Taking shopper experience to the next level
Expect the unexpected. Blue Apron’s meal kit contains much more than fruits and vegetables. They are rolling out a new campaign focusing on personalization. At the beginning of the Pandemic, when everybody was stuck at home, the meal kit 🍲 from Blue Apron saw significant growth in sales. Now, things are slowing down since people can simply go out to dine without having to hear their in-law's remarks about their cooking skills.
Convenience is key. Customers expect the retail experience to be convenient 💨. This is why Tesco is rolling out more Express stores. Despite the rise in cost-of-living, Tesco plans to open 14 new Express locations and 59 stores by the end of the year.
Your vegetables are 5 minutes away! Since the Pandemic hit, many people stopped going to the store to purchase their non-essential products. However, it seems that more and more people are also relying on grocery delivery 🥦. Grocery delivery sales grew more than 20% on a year-over-year basis in March, reaching $3.5 billion.
Technology is shaping customer behavior
Inspirational meals. Don’t know what to cook today? Walmart is saving the day with its mealtime inspiration. Walmart is introducing shoppable augmented reality (AR) content on Snapchat. The “Snap Scan & Shop" lens allows Snapchat 📱 users to scan food items from a fridge or the pantry and automatically generates a list of 10 recipes that include those ingredients. You can no longer say that you don’t know what to cook for dinner.
Just Walk Out! We’re not saying it, Amazon Fresh is. Of course, one of the biggest retailers in the world doesn’t want shoppers to leave its store faster, it just wants to offer a frictionless in-store experience. They are focusing on including their “Just Walk Out” technology in more Amazon Fresh stores. This system uses ceiling-mounted cameras and artificial intelligence to track what shoppers purchase and it automatically charges them when they exit the store.
A “unique” payment system. Forget about card or smartphone payments! 💳 The future is here, my friends. A man from the Netherlands implanted a microchip in his hand and he now pays for everything with it. Yes, the cashiers are amazed when this guy’s chip lights up beneath his skin when he pays for a bag of chips. Both creepy and innovative at the same time.
Trouble in Retail Paradise?
Loss in market value. Tesco warned retailers that rising costs and ever-changing consumer habits could impact profits in 2022 and a few retailers are already experiencing this warning. Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer saw a total of just over £1bn 😱 chipped off their market value.
The impact of out of stock. No shopper likes to see their favorite product is out of stock. Bed Bath & Beyond is one of the retailers that saw a loss in sales of over $175M. The retailer blames the supply chain challenges and the inventory constraints for this issue.
Catching up with Retail Experts
Third-party cookies crumble. As we’ve talked about in one of our articles, third-party cookies 🍪 are making an exit, and retailers might need to adapt. Carol Spieckerman shared her opinion in Retail Wire’s discussion.
Monthly retail sales. The numbers are in! Retail Dive shared the monthly retail sales 💸 from the US Commerce Department and it looks like sales rose by more than 14% since last month. Thank you, Steve Dennis, for sharing!
Campaign Corner
The pornstar and sustainability in retail. Liquid Death plans to make us spit our drinks with its latest commercial. They hired 🔞 Cherie DeVille (don’t pretend you don’t know who she is) to talk about sustainability. Yes, the commercial is as good as you are expecting it to be.
See the Bubly side. Michael Bublé is showing us how to look at the Bubly 💥 side of things in this new commercial. Bubly, the sparkling water brand, wants us to discover that “Every broken plate, there’s one less chore we hate.” We totally agree!
