Total Digital Maturation in Online Grocery Shopping Is Only Five to Seven Years Away

FMI EducationTrack at Groceryshop helps you Prepare with the Six Digital Imperatives

By Doug Baker, FMI Vice President, Industry Relations - Private Brands, Technology

The “acceleration path” for online book and music sales was 15 years. That’s how long it took to move from 20 percent of consumers shopping online to what experts consider maturation, 70 percent.

After that, things sped up. The next industry to go online, banking, only took 10 years to reach that point.

Recent research prepared for FMI by Nielsen indicates it will take food retail only five to seven more years to reach 70 percent penetration. In other words, time is of the essence for food retail executives who wake up in the middle of the night to worry about how far along that acceleration path their companies are.

“The Digitally Engaged Food Shopper” report spells out six significant digital imperatives that the industry must deal with to achieve its goal of a seamless and profitable omnichannel model. The imperatives range from “getting the right people in place in unduplicated organizational structures” to “fixing inaccurate master data” and “improving marketing and promotions.”

If you are one of those food retail executives up at night worrying about how your company can meet these imperatives, here’s some good news: Each one of the six imperatives will be dealt with in the FMI co-located track at Groceryshop, scheduled Oct. 28-31 at the Aria in Las Vegas.

Groceryshop is a unique conference that will give established and start-up food retailers and their industry partners a chance to examine the fast-moving transformation and evolution in how consumers discover, shop and buy in a digital age.

On Tuesday, Oct. 30, FMI will host specific content in six sessions that address the imperatives discussed in “The Digitally Engaged Food Shopper.” The day will start out with a session entitled “Evaluating the People, Processes and Technologies for Omnichannel Success” in response to that first imperative mentioned above, “getting the right people in place in unduplicated organizational structures.”

Speakers from the consulting firm of A. T. Kearney will help attendees assess whether they are making the right people and technology choices to build a successful omnichannel plan.

In the session “Leveraging Master Data Accuracy and Analytics to Better Reach the Consumer,” Nielsen researchers will discuss the imperative to “fix inaccurate master data.”

To “improve marketing and promotions,” experts will conduct a session entitled “Compete and Thrive! Realize the Full Potential of Cohesive Shopper Insights.”

Mike Molitor, head of e-commerce and loyalty for Raley’s Supermarkets, and Linda Filler, former president of retail at Walgreens, will talk about “How to Use Data Effectively to Unify Digital and Store Experiences.”

The Groceryshop schedule is full of important keynotes, roundtable discussions and conference sessions. What makes FMI’s conference track so significant - and a must-attend for food retailers - is that it will specifically address the six digital imperatives the industry understands it must deal with to put itself in position to manage that maturation point only five to seven years away.

FMI and Nielsen have organized insights and an assessment tool at FMI.org/DigitalShopper.  

Join your colleagues from Kroger, Alex Lee, Wakefern, Albertson’s and more at Groceryshop.