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Our thought leadership offers practical guidance about today’s ever-evolving online/offline grocery marketplace.

Walmart's market share in U.S. eGrocery reaches record high in Q2 2023

The market is shifting as consumers adapt to challenging financial conditions according to Measuring the Online Grocery Market: eGrocery Share in the U.S., a report released in early September 2023. Flight-to-value behaviors are visible in how households are adjusting the way they buy groceries online. One sign is that Walmart has steadily increased its market share, surpassing the entire Supermarket channel for the past three quarters. Another sign is that Pickup’s share dominance over Delivery continues to grow.

eGrocery shopper shifts at key formats: Supermarkets, Walmart, Target, and Hard Discounters

Heads up - The average overall base of monthly users in the U.S. has increased by nearly 3 percentage points while the online penetration of Supermarkets declined by 2 points in 2022 compared to 2021 levels. This is just one of many insights in a new report that delves deep into eGrocery shopping patterns at the four major grocery retail formats – Supermarkets, Walmart, Target, and Hard Discount.

Want a grocery retailer to consider your innovative solution? Here's what you need to do

Selling innovative solutions to grocers isn’t a slam dunk. Here are 3 keys to selling into the grocery market, based on our 25+ years of working directly with grocery retailers and 10+ years of helping solution providers introduce their offerings to grocery organizations.

4 reasons why grocers who compete online need a broader view of the eGrocery market

Competing online is a challenging endeavor that requires knowing the landscape and understanding which paths to pursue and how. For brick-and-mortar grocery retailers, mapping the plan is even trickier since there isn’t a well-worn path to follow. The monthly State of the U.S. eGrocery Market Report from Brick Meets Click is specifically designed to help brick-and-mortar grocers by providing objective research and that broader view. Here are four reasons why you need it.

Homesome's eGrocery strategy focuses on reducing the errors that erode customer experience

Based on his experiences as a customer, retailer, and now egrocery platform provider, Homesome's Founder & CEO Rahul Chabukswar has an interesting POV on what it will take for the industry to fulfill its potential with online grocery. Homesome secured $6.7 million in funding in late 2020 and is expanding as it positions itself as the Shopify of the grocery industry. (5 min. read)

Managing price inflation in Grocery: Why this round is doing to be different - new rules/new tools

Inflation has been lurking in the background for several months, but the projections for the coming year should get every retailer's attention because they need to choose how to navigate this next period. The good news is there are new tools to help retailers deal with product cost increases, and now is the time to decide which of these approaches make sense for them to follow.
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Why it's time to "think different" about grocery delivery

While pickup is now the dominant form of online grocery fulfillment, delivery is also growing fast. The latest Brick Meets Click research shows that delivery increased by nearly 300% on a sales basis over the period of the pandemic (Aug 2019 vs June 2021). The recent proliferation of innovative delivery services raises the question of where grocery delivery is headed. We break down the major areas of cost that must be in balance to yield the low-cost solution. 

What's at the heart of making the digital transformation in grocery?

Traditional grocers are feeling competition from Amazon and beginning to see the need for digitally transforming the business. Despite the progress that’s been made, the question remains: “What does digital transformation look like?” China is one place to look for answers, so we talked to Robin Michel, who has spent several years consulting there after a long career as a senior US supermarket executive. Here, she addresses six questions that give insight into what US grocers can learn.

Amazon Fresh through the eyes of a Grocery Executive: The good, the bad and the employees

Amazon Fresh is a formidable competitor trying to make inroads in the physical grocery space – so having a wide range of players and perspectives evaluate its strengths and weaknesses is useful. Here's a view through the eyes of an experienced hands-on grocery executive, one who knows the skills, knowledge, and equipment required to deliver effective merchandising and consistently high-quality fresh product.
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How to navigate two big eGrocery shifts impacting competition in 2021

We see two pandemic-driven shifts are reshaping how supermarkets will need to compete in 2021 and beyond: keeping up with the demands of online grocery shoppers, and the strong loyalty that satisfied customers appear to have to their current eGrocery platform. Continued sales growth, combined with high satisfaction ratings from a changing customer mix, underscores the importance of focusing on more effective strategies to drive profitability, satisfaction, and customer acquisition.

