在线杂货店必须现代化数字平台才能蓬勃发展

在大流行期间，杂货业似乎面临着两个挑战，它们面临着加速向在线零售过渡的独特挑战。

一个是COVID之前时代传统杂货市场的领域，当时大多数消费者都在杂货店购物。另一个市场是当今的购物者，网上购物者蜂拥而至，而不是实体购物。随着客户选择与社会保持距离，他们现在越来越多地利用在线杂货平台进行送货或路边取货。

由于餐馆和酒吧关门或产能有限，消费者在杂货上的支出比以往任何时候都要多。到2020年，在线食品和饮料的销售额预计将增长60％。

但是，杂货业在离开店内购物模式的过程中仍然保持着许多运作方式，始终处于2000年至2020年时代的规范中。根据数字购物平台公司Zycada的说法，食品杂货行业在近期和长期内都存在着巨大的千载难逢的良机，而这并没有得到最大化。

许多杂货连锁店无法继续充分利用这种潜力，因为它们继续为客户提供沉闷，过时且笨拙的在线购物。大多数人仍未在其在线商店中使用视频或其他丰富内容。Zycada的首席执行官Jim Brear建议，这些现代的营销方法将使他们能够个性化内容，并更好地展示品牌的创造力，个性和幽默感。

杂货店做得还不够，甚至无法利用这个千载难逢的机会。他说，个性化购物者的体验是建立有效电子商务平台的关键。“杂货连锁店的网站和应用程序严重缺乏它，”布雷尔告诉《电子商务时报》。

薄边距

Fit Small Business 零售和电子商务分析师Meaghan Brophy反驳说，阻碍杂货商全面接受在线购物的最重要因素是该行业的利润率。

“事实上，除了啤酒，白酒和现成食品外，大多数杂货店的利润率都非常低。因此，我不确定我是否同意这样的评估：杂货业-至少不是净收入，”她告诉《电子商务时报》。

其他承受成本的问题使在线杂货店零售运营方式蒙上阴影。她指出，例如，增加任何类型的交付或路边提货会增加额外的人工成本，而杂货商则无法轻易地弥补它们的涨价。另外，杂货店送货需要对冷藏和冷冻商品进行气候控制，这也很昂贵。

Brophy说：“总之，传统的杂货店几乎没有办法在满足这种购物需求的同时仍然获利。”

丰富的内容和视频

Zyczda的Brear重申，个性化电子商务的最佳方法是通过视频内容。视频提供了身临其境的体验，使产品栩栩如生，同时使零售商有机会更好地展示其品牌吸引力。

他解释说：“想想糖果，啤酒，牛肉干或任何其他食品和饮料品牌的广告。它们很有趣，独特而有趣。”

杂货连锁店还可以提供其他类型的丰富内容，而不仅仅是视频。例如，零售商可以使用高级推荐引擎，该引擎根据他们的浏览历史来智能地显示客户可能喜欢的其他商品。

Brear建议，另一种策略是使用增强现实（AR）模拟在现实生活中观看产品的体验。大多数杂货连锁店几乎不使用任何动态在线内容。

Bare-Bones Boredom

相反，杂货店零售商在其电子商务平台中填充了毫无生气的静态内容，例如图像和文本。Brear观察到，这些视觉效果通常仅提供简单的成分和营养信息。

“结果是准系统的体验，对于不想访问实体店的客户来说，这是一种简单的默认购物选项。在这些平台上根本无法复制亲自浏览过道和断面的体验。”他说。

缺点是这种过时的方法使比较产品变得困难。结果，没有像在传统电子商务平台上那样激励在线购物者查看更多产品和购买更多商品。

然而，杂货商向在线过渡并没有失去一切。杂货连锁店熟练地在其电子商务平台中推广数字优惠券和其他折扣。

Brear指出，他们还可以有效地对其产品进行分类，并且可以相对轻松地在其在线商店中搜索特定商品。消费者可以快速找到他们想要的东西。

他说：“问题在于，在线杂货平台没有采取其他措施提供强大而引人入胜的浏览体验，从而可以轻松比较产品，发现新产品并吸引购物者进行原本尚未计划的额外购买，”他说。 。

渡过电子商务浪潮

在线杂货销售预计将增长。但布雷尔警告说，那些坐下来等待的杂货商可能会错过购物者的选择。

在过去的几年中，随着普通消费者转向电子商务，在线杂货销售逐渐增长。然后，杂货销售在2020年达到顶峰，这主要是由于COVID大流行导致在线购物的突然和快速增长。

换句话说，这种情况在很大程度上导致了在线杂货收入的增长。这并不是仅仅将店面在线移动。

“由于这种流行病，当今的消费者比以往任何时候都更习惯和更愿意在网上购买食品。如果杂货连锁店更加努力地改善其电子商务体验，他们的在线销售量将比以前增长更多。”他断言。

