Grocery stores are facing more competition than ever. With continuously fluctuating market conditions, due to technological advancements, growth of online grocery, the changing consumer behaviours and high expectations in quality standards, supermarkets need to have a new edge to thrive against growing competition against national chains and global online giants like Amazon. These changes in consumer behaviour around value, online, and lifestyle brackets have created a vast opportunity for supermarket and grocery chains to capture the growing market shares. However, the inclination towards online and value is predicted to put pressure on grocer’s margin, especially with rising costs, enduring store closures and lower footfalls. Thus, retailers will need to find new innovative ways to increase efficiency and recreate existing pathways to grow profitably.

With increasing concerns on safety and demand for convenience more than anything, consumers have quickly adapted to shopping online. Consumption patterns have changed with more focus on health and wellness and more calories consumed inside the homes. However, these trends are influenced by socioeconomic status, with higher income segments tending to be less price-conscious while choosing healthy eating and nutrition. In contrast, lower-income segments focus more on saving money. There is so much happening and so much changing in the consumer behaviour front that supermarkets are forced to create innovative and customer-centric shopping experiences that meet the needs and expectations of the modern shopper. Even the current store layouts are no longer meeting the demands of the modern customer, and hence the store of the future will have to carve out customer-centric features. Specialty food courts with in-store dining experience grab-and-go food options will make time-starved customers happy, as they can click-and-collect items while they dine. Responding to these new trends in customer behaviours requires retailers to create order fulfilment processes with as much agility as possible.

If you are looking to increase your supermarket business profitability, enhance customer experience, and simultaneously cut down expenses, the following points would be useful:

1. Customer Insights

The logic is simple; if you simply give your customers what they want, they will come to your store repeatedly. The services you provide should talk to your customers and put first their needs and preferences. This is an effective marketing idea. Having access to valuable customer data is crucial to improving your supermarket business, enhancing customer satisfaction, and improving your brand reputation.

2. Efficient Inventory Management

Low inventory turnover and inconsistent current ratios are negative symptoms of the supermarket’s performance and financial health. An effective inventory management system would easily track the stock available and serve as key coordinates for shelf placement of products and help avoid spoilage costs. The result is improved sales and a lower cost of inventory. An up-to-date inventory report will enable you to quickly scan and see what products you are running low on, analyse your inventory level to understand what’s been selling well and what’s not been selling well, place re-orders with distributors or wholesalers before you run out of stocks. With automated inventory systems, you would be able to set alarms when stocks fall to minimum inventory level and even automate placing order requests to wholesalers.

3. Optimization in the checkout process

Your POS system (Point-of-Sale) is one of the most important pieces of technology in your supermarket system. The role of a POS goes beyond managing transactions at your counter. An efficient POS system establishes a centralised database of your products, pricing, and customers so that you can quickly find the products, assign orders to a customer, and apply discounts. Barcode scanners make the process even faster. Today’s time-starved customers do not appeal to the notion of waiting in queues for shopping. An efficient POS system eliminates any chances of the customer leaving the store without making a purchase due to a long queue at the check-out counter. A fast and smooth check out process can earn you brownie points with customers and help maintain customer loyalty.

4. Omnichannel experience

Omni-store is a hybrid retail supermarket where a small, convenient store enables pick-up for fresh produce and perishables, whereby the rest of their cart is being picked up by robots in a back room. This is a smart, attractive combination of in-store shopping and online shopping and is powered by automation. This enables the customers to touch and feel fresh produce or perishables before they buy, thus eliminating the gap in the online shopping experience. Micro-fulfilment centres powered by automation are leveraged for fulfilling online orders.

5. Advancements in Technology

Technological advancements have paved the way for new shopping experiences, including online shopping. With the foremost priority on convenience and fresh products, supermarkets are required to leverage technology and link to inventory systems of the store. It is evident that supermarkets need to go digital to sustain themselves in the highly competitive retail environment. In today’s world, with the emergence of instant shopping, it’s high time for supermarket owners to step into the digital world and flow with the current trends.

About YRC

The retail experts at YRC (Your Retail Coach) have helped many global supermarket brands select the right strategy and tools to enable a seamless transition from traditional models to adopting an omnichannel strategy in response to the current market and consumer trends . For more information on ensuring a smooth, flawless execution, please contact us for micro-fulfilment.

Source from: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-can-you-succeed-supermarket-busi...

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