Nearly three quarters of grocery retailers say the market is more competitive than ever and only 10% see new opportunities for growth opening up, according to a survey from Relex Solutions, Growing and Sustaining Competitive Advantage in Grocery Retail.
Most grocers’ top priority is improving operational efficiency and a majority say omni-channel and technology are essential. Over half of grocers are interested in the automated replenishment of ingredients, while 50% are interested in their store replenishment planning becoming more space aware.
Four-fifths of grocery retailers emphasized the importance of fresh products to their businesses. The annual value of spoilage for these companies was about $70 million, increasing to several hundred million dollars for the largest companies.
However, most grocers pointed to budgetary issues, investments being tied up in other projects and fear of the complexity of implementation as to why they weren’t investing in improved retail and supply chain planning systems.
Ninety-one percent of grocers that offer an online shopping channel are picking up online orders in-store for fulfillment. Of those grocery retailers who operate both brick and mortar and online channels, 69% do not produce separate forecasts by channel.
For the full story, go to this week’s Food Institute Report.