In my personal opinion, I think many U.S. grocers leave a lot to be desired. The whole store experience feels tired and dated. There is too much product, usually merchandised in the most uninspiring of ways. There are exceptions – Publix, Wegmans, Market 32 by Price Chopper, AJ’s, and so on. But the big boys are pretty shabby in their approach! Food and grocery is a very visual category, but I am not seeing many capitalize on that.

In my opinion, most supermarkets fall short on the “experience” part of the experience altogether. I am constantly amazed at what a sterile, lonely place a supermarket can be. Here we are, in the foodie era, in what could be a mecca for foodies of all generations, and we are confronted by endless and meaningless assortments driven by co-op dollars (not the customer’s needs) and countless loss-leading promotions. Helpful human beings, as the survey reports, are almost impossible to find. The irony is that the opportunities for rich engagement in supermarkets are everywhere. Tastings and samplings should be a constant presence. Recipe suggestions and customer Instagram photos could take the place of some of those promo placards in the aisles. In-situ classes could be held to teach about everything from knife skills to nutrition to new products. Once the morning bake is complete, why not host classes in the bakery? The social media opportunities inside these stores are everywhere. The assortments! The colors! I know groceries are a requirement for our existence, but grocers should… Read more »

The problem with thinking that grocery shopping should be any experience at all is that we have so much data that says shoppers aren’t interested in having an experience. How many articles, how many surveys, do we see that say shoppers don’t have time to shop or much interest in shopping (hence the reason for BOPIS or delivery) and why self-checkout is so important? Shoppers choose the level of engagement they want – and not everyone in Connecticut chooses Stew Leonards. Better research should be able to segment the market into those who want varying levels of engagement. Then you turn around and decide who you want to market to, remembering that creating an experience costs the shopper.

Of course this comes down to money, especially for skilled and informed help. Help is not only hard to find in the grocery store, but chances are when you do find someone, they don’t know the answer to the question being asked. “Not my department” is the usual and terrible answer. Yes, there are numerous opportunities in the store for tastings, classes, etc., but if you can’t cover the very basic items like having at least a few knowledgeable, helpful personnel in the store to help customers, you’ve already lost your shot.

As shoppers’ tastes have broadened and their interest in cooking and foodie culture has grown, traditional grocers have chased these trends through expanded assortments. This makes navigating through a typical store more challenging than ever.

Some tough editing decisions — weeding out entire categories, not just individual items or brands — are long overdue. Time to “do less better,” not just in small-format stores like Aldi or Trader Joe’s.

Are we asking too much from the supermarket? After all, it is a grocery store where people come in to mostly buy stuff and get out. Everybody can’t be Wegmans, where people go not just to buy stuff and get out. And every grocer shouldn’t want to be a Wegmans.

If the grocer wants to get better, make it easier and more convenient to get in and out.

Grocery stores have it tough when it comes to standing out because their products are much the same every visit. It’s hard to jazz up displays because at the end of the day a tomato is a tomato is a tomato. So they up the in-store experience with colorful graphics, classes, and demos. Wegmans and Mariano’s both offer a stellar experience, but even their stores gets stale when shoppers become accustomed to the stores’ perks and quirks and they become part of the background. Grocers always have to be on the lookout for the next opportunity to thrill shoppers. A grocery store’s Achilles’ heel will always be its people. That “pleasant human contact” craved by customers doesn’t happen enough. Associates stocking the shelves do not engage shoppers unless they are asked a question. I have never been stopped in any grocery store, in any state, by a manager asking about my visit, and the nicest cashier can be derailed by the bagger who puts the bread in with heavy canned goods. And then there is… Read more »

The last, best opportunity for competitive differentiation is, in fact, the area where grocers score the worst in customer satisfaction. Is there a mystery here?

Assortments reflecting trending categories is a difficult barrier to overcome. Potentially, the easiest is interacting with humans. Although this reflects hiring, training, etc. which takes time, resources and a commitment. This should be the ante for every retailer.

