Notes and Thoughts on Grocery 2.0

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Cheers!

Courtney

How many times do you think that phrase has crossed the mind of one of your shoppers? Especially the ones who, like me, look at going to the grocery store as a chore, not as a delightful day out of the house. And this was the exact situation I found myself in earlier this week.

I came down with some kind of nasty head-cold December 23rd. Yeah, it was great. Stuffy nose, but yet still runny, headache, sneezing, sore throat, the works. But I still needed to get groceries for Christmas dinner. So I bundled up (with some extra tissues stuffed into any pocket I could find) and headed out. I happen to live where no grocery chain has as of yet leapt into online grocery shopping, so I was actually going to have to walk up and down the aisles, pushing a cart, looking for the things I needed.

And that’s when it struck me — this is just one more brialliant reason to offer online shopping to your customers! Think about it. This is really just the beginning of the cold and flu season. But we still need to eat, don’t we? (Starve a cold, feed a fever…or starve a fever, feed a cold…which was it?) And if you happen to be out of food — or just need juice, soup and tissues — going to the grocery store can be a pain. Not to mention a good way to spread all your germs to everyone else in the store (I hesitate to even think about the germs on those shopping cart handles during this season!).

But, if you offered online grocery shopping, that all changes. Now, I can sit on my couch in my robe, in front of the humidifier and shop for my groceries. Tell the store I want to pick them up later that afternoon and head off to take a nice long nap. Then, when it’s time to pick up my groceries, I just pull up to the store and I don’t even have to go in. I just have them loaded into my trunk and I’m off. I didn’t share any of my germs.

Or, maybe you’re like my sister-in-law who has never met a germ she liked. She seems healthy pretty much all the time, so it must be working. Again, online grocery shopping is ideal for her — she wouldn’t have to be exposed to all the other people like me wandering the aisles spewing germs out left and right just by our mere existence!

Yes, there are a lot of reasons to offer online grocery shopping. But one of the better reasons I can think of this time of the year is to keep the sick people from exposing everyone else, and to keep the healthy people from being exposed! Please, let us shop online and we’ll all be healthier for it!

In a recent survey of more than 3,000 U.S. consumers, marketing firm Precima found that 48% of people would spend money saved on gas on groceries. With gas prices continuing to decline, the average household is saving $175 to $200 monthly.

The survey also found the recession has changed the way consumers plan their grocery trips. 27% of consumers said they can no longer afford to stock up on food, while 35% of respondents said they’re stocking up more, but only on sale items.

This is good news for the consumer packaged goods industry already capitalizing on trends toward eating at home more often and taking lunch to work. To further capitalize on changing consumer behavior, CPG companies need to reach consumers at their desks, during the meal planning process. As online grocery shopping - and grocery shopping in general - grows, will your brand grow too?

Rachel

So, the post holiday retail numbers will be a challenge to swallow. As we get ready for a new year, by what measure will consumers use in making their purchasing decisions in 2009?

Just before the 2008 holiday shopping season a survey taken of retail shoppers indicated that a distinguishing factor for shoppers’ choice of stores is customer service.

Online grocery shopping and other tools such as weekly circular, recipe of the day, and more that MyWebGrocer offers are great tools in distinguishing your store as a customer service first business. Check us out for more details.

In an article published on December 18, 2008 in eMarketer Daily, a daily newsletter covering the ecommerce markets, they point to grocery as having vast opportunity for growth. Check out the entire article at: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006796

The article continues to read that though the ecommerce retail sales accounted for only 1.4 % in 2002 they predicts this channel will be recorded as 7% increase in 2008. They then go on to predict that by 2012 ecommerce will account for as much as 28% of overall retail business, with the highest growth in food, beverage, and grocery.

Many things account for this growth, especially in grocery. Generations of new grocery shoppers do not know a world without the Internet. They can by games, clothes, and order pizza delivery, why not thier weekly groceries? These users will not just demand ecommerce choices for grocery, but expect it.

So let us help you get ahead of this growth curve so you can take advantage of the future of ecommerce by choosing us as your partner in setting up your online presence and online grocery shopping programs.