Before 2020, grocery shopping typically involved shoppers driving to a supermarket, selecting items and wheeling them to a checkout to pay for their orders. Some consumers had already discovered how convenient it could be to choose items and pay online, then drive to the store to pick up orders curbside. Then, during the pandemic, many more people joined early grocery online ordering adopters to increase the demand for omnichannel grocery stores.
According to eMarketer, grocery online order penetration increased by more than 50 percent in 2020, growing from 24 percent in 2019 to 51 percent in Q4 2020. To keep up with that sudden spike in demand, grocery stores evolved into omnichannel grocery stores. Moreover, eMarketer predicts that penetration will continue to grow to 55 percent or more in the next few years.
New Processes Need New Payment Solutions
Attempting to support new grocery operations with legacy solutions is inefficient at best and disastrous at worst. First, grocers need the ability to accept payments online as well as in-store and a way to manage payments on each channel from a single solution.
Second, depending on the options the store provides to its customers, it may also need the ability to accept payments when customers arrive for curbside pickup or when groceries are delivered. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it has also been beneficial to accept contactless payment cards and mobile wallets to keep those transactions as touch-free as possible.
Also, to manage the sudden demand for omnichannel grocery engagements, some grocers began offering subscriptions and recurring payments. With subscriptions, grocers have some extra insight for demand forecasting. It also enables them to provide consumers just learning to navigate grocers’ e-commerce websites with the convenience of subscribing to receive certain staples automatically and have payment drawn on their bank accounts or payment cards.
Solutions Grocers Need in 2021
If you have provided solutions to the grocery vertical in the past, you probably focused on terminal point of sale (POS), scales, barcode scanners, and card-present payments. In addition to the vertical changing since Q1 2020, your business has also had to transform by expanding your portfolio of grocery solutions to include:
- Mobile devices for delivery drivers and staff managing curbside pickup
- Mobile devices for staff that picks and fills orders
- Mobile printers to print tags and labels that organize the picking, packaging and delivery processes
- Mobile device management to ensure employees have functional devices throughout their shifts and that those devices are secure
- Kiosk solutions for self-checkout and check in for order pickup
- Add-on solutions for delivery and route management
- Robust inventory solutions that provide online shoppers with real-time information
- Payment solutions capable of accepting contactless “tap-and-go” payments as well as mobile wallets
Focus on Solving New Pain Points in 2021
As the omnichannel grocery trend picked up speed, the high costs of order fulfillment, curbside service and delivery compared to traditional brick-and-mortar grocery shopping models became painfully apparent to business owners.
Operating a grocery store in the new normal means higher labor costs and more overhead for warehouse space or dark stores where staff can fill orders. Your clients will be interested in solutions that save time and money – and payment solutions that don’t lock grocers into a payment processor that charges higher-than-average fees.
Design solutions that will help your clients keep a lid on labor costs, optimize processes for the greatest efficiency and integrates with an omnichannel payment solution that provides all of the functionality needed. Be the solution provider that omnichannel grocery businesses need in 2021.
