segments

The Lookout

Amazon Dash Cart's checkout-free grocery shopping: Let's wait to see what customers say

Amazon Dash Cart's checkout-free grocery shopping: Let's wait to see what customers say The introduction of Amazon’s Dash Cart gives its new grocery stores a unique and powerful shopping option that bridges the self-service model and digital world and allows shoppers to execute speedier shopping trips. Some folks are critical, but we think it will be revealing to see what shoppers say. Here are three lessons we have learned from 15 years of industry experience with "scan and bag."

Aldi's energized marketing & product innovation: Helping to fuel growth and competitive advantage

Aldi's energized marketing & product innovation: Helping to fuel growth and competitive advantage Aldi is putting more energy into its own-product innovation to deliver “unexpected products at amazing prices,” and also leveraging cause marketing to support childhood cancer research. This enhanced product/marketing strategy has the potential to attract new customers to its stores and encourage existing customers to buy more as well. This one-two punch could generate competitive advantage that will be difficult for other retailers to duplicate.
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June 2020 Online Grocery Scorecard: Growth in sales & HH penetration continues

June 2020 Online Grocery Scorecard: Growth in sales & HH penetration continues Many key performance metrics related to online grocery delivery and pickup activity climbed steadily in June, according the June 2020 Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey. The growth illustrates that the use of online grocery delivery and pickup services is becoming a more integral part of how a broader base of consumers shop, as both order frequency and household penetration continue to increase.

Sizing up Amazon's growth in grocery and what could be the weak link in its strategy

Sizing up Amazon's growth in grocery and what could be the weak link in its strategy Amazon’s big strides in grocery show up clearly in Brick Meets Click’s May 2020 online grocery research. Top line: Amazon’s household penetration for grocery has more than doubled since 2018. But this increase isn’t just due to COVID – it’s due to Amazon’s disciplined implementation of a strategy to capture and serve affluent shoppers. Here’s what’s behind the numbers. 
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How COVID-19 is impacting what shoppers buy: Private Label purchase patterns & more

How COVID-19 is impacting what shoppers buy: Private Label purchase patterns & more Concern about contracting COVID-19 continues to impact how people shop, but the pandemic is also influencing what they buy, according to findings from the Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey. The net increases in private label buying are remarkably broad-based, encompassing all age groups and income segments in May 2020. Here we focus on the broader implications of how shoppers find "more value for their money" and how that will impact the food distribution system.

May 2020 Online Grocery Scorecard: New record highs for sales & HH penetration

May 2020 Online Grocery Scorecard: New record highs for sales & HH penetration In May, our third month of monitoring Covid-19's impact on online grocery shopping, the key metrics for online grocery fulfilled by delivery or pickup continue to climb and set new records according to the Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey conducted late May 2020. The continuing momentum of growth shows how online ordering/buying is becoming an integral part of grocery shopping for a broad base of consumers.

Walmart Express Delivery raises the bar: Time for retailers to invest to stay competitive

Walmart Express Delivery raises the bar: Time for retailers to invest to stay competitive Increased demand for home delivery due to the health crisis has retailers looking more aggressively for ways to lower costs and improve the customer experience. Walmart Express Delivery, which leverages AI/machine systems learning to coordinate deliveries, is the latest entry that will have competitive significance. The arrival of Express Delivery doesn't mean other retailers have to follow Walmart's approach, but it does signal they will have to invest in their processes to stay competitive.

Significant loss of income for shoppers: Anticipating the short-and long-term impacts

Significant loss of income for shoppers: Anticipating the short-and long-term impacts The US grocery industry is being buffeted by two major impacts related to the coronavirus pandemic: 1) fear of Covid-19, and 2) loss of income. Based on the results of Brick Meets Click’s April wave of consumer research, here we explore the second impact, significant income loss and what it may mean for shopper behavior and the future of the grocery business - from online grocery to competitive shifts and brand preference.
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What does shoppers' fear of contracting COVID-19 signal about future online grocery usage?

What does shoppers' fear of contracting COVID-19 signal about future online grocery usage? Everyone's thinking about how the number of online grocery shoppers will change as the COVID-19 crisis evolves. In our April wave of shopper research, we started to gauge how the fear of contracting the virus is related to the current increases in online grocery shopping usage. Here we explore what the results may mean for the future of home delivery and store pickup usage as we move through the pandemic’s initial stage. 
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Amazon struggles with grocery - but it’s only temporary

 Amazon struggles with grocery -  but it’s only temporary All online sellers of grocery have struggled to keep up with the demand generated by the coronavirus crisis, but for Amazon it’s probably particularly jarring since the company has set such high expectations for customer service. The demand surge looks like it has caused a major shift in Amazon’s strategy and created a new key priority for the company that will create ripples across the market.