Over the past few days, we have seen reports on this site about Target outperforming its competitors and the market by having good staff who engage with their “guests.” We have also read how grocery retailers undervalue shelf management and getting the right products in front of the customers. Now here we see what customers are saying in research, not surprisingly, that they want more interaction with staff — and friendly staff, not rushed and harassed staff who do not have time to interface with customers. That customers are not getting what they want in areas of food that are trending upwards and finally that food retailers are just not getting staffing right at the peak times. The three key areas of good retailing are all here and it’s obvious why so many retailers are failing and some are winning – supply chain, space and staff. Get the right products on the shelves, have staff to help and serve them with a smile, and also have the right number of staff at the busy times.… Read more »

At the risk of being a bit of a contrarian among the comments of my colleagues, I don’t see the contemporary shopper seeking “experiences” from their local supermarket as much as they are seeking efficiency. After spending much of my 30 years in the supermarket channel devising ways to engage, woo and entice shoppers, I eventually learned that most supermarket transactions are small basket mission trips, with the primary goal of the shopper being to get in and get out as quickly as possible. If this were not the case, BOPIS and home delivery would not be gaining ground as viable options. If this were not the case, smaller more efficient formats like Aldi and Lidl would not be gaining market share. While it is an admirable goal to be innovative and engaging, supermarket merchants need to give up on the idea that shoppers have a burning desire to spend more time with them. Merchandise the best selling items to where shoppers can get them quickly. Design stores so that they are more intuitive and… Read more »

For one thing, they’re over-assorted. There’s a 30,000 square foot Whole Foods near me and that store has everything. Traditional grocers take payola from CPG companies so their soup section, as an example, has 300+ SKUs and 20 some brands. It’s not necessary. As a merchant, I was always taught to make the edit for the customer, they’ll appreciate it. The problem with most grocers is that they’re NOT merchants, they’re procurement clerks, stocking whatever because the price or payola is good. That just doesn’t work anymore IMO. Why sort through all that? There’s a 100,000 square foot Kroger near me that has furniture and about 15 other categories they most likely know very little about or have established paltry consumer trust on. Subsequently, from a consumer perspective, it just makes the store more cumbersome for most of us and therefore extends the shopping trip, which is very low on our priority list. If we started by having grocery stores that were grocery stores vs trying to compete with Walmart on household goods, there’d be… Read more »

When it comes to grocery shopping, I don’t think consumers are overly demanding. We all want a convenient and friendly shopping experience – the table stakes for grocers. Any thing above that is gravy.

Most grocers are falling down by continuing to cut staff. When I visit most grocery stores, I am not greeted by any of the staff I run across and, oftentimes, if I need help I can’t find anyone to ask.

A grocer that stands out as providing a great experience is Trader Joe’s. Everyone is super friendly and they make every shopping experience fun. I can usually find someone to offer assistance when needed, and even when the stores are extremely busy, the checkout seems to be efficient.

The area of human contact may be the most important of all. People respond to pleasant, well-informed store associates, be they clerks, sampling folks, customer service people, cashiers, or others. Such contact makes for a friendly and pleasant shopping experience. Ironically, grocers are moving away from human contact with their interest in and testing of cashier-less stores, robots in the aisles, robot brand ambassadors, more self-service kiosks, and who knows what other techno-nonsense to be unveiled in the future. When you lose the human touch, you lose the shopper.

Let’s try this as an off the wall experiment. Taking a page from the Walmart book, recently edited. Walmart has/used to have a greeter welcoming you as you enter and leave the store. Costco and other warehouse stores have it, but for different reasons.
Let’s create a goodwill ambassador position. A person walking the store greeting customers and asking if they can assist them in any way. (Not the clerk filling the shelf. That person does not want to be interrupted and is quick to answer a question possibly not even looking at you.) My vision is an employee strictly there as a roamer interacting with the customer. Any added thoughts?