Grocery Retail

The shopping experience

A store you always like to pop in to brighten your day. That’s one way to describe La Formaggeria Gran Moravia. Though the company now runs over twenty stores in cities both big and small, the beloved cheese seller still manages to keep the “local corner shop” vibe, with customers popping in on their way home to see what’s new and have their favourite shop assistant recommend a good cheese for the day. This truly personal approach has not gone unnoticed, helping the company improve this year’s personalization score. And despite other pillars falling a bit short, customers repeatedly point out high product quality in their reviews, in line with the higher prices.

Another factor that helps the sector’s winner secure returning customers is a selection of goods that are fresh and a broad selection in general. Rohlík, who came in second, is popular thanks to its extremely wide offer that includes specialties of all sorts, ready-to-eat meals from restaurants, pharmacy goods, and a broad array of deli foods and goods for immediate consumption that customers praise for freshness and quality. And as for Formaggeria, it’s the additional products that are praised, like oils and wines that just go perfectly with cheeses. Tastings are also popular with customers – together with a personal approach, they are a sure path to not getting lost in the sea of options and always picking the right stuff.

Time is money

For many, grocery shopping is a necessary evil, especially when it takes up half of your precious Sunday afternoon. With online supermarkets, this is no longer an issue – you can pick and add your groceries to your basket throughout the day and then have them delivered when it suits you. Indeed, comfort and time-saving are the two things people love most about online grocery shopping. In the case of Rohlík, customers also praise good organization and categorization that removes the need to wander through supermarket aisles, all confused. The option to select a precise time slot – and the goods actually arriving within the selected time slot – also receives high praise.

In terms of pillars, Rohlík managed to improve in personalization, expectations, resolution, and empathy, with the last two having positive reviews of customer service and its speed to thank. Partnerships with other brands, like the Benu pharmacy chain or the online second-hand book shop Knihobot are also attractive to customers. As for Košík, it’s the selection of farmer’s products that is well-liked by customers.

Accessibility for the win

One look at customer reviews makes it clear that online grocery shopping has become a permanent part of our lives. Everyone uses it – families, young full-time workers, pensioners. Online supermarkets have created a new standard, and we have gotten used to it quickly. As for the negative reviews, those are often caused by higher prices and unavailability of delivery to certain locations – something Košík.cz is now working on, expanding their delivery map yet again this year.

And with the German owner of the well-known Metro (Makro) stores receiving an ownership stake in Košík this year, things really do look promising in terms of better logistics.

However, the sharp increase in grocery prices is obvious in online supermarkets, too. So how do the top players compensate for that? Aside from the already mentioned shopping comfort, it’s regular promotions. Rohlík responded to climbing prices by putting a cap on the price of basic groceries and offering a time-limited access to Premium membership for free once in a while, while Košík won customers with special schemes for families or pensioners that include free delivery and regular discounts. As for Makro, it opted for a strategy of maintaining low prices of key goods instead of using time-limited promotions – a choice that likely helped it achieve a significant improvement in the perceived value for money and become the sector’s top riser.

Smart solutions

Some Czech grocery retailers already use artificial intelligence – for instance, Košík.cz uses Yieldigo’s solutions to set product prices. The tool also allowed the company to respond to changes in customer behaviour and demand during the COVID-19 pandemic swiftly and efficiently.

An app by the Albert supermarket chain is smart enough to suggest recipes based on custom preferences like a specific diet, the number of portions you usually cook, or your culinary skills. If AI was to get involved, the app could learn customer behaviour patterns and come up with even more personalized recipe suggestions or keep track of your stock of regular groceries, and the company could improve its cross-selling and upselling results – sales of related or better, more expensive options of things customers buy often.

Virtual security personnel

AI has a lot to offer to brick-and-mortar stores as well. Connected to a surveillance system, AI could alert employees when there’s a shortage of goods on the shelves, letting them know restocking is needed. In fact, Marks & Spencer already uses this technology. And for self-service stores that are at risk of thievery, AI could be of help too, capable of assessing shoppers’ movements and predicting dishonest behaviour. It’s smart enough to distinguish between someone trying to steal and putting their personal belongings in their pockets. Such a system is already in place in an automated COOP store in Beroun.