例如，数据显示，更快的电子商务速度和更好的个性化导致更高的平均购买价值。如果更好地优化了电子商务体验，则纯粹由于COVID而在网上购买杂货的客户将在每笔交易上花费更多。如果改善了电子商务体验，一旦大流行过去，他们也将更有可能继续在线购物。

无限潜力

无论哪种方式，布雷尔都认为在线杂货销售的增长持续增长。天空是零售商的极限。

“尽管杂货连锁店并未像其他行业的零售商那样优化其电子商务平台，但今年的在线食品和饮料销售额仍将增长60％。如果杂货商确实能改善其电子商务体验，他们可以轻松地使在线收入每年增长100％以上。”他乐观地说道。

乐观的销售预测不仅适用于在线杂货店卖家。大流行极大地加速了从实体到电子商务的过渡。

消费者现在可以在网上购买大多数商品。但是，布雷尔表示，大多数购物者仍然认为，杂货店购物最好是亲自进行。

他说：“如果杂货连锁店能提供更好的电子商务体验，它们可以改变这种观念，并诱使消费者像在家用商品或电子产品上一样，在网上购买杂货。”

营销增强

大流行开始时，许多较小的杂货店开始提供取货和送货选项。Fit Small Business的Brophy指出，杂货店希望为他们的社区服务并保持购物者的忠诚度。

那是购物者最初希望从人群中获得安全感和购买便利性的时候，因此对在线营销的需求减少了。

她同意，但是，无论杂货店是否提供在线购物，商家绝对都有通过数字营销改善的空间。

Brophy说：“即使他们不想在网上销售，杂货商也有许多方法可以使购物体验变得更容易。产品的商店和过道定位器以及建立数字购物清单都是一些例子。”

解决平台限制

并非所有零售平台都一样。有些措施并没有推动新的营销创新，这些创新将过时的电子商务网站的性能提高到了数字购物清单和购物车之外的水平。

例如，动态内容（例如视频和高级推荐引擎）所需的计算资源远远超过静态内容平台可以处理的资源。当添加了诸如视频之类的内容选项时，这种添加的内容类型可能导致电子商务平台变慢，这可能会降低客户体验。

Zycada使用机器人技术解决了交付问题。Brear指出，它可以将页面加载和交互时间（TTI）的速度提高10到20倍。

他说：“使用这种技术，在线零售商可以轻松交付动态内容，而不会降低其网站和应用程序的速度。”

采用这种方法可使零售商平稳地支持这一新的营销内容。这样一来，杂货商就可以更好地个性化其电子商务平台。

The grocery industry seems to have a foot in two worlds as it faces unique challenges of an accelerated transition to online retail during the pandemic.

One is the realm of the traditional grocery marketplace in pre-COVID times, when the majority of consumers shopped in stores for groceries. The other is today's marketplace where shoppers flock online, away from brick-and-mortar shopping. As customers opt to help socially distance, they now increasingly leverage online grocery platforms for delivery or curbside pickup.

With restaurants and bars closed or at limited capacity, consumers are spending more on groceries than ever before. Online food and beverage sales are forecast to grow by 60 percent in 2020.

However, much of how the grocery industry still operates -- as it moves away from the in-store shopping model -- is locked in the norms of the 2000 to 2020 era. The grocery industry has a golden opportunity for significant online revenue growth in the near and long-term future that it is not being maximized, according to digital shopping platform firm Zycada.

Many grocery chains are failing to take full advantage of this potential as they continue to offer customers dull, out-of-date, and clunky online shopping. Most still do not use video or other rich content in their online stores. These modern marketing approaches would allow them to personalize content and better showcase a brand's creativity, personality, and sense of humor, suggested Zycada's CEO Jim Brear.

Grocers are not doing enough -- if anything -- to capitalize on this golden opportunity. Personalizing their shoppers' experience is key to an effective e-commerce platform, he said. "Grocery chains' websites and apps severely lack it," Brear told the E-Commerce Times.

Thin Margins

The most significant factor holding grocers back from fully embracing online shopping is the industry's profit margins, countered Meaghan Brophy, retail and e-commerce analyst at Fit Small Business.

"As it is, stores have very low profit margins on most grocery items, with the exception of beer or liquor and prepared foods. So, I am not sure I agree with the assessment that there is an opportunity for significant online revenue growth in the grocery industry -- at least, not net revenue," she told the E-Commerce Times.

Other cost-bearing issues cloud the online grocery retail operating formula. For instance, adding on any type of delivery or curbside pickup adds an extra layer of labor costs that grocers cannot easily make up in increased prices, she noted. Plus, grocery delivery requires climate control for refrigerated and frozen goods, which is also expensive.

