For ages, people in cities and towns have been buying groceries from traditional grocers shops, mainly fruits and veggies, and till now, the trend follows. Instead of buying in bulk, most people tend to buy their food items on a day-to-day policy. The wish to see the item and touch it to sense its quality before bargaining on the prices as per the quality is the key factor responsible for the still running brick and mortar stores business model.
In this era of the technology-driven world, where services are provided at one click, innovations in digital platforms have changed the behaviour of people as a shopper. This has been experienced in the case of groceries too. The past two years of recurrent lockdowns and curfew due to the pandemic where mostly in many cases, people had to rely on online platforms for groceries is also responsible for a switch in the behaviour towards purchasing groceries online. Besides electronic items, clothing, accessories, medicines, people now prefer to buy groceries online.
Future of Online Grocery Retailing
With the advancement in digitalisation, everything is available to consumers at their fingertips. Moreover, today’s youth is inclined towards the use of smartphones. Hence more and more people are opting for online platforms to buy groceries. There is a conventional grocers shop where you could buy your hand-touched fruits and veggies, whereas, on the other side, there is a digital platform with the freedom to buy groceries by comparing the prices with other offline as well as online stores at the same time.
Besides this, you can buy groceries online anytime and anywhere, right from where you are at that moment. In the competition between offline and online grocery, the latter is slowly and gradually overtaking the traditional method of shopping. There is no denying that day-to-day increasing access to the internet across the globe and its cost reduction has given online grocery shops an advantage over the offline retail model of groceries.
Challenges of Offline Grocery Retailing
1: Multichannel Buying Experiences
When a consumer can sit and see different fresh grocery items across various online platforms and compare their price with just a few clicks, why would they prefer to go out to shop? Multichannel Buying Experiences offered by the online mode give an upper hand to the business.
2: A Seamless Experience
The customer’s experience is pretty much seamless in online retailing, and easy payment methods give online grocery business an upper edge over the conventional offline mode of grocery retailing.
3: Customization and Product Variety
Customers are nowadays very demanding in the case of varieties of the same items, some demands for local and some for branded products, offline retailers are sometimes unable to provide the customised variety, unlike the online grocery stores.
4: Sustainability
In order to sustain themselves in the grocery business, online grocery companies need to be more transparent about the products. Today’s generation is a lot more aware and would want to know every little detail about the products, such as the ingredient list, preservatives used, shelf life, etc.
Omnichannel Approach in Grocery Retailing
Wondering how are grocery retailers competing on e-commerce? Omnichannel Approach is the key! Shopping grocery online has reduced the customer`s time to go outside in this daily hectic schedule lifestyle, but the offline mode has its perks as well, so the best consumer experience could be a mixture of both, which is defined by the term Omnichannel Approach. The basis of this approach is to deliver a customer-oriented shopping experience in both offline and online mode by combining the benefits of the methods. The omnichannel format could provide the best customer satisfaction if managed properly between integrated in-store visits and online facilities with the right management.
How can YRC help?
At YRC, we have all the essential resources and a team with specialisation in market research and analysis on the online grocery market. We have in-hand experience of dealing with renowned online grocery retail businesses and have helped them evolve into what they are at present. We also have an in-house consultant team who can help you to develop your online grocery business model from scratch.
With the increasing online business in the grocery segment, it is the right time to jump in and make the right choice. You can consult and take advice from YRC as we have the best research analysis, which is not just limited to SOPs. Even at ground zero, we have the best expertise to develop your online grocery business in the right way to have a flourishing venture in a short period. If you have doubts about how to increase sales in retail grocery stores, contact us to get all your doubts solved.