Grocery store App’s Integration of Fresh Food too Targets Restaurant Meals

Grocery stores have come a long way from stocking the pantry to curbside pick, delivery, and App’s that you can pick out your prepared meal or buy a meal kit and have it delivered to your car, your home, or your office.  According to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® grocery stores are now leveraging technology ‘App’s’ to answer the never ending question What’s for Dinner?

Today 64.7% of households do not know what’s for dinner at 4PM according to Foodservice Solutions® latest Grocerant ScoreCards.  According to a study from eMarketer, grocery app usage will grow by 50% this year, and 18 million Americans will order food this way.”  We most note that, brick-and-mortar grocery stores are not going away and this is in fact marketing tool being leveraged to garner back customers who have left for restaurants.

The eMarketer study found that one out of five adults will order food through a grocery app next year. “Shoppers are becoming more comfortable with ordering online in general, and grocery is a part of that,” said eMarketer senior analyst Patricia Orsini. In addition, the study shows that grocery app usage among Americans will grow in the future from 18 million in 2018 to 30.4 million in 2022.

Consumers love hand held food for immediate consumption but even more than that they love their smart phones which have turned into a hand held marketing dream platform. In general, mobile shopping is on the rise. For example, Forrester predicts that smartphones will affect more than $1 trillion in U.S. retail sales this year. Globally, mobile e-commerce sales reached $1.4 trillion in 2017 and are expected to increase to $3.5 trillion in 2021.

A Nielsen global survey showed 18% of shoppers used mobile coupons, 15% used mobile shopping lists and 14% used a mobile retail loyalty program. In addition, about two-thirds of shoppers are willing to use these products in the future.

As people become more comfortable with ordering food through an app, grocery stores are taking advantage of this. eMarketer defines a grocery app as one that allows you to order fresh food from a retailer on demand. So, chain restaurants are particularly vulnerable to the new fresh food options from grocery stores?  Is your brand prepared?

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant Program Assessment, Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869