This text was initially printed with the title “New Analysis Reveals How Grocery Buying Habits Has Modified” on November 16, 2021. It was up to date on February 19, 2025.
Grocery purchasing modified in 2024—after which it modified once more.
Again in Could 2024, a Wall Road Journal article requested if rising costs had ended the period of one-stop grocery purchasing. The story included a number of studies that confirmed what our analysis with Brick Meets Click on had already revealed: U.S. consumers have been visiting a number of retailers for his or her grocery spending.
This examination of recent shopper conduct and grocery retailer model loyalty sparked widespread dialogue throughout the business—together with from us.
Then, a humorous factor occurred. Considerations over cross-shopping pale as total eGrocery gross sales started to climb. But, for a lot of grocers, the rising tide wasn’t lifting all boats.
The expansion in gross sales was rapidly traced again to initiatives from a few of the business’s largest gamers: Walmart, Instacart, and Amazon (amongst others) have been rolling out aggressive reductions on annual memberships, and pairing them with decreased supply charges.
These efforts attracted extra consumers to eGrocery purchasing, and within the course of, basically shifted preferences towards the elevated comfort of supply because the success technique of alternative.
By the start of 2025, U.S. eGrocery gross sales had exceeded $9.5 billion for 5 consecutive months. Whole 2024 eGrocery gross sales rose 9.1% YOY, with a 17.7% surge within the second half of the yr. Supply gross sales, specifically, surged 24.6% YOY in December, capturing 41.7% of complete on-line grocery gross sales and overtaking pickup.
This information doesn’t simply characterize total progress in on-line grocery purchasing—it displays a deeper transformation in grocery purchasing conduct.
How On-line Grocery Buying Modified in 2024
Comfort, as soon as a differentiator for retailers, has now develop into the expectation.
Not solely do trendy grocery retailer consumers not really feel tied to their native grocery store, they’re more and more assuming they’ll get extra for much less from their grocery purchasing expertise. They’ve rapidly come to count on their grocery purchasing—whether or not in-store or on-line—to be simple, personalised, and related to loyalty applications that maximize worth and save them time.
That is how trendy customers store, and it’s how trendy grocery shops should adapt in the event that they need to compete.
Whereas the membership reductions from greater gamers might have formed these shopper expectations, it’s regional grocers and independents which can be uniquely positioned to fulfill them.
Grocers already excel at constructing belief and forming deep connections with their prospects. The true problem is extending that high-touch engagement and personalised service into the digital expertise, guaranteeing that consumers really feel the identical stage of care and a spotlight regardless of how they work together.
With the appropriate instruments and the appropriate course of, grocery retailers can carry their in-store strengths on-line, assembly consumers the place they’re and creating deeper, lasting connections.
Buyer Engagement Offers Fashionable Customers What They Need
Once we speak about creating “deeper, lasting connections,” we’re speaking about buyer engagement—a method to construct relationships with consumers that transcend transactions.
By providing personalised experiences, delivering worth at each interplay, and fostering ongoing loyalty, grocers can adapt to shifting shopper conduct. However reaching this requires grocery retailers to shift their focus as properly.
Which means shifting from a short-term gross sales mindset to maximizing buyer lifetime worth (CLV). That is how an efficient buyer engagement technique—that prioritizes long-term relationships over one-off transactions— is measured.
As an alternative of chasing gross sales by attempting to match the low costs or deep reductions provided by massive gamers, this strategy drives long-term profitability whereas giving grocers a sustainable edge in a consumer-driven market.
The Roadmap to Constructing a Buyer Engagement Program that Works
Delivering the sort of buyer engagement that enhances CLV and gives a aggressive edge requires a transparent, actionable technique.
To attain this, grocery retailers should take a foundational strategy to gathering and using information, managing buyer relationships successfully, and guaranteeing that each buyer touchpoint is each personalised and interesting.
Under, we define the 5 important steps grocers have to implement a buyer engagement program that drives incremental gross sales and helps them compete with the most important gamers within the business.
Step 1: Unify First-party (1P) Information for Insights and Engagement
Prospects could also be prepared to take a ticket and wait their flip on the deli counter, however with regards to their total grocery purchasing expertise, they don’t need to really feel like simply one other quantity.
Whereas going by means of every of those steps, it’s essential to do not forget that grocery purchasing conduct has modified. Fashionable customers have larger expectations, that means that grocers are now not simply competing on value alone; they’re competing to fulfill elevated calls for.
That’s why personalization have to be on the coronary heart of any profitable engagement program—and personalization begins with buyer information.
