Dear Grocer,
It’s now the 20th century, and we’re both still evolving since I last wrote you.
As a consumer I began noticing years ago that my grocery shopping habits were changing, but I assumed at some point I’d settle into a steady, consistent routine – after all, isn’t that what grocery retailers have depended upon for decades – the loyal habits of loyal customers who carve out dedicated amounts of time to spend navigating your aisles?
It’s been stunning even to me that since my last note, my preferences haven’t found a constant, and indeed, continue to evolve. I’m caught in this strange place in time and demographics.
I’m not the millennial shopper who has turned everything we know about retail shopping upside-down because I grew up in a generation where everything you could want was at my fingertips, but I have to say, I quite like the changes that I’m seeing. I’m assuming this means that other shoppers my age feel the same.
For example, if you’d told me a few years ago that brand loyalties when it comes to grocery retailers could be broken in one moment, I’d have never believed you.
If you’d further informed me that my favorite physical grocery shopping experience would be shopping in a small store that sells everything from diesel gas to wine to freshly prepared take out – I’d have been skeptical. Yet I find myself shopping at this new type of store at least once a week.
Apparently, I’m not that unique, as this is a trend that’s been identified by experts.
Advice to grocery retailers in the 20th century
Customization and personalized shopping are some of the most powerful and sustained trends driving the consumable marketplace today, and grocery retailers need to recognize the importance of following overall retail trends to stay relevant.
Bill and Steve Bishop of Brick Meets Click are renowned for their spot-on advice when it comes to retail trends, and were some of the first experts to call out how important subscription services were about to become. They’ve got some new words of wisdom for grocery retailers in 2019:
“Watch innovative small store formats to see where consumers are leading food retailers. These stores are incubating new ways to serve empowered customers and contemporary shopping occasions that have not previously received customized retail focus.”
“Invest in better systems to manage product attributes and search. Online search is the way many customers are finding what they want and offering a rich set of product attributes is the way they will get there.”
“Add a pickup service to ensure you are meeting the full range of personal preferences. For online grocery orders, many shoppers prefer pickup over home delivery, and it has big advantages for retailers in terms of lower costs, incremental in-store sales, and customer connections.”
