If you're not digital, you're not relevant

Physical stores and online products need to be in sync with the modern customers’ shopping and social media habits.

Most supermarkets haven’t come close to realizing their digital futures, but if they want to maintain an efficient and productive buying experience, this needs to happen soon. Physical stores and online products need to be in sync with the modern customers’ shopping and social media habits. By 2017, traditional grocery stores will lose another 1.6 percentage points of share to 44.9%, reports our sister newsletter Facts, Figures & The Future. In contrast, the Willard Bishop consultancy predicts that over the same period, e-commerce food and consumables sales will continue to grow aggressively at a 12.1% annual pace. Just more data supporting the idea that retailers need a digital presence, or they’re just not relevant for the current consumer. Grocers have overly relied on their built-in trip advantage—and never lost that habit, even as many other stores escalated food sales with different premises of convenience, savings, health, quality or freshness. Some chains are advancing digital efforts, but not enough have taken the leap. Sites like, Amazon, Fresh Direct and Peapod are taking over the digital space and becoming more appealing to shoppers looking for convenience. Supermarkets must orient their offers and communications to the new ways shoppers (especially Millennials) seek information, guidance and savings. For example, social media, apps, digital coupons, and websites beyond that of the retail chain. To reach consumers while they plan trips and once they’re in the store, effective mobile strategies could help drive more trips and bigger baskets. Among them: sites optimized for the small screen, check-in rewards programs, personalized greetings and e-shopping lists, the transmission and redemption of digital coupons, suggestions for companion purchases based on purchase history and where people are in the store. It’s time to make a change, the clock is ticking! http://www.factsfiguresfuture.com/issues/aug-2013/fresh-formats,-e-commerce-to-grow-fastest-through-2017.html