BrainTrust Query: Is There a Grocer of the Future?
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the Mark Heckman Consulting blog.
As far back as I can recall, we in the supermarket business seem to have had a fixation with what our stores will look like in the future. Like all things that require only an opinion, there are many visions and views about this topic.
Adding to the fray, here's my summation of the successful elements needed in a prototypical store perhaps as soon as five years from now.
Smaller, not larger (25,000 square feet of selling). With the emerging new channels and specialty retailers selling grocery, smaller stores will provide the shopper a more convenient, focused shopping experience, and also enhance the retailer's profitability position.
Far fewer SKUs in center store, but with access to an online store where coveted commodity items can be ordered and waiting for the shopper at a delivery door. This is already happening to some extent in other classes of retail trade, but supermarkets are under pressure to better understand the optimal assortment formula, especially when it comes to less frequently purchased items in the "long tail."
Fewer cashiers and more scan-as-you-go or self-checkouts. Mobile wallets and other technological advances can only achieve ROI if labor reduction and other efficiencies are achieved with the use of these new tools.
Fewer "racetrack" layouts in favor of distinct stores-within-a-store. Studying shopping patterns in the store will yield to some significant innovations in department and category adjacencies. These moves will culminate in some dramatic new store layouts
And finally, much more interaction with the in-store pharmacy, which will also become a nutritional resource center. With Boomers reaching retirement age in masses each day, they will look to supermarkets in increasing numbers not only for medications, but also compatible nutritional solutions to keep them active and fully in denial of their age.
There's nothing here that is terribly controversial, and yet for many retailers, there is much work to do and significant investments to be made to move from the operational-oriented store they have today to a more consumer-centric offering.