How technology can help grocers to prepare for holiday orders?

Now, the pandemic has really overturned the food retail market place. In the near future, there is no indication as to the things getting back to normal. The shopping and eating habits of consumers have changed along with the way in which they make their purchases. They are buying groceries online like never before and there is also a drastic change to the patterns of purchase than the pre-pandemic days as far as customers are concerned. There is no doubt that only technology can help food retailers, keep up pace with the changing trends and make them prepared for what's coming next. We will see how?

There is a shift in shopping patterns and surge in sales

Pre-packaged items are selling like crazy and online orders are reaching the highest numbers and therefore food retailers are facing changes in the shopping patterns and surging sales. So working day and night to stock shelves alone won't be enough. They will also have to adapt to the changing consumer habits and demands.

According to a report by Forbes, the online grocery sales are estimated to increase from $29B in 2019 to $34.4B in 2020 which is indeed a huge increase. And to add to this fact, A third party grocery delivery provider sold groceries worth of $700M in each week for the first two of April 2020 which is 450% more sales than that of December 2019.

According to a survey by the Tecnomic's June 2020 Supermarket Food Service Monitor, a 25% increase in the sales of ready-to-eat rotisserie chicken were observed by grocers during the morning hours.

Grab-and-Go were stocked by 99% of open prepared food departments as part of the changing plans due to COVID-19, 11% of retailers closed the prepared food departments.

The shift in consumer behaviour is evident and retailers need to find a method to successfully handle the changes or they might fall behind.

A perfect solution that will last

The online orders are going to pick up pace even after the economy opens up slowly. Therefore it is important for retailers to ensure that they meet the high volume of online orders efficiently. They need to make sure that every customer who places an order will receive it on-time and without any difficulties.

Holiday shopping is surely going to be different this year and retailers need to prepare themselves to meet the customer demands. Delivery and curbside pickups have become the new norm and utilizing technology, retailers can explore the full potential of such services. There is technology provided by software that allow grocers to operate from their user friendly dashboard to bifurcate orders according to their urgency of delivery and which are meant for pick-up and the ones for delivery. The software also indicates the busiest times of the store so that grocery owners can schedule their staff accordingly to meet peak business hours. Technology helps to streamline the workflow.

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A grocery ordering platform will make your operations more streamlined and improve your services. This in turn will result in happier & repeat customers, better reviews and more popularity for your grocery business through word of mouth. With technology, customers also have the option to customize their prepared food orders like, they can choose different Pizza toppings, and build their own sandwich option, giving them the freedom to have food in the way they like.

Conclusion

Technology helps to eliminate late orders, increase the accuracy rates and streamline the workflow for retailers making them more confident in offering quality and convenient services to their customers. As grocery stores and food departments resume business in the new normal, technology makes it an easier process for them to adapt quickly to the changing buying habits of the customers.