During my many years as a supermarket retailer I saw my share of panic buying related to natural disasters like blizzards and hurricanes. Like many, I lived through the 9/11 crisis and its impact. But I have never experienced anything like what we are currently going through.
I’ve talked with many people across the supply chain these past few days, from brand manufacturers to distributors to retailers. I have been in our local stores seeking supplies but also watching how retailers are responding to a never-before environment.
While healthcare workers are always thought of as the front lines in a pandemic like we are experiencing, it is just as true that the workers in supermarkets and drug stores are equally on the front lines. The commitment by people across the massive grocery industry to serve the people in their communities during this crisis is to be commended. They don’t have to be there - they can stay home like many others, taking care of their families, and self-quarantining. But these store workers are unselfishly putting themselves on the front line of the coronavirus battle, realizing that feeding and providing needed supplies for their communities is as important as the doctors and nurses caring for the ill.
When the current crisis abates - and it will - I believe the retail industry can step back to realize what it has accomplished….
Age verification is one of the most friction-heavy parts of a buyer’s shopping journey and can make up for over 50 percent of interventions at self-checkouts. The process is slow, inconvenient and can even sometimes cause offence to a customer who is asked to show ID, even when the lines on their face and the (lack of) hairs on their head say clearer than any piece of paper that they are over 21.
However, a “card everyone” policy is often seen as…
Today’s thriving retailers leverage technology at multiple shopper touchpoints to provide the best customer experiences. However, most retailers still rely on traditional methods of customer insight to measure and manage the customer experience. The two most prevalent tools, customer feedback surveys and mystery shops, emerged long before the mobile revolution, and each has drawbacks solvable through the use of emerging mobile architecture…
The other day I overheard a phone call between one of our sales representatives and an Independent Grocer. It went something like this:
Sales Rep: Hi, this is Nikki from Mercato. We are the only e-commerce and delivery platform designed exclusively for independent grocers. I was hoping to talk with you about getting your store online and growing your business.
Grocer: Oh, I’m not even thinking about that right now. There is a store across the street and they aren’t online, so I’m not sure it is important for me. Plus, I’m really busy.
The sad truth is that we hear conversations like this all the time. It’s almost 2020, and here is a merchant who isn’t even thinking about getting online.
Solution providers spend the early years of their existence immensely focused on building their product(s). The vast majority of resources are allocated to programmers, engineers, product development people, etc. This is as it should be for without a solid product little else is possible. And yet as a company aspires to grow there comes a point where, as a percentage of total resources, a proportionately larger share must be allocated to sales and marketing. This transition point is a vital prerequisite to growth and yet many solution providers miss this timing and, in so doing, miss windows of opportunity – sometimes for years on end.
Some guidance…
It might come as a surprise to learn that frontline workers make up the majority of the U.S. workforce. But it shouldn’t.
Consider the number of frontline—sometimes called “deskless”—workers you encounter on a daily basis: baristas, retail sales associates, customer support representatives, healthcare workers, security guards, flight attendants, teachers, bus drivers, cashiers, hair stylists, custodians. The list goes on. In fact it doesn’t even include…
A significant trend in grocery marketing and the merchandising of grocery products has been the widening chasm of strategies between the traditional Retailer and Consumer Package Goods (CPGs) in how they market and sell to the consumer. This chasm is not created by diverging goals, as both are working towards getting closer to the consumer, but at the pace at which the use of new technologies and engagement techniques are being deployed. Studies now show…
For a long time, the grocery industry was a major holdout on the move to ecommerce. Most grocers lacked the resources to make online grocery buying as convenient and satisfying as in-person shopping, and it was easy to assume that it couldn't be done.
Those assumptions are still holding the industry back. As of early 2019, only 3% of sales in the grocery retail sector happened online – compared to around 10% for all retail sectors. Online grocery has…
“Personalization” is increasingly being recognized as a “must have” for retailers of all types; but especially for grocers. Here are a handful of insights regarding personalization:
“In 2020, retailers are focused on identifying and serving the individual customer with tailored services by investing in Shopper Tracking, Location-Based Marketing and CRM/Personalization.”- Progressive Grocer, 2019
“Personalization will be the prime driver of marketing success within five years. Only by acting today, however, can companies hope to be in a position to deliver value to both their customers and their brands.”- McKinsey, 2019
“As the digital age offers up new ways to fight for customer mindshare and dollars, consumer-facing organizations are responding with new efforts to personalize the customer experience…and reaping big rewards in the process.”- Harvard Business Review, 2018
Not all personalization solutions are alike!
No one ever said it’s easy to be an independent retailer. This is especially true in a retail world where the battle for supremacy among giants such as Amazon, Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons, Alidi and Costco can cause collateral damage to independent retailers.
However, as the new decade begins soon, independents have a lot going for them relative to larger rivals. They are nimble, smart, very connected to their markets and communities and can move quickly if they choose. They can fully capitalize on these strengths by...
The CART Innovation Program is coming to Kraft Heinz, the fifth largest food & beverage company in the world! Kraft Heinz is seeking new innovative capabilities to help bring their brands to life. Interest is focused on digital media, shopper marketing, eCommerce, CRM, and consumer insights. Relevant solution providers will offer differentiated capabilities, fast scale, first-mover advantage to Kraft Heinz…
In food service retail, the adage “convenience is king” still rings true. What has changed is the understanding of — and associated expectations for — what it means to be convenient. Gone are the days of location being the primary factor in whether a food service retailer is a convenient place to shop. On-demand culture, gig economy vendors, and rapidly-evolving technology have vastly impacted consumer expectations for their retail experiences.
