The pandemic introduced the convenience of online grocery shopping to many consumers globally.
But with yet another crisis knocking at our doors, that of rising inflation and an overall increasing cost of living — both the grocery and online grocery retail markets are facing challenges.
Online grocery retailers face the unique challenge of having to justify the added expense of delivery charges to consumers.
Additionally, several consumers also believe that they can find better deals, offers, and promotions in-store.
One of the ways to ensure that customers remain engaged is to understand the importance of offers, bundle offers, and campaigns in the online grocery space.
After all, statistics show that online grocery sales are steadily becoming a larger part of total grocery sales.
As per eMarketer’s November 2023 forecast, the online grocery sector is expected to become a $253.89 billion market in the U.S. alone. It’s no surprise, as online grocery offers many opportunities for brands to encourage customer loyalty, increase sales, and remain competitive in the market.
It's only a matter of knowing how to reach the right audience and communicating with consumers that they will get a good deal from online grocery shopping.
The role of offers in online grocery
How vital are offers, exactly, when it comes to online grocery? Let us look at the different types first.
Definition and types of offers in online grocery
a) Limited-time discounts:
Limited-time discounts are special promotional deals exclusively available for a predefined period. Discounts can be offered for a few minutes to a few hours or even up to several days or weeks, depending on the retailer.
In addition to discount codes, limited-time offers can include things like free shipping, free gifts, and future discount vouchers.
These offers can be communicated via limited-time advertisements, online website banners, sales campaigns, email blasts, or even website pop-ups.
Limited-time discounts work like a charm in encouraging customers to decide quickly and push through their purchases by creating a sense of urgency and scarcity.
However, it's also important to note that limited time discounts should be applied with caution.
For example, if you offer the same type of discount or free gift nearly every week, you risk losing the element of scarcity and urgency that you worked hard to create.
b) Buy one get one (BOGO) deals:
Buy One Get One (BOGO) deals are a trusty offer type. You can offer different variations of the deal, like Buy One Get One Free or Buy One Get One at Half the Price.
In a study, 66% of consumers responded that they prefer BOGO to other offers and promotions, with 93% of shoppers taking advantage of BOGO offers at least once.
Studies show that there’s a psychological reason for this: BOGO deals appeal the most to consumers, even if they may not be the best deal around — because consumers are automatically led to believe they’re getting a better deal with the “one free” or “next one at 50% off.”
For online grocery retailers, there are a couple of reasons why you might want to use this promotion.
- First, BOGO deals can be very efficient in moving inventory when you have a lot of stock to shift.
- Secondly, you can launch a BOGO offer to quickly sell edible or perishable products with a strict sell-by date.
- You can also use it to move bulk products and unit-based products.
Impact of bundle offers on consumer behavior
a) Attracting new customers:
One of the most obvious advantages of online grocery offers is attracting new customers and getting them to decide on their purchases more quickly.
Additionally, online grocery shopping is incredibly convenient. When you add extra value for money by adding offers and deals for online purchases, you have a captured market — especially those who value convenience, like busy individuals and families.
b) Building customer loyalty:
Launching member-exclusive or customer-exclusive promotions and deals can foster customer loyalty and encourage them to repurchase regularly.
According to a report by Research and Markets, customer loyalty program memberships are increasing steadily, with an annual growth rate of 12.3%.
What are bundle offers in online grocery?
Bundle offers refer to the strategy that retailers employ to sell many items at higher margins while providing a bulk discount to consumers.
Retailers can either offer several different items as part of a package deal or similar items at a lower price point than it would cost customers to buy those items separately.
Advantages of bundle offers for retailers
a) Increased average order value:
Bundling increases AOV by allowing cross-selling and promoting multiple products to shoppers simultaneously.
By doing so, you are helping customers visualize how to use these bundles and highlighting their value for money.
b) Inventory management benefits:
Bundle offers allow you to move merchandise that might otherwise remain in your inventory as dead stock.
This reduces holding costs and prevents you from discarding unsold items as waste. Bundle offers allow you to clear slow-moving and stagnant items by coupling them with faster-selling products.
Benefits of bundle offers for consumers
a) Cost savings:
Bundle offers allow consumers to save a lot, as they are typically offered at a much lower price than purchasing each item individually.
Businesses can also offer bundles at lower prices because of the savings they make from inventory management and operational efficiency.
b) Convenience in shopping:
One of the reasons online grocery shopping is still around is that it offers incredible convenience.
Additionally, the convenience of not having to repurchase essential items like toiletries, condiments, or supplies makes bundle offers even more appealing.
Crafting effective campaigns for online grocery platforms
How do we create campaigns that land?
Understanding the dynamics of campaigns
Promotional campaigns involve creating compelling materials to drive traffic to your online grocery and convert leads. The five main components of an effective campaign are as follows:
- Leveraging software and technology to create a truly intuitive and user-friendly customer experience
- Building a recognizable and trustworthy brand that encourages customer loyalty
- Forming a community that is engaged and serves as an advocate for your brand
- Adding value to your business through education and other worthwhile causes
Examples of successful grocery campaigns
Seasonal promotions
Seasonal promotions refer to campaigns that online grocery businesses create for specific sale seasons or times of the year.
