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ivity
DRIVES THE
NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCE
ELLIOT ZWIEBACH
The key may be transforming their stores to
offer shoppers a value-added experience that
goes beyond simply distributing groceries,
he said in an interview with
Alabama Grocer
and in a presentation at a recent grocery
strategic conference. Stephens is the founder
of Toronto-based Retail Prophet.
“Many consumers today view grocery stores
simply as warehouses that hold products
they need,” Stephens said. “But with online
options growing, what’s to prevent the
majority of consumers from passing up
the supermarket completely by subscribing
to AmazonFresh and getting groceries
delivered?”
With a growing number of online operators
offering ever broader shopping options,
retailers need to figure out how to create
experiences “that are so amazing that people
will pay to come to your store,” he said.
Speaking at the conference, Stephen said
retailers will have to re-focus their stores
to make the trip an experience if they hope
to motivate future consumers to make a
physical trip to a supermarket rather than
ordering online.
“Shopping is both a social and physiological
experience,” he explained. “Thinking about
going shopping (in general) is similar to
taking cocaine for many people – it gives
them a dopamine rush.”
However, the prospect of shopping with
online operators who add more products and
give consumers more certainty about finding
what they want offers less of a rush, Stephens
told conference attendees.
“When people come to a store to shop, that
dopamine effect goes through the roof,
which works in your favor,” he said. “In a
world where people’s lives are being ruled
by algorithms – where sellers are making
suggestions to consumers about what
they may want to buy based on previous
purchases – consumers can have a burst
of exhilaration going into a store and
interacting with sales associates.
“That doesn’t mean retailers have a free pass,”
he added. “While brick-and-mortar stores
will continue to exist, everything about
that space – and how you think about why
people go there to shop – will have to change,
and rapidly.
“You must look beyond simply selling
products in order to create such galvanizing
experiences that a consumer won’t think of
buying what you offer anywhere else.”
Unless supermarkets begin rethinking the way they do business to meet the threat
of online competition, they could end up as “Blockbusters in a Netflix world,”
according to futurist Douglas Stephens.
Continued on page 26 ▶
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ALABAMA GROCER |