Supermarket shopping is, for the vast majority of consumers, an essential. Whilst other forms of retail may be seen as leisure and pleasure, the weekly food shop is more likely to be considered a must-do chore. So what supermarket shoppers want above all is convenience. Whether they’re buying via ecommerce solutions or in the brick and mortar store, they want a smooth and hassle-free retail experience, to get the job done as painlessly as possible. From frictionless checkout to seamless ERP integrations, to built-in promotions, loyalty, and inventory management – a sophisticated Grocery POS offers everything a modern-day retailer needs to deliver convenience to their customers

  • iVend Retail for Supermarket

iVend’s Grocery POS system is designed for convenience and speed.

Learn how we’re helping supermarket retailers around the world.

Top priorities for grocery shoppers

Shoppers are ‘prioritising convenience and safety above all else’ reports The Grocer. This means they want shorter queues and rapid checkout, self-service options, and a range of ways to pay. With interest in food provenance and home cooking increasing, they also want information about sourcing and recipes readily available in the aisles

With online grocery shopping having exploded over the last few years, the demand for convenience is just as strong in the online grocery world. Consumers want live information about product availability. Once they’ve made their selections, they want choice and transparency for delivery, demanding  ‘rapid delivery turnarounds, frequent delivery notifications, clear communications, and the right delivery options.’  So strong is this demand, that half of online shoppers will abandon their shop if they don’t see a range of options, including home delivery with timed drop-offs, click and collect/BOPIS and curbside pickup.

With competition in the grocery sector high, shoppers know they always have a choice, and they’re not willing to tolerate anything that causes friction at the checkout – particularly creating an account, a long checkout process or limited payment methods.

When it comes to grocery shopping, 93% of shoppers want to find deals, making it the highest category in retail for shoppers wanting to use coupons, special offers and loyalty points.

Grocery POS: Delivering speed, convenience, and zero friction

For supermarkets developing a retail strategy to deliver a convenient and frictionless customer experience, the answer lies in processes, staff, and above all retail technology. A powerful and flexible point of sale system can make a crucial difference to the customer’s experience in the brick and mortar supermarket or digital retail store. Here’s what to look for when selecting retail technology if you want to make convenience and speed a top priority for your grocery shoppers:

  • Powerful and flexible point of sale system – will enable the faster checkout and shorter queues that customers demand. Speed can be enhanced with features such as integration with weight scales, automatic pricing for weighed goods, and minimising the number of clicks per sale.

  • Online/offline retail POS system – having your point of sale out of action rapidly creates queues. Retail cloud POS delivers agility, but it’s important to ensure you have a retail POS system that also works offline, so that your operations are not impacted if you lose connection to the internet.

  • In-store self-service – some of your customers just want to scan and go, so self-service options are a must.

  • Mobile POS – equipping your staff with mobile POS devices means they can offer assistance in the aisles. Mpos solutions can also provide self-service information to customers about where their produce comes from, or exciting ways to prepare and cook it.

  • Frictionless online checkout – shoppers rapidly abandon carts and even reject your brand altogether if there are ‘speedbumps’ that slow down their shopping. Consider site design, rapid payment options, guest checkout and easy booking of delivery slots.

  • Range of ways to shop – customers expect a choice of ways to shop. Whether it’s shopping online for home delivery, click and collect/buy online pickup in store (BOPIS) or buy online for curbside pickup. In today’s omnichannel retail world, they no longer see the distinction between the online and offline channels, so retailers need to seamlessly integrate the two.

  • Loyalty management integrated with Grocery POS – make it swift and easy for your customers to spend their points or coupons at the point of sale, online or in the retail store, with full integration between your customer loyalty solution and retail POS system.

  • Integrated inventory management – convenience for shoppers means having the right goods in the right place at the right time. Look to maximise efficiency and accuracy with an integrated inventory management system that can push stock out to your retail stores, rather than relying on requisitions, freeing up staff to focus on customers. Online shoppers want a real-time view of what is available, rather than have to manage substitutions. A flawless inventory management system across online and brick and mortar retail store channels will ensure customers can buy the goods they want, and you don’t miss out on sales opportunity.

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