For regional grocers looking to compete with mass merchants by operating their own eCommerce experience, investing in a solution that’s convenient for your customers is critical. Today’s omnichannel shoppers love the convenience of shopping online and they have specific expectations. They’re looking for a mobile grocery app that is functional, easy-to-use, and smoothly translates the in-store experience online.

If your existing mobile app is failing to meet shoppers’ expectations, it may be time to consider launching with a brand new solution. Luckily, by combining the right technology with a savvy communications strategy and cross-channel operational excellence, grocers can now launch mobile apps easier than ever before.

Read on to uncover the comprehensive 11-step guide to launching (or relaunching) a mobile grocery app.

Mobile Grocery Shopping: The Future of Grocery eCommerce

Mercatus recently conducted a survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers to better understand their habits and preferences with respect to grocery shopping. Here were some of our findings.

40% of U.S. Consumers Use Pickup or Delivery Monthly

Grocery pickup and delivery services are redefining the retail sector. In fact, 40% of US consumers are using these services monthly. No more long lines, no more crowded stores. That’s why retailers are stepping up with more online solutions, giving consumers the freedom to shop from home. This shift is changing the game for both shoppers and retailers.

Pickup is the Preferred Method of Online Grocery Shopping

Though delivery was a popular choice in the peak of the pandemic, pickup is proving itself to be the preferred solution as consumers return to pre-pandemic shopping patterns. According to our study, 31% of U.S. households had used a pickup service within the last month, and nearly 50% within the last year.

Customers Rely on Mobile Apps to Complete Grocery Pickups

Among online grocery shoppers that use pickup services, 71% received their order delivered to their car and 48% of those customers notified the store of their arrival via the retailer’s mobile app. That tells us that not only are retailers embracing mobile technologies, but that shoppers are keen to adopt these

“When it comes to Pickup, linking order staging readiness with geolocation notifications triggered automatically by the retailer’s branded mobile app is an effective way to streamline the Pickup experience into a faster, hassle-free experience. Shorter wait times at Pickup can have a dramatic effect on customer perception and brand affinity and will go a long way to encouraging repeat customer behavior. ” – Sylvain Perrier, President and CEO, Mercatus.

The 11-Steps to Launching a New Grocery eCommerce Mobile App

So you probably get it—online grocery shopping isn’t going away. Grocery shoppers are getting more and more comfortable with the convenience of placing grocery orders from the comfort of their mobile devices. That’s why grocery retailers need to ensure that they are making it easy for those mobile app transactions to occur.

Whether you’re a grocery retailer with an existing mobile app that’s going out of style or you’re looking to pioneer your first-ever mobile eCommerce platform—you’re going to need a plan of attack. Follow these 11 steps to ensure that your implementation is successful.

Pre-Launch Activities

Pre-launch activities set the stage for a killer app launch. From creating buzz to refining the user experience and everything in between, these steps are crucial to success. In this section, we’ll guide you through the musts for a successful grocery eCommerce mobile app launch. Get ready to learn and launch with confidence!

1. Contact Your Existing eCommerce Platform Provider

If you’re migrating from one eCommerce platform to another, it’s important that you inform your existing provider that you’re migrating well ahead of your launch. Most providers will cooperate with your migration process and export essential data such as your customer database and content files. In addition to these files, you’ll need to make sure you get access to your app’s Apple Developer Account (iOS) and Keystore (Android) if you don’t already have it. Your new provider will be able to provide a full migration checklist so make sure you speak to their technical team to get a head start on collecting all the necessary information.

If your existing provider is slow to support or even blocks you from doing so, you may need to release a new app on the Apple Store or Google Play. If this is the route you have to pursue, it’s critical that you plan a robust marketing campaign (see more on this topic in Step five – Build a Communications Strategy) and leverage in-app notifications in the existing app to notify customers about the transition process as they will have to find and download the new app.

2. Know Your Target Audience

It is essential that regional grocery stores understand the shopping habits of their consumers so that they can tailor the mobile experience to meet (and exceed) their needs. The best way to understand your audience is by analyzing both first and third-party data.

First-party data is any information that you have on your customer base, be it:

• Customer name and contact information (email, phone number)
• Purchase history and buying patterns
• Loyalty program information and rewards
• Demographic information (age, gender, income, location)
• Feedback and surveys responses

Third-party grocery data can be sourced from industry associations or research firms like Brick Meets Click that help grocers make more informed strategic decisions. For example, the monthly Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey collects deeper insights than what might be available to most grocers, and serves as a waypoint or guide on topics such as:

• Providing a more complete picture of eGrocery trends
• Focusing on key business questions for grocery retailers
• Examining household behaviors of primary grocery purchaser
• Analyzing grocery spending, both instore and online
• Measures online buying behaviors, like purchase recency, order frequency, formats shopped, and dollars spent
• Monitoring the most recent experiences, like format shopped, amount spent, method used to receive order, past-usage history, and measures of satisfaction.

Use a combination of first and third-party data to determine what features your customers are looking for in a mobile app so that you can build a delightful online shopping experience.

3. Define Your App’s Value

If you are making the decision to transition to a new mobile grocery app or replace an existing one, then you need to be able to clearly articulate the answer to these four questions:

1. Where does your existing mobile app fail to meet customer needs?

When it comes to grocery apps, it’s critical that yours delivers exceptional value in 4 areas: seamless shopping, personalization, rewards & loyalty, and feature innovation.

Seamless shopping should be at the core of every app. From cart building to the checkout process, the app experience should be as frictionless as possible. Personalization is how well the content in the app reflects the preferences and interests of the individual customer. Great grocery apps should be focused on serving product recommendations, search functionality, and shopper profiling.

Part and parcel with personalization is rewards & loyalty. Offering a robust loyalty program encourages app adoption and will help increase share of wallet. And finally, feature innovation is how often you’re releasing new upgrades to improve the customer experience. The underlying architecture of your app should make it easy to develop new features to stay ahead of the competition.

2. What features and functionalities will you upgrade with the new app?

Based on your assessment of the first question, you’ll be in a good position to determine where your app experience can be improved. Are there improvements you’d like to make say with the cart building or checkout process? Is personalization an area that you’d like to improve? Will you be re-introducing your loyalty program as part of your launch? Or are there net new features your customers have been consistently requesting?

The important part here is that the product development team has a clear roadmap and prioritization of the features that will deliver the greatest value for the business and your customers.

3. What benefits does the new app offer your business?

From a business standpoint, the overarching goal for your mobile app should be to help drive brand affinity and customer lifetime value as we know that omnichannel shoppers spend more with your brand than single-channel shoppers. Increased average order value (AOV), more frequent repeat purchases, and an overall increase in share of wallet and mobile channel revenue are a few benefits – among others – an improved app experience should bring to your business.

