EXPERT ANALYSIS
SECTION ONE
SECTION TWO
 |
One-Third of Consumers Do Research Online
Before Shopping for Groceries: Study
More grocery shoppers are going online at home and in the store to find coupons
and research recipes, nutritional information, and competitor prices, says a new
study of more than 570 consumers by KSC Kreate, a visual production company.
Before going to the store, 36% of surveyed consumers do research online, most often to search for coupons, competitor pricing and recipe ideas. One of three shoppers then uses a mobile device while in the supermarket to look for nutritional information, recipes and coupons. More than half (52%) of survey respondents have visited a grocer’s web site or mobile site.
KEY QUESTIONS:
Do you anticipate more grocery shoppers going online to research grocery shopping in the future? Is this digital behavior generational or does it apply more to any particular demographic? How should retailers and manufacturers take advantage of this digital behavior?
EXPERT ANALYSIS:
There is every likelihood we’ll see this trend continue as consumers become increasingly comfortable with researching online. Grocers, in turn, will become increasingly proactive in leveraging technology to encourage shoppers to go online, including technology that makes the online research process easier for shoppers.
But there will inherently be a struggle between the desire to undertake research to find coupons and recipes and the time-starved nature of busy shoppers. As a result, most active research likely will be limited to some sub-segment of the customer base, to some key interest areas like nutrition or to some highly important products and brands. It won’t be all shoppers across all interest areas for all products and brands.
-Graeme McVie, Vice President and General Manager Business Development, LoyaltyOne
If I read this correctly, 36% of shoppers research online, and of those shoppers 33% use a mobile device. That means 12% of shoppers are using a mobile device. Those numbers are very close to what we see across ShoptoCook’s network of grocery retailer web sites. Those numbers have increased gradually over the past three years suggesting the digital adoption rate specific to the grocery sector is slow relative to other sectors.
Digital behavior may be less generational or demographic based, but rather experiential based; grocery retailer web sites are in most cases not destination sites for broad engagement; 85% of grocery retailer web traffic is to view the weekly ad circular - generating huge Wednesday peaks. While many shoppers are interested in the weekly circular, the majority of shoppers do not visit their retailer’s web sites at all. Reasons may vary from simple lack of time to little interest in planning a trip around sale items.
Most grocery retailers view marketing as putting the weekly ad circular out. The weekly ad circular in most cases is about the retailer’s ability to monetize their suppliers rather than engage and develop latent shopper demand. Until that changes, I don’t expect to see retailer web sites become shopper portals in the near future. Web and mobile will continue to attract a segment of shoppers, but in-store is still the place for retailers and brands to influence purchase behavior.
-Frank Beurskens, CEO, ShoptoCook
Not only do I anticipate more grocery shoppers going online, but it is already happening. One does not even have to survey consumers. Simply look at the influx of online and mobile vendors that have come online in the past few months. SavingStar is an online coupon that loads offers directly to your card across any store that you shop in. ShopKick encourages awareness by having consumers going through aisles and taking pictures of select items. There obviously has to be a large enough (and growing) pool of consumers for companies such as these to thrive.
The flip side of the equation is that, while growing, it is still relatively small. SavingStar, for example, has a fraction of the audience of Catalina, the coupons that the print out at the register after you are done shopping. To date, while these programs can be extremely efficient (ROI positive), their effectiveness at driving enough sales to impact the business is still not there. In other words, there is simply not enough scale. Retailers and manufacturers that embrace this technology whole-heartedly at the moment do so at their own peril. We have not yet reached the tipping point wherein it makes sense for these types of programs to be the core component of anybody’s strategy.
That means, retailers and manufacturers alike, will have to maintain a delicate balancing act wherein they keep their existing programs in place and continue testing / scaling up some of these newer online initiatives.
-Michael Schiff, Managing Partner, Partners in Loyalty Marketing
I have recently completed related supermarket shopper research (sample size = 500, Philadelphia SMSA) with findings similar to the KSC Kreate survey. Permit me to give you some top line results:
- Shopped online for grocery products the past 30 days = 24.7%
- Go online to find the best deals = 21.3%
- Investigate supermarket websites for best deals = 21.9%
- Check email and social media for best deals = 14.8%
- Use internet coupons = 36.6%
- Own a smartphone = 63.3%
- Use smartphone to download grocery coupons = 14.1%
- Use a smartphone while shopping to check the best deals = 13.3%
As expected, the results skew by age. For example, over 85% of the survey respondents between the ages of 18 to 34 own a smartphone. Only 32% (55 - 64) and 26% (65+) of the older generations own smartphones. This tendency holds true for everything except for shopping online for grocery products. Approximately 25% of all generations shopped online for grocery products in the past 30 days. However for every other result listed above, younger generations were the greatest reported users, particularly the group I refer to as the Mature Millennials (25 - 34) who have the greatest tendency to go online to find the best deals (35%), check email and social media for best deals (22%), use their smartphone to download grocery coupons (27%) as well as use their smartphone while shopping to check for the best deals (25%).
The trend will only continue and accelerate as the 18 -24 generation matures, begin careers, start families, and assume greater grocery shopping responsibility. Digital is now! Currently, the greatest impact appears to be generational, but the fact that a portion of all generations appear to be comfortable with shopping for groceries online suggests that savvy food marketers need to respond to this cross generational behavior.
The two largest generations (Gen Y & Baby Boomers) are different in enough ways (use of technology, social media, search strategies, and behaviors) to suggest the development of specific marketing as well as workforce strategies and tactics. While Gen Y may eventually behave like Baby Boomers, a “one size fits all” approach will be doomed to failure. Marketers need to meet the digital natives in their own space and comfort zone and stop expecting the younger generations to behave like their parents and grandparents.
-Richard J. George, Ph.D., Professor of Food Marketing, Haub School of Business,
Saint Joseph’s University
Click on the LinkedIn logo to join the new Shopper Technology Institute Discussion Group
SECTION THREE
