Supermarket Perimeter - February 2021 - 6

WIRE
Walmart to use
refrigerated
smart boxes for
grocery delivery
This spring Bentonville,
Ark.-based Walmart is
introducing HomeValet
technology to its grocery
delivery service with a
temperature-controlled
smart box that will keep
perishable items fresh on
the customer's doorstep.
" As our founder, Sam
Walton, once said, 'To
succeed, stay out in
front of change.' It's
why we're continuously
testing new technology,
like drones and
autonomous vehicles,
to ﬁnd new ways to
serve customers, " said
Tom Ward, senior vice

president of customer
product for Walmart.
" Which made us think
- what if we could
conveniently deliver fresh
groceries to a customer's
front door any time of
the day, whether they're
home or not? That's
what we'll be exploring
in our new pilot with
HomeValet. "
HomeValet's smart
box is powered by an
internet of things (IoT)
platform that has three
temperature-controlled
zones, so it can properly
store frozen, refrigerated
and pantry items. And
when it's time for a
delivery to be made, the
smart box communicates
with the delivery

HomeValet's smart box has temperature-controlled
zones for frozen, refrigerated and pantry items.
6 - FEBRUARY 2021

Nielsen:
Omnichannel
shopping increased
by 50% in 2020
Since March 2020, over
18 million consumer
packaged goods shoppers
have gone online to do
their shopping, ﬁnds a
survey released by New
York-based Nielsen.
The boom in
ecommerce has led
to the increase of
omnichannel shopping.
For many, Nielsen found
that online channels
are a key means
to compare prices,
research new products
and ﬁnd physical
stores, giving way to a
full-blown explosion
of true omnichannel
shopping. In the last year,
omnichannel shopping
has increased 50%.
When examining
consumers' levels of
engagement across
channels Nielsen found:
* 56% of online
supermarketperimeter.com

shoppers put careful
consideration into
each purchase at
the point of sale in
September 2020,
compared with 51%
of brick-and-mortar
shoppers.

29% of
consumers
found the
order history
tool to be the
most helpful
website
feature when
shopping
online.
* Online shoppers
became more invested
than their brick-andmortar counterparts
in searching for the
best product to ﬁt new
needs and, as a result,
increased planning
efforts for online
grocery purchases into
the new normal.
* When examining
planning levels for instore food purchases,
rates of purchase
planning dipped below
pre-COVID levels by
September 2020. As
brick-and-mortar
shoppers eased up
on planning efforts,
impulse purchasing
for food and non-food
products increased
slightly across offline
channels.
* The number of
shoppers who
consider themselves
as exclusive or heavy

online shoppers
for everyday items
increased by 133%
from September 2019
to September 2020.
* Shopper preference
for instore pickup
or delivery grew by
26% during the 52
weeks that ended in
September 2020.

Survey names
Amazon as top
grocer of 2020
A new Retailer Preference
Index (RPI) released by
customer data science
company dunnhumby
showed that Amazon
dominated the $1 trillion
US grocery market
in 2020.
" In a year dominated
by Covid-19, Amazon
eclipsed last year's winner
H-E-B and runner up
Trader Joe's to take the
top spot, " the report said.
" Due to strong COVIDdriven momentum,
Target broke into the ﬁrst
quartile of the RPI for
the ﬁrst time, jumping
six places to move out
of the second quartile, a
spot they occupied the
previous three years. "
Of the 56 retailers
included in the survey,
the retailers in the
ﬁrst quartile with the
highest overall customer
preference index scores
are: 1) Amazon, 2)
H-E-B, 3) Trader Joe's,
4) Wegman's, 5) Aldi, 6)
Market Basket, 7) Sam's
Club, 8) Costco, 9) Publix,
10) Target, 11) Fresh
Thyme, 12) ShopRite, 13)
Sprouts Farmers Market,
and 14) Walmart.
" Covid has led to

WALMART, ALBERTSONS - TOM TRUCCO

the

provider's device, giving
them secure access
to the smart box to
complete the delivery.
" The prospect of this
technology is intriguing,
both for customers and
for Walmart's last mile
delivery efforts, " Ward
said. " For customers, they
don't need to plan their
day around when their
grocery delivery will be
made. For Walmart, it
presents an opportunity
to deliver items 24 hours
a day, seven days a week.
While we don't have
plans to do 24/7 delivery
today, it certainly has a
nice ring to it. "
http://www.supermarketperimeter.com
Supermarket Perimeter - February 2021

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