AlabamaGroceryJan2017Final

ivity DRIVES THE NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCE

ELLIOT ZWIEBACH

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.

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.”

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