4. What benefits does the new app offer your customers?

Grocery shopping has become an “always-on” experience. Customers might start a basket on Wednesday morning, adding items as they might to a running shopping list, placing their order on Friday night, and schedule pickup on Saturday afternoon. Every step of the way, the app experience should be making it easy for customers to build their baskets, discover relevant products, and checkout with a pickup or delivery option that’s most convenient to them.

4. Optimize Your App for Engagement, Conversion, & Retention

If you are replacing your existing app or mobile shopping experience, then your objective should be to improve in-app engagement, conversion rates, and customer retention.

Use these tactics to optimize your mobile grocery app for engagement, conversion, and retention:

1. Stellar design. Make your app visually stunning and easy to navigate.
2. Deep personalization. Offer customized recommendations and deals based on shopping behavior.
3. Listen to the masses. Encourage user feedback and respond to their wants and needs.
4. Lightning-fast checkouts. Make checkout fast and secure, with multiple payment options.
5. Inventory updates. Minimize substitutions by keeping inventory data fresh.
6. Incentivize repeat purchasing. Offer rewards, discounts, and loyalty programs for repeat purchases.
7. Notify with purpose. Use push notifications for new arrivals, sales, and promotions.

Take your mobile grocery app to the next level with these tactics and watch your engagement, conversions, and retention climb.

5. Build a Communications Strategy

As you prepare for the launch of your mobile grocery app, there is a lot of work to be done to ensure that your audience is aware of the new platform.

1. Segment your target audience based on demographics or behaviors. Identify the age, gender, location, and interests of various subsets of your target audience, as well as their shopping habits so that you can hyper-target your campaigns.
2. Determine launch campaign objectives. What are the goals of your communication strategy? Are you aiming to drive app downloads, increase brand awareness, attract new customers, or otherwise?
3. Choose your promotional channels. Some of the best channels to use to promote your eGrocery app are in-store signage, both the print and digital versions of your flyer, grocery bag tip-ins, outdoor signage (in the parking lot, at the entrance) push notifications (if you have an existing app), email communications, website content, and more. Your strategy for social channels should include organic and paid, but also user generated content with influencers within your target audience.
4. Develop messaging. Craft a clear and concise message that highlights the key features and benefits of your app. Be sure to emphasize how seamless the transition will be from the old app and shopping experience to the new one.
5. Create content. Develop engaging graphics, banners, videos, tutorials, and product demos that showcase your app and its unique selling points.

As mentioned in Step one, if your current eCommerce platform provider is making it difficult to migrate your existing app, you will need to adjust your communications strategy to address this change. For your customers, the transition from one app to another needs to be as seamless as possible. You will need to develop messaging around new key features and the benefits they will provide over the previous app. Finally, you will need to get your messaging across through the appropriate channels, such as push notifications on the previous app informing customers about the new one.

6. Define Metrics to Measure Success

Once you’ve completed your comms strategy, you will need to create a list of KPIs that will help you measure the success of your app launch.

The most important metrics to monitor include:

• User acquisition:
  • The number of download
  • Sources of traffic
  • Installs
• User engagement:
  • DAU (daily active users)
  • WAU (weekly active users)
  • MAU (monthly active users)
  • Session length
  • Retention rate
• Revenue generated:
  • Cart conversions
  • Average order value
  • Retail media revenue
• User Feedback. Reviews, ratings, and customer surveys.
• Performance. App crashes and usability issues.
• Technical Issues. Server response time, API errors, payment failures.

Note for grocers with an existing mobile app: Grocers that are replacing an existing mobile app need to keep an especially close eye on their DAU, WAU, and MAU on both the old app and the new app. The percentage of users that make the migration is a leading indicator of the success of your new app launch. Specific migration rates can vary largely depending on the type of app, the user base, the reasons for migration, the quality of the new app, and the transition process—generally resulting in a migration rate of anywhere from 20% to 70%. Since grocery apps are indispensable for customers and are typically used on a weekly cadence to coincide with the weekly grocery visit, it’s critical that DAU and WAU are tracked carefully.

It’s also important to establish feedback loops so that data on mobile app performance can easily be collected, analyzed, and used to inform your ongoing promotional strategy, development roadmap, and more.

Mercatus Console makes it easy to aggregate performance data on your mobile app at a store level or across a number of locations. And if you’re looking to mine insights from your data, Mercatus’s dedicated customer experience team is here to help. Explore Mercatus Mobile today to learn more about the leading native mobile grocery app in the industry.

During Launch Activities (Month 1)

Ready for lift-off? This section covers the must-dos during the launch of your mobile grocery app. From launching your marketing strategy to collecting customer feedback, these steps will help you ensure a successful launch.

7. Launch Your Communication Strategy

It’s time to flip the switch on all of the programs that you mapped out in the pre-launch phase of your journey. Some of these programs will require more active management, while others will require less effort, but It’s important to review the campaign and identify the best performing channels and messaging. Having the capacity to redirect funds and update upcoming channel communications with the messaging that is resonating with the audience will increase conversion.

8. Incentivize Customers to Use the New App

Some customers will be more inclined to adopt your new mobile grocery app, while others may be more hesitant. It’s important to note that there are many incentives for why a customer would consider trying a new or different mobile grocery app or service. However, not all those incentives are ones that retailers can use to persuade customers to try their app or service.

Our research on grocery pickup and delivery adoption determined that some of the most effective incentives that grocers can implement include $20 off the first order of $75 or more, or paying no fee for your first three orders. While the first promotion will persuade a potential customer to consider making a single order, the other will encourage them to try out the app at least three times. According to research conducted by Brick Meets Click, the likelihood of a customer reusing a service increases with every use, after four times the rate is approximately 85%.

During the launch of your app, consider encouraging potential shoppers to repeatedly use your pickup or delivery services through incentives that stretch for multiple orders. If successful, customers are highly likely to keep coming back to the app, adopting it into their lifestyle. Consider using the following controllable tactics to boost the adoption of your new mobile app.https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/2aL3d/1/

9. Collect Customer Feedback

“The customer is always right.” The old adage is especially true when it comes to app development. Collecting early feedback allows you to be adaptive and responsive in the first month of the launch, but you should continue to actively encourage and collect feedback through at least the first six months after app launch.

Mercatus Mobile comes with a built-in feature to help grocers collect and monitor app feedback. It’s called Integrated Voice of the Customer, and here’s how it works:

1. After a new user submits an order, they will be asked if they love the {insert company} app.
2. If the new user selects “Yes,” they will be prompted to leave a rating and a review which will automatically be linked to either the App Store or Google Play Store.
3. If the user chooses “No,” they will be provided with a feedback form so that they can offer more details.

This feature is invaluable to grocers for two reasons. Firstly, it allows you to quickly and easily collect customer feedback that can be used to make timely app revisions. Secondly, it makes it almost effortless for your loyal fans to leave rave reviews and positive ratings for your app.

