Tactics to fight Amazon
Supermarkets are focusing efforts online to keep customers hooked, Rachel Clayton reports.
New Zealand’s supermarket chains are preparing for Amazon’s entry to Australia through focusing on their customers’ data.
Countdown head of online Sally Copland said Amazon was unlikely to enter the grocery market in New Zealand, but Countdown needed to ensure it focused on its digital service.
‘‘Technology is impacting every facet of our lives so with that comes an expectation around greater personalisation to know me, understand me, make my life easier,’’ she said.
‘‘The better we understand your shopping behaviour, the better we are able to segment our store and provide a locally relevant, highly targeted range. The more we generate that source of data, the more we can tailor content and information for customers.’’
Countdown’s Onecard loyalty programme allowed Copland’s team to track shopping habits and market research looked for information and trends in the grocery sector.
She said customers were empowered and more concerned than ever about the food they fed their families.
‘‘Yesterday I watched two customers turn over the product and look at the nutritional information. Even in my family we have someone who’s a coeliac, someone who’s chosen to be sugar free, my father-in-law can’t have any salt.
‘‘So the whole shopping process takes so much longer and when you get confidence in products, you tend to be fairly sticky to them.’’
In order to offer a more ondemand service, Countdown is introducing an app for its click and collect service, so a customer’s shopping is ready when they arrive at the store.
The app uses GPS to create a geo-fence with a 400-metre radius around a Countdown store. When a customer breaks the fence, the in-store team is alerted.
It was introduced off the back of its parent company Woolworths introducing it in Australia.
University of Tasmania marketing lecturer Louise Grimmer has researched why shoppers have taken a liking to click and collect services.
‘‘Delivery is still popular, but click and collect is becoming the preferred option because there are costs and risks associated with delivery,’’ she said.
‘‘Many people find their deliveries are returned to the post office or the depot if they’re not at home and this just complicates the shopping process and is inconvenient.’’
Grimmer said many supermarkets now offer collection lockers near carparks for people to pick up their own groceries on their lunch break or after work.
‘‘The benefit of click and collect for retailers is around half of shoppers coming into the store to collect their purchases end up making an additional impulse purchase,’’ she said.
Foodstuffs, the owner of New World and Pak’n Save, was also concerned about Amazon, and chief executive Chris Quin has said it would continue to build and renovate brick and mortar supermarkets, and put more unprocessed food and ready-made meals on shelves.
In the North Island, it launched its ‘I shop’ New World app for Mt Roskill, Eastridge, Thorndon and Levin customers to shop online. It is yet to launch a web version.
Quin said grocery sales outside of supermarkets were growing twice as fast as supermarket sales and competition was ‘‘intense’’, with 22 per cent of shoppers already buying food from stores other than the supermarket.
Foodstuffs introduced its own Just Cook It meal kits in May but Countdown is yet to start a meal service.
"Around half of shoppers ... end up making an impulse purchase." University of Tasmania marketing lecturer Louise Grimmer