Deloitte has officially published the results from its sixth annual assessment covering state of fresh food. Named as “A Fresh (Food) Take on Grocery Convenience,” the assessment surveyed both consumers and grocers, and by the available details, it would discover that today’s grocery shoppers keep convenience and freshness above everything else. You see, nearly 52% respondents put much more emphasis upon convenience than they did in the past. Keeping in line with the same, around 8 in every 10 grocers agree that successfully competing on convenience is the key to increasing unit sales volume. Next up, the report digs into those 53% of consumers who feel that figuring out “what’s for dinner” is one of their major pain points. In fact, 44% were found to regularly buy from a grocery store that could help them with meal planning. To further expand upon the same, younger consumers including Gen Z (66%) and millennials (60%) were deemed as likely to face difficulties in deciding upon dinner. Markedly enough, households with children (62%) were also found to struggle in the context of planning evening meals. Moving on, the assessment in question further informed us on top grocer concerns at present. In essence, the participating grocers were found to be concerned about competition for convenience-seeking consumers from internet grocery stores (56%) and third-party shopping apps (53%).
Another detail worth a mention here is how an estimated 80% grocers expressed a sense of optimism for new-age technologies, such as GenAI. This marks a substantial increase from the 40% in 2023. Complimenting the same would be a faction made up with 65% of executives who say that their companies are increasing investments in the technology. On the other hand, 73% also claim that their companies will have a major application in place within the next six months.
“Grocers are navigating a new wave of change, including price sensitive consumers, food away from home eating into ‘share of stomach,’ and stress on the profitability of the grocery business model from grocery delivery last-mile logistics. Yet, there continues to be great opportunity around grocers’ strength with fresh food. Shoppers love fresh food and crave convenience, finding new ways to provide consumers with ‘fresh convenience,’ by offering fresh choices in approachable ways could help drive more sales,” said Daniel Edsall, grocer leader, and principal at Deloitte Consulting LLP.
Moving on, the report even confirms a trend concerned with the growing importance of fresh food among grocers. You see, more than half (52%) of grocery executives expect fresh to be their most strategically important department over the next one to three years. On a granular level, produce, deli and meat departments are expected to lead the sales. Beyond that, the assessment found that nine in every 10 U.S. consumers would deem fresh food as a key factor in their happiness, whereas two-thirds (66%) would pay a premium for fresh food. More on the latter bit reveals how these shoppers would pay 22% more for fresh over alternatives, such as canned, frozen, or other options. However, despite the priority given to fresh food, an estimated 82% of consumers say convenience drives their fresh food decisions. From this contingent, nearly two-third claim that, on busy days, they buy more convenient food items, even if they are not healthy (or fresh).
Among other things, we ought to mention that Deloitte’s new assessment is based on the word of 100 U.S.-based grocery retail executives from organizations with at least $1 billion in annual revenue, as well as on the word of more than 2,000 US consumers.
“Despite their growing desire for quick and easy choices, consumers still show significant preference for their neighborhood grocery stores. Grocers can capitalize on, and look to enhance, that loyalty through innovative solutions that pair fresh food with more convenience. Investing in the pivotal moments throughout the shopping process can help ripen grocers’ chances for creating an industry advantage that shoppers will remember long after their carts are full,” said Adam Almond, principal of Retail and Consumer Products at Deloitte Consulting LLP.
