How inflation is shaping grocery shopping
This inflation is caused by many things. One villain is the pandemic that caused a huge disruption to the world economy. The supply chains took a hard blow and contributed to major delays in shipping. The pandemic also brought labour shortages due to sickness and lock downs and the industry hasn't yet recovered. Russia's invasion on Ukraine has also contributed in many ways such as wheat shortage and risky and expensive shipping in parts of the world. All these factors contribute to the increase in inflation we are now experiencing. So how will food retailers tackle this? Well, for starters it will change consumer behaviours. More people than before, now need to stretch every dollar. Low-price chains will gain new customers, and the regular store chains will have to compensate for the loss. Here are a few ways we see food retailers coping with the situation.
Deals and discounts
Stores will encourage consumption with good deals and discounts. This can be positive for conscious customers who have a good plan to use the products. But we have to keep in mind that in many cases it will lead to an increase in food waste at home.
Food waste reduction
We see a spiking interest in our solutions and also in the food waste issue among both retailers and consumers. More people look for bargains and a fresh and clean waste fridge and a structured work with expiration dates can help stores with better sell-trough, consumers to save money, and ultimately save loads of food waste. Win-win-win!
Memberships
Brand loyalty is in severe decline for many reasons, products out of stock or too high prices, according to McKinsey roughly 50% of consumers report that they will switch product, brand, or retailer when faced with shortages. Having a strong membership/loyalty program that brings great value to loyal customers will be increasingly more important. There is so much data to be used these days, and I think we’re gonna notice a shift on how loyalty programs will change in the future to be sure to retain customers.
Stronger private brands
Almost all bigger retail chains have their own product lines. Some lines are branded with the chain's name, some are smartly disguised under different names. Many also have several different brands in different value tiers, such as low-cost and premium etc. We can see now that many retailers are expanding their own lines, for different reasons. It can increase loyalty as they are the only ones selling that brand. It also gives a better control over supply, for example they can choose to source locally instead of a risky supply chain situation. That can also mean more local jobs. As an example we can see that Walmart investing $350 million in products, made, grown or assembled in the US.
Below you see a video of how the American discount chain Save a lot markets their own brands products by comparing them to their similar more famous originals.
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