Last week, our team was at GroceryShop sharing our vision of the future and learning from the rest of the industry. While there were no shortage of impressive technologies and thought-provoking ideas, we’ve highlighted the top three themes that stuck out and promise to have an impact on your business in the coming years.
Manufacturers are finally taking online content seriously, beyond Amazon.
After years of treating non-Amazon presence as an afterthought or luxury, 2019 has marked the year in which ecommerce beyond Amazon has become a priority. Leading retailers that include Walmart, Kroger, and Carrefour have dramatically improved digital capabilities this year, particularly in online grocery, that correspond with explosive sales growth, and are becoming new online battlegrounds alongside Amazon. The tools to optimize your digital shelf, track and optimize sales and share, and make price and promotion decisions are required to effectively manage an online footprint at scale.
Want to learn how to improve the content on your product detail pages? Listen to our recent webcast where we outlined the best practices in using data to create compelling content which drives traffic and sales.
In-store analytics are on the horizon.
Solutions to track in-store shopper behavior, scan products to accelerate checkout (Trigo Vision), optimize price, and improve in-store operational efficiency (Bossa Nova) were extremely prevalent. Whether it’s robotics to support inventory management and stocking, or digital tools to aid the shopping experience, we expect to see many more in-store trials leveraging these technologies with the ultimate goal of rolling them out to wider store networks. Uncover what the store of the future will look like, and the analytical implications for brands and retailers by reading our Store of the Future report.
Fulfillment solutions are the next retail technology frontier.
We saw new examples of click & collect solutions, micro fulfillment center technologies (Takeoff), inventory picking and sorting automation, and last-mile delivery robotics (Robomart) that improve efficiency and streamline the fulfillment process. These technologies are essential to ultimately building scaled and profitable online grocery businesses, and are proving difficult for retailers to develop internally. Not all will survive, but each brings its own set of technical requirements that will challenge brands to adapt product and packaging. Early partnership is an effective way to succeed with the solutions that win. Learn how leading grocery brands and retailers are addressing this challenge head on in our recently published Food and Beverage Sector Report.
