AlabamaGroceryJan2017Final

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“That might mean devoting just 25 percent of space to essential food products and finding ways to devote 75 percent of space to creating amazing food and health experiences,” he said. The traditional ways of thinking about merchandising that worked for decades may no longer be relevant, Stephens added, with supermarkets of the future likely to hold little product while offering new, exciting, customized experiences aimed at meeting specific consumer preferences, he explained. “In a world where home delivery from online businesses is growing, it’s an archaic process for consumers to get into their cars, drive through traffic to a supermarket, handpick items, load them into a cart, unload them at the checkstand, load the bags into a cart and unload them into the car, then unload them again when they get home and put them away,” he said.

other ways to position groceries from a health-and-welfare standpoint or a lifestyle experience,” he said. “For some, the grocery store of the future may be a place for entertainment that creates memorable experiences and builds loyalty and a greater relationship between the supermarket and the public.” One company that’s taken the right steps to meeting the long-term needs of future consumers is Eataly, Stephens noted. “That’s a company that understands that retail as strictly a commodity business is threatened, so it drives its business with spectacular, exciting facilities that combine groceries, restaurants and entertainment. “No one else in the grocery industry that I’m aware of has pressed ahead as much (as Eataly) on this concept that I believe

will be a way to guarantee success going forward. No one else has taken

such dramatic steps to acknowledge experience should come first and products should be a secondary consideration.” According to Stephens, “It starts with designing the experience. Retailers must break down the consumer’s journey to the store to its most granular components and design each aspect as an experience to be savored.” How long it takes for retailers to figure it all will depend on each individual business, he said.

It starts with designing the experience...break down the consumer’s journey to the store to its most granular components and design each aspect as an experience to be savored.

According to Stephens, the only reason future consumers will go through all that is if the retailer isn’t afraid to give them other experience-based options. “What grocers need to consider is how to create incredible expectations for consumers, whether that means offering cooking classes with celebrity chefs, featuring holistic coaches to teach people how to eat better, offering a broader variety of in-store entertainment events or providing

“Every organization should already be working on a prototype within the next year or so,” he recommended. “But the majority of retailers will probably do nothing in the short term, which is just human nature. They will fail to understand that dramatic things are happening and that their business could be in peril, but still they will do nothing other than ignoring what’s coming because

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