When you are one of the world’s largest retailers and own
a chain of grocery stores the amount of ‘high-level’ data points on food, fresh
foods, and food products should provide insights that would empower success.
It’s at the intersection of Intelligent Quotient (IQ) and
Emotional Quotient (EQ) that interpreting that ‘high-level’ data seems to have
taken some missteps according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru®
at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice
Solutions® who stated, “legacy channel managers tend to see a channel with
rose colored glasses half-full. They believe that the ‘grass is greener on the
other side of the fence’ all the while not evolving with consumers thinking no
matter how much data they have that they still know best.”
Johnson continued, that sounds simplistic while the
customer is dynamic not static all food retailers must strive to evolve with
consumers. The fact is the grass may appear
greener on the other side of the fence but as Johnson reminds us it is the
pasture that pay’s the bills over time. Don’t
let the quantity of data become more valuable that quality of the data you
review.
So,
let’s look at what could be viewed by some as missteps. Over all food retailers
are doing a pretty good job in the e-grocery space, according to the group that
arguably matters the most: consumers. A new study from The Feedback Group found that traditional
grocery stores rank highest for online food shopping satisfaction, topping
e-comm giant Amazon and mass merchandiser sites.
According
to that research, grocers came in with an overall satisfaction rating of
4.40/5.0. Amazon
scored a 4.30 and mass merchandisers including Walmart and Target netted a 4.26
score.
Yes,
there are maybe more missteps in reading data, it has been reported that a half
dozen of the yet-to-open grocery stores are listed for sublease in the Twin
Cities area, as well as a couple of locations in Detroit. So, just who is doing the subleases? Several news
reports that half a dozen of the yet-to-be-open grocery stores in the
Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area are now available for sublease are being subleased
by Amazon.
However,
representatives for both Amazon declined to comment or confirm the
report. According
to Business Insider, analysts at Bernstein
have put together a comeback strategy for Amazon
in grocery and the main component is purchasing
existing stores that are on the chopping block due to the proposed
Kroger, Albertsons merger.
The
grocers are expected to shed up to 500 stores, and many are in areas that could
be favorable for Amazon. The price to acquire is another selling point.
Bernstein analysts also are proposing that Amazon quickly rebrand stores or
focus on stores in targeted regions.
However,
the waters continue to be rough. As noted earlier, Amazon has put a pause on
constructing or opening brick-and-mortar grocery stores, and in Minneapolis the
company announced it will be sub-leasing space that was originally marked as Amazon
Fresh or Amazon Go stores. In addition, Whole
Foods announced layoffs in April while Amazon restructures the organization.
You
might have missed some of this, the news about the multiple subleases and the
Whole Foods restructuring comes after Amazon CEO Andy Jassy confirmed that
the company is
still pursuing a grocery business but taking the time to hone the
concept for the most effective model. "We have a set of experiments and
concepts that we are working on across the dozens of stores and are pretty
optimistic that some may work and hopeful that over the next year we find
that,” he said during the company’s quarterly earnings call in early May.
Regular readers of this blog know that Amazon Go missed the mark with the Mill Valley, WA store. First the
location is a secondary site at best.
Once again, it is at the intersection Intellectual Quotient (IQ) and
Emotional Quotient (EQ) the data from Amazons IQ overwhelmed the customer
focused touchpoints of EQ. While the
store is in up-scale Mill Valley a C-store customer is still a C-store
customer. Someone at Amazon
Go does not understand the mind-set of that customer yet.
Amazon has the right products, wrong pricing, sizing, and placement
within the store. Lost in the shuffle of
attempting to do too much is the fresh food, aka made to order meals and meal
components. Great flavor, slow service, menu of yesterday’s entrée’s not
todays.
Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food
marketing ideas look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning
how our Grocerant Guru® can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform
for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation,
and individualization? Email us
at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit: us on our social media sites by
clicking one of the following links: Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter
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