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PayPal has teamed up with TrendWatching, one of the world’s leading consumer trend firms, to identify the trends shaping the future of grocery shopping and food delivery. These insights, along with data sourced from proprietary PayPal research and expert interviews, offer signposts for your business to navigate this all-new, dynamic grocery retail terrain
Print19 October 2022
Future-defining trends
The online grocery revolution isn’t slowing any time soon as technology continues to evolve and shift. In fact, the market will continue to shape itself as businesses diversify their offerings, and pivot to stay ahead of consumer expectations.
PayPal has analysed the grocery market and identified several key trends that are a window of opportunity for your business to set itself apart in the crowded European marketplace. This provides a direct route to new and loyal shoppers that have the potential to drive your brand’s success.
There are so many ways that brands and businesses are relying on recent technology to beat their competition, retain customers and generate new consumer loyalty. Let’s dig deeper and find out more.
Personalized shopping experiences with AI
Brands and businesses which have started implementing artificial intelligence (AI) are pioneering innovative consumer experiences and improved services, reaping healthy revenue returns. AI is undoubtedly a powerful tool – from automated weekly grocery shopping trips to helping shoppers make substitutions to the rise of apps that simplify the user experience, the grocery industry is innovating rapidly.
Bridging gap between online and in-store
Every customer has their own preference when it comes to grocery shopping and their circumstances often dictate how they shop. Research shows that many Europeans like to see and touch fresh foods before buying but prefer to have bulkier and heavier items delivered to their home. The omnichannel approach to grocery shopping is expanding and grocers that provide hybrid shopping experiences are leading the way.
Enhanced convenience
The main reason that Europeans choose to shop online, is due to convenience. They enjoy the time this saves, using home delivery to avoid unnecessary traveling or opting for click and collect when it suits them. Consumers are now more inclined to shop with grocers or try third-party apps that offer time and cost savings, healthy and sustainable choices, reliable delivery options, or all of the above. It boils down to one thing: shoppers gravitate towards retailers with services that simplify their lives.
Easier eco-friendly choices
If your customers are looking for eco-friendly options, it’s best to make this clear and obvious during the whole shopping experience. There are dedicated websites and apps which give users an eco-friendly product scoring system and even digital farmer’s markets to appeal to this specific audience type. Showcasing that you sell eco-friendly products, source products and ingredients locally and collaborate with local agricultural cooperatives are all some of the things that your customers might be looking for.
Store-to-door retail
Being able to receive grocery orders on the same day used to be a novelty, but it is increasingly common with the introduction of the last-mile businesses delivering groceries in a 10-15 minute window. Although this could just be a fad as instead of focusing on ultra-fast delivery turnovers, grocers with already robust home delivery options are setting themselves apart with store-to-door retail experiments. Think self-driving snack shops, automated roving grocers, and unmanned digital grocery stores – the landscape is shifting.
Speeding up in-store shopping
The industry is innovating and we’re now seeing more cashier-less shopping as self-checkout tills are becoming increasingly popular. The faster the in-store shopping experience, the more convenient it becomes for customers. Some grocery stores have developed smart shopping baskets, similar to the Amazon Just Walk Out stores and others are trialing AR-enabled shopping lists and store navigation. The e-commerce boom has dramatically transformed the average consumer’s definition of “quick and easy”, especially when it comes to store navigation, checkouts and payments. As hybrid shopping habits become widespread, consumers will transfer these expectations into physical grocery stores too.
What’s next for grocery landscape?
Whilst nobody knows exactly what is round the corner – local and national lockdowns, coupled with safety concerns, drew shoppers to order groceries online. But as ‘normal life’ resumes, these new grocery shopping behaviors remain. This shift in consumer attitudes offers significant opportunities for retailers to differentiate their services. Read the reports to find out how your business could be at the forefront of grocery retail innovations.
This article is sponsored by PayPal. To read more, visit
https://www.paypal.com/ie/enterprise/campaigns/grocery?utm_source=distrifoods&utm_medium=advertorial&utm_campaign=grocery.
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