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

by Bill Bishop

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(4 min read) More than four months into the pandemic, customers are shopping supermarkets less frequently and online grocery sales continue to grow month over month. The hope that things would return to normal this summer has faded with the July spikes in COVID cases. As the crisis continues, customers now have more time to form new attitudes and behaviors which are important guides that point the direction toward the “new normal/reality.” They also signal what retailers should be thinking about to keep up with their customers.

Brick Meets Click has done a series of monthly shopper surveys that monitor the growth of online grocery since March. We recently had a chance to review a new report from the Retail Feedback Group (RFG) which delivers additional “food for thought” about where grocery shopping is headed. RFG’s “2020 US Online and Instore Grocery Shopping Study, Food Shopping during the COVID-19 Pandemic,” delves into how customers shopped for groceries during the pandemic and their satisfaction with the experience.

The RFG report points out what shoppers are looking for now from grocers, and we wanted to highlight four emerging areas of shopper needs along with ideas on how operators can respond. This guidance has broad application, and we recognize that each retailer will need to test it with their target customers since there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Topline: As US consumers adjust to life with COVID-19, they are looking for their supermarket to up their game in these four areas:

  1. Reduce the fear of getting COVID-19 from shopping that store
  2. Make it quicker and more pleasant to do regular grocery shopping
  3. Ensure essential products will be on the shelf
  4. Offer “greater value for money”

Below we describe each of these shopper needs and offer a potential response.

1. Reduce the fear of getting Covid-19 from shopping the store

There’s a need to build customer confidence that they can go to the supermarket without the fear of catching COVID-19. Per the RFG report, 67% of shoppers were somewhat or not at all confident that it was safe to shop in a supermarket, and only 54% of shoppers were highly confident that it was safe to eat all of the food bought in that store.

Potential Response

While it’s not realistic to try to create a zero-risk environment, it is possible to show customers that you’re doing all the right things. The report found that customers appreciate it when a grocer implements social distancing and provides/requires masks – and they also notice when it isn’t being done. According to the survey, shoppers see the most effective safety measures as making disinfecting wipes available with carts and encouraging employees to stay home if they feel ill.

2. Make it quicker and more pleasant to do regular grocery shopping

The RFG study found that satisfaction with shopping supermarkets was lower during COVID-19, and there was less chance a customer would recommend the store. Satisfaction levels dropped from 4.31 (2019) to 4.08 (2020) on a 5-point scale, and the likelihood to recommend dropped from 40.7 (2019) to 36.1 (2020) on a 100-point scale.

Potential Response

Supermarkets can do a number of things to improve the shopping experience, but two hold particular promise in this environment.

  • Encourage customers to shop online as well as in-store. Even now, only a minority of households buys groceries online, so every retailer has the opportunity to promote the convenience of online shopping to the majority of its customers. This also has the advantage of building loyalty with the best customers, since dual shoppers spend more than those who shop exclusively online or in-store.
  • Make it easier to find products while in-store with navigation tools. Some leading retailers are enhancing their apps to include in-store navigation to speed up customer trips through the store.

3. Ensure essential products will be on the shelf

The RFG study details which products customers are buying in larger quantities during the pandemic, and it found that on their most recent trip to the supermarket, only 49% of shoppers found all the items that they wanted to buy and that stores with higher in-stock levels enjoyed a higher level of shopping satisfaction.

Potential Response

One way to improve shelf availability of products that are popular with customers at a given store is to develop store-specific planograms that reflect customer spending patterns in the shelf inventory. Once the shelf reset has been done, the retailer can explain how this helps ensure the products that customers want the most are more likely to be available in the store.

4. Offer “greater value for money” 

A key area where supermarkets lost significant ground during the pandemic was in “value for money.” On this dimension, shoppers rated the core experience value a 3.93 (2020) vs 4.17 (2019) on a 5-point scale according to the study.

Potential Response

Some of this is due to a weakness in pricing, and that’s a real concern that needs to be addressed. At a time when many customers are looking to “buy back” some of their time (i.e., greater convenience) while minimizing the risk of becoming sick, there is an opportunity to earn credit for actions taken beyond just lowering prices.

This is  a marketing opportunity to be built around describing how hard the store and its employees are working to offset the risk of COVID-19, and how the friction caused by safety measures is impacting prices because it is not a time to take short cuts. That’s something some customers are willing to pay for, and it will be worthwhile for some retailers to explore how much this might be worth.

More on the RFG report

We appreciate the team at RFG letting us have an in-depth look at the report, which is based on 2,000 interviews done in late April and early May 2020 with consumers who bought groceries in a supermarket or online in the past 30 days. The findings show in detail how they shopped and their satisfaction with that experience. 

If you are interested in getting copy of report, please contact either Doug Madenberg, President, RFG or Brian Numainville, Principal, RFG directly at retailfeedback.com.

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The Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey, conducted at the end of June 2020, in combination with other research from Brick Meets Click, documents how online grocery shopping has grown to new levels as the competitive landscape continues to evolve.

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