Notes and Thoughts on Grocery 2.0

We love these top ten lists, don’t we? It helps us create context as it relates to what otherwise might be hard to get our arms around. So here is a top 10 list of reasons to use Online Grocery solutions. Over the next few weeks we’ll provide details of each reason. We’ll then summarize at the end. So here’s the list of top 10 reasons to use Online Grocery:

1.) Saves Money
2.) Saves Time
3.) Relevance
4.) Builds Loyalty
5.) Personal Shoppers
6.) Convenience: Pickup or Delivery
7.) Make a List
8.) Email
9.) Relax
10.) It’s Fun!

In the coming weeks, let’s discuss each of these benefits to an Online Grocery solution.

Dave Dec

We just stumbled across a great post from a NJ blogger named Valerie who tried OGS for the first time. Thanks, Valerie, for the terrific review…frankly we couldn’t agree more!  She even snapped a great shot of the ShopRite from Home van (right) pulling up outside her house!

Gotta love her list of top reasons she’s an OGS fan…(drum roll please)

Here’s why I think ShopRite At Home rocks:

• I could shop in my pajamas. (I didn’t, but I could.)
• I didn’t have to leave the house to go to the store. No going out in the rain.
• I didn’t have to wait on any lines.
• I didn’t have to load the car with the groceries.
• I didn’t have to unload the car and carry any bags in.
• I didn’t have to nag RB or TJ to carry bags in.
• I got flowers. Well not just me – all first time customers get them.

It’s great to read about how OGS is making this busy mom’s life a bit easier…Thanks, Valerie!

-Alison

Consumers depend on the internet for information. That is a fact. If they didn’t, Google wouldn’t be processing over 3 billion searches per day. The Web provides businesses and brands with cheap, unlimited space to provide what their consumers want and need, which includes information. But while many have embraced the web and all it offers, far too many businesses underestimate the power of the internet to connect with consumers.

“The reason Google is so valuable is because it’s the linchpin of the expansive, information-driven age. It links seekers of information to providers of information in the most accurate and efficient way. It proves that there’s a marketplace for information unlike any we have ever known. And modern brands must compete in that marketplace,” says Barry Wacksman of AdWeek.

Websites, at the very least, should be loyalty driving vehicles, where goal oriented consumers can connect with brands, make purchasing decisions and seek product related information. In addition, consumer dependence on the internet provides great potential for Internet-based directional advertising, for both retailers and brands.

A recent OMD study that tested consumer perceptions about advertising found that 81% of consumers said advertisers need to continue to communicate about their products, especially during a recession. Consumers said they would be more receptive to cost-savings messages and products that are positioned as investments. For low involvement products, marketers need to communicate brand benefits.

“The task for marketers therefore is to explore more efficient ways to connect and listen to their consumers in order to reduce costs, while still maintaining a presence in the marketplace and connection to their consumers,” says Joe Marchese, President of Socialvibe. “It’s possible that this economy will force marketers to innovate, and finally begin the shift of massive, high-waste, traditional media budgets into more engaging, measurable interactive marketing initiatives.”

When your consumers go online, will you be there?

Rachel

According to a new study by JupiterResearch, in an uncertain economy, people may cut back on movies and cable television, but they are not likely to give up their internet access.

The study, which examines how an economic downturn could affect entertainment spending, found that almost one-third of participants would go to the movies less, while 12% would cut costs by cancelling premium cable services like HBO and Showtime.

In contrast to the likely cuts in television and movie theater viewership, only 2% of survey respondents said they would cut their broadband service. “It is noteworthy that broadband has reached this core status, joining the list of utility services along with electricity, phone and cable that consumers consider vital to the household,” says Jupiter analyst Bobby Tulsiani.

When deciding where to justify spending, just as consumers choose internet service over television as the one necessity that cannot be sacrificed, advertisers and retailers should choose internet over television as the one marketing effort than cannot be sacrificed.

Rachel

In a recently launched campaign created by McCann Erickson, Dentyne Gum urges viewers to “Make face time” by replacing online social activities with personal interactions. The advertiser links kissing with instant messaging, hugging with accepting a friend request, whispering with leaving a voicemail and other commonplace activities with those personal ones we supposedly do less of because of our addiction to technology. I love this campaign for its ingenuity, creative copy and relevance. But there’s a catch.

Dentyne’s campaign centers on a website, www.makefacetime.com.

Wait a second…Dentyne created a brilliant campaign to remind its core teenage audience that personal interactions cannot be duplicated online, yet they are hoping that it is being online that forces their target to interact with the brand? Talk about irony.

In a New York Times article discussing the advertiser’s strategy, Craig Markus, Executive Vice President and Executive Creative Director at McCann Erickson, acknowledges the disconnect. “There was a real paradox in that we want to have an online presence, but wait a second, we’re telling people not to be online. That’s where we came up with the idea of the three-minute web site.”

The site, unveiled last Monday, opens with a warning that in three minutes, the site will shut down. Messaging appears telling readers, “When people are surfing the Web, they’re missing the best part of life – being together.”

But having a self-destructing website doesn’t mean much since it’s still a website. And one which Dentyne hopes many young adults will frequent.

Zeynep Tufeki, a sociologist at the University of Maryland, says “This is a false dichotomy.” Tufeki, who studies the way teenagers use technology to socialize, says her research shows that the exact people Dentyne wishes to target are most likely going online to increase social interaction, update personal information and connect with friends. “In fact, they’re checking out these sites in the hopes that sooner or later it will end up in a hug or kiss,” she says.

It seems as if Dentyne’s messaging should read, “When people are surfing the web, they’re getting ready to enjoy the best part of life – being together.”

What do you think?

Rachel