One Mercatus client has been able to grow their review volumes significantly on Android and iOS while also maintaining a 4.8+ star rating on both platforms. That’s the power of Integrated Voice of the Customer.

Post-Launch Activities (Month 2 and Beyond)

Post-launch is make or break for your grocery eCommerce app. Monitor performance, gather user feedback, update, and promote to drive adoption and revenue. This section covers the key post-launch activities to ensure ongoing success.

10. Retain Users & Expand App Usage

Once your mobile grocery app is live, it’s time to focus on retention and expansion. Our data shows that the first 15 days after the initial mobile eCommerce sale are mission-critical in determining customer retention. If you can drive a second purchase within that period, retention rates climb dramatically.

The following tactics can improve user retention rates:

• Seamless onboarding. Streamline the sign-up and onboarding process to make it quick and user-friendly.
• Personalization. Offer a personalized product search experience based on each user’s shopping history.
• Incentives. Offer incentives such as discounts or loyalty points to encourage users to keep coming back.
• User engagement. Use push notifications, email marketing, and other forms of communication to keep users engaged and informed about new products and deals.

Okay—you’ve successfully made yourself a swath of loyal customers. Now it’s time to start thinking about how you can expand the revenue from mobile accounts while also reducing your fulfillment costs.

The following tactics can help you expand mobile grocery revenue:

• Retail Media. Sell product placements to customers to help offset the costs of your mobile grocery program.
• Cross-selling and upselling. Suggest complementary or higher-priced products to customers during the checkout process.
• Private-label products. Promote your private-label products with higher margins and lower price points to attract cost-conscious consumers.
• Customer loyalty programs. Loyalty programs benefit customers, but they also help retailers as they encourage the formation of repeat and regular purchase patterns. In fact, 86% of US respondents said a loyalty program motivates them to buy again from a brand.

11. Monitor Feedback and KPIs

The final step in ensuring the long-term success of your new mobile grocery platform is keeping a keen eye on the KPIs identified in step six as well as all inbound customer feedback. Dips in usage rates and other key mobile app metrics can be powerful predictors of future shopping behavior and reviews can yield insights that can help you make adjustments and improvements to the mobile shopping experience.

Retailers must continuously keep up with KPI monitoring and customer feedback, in order to meet the evolving demands of the omnichannel shoppers. This includes integrating promotions and communications across in-store and online with long term marketing programs. Partnering with the right tech providers will ensure that your app is constantly receiving innovative updates, improving the overall user experience for your customers.

Mercatus Mobile: The Leading Mobile Grocery App for Retailers

Mercatus Mobile is the leading native mobile grocery app for grocers that want to foster a seamless white-label mobile shopping experience.

Mercatus Mobile gives users the power to increase average order values, increase order frequency, and deepen customer loyalty through a sophisticated, but easy-to-use interface.

New features in our next-gen mobile format include:

• Redesigned coupons. Use advanced behavioral data to serve customers with digital coupons at exactly the right time to increase savings, increase basket size, and foster deeper brand affinity.
• Interactive flyers. Mobile flyers have never been so fun. Provide a more engaging online experience and drive more sales with interactive flyers, built on the Flipp SDK.
• Digital loyalty cards. Put loyalty front and center by giving app users access to their digital loyalty card right from the navigation bar.

If you’re ready to deliver your customers the next-generation mobile shopping experience that they deserve, then contact Mercatus to schedule a tour with the product experts.

Peter Nakamura is responsible for product marketing at Mercatus and educates grocery retailers about the latest platform innovations.

The post Mobile Grocery App Launch: The 11-Step Guide appeared first on RetailToday.

Given these trends, eGrowcery, developer of the leading retail food industry white label eCommerce platform, and AppCard, the leading data-driven personalization engine and digital coupons platform provider to independent grocers, have coordinated their efforts to assist current and potential retail clients retain and reward shoppers. The partnership is already helping several grocery retailers to enhance their digital shopping experience.

“We use the combination of eGrowcery and AppCard to really connect with our shoppers when, how and where they are most open to our marketing outreach. The two technologies work well together to help us quickly understand the best ways to keep our customers happy,” said Giselle Alvarez, Vice President of Operations at Hitchcock’s Markets, a 10-store supermarket chain in Florida.

eCommerce volume at Hitchcock’s Markets grew dramatically during COVID and saw another surge when the company added the EBT SNAP payment option for digital orders. Alvarez said the retailer is now focused on using the tools from AppCard and eGrowcery to attract and retain even more online shoppers by using the data collected to reward them.

“Hitchcock’s is a perfect example how we can provide our retailers with a competitive advantage in the markets they serve. eGrowcery’s integration with AppCard empowers companies to increase retention rates while expanding market share in a very competitive space,” said Patrick Hughes, CEO, eGrowcery.

The joint eGrowcery-AppCard offering helps retailers truly personalize the shopping experience by using combined data to understand what motivates each sale. With the integrated offering, shoppers not only enjoy benefits during an eCommerce experience, but shoppers may also redeem AppCard coupons and other rewards by either scanning their eGrowcery-enabled mobile app in lane or keying in their phone number at the AppCard in-lane terminal (NTR).

“Our robust data and machine learning platform gives retailers a way to earn the trust of their shoppers giving them incentives that work. By implementing AppCard’s APIs, the mutual solution helped create a single source of truth, ensuring a consistent shopper experience regardless of where the grocer meets its shoppers–instore or online. With eGrowcery, AppCard ensures the entire process, from customer acquisition through retention, is seamless for the retailer and the shopper,” said Eran Harel, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategic Partnerships at AppCard.

The post Grocery Operators Gain Powerful Customer Retention Tools with Joint eGrowcery-AppCard Offering appeared first on RetailToday.

• Identical Sales without fuel increased 6.2%
• Operating Profit of $826 million; Adjusted FIFO Operating Profit of $1,274 million
• EPS of $0.62; Adjusted EPS of $0.99
• Executed go-to-market strategy to deliver value for customers
  • Our Brands identical sales increased 10.1%
  • Digital sales grew 12%

Fiscal 2022 Highlights

• Identical Sales without fuel increased 5.6%
• Operating Profit of $4.1 billion; Adjusted FIFO Operating Profit of $5.1 billion
• EPS of $3.06; Adjusted EPS of $4.23
• Delivered Adjusted EPS growth of 15%
• Cost savings exceeded $1 billion for fifth consecutive year
• Significantly increased associate wages resulting in average hourly wage of $18 and rate of over $23 with comprehensive benefits factored in
• Announced definitive merger agreement with Albertsons Companies, Inc.

The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) today reported its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2022 results, provided 2023 guidance and updated investors on how Leading with Fresh and Accelerating with Digital continues to position Kroger for long-term sustainable growth.

Comments from Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen

“Kroger achieved exceptional results in 2022 as we executed on our Leading with Fresh and Accelerating with Digital strategy, building on record years in 2020 and 2021.  

