Meet the Retail 4.0: The Future of Grocery Delivery in 2020-21

It’s 2020! Technology will now endure growing as a double-edged sword, slipping customers into supersizing the mobile app retail market while simultaneously opening the gates of productivity and further increases in ROI. The new era of retail will be an amalgamation of technology + marketing + merchandising savvy. What looked like an option will become a paramount need for nimble consumers! As we shift to 2020-21, here we distill and expand on the salient trends of Retail 4.0; Omni-channel and multi-channel retailing from the accounts of McKinsey & Co worth calling out for grocery retailers.

The Category Killers

If you’re still thinking that developing a Customized online grocery store means standing shoulder-to-shoulder with technology then stop giving yourself a false comfort. The advancements in grocery delivery are radically changing.

Rethink the all-inclusive buildup of the grocery delivery app that you own and now segment all its components to make money through different facets.

Consequently, the grocery delivery gets segmented into-

• Home delivery: Door-to-door delivery of grocery items.
• Click-and-collect: Order from the app and collect it from the store.
• Drive-through delivery: Order from the app and get it delivered to your car as you arrive in place.
• Centralized lockers: When the order arrives it’s placed into the self-service lockers (usually in the residential buildings and offices) which a user can open through a one-time unique code and collect his/her package without the bound of time. Now segment the grocery basket and create your online category killers. For instance, you can have your eCommerce shop having category concentrations like grains.com, soaps.com, and hygiene.com.

Beyond Price and Convenience

Price, convenience, and an assortment of goods will no longer be enough in 2020-21. Start seeking new ways to entertain shoppers, engage customers and think about the axis between online shopping and in-store shopping.

2020-21 opens the door to new and different innovative delivery models that can lure shoppers and can offer a compelling customer experience.

The flourishing innovatory models we’ve come across are:

• Drive-thru pick-up and drop boxes: Customers can pick up the orders on their way without having to leave their car.
• Virtual grocery stores: Virtual displays of the most popular products with barcodes that customers can scan using the grocery app on their smartphones and get delivered right on their doorstep.
• Same-day delivery: Offering same-day delivery of groceries, home goods, and other FMCG products can build a stronger reliance between customers and retailers.

The Power of Digital Marketing

The powerful existence of social media has flourished and has become a part and parcel of life. Twitter campaigns and hashtags have opened new avenues to revolutionary changes and turned out to be a house of ideas incubation for trending brands. Being super-active on social media, building relationships with customers by being vocal, and leveraging its significance the right way can help brands evolve and develop amicable personalities online.

Taking Grocery App Development a Step Further

Advancements in the checkout process when the shopper completes their shopping should be quick, easy, and simplified.

Bid adieu to the credit/debit card payment options and give way to mobile payment technologies that reduce the time for customers and cut their operating expenses. The major ones include:

• NFC technologies: Near-field communications allow two wireless devices to connect. With this customers can make the transaction without using a credit card.
• Mobile Wallet Integration: Integrating a mobile wallet in a grocery app can help customers make quick payments in the app.
• Scan and Go service: An app that allows customers to scan items as they shop allowing them to pay at the check-out without unloading their cart.

The Increasing Influence of Big Data

The power of big data for a retailer has no limits. From capturing and aggregating to storing and analyzing the technology has the potential to improvise inventory forecasting by recording sales history, analyzing consumer behavior and buying patterns, developing customer loyalty and deciding which product to keep depending upon the local demographics.

Final Thought

Retail 4.0 will compel retailers to give an entirely new shopping experience to grocery shoppers and evolve rapidly. Retailers that do not meet these expectations will lose traffic.