How Hy-Vee tailored Aisles Online to match shopper preferences during the pandemic

Consumers quickly shifted to online grocery shopping during the pandemic, and that trend is likely to continue as shoppers become more accustomed to the convenience of shopping from home. Like most retailers, Hy-Vee had been steadily seeing an increase in online shopping. But the chain saw a huge spike in the percentage of customers willing to shop for produce through its Aisles Online option once the pandemic hit.

“We had been doing very well with online sales, but produce did not have as high a distribution in each order,” said Jeff Mallory, vice president of produce. “Once the pandemic started, produce became one of the top 10 items being purchased. It literally changed overnight.”

Read related: Produce is star performer at Hy-Vee

The overwhelming increase in produce fulfillment necessitated a shift in training at the chain. “It taught us that we needed to provide more produce selection education to our Aisles Online store shoppers. If there’s one thing customers are going to be picky about, it’s their produce. They want a certain-sized apple or a specific use-by date, the list goes on and on,” said Mallory. 

To ensure customers were getting the quality they had come to expect from Hy-Vee, Mallory’s team turned to enhanced training of its online shopping workers. “The person shopping center store can’t be the same person shopping produce. We needed to start teaching classes on how to handle and shop for produce. And we had to move quickly,” he said.

Read related: Retail spotlight on Hy-Vee

Shoppers who pick in the produce aisles are now specifically trained with expert veterans in the department to learn how to handle and select produce. “We want to make sure the customer is getting exactly what they asked for, from firmness to ripeness to sizing,” said Mallory.

In-store staff are prepped to always be on the lookout for how they can assist online shoppers. “I tell my store staff that when they see a person with an Aisles Online shirt working, they should always ask if those employees are finding everything they need. They should be looking at those employees the same way they view customers, because that employee is shopping on behalf of our customers,” said Mallory. 

Read related: What Hy-Vee has learned from COVID