“Webvan”, a name — portraying the dot com defeat. In 2001, the heavily funded startup and its investors played the random shot, considering the right to sell groceries online. It was a mistake, a blunder.

After a decade, retail-savvy companies with App Development Company in Dubai, the USA, and across are all set to sail. In San-Francisco, Amazon fresh trucks make way through downtown, delivering groceries at the doorstep. Even Walmart sends trucks to deliver groceries down the same streets. Not to forget, Google delivers food at your doorstep.

After all, one startup idea — a state-of-art Webvan in essence, if not in strategy — adheres to deliver any grocery you want.

Now is the resurgence of online grocery shopping. But, the question is whether it will make it BIG this time?
Time To Make Food Buying An “Experience”

Undoubtedly, several products never change and become commodities.

The way customers differentiate between them is by their experience, especially true in the grocery industry. The future-ready grocery store will be more focused on experience rather than just things. Customers won’t select the store because of the products and ranges. Instead, they will go for a more convenient or sheer experience.

It will be a place where customers step in to learn about their food and experience in a totally new way rather than just buying it. This clearly portrays stores will offer things like wine tasting, cooking, and other fantastic stuff.

As observed from the COVID-19 epidemic, many customers are inclined towards grocery pickup and delivery, which promises to continue and upsurge for customers in the future. Moreover, by aligning with the best mobile app development company, everything evolves when it’s about grocery; it includes opening the door to stores stocking food off-site.

Unsurprisingly, restaurants are opting for ghost kitchens for pickup and delivery without eat-in dining rooms. Similarly, grocery stores can act as pickup and delivery hubs but don’t let customers step in. Also, in the future, 30-minute delivery time will be a common thing, with groceries delivered by drone.

However, the biggest pitfall of present online grocery ordering is that orders are either misplaced or have unsustainable packaging. The grocery stores need to work on these issues to be future-ready with inventive solutions, like allowing customers to simply click on a recipe and have all items delivered from the store without any slip-up.

The most crucial feature for future grocery stores is an experience or a viewpoint.

Is it still perplexed? Let’s uncover it!

Why do customers prefer to step into the store?
What makes them feel special when they do shopping?
How will it be possible for grocery stores to offer an experience that enriches customer shopping experience?

The answer is “EXPERIENCE”! It makes customer’s lives more comfortable and better, like telling them about the food they are purchasing or offering them a chance to enjoy their time while shopping on their behalf.

Simply put, grocery e-commerce is also having a momentum.
Finally, Grocery Ecommerce Is Having A Moment

I was piling up my home with groceries before the possibility of lockdown in March, when I wondered about the change in our own behaviour, and how that might portray the wider market.

Since, social-distancing and lockdown protocols were followed, most of the users dwelled on a fundamental question: “ Online Grocery Services Near Me? “. Indeed, the gospel truth is, these days grocery is always near you.

Besides, you would be familiar with the colossal spending on groceries in the U.S followed after the Coronavirus epidemic was declared.

March 2020, spending at U.S grocery stores witnessed an upsurge of 26%. Whereas, the spending at restaurants and bars were marginally eclipsed in comparison to the spending at grocery stores in March, the significant rise since 1996.

In an Analysis by Second Measure, it was found that quarterly spending on groceries grew to nearly $400 in 2nd Quarter, approximately up by 31% annually.

Of course, decisive reasons are bracing this unprecedented rise:

Most of the people piled up their groceries in case restrictions become more strict and confined.
Many restaurants were forced to close because of shelter-in-place orders, making grocery the essential option to get food.
Considering consumers’ worries around the health risks of stepping outside or heading for grocery shopping, it all turned to delivery services, including grocery delivery.
More time working from home eventually means more time snacking and eating, and it ultimately directs towards more grocery shopping.

According to eMarketers, before the pandemic knocked in, merely 3.2% of online food and beverage spending was noticed in February 2020. This is the lowest online penetration of total retail sales for any category in the ecommerce landscape.

Not to forget, grocery online shopping has a great momentum behind it — much before the COVID-19 epidemic, with last year portraying a clear inflection point. Besides, according to TABS analytics, 2019 was a year of significant growth for both — initial trials and increasing frequency of online grocery ordering.

With these stats portraying, the flame was already lit. The Coronavirus pandemic has clearly poured the gas on the fire.

Besides the stats, from a customer point of view and a business aspect, let’s take a look into why the future of online grocery is on the brink and indeed more viable: Long Working Hours

These days, work culture and career bugs are not limited to just the metro cities. Regardless of its size, a city has endless people striving to grow and merely having the time to go shop for daily groceries.

As the culture for hiring maids and getting served with cooked food is getting popular day by day, purchasing groceries and setting a specific delivery time is not just time-consuming but a lot quicker with minimum overheads.

No More Physical Establishment

A pocket-friendly and reliable proposition, e-grocers can easily make a base in a centrally located warehouse to make sure they sheath the market with more comfort rather than investing in physical stores along with their respective warehouses. It’s a practical and highly desirable way of functioning.

