Has online grocery just scratched the surface of “thinking shopper”?

In days of yesteryear a shopper would go to a store based on the type of product it sold then ask the shopkeeper to fetch them the items on their list or recommend solutions (“I have the in-laws over for dinner, what do you recommend?” or “whats your best deal today?”). Time-consuming but personal.

Then along came the typical physical supermarket. Products are laid out in categories based on product form. We trained the shopper to self-serve around aisles driven by the supply chain differences. Time-consuming and impersonal. Very little by way of staff service, and despite the onset of loyalty cards with personal data, almost no personalisation.

The early online grocery models decided that they’d use this training to their advantage and pretty much set up the store as a screen-based version of the physical store.

But hang on a minute, let’s go back to yesteryear and combine the best of both worlds. What if the online store could “fetch” you everything on your list and help you find the best choices based on your needs/history/preferences. That would be both time efficient and personal. That’s the future. That journey is only just beginning.

Shopper marketing wouldn’t then be just about building displays to catch the eye, nor would planograms matter, it would be all about getting to know the shopper and presenting ideas/help/information that makes the shopping experience better, more interesting, more entertaining and faster.

And to compete with that, the physical store needs a complete rethink.

We’re pleased to announce that our first USA online shopping data is out next month.