For consumers, grocery shopping has become a multi-location event, with shoppers visiting an average of 5.2 stores to cross every item off their lists. This “grocery hopping” trend has become especially prevalent thanks to consumer-friendly technology like curbside pickup, home delivery and online ordering.
These time-saving and convenient offerings make it easier than ever for shoppers to take an a la carte approach to their food shopping. Maybe one store has the freshest produce, another sends the best coupons and yet another has the best — for lack of a better term — vibes. Shoppers can use technology to their advantage and shop at all three stores in whatever way works best for them.
From a business perspective, though, grocery hopping presents a challenge. Grocery margins already are quite slim, and every item that customers choose to purchase elsewhere is a missed opportunity. What can grocery leaders do to recapture some of their lost market share?
To win over shoppers’ hearts, minds and wallets, grocery retailers need to closely examine their engagement strategies. Do they make shoppers feel welcome? Do they instill a sense of community? Is their brand ecosystem cohesive? Do they reward shoppers for their loyalty? These are just some of the questions that can kickstart retailers’ endeavors to fight the grocery hopping trend.
As grocers explore their relationship with customers and pursue avenues for improvement, they’ll find that technology presents countless solutions for enhancing engagement and boosting store loyalty.
Loyalty Apps Open the Door for Personalization
To drive customers in-store — and keep them there — grocers must meet shoppers where they are: on their phones.
The best grocery apps serve as the front door to the brand ecosystem. They let shoppers monitor loyalty points, review past purchases and place orders. Perhaps most importantly, grocery apps encourage store visits — which is where personalization comes into play.
With the help of advanced technology, grocery retailers can deliver personalized offers to shoppers through their loyalty app. AI and ML can help grocers comb through aggregate transaction data to create niche shopper segments — all while maintaining individual consumer privacy. Then, the same technology recommends specific offers that are likely to resonate with each segment. For instance, the segment of shoppers associated with frequent diaper purchases is very likely to appreciate a coupon for baby food.
When shoppers open their grocery loyalty apps, they should be met with a curated set of promotions that align with their budget, preferences and lifestyle. This tech-driven personalization offers a trifecta of benefits: it makes 46% of shoppers feel more valued (according to 2024 data from Lobyco), it drives them in-store to redeem the offer and it saves money.
Another tech-driven strategy that encourages store visits and enriches customer engagement is gamification.
Gamification Cultivates Shopper Enthusiasm
In addition to driving shoppers to the app, luck-based mini-games like “spin to win” and “scratch to win” boost customer enthusiasm and loyalty. When customers visit the store to redeem their prizes (e.g. free or discounted items), they’re more likely to make other purchases as well — as confirmed by 40% of consumers.
Product-based prizes help customers discover new items or varieties of items they already love, which is a boon for grocers. If stores can increase customers’ appreciation of all they have to offer, they’ll stand a better chance in the fight against grocery hopping.
If executed strategically, gamification can help drum up shopper excitement. For instance, by releasing new games only on Fridays, grocers can generate anticipation and encourage loyalty app visits. Games can serve as nudges that steer customers toward making more regular visits to stores.
Loyalty apps and gamification are powerful examples of tech-driven engagement. But the fun doesn’t stop there — once customers are in-store, they should be met with tech-based solutions that make them want to come back again and again.
In-Store Technology Streamlines Shopper Experiences
For grocery shoppers, the in-store experience wields great influence. Clunky, inefficient setups can make customers feel like they’re wasting their time. Conversely, intuitive and streamlined experiences — especially at checkout — help grocers send the signal that they recognize shoppers’ time is valuable.
One technology solution that enriches customer experience is self-checkout. More than one-third (38%) of shoppers prefer self-checkout to traditional cashiers, so grocers should make sure they have this option available. Customers value the simplicity of scanning and bagging items themselves — especially when they’re just purchasing a few items — and store leaders only need to dedicate one or two staff members to offer support as needed.
Scan & go technology is another example of a solution that makes shopping highly efficient. With handheld devices (or even their mobile phones), customers can now scan their items as they place them into the shopping cart. When they’re ready to check out, customers simply scan their device or phone at the POS to review the total and complete payment. This tech-powered solution is a great way for grocers to accommodate the shoppers who simply want to get in, get their items and get out the door.
Self-checkout and scan & go are just two examples of technology solutions that support a positive and efficient customer experience. By making customers’ lives easier, grocers can make shopping feel like less of a chore.
Small Improvements are Part of a Bigger Story
These thoughtful, tech-driven solutions can go a long way in grocers’ efforts to curb grocery hopping. The shoppers who visit several stores on a regular basis are bound to have made direct store-to-store comparisons — a pro/con list for every store on their roster.
Grocers will need every “pro” they can get if they want to edge out the competition. Even small changes can move the needle here, like seasonal decorations and product samples. Over time, though, grocers should consider the ways their discrete improvements feed into a more holistic brand ecosystem.
From a customer perspective, every brand touch point is part of the broader story. A store’s loyalty app, personalized promotions, gamified activities and in-store experience all contribute to its overall vibe — and shoppers’ decision to spend their money there.
A focus on using technology to enrich customer experience can help grocers advance from being one of their shoppers’ preferred stores to the preferred store.
Anders Mittag is Chief Commercial Officer at Lobyco, a global leader in customer engagement and promotions for grocery retailers. With more than 20 years’ experience in retail technology, Mittag directs Lobyco’s commercial strategy and nurtures its growing community of like-minded retailers. He supports the implementation of loyalty programs across global grocery clients, designing engaging initiatives that increase customer spend and footfall. Prior to helping launch Lobyco, Mittag was SVP of membership and loyalty at Coop Denmark, where he was responsible for overall loyalty strategy. He lives in Copenhagen with his family.