We appreciate our associates for remaining customer-focused, delivering the products customers want, when and how they want them, with zero compromise on quality, convenience and selection. Our associates enable our success, and we are committed to investing in theirs by continuing to improve wages, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities.

Providing affordable food is even more essential at a time when inflation is affecting so many of our customers’ lives. We do this by delivering fresh products at a great value, trusted Our Brands items, and personalized promotions.

Our proven go-to-market strategy enables Kroger to successfully navigate many operating environments. We believe that by delivering value for our customers, investing in our associates and serving our communities, Kroger will continue to achieve attractive and sustainable total returns for our shareholders.”  

Fourth Quarter Financial Results

Total company sales were $34.8 billion in the fourth quarter, compared to $33.0 billion for the same period last year. Excluding fuel, sales increased 5.9% compared to the same period last year.

Gross margin was 21.8% of sales for the fourth quarter. The FIFO gross margin rate, excluding fuel, decreased 1 basis point compared to the same period last year. This result reflected Kroger’s ability to effectively manage higher product cost inflation through strong sourcing practices and lower supply chain costs, while maintaining competitive pricing and helping customers manage their budgets.

The LIFO charge for the quarter was $234 million, compared to a LIFO charge of $20 million for the same period last year, driven by higher product cost inflation primarily in grocery.

The Operating, General & Administrative rate decreased 56 basis points, excluding fuel and adjustment items, compared to the same period last year. The decrease in OG&A rate was driven by sales leverage, continued execution of cost savings initiatives and the cycling of several one-time expenses, partially offset by planned investments in associates.

Fiscal 2022 Financial Results

Total company sales were $148.3 billion in 2022, compared to $137.9 billion for the same period last year. Excluding fuel, sales increased 5.2% compared to the same period last year.

Gross margin was 21.4% of sales for 2022. The FIFO gross margin rate, excluding fuel, decreased 9 basis points compared to the same period last year. This result reflected Kroger’s ability to effectively manage higher product cost inflation through strong sourcing practices, while maintaining competitive prices and helping customers manage their budgets.

The LIFO charge for 2022 was $626 million, compared to a LIFO charge of $197 million for the same period last year, driven by higher product cost inflation.

The Operating, General & Administrative rate decreased 19 basis points, excluding fuel and adjustment items, compared to the same period last year. The decrease in OG&A rate was driven by sales leverage and the continued execution of cost savings initiatives partially offset by planned investments in associates.

Capital Allocation Strategy

Kroger expects to continue to generate strong free cash flow and remains committed to investing in the business to drive long-term sustainable net earnings growth, as well as maintaining its current investment grade debt rating. The Company expects to continue to pay its quarterly dividend and expects this to increase over time, subject to board approval. Kroger has paused its share repurchase program to prioritize de-leveraging following the proposed merger with Albertsons.

Kroger’s net total debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio is 1.57, compared to 1.63 a year ago (Table 5). The company’s net total debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio target range is 2.30 to 2.50.

Full-Year 2023 Guidance*

• Identical sales without fuel of 1.0% – 2.0%, with underlying growth of 2.5% – 3.5% after adjusting for the effect of Express Scripts
• Adjusted net earnings per diluted share of $4.45 – $4.60, including an estimated benefit from the 53rd week of approximately $0.15
• Adjusted FIFO Operating Profit of $5.0 – $5.2 billion
• Effective tax rate of 23%**
• Capital expenditures of $3.4 – $3.6 billion
• Adjusted Free Cash Flow of $2.3 – $2.5 billion***

Comments from CFO Gary Millerchip

“Kroger’s 2022 results demonstrate the strength of our value creation model. In 2023, we expect to build on this momentum and deliver revenue and EPS growth on top of the record results achieved over the past three years.

We expect to grow revenue by continuing to invest in our customers through competitive pricing and personalization, fresh products and a better shopping experience. Building on our significant investments over the past four years, we will also continue to increase associate wages. We will fund these investments through product mix improvements, cost saving initiatives and growth in our alternative profit businesses.   

Looking forward, we believe Kroger is well positioned to successfully operate in an evolving economic environment and continue to deliver attractive total returns for our shareholders.”

Fourth Quarter 2022 Highlights

Leading with Fresh  

• Celebrated the 10^th anniversary of the Simple Truth brand, a greater than $3 billion brand providing customers with more than 1,500 unique natural and organic products
• Opened 1,000^th Murray’s Cheese shop within Kroger stores offering customers a highly curated cheese selection in more than 30 states across America
• Announced the top 2023 food trends predicting customer behaviors and popular items for the year ahead

Accelerating with Digital

• Increased delivery sales by 22% over last year driven by our delivery solutions
• Opened a new Kroger Delivery Customer Fulfillment Center in the Denver Metro area, one of the fastest-growing areas in the country
• Increased digitally engaged households by approximately 900,000 compared to the same period last year

Associate Experience

• Invested approximately $600 million in incremental wages in 2022, for a total of $1.9 billion in incremental investments since 2018
• Named to Computerworld’s 2023 Top 100 Best Places to work in IT list, marking the fifth consecutive year the company achieved this distinction for having an innovative, industry-leading workplace culture
• Honored by Ripplematch with a 2023 Campus Forward Award for excellence in career hiring, including programs that embrace innovative recruitment strategies, make significant investments in diversity and inclusion, and support the next generation of talent through impactful internships and entry-level programs
• Supported the continuing education of associates with more than 5,000 associates, 90% of whom are hourly, taking advantage of Kroger’s best-in-class education assistance program in 2022

Live Our Purpose

• Recognized as one of Newsweek’s “Most Responsible Companies” for 2023, marking the fourth consecutive year of being recognized for its dedication to corporate responsibility
• Achieved 100% execution of Zero Hunger I Zero Waste food rescue activity in participating Kroger stores
• Celebrated Kroger Health’s recognition as Retailer of the Year by Mass Market Retailers, for elevating the connection between nutrition and health through its food as medicine initiative

The post Kroger’s fourth-quarter earnings beat analysts’ expectations appeared first on RetailToday.

“Grocers are central to their communities – they help us put food on the table, create local jobs and connect us with our neighbors. At Instacart, we want to enable grocers of all sizes to grow, thrive and serve their customers, no matter how they choose to shop,” said Chris Rogers, Chief Business Officer, Instacart. “We’re proud to continue to expand the Instacart Platform to offer grocers new tools and technologies that help them evolve their online offering, create connected in-store experiences and develop an omnichannel strategy that supports the unique needs of their business and their customers.”

