Dive Brief:
- A new report from Packaged Facts said e-commerce, contactless payment options and smaller store formats are the latest trends impacting the future of grocery, according to Food Business News.
- The report, “The Future of Food Retailing: Value Grocery Shopping in the U.S.,” estimated that some brick-and-mortar stores average more than 100 e-commerce orders per week.
- The report also predicted that as millennials and Generation Zers get older, being able to pay for groceries wirelessly or by tapping a card on a reader will increase. More of them will want convenient ways to shop.
Dive Insight:
The Packaged Facts study isn’t the first to point to e-commerce, contactless payment options and smaller formats as big trends to look out for in the grocery space, but it does validate what many analysts have been saying for some time.
A joint study by Nielsen and the Food Marketing Institute revealed that online shopping is expected to increase to $100 billion by 2025, and predicted as grocers make e-commerce more user-friendly, it will continue to succeed.
One of the ways retailers can help is by investing in app technology that can help consumers shop from a phone or tablet easier. After all, reports show that online grocery shoppers tend to specifically be looking for convenience.
While some box stores have experimented with contactless payment options, this is the one trend that doesn’t seem as far along as the others. Wal-Mart launched the mobile app Walmart Pay in 2016, while Target has plans to introduce a mobile payment option in 2017.
Small format stores are also emerging everywhere. Hy-Vee and Whole Foods are both experimenting with smaller, hipper versions of themselves. However, the smaller format isn't synonymous with more shoppers. Meijer just announced it's closing some of its small format Marketplace stores this summer.