Grocery Shopping Has Become a Bore And a Chore

The numbered aisles with shelves upon shelves of packaged foods. The janky metal shopping carts. The ritual of placing your every purchase on the cashier’s conveyor belt to be rung up and bagged. Despite the technological innovations that have transformed many aspects of our lives, grocery shopping is still pretty much the same routine.

And many shoppers are tired of it.

The retail design firm ChangeUp surveyed shoppers to find out who’s still doing their grocery shopping in person, who’s abandoned grocery stores to shop online instead, and what they all think could be improved so the in-store shopping experience feels less like an antiquated chore from another era.

The split is roughly half and half, with 53% shopping exclusively in store, and the rest a mix of in-store and online. But one thing they all agree on – the in-store shopping experience is far from perfect.

59% of survey respondents say the in-store experience has stagnated or worsened over the past two years. 43% say physical grocery stores are not living up to their potential. And nearly 50% say they find grocery shopping “unexciting.”

“Grocery stores must evolve beyond mere functional spaces,” ChangeUp advised. Today’s shoppers “demand dynamic, value-adding experiences that complement their digital habits and provide compelling reasons to visit physical locations.”

62% of shoppers who buy their groceries both online and in store say they want easier ways to find items when they’re in a physical store. Sure, you can open your grocery app and type in a product to find out what aisle it’s in. But some grocery stores are using technology to highlight specific items right on the shelf so you know exactly where to look. It’s enough to make these tech-savvy shoppers wonder, why aren’t all grocery stores doing that?

Overall, more than half of in-store and online shoppers wish their stores would use technology to make in-store shopping faster and more efficient. A third agree with the statement “leading grocery brands are not modern.”

Not modern, but still useful. While these tech-savvy shoppers that ChangeUp has dubbed “Power Users” have embraced online grocery shopping, they haven’t abandoned in-store visits. About three-quarters of these hybrid shoppers say they still use the physical store for stock-up trips, visiting just about every week. 40% say they visit multiple times a week.

That’s because even these shoppers acknowledge that in-store shopping has its benefits. Two-thirds say they feel more in control of their purchases when they shop in store, and about half believe they get better quality items. 43% appreciate the “irreplaceable tactile and visual aspects” of the in-store shopping experience. And 39% believe they get lower prices when they shop in person.

But these shoppers “often find physical stores falling short of their expectations,” ChangeUp noted. “The personalization, efficiency, and engagement they’re looking for simply isn’t there yet.”

So ChangeUp offers some potential solutions. Offering more digital in-store services to digitally-savvy shoppers is a given. But beyond that, ChangeUp says the entire grocery store as we know it needs to be reimagined. “The traditional grocery store layout, with its rigid perimeter and center store format, may come to frustrate Power Users who expect efficiency, convenience, and engagement,” the report states. So stores should look to “create flexible store layouts that accommodate various customer journeys. Design spaces that can adapt to different shopping missions, from quick, focused trips to leisurely browsing experiences.”

No store is there quite yet. But some stores are doing better than others, in earning these Power Users’ business. Shoppers say their favorite in-store shopping experience is at H-E-B, cited by 82% of survey respondents. Close behind are Trader Joe’s and Albertsons. But even they have some work to do before they’re seen as truly “modern.”

“While grocery stores have traditionally aimed to serve everyone, this broad approach is no longer sufficient in today’s rapidly evolving retail landscape,” Bill Chidley, Executive Director of Strategy at ChangeUp, said in a statement. As time goes on, the report found, shoppers “will become increasingly dissatisfied with generic physical grocery shopping experiences.” By working to bring an often tedious chore into the future, “stores can transform grocery shopping from a mundane task into a seamless part of their customers’ daily lives.”

Every once in a while you’ll find a new product, or get a great deal, to enliven your otherwise dull grocery routine. If only every shopping trip could be that exciting. If more stores follow ChangeUp’s advice – it just might be.

Image source: Kate Ter Haar