• Carrot Ads expands with display ads, opening up new revenue streams for grocers – Carrot Ads helps small and large grocers alike establish and grow their retail media networks to capture new revenue streams on their owned and operated websites and apps. Grocers can now offer display ads, in addition to Instacart’s sponsored product solution, to connect CPG brands with consumers on their e-commerce properties, creating new opportunities for growth. Display ads enable national CPG brands to promote engaging, targeted, creative banners to raise awareness and consideration of products, helping to drive bigger baskets for grocers. Carrot Ads also gives grocers and CPG brands access to closed-loop measurement and insights – helping them both understand the strategies that drive the most value for their businesses.
• FoodStorm support for items sold by weight enables digital ordering for more items – FoodStorm, Instacart’s order management system, now supports items sold by weight including all fresh food and prepared items typically found at deli and meat counters like deli meats and cheeses, premade dishes and salads, and specialty items like Thanksgiving turkeys and holiday hams. With this expansion, grocers can now support order management and offer digital ordering, pickup and delivery of their deli and meat departments through a single, connected platform. This creates incremental sales opportunities and reduces preparation pressure for retailers, and delivers a more seamless experience for customers.
• Caper Cart remote management offers powerful and easy auditing tools for store associates – Caper Carts, smart carts by Instacart, can now be managed remotely in real-time via tablet, giving retailers a remote bird’s-eye view of their stores, making it easy to see how many carts are being used, what types of items are being shopped, and to flag issues for audit.
• Integrated fulfillment for Rosie-powered websites make it easy for independent grocers to get online – Rosie, Instacart’s white-label e-commerce solution for local and independent grocers, now allows retailers to use Instacart fulfillment services to pick, pack, and deliver orders. With integrated fulfillment, independent grocers can now get everything they need for e-commerce in one place, affordably – from easily-customizable online storefronts with robust web page creation capabilities to fulfillment and customer support.

In addition to these new features, grocers have access to a full suite of technology and tools through the Instacart Platform, including white-label e-commerce solutions; end-to-end fulfillment through Instacart’s community of hundreds of thousands of shoppers; in-store technologies including Caper Carts, Scan & Pay, and Carrot Tags; and advertising solutions to deploy a retail media network directly on their e-commerce sites and unlock advertising opportunities with more than 5,500 CPG brand partners.

“We care deeply about empowering grocers of all sizes to serve their customers and communities,” said Nick Nickitas, General Manager of Local Independent Grocers at Instacart. “Instacart is building technology to invest in the future of our retail partners, and we believe that local and independent grocers in particular can benefit from easy, affordable solutions that are built just for them. We put your store in the palms of your customers’ hands so you can meet them where and how they want to shop.”

“We’re encouraged to see Instacart continue to invest in technologies that enable local and independent grocers to compete,” said Laura Strange, Senior Vice President of Communications and External Affairs at NGA. “Independent grocers are vibrant parts of their communities, and aim to help customers access quality, variety and value. We applaud Instacart’s efforts in furthering their commitment to independent community grocers.”

From the independent retailers and wholesalers using Instacart Platform technologies:

“Our goal is to expand and innovate our business to ensure we’re meeting our customers’ growing and evolving needs,” said Kevin Miller, CMO at The Fresh Market. “Through our partnership with Instacart, we’re able to leverage Platform technologies that have helped us seamlessly grow our e-commerce business. We’ve been impressed by Carrot Ads’ performance to date and we’re excited to explore new formats, like display ads, so we can better help CPG brands inspire consumers as they shop our e-commerce site. This will further unlock new digital revenue streams for our business – impacting our bottom line.”

“As customers are increasingly turning to our stores for easy meals and prepared foods, it’s important that we have the right technology and infrastructure in place to manage this complex, fresh food ordering process,” said Erica Racette, E-Commerce Director at New Seasons Market. “With the addition of the weighted item functionality, we are able to move our holiday meal ordering to FoodStorm’s OMS and deliver an elevated customer experience.”

“Instacart Platform technology has helped more customers discover our catering selection, resulting in incremental sales for this important part of our business,” said Russell McVeigh, Catering Director at Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace. “The Instacart App and FoodStorm OMS have both been important to supporting our e-commerce business. During the busy holiday season when catering and prepared foods are in peak demand, we’ve been able to grow our online sales nearly 62% by having the right infrastructure in place to handle that volume without crippling our in-store operations or without having to scale our staff. We now have a more connected and simplified experience that allows us to be more innovative and go above and beyond for our in-store associates and customers.”

“The strategy of being on both the Instacart App and having our own branded online shopping experience using Rosie technology just makes sense. We want to open all doors, both physically and digitally to people in our community,” said Ron Cook, Vice President, Director of Marketing at Niemann Foods Inc. “Using Rosie’s white-label e-commerce solution and Instacart App to serve customers, we have the opportunity to reach more people with our brand, our products, and our community focused service.”

“We’ve been using Rosie’s white-label e-commerce technology for a long time, and we are very excited about the ability to tap into Instacart’s robust shopper community to pick, pack and deliver orders from each of our retailers’ owned and operated e-commerce sites,” said Thomas Horne, Senior eCommerce Manager at Associated Food Stores. “We believe this integration will help us expand our service to more people in our communities. Rosie and Instacart offer the only e-commerce solution that enables retailers like us to offer end-to-end experiences to our customers.”

The post Instacart Launches New Innovative Tools Designed to Support Grocers of All Sizes appeared first on RetailToday.

With the pandemic challenging decades of deep-rooted business practices, grocery retailers were forced to adapt at an unimaginable pace to accommodate evolving consumer preferences and shopping patterns. Digital marketing, in particular, has become a core function for retailers to attract, convert, and retain customers.

In order to compete in today’s online-first environment, grocers need to build their strategic and tactical know-how in the digital marketing space. In fact, it’s the only way they can drive traffic to their website, engage their customer base, and drive customer lifetime value. Thus, a deep understanding of online grocery store marketing tactics is critical to driving profitable growth hereon. Shopping patterns have evolved further in the past 12 months and it is going to be a challenging year for grocers, in terms of maintaining steady profitability and keeping up with changing consumer expectations. 

As inflation begins to hurt shoppers’ wallets and grocers’ bottom line, online grocery pickup emerges as the most preferred fulfillment method, and consumers begin to value convenience over brand loyalty, marketing teams are faced with the complexities of having to overhaul their strategies to drive traffic to their online stores, enhance basket size, and build loyalty. 

In this blog post, we will look into 11 marketing tactics that are sure to move in the needle when it comes to achieving success with your online grocery fulfillment program:

11 Online Grocery Store Marketing Tactics That Will Help You Win in 2022

1. Build an effective SEO strategy for your online grocery store

Optimizing your site pages for search engines will enable you to expand your reach to shoppers who are in the market looking for products that you sell. However, to get the desired results, your strategy needs to be built on targeting the right keywords. So, before jumping right into the optimization process, take your time conducting keyword research to zero in on the high search volume and high intent phrases you should be going after. Try not to target keywords that are highly competitive or ones that don’t have much traffic; neither of these will help drive the intended visitors.