Growing your eGrocery business depends on examining 3 strategic questions

COVID-19 was a catalyst for swift and significant changes in the U.S. grocery industry; however, it has also shaped a new set of realities that will impact how companies can grow their online business more effectively going forward. Grocery retailers need to focus on attracting more online customers, driving up spending, and improving the customer experience to frame up their opportunities as they develop and refine their future strategies.

Pressure is building for grocery retailers to make delivery "better than a trip to the store"

Versions of the phrase “better than a trip to the store” are popping up in lots of online grocery descriptions these days – but we first heard it from Barnaby Montgomery, who built a successful online grocery retail business in Los Angeles around the concept. We thought it was a good time to touch base with Barnaby to get a deeper understanding of what that concept means and what it takes to execute the idea six months into the Pandemic.
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Amazon Fresh Grocery Stores: Don't discount them as too conventional - here's why

The real threat behind the new Amazon Fresh stores is that they are built to outlast (aka survive) other grocery retailers vs. directly competing with them. Looking at the operating model in a broader strategic context reveals the format strives to provide an improved shopping experience while achieving a low break-even sales volume. This means that it can operate profitably in intensely competitive markets – and shows why discounting the model as too conventional is not a good plan.  
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Amazon's new grocery store sites: What can we learn from evaluating the locations?

What do Amazon's new store locations tell us about what it's trying to achieve in grocery? We asked Lou Scudere, a grocery real estate expert with extensive experience in the industry including 25+ years at K-VA-T Foods, to look at the similarities between these sites and tell us what he thinks. Check out what Lou has to say, and see why studying Amazon's moves are so important.

How COVID-19 has changed the way consumers shop for groceries: 4 ways retailers can up their game

Shopper behavior is being impacted by the COVID crisis and the changes point toward the “new normal/reality” – but what should grocery retailers be doing to keep up with their customers? After reviewing a new report from the Retail Feedback Group that shows where and how supermarket shoppers have changed, we offer these emerging areas of key shopper needs along with ideas on how operators can effectively respond. (4 min read)

How Amazon's new grocery store strategy will challenge the competition

Amazon has continued to refine and strengthen its three-prong strategy to win in grocery despite the COVID-19 pandemic –albeit rather quietly. Since Amazon's execution of this strategy is looming on the horizon (as early as the second half of 2020), we think it is vital to offer: 1) a high-level description of what we see happening, and 2) the changes food retailers need to make in this inevitably more challenging and competitive environment.

Amazon Go Grocery: One more piece to the Amazon grocery puzzle

The new Amazon Go Grocery store provides another piece of the puzzle that will eventually reveal the big picture of Amazon’s role in grocery. One clue to where it may fit is that Amazon says it’s a separate store format – not just a bigger version of Amazon Go. That means it’s designed and located to serve a different set of customer need states (i.e., shopping occasions). 

How retailers & manufacturers work together in Customer Management to win the customer

Customer Management is powerful because it provides a scalable process that allows both grocery retailers and brands to convert customer transaction data into value that actually produces new growth. Learn how this works from two experts who describe the process – and who challenge trading partners to think about how they can achieve improved business results by leveraging targeted, customer-focused collaborative opportunities.

Customer Management: Unlock new sources of profitable growth in grocery retail for 2020 & beyond

In this Q&A, Jim Dippold and Jean-Marc Sallenave, co-authors of the new book Customer Management: How Retailers Must Change to Survive and Succeed explain what it is, how it improves business results, and how grocers capture those benefits. The surprise? Customer Management is within reach of most organizations (including your own). 6 min read
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Brand building: How to create deeper connections with today's grocery customers

Tyson Foods' Eric Le Blanc, Director of Marketing for Deli, has been on a mission to connect with consumers in meaningful ways that go beyond transactional marketing tactics. By addressing consumers' essential concerns, Eric and his team discovered how they can sell more prepared foods and groceries. Find out how he develops and applies these insights in this Q&A. (5 min read)

Five ways automation will impact grocery retail: The race is on

There is much debate about how grocery retailing will evolve over the next 5-10 years – but it’s safe to say that leveraging automation will be one of the ways brick and mortar supermarkets evolve their models to remain viable and profitable. Here are five forecasts about automation’s impact on grocery that can help all of us – retailers, product suppliers, and tech providers – begin to imagine and ultimately create the future.