Grocers have already got entry to a wealth of details about the buying conduct of their prospects—from transaction data and loyalty program exercise to on-line searching conduct and suggestions surveys. However too usually, this information is siloed throughout programs, limiting its potential.
To appreciate the facility of personalization, grocers should consolidate all of their information right into a single, unified platform. A whole view of every buyer’s grocery purchasing conduct—together with preferences, habits, and desires—permits for extremely focused and significant engagement methods by means of correct segmentation.
With out this step, personalization and significant engagement are almost unimaginable to realize.
Step 2: Configure a Loyalty Administration System
We point out personalization and significant engagement particularly as a result of these are the 2 largest elements in participating trendy customers. And these two elements come collectively in loyalty applications.
At their core, loyalty applications are about rewarding prospects for his or her continued enterprise. However many customers right this moment count on loyalty applications to offer one thing greater than level monitoring or providing occasional reductions.
To drive actual engagement and foster stronger relationships, loyalty applications should ship true buyer worth at each stage of the grocery purchasing journey.
The best loyalty applications incorporate the unified buyer information from step one to offer personalization and value-driven interactions that create significant, memorable experiences. This implies shifting past generic reductions to ship communications, advantages, and rewards that really feel uniquely tailor-made to every particular person shopper.
Listed here are the core parts of a loyalty program that really drives engagement:
Personalised Rewards
Use buyer information to craft rewards that resonate with particular person grocery purchasing behaviors and preferences. Provide reductions on ceaselessly bought objects, unique offers on seasonal favorites, or rewards tailor-made to dietary preferences, comparable to gluten-free or natural merchandise.
Dynamic Advantages and Tiers
Create tiered reward buildings (e.g., silver, gold, platinum) to incentivize deeper loyalty. Provide advantages like free supply, early entry to promotions, or milestone bonuses for elevated spending. These tiers encourage consumers to consolidate extra purchases together with your grocery retailer, whereas conserving them engaged over time.
Omnichannel Engagement
Guarantee your loyalty program is accessible and constant throughout all channels. Prospects ought to have the ability to observe rewards, redeem advantages, and obtain personalised affords whether or not they store on-line, in-store, or by means of your app. Constant messaging throughout e-mail, SMS, and in-app notifications ensures this system stays prime of thoughts for consumers.
By integrating these dynamic parts, grocers can rework loyalty applications into highly effective engines for engagement. These applications shouldn’t simply reward consumers for his or her loyalty—they should provide the patron an actual relationship with their grocery retailer by delivering worth in ways in which really feel private and related.
Step 3: Improve Advertising and marketing Channels
Nonetheless, an efficient engagement program doesn’t simply give attention to what grocers provide. It additionally considers how these choices are delivered.
What we’re speaking about right here is creating seamless, omnichannel experiences that meet prospects wherever they’re. To attain this, grocers should view each touchpoint, each interplay as a chance to go away consumers feeling valued and understood.
Whereas personalization gives the muse for this, it have to be constructed upon. That is the place advertising and marketing performs a crucial position in reaching trendy customers.
Advertising and marketing allows grocers to take the insights gained from the information they’ve collected and ship significant messaging by means of:
Multi-channel Communication
Constant messaging throughout e-mail, SMS, push notifications, and on-site promotions ensures that prospects obtain the appropriate message on the proper time, within the channel they like. This retains grocers top-of-mind and enhances engagement by assembly consumers the place they’re.
Dynamic Product Collections
By grouping objects into curated collections—comparable to seasonal meal kits, back-to-school snacks, or vacation necessities—grocers make it simpler for consumers to search out what they want whereas inspiring extra purchases. These collections simplify decision-making and encourage bigger baskets.
Localized Provides
Food market-specific promotions, occasions, or offers reinforce the grocery store’s position as a trusted neighborhood useful resource. By tailoring affords to native preferences and neighborhood wants, grocers can construct stronger ties with consumers whereas differentiating themselves from mass retailers.
When grocers give attention to delivering worth at each interplay, they rework the grocery purchasing expertise from transactional to non-public—constructing belief, loyalty, and repeat visits.
Most customers need to really feel seen and appreciated. By getting ready a number of advertising and marketing channels by which to succeed in them, grocers fulfil this want and provides larger entry to the tailor-made experiences that save them time, cash, and energy.
Step 4: Make use of Programmatic Concentrating on
However what’s truly being delivered by means of these advertising and marketing channels?
Personalization and value-driven interactions come collectively by means of programmatic concentrating on.