Also, target low-hanging fruits such as optimizing product titles and category names to include high search volume keywords. This will ensure your pages start ranking steadily, without much effort. Next, look towards optimizing page load speed to reduce bounce rates – one of the leading challenges that online retailers need to solve.

2. Invest in grocery store digital advertising to boost revenue

Once you’ve managed to drive traffic to your store, you can’t simply wait for customers to fill out their baskets and checkout. Native digital advertising allows you to deliver ads as part of your customer’s digital experience without interrupting their process. Thus, you can enrich your customer experience with engaging ads that improve basket size and drive loyalty by making it more convenient for customers to add items to their cart, improving product discovery, and boosting conversions by offering relevant product recommendations. 

Since native ads are meant to blend seamlessly into the page experience, make sure your ad copies are completely relevant and meaningful to your target audience, instead of focusing on making them catchy to gather clicks. To enhance the effectiveness of your native ads, A/B test multiple variations of each ad to allow data to conclude what works best with your target audience. Be it the headline, image, or CTA, automating your optimization process and letting the audience decide the winning variation is the simplest way to increase your conversion rate and ad revenue.

Also, choose a platform that comes with professionally managed services that will support you with driving sizeable advertising revenue through native ads by improving customer engagement.

3. Leverage email marketing to share grocery promotions and flyers

When it comes to online grocery store marketing tactics, this one is a no-brainer. Email has always been known as an effective direct communication channel to share updates with shoppers about the latest promotions, deals, and offers. However, with the amount of noise that makes it to your customers’ inboxes today, standing out remains to be one of the most critical challenges. 

To cut through the clutter, make an effort to understand what customers really care about and what exactly would move them to take the desired action, so you can target them with personalized campaigns. For example, if a certain segment of your audience has displayed consistent interest in a particular product category, you want to tailor your product recommendations, promotions, and deals to suit their preferences. Or if another segment has been a consistent user of your loyalty program, you want to use email marketing to share tips on how they can maximize their rewards.  

Even if you are running campaigns around seasonal and holiday sales, sharing digital coupons, promos, and flyers, be sure to first create intelligent customer segments based on customers’ purchase history so you can tweak your content based on what is most likely to engage and convert. 

Emails are also proven to work effectively in combating cart abandonment. So, you can trigger email drips that feature exclusive, time-bound coupons that instill a sense of urgency to target shoppers who’ve expressed purchase intent but abandoned their baskets before checkout.

4. Double down on social media marketing for your online grocery store

Social media is where brands have the most candid relationships with their potential customers, and it has grown to become a necessary evil to continuously improve reach, maintain top-of-mind awareness, and foster engagement. However, to build a social presence that stands out, the key is to customize your strategy around content that resonates with your target audience. 

For instance, visual content around recipes really helps engage followers by offering them real value or behind-the-scenes videos can help generate more awareness around your private-label brand and how products are manufactured. Since user-generated content helps build unparalleled credibility for your brand name, you can incentivize your loyal customers to create and share their online shopping experiences on your site. You can even partner with lifestyle and health influencers to talk about leading a balanced life on your channel – something that your followers find meaningful and helpful. 

5. Regularly create and distribute useful content relevant to grocery shoppers

As a top-of-the-funnel strategy that enables grocery retailers to generate brand awareness and traffic, content marketing is anything but new. However, the real challenge lies in creating content that engages customers, while standing out from the noise to retain their attention. And when it comes to online grocery, content that simplifies customers’ shopping and meal planning experience is highly rewarded. 

For example, blog series around healthy and sustainable living, weekly newsletters around innovative recipes, interactive video sessions with experts on optimizing nutrient intake while on special diets, etc. are the kind of content formats and topics that would interest today’s smarter buyers. 

Take Whole Foods, for instance. The tips and ideas that they share on their blog are all centered around healthy eating and making the most out of products in everyone’s fridge, freezer, and pantry. Over the years, they’ve mastered the art of creating relevant, meaningful, and engaging content for their grocery customers. 

Similarly, Kroger’s blog is full of seasonal recipes that make it extremely easy for customers to purchase the required ingredients at the click of a button.

6. Go mobile-first with your online grocery store

With as many as two-thirds of all online grocery orders being placed on mobile, going mobile-first is the only way to sustain and scale in this landscape. Apart from optimizing your grocery website for a seamless experience on mobile devices, developing an app that allows customers to place their orders is just as important. This will not only allow you to meet the changing preferences of grocery shoppers but also drive more diverse traffic to your online store and maximize your revenue. 

Going mobile-first is a big step towards thriving as an online grocery store today, but not the only one. You need to go the extra mile to match grocery shoppers’ evolved preferences. Voice search, for example, is slowly becoming the preferred way to look up grocery items online while being occupied with a parallel task. Similarly, investing in push notifications will allow you to target your mobile grocery shoppers with relevant promotions and updates that are likely to drive them to the app and convert. 

Check out Mercatus’s Mobile Grocery eCommerce platform to see how you can foster fully optimized mobile shopper experiences.

7. Incentivize sharing grocery product ratings and reviews

With 82% of grocery shoppers admitting to reading reviews before buying products, collecting and promoting reviews can really help move the needle in terms of boosting basket size. From sharing reviews and ratings on the grocery commerce website to posting post-purchase experiences on social media, retailers can make the process simpler, rewarding, and engaging for their customers. For example, each review could earn loyalty program members certain points that add up towards a discount on their future baskets. You can even create an online community on a popular forum and share informational content while inviting customers to share their reviews, feedback, and tips with fellow shoppers. 

8. Use SMS marketing to drive high-intent grocery shoppers

It’s a common misconception that SMS marketing is a medieval channel that has lost its effectiveness over time. However, with average open rates of 99% and click-through rates of 45%, SMS seems to be showing no signs of slowing down in terms of driving marketing ROI. When it comes to online grocery stores, SMS marketing can be leveraged by retailers to share personalized coupons and promotions, post-purchase thank you messages, loyalty points reminders, updates on upcoming seasonal sales, send inventory alerts, pickup and delivery alerts, weekly bestsellers, and so on.

With promising click-through rates, SMS campaigns can turn out to be one of the most effective ways to drive high-intent traffic to online grocery stores.

9. Develop a sampling program to simulate the in-store grocery shopping experience

In-store grocery shopping is so much more than just picking products from aisles and adding them to baskets, and online grocers are having a hard time replicating that experience on screens. One way to make the online grocery shopping experience more rewarding is to create a sampling program around sending freebies along with customers’ ordered items to build awareness around new products while giving buyers something different to look forward to. 

You could invite customers to select the samples they wish to try out or randomly hand them out depending on the basket size. Either way, you are sure to boost engagement with buyers who still prefer the in-store experience. 