True convenience means getting exactly what you want instantly. It means…
Imperial Distributors, a major distributor of health, beauty and wellness products along with general and seasonal merchandise has signed on with CART for an Innovation Program coming up February 18, 2020. Like nearly every company across the retail industry, Imperial is looking for solutions that will ensure they are best in class across all critical operational areas while also looking for new capabilities that will help them transform for tomorrow.
CART is looking to bring the latest innovative solutions across three areas: People, Products, and Planning.
Grocery stores offer a wide variety of foods, including many perishables that require tight temperature controls. Fridges, freezers, reach-ins, and bunkers that hold these sensitive foods must be checked throughout the day, taking time away from team members from ensuring good experience for their customers. Manual temperature checks, typically done with pen and paper, are error-prone, easily forgotten, increase compliance risk, and lead to unnecessary food waste in the event of a temperature failure. This presents a significant opportunity to leverage…
The CART Event at the NGA Show coming up in February, 2020, is focused on helping Independent Retail understand What it takes to Thrive in The Age of ‘i’.
Changes in the retail industry are happening faster than ever before, transforming the retail store, and how retailers go to market and interact with their shoppers. Retailers can embrace this change, avail themselves of capabilities never before possible, or be disrupted into irrelevancy. And disruption is exactly what’s happening as the industry undergoes gut-wrenching change as decades of product-first practices give way to a true customer-first retail experience…
Through CART, we talk with and get to know a lot of solution providers, companies seeking to sell some new innovative technology or capability to retailers. It is concerning how few solution providers take the time to do some basic research on their retail prospects, walking into a sales meeting very unprepared.
The first step in selling is to determine what size or type retailer you want to approach first. In the supermarket industry you can think in terms of independent retailers (smaller, privately owned, typically with fewer than 10 stores), regional retailers (est. 10-250 stores), and then larger regiona/national retailers (companies like Ahold, Kroger, Walmart, etc.).
Once you’ve decided on your target, generate some specific retailers you want to approach; maybe retailers in your area or a retailer you have some connection to. Next do a basic Google search to find out more about the retailer. How many stores do they have? What are their annual sales? How many employees? Where are their stores located? Who are their competitors? Search for any recent news articles about them. Identify who the key executives are, especially those you think will be decision makers or influencers relative to whatever solution you’re going to bring to them.
If you get a meeting, visit some of their stores before you meet. This should be a standard operating practice for anyone selling into retail, especially grocery retail. Walk the store, noticing any and all details that may involve whatever solution you’re seeking to sell them. Get a sense for the retailer as an operator and for their customers. When you go into your meeting, share that you were in the retailer’s store - any retailer of any size will appreciate you’ve taken time to learn about them and visit their store operations.
Finally, relate what your solution is to what problem you are solving for the retailer or what opportunity you’re able to help the retailer realize.
As we gaze toward the future of the grocery business, two numbers might be worthy of study.
Both suggest significant changes in consumer behavior – and strategic investment.
The first is 56 percent. That’s the number of US internet users in the past twelve months who purchased groceries online, according to research published recently by the CPG analytics firm TABS Analytics. It compares to the 38 percent of the US internet population who purchased online a year ago, and equates to some 159 million persons.
The second is one in eight. That’s the rough number of worldwide Google searches that were conducted via a voice assistant interface last year. That’s some 250 billion searches.
The first – the shift to online grocery ordering – is apparent to most industry leaders. Though today online ordering accounts for only two percent of total US food and beverage sales (according to eMarketer’s March 2019 study), digital grocery revenues are expected to grow nearly 20 percent per year for at least the next five years.
If your company provides solutions, particularly technology solutions, to the retail industry, selling is a mandatory activity and in many younger companies that duty often falls to the founder, CEO, or other key executive. The CART team has worked with hundreds of young tech companies and we’ve seen some things that work and we’ve seen many things that don’t work as well so thought we’d share some lessons with you. Many technology company people are incredibly smart when it comes to the tech, but unprepared when it comes to the selling of it.
Think about major developments in the grocery retail industry between 1940 and 2015, and by major I’m talking about advances that are truly transformational in nature.
When I went through this exercise I came up with only three: The development of self-shopping, the development of UPC barcode scanning, and the development of capturing customer identified transaction data via loyalty programs.
Guest blog by Bobby Brannigan, Founder and CEO of Mercato
The other day I overheard a phone call between one of our sales representatives and an Independent Grocer. It went something like this:
Sales Rep: Hi, this is Nikki from Mercato. We are the only e-commerce and delivery platform designed exclusively for independent grocers. I was hoping to talk with you about getting your store online and growing your business.
Grocer: Oh, I’m not even thinking about that right now. There is a store across the street and they aren’t online, so I’m not sure it is important for me. Plus, I’m really busy.
The sad truth is that we hear conversations like this all the time. It’s almost 2020, and here is a merchant who isn’t even thinking about getting online. That isn’t even the worst part! The worst part is how far this is from what the big chains are actually thinking and doing. To them, e-commerce is yesterday. They are already there. They have already moved on to the next big things.
How is the independent grocer supposed to compete in a world where the resource gap between the “haves” (Kroger, Amazon, Albertsons, etc.) and the “have-nots” is this large?