The same amount of saving can be invested in offering exciting deals and discounts than adding several over headed brick and mortar stores.

Eliminating “Bargaining” Game

The right way to break through the conventional form of bargaining is opting for online service. An e-grocer has the choice to offer discounts and money-saving deals wherein it’s either “buy me or lose me”. There is not much scope of playing local hagging games over tomato prices which often has been the years old culture.

Good deals and promotions do allure profitable business without bringing the prices down.

Keeping in mind the time is continually evolving. The person is career-oriented, dependent on their phone for everything, purchases more incredible internet speed is e-banking savvy and more than often runs short of time for errands. Therefore, providing a chance to save money and time act as icing on the consumer’s cake.

Despite the grocery retail epoch being the most inoculated sector from the COVID-19 in the short term, their own demurs are inching closer every day.

But, going mobile proves a boon to businesses while checking on customer needs. “Instacart” is an excerpt of when we say “Grocery Ecommerce is having a moment”.
“Instacart” Is The Big Delivery Winner By Now

Which service are you using?

According to Second Measure, Instacart comes out to be the crucial beneficiary amid all the grocery delivery players in the past few months.

Instacart’s lion share has overshadowed Walmart grocery, which had been the market forerunner prior to the pandemic.

To be precise, Instacart is a multi-sided marketplace. The company partners with national and local grocers to allow customers to get delivered with everything they need from the store. The company also partners with shoppers, who are part-time employees or contractors, and who completed orders by getting items from a store, and delivering from the store to the comfort of customers.

Amazon and Walmart have direct, complete stack models for grocery delivery, leveraging their physical establishments. Shipt is owned by Target but simultaneously it offers deliveries from partners through an Instacart-like model.

Even, Uber launched grocery delivery service in partnership with Cornershop,

There are many online-only, vertically-integrated grocery delivery businesses, like Imperfect Foods, offering you a subscription for groceries at a discounted rate in comparison to in-store prices.

Finally, meal kit services like Sun Basket, HelloFresh cater as a replacement to grocery store tips. Unsurprisingly, Wirecutter has a nice rundown of many of the above mentioned grocery services as well as other ready for shopping during the pandemic.
What’s The Big Thing In Online Grocery? — “Artificial Intelligence”

Artificial Intelligence is indispensable for tomorrow’s grocery businesses. Whether it’s Android app development or iOS version, AI proves to be the cornerstone of the future customer experience.

Brands need to harness AI to become more efficient and customized. Many aspects of the customer experience, like answering frequent questions or even checking out stores, can be easily automated with AI, leaving employees with ample time to interact with customers in a meaningful manner.

In the future, more apps are coming with robotic technology that is yet to be witnessed. The key is for companies to find the right balance between technology and human interaction — customers enjoying the convenience of using a chatbot or an app for information. They also crave real human connection, like talking to a representative about a more complex problem or getting customized product recommendations from a stylist.

A Note: Especially for millennials — an unforgettable shopping experience is more important than it’s for their parents.

Technology has revolutionized how people interact and shop with brands. The youth are digital natives who grew up with technology like mobiles and the internet. They are focused on having customized interactions with everyday brands like Spotify and Netflix and expect to get that same treatment of customization and seamless transaction from brands.

Millennials customers like to stay connected and rely on connections with their friends and brands to make purchasing decisions as the younger generation care much more about their experience than that of the price or the product. They are ready to spend more on a great experience just because they care about making memories instead of collecting the collectables.
Will The Habit Remain Same Post-COVID-19?

Before opting for iPhone app development or Android app, it’s crucial to know — What is still unknown for everyone in the grocery delivery industry?

It’s consumer behaviour. Who consumers will look like when everything gets back to normal, without the mask and shelter-in-place restrictions.

Will online grocery ordering and delivery remain a habit for most consumers? Or, will they opt back to stores the way they did it before?

I assume that, though many customers will return to their pre-pandemic schedule for grocery shopping, a behemoth amount of shoppers will prefer online grocery shopping because of the habit they have developed during this time. Probably, after a year or many, the new practice of meal planning, checking food services online, grocery lists and much more, which consumers are using now, will be hard to return to older ways.

What I have observed in E-commerce over the years is that it keeps growing, with remarkable growth during the holiday seasons leading to consumers permanently inclining to online purchasing for the subsequent years.
The Final Words

With the online grocery delivery game growing manifold, each player faces a lot of competition, especially within their own reign and the changes coming from food delivery services like GrubHub stepping into the delivery aisle and not to forget the competitors offering drive-up grocery services.

Lastly, customer experience will always remain the winning key in online grocery shopper’s loyalty. With expectations evolving and demands revolutionizing, the change is crucial retail demographics’ needs can be easily met by partnering with an experienced mobile app development company.

Remember, retailers that focus or want to emerge out into the online grocery ecommerce world should learn from the lessons of failed grocery delivery services, mark the pitfalls and observe their working strategy. Lastly, to boom now, start a discussion with experts to look at the future of omnichannel grocery shopping.

After all, it’s essential to stay abreast of the competitive trajectory.