10. Build a digital loyalty program or subscription-based offer

Exciting loyalty programs are known to boost customer lifetime value and make acquisition easier. And we know that it’s way harder to move the needle on both of those metrics with online grocery compared to traditional in-store shopping, where customers can be nudged to sign up during checkout. Therefore, e-grocers need to develop a program that not just improves customer engagement and retention by nurturing long-lasting relationships, but also one that online shoppers see value in and are eager to sign up for. 

Try to think of how you can gamify the points-earning experience to add an exciting dimension to the program, along with the standard way to earn points with each purchase. You can also incentivize shoppers who opt for product subscriptions with additional points. Another way to promote your brand would be by introducing a VIP tier, that allows shoppers to avail of additional services with no extra charge (think free delivery, priority shipment, etc.). 

Also, since personalized offers take the cake over universal promotions, you can introduce customized ways of redeeming points to keep up the excitement and hype of your loyalty program. 

11. Utilize onsite and in-app banners and content cards to create urgency for products

Apart from native ads that push customers to try out products that they are likely to find useful, onsite and in-app banners provide subtle nudges that add to the overall shopping experience. You can utilize these to display time-bound deals, products that are running out, seasonal promotions, and virtually anything you would find on a banner in a grocery store. Not only can you boost your average order value, but also simulate the in-store shopping experience to give grocery shoppers more ways to engage with your online brand and explore your store to the fullest. 

Content cards are another fantastic form of promising rich media that you can embed onto your grocery website or app. Content cards allow you to boost engagement rates by delivering personalized experiences in the form of promotions, product recommendations, and subtle nudges to complete checkout. Moreover, as per statistics shared by Braze, a multi-channel customer engagement platform, content cards can improve conversion rates by 22%. So, in an effort to deliver dynamic and targeted grocery experiences, content cards are definitely worth experimenting with. 

Partner With Mercatus to Boost Your Marketing Efforts and Achieve Limitless Growth for Your eGrocery Business

When it comes to online grocery, we understand that grocers have a lot of choices. Whether it’s sticking with existing marketplaces, building your own site, or selecting the right eCommerce vendor for your business, there are viable options with pluses and minuses for each.

At Mercatus, we believe finding the right solution shouldn’t come with a compromise. Omnichannel grocers deserve an option that delivers the best of all worlds:

• Ownership of your customer data to preserve loyalty & profit
• Flexibility to integrate into existing systems and processes
• Advanced features such as endless aisles, prepared food, recipe lists, etc.
• Proven and trusted by other grocers
• All-in-one vendor from implementation, training, and support

From distributing digital coupons and flyers to managing ad campaigns, the powerful and robust Mercatus platform comes with the required tech sophistication to handle it all for you, so you can effortlessly engage shoppers and drive them to your online store. 

When it comes to online grocery store marketing tactics, Mercatus is designed to manage your campaigns so you can divert your focus on growth strategies. The best part is that you can achieve all this while having complete control over your shopping experiences and not compromising on customer loyalty. 

The Mercatus platform is designed to enable you to stay connected with your customers at every stage in the funnel and deliver omnichannel consistent multi-channel shopping journeys that convert far better. 

Emi Takeda is Sr Manager for Brand and Marketing at Mercatus. She is driven to shape ideas into fully formed content that makes people feel deeply connected.

The post Online Grocery Store Marketing Tactics to Deliver Delightful Omnichannel Shopping Experiences appeared first on RetailToday.

Americans believe that grocery retailers are earning a 35.2% net profit margin, 14 times higher than grocers’ actual net profit margin average of 2.5%, and that food-at-home inflation is 24.3%, double the annual rate reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics according to the latest dunnhumby Consumer Trends Tracker (CTT) released today. The CTT is part of the dunnhumby Quarterly, a strategic market analysis of key retail themes, with the third edition being focused on navigating uncertainty.

In the third wave of the CTT, dunnhumby also found that despite perceived inflation reaching a new high, customers are coping a little better compared to the last wave of the report. Consumers who reported they would have difficulty covering an unexpected expense of $400 dropped from 64% in July to 60% in November 2022. In addition, 48% of consumers reported they are getting the kind of food they want to eat compared to 43% in the second wave.

“In this latest wave of our CTT study, we found that retailers are in a precarious position with their brand perception, since customers are vastly over-estimating grocers’ store profit margins and inflation rates, while they themselves are battling food prices,” said Matt O’Grady, president of the Americas, dunnhumby. “Retailers need to show they are empathetic to customers through their prices, their rewards/loyalty offers, and with messaging to best support shoppers during these challenging financial times.”

Key findings from the study:

• Inflation worries are driving customer sentiment. When consumers were asked as part of the survey, why customer sentiment is the lowest it has been in 50 years, consumers responded by a five to one margin that inflation was the cause, with covid coming in a distant second. When asked about 2023, only 22% of respondents predicted inflation and the state of the country will get better. Forty-seven percent of respondents predicted inflation and the state of the country would improve three years from now. Over a five-year period, 54% of consumers are optimistic that their own finances and the state of the country will improve.
• Younger shoppers are most optimistic, but only in the short term. For 2023, 31% of consumers aged 18-34, believe their finances and the state of the country will get better, compared to just 13% of consumers over 65. Over a three and five-year timeframe however, there were no significant differences by age.
• Food insecurity remains a problem. Thirty-one percent of households reported they have skipped or reduced the size of a meal for financial reasons. Thirty-nine percent of respondents under the age of 44 have skipped or reduced meal sizes. And households with children at home are 8% more likely than adult-only households to have skipped or reduced meal sizes. Consumers living in Idaho, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and West Virginia reported the highest numbers, where over 40% had skipped or reduced the size of a meal in the last year. Consumers living in Washington, Minnesota, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Maryland reported the lowest numbers, with approximately 20% having skipped or reduced the size of a meal in the last year.
• While improving slightly, most consumers continue to struggle financially. No state is immune, but the states with the highest rate of financial insecurity (75%) are Oregon, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and West Virginia. The states with the lowest rates of financial insecurity (45%) are Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maryland, and Delaware.
• Consumers want easy to shop and more convenient eCommerce solutions. Eighty-one percent (up 4%) of consumers say easy to shop websites and apps are important to them and 78% (up 4%) want retailers to have more convenient delivery and pick up time slots. For consumers aged 55 and over, ease and convenience are even more important. In this age group, 84% say easy to shop websites and apps are important to them and 81% want convenient delivery/pick-up time slots available. Families are 16% more likely to interact with a store’s app and have a 10% greater need for the retailer to pick products as well as they would, compared to shoppers without children.
• Consumers want retailers to help them make healthy choices. Forty-four percent of consumers reported it was very or extremely important for retailers to help them make healthy choices, an increase of 3% from the previous wave. In addition, 48% reported they choose healthy foods while shopping (up 2%), 40% read diet and nutrition information (up 2%) and 29% are buying products for a specific diet when they shop. The top five diets in the U.S. cited in the survey are 1) Keto, 2) Low carb, 3) Low sugar, 4) Vegetarian, and 5) Gluten free.

