than ever in their path to purchase, meaning as consumer needs and preferences continue to evolve, it is crucial to have an omnichannel strategy in place to sustain and grow momentum in 2021.”

Grocery shopping trends, On-line food shopping

Pandemic Fuels Online Food Shopping

Canadian food and drug retailer Metro Inc. has experienced a coronavirus-fueled spike in demand for online food shopping, which experienced tripled-digit growth this quarter.

The SupermarketNews article quoted Metro President and CEO Eric La Flèche, who said, “Our food business experienced high levels of sales, as the large portion of restaurant and foodservice sales transferred to the grocery channel.”

Certainly the “new normal” has had an impact on businesses of all types, forcing organizational leaders to find new ways of providing value and an enhanced customer experience, as noted in our previous post.

Read full article…

On-line food shopping

Ideas for Improving Online Grocery Shopping

Markus Stripf is the CEO and co-founder of Spoon Guru, a digital health innovation partner to leading grocery retailers around the world.

Citing statistics that indicated online grocery sales in the U.S. grew to $5.3 billion in April, compared to $4 billion in the previous month, and that online grocery will grow by 100% this year, Stripf has some specific thoughts on how retailers can improve online grocery shopping.

His list of “fresh ideas,” which were featured in a recent SupermarketNews article, included:

  • Offering customers designated delivery times to improve convenience
  • Providing more curated experiences based on consumers’ dietary preferences
  • Utilizing the power of personalized nutrition technology to enable healthy food exploration
  • Transparency to better enable purchasing decisions on specific dietary needs
  • Review and reinvest to ensure the simplicity and usability of user interface platforms

Read the full article…

On-line food shopping

Despite Mid-west Closing of Peapod, Ahold Expects Robust e-Commerce Growth

Ahold Delhaize, whose supermarket brands include Stop & Shop, Giant Food, Giant/Martin’s, Food Lion and Hannaford, recently announced that they will be closing the Midwest division of its Peapod online grocery arm.

However, the company also noted that the Peapod Midwest closing isn’t expected to have a significant impact on the previously announced goal to drive 30% U.S. e-commerce growth in 2020.

According to a SupermarketNews article, Ahold plans to focus on markets in which they already enjoy a strong presence. Going forward, Peapod Digital Labs will support online grocery delivery and pickup service for all Ahold Delhaize USA’s supermarket brands. The article also noted that Ahold “aims to establish those brands as the leading omni-channel grocery retailers in their market areas.”

“To continue our strong track record of sales growth and market share gains, we are accelerating our growth and expanding the leadership positions of our businesses in our East Coast markets,” Ahold Delhaize USA CEO Kevin Holt said. “This move will enable us to fully focus on markets where we have strong store density, leading market share and a longstanding heritage of customer loyalty.”

On-line food shopping, Process improvement, Shopping Experience

Tech Driving Customer Experience at SpartanNash

SpartanNash is leveraging GPS location technology to improve curbside service in its Fast Lane online grocery pickup program. According to a recent SupermarketNews article, a number of the chain’s locations are now using Radius Networks’ location-based FlyBuy Pickup service with ShopperKit’s in-store grocery fulfillment software to bring out Fast Lane orders to customers as soon as they arrive at the store.

Referenced as a “click-and-collect platform,” the process begins when a customer places a Fast Lane curbside order. The order is fulfilled and the customer is notified when their groceries are ready for pickup. The customer can then share their location via mobile apps or a web browser to let their Fast Lane personal shopper know they’re heading to the store. That allows customers’ orders to be prepared and delivered to their vehicles the moment they pull into the pickup area.

“This new technology will completely change our customers’ experience with Fast Lane,” said Brian Holt, vice president of marketing for SpartanNash.

“Fast Lane already provides exceptional customer service, with overall satisfaction scores 30 points higher than the national average, as well as some of the nation’s leading fulfillment rates. And our new GPS location technology will only improve the ease and speed of the Fast Lane experience.”

This is another good example of how today’s supermarkets are leveraging technology and continuous process improvement to drive customer service and the shopping experience.

Grocery shopping trends, On-line food shopping

Pros & Cons of a 2020 Grocery Trend: Delivery

A recent article published by datecheckpro.com cited a Coresignt study indicating that “36.8% of internet-using adults polled bought groceries online in the previous 12 months, up from 23.1% in their 2018 study. That equates to approximately 93 million online grocery purchases using U.S. Census data.”

Interestingly, according to SupermaketNews, the majority of these purchases came from Walmart and Target, followed by Kroger. Walmart and Kroger have more than doubled their online grocery shopper numbers over the past 12 months, their report said. This alone translates to adding about 20 million and 6 million online customers, respectively. In addition, and as we all know, Amazon has become active in selling groceries. So, all things considered, it’s a fair assumption that online grocery shopping and home delivery are here to stay.

It’s also fair to say that, before long, consumers will demand online shopping and delivery from smaller independent stores as well.

For retailers, there are pros and cons to offering this service.

According to the article, top reasons in favor of offering online ordering and home delivery are:

  • It satisfies consumer demand for convenience.
  • It enables a retailer to get on the bandwagon of what is clearly a trending service in the industry.
  • Since the transactions are all digital, retailers get more insight into customer shopping habits and preferences – good data!

On the negative side:

  • Delivery is not easily accessible for all grocers, especially smaller stores in more rural America. Bigger chains like Walmart, Target, and Kroger have success with their grocery delivery services because they have the financial, operational and people resources to handle the complicated logistics.
  • The first “con” leads to the fact that smaller grocers will likely need to outsource the delivery portion of the equation, thus losing a good deal of the control associated with that piece.
  • Costly initial investment

Read the full article…

Grocery shopping trends, On-line food shopping

Supermarket “Automation”

Related to recent posts about the trend toward online grocery shopping is a recent SupermarketNews article featuring input from Brick Meets Click co-founder Bill Bishop.

The piece is part of a twice-monthly series in which industry executives, experts and other grocery players share their insights about the news, trends and issues that matter most to retailers and their business partners.

In this installment, which also includes a Podcast, Bishop lists five ways that automation will impact grocery retail, which include:

  • Supermarkets will become more productive and, in turn, more competitive
  • A more educated and/or engaged and productive workforce will be attracted to food retailing
  • Automated order selection systems will replace or reduce self-service retailing
  • Technical breakthroughs will drive significantly lower retail costs
  • Customers will see a more personalized shopping experience.

“The world around us is changing very rapidly. Consumers are using digital aggressively, and it’s changing their expectations. Of course, that’s particularly strong among younger shoppers. Beyond that, competition is putting significant pressure on margins today. This automation technology is a way to maintain profitability,” Bishop said.

“Now we see automation stepping in with the opportunity to replace large sections of the supermarket,” he later explained. “That automation is able to operate in a much smaller footprint, and there’s significantly higher productivity.”

Read the full article/listen to Podcast…