Your product is awesome and you want to get on store shelves quickly. Maybe you’re already selling direct-to-consumers online, but want to get your product in front of the vast majority of shoppers who usually shop in physical stores, rather than online. Note: an omnichannel strategy where you use both – e-commerce plus in-store, often […]
Omnichannel
New Food Product Launch Strategy? Start Online
Many small start-up food and beverage and consumer products companies contact us looking for ways to get their products into the hands of consumers. Some hope to see their new food product stocked on shelves of grocery stores; others are seeking ways into the non-commercial foodservice sector, selling in high-traffic, niche channels like airport kiosks […]
The 4 Purposes Retailers Must Choose from to Stay Relevant
In a recent article, consultant Doug Stephens outlines four purposes for brick-and-mortar retailers in an eCommerce era. He suggests retailers need to pick at least one of these purposes to remain relevant. Here, I explore the purposes and add a fifth. Stephens explains that retailers have always acted as a conduit to connect brands to […]
Foxes, Hen-Houses, and other ECommerce Fables
Over 20% of Grocery Retail is likely to move online by 2026 according to a recent Supermarket News article. That’s big news, but equally big is that the vast majority of online grocery shoppers prefer click-and-collect over home delivery. Seventy-six percent of respondents said they favor in-store (44%) and curbside (31%) pickup, compared with 24% preferring delivery. Consumers don’t like to pay for home delivery, […]
4 Great Omnichannel Retail Service Providers
At the recent NGA (National Grocer’s Association) conference, I spoke with a group of parallel but different companies that help independent grocery retailers get their e-commerce up-and- running. Shop Hero, Rosie, Local Express and EGrowcery, while different, all provide tech, web design and product images, inventory tie-ins, and linkages to delivery services. Together, these service bundles jump-start retailers to a high-level of e-commerce; for both delivery and click-and-collect. With these services […]
2 Ways Local Grocery Retailers Can Compete in Omnichannel
I recently attended the National Grocers Association (NGA) tradeshow and conference in Las Vegas. Notable for me were two conference sessions on e-commerce. Micro Fulfillment Centers (MFC’s) The first covered micro fulfillment centers (MFC’s) – small, largely automated vertical warehouses, provided by AutoStore. These MFC’s pick and pack online grocery orders for online shoppers. Whether for click-and-collect, or delivery. 6 times faster […]
Kroger to Roll Out More Ocado Automated Customer Fulfillment Warehouses
Grocery giant Kroger is opening an Ocado automated fulfillment warehouse (customer fulfillment center or CFC) for home delivery in the Northeast soon. They have no stores in the Northeast, so this is an e-commerce only move for Kroger. They already operate a CFC in central Florida, with more planned in Florida, California and the South. These operations can deliver to a 90-mile radius and can […]
3 Reasons Stores Aren’t Going Away and 2 Reasons (some of them) Are.
Sign of the times; Geoffrey the Giraffe, the Toys R Us mascot, leaving the last Toys R Us Store! As many of us are (retail is a $5 Trillion industry) I’m researching, observing and discussing (obsessing) a lot about what’s really happening in physical retail, e-Commerce and the convergence of the two – omni-channel. And […]
Why ‘Omni-channel’ in Retailing is Here to Stay
Some retail thinkers and writers do not like the term omni-channel, feeling it is just another over-used example of business jargon. I don’t like jargon any more than anyone else, but after having done a ton of research on the current and future state of retail (for my upcoming book), I haven’t been able to find […]
