The Grocery Store Conundrum Remodel Stores or Online Sales

If you were to read the grocery store trade magazines you would think grocery stores were booming with growth option online and new store formats.  The fact is today there is are now 50% fewer legacy grocery stores in the US than there are today.

Why, the old format stores filled with products on the shelves because manufactures paid ‘slotting fees’ to get them on the shelfs did not work out for them or the category managers that boasted how many of everything they sold. What those category managers did not do is tell you where the grocery shoppers went as they reduced visits, bought less when they were in the store, simply left.

In new research from the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) shows; regular food shoppers rate online as doing at least an equal job to supermarkets in 11 of 18 performance areas, ranging from product freshness to value to customer service.  Wow, that means customer migration to new non-traditional food outlets most likely will continue to grow.

“Among all regular food shoppers, brick-and-mortar supermarkets continue to enjoy a clear edge over online grocery retail in perceived performance on key evaluation criteria, especially in providing fresher produce (a top store-selection driver) and better customer service,” Here is my point customer migration from legacy grocery stores continues.  Here is why.  The FMI study found

1.       “Sixty-nine percent of regular food shoppers said supermarkets do a better job than online in freshness of perishables,

2.       29% who said online does at least an equal job in this area.

3.       Physical grocery stores also were deemed as outperforming online in easy returns (64% vs. 30%);

4.       quick access to customer service (58% vs. 37%);

5.        helpful customer service (56% vs. 38%);

6.       ability to save through sales, discounts and coupons (53% vs. 45%);

7.       affordable everyday prices (50% vs. 46%);

8.       availability of loyalty/rewards programs (47% vs. 46%).

Rather than looking at ‘share of stomach’ the FMI study looked only at grocery store customers.  New avenues of distribution for fresh food continue to grow.  Smaller, fresher food, faster service, and in many times food mix and matched in a meal for one, or two people of which included 65% of US Households.

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

Battle for Share of Stomach