United reFresh session covers opportunities to grow online produce sales
A recent session in the United reFresh education lineup featured conversation on the many opportunities to more effectively sell produce online, from basics like better product photography and more complete product detail pages to merchandising tools designed to increase urgency or offer meal solutions.
The main portion of the session focused on commentary from Michael La Kier, principal of the consultancy What Brands Want; Jennifer Strailey, editor-in-chief for Winsight Grocery Business; and Gina Garven, vice president of commercial development and analytics for Robinson Fresh.
Garven noted that one obstacle for online grocery in general has been a lack of clarity about which department should “own” e-commerce. She noted that procurement, merchandising, marketing and IT have to work together to make sure the online experience serves shoppers well, performs well and complements the in-store experience.
Strailey, citing Nielsen data shared at the FMI Midwinter Conference, said Amazon did $17.4 billion in food and beverage sales online over the last 52 weeks, with Instacart second in line with $15.7 billion. A distant third and fourth were Walmart with $6.5 billion and Kroger with $6.1 billion, she said.
La Kier described the importance of figuring out ways to generate more impulse sales online and suggested tapping into basic human behaviors, such as the tendency to act out of a sense of urgency. Some e-commerce sites use prompts like “43 other people are looking at this item” or “9 remaining at your location” to spur purchase.
Calling out desirable attributes — such as the fact that an item is peak season, local or on ad — is another opportunity.
“‘New’ is a powerful word,” La Kier said. “When something is ‘here now,’ ‘new,’ etc., that’s not just marketing. We’re trained to like novelty and different things as human beings. I think there’s a tremendous amount of untapped things that we need to test and push in e-commerce because otherwise the only things that will be in the list are the things that were already in the list, and that’s not good for anyone.”
Correct execution of online orders is another basic but high-stakes area. La Kier noted that retailers need to be thinking about what education the personal shoppers filling those orders need to make sure that customer expectations are being met.
Another opportunity in that realm is to better understand what attributes people buy different produce items for, whether color, texture, ripeness or something else, and provide options in the e-commerce platform that allow customers to select, for instance, whether they want their avocados ready to eat or for later in the week.
“Buy again” features on some e-commerce sites provide a convenient option for shoppers, but they also underscore the importance of suppliers getting their products on the shopping list that will be used to guide the online “trip.” Shoppable recipes can be help brands get on those lists, La Kier said.
