Half of Grocers Investing in Gaining Omnichannel View of Shoppers

As grocers look to better understand their shoppers’ behavior, a PYMNTS Intelligence report finds that half are investing in the ability to track customer habits across digital and physical channels.

By the Numbers

The PYMNTS Intelligence study “Big Retail’s Innovation Mandate: Convenience And Personalization,” created in collaboration with ACI Worldwide, surveyed 300 U.S. and U.K. retailers with at least 50 store locations and with annual revenues of at least $1 billion for U.S.-based companies or 100 million pounds ($127 million USD) for those based in the U.K about their engagement with digital technologies.

The results reveal that 50% of grocers are innovating on the ability to track customer purchase history across all channels.

The Data in Action

Many grocers are implementing new digital technologies into the in-store experience in an effort to gain data on shoppers’ brick-and-mortar behaviors.

In November, for instance, French grocery giant Carrefour announced a partnership with A2Z Smart Technologies Corp’s flagship smart cart product, Cust2Mate, bringing 2,000 carts to the retailer’s stores with plans for more in the first half of this year.

In an interview earlier this year with PYMNTS, Cust2Mate CEO Guy Mordoch noted that the company sees a 30% increase in average basket size when shoppers use smart carts over regular shopping carts. He added that, down the line, Cust2Mate will be able to generate “insights that are driven from data,” as well as to run “advertisements and retail media on the cart” based on that data.

Plus, earlier this month, Instacart announced that it is pilot testing ads on the screens of its Caper Cart smart shopping carts, enabling real-time targeted messaging, at Bristol Farms stores in Southern California, with more grocers to come. Instacart stated in the news release that it plans to have “thousands” of smart carts operating in stores by the year’s end.

Meanwhile, other digital shopping technologies such as Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” as well as scan-and-pay capabilities are also expanding across retailers.