Dive Brief:
- Grocery retailers — ranging from traditional brick-and-mortar stores to online merchants and third-party delivery services — have continued to invest in the digital transformation of the grocery industry, according to a new study from the Carbonview Research division of EnsembleIQ, Progressive Grocer reported.
- About 86% of surveyed grocers claimed they increased their investment in digital technologies over the past year, and the rest reported their investment stayed the same. None of the surveyed grocers had decreased their tech investments.
- Among the most widely adopted digital technologies for grocery retailers were a website (83%), email (79%), digital coupons (78%), social media (74%), mobile apps (62%), in-store kiosks (47%) and text/SMS messaging (43%).
Dive Insight:
With the growth of Amazon and similar e-commerce channels, grocery retailers are up against a burgeoning online-based food and beverage industry. More manufacturers are pursuing partnership opportunities with sites like Alibaba to increase their exposure in the global marketplace, and traditionally brick-and-mortar retailers are not far behind.
Besides sales, digital technologies offer grocery retailers unique marketing and promotional opportunities, such as digital coupons, push notifications on mobile devices and apps that offer recommended add-on purchases. Beacon technology in particular has enabled retailers to be more creative with the delivery of digital content and benefits for customers in-store.
But not all technologies will benefit retailers and their customer base. Companies should analyze both the costs and benefits of a technology before implementing it or risk losing time and money on something that doesn't help the company's top or bottom line.