Multi-Channel Commerce & Retailing

1/ Get the basics right: communicate more effectively on your discount:

This is probably the easiest one, as all you need (once you agreed on your price and promotions strategy) is to ask your creative team to design a price-centered banner which you will strategically place on your home page. A bargain category accessible from the top menu is probably also a must have. These techniques have been used for years and are nothing new but I find surprising today that most grocers are still failing to do so. For example, the day Asda announced the introduction of a £1 range, this information was not clearly displayed in my Asda.co.uk store and I was not able to find these products!

2/ Propose cheaper alternatives:

Most retailers offer a vast range of products with different sizes and prices. Sometimes it is not easy to catch the best bargain and you can feel some uneasiness about it: did I pay the best price?

That’s something that a website can probably do better than a brick and mortar store. A website knows what you have in your basket and can help you optimizing it with cheaper alternatives for the same product (other variants) or through substitution (another way for retailers to promote their own label). Some retailers like Tesco have already done so, but they can go one step further like mysupermarket.co.uk did with their basket optimizer (see screenshots below). Basically they are clearly highlighting to their customer how much they are able to make them save throughout their shopping experience and then are able to propose them to swap products for cheaper alternatives – a clever move which remains unmatched by the online grocers.

3/ Compare your price more effectively and offer price feeds:

Traffic to price comparison websites is soaring for one good reason: people are seeking the best deals. While it is clear that consumers perceive some brands as being cheaper, the reality can be different as I discovered myself in comparing my trolley between 4 of the biggest supermarket chains in the UK. As the result of this comparison I did not change my habits but it was clear to me that my “local” .com store was not highlighting enough that it was as cheap or even cheaper that its main competitor. Consumers are used to see price of other supermarkets while shopping in store but this remains fairly unusual or poorly implemented on most grocer’s websites.

Once again mysupermarket.co.uk has created something (see screenshot below) that the grocers are not able to compete with: they are able to display the value of the same trolley between 4 chains to help the customers choose the right one. While comparing trolleys can be difficult at times as assortment can vary, it is clearly a strong indicator of price competitiveness.

Integrating the price comparison features or sub-sites that online grocers created through the years into the main shopping experience will probably help them to build the trust and loyalty they need from their customers.

The other critical thing will be to offer accurate and real-time price and inventory feeds to price comparison sites. Most retailers do not do that and as result their price updates or inventory changes can look incorrect on price comparison websites which could lead to a costly mistake.

4/ Answer the real question: towards a budget optimizer?

But most of the websites you can visit linked with groceries are still failing on one of the most basic question a struggling mum could ask herself: How can I feed my family with my budget?

All the websites will be able to tell you the price of your trolley and eventually help you to reduce it but none is able to create a trolley based on a budget, dietetic preferences or recipes. This is definitely something online grocers could explore as offering services such as meal planning or budget controller will help them retain the “alpha mum” they are all looking for.