"In short, there is almost no way for traditional grocers to meet these kinds of shopping demands while still making a profit," said Brophy.

Rich Content and Video

The best way to personalize e-commerce is through video content, reiterated Zyczda's Brear. Video provides an immersive experience that brings products to life while giving retailers the chance to better showcase their brand's appeal.

"Think about commercials for candy, beer, beef jerky, or just about any other food and beverage brand. They are funny, unique, and entertaining," he explained.

Grocery chains can also go beyond video with other types of rich content. For example, retailers can use advanced recommendation engines that intelligently display other items customers may like based on their browsing history.

Another strategy is to use augmented reality (AR) to simulate the experience of viewing a product in real life, suggested Brear. Most grocery chains use virtually none of this dynamic online content.

Bare-Bones Boredom

Instead, grocery retailers fill their e-commerce platforms with lifeless static content, such as images and text. These visuals often offer nothing more than simple ingredient and nutrition information, observed Brear.

"The result is a bare-bones experience that serves as a simple default shopping option for customers that do not want to visit brick and mortar locations. The in-person experience of browsing aisles and sections is not replicated at all on these platforms," he said.

The downside is this stale approach makes it difficult to compare products. As a result, online shoppers are not incentivized to view more products and purchase more items like they are at traditional e-commerce platforms.

Nevertheless, all is not lost with grocers' transition to online. Grocery chains are proficient at promoting digital coupons and other discounts in their e-commerce platforms.

They also are effective at categorizing their products and make it relatively easy to search for a specific item in their online store, Brear noted. Consumers can quickly find something that they know they want.

"The problem is online grocery platforms do not take steps beyond that to deliver a robust and engaging browsing experience that would make it easy to compare products, discover new ones, and drive shoppers to make extra purchases they were not already planning," he said.

Ride the E-Commerce Wave

Online grocery sales are projected to rise. But grocers who sit back and wait may miss the shopper crossover, warned Brear.

Gradual growth in online grocery sales took place as part of the general consumer shift to e-commerce during the past few years. Then grocery sales spiked in 2020, primarily due to online shopping's sudden and rapid rise that resulted from the COVID pandemic.

In other words, circumstance has mostly led to the climb in online grocery revenue. It did not result from merely moving the storefront online.

"Because of the pandemic, consumers today are more accustomed and willing to buy groceries online than they ever have been. If grocery chains put more effort into improving their e-commerce experience, their online sales will grow even more than they already have," he asserted.

For example, data shows that faster e-commerce speeds and better personalization lead to higher average purchase value. Customers who are buying groceries online purely due to COVID would spend more on each transaction if the e-commerce experience was better optimized. They will also be more likely to keep buying online once the pandemic has passed if the e-commerce experience is improved.

Unbounded Potential

Either way, Brear sees the growth in online grocery sales continuing to increase. The sky is the limit for retailers.

"Online food and beverage sales will grow this year by 60 percent in spite of the fact that grocery chains have not optimized their e-commerce platfor∑ms like retailers in other industries have. If grocers do boost their e-commerce experience, they could easily grow online revenues more than 100 percent on a yearly basis," he said optimistically.

That rosy sales prediction is not for just online grocery sellers. The pandemic has dramatically accelerated the transition from brick and mortar to e-commerce.

Consumers are now amenable to purchasing most things online. However, the majority of shoppers still think that grocery shopping is best done in person, according to Brear.

"If grocery chains provide a better e-commerce experience, they can change that perception and entice consumers to buy groceries online just like they do with home goods or electronics," he said.

Marketing Enhancements

When the pandemic started, many smaller grocers started offering pickup and delivery options. Grocers wanted to serve their communities and maintain shopper loyalty, noted Fit Small Business' Brophy.

That was when shoppers first wanted safety from crowds and buying convenience, so there was less need for marketing frills online.

However, whether or not grocery stores offer online shopping, merchants absolutely have room to improve with digital marketing, she agreed.

"Even if they do not want to sell online, there are plenty of ways grocers can make the shopping experience easier. Store and aisle locators for products, and building digital shopping lists, are some examples," said Brophy.

Addressing Platform Limitations

Not all retail platforms are alike. Some do little to push new marketing innovations that take outdated e-commerce websites to performance levels beyond digital shopping lists and order carts.

For instance, dynamic content, such as video and advanced recommendation engines, requires far more computing resources than static content platforms can handle. This added content type can cause e-commerce platforms to slow down when they incorporate content options like video, which can deteriorate the customer experience.

Zycada solves that delivery issue with bot technology. It improves page load and time to interactive (TTI) speeds up to 10-20x, noted Brear.

"Using this technology, online retailers can easily deliver dynamic content without slowing down their websites and apps," he said.

Taking this approach enables retailers to smoothly support this new marketing content. That, in turn, lets grocers better personalize their e-commerce platforms.