In January 2020 only 5% of grocery purchases were online. Soon COVID-19 crippled the world and grocery stores across the globe experienced unprecedented growth in demand. Also, expectations are that similar behavior patterns will continue as customers are now relying on a digital-first approach for grocery shopping.

The adoption rate for online grocery shopping will hit 55% in the U.S. by the end of 2024!

Source: Global Data Analysis and Forecasts

This spike in demand is putting grocers to the ultimate test. They are looking at ways to stand out in an industry that has incredibly small margins and extremely high customer demands. Robust digital platforms are the cornerstones of an all-encompassing digital transformation.

Salesforce commerce cloud (SFCC) enables grocers to deliver on their business goals and address the distinct needs of the modern grocery shopper.

SFCC’s Commerce Cloud Grocery toolkit is a unique solution for the modern-day grocers. It comprises engaging digital features that help grocery merchants with a wealth of customer insights.

But before we delve deep, it’s best we understand its value from the business perspective.

Business Value

Before Covid-19 took over the world, it was convenience alone that made customers shop for groceries right from the comfort of their homes or on the go.

10% of US consumers shopped grocery online pre-covid.

Quick Note: The market value of online grocery shoppers has doubled from 2016 to 2018 in the US alone

Then came the pandemic and safety became the primary motive for online grocery shopping. Hence, there was an exponential increase in the number of online grocery shoppers. The online grocery sale went up by 30%.

The US alone experienced more than $7 billion sales on June 2020.

Hence, industry experts opine that a digital transformation is no more an option for grocery retailers. However, the concept of digital transformation is a wide spectrum and grocery retailers can choose features that are apt for their business and customer delight. For example, features like curbside pickup add convenience to the shopping experience.

Some of its store-specific business opportunities include:

  • Cross-selling
  • Up-selling
  • Recipe pages
  • Nutritional requirement filters
  • Analytics driven promotion

Putting all of this information together we can say that the Grocery Toolkit of SFCC adds convenience not only to customers while they shop at their discretion but convenience is also on the part of grocers since they can work more towards customer delight using smart technologies.

Salesforce commerce cloud

B2C Commerce Solutions

Salesforce B2C Commerce solutions have been designed keeping in mind specific business needs. It’s a high-end commerce strategy on a flexible platform with proven AI-powered command services that extends to any touchpoint, integrates across data and systems, and provides trusted availability.

Salesforce Commerce Platform business users now have access to guides that combine business value, platform features, proven best practices, and resources to accelerate the time to market and for guided learning.

In this blog, we shall talk about setting up an online grocery store using the SFCC platform that is the need of the hour.

We shall also discuss how the SFCC Retail Solutions addresses some of the problem areas, such as:

The Grocery Development Toolkit

The Salesforce e-commerce toolkit for grocery enables developers to quickly launch a digital storefront with pre-built components to enhance customer convenience. The full-featured implementation is embedded with capabilities like online shopping, curbside pickup at a preferred time slot. It’s the bundled and the ready-to-use apps that accelerate the store launch program. The B2C Commerce Storefront Reference Architecture (SFRA) grocery components are responsible for an authentic grocery shopping experience.

The multi-faceted use of this specific toolkit includes:

Grocery Developer Toolkit Use Cases

  • Digital grocery storefront experience: reference architecture that includes grocery-specific PLP and PDP pages.
  • Store based pricing, promotions, and availability.
  • Pick up time management and selection.
  • Picker app for store associates (coming soon).

B2C Platform: Toolkit Accelerators for Grocery

  • B2C Commerce Toolkit for Grocery from GitHub
  • Time Slot Manager from GitHub
  • Sample Picker App for Grocery from GitHub
  • Store locator
  • Heroku (or comparable PaaS) for Time Slot Manager app

Key Takeaways

Online grocery shopping differs from its offline counterpart. Online customers are likely to be more habitual and less adventurous. There is an affinity towards well-known and usual brands. Only a few grocery shoppers discover new products online. But grocery retailers can walk that extra mile and take things in their stride. The way forward is essentially a digital-first approach.

Commerce Cloud offers a mobile-first storefront with grocery-specific templates and in-store integrations. It’s a purpose-built digital commerce platform with which grocers can digitize grocery fast, build experiences around customers, and effortlessly manage time slots along with capacity. It takes you into a whole new world of the grocery business.

References:

https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/commerce/commerce-solutions/guide/solutions-landing-overview.html

https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/commerce/commerce-solutions/guide/grocery-sk.html

https://www.businessinsider.in/bi-intelligence/news/the-online-grocery-report-the-coronavirus-pandemic-is-thrusting-online-grocery-into-the-spotlight-in-the-us-here-are-the-players-that-will-emerge-at-the-top-of-the-market/articleshow/76095316.cms

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/how-european-shoppers-will-buy-groceries-in-the-next-normal

https://www.salesforce.com/resources/articles/online-grocery-store-behavior/