The known routine of driving to the grocery store, grabbing a cart, loading it with groceries and checking out at the register has evolved in recent years. Accelerated by the events of the last two years, grocery shopping is now taking place both online and in physical stores, presenting new opportunities for brands to deliver omnichannel experiences—whether shoppers are carrying their grocery bags home or having them delivered right to their doorstep.
State of the industry
According to Incisiv, online grocery is expected to become a $250 billion-plus channel by 2025 in the U.S., up from $34 billion in 2019. That’s 7x growth in just six years. And, research shows that grocery shopping will continue both online and in physical stores. Brands can be present throughout customers’ omnichannel shopping journeys by finding new ways to engage them.
Customers today expect to have a seamless experience between online and in-store shopping. According to research from Nielsen, 44% of American households are actively buying food both on-and-offline. This means that brands should consider meeting customers’ rising expectations no matter when, where, and how they explore and purchase their groceries.
“Today’s customers are increasingly doing their grocery shopping across multiple devices throughout their day,” Michael Huffaker, VP of Fresh Grocery at Amazon. “As this omnichannel grocery shopping experience becomes more common, it’s important for brands to try and connect with customers both in-person and online.”
Being present across the omnichannel grocery shopping journey
By connecting the shopping experience across grocery delivery and physical stores, brands can meet shoppers wherever they choose to buy groceries through in-store and online advertising.
The grocery store run is no longer a single trip or even a single shopping experience. Online shopping makes it possible for shoppers to buy groceries between meetings, classes, appointments or simply while watching shows on their TV screens at home.
As this omnichannel grocery shopping experience becomes more common, it’s important for brands to try and connect with customers both in-person and online.
Michael Huffaker, Amazon
According to an Amazon and Kantar internal study, one-third of grocery shoppers no longer pay for traditional cable TV. And even if they may pay for cable TV, half of grocery shoppers’ time watching TV is spent on streaming services. So, Streaming TV ads is a way for brands to reach these consumers at scale throughout their day.
In addition, customers interact with Alexa billions of times each week across the hundreds of millions of Alexa-enabled devices. During these interactions, Alexa can be customers’ shopping companion. They can just ask Alexa to add items to their shopping list and review it on their mobile device with the Alexa or Amazon app for seamless in-store shopping across any retailer. They can also look over their list and add items directly to their Amazon, Whole Foods Market or Amazon Fresh shopping cart.
The takeaway (or delivery)
Consumers are shopping on their own time, throughout the day, all year round. Brands can stay present during these daily moments through immersive ad experiences to deliver relevant information before, during and after the grocery trip to help inform buying decisions.
At Amazon Ads, we’ve seen brands that reach shoppers on three or more channels throughout their shopping journey—such as through Sponsored Products, display and Streaming TV ads—drive a 72% higher new-to-brand growth rate and 32% higher sales growth rate compared to advertisers using a single channel according to our internal metrics.
Today’s grocery shoppers are constantly moving and checking off their grocery lists in both the digital and in-person worlds. As this omnichannel experience continues to be the norm, it’s important for brands to meet these customers where they’re shopping through their journeys in order to stay top-of-mind.
