The COVID pandemic definitely altered the grocery industry, bringing on the accelerated growth of online grocery ordering and delivery systems, but people still prefer to shop in-store for their groceries and food. Year-over-year growth of online grocery shopping will slow to 4.9% in 2021, down from a 41.9% growth rate in 2020.
According to data from eMarketer and Braze, consumers said they still plan to go in-store for food and beverages:
- 66% of Gen Z (age 18-23)
- 73% of Millennials (age 24-39)
- 78% of Gen Xers (age 40-55)
- 82% of Baby Boomers (age 56-74)
Research from Google/Ipsos found that 70% of shoppers say the ability to shop in a store is important when deciding which brand or retailer to buy from, further highlighting the need for in-person grocery shopping.
At Locala, we help brands drive more consumers into their store, restaurant, or dealership. We recently partnered with a well-known national grocery store chain to help them increase their in-store visits and discovered insightful behaviors about their consumers that allowed the brand to better inform their advertising.
The key insights and strategies we found were:
Shoppers are spending less than twenty-minutes in the store, likely running in and out for planned items. 70% of shoppers spent upwards of 15 minutes in-store, with the overall average dwell time of 10 minutes.
To increase dwell time grocery brands can consider leveraging the following interactive and engaging custom ad formats:
- A ‘slider’ creative to feature weekly promotional offers to pique users’ interest so they spend additional time navigating through the store, likely picking up extra or unplanned items.
- An ‘animated interstitial’ showcasing a creative recipe that entices people to shop for the ingredients and engage with the brand.
The brand’s audience is traveling on average less than 6 miles, and some consumers were traveling as much as 10 miles.
Visitors are traveling from short distances, so we can infer that the brand’s stores are in proximity to home and work locations.
To keep your brand top of mind:
- Locala suggests targeting consumers who have been seen at close-by competitor stores as a great way to attain new customers.
- Leverage creatives that call out exclusive limited-time in-store offers such as one-day-only offers to further drive foot traffic.