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SubscribeJudging by analyst reports and recent press releases, we are on the cusp of a new era in grocery retailing. Fueled equally by technological developments and the marketer's ever-present desire to assist hapless shoppers, the new age of grocery retailing promises unparalleled ease and convenience. Just a few of these "game-changing" developments include:
- The Ikan system: A small household appliance that allows consumers to scan product labels or UPC codes during usage. The software tracks out-of-stocks in the home and generates shopping lists that, when synced with a grocery delivery service, could result in convenient replenishment of household goods.
- Software that allows cell phone cameras to be converted into portable bar-code scanners so busy shoppers can scan items as they shop. During the checkout process the consumer can then "pay" by sending a text message from their cell phone, at which time the cell phone returns an approval code that the retailer enters into the register — thus concluding the transaction. Could it be any easier?
- With the advent of affordable, flat-panel LCD screens, we can expect evermore opportunities to watch engaging, high-quality content specially developed by food manufacturers and retailers. That we do so while standing near a refrigerated cooler in the meat section with our necks angled to match the peculiar placement of the screen won't matter because the content will be maximally engaging.
- Similar “smart” shopping cart technologies that help consumers navigate crowded stores and locate items (where the heck did the milk go?) and scan them as they shop, presumably making shopping easier and checkout less of a hassle.
- With the advent of newer micro-thin LCD technology, consumers will soon be treated to small, individual video screens capable of delivering advertising and related programming content, like recipes, for each and every SKU in the store! What could be more compelling than 20,000 tiny video monitors all running at once?!?!?
Honestly, could it get any better than this? Or, as Max Weber once famously intoned, "This nullity imagines that it has attained a level of civilization never before achieved." (While it is surely fair to suggest that Weber was something of a grump — and he did spend a fair amount of time institutionalized for nervousness, depression and insomnia — there is little debating the fact that his observations were, scientifically speaking, pretty gosh darned spot on.)
In truth, it is really not all that surprising that the grocery industry appears headed in this direction. Heck we've always had a love affair with technology — what with our cultural fascination with robots and space ships and time machines and ray guns and all of that. So it seems only logical that marketers and grocers would spend their time dreaming of magic robots, hand-held lasers, holographic video displays and anything else they could think of to make grocery shopping a little less like wandering through a dank warehouse and a lot more like lounging on the holodeck on the Starship Enterprise.
And while we are surely fans of the fantasy and science fiction genres (should you ever drop by The Hartman Group offices, you will find a copy of John Carpenter's cult classic Dark Star proudly displayed in our library), the problem with this neato fantasy is that it will remain largely that. Not so much because of technological limits (we're actually pretty good at turning science fiction into reality), but because these so-called "advances" won't address the real underlying problem: Namely, that most grocery stores have just never been very engaging or compelling.
In other words, turning the grocery store into a spaceship might be a lot of fun for marketers and grocers. And, for that matter, it may prove temporarily entertaining or distracting for their customers. But none of this will solve any real consumer problems and, more important, will not change the fact that most grocery stores still suck.
These Halcyon Days of Wine and Roses
From our perspective, the marketers desire to "solve problems" and make shopping easier for the consumer is the logical outgrowth of similar strategies that have enjoyed great success at the product level within the CPG arena. Indeed, many manufacturers have had big wins by devising products that make consumers lives "better," "easier" or somehow solve a problem — even if it were a problem we didn't know we had. Proctor and Gamble's Swiffer is a great example of a breakthrough innovation designed to meet a latent need (convenient floor care) many of us were not even aware we had.
And while the impulse to problem solve surely must come from a good place, the reality is that the technological solutions proposed by many retailers and consultants will fail because the "problem" has been fundamentally misunderstood and misstated.
Contrary to what many in marketing and analysts circles might lead you to believe, consumers are actually pretty clever, resourceful creatures. We also spend a heck of a lot of our formative years being drug around stores with our parents or wandering around shopping malls with our peers (trying to avoid our parents). So it only stands to reason that we are pretty well equipped to handle the myriad of challenges routine life throws our way — even such doozeys as how to shop for canned ham, paper towels or soup.
Again the real problem is not that shopping is "challenging" or "difficult," but that it just isn't very much fun.
