The future of online grocery shopping – are we at a breaking point?

When the demands for online deliveries started to expand to groceries, retailers discovered some challenges. The traditional store isn’t made to handle unlimited amounts of online orders, and it’s only a matter of time until the market will reach a breaking point. But there are features that can support the change – let’s identify them!

Why e-commerce for retail is challenging

Customers have been purchasing products like shoes and clothes online for several years now. As the need for online grocery shopping increases, retailers need to make some adjustments to keep up. Raising product prices to meet margins won’t cut it. Customers want options to traditional online shopping with home delivery. And they want it without having to compromise with price, service or accessibility.

Selling groceries online is different from selling for example clothes, since the food in most cases is shipped from a local store instead of a central warehouse. This process comes with some issues. The layout of the traditional store is not properly optimised for collecting groceries for online orders. Warehouses, on the other hand, are created solely for this purpose.

The staff in grocery stores has other duties than just picking items for online orders. They can’t afford to focus unlimited time on the tasks around online shopping, since they also need to take care of the customers in the actual store.

Do you want to read more about how you can increase sales with e-commerce? Check out our blog post about Click & Collect.

Features that will help retailers keep up

Profits can be made by investing in new solutions, for example pickup lockers or electronic labels for more efficient order picking in the store or warehouse. With a solution like Pick & Collect, you can oversee the layout of your individual store and manage the best routes for staff to pick orders. Using leading technology such as mobile devices and scanners, staff can pick several orders at the same time.

Electronic Shelf Labels help staff to find the items faster. While Click and Collect Lockers let customers collect their own orders, without having to enter the store or pay for delivery. These are some features that will make the future of e-commerce more efficient for retailers.

Don’t shy away from new solutions because you’re uncomfortable with change. E-commerce is way too big to not take seriously. Get in the game and face the competition, your fellow store neighbour sure is!

Interested in learning more about the challenges in online grocery shopping – and how to conquer them? Download our guide and see how you can make e-commerce more profitable for your store.