Online Ordering What’s Working

 

What does your brand stand for?  How relevant is your brand in the minds-eye of an online shopper? When consumers are looking for dinner do they think your brand as the first solutions? Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® believes all food retailers need to drive digital relevance and meal period relevance with branded messaging.

We ran across some new research on digital marketing, particularly when launching a new proprietary online ordering and delivery service, Vroom Delivery ran a study across hundreds of delivery stores around the U.S.

The study showed that in the first three month of launching a new delivery program, 61% of customers find the service through organic search traffic and digital marketing through platforms such as Google, Facebook and Instagram. Only 4% of this early traffic comes from the retailers’ apps as customers are not yet familiar with their digital offerings.

The study found that as a delivery program matures and customers become accustomed to using the service, those customers begin to seek out the retailer directly through its proprietary channels. Chains using Vroom that have been offering proprietary e-commerce for over 12 months see 65% of orders come through their own websites or native app, with only 23% coming from new search traffic or digital marketing.

It is clear that this suggests that online ordering is a major driver of retailer app downloads as well as customers seeking out the retailers’ brands specifically, rather than searching for a specific product across other e-commerce providers.

Jeff Nelson, chief technology officer of Vroom Delivery, stated, “We’ve found that search engine optimization is a big predictor of the early success of a new online ordering program,” … “By passing Google and other search engines locality and SKU data on behalf of our retail partners, we can ensure that when customers Google ‘Red Bull Delivery Near Me,’ their stores quickly move to the top of the organic results. Over time, most of these customers transition to utilizing the retailer-branded sales channels such as proprietary apps or websites.”

In case you did not know in an earlier study by Vroom Delivery showed that over 80% of online delivery orders were from customers who would not have otherwise made a purchase at that store had online ordering and delivery not been available. When paired with this new data, it demonstrates that through the right combination of delivery, online ordering, SEO and a strong website and mobile app, retailers can both strengthen their brand and attract new customers.

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

Fresher Faster Grocerant Food via Vroom Delivery

Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat grocerant niche fresh food has a new platform that speeds up service, delivering fresh food fast.  That platform is call Vroom Delivery and according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® it is “an elevated step in the food delivery process that is long over do.”

So, get this, Vroom Delivery is now enabling convenience stores to automatically route orders between multiple third-party delivery services on an order-by-order basis, based on cost, speed and serviceability.

How does it work you ask? Well, this follows Vroom's addition of national last-mile delivery service Skipcart to its platform, joining DoorDash Drive and robot delivery service Tortoise.

Now, Vroom's fulfillment management tools can now direct orders to multiple providers automatically so that when an order is received, the delivery brokerage service recommends the best third-party service based on the delivery location and driver network availability.

Any food retailer and C-stores can also choose to deliver some orders with their own drivers and utilize Vroom's proprietary driver app

This is important as it will bring down both the average fulfillment cost and delivery times of orders relative to traditional third-party marketplaces, according to the company. Vroom will add additional third parties to its network to expand the efficiency of its offering.

Vroom CEO John Nelson, stated, "The high cost of delivery and the lack of control of customer data on the third-party marketplaces are the two biggest complaints we hear from stores," ... "With the addition of Skipcart and our automated brokerage service, we aim to solve both of these issues through our platform."

Pay attention to this, your deliveries are fully ‘white labeled’, ensuring that the entire process remains self-contained within retailers' proprietary apps and websites. Stores retain access to their customer data, automate their price-book maintenance through Vroom's back-office integrations and have direct communication with their customers.

So, it simple by partnering with Vroom to manage the ordering and payment processes, the cost of the third-party fulfillment to stores will be dramatically reduced, as the stores are able to set the delivery fees charged to customers to offset some or all the cost of the third-party deliveries, the company said.

What does our Grocerant Guru® think?  Well, he suggests you check out Chicago based, Vroom Delivery.  Vroom is a full-stack e-commerce solution platform, providing every technical aspect required for chains to operate and manage their own e-commerce and delivery services.

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may have the clue you need to propel your continued success. 

Urban Value Corner Store and Vroom Delivery Robots Work

 

Texas has been a close second or leading the country in new COVID 19 cases of late so it can be no wonder that one Texas based foodservice retailer has opted to deliver food too customers with a robot according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Grocerant niche fresh food fast continues to drive top line growth and bottom-line profits in every retail foodservice sector today according to the team at Foodservice Solutions®. Now Urban Value Corner Store is partnering with e-commerce provider Vroom Delivery and last-mile delivery robot operator Tortoise to offer on-demand delivery in the coming months in hopes of driving new electricity into the brand.

In Dallas Urban Value Corner Store customers will have access to thousands of products via robot delivery in less than an hour, including grocery staples like milk and eggs, beverages, ice cream, snacks and more. Yes, including, alcohol and tobacco items will also be available for delivery from human drivers.

So, each delivery robot is approximately the size of a large cooler. They are remotely piloted, ensuring a human being is always at the wheel. The cart can carry more than 100 pounds of goods in sealed containers, which are remotely opened by the cart operator once it reaches its destination.

Battle for Share of Stomach

As most of us know the roads are a bit lumpy in the Dallas area, so he robots will operate on sidewalks and drive at an average speed of three miles per hour, allowing them to safely navigate around people, pets and obstacles.

This partnership between Vroom and Tortoise allows for a contactless, zero-emission and affordable home delivery option, mitigating sustainability and congestion challenges, according to the press release. The Tortoise cart is 100 percent electric, removing the need for a gas-guzzling delivery vehicle and minimizing the traffic impact of e-commerce.

Dmitry Shevelenko, co-founder of Tortoise, stated, "We are thrilled to be working with Urban Value, a leading convenience store chain in downtown Dallas, on a pilot deployment in the coming months".

For those who do not know, Urban Value, operates c-stores in and around the Dallas area, will initially pilot the program from its downtown Dallas store. Pending success of the initial pilot, the retailer will roll the program out across the Dallas metroplex.

Urban Value customers can already order for delivery through the Vroom platform, with robots taking up last-mile responsibilities in the coming months.

Vroom Delivery CEO John Nelson, stated, "We are very excited to pilot this first-in-market contactless shopping opportunity," ... "I expect that this technology combined with our diverse product offering will provide downtown Dallas residents and office staff a much more convenient shopping experience."

According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, developing brands, unique urban clothing, grocerant positioning, fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing.

All retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different.

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may have the clue you need to propel your continued success.