Musings on a Post Covid world, start of a series:
There is no going back from widespread grocery delivery. I know it has been around for a bit, but multitudes have now experienced the convenience and there is no putting that genie back in the bottle.
What would the world of grocery stores look like if 50% of more of their customers ordered most of their products online for delivery?
I for one think that some will still want to go to shop for items that are non-standardized, like produce, some cuts of meat, flowers, specialty cheeses. With most everything else, you know exactly what you are getting.
So, maybe stores will completely restructured so that produce and such is in the very front, most cash registers have gone away, and most of the rest of the store is optimized as a last mile warehouse for picking and delivery.
The importance of point of sale marketing will radically change. If no one comes into a store, shelf position, shelf real estate, end caps, marketing signs and promotions etc. will all decline in value.
Will the post-COVID store look very different?
Tomorrow, post-COVID food and beverage customer interaction....