These are your winter/summer sales, fourth of July sales, or any promotion that just leverages the high traffic that certain times of the year can create.
Festive campaigns
Festive campaigns zero in on the holiday season across November and December. This is when consumers spend a lot for gifts and other necessities to celebrate festivities like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year’s.
Strategies for running effective campaigns
Leveraging social media
These days, integrating social media into your campaigns is absolutely essential and can offer many benefits. First, social media is very helpful in increasing your brand visibility and reach because you have billions of active users globally.
Social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram are also very effective in building an engaged and loyal community, as they allow for direct interaction between the audience and the brand.
Lastly, social media is fertile ground for authentic feedback from customers sharing their positive experiences with a brand, acting as social proof and word-of-mouth marketing.
Collaborations with influencers
Also, in relation to social media, tapping influencers can become a powerful strategy to reach your target audiences and gain exposure to a much larger customer base.
Because influencers already know what their followers respond to and relate to, you are essentially just going to allow them to convey your message through their channel — making for a much more authentic approach than scripted ads.
Analytics and measurement of success
So, how do you measure the success of your offers, bundles, and online campaigns in online grocery retail?
Key performance indicators (KPIs) for grocery offers and campaigns
First, you must understand and monitor your key performance indicators (KPIs), as these metrics will tell you, through data, whether or not your efforts are effective. Some examples of useful KPIs are:
- Cash flow: Cash flow measures the net amount of cash and cash equivalents that are transferred in and out of your business
- Average transaction value (ATV): Average transaction value is the average amount that a customer spends per transaction
- Conversion rate: Conversion rate refers to the percentage of visitors to your website who make a purchase
Tools for monitoring and analyzing campaign effectiveness
1) Google Analytics
One of the most helpful tools for monitoring and analyzing campaign effectiveness is Google Analytics. It is both free and easy to use and shows you a lot of insights regarding your website traffic and marketing effectiveness.
Through Google Analytics, you can understand how people are finding your site, what they navigate to the most, and how long they are staying on your site, in addition to many other metrics.
2) Ahrefs
Ahrefs is another powerful tool. It can be used for backlink analysis to see whether your site authority is doing well. Backlinks prove that other sites (be it blogs, reviewers, or other brands) find your site trustworthy and refer to it on their sites as well.
3) Hotjar
Lastly, Hotjar is another tool to see how your user experience is received by your customers. Heatmaps show where users are clicking, how they’re scrolling, and more. These insights can help you understand how to convert visitors and customers better, as well as further enrich your user experience.
Common challenges in running grocery offers and campaigns
Insufficient inventory management is one of the most common challenges of running offers and campaigns in online retail.
This can especially be a pain point if you have a huge inventory and are running offers and campaigns during busy seasons, highlighting the need for an efficient inventory management solution.
Maintaining a good user experience is also essential, especially in the digital age, where people can just click away if your site doesn't load quickly enough.
You have to make sure your customers can easily find what they need and check out safely with no hassle.
Complexity of Offer Creation: Pricing structures, eligibility criteria, and redemption rules can vary significantly between offers and bundle offers. The platform must provide intuitive tools for businesses to create and customize offers easily without requiring extensive technical knowledge.
Integration with Existing Systems: Many businesses already use various systems such as CRM, POS, and inventory management systems. The customer experience platform needs to seamlessly integrate with these existing systems to access relevant customer data, inventory information, and transaction records for effective offer management.
Personalization: Delivering personalized offers and campaigns tailored to individual customer preferences and behaviors is crucial for driving engagement and increasing conversions. The platform should leverage customer data and analytics to segment customers effectively and deliver targeted offers that resonate with their interests and purchase history.
Offer Performance Tracking: Businesses need insights into the performance of their offers and campaigns to evaluate their effectiveness and make data-driven decisions. The platform should provide robust analytics capabilities to track key metrics such as redemption rates, ROI, customer engagement, and revenue generated from each offer or campaign.
Real-time Offer Delivery: In today's fast-paced digital environment, businesses need the ability to deliver offers and campaigns in real-time or near real-time to capitalize on opportunities and respond quickly to changing market conditions. The platform should support dynamic pricing and real-time offer delivery across various channels, including websites, mobile apps, email, and social media.
Multichannel Consistency: ****Maintaining consistency across multiple channels (e.g., online, mobile, in-store) is essential for delivering a seamless customer experience. The platform should enable businesses to create and manage offers that are consistent across all channels and devices, ensuring a cohesive brand experience for customers.
Innovative solutions and best practices
Finding a good inventory management and grocery eCommerce solution is at the core of a successful online grocery shop.
By leveraging solutions like Wave Grocery, not only can you get help regarding how to build a grocery ecommerce app that is effective and stable, but also the following:
- Grocery store app development
- Building a grocery ecommerce website
- Integrating a grocery delivery software
- Having an online grocery management system
- Building a phone ordering app
- Developing a picker app
- Crafting a supermarket loyalty program
Conclusion
Online grocery shopping can be made more enticing and profitable by incorporating seasonal and festive offers and bundle offers into your online grocery campaigns.