Competition alert: Think of transparency into your inventory levels as a traffic/business-builder

Competition alert: Think of transparency into your inventory levels as a traffic/business-builder

Instok.org signals what could become a significant competitive differentiator for grocery retailers. The site enables shoppers to quickly find stores that are in-stock on the products they’re looking for. Big picture, this level of transparency could also serve as a business-builder for stores that maintain accurate current product availability on their sites – and a vulnerability for those that don’t.

Online Grocery Delivery & Pickup Scorecard: March 2020 - How do you compare?

Online Grocery Delivery & Pickup Scorecard: March 2020 - How do you compare? Our just completed consumer research documents the the surge in online grocery resulting from the COVID-19 health crisis: 31% of U.S. households (about 39.5 M consumers) have used an online grocery delivery or pickup service during the past month compared to 13% (16.1 M consumers) in August of 2019. This March 2020 scorecard summarizes the impact on five key performance metrics: sales, spend, orders, customers, and order frequency.  

Club Publix is a lot more than a traditional loyalty program - it's a platform for growth

Club Publix is a lot more than a traditional loyalty program - it's a platform for growth Publix enjoys some of the strongest customer engagement in the grocery industry. Now it’s taking on another challenge: extending those strong customer relationships into the digital world. Club Publix will give the retailer a way to collect the information it needs to personalize offers – and make them so valuable that customers will be eager to participate.
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Walmart's Local Theory: Trying to solve the store-by-store merchandising challenge

Walmart's Local Theory: Trying to solve the store-by-store merchandising challenge Local Theory, the latest in Walmart’s portfolio of tech companies, has apparently emerged from operating in stealth mode. In a Tucson, AZ Supercenter, a technology scout from Brick Meets Click recently found what looked like a new digital shelf label, but it turned out to be part of an AI/machine learning system designed to solve a merchandising challenge that has frustrated retailers for a long time.

Opportunity Alert: The economic interests of health providers and food retailers are converging

Opportunity Alert: The economic interests of health providers and food retailers are converging Two recent healthcare/food retail pilots signal opportunities as the healthcare ecosystem expands into new areas at the intersection of food and health. Consider the initiatives – FarmboxRX and Giant Foods’ Produce RX – as early signs of how the economic interests of health insurers and food distributors are now merging. Expect more to come.

Aldi's new hybrid pricing strategy: Hidden in plain sight

Aldi's new hybrid pricing strategy: Hidden in plain sight Last year, Aldi made a subtle but significant shift in pricing strategy – using Aldi Savers to move from pure EDLP to hybrid EDLP/high-low pricing– and this will likely accelerate its growth. Historically, Aldi's growth has been constrained by the relatively small share of consumers who are willing to regularly shop the hard discounter to get the "most value for money," but Savers has the potential to expand that customer base.

Get ready for Walmart's new focus on stores and generating profits

Get ready for Walmart's new focus on stores and generating profits Walmart's two recent strategic shifts have important implications for supermarkets as they compete with the company for grocery business in 2020 and beyond: First, Walmart's leadership has expanded the definition of its stores by introducing new services that leverage its proximity to market, and second, it's also placing new emphasis on generating profits, not just sales growth. 
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Walmart's IRL store: Testing ways to make stores of the future more profitable

Walmart's IRL store: Testing ways to make stores of the future more profitable The Walmart IRL store was unveiled in April 2019 by Walmart’s in-house tech incubator Store No 8. Its goal: “To improve the shopping experience for the 160 million Americans who shop inside our stores weekly – not just the technology elite” by creating an experience that is faster, cleaner, smarter, and more seamless. We went to check out the store, and here's what we saw.

Can Basics Market change customers' minds about what a grocery store is?

Can Basics Market change customers' minds about what a grocery store is? Basics Market, the Portland, Oregon retailer is adding locations  – so we visited to check in on how its very different approach to food retail is working. That approach? Basics wants its customers to think of it not as a grocery store, but as a place to get information, coaching, and the ability to create better meals. Here’s what we observed when we visited the original store and its new location recently (a third is scheduled to open in spring 2020). 3 min read

What's going on with Aldi's prices?

