Winning the Customer Retention Game in Online Grocery
The online grocery industry is experiencing unprecedented growth in all areas. This, in a period where the COVID-19 pandemic is crippling almost every other industry, and recovery seems far and long. Therefore, this no better time for retailers to build on this trend than right now, while online grocery experimentation and adoption is at its peak.
In a space working on such low margins customer retention has been a major talking point for forever. More so, with the advent of personalized nutrition, there is a need to develop technological solutions to aid one of the fastest growing consumer trends in in online grocery.
Striving for customer retention
While each retailer has their own strategy, business focus and assortment, everyone can, and must, invest in customer retention. These are some of the strategies retailers need to employ:
KYC – Know your customer: This sounds very basic, but only great customer service can help you understand what is important to your customers. Customers come with the expectation that retailers will provide exactly what they are looking for, all the time.
Grocery retailers’ job is to tailor their products and services to suit their customers wills and wants, while placing Health & Wellness as a priority. In fact, health and wellness is the number one sales/revenue driver for grocery retailers according to an FMI research. Thus, retailers need to survey their customers to help you realize their strong points and shortcomings.
Provide discounts and benefits for your long-term clients: These customers need to be rewarded for the crucial role they play in the success of the business.
Retailers should always provide tangible value for all their customers. In essence, retailers need to think of innovative ways of service that would make their customers miss them if they were gone. This is the golden rule. This method would also cultivate more referrals and ultimately lower marketing costs.
Ensure follow up: There is no use investing so much money, manpower, and time if it wouldn’t increase customer retention figures. The average customer needs at least seven interactions with a brand to come back again. Therefore, all activities should revolve around keeping the customer on the radar.
Automate processes: grocery shopping is perceived as a chore, and therefore should be easy and stress free. Consumers want a frictionless and seamless experience when shopping for groceries. Especially those who are looking to achieve any kind of dietary or health goal, who have to look at front and back labeling, search for nutritional information and rely on vague nutrition assumptions. All customers want this experience served to them seamlessly.
Therefore, adopting a tech solution like AlgoCart’s Deep Nutrition Platform will help to increase the retailer’s value as a brand by providing a next-gen customized experience for the customer.
The Impact Of COVID-19 On Online Groceries
We have seen different consumer behaviors due to the lockdowns and restriction of movement. Only essential goods are top priority, and groceries are about the most essential at the moment. In addition, it had become safer and more convenient to order groceries online.
Seeing that grocery commerce has shown a remarkable uptrend, online groceries have to be prepared, not just for the increased demand, but also for life after COVID-19.
The Bottom line
Customer retention would lead to brand loyalty. Long term clients would always bring in more revenue, cost less to market to, and refer their friends and family. For these reasons, the retention strategies above, when implemented correctly, would ensure that retailers win the customer retention game in online grocery.
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