Of course, analysts will be the first to chime in and concede that while consumers might be up to the task of something as mind-bogglingly complex as grocery shopping, many are either too busy or simply not interested in such trivialities. In this line of thinking the biggest rewards will go to the retailer who manages to automate or efficientize the shopping process to a point of instant replenishment.
And therein lies the single most mis-understood premise about contemporary food shopping — that the consumer is allegedly more interested in convenience and ease of shopping than actually being engaged, enthralled, informed or entertained. True, some consumers will answer survey questions suggesting that they are looking for someone to make grocery shopping more convenient, but this is only because the task is so mind-bogglingly tedious and banal to begin with! So instead of deploying technology to distract your customers — or, worse yet, trying to get them out of the door more quickly — why not consider how to get them to linger a little longer?
We recently watched a well-attended conference presentation during which the client's new technology promised to get customers out of the retailer's door 13 minutes more quickly. Astonishingly, not a single person present raised his or her hand and dared to ask, "...And why would we want them to leave our store so quickly?" As an industry have we really come to see ourselves as little more than Quickie Marts or gas stations? Is this as good as it gets?
Be Careful What You Wish For...
There is no question that the Ikan system and the promise of instant replenishment still musters a lot of support in the analyst community. And we suspect that more than a few might be tempted to classify our position as one of "cranky luddite." But there are several more subtle implications of a future built around instant replenishment that should cause all analysts and marketers to rethink their position here.
Firstly, there are the related issues of fresh and the ever-changing nature of preferences. Instant replenishment as it has been conceived is at constant odds with the evolving consumer understandings and enactments of fresh. Whether we seek fresh produce, seasonal specialties or simply want to avoid having to cook with previously frozen meats, instant replenishment with home delivery always loses in this arena. Case in point, nearly all home grocery services have failed and the single biggest consumer complaint in each case was the quality and selection of fresh produce and meats.
Likewise, marketers and analysts often give little attention to the dynamic pace with which household taste preferences evolve — often within the case of a single week. Simply put, households with increasingly picky eaters often have no idea what they will be in the mood for next week, yet alone tomorrow night. So the premise that one can run a household with a continuously stocked pantry controlled by scanners and software becomes highly questionable. In fact, our own research showed that one of the biggest challenges underlying the collapse of the DIY meal preparation kitchen industry (remember those?) was the fact that consumers couldn't reliably expect a freezer of prepared meals to meet the increasingly picky, ever-changing nature of their family's preferences. We once followed a mom to the store around 5:30 to purchase a Tombstone pizza despite a freezer full of prepared meals. As she wisely intoned, "Dad had to pull a double shift; and if Dad wants pizza, we are having pizza."
Finally, we remain dumbfounded that no analyst or marketer has yet to remark on what we believe is the single profound flaw in the these "instant replenishment" and "robots will re-stock your pantry" scenarios. Namely, instant replenishment threatens to efficientize the grocery shopping experience to a level that would "solve" the estimated 30-40% of household shrinkage we consumers accept as part and parcel of our irrational ways.
Though there are strong normative constraints favoring thrift over waste that preclude us from talking about such matters in public, we are all acutely aware of how much food and beverage products we throw away each week due to rot and spoilage or, more commonly, simple disinterest. Add to the equation the frequency with which we accidently purchase products we already own, not to mention our propensity for impulse purchases, and the numbers begin to add up rather quickly.
In other words, who do we think would really benefit from a high-tech system in which households purchase only that which they truly need in a fashion that keeps shrinkage to an absolute minimum? Surely not retailers or manufacturers who depend upon our irrational behavior for incremental sales gains.
Consumers Love Food, They Really Do!!!
Look, it really doesn't have to be this hard. Really. The evidence is all around us.
By all accounts, we are one of the most obese nations in this planet's history. We now have multiple television networks devoted to food fandom. Cookbooks remain one of the most successful categories in what's left of the print publishing industry. And we dine outside the home more than any other Western nation. Put most simply, we love our food!
In this, it simply boggles the mind that so many retailers, analysts and consultants spend time devising ways to distract their customers from food passion with unnecessary, whiz-bang technology or, worse yet, try get their customers out of their store more quickly.