Disruption breeds innovation. Technological advances have made their impact on the grocery sector as well. There has been a paradigm shift from “Brick and Mortar” to “Click and Mortar”. People have started using smartphones to order practically everything. Given grocery falls under the perishable items bucket, people have to order groceries almost every week.
Almost 45% of smartphone users tend to buy groceries online on supermarket mobile app. Ten years back could anyone imagine that something as simple as grocery shopping can become so advanced? Did you ever think that you could use your smartphone to order eggs and veggies?
There are path-breaking trends in the online grocery space in the present and future. Let’s walk you through a few of them:
Trend 1 – Supply Chain Technology
Now, some of you might be wondering what is supply chain? It’s an Eco space of people, organizations, cities, information that are involved in moving a product/service from supplier to customer.
To create sync between supply and demand there has to be precision in what orders are coming through vs what is there in the storage. Quality has to be optimum as social media can be a deal-breaker in this case. A small insect found in any of the grocery items delivered and get ready to be badly scrutinized on social media. Photos of any defect can go viral and wipe the business out in seconds due to a tarnished image. To improve efficiencies of stock delivery it’s important that there are live data feeds.
To offer consumers an Omni-channel experience in grocery shopping, consumers might be able to see and feel the product through interactive screens. Also, to manage the warehouse there have to be grocery packing robots.
Trend 2 – Formation of Mixed Spaces
As you all know it’s very difficult to keep the millennials glued to one place. To drag them to buy grocery there has to be another incentive as well. For that welcome the concept of mixed space grocery stores. Now, what does this exactly mean? It means that the grocery stores are not standalone brick and mortar stores.
There is a complex, two to three-story building with a grocery store on the ground floor, basement parking and restaurants and bars on the top floor. There can be other food vendors, Xerox/ printout facility so that people drive there once and they can address multiple needs and requirements at one time.
People are looking for convenience, getting multiple things at one place will be a lifesaver for them. They can eat, get the grooming done, get their groceries sorted all in one place.
Trend 3 – Out of the box delivery options
Given the cut-throat competition in the online grocery space, competitors are differentiating themselves through innovative delivery options. There have been interesting trends like direct to fridge online grocery delivery. This one is very interesting. Once the delivery boy reaches your doorstep you receive a notification on the grocery app. He can then enter the house and put the groceries straight into the fridge. All this takes place under sharp vigilance of the user using home surveillance cameras. There is no threat of delivery boy taking/stealing anything.
Another innovative delivery option is by increasing the warehouses in prime locations. Amazon does that. It has started its prime now one hour and two-hour grocery delivery services across the country by opening its warehouses in some of the key locations.
Trend 4 – Voice Ordering
Voice recognition is gaining a lot of traction in the market. We are living in a world of Alexa and Siri. People don’t even feel like typing anything now. Just let the assistant so all the work. According to research half of the searches in 2020 will be done using voice. Some examples include Ask Peapod, Walmart’s Voice Order and Alexa. It creates a more natural environment for shopping and also leads to more customer loyalty.
Due to the frequency of grocery shopping and the urge for convenience, this area is going to make it big. The only drawback over here is shoppers don’t get visual confirmation of their purchase. So in the future, an amalgamation of voice and visual will be a more winsome combo. This shift to conversational commerce will be a bit challenging though. People have to become more comfortable in interacting with their devices while making any purchases from Amazon Pantry.
Trend 5 – Subscription Shopping
This one is a new kid on the block. It means arranging to have the products delivered to your home following a prearranged schedule. This practice is gaining traction more for individual products rather than a couple of products together. Some companies that are already using it are Proctor and Gamble that sells razors on-demand via Gillette on Demand. We can expect more subscription buying in the future as shoppers want to simplify their recurring purchases.
Trend 6 – Blockchain innovations in the food supply chain
There has been a rise in consumer awareness especially about what they are eating. How healthy is it? What are the carbs and proteins in what they are consuming? Now, this translates into an ask for more information about the products than what was given historically by the retailers. There can be questions on food quality, where is it sourced from? This reassures the platform to the customers by making them understand where does their food come from?
Imagine you order an orange. You get the details of where it was picked, processed, shipped, inspected, how old is it and at what temperature was it kept to make it conducive to eating and so on. Customers can now get all info from planting to warehouse delivery. We can answer all queries that are there in a customer’s mind that refrain them from buying a product from our platform.
Big data will be of major help here. You can scan a barcode and you are ready to answer all queries that a customer has related to a particular item.
Now that we have given you these grocery trends, what are you waiting for? Contact GrocersApp and get your Grocery Mobile App built as per your needs.
GrocersApp brings food, technology & convenience at a common pedestal by helping a business get your mobile application. We bridge the gap between the grocery store & their customers. If you have any queries, write to us at info@valueappz.com.