By analyzing consolidated buyer information, grocers can uncover actionable insights—patterns, preferences, and alternatives—that allow them to ship the appropriate message to the appropriate buyer on the proper time. This precision permits for extremely related campaigns tailor-made to particular buyer segments, distributed throughout the a number of advertising and marketing channels which have been ready within the earlier step.
Listed here are a few of the methods programmatic concentrating on can improve engagement and drive outcomes:
Focused Suggestions
Use information to counsel merchandise primarily based on previous purchases, dietary preferences, or seasonal wants. For instance, a buyer who buys gluten-free merchandise may obtain suggestions for brand spanking new gluten-free objects.
Dynamic Promotions
Provide reductions, offers, and even samples (from shopper packaged items manufacturers) tailor-made to particular person grocery purchasing habits. If a buyer frequently buys recent produce, they may obtain a coupon for a reduction on natural vegetables and fruit.
Related Reminders
Current suggestions and promotions timed to a buyer’s buy cycle. If the purchasing conduct information exhibits a buyer buys pet meals each three weeks, they will obtain a reminder with a reduction on their most well-liked model a couple of days earlier than their ordinary buy date.
Streamlined Digital Interactions
Personalize digital touchpoints like apps and web sites. Options like saved grocery purchasing lists, predictive cart options, and reminders for ceaselessly bought objects could make the expertise quicker and extra intuitive.
Programmatic concentrating on ensures that each advertising and marketing message is intentional and related, making a major impression and driving grocery purchasing behaviors that contribute to larger CLV.
Step 5: Develop a Centralized Hub for CRM and Analytics
By consolidating information, optimizing loyalty applications, enhancing advertising and marketing channels, and utilizing programmatic concentrating on, grocers create a framework for engagement. However to maintain success, these efforts have to be tracked, analyzed, and refined.
The ultimate step in making a profitable engagement program is establishing a centralized hub for managing buyer relationships and analytics.
A strong CRM and analytics platform ensures that grocers can’t solely monitor efficiency but in addition refine and optimize their methods over time, making a self-sustaining cycle of enchancment and engagement.
This hub ought to carry collectively instruments for:
- Monitoring key metrics like retention, engagement, and CLV to measure the effectiveness of your efforts.
- Refining loyalty applications and advertising and marketing methods primarily based on real-time efficiency information and buyer suggestions.
- Figuring out alternatives to enhance engagement throughout all channels and touchpoints.
Iteration is crucial to conserving tempo with trendy shopper conduct.
Give it some thought this fashion: when supermarkets use information to ship personalised engagement, they encourage prospects to purchase extra by means of an enhanced purchasing expertise that makes them really feel valued and understood.
This optimistic expertise:
- Builds model loyalty, encouraging repeat visits.
- Generates extra buyer information, providing deeper insights into preferences and grocery purchasing conduct.
- Allows grocers to create much more related suggestions, promotions, and communications.
This cycle of engagement—the place each interplay generates information—have to be used to fine-tune the segmentation and interactions that ship more and more related personalization and finally creates constant, invaluable interactions that enhance CLV.
Redefine Buyer Engagement with Mercatus
If there’s one takeaway from this text, it’s that when grocers prioritize buyer engagement, they domesticate a loyal buyer base that:
- Spends extra per go to.
- Returns extra usually.
- Is much much less prone to change to opponents.
- Drives long-term profitability.
The 5 steps outlined on this article present a transparent roadmap for implementing a buyer engagement program that delivers these outcomes. By unifying information, creating dynamic loyalty applications, and leveraging personalised, value-driven interactions, grocers can ship the sort of expertise trendy consumers count on.
However for a lot of grocery retailers, implementing these methods can really feel daunting. The shortage of infrastructure, instruments, or sources usually makes the concept of enhancing buyer engagement appear tough or pricey to execute.
That’s the place Mercatus is available in.
By way of our personalization and loyalty options, we empower grocers to carry these methods to life in a method that’s each efficient and reasonably priced:
- Consolidate first-party information to ship significant personalization,
- Construct dynamic loyalty applications that reward buyer loyalty and enhance CLV,
- Create seamless, omnichannel purchasing experiences throughout digital and in-store channels, and
- Optimize buyer journeys with data-driven insights to enhance retention and profitability.
Along with our know-how choices, grocers partnering with Mercatus acquire entry to the insights and experience wanted to show buyer engagement into a cheap, aggressive benefit.
In the event you’re able to prioritize buyer engagement, retain extra prospects, and enhance CLV throughout your grocery shops, contact Mercatus right this moment to see firsthand how we will drive elevated income for what you are promoting.
