The Friday Checkout: Top takeaways from the latest online grocery reports
The Friday Checkout is a weekly column that offers more insight into what’s new, recaps announcements you may have missed, and shares what’s to come.
Omnichannel has become the new norm, according to a new study by Pymts.com and Chicory.
In pre-pandemic times, around 63% of consumers shopped for most of their basic grocery needs in brick-and-mortar stores, but that number has fallen to 44%, according to the rise in e-commerce payments Report. Baskets for physical stores have also shrunk since pre-pandemic times, with the average number of items purchased per visit falling from six to four, the payments data company noted.
“Across all age groups, despite the rise in digital-only shoppers, the proportion of hybrid shoppers has remained relatively constant, underscoring the systemic shift to digital channels,” Pymnts noted in his report.
Meanwhile, the fourth episode of Chicory’s annual online grocery shopping report showed that consumers who spend the most on online grocery orders (more than $200 per transaction) are also placing daily or weekly orders more often than other shoppers. Most shoppers spend between $51 and $200 per online order, and these consumers primarily order weekly or monthly, the advertising company found.
Chicory’s was based on a survey of 1,337 US consumers on December 30, 2022, which resulted in 965 qualified respondents. Pymnt The study was based on a survey of 2,426 US consumers between December 22 and December 25, 2022.
Both reports identified convenience and offers as key factors driving consumers to shop online. While price might be a surprising reason for digital adoption, as retailers can raise prices online to offset e-commerce losses, consumers are lured in by the promotions and perks.
54 percent cited high prices or the lack of benefits and offers in brick-and-mortar stores as a reason why they turned to the online shop payments.
For online consumers, content matters. Research by Chicory found that more than half (51%) of consumers surveyed are likely or very likely to buy groceries directly from online grocery content such as food blogs, recipe sites and social platforms. In many ways, this finding comes as no surprise, as sites like this are already sources of meal inspiration.
“Consumers are more convenient than ever to shop online for deals, plan meals with digital recipes and shop their complete grocery lists in just a few clicks,” said Yuni Sameshima, Chicory’s CEO and co-founder, in a statement. “CPG and grocery retailers can capitalize on this trend by investing in e-commerce solutions that meet consumers where they are and in the moments that matter.”
Marty escaped the Hellertown Giant and nearly made it to freedom before being dragged back to his food brig.
????️Rebecca Prendergast#Marty #Giant #martytherobot #singularity #freemarty #Giant #giant supermarket #giantmarty #lehighvalley #hellerstadt #Rise of the Machines pic.twitter.com/mURmMI7BfM
— Lehigh Valley with Love (@LVwithLove) February 6, 2023
In case you missed it
The Giant Company’s electronic fleet hits the road
The Giant Company has introduced four electric vehicles in the Philadelphia area that will make Giant Direct deliveries and reduce the company’s environmental footprint, according to a Tuesday press release.
These new electric vehicles are the first electric vehicles to be added to the grocer’s fleet of 164 vehicles. They can cover up to 108 miles per charge, avoid nearly 172,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions each year and save nearly 9,000 gallons of gasoline annually, according to the grocer’s announcement.
The Giant Company said it intends to introduce more all-electric vehicles to its delivery service in the next few years.
Runaway Marty
Earlier this week, the store’s robotic assistant — affectionately known as Marty — broke away from the store at a giant in Hellertown, Pennsylvania and was caught roaming the parking lot, according to Wednesday news reports.
“[Marty] was just on a breath of fresh air,” a Giant spokesman told ABC27.
Shoppers caught Marty on his impromptu stop to the parking lot on video from their cars, with a clip showing a store employee safely pushing Marty back to his post at the Giant store.
Googly-eyed Marty robots were introduced to stores in January 2019 after a successful pilot showed they improved in-store efficiency and freed staff more time to focus on helping customers, according to a press release.
Publix shuttle service
When the closure of a Kroger store in Decatur, Georgia last month destroyed the only walk-in grocery store for many in the community, Publix and the Decatur Downtown Development Authority partnered to launch a 90-day shuttle service pilot program to bring downtown shoppers there the next Publix.
The shuttle service, which is scheduled to run until April 18, offers non-stop rides from 10 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with multiple pickup and drop-off locations in downtown Decatur.
Number of the week: 43%
That’s the proportion of grocers planning to appoint a senior executive this year to lead their sustainability-focused initiatives, according to Data released on Tuesday by analytics company Incisiv and Wynshop, an e-commerce technology provider. Waste reduction, energy efficiency and packaging improvements are the top three sustainability priorities of grocery retailers represented in the company’s January 2023 State of Digital Grocery Performance Scorecard.
what’s ahead
Inflation numbers due
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics is due to release consumer price index data for January on Valentine’s Day. The numbers will provide further clarity on the direction prices have taken in the first few weeks of 2023, after a year of sharply elevated inflation across the economy.
Retail sales statistics are published
The US Census Bureau plans to release retail sales data for January on Wednesday. The data will shed light on how inflation and other factors impacted food industry sales at the start of 2023.
The result of Ahold Delhaize
The Dutch supermarket company is expected to release its results for the fourth quarter of 2022 and for the full past year on Wednesday.