The online grocery market is responsible for supercharging the ecommerce industry’s sales figures.
In the years since the global pandemic, online grocery has been one of the fastest-growing sectors in ecommerce. In the US alone, online grocery sales are expected to generate $257 billion in revenue in 2024.
Online grocery will be responsible for more sales than any other ecommerce sector by 2026 at its current growth rate. All these signs point to the importance of having an ecommerce solution for grocery businesses to succeed in 2024 and beyond.
Launching an online grocery store means offering a product that benefits shoppers and sellers.
This article will cover the essential grocery ecommerce features that power a grocery app or website and why you should try integrating them into your offering.
Understanding the landscape of grocery ecommerce
Grocery ecommerce’s impressive success story can be attributed to a shift in shopping behavior and consumer mentality.
In a world where ecommerce has made shopping from home the most convenient option, more and more consumers don’t see the need to go to a physical store for groceries.
Let’s look at the current state of grocery ecommerce in 2024.
The growing demand
Consumers everywhere are turning to online grocery stores for their daily needs. In 2024, over 1.4 billion consumers will use grocery ecommerce services, with about 138 million in the US.
Younger consumers who are more internet-savvy are also more likely to use online grocery services, as seen by millennials making 65% of all online grocery purchases in the US. As more digital native consumers enter the market, the demand for grocery ecommerce services is set to keep rising.
Market analysis
Many leading players in the grocery industry have entered the ecommerce arena. The largest providers of online grocery services in the US are Walmart, Amazon, Kroger, and Tesco.
Currently, Walmart has the largest share of the US market, but Amazon is retooling its grocery ecommerce offerings to increase its share. Outside the US market, Alibaba is another significant provider of online groceries.
8 key features for successful grocery ecommerce platforms
Mega-corporations aren’t the only ones benefiting from the increased demand for online groceries. Smaller businesses and local stores can also ride this wave and grow their own sales by offering customers a smooth, user-friendly online shopping experience.
To create a popular grocery ecommerce store, you must offer the following features:
1. User-friendly interface
A positive customer experience (CX) is crucial if you want shoppers to return to your online store. This holds true for grocery as well as every other e-retail category.
Your store should be compatible with laptops, tablets, smartphones, and other mobile devices. It should have a responsive website design and features that make shopping convenient, such as search filters, product categories, and an easy checkout process.
2. Comprehensive product catalog
Shoppers should be able to view everything they need to buy groceries from your online store. This means featuring high-quality product images and detailed descriptions on product pages. The products should also be sorted into categories to make it easier for users to search for specific items.
3. Inventory management
You can’t trust manual processes to handle inventory management if you’re running an online grocery store. Instead, you must invest in a robust inventory management system that optimizes your inventory levels, preventing stockouts and backorders.
The best inventory management software can also integrate seamlessly with your chosen barcode scanners and point-of-sale (POS) systems to ensure inventory accuracy with every purchase.
4. Secure payment gateways
When it comes to collecting payments from customers, security should be your top priority. That's why any online payment method you use should implement SSL encryption and PCI compliance for secure transactions.
The more secure payment channels you offer customers, the more likely they are to shop at your online grocery store. Options include online card payments, cash-on-delivery (COD), in-store tokens, and online wallets.
5. Personalized recommendations
By harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), you can gain valuable insights about customer behavior through the user data collected by your store.
Personalized experiences are becoming increasingly important in ecommerce. By recommending products tailored to customers' interests, you increase customer satisfaction and your chances of making a sale.
6. Product preferences
Grocery ecommerce allows shoppers to choose different packaging options for certain products. For example, a customer interested in cheese can choose a grated version, packaged slices, or freshly cut chunks. Fruits can be bought sliced or packed in two, four, or more whole pieces.
There’s also a comment feature where users can specify their desired variation. For an order of tomatoes, they can note their preference for ripe ones. For bananas, they can say they want them green and unripe.
7. Replacements for out-of-stock products
Advanced ecommerce platforms provide alternatives to out-of-stock items. This way, shoppers can browse through other options and likely purchase even if their first choice is unavailable.
8. Advanced search
Help your customers complete their grocery lists with advanced search features. Faceted Search (adding attributes like category, availability, size, quantity, price, etc.), Autocomplete, Typo Correction, and Keyword Discovery (integrating descriptive phrases from customer reviews) can take your ecommerce platform’s search features to another level.
3 Additional features that enhance CX
Secure payment gateways and smooth user experience (UX) are basic requirements for grocery ecommerce platforms. You can draw even more customers to your business by offering additional features to your store:
- Flexible Delivery Options: One of the primary motivators for grocery ecommerce users is convenience. To that end, offering several delivery options for customers will work in your favor.Always remember, whatever delivery method you offer customers, be it same-day delivery, scheduled delivery slots, or click-and-collect options, you should have efficient logistics in place to ensure customers receive their orders within the promised timeframe.
- Loyalty Programs and Discounts: Converting one-time buyers into repeat customers will keep your online grocery store going in the long run. Encouraging users to sign up for loyalty programs and avail of promotions or exclusive discounts will foster brand loyalty among your user base.
- Customer Support and Communication: If you want to establish a reputation for excellent customer service, your customers should be able to access assistance or raise a complaint with your store with minimum hassle. Your online grocery store should have several support channels, like live chat, email, and phone, where shoppers can expect a prompt and helpful response.
Features that help market your online grocery store
While the features covered so far deal with CX, you also need to focus on brand awareness if you want your grocery ecommerce store to succeed. Here are two features that can help in this area:
- SEO-Friendly Content: This includes blog posts to generate interest and extensive SEO for product pages to make items in your store easily discoverable. Investing in local SEO will also help grow sales for smaller online grocery stores.
- Social Media Integration: User-generated content (UGC) on social media serves as social proof for your brand. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok have also started featuring stoppable ads on user feeds, so social media integration is more important than ever for your online grocery store in 2024.
Conclusion
These grocery store features will help you attract new customers, increase sales, and gain a reputation for customer satisfaction. As the grocery ecommerce market continues to grow, online platforms will continue to evolve.
To give your online grocery business a boost, partner with a scalable and versatile ecommerce platform and grow your business with a feature-rich store!
