These Five Trends Will Allow Grocery Retailers to Ride the Waves of Economic Volatility

These Five Trends Will Allow Grocery Retailers to Ride the Waves of Economic Volatility

This IDC Perspective predicts five ways that grocery retailers will accelerate their digital transformation strategies to survive and thrive in rapidly shifting social and economic conditions. Already a narrow margin business, grocery retail has seen margins shrink further due to supply chain challenges, the cost of fulfillment for ecommerce orders, and inefficiencies due to staff shortages. Retailers are looking hard at every element of their business. Macroeconomic influences such as war, inflation, and climate emergencies now raise questions about how retailers will manage to stay ahead. The good news is low interest rates make it more appealing for companies to invest in technology solutions that will help them surf the waves of volatility."A seismic shift is coming. Not yet, but soon, it will feel like the flip of switch, and retailers need to be prepared. If brands have not paved the way with connectivity and edge infrastructure, with AI services, with fulfillment channels, and with payment choice — they won't be able to move quickly enough and customers will leave them behind," says Leslie Hand, GVP, IDC Retail and Financial Insights.

Please Note: Extended description available upon request.


Executive Snapshot
Situation Overview
Trend 1: Self-Service Adoption Will Continue to Grow, Evolving From In-Store Self-Checkout to Experimentation with Scan and Go and Mass Deployment of Autonomous Retail Solutions
What's Next for Self-Service and Autonomous Retail?
Trend 2: Store Formats Will Rapidly Change to Accommodate the Increasing Role of eCommerce, Cater to a Rapidly Digitized Consumer Journey, and Deliver Localized Experiences Closer to the Consumer
What's Next for Store Formats and Serving the Digitized Customer?
Trend 3: AI and Computer Vision Will Provide Retailers the Same Degree of Intelligence In-Store as They Enjoyed Online: Engagement and Traffic Analysis, Inventory Replenishment, Security, and Sentiment Analysis
What's Next for Data Analytics and AI?
Trend 4: Automation Will Address Ongoing Labor Challenges by Transforming Retail Logistics, Last-Mile Delivery, and In-Store Tasking
What's Next for Workforce Optimization?
Trend 5: Payments Will Continue to Digitize with Global Adoption of Biometric-Based Payments, Digital Wallets, Digital Currency, Merchant Apps, and P2P Payments
What's Next for Digital Payments?
Advice for the Technology Buyer
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