The post Americans Believe Grocery Store Profits are 14 Times Higher than Reality and Inflation Is Twice as High as Actual, dunnhumby Finds appeared first on RetailToday.

• Understand what’s impacting the grocery landscape globally, and at a regional level, and how to apply these learnings to your future plans.
• Hear the latest insights, findings and predictions, and be inspired by other regions, to help your business stay competitive over the next 12 months.

Speakers:
Nick Miles, Head of Insight (Global), IGD
Bryan Roberts, Global Insight Leader, IGD
Toby Pickard, Global Insight Leader, IGD
Lucy Bellotti, Analyst, IGD
Oliver Butterworth, Senior Analyst, IGD

The post Major Trends Shaping the Global Grocery Market in 2023 appeared first on RetailToday.

Key findings from January’s survey included:

• 71% of grocers regard sustainability as a key priority in 2023, while 76% also regard it as a C-Level issue.
• 43% of grocers will appoint a senior executive to lead their sustainability efforts in 2023.
• Waste Reduction is grocers’ primary sustainability focus (86%) followed by energy efficiency (77%) and packaging improvement (66%).
• 73% of shoppers say that they want more transparent communication of sustainability characteristics on product packaging and display, while 37% said they would be willing to pay a premium of 11-17% for more sustainable options.

More key findings from the January 2023 Performance Scorecard include:

• Digital grocery sales, basket size, and items/basket all grew sharply over the past year
   —Digital baskets averaged 4 items more in January 2023 than they did in January 2022, a 39.7% increase.
  —At $10.7 billion, digital sales in January were up slightly over January 2022 ($10.4B). However, at 14.7% of overall grocery sales, this reflected a decline in total grocery market share from January 2022 (15.2%), and from the November 2022 high of 17.1%.
• Third-party providers suffered big losses in 2022
  —Grocery sales through third parties fell to $1.9B in January 2023, reflecting 18.1% of digital grocery sales.
  —That represents a huge loss for third parties since January 2022, both in total dollar amount (from $3.3B to $1.9B) and in terms of total share of the digital grocery market (from 31.3% to 18.1%).
• Share of grocery pickup sales continues to rise
  —Curbside/shopper pick-up rose again to $6.2B (57.9%) of all digital grocery orders in January 2023, while delivery’s share declined to 42.2%. This represents an extension of the slow but steady increase in pickup’s share of digital grocery orders since January 2022, which saw 53.3% for pickup and 46.7% for delivery.

“Both grocery shoppers and senior industry executives seem to recognize the value of sustainability,” said Gaurav Pant, Chief Insights Officer of both Incisiv and Grocery Doppio. “Grocers have key focus areas and priorities for 2023 and view sustainability as a C-level priority. Meanwhile, more than a third of grocery shoppers say that sustainability is important to them, and that they are willing to pay more for products and practices that mirror their personal values.”

“Since Grocery Doppio began tracking the market, we have seen two irrepressible trends month after month,” said Charlie Kaplan, Chief Revenue Officer of Wynshop. “Grocers are taking more of the overall digital grocery market from third parties, and curbside pickup continues to gain in popularity with shoppers. Both trends underscore the importance to grocers of improving digital operations in 2023.”

The post Grocers Cite Sustainability as a C-Level Priority for 2023: Report appeared first on RetailToday.

With 14 supermarkets in northeastern Ohio, Buehler’s provides customers a compelling in-store shopping experience along with a full assortment of locally sourced specialty grocery, prepared foods and fresh products. The employee-owned grocery chain – regarded as a pacesetter among independent grocers nationwide – is no stranger to offering customers innovative and creative shopping experiences.

The Buehler’s team selected Mercatus for its innovation track record and success in getting solutions to market. In transitioning to Mercatus’ multi-tenant cloud commerce platform, Buehler’s is looking to future-proof its digital grocery services, all while growing their online business and improving the overall experience for Buehler’s customers.

“Our customers love the convenience of shopping online and we want to make sure we not only meet their expectations but exceed them,” said Mike Davidson, president and CEO of Buehler’s. “We’re excited about the partnership with Mercatus and look forward to introducing their wide-ranging eCommerce functionality and services to our valued customers.”

Buehler’s online shopping experience will include new commerce technologies and capabilities, like Mercatus’ recently announced next generation mobile grocery shopping app. Customers also will be able to shop the full range of Buehler’s assortment, including popular ready-made and prepared meals and customized selections like cakes, platters and deli counter foods.

Buehler’s customers will be able to choose from curbside pickup, or delivery via white-label integration with DoorDash Last Mile. They will also have the option to pay online with SNAP EBT and EBT Cash benefits. Buehler’s will also leverage Mercatus’ proprietary picking app, integrated with geolocation technology which will help streamline fulfillment operations and improve the overall curbside pickup experience. Mercatus will also soon provide Buehler’s with integrated advertising and retail media capabilities to help the retailer drive incremental revenue from its online grocery channels.

“We appreciate the trust Buehler’s leadership has shown in selecting Mercatus and their confidence in our technology and innovation pipeline,” said Sylvain Perrier, president & CEO, Mercatus. “We look forward to working closely with the Buehler’s team to implement their new online shopping experience and strengthen Buehler’s connections to its customers and improve online’s contribution margin in the process.”

The post Buehler’s Fresh Foods Selects Mercatus to Innovate Grocery eCommerce and Accelerate Omnichannel Revenue Growth appeared first on RetailToday.

Discount grocery store chain, Save A Lot operates approximately 850 stores in 32 states across the U.S. “At Save A Lot, we have undertaken a strategic transformation from grocery retailer to licensed wholesaler,” said Jennifer Hopper, chief information officer, Save A Lot. “With SymphonyAI Retail CPG technology, we get best-in-class solutions and can evolve to full end-to-end supply chain optimization that best supports our owner/operator Retail Partner network while giving us enhanced business agility, efficiency, and scalability.”

SymphonyAI Retail CPG supply chain management and optimization solutions provide retailers with real-time inventory visibility, including best-in-breed data synchronization to centralize ownership and data flows for business agility in an omnichannel environment as well as unified order management and complete store and channel insights, all to improve shopper satisfaction, reduce waste and measurably decrease out-of-stocks through higher organizational intelligence and improved decisions.

“We are pleased to partner with an innovative grocery wholesaler like Save A Lot to speed and streamline supply chain and store operations, enhancing both shopper experience and business performance,” said Raj Marimuthu, general manager of supply chain management, SymphonyAI Retail. “We lead the industry in MDM and merchandising capabilities with a seamless path to full end-to-end AI-based insights, including demand forecasting AI — all with a compelling ROI value proposition.”

The post Save A Lot Selects SymphonyAI Retail CPG Supply Chain Solutions appeared first on RetailToday.