Why an Omnichannel Strategy Is Right for Smaller Grocers

Gone are the days when the public walked to their local fruit market, bakery, butchers or grocery to conduct its weekly shopping. There was a time when these retailers could rely on local customers to choose their locations for weekly needs. Today however, consumers have embraced the digital transformation for retail, which provides a variety of delivery options, while larger stores increase their online presence.

Online shopping has revolutionized the extent to which stores can personalize. Two-thirds of customers believe that retailers need to understand their unique needs, while 80% now consider the shopping experience to be as important as its products and services. With increased information stored in digital personal profiles, stores can truly know who their customers are and provide offers that match.

Small-store formats frequently require robust and targeted positive image differentiation. This appeal needs to be achieved and consistently maintained over time. And independent grocers can start winning over customers in this way through omnichannel solutions. It’s a business concept in which all existing channels are fully linked to provide a smooth shopping experience and personalized customer services.

By leveraging omnichannel retail and having a niche focus, independent grocers and stores can get ahead of the game. Here’s how …

Related:Why Do So Many Small Stores Fail?

Enhance Small Business

An omnichannel strategy allows grocers to collect data from a range of shopping channels and use it to guide choices. Retailers can analyze both online and in-store customer purchase history to deliver a richer, more personalized omnichannel experience, helping retailers to address more accurately what the customer wants.

The analysis of customer data reveals the needs of consumers and their level of satisfaction with a company. This enables small businesses to understand purchasing habits and expectations and develop new products or services, especially to meet the needs of hybrid shoppers.

Granular data science is required to build offers and promotions around what customers are most likely to buy or need next. Perhaps a customer wants to check the availability of a popular item before going into stores or wants to order online curbside pick-up items at a time that is convenient for him or her. A grocer can now recognize this preference and make sure it delivers when it’s ideal.

Therefore, an omnichannel solution can enhance the customer experience, optimize inventory management and more. In turn, this could help businesses reduce costs and increase operational efficiency by meeting demands they wouldn’t have previously been able to tap into. Businesses can reduce the costs associated with maintaining multiple systems by combining all channels into a single network where they can collect a customer’s data once rather than at every touchpoint.

Increase Sales

Customers worldwide expect an “Amazon-like” experience when shopping for groceries, even from smaller companies. Convenience is the No. 1 customer focus point; one-click ordering, speed of delivery and simplicity in making amendments are all key priorities. And if grocers don’t meet these demands, they’ll need to develop other differentiators.

Whether you can deliver that service or not, adopting an omnichannel solution is an initial step to showing you are putting the customer first. Shoppers want to feel like they are appreciated, just like anyone else.

More than 90% of customers prefer websites tailored to their specific interests, and they are more likely to shop with brands that remember them and give them offers and suggestions based on their needs. With omnichannel data collection, retailers can retain a pool of up to 1,000 offers or “inspirations” and let the data science choose the best promotion for each individual, ideally every two to four weeks.

Therefore, an omnichannel strategy can help smaller grocers prioritize long-term growth by better-using marketing budgets and targeting customers with personalized messages across all channels.

Meet Customers Where They Are

For many small stores, having a presence in just one or two shopping channels was sufficient until 2020. But today, 74% of customers have used multiple channels to start and complete a transaction. As consumer buying habits have shifted, smaller businesses must adapt to integrated, multichannel purchasing preferences.

Being present everywhere your clients are makes their buying experience more convenient. That means, omnichannel is the “new normal.” Even before the pandemic, a National Retail Federation study said that 52% of buyers stated convenience influences more than half of their purchases. More and more, consumers want to have options for when and where they purchase.

An omnichannel strategy allows businesses to meet customers online, in-store or both. For example, convenient digital experiences such as kiosk ordering, where customers “skip the line” for deli orders while shopping in-store or make a digital payment in-store if the line is too long, can lead to higher shopping frequency and increased sales volumes. With smart deal propositions and frictionless switches between channels, businesses are 89% more likely to satisfy and retain their customers, according to SalesForce.

Having an omnichannel presence is more critical than ever in the current environment. By providing a unified, coordinated customer experience across all channels, grocers may remain in the competition and better meet their consumers' demands.

Bagrat Safaryan is CEO of Local Express, Glendale, Calif.