What's going on with Aldi's prices?  It looks like Aldi is testing or implementing a new broader based pricing strategy in the northwest Chicago Market and possibly beyond – one in which they set prices in relation to competitive prices and the overall pricing in the stores is zoned to the local market. If this is where Aldi is heading, it’s a big shift, and one that risks eroding the strong price reputation they’ve spent years establishing.
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Fabric's unique approach to automated fulfillment

Fabric's unique approach to automated fulfillment This July in Tel Aviv, CommonSense Robotics broke ground on its first full service, 3-temperature-zone, micro automated fulfillment center for online grocery orders. Three things make this deployment of automated fulfillment unique – its location, a “pay as you go” service proposition, and the potential for multi-tenancy.

Choice Market: Pushing to get close to customers with the food and services they want

Choice Market: Pushing to get close to customers with the food and services they want Choice Market in Denver, CO, is an example of how small food stores are innovating to get closer to their customers – and stay close. When CEO and Founder Mike Fogarty says its mission is to make “good food accessible and convenient,” he means “in every channel.” That ranges from in-store, online, via delivery – and in locations that aren’t being served by legacy food retailers.

What Target and Kroger's emphasis on "test & learn" means for other grocery retailers

What Target and Kroger's emphasis on Recent announcements show that leaders at both Target and Kroger are aggressively pushing their organizations to more quickly move to “test and learn” to drive growth. This shift – even more than the specific innovations – should be a wake up call for supermarket competition that has traditionally had the advantage of agility and the ability to respond quickly.

Three reasons why Amazon must find its version of next-gen grocery retail

Three reasons why Amazon must find its version of next-gen grocery retail For a couple of years, there have been many signs that Whole Foods is not Amazon’s final destination in grocery given their need to win in grocery to be able to dominate retail. Now a recent New York Times article a describes a completely different grocery concept being contemplated by the company: a food store built from the ground up to seamlessly accommodate online and in-store grocery shopping. We believe there is serious “fire behind the smoke.”  Here are three reasons why.

Driving sales by connecting today's shoppers to the information and support they need

Driving sales by connecting today's shoppers to the information and support they need A multi-faceted merchandising program implemented at Walmart by Avocados from Mexico is proving that combining digital touchpoints with in-store messaging can get consumers to reach out for information while they're shopping and grow category sales – especially when it's focused on something consumers want and need to know.

Putting Walmart's biggest standalone pickup/delivery location into context

Putting Walmart's biggest standalone pickup/delivery location into context Walmart’s new pickup/delivery facility in Lincolnwood, IL feels less like a test of whether it can operate a "dark store" location successfully and more like a test of whether it can expand its ability to serve customers in the kind of densely-populated markets favored by Amazon. The question will be, can they attract enough business? Especially when others in the market already offer the service.

Robots in the grocery aisle: Check out Marty in action

Robots in the grocery aisle: Check out Marty in action Ahold Delhaize's roll-out of 500 robot shelf scanners to Giant/Martins and Stop & Shop stores in the Northeast has been described as the largest ever launch of in-store robots for a supermarket. Check out this video from a Sparta, NJ, Stop & Shop to see how Marty the robot maneuvers around shoppers, employees, displays, and even the occasional stroller. 

The self-checkout investment choice has major implications for grocery retailer success

The self-checkout investment choice has major implications for grocery retailer success Today there are three generations of checkout technology available: fixed-location, portable “scan and bag,” and camera and sensor-based shopper monitoring. This raises a question: How should grocers think about which type of self-checkout to offer their customers? Since the decision about where to invest will have a major impact on a retailer’s ability to attract and retain customers, grocers need to evaluate the options carefully and not just buy “the flavor of the day.”

Flash Sales: Leveraging digital delivery to increase benefit to the grocery shopper and retailer

Flash Sales: Leveraging digital delivery to increase benefit to the grocery shopper and retailer Now that grocery retailers can use SMS and mobile apps to broadcast Flash Sales instantly to a broad audience (instead of overhead loudspeakers), they are becoming a more popular way for supermarkets to trigger a customer trip to the store. Customers get to save money, and retailers get to reduce food waste, shrink, and the cost of unsaleable items. 

Heads up: Walmart is successfully reducing checkout shrink with high-tech solutions

Heads up: Walmart is successfully reducing checkout shrink with high-tech solutions Shrink is a $47 billion problem for the retail industry according to the National Retail Federation. Walmart has been using computer vision technology to successfully reduce shrink in 1,000 of its stores by monitoring activity at both self-checkout and cashier checkouts. This signals to other retailers that they, too, need to be thinking about where automation can improve their margins.