Innovations Driving Growth For Grocers Amid Crisis

In 2020, major grocery chains including Walmart, Target, Albertsons and Kroger saw steady revenue increases, with roughly 10 percent year-over-year growth. Not surprisingly, online revenue jumped even more dramatically – exceeding 240 percent for some grocers. While these gains are encouraging, we are far from the end of the crisis. Harder times are expected, and reports indicate grocery revenue could fall sharply if grocers don’t stay ahead of the still changing market.

A recent study forecasted that the rate of growth in grocery could slow by up to 7 percent as the pandemic is brought under control. The online grocery wars are also heating up, adding even more uncertainty to the industry and making it increasingly difficult for mid-size stores to compete with the likes of Amazon and other major chains.

The events of this year caught retail and grocery by surprise, but the roll-out of experimental or nascent offerings including curbside service and widespread online ordering were rapidly accelerated. For the time being, these approaches have worked for grocers. But to ride out the remaining wave of the coronavirus pandemic and continue growing revenue even after life begins to return to normal, grocery stores must start to embrace additional innovations. 

Below are four tech-driven innovations that will help the industry hold on to the increases from the past year and continue growing despite ongoing downward economic pressures.