Omnichannel Order Fulfilment is Boosting Online Grocery Revenue

Grocery sales fell by an average of 3.8% across British supermarkets in February due to the sudden cost of living crisis and war in Ukraine. This trend has been repeated across Europe. However, as a recent Bain report suggests, could big chain brands improve their sales strategy with a solid grocery omnichannel strategy?

What is Omnichannel?

Omnichannel order fulfilment is a key feature of any retail commerce business strategy and has been for years. The term “omnichannel” simply means the variety of ways in which a vendor can sell its products to its customers.

These sales channels could be within a brick-and-mortar store or over the phone. More recently, and massively accelerated due to the pandemic, retailers have had to factor another channel into their strategy: e-Grocery.

What is e-Grocery?

E-Grocery is a new name given to the sudden rise in grocery eCommerce since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in 2020. 

Since – in the early parts of national lockdowns around the world – people were not allowed to leave their homes, big chain brands looked to capitalize on this by deploying strong online grocery strategies.

Moving on from Covid-19

Physical grocery stores have seen an uptick in footfall and sales since international easing of lockdown restrictions in 2021. 

Though, it is generally agreed that customer shopping habits have changed forever. Customers with new shopping experience expectations are looking for convenience & safety, so will order groceries online along with other products and services.

Omnichannel Shoppers Spend More

In its March 2022 report of the online grocery landscape, retail experts Bain suggested that, “Grocery omnichannel shoppers are a big prize from a revenue and margin perspective”. It claimed that omnichannel customers spend more. “Customers who shop both online and in physical stores would spend as much as their online-only or store-only counterparts combined”, suggesting this is because they buy more frequently.

Therefore, whilst customers may be concerned over their spending, at least subconsciously they are led to spend more once converted to grocery e-g.

However, that does not necessarily mean that customers will purchase groceries online and in-store from the same vendor.

– Download our Guide to Profitable Order Fulfilfment

Improve Customer Service with Omnichannel Order Fulfilment

Grocers who have not already implemented substantial e-grocery delivery systems to complement their online grocery strategy, have felt their competitors run away with online market share since the turn of the pandemic.

A grocery store business model with a multi-channel approach to customer service can ensure that their customers stay loyal for longer. Whilst most customers were “switching brands at an unprecedented rate” in 2020, Naveo Commerce expects customer behaviour to settle in 2022 as the cost-of-living crisis restricts budgets.

We believe this due to research of our own customers demands when analysing their omni grocery store strategy. The best grocery e-commerce websites entice customers into online grocery shopping, by offering a simple solution to a usually time consuming task.

Once in-store, most individuals admitted to enjoying their grocery shopping experience. Therefore, if customers enjoys your service in-store, they are likely to trust your omnichannel experience.

Once brands build a suitable online grocery shopping user experience, they can continue to grow.

Omnichannel Retailing – Delivery Plays its Part

Consumers looking to purchase groceries through multiple channels have now had two years to grow accustomed to the effort of doing so.

Even in such a short space of time, customer expectations will soar, and shoppers now expect fast delivery times across a range of destinations. Next-day or even same-day delivery delivery options can and should be offered to your guests, depending on delivery costs.

Not only this, but delivery should be scheduled and dispatched in an environmentally-friendly way as younger shoppers demand sustainability from major retailers.

Some retailers partnered with micro-fulfilment delivery services, such as Deliveroo or Uber, as a short-term fix. However, to provide a truly personalized experience, major brands must look towards a connected commerce model to boost their order fulfilment process and omnichannel marketing.

Grocery Delivery Software

Naveo’s Connected Commerce product provides full visibility on 5 key steps in grocery ecommerce. This spans:

1. Storefront 
2. Core eCommerce Engine
3. Distributed Order Management
4. Picking and In Store Processes
5. Last-Mile Delivery

Our Connected Commerce product is an industry leading retail management and delivery system, designed specifically for the grocery sector. We have considered a huge range of in store processes and developed the system alongside some of the world’s leading grocers.

Each of our customers has brought their own expectations and requests.

This means that our software is not only modular but fully customizable and can be created to suit a variety of operational needs.

– Follow links for more details on the 5-Step Success to Online Grocery or to download our Enterprise Grocery Guide