High-speed digital revolution in the food store

Digital change is never simple. As comfortable as we may be in the digital world around us, changing systems always necessitates an adjustment phase as employees, management, and customers adjust to a new way of doing things. Regardless of the difficulties that come with switching to a new system, supermarkets that wish to remain competitive must welcome the transition to digital.

Online supermarkets have risen as a result of the epidemic that occurred last year. Consumers who formerly felt compelled to stroll through supermarket aisles for their weekly shopping have become acclimated to a new digital experience. Online grocery shopping implies that prices are clearly labeled, products are placed in shopping trolleys but remain there until they reach the house, and there are no lineups to pay.

In order to stay competitive, supermarkets must adapt to shifting customer expectations. The digital revolution that they had never considered vital is on its way, and the sooner they can respond, the better their chances of avoiding huge client attrition.

Identifying Customers’ Pain Points

Let’s begin by looking at some of the most common concerns that customers have about grocery stores. The following are listed in no particular order:

Errors during the checkout process, including price.
There are not enough checkout lanes, resulting in open/long lineups.
Store layouts are confusing.
Items are out of stock.
Rude or impolite cashiers.
A complete digital transformation may eliminate all of these problems, leaving customers satisfied with their buying experience.

Begin with the lowest-hanging fruit

Checkout problems and price issues are among the most frustrating aspects of supermarket shopping. Price tags do slip off. At the same time, the POS price may differ from the product price.

Pricing is the first place to start. Investing in electronic shelf labels (ESL) eliminates the dissonance that happens when one employee inputs a price into the POS system while another uses a pricing gun to stamp a price tag on an item. Prices will be correct at the point of purchase thanks to a single backend system that manages both the POS and the pricing labels.

For shop managers, ESLs provide an extra benefit by allowing for optimum pricing adjustments on every item in the business. Optimized pricing enables physical grocery stores to compete on price while also allowing for easy pricing changes on goods that are approaching their sell-by date. Groceries can reduce prices to entice customers to buy items that are reaching the end of their shelf life.

Digital price tags can be deployed fast. Pricer said that they converted a whole store to ESLs in one night.

Introduce computer vision

Computer vision detects and tracks products on your shelves throughout the business. When a customer takes up a box of cereal and places it in the cart, the computer vision system detects that the available inventory has changed.

When inventory falls below a certain level, it may tell staff that there is a scarcity on the shelf and encourage them to replenish up. The system may also be linked to the store’s inventory system to automatically replenish items as stocks run low.

For customers, this entails avoiding the annoyance of empty shelves. However, the benefits of computer vision do not end with inventory.

Let’s put some parts together. We have digitized pricing throughout the store, as well as a computer system that detects and tracks products’ whereabouts. Taken to the next logical level, computer vision may be utilized at the end of a shopping trip to tally the items in the cart and give the consumer with a bill. Customers may swipe their credit cards at the cashier and depart without waiting in line.

In typical grocery shops, customers must touch each item many times as it passes from the shelf to the cashier to a bag before it reaches their cupboard or refrigerator. With computer vision, customers may take an item off the shelf, place it in a bag in their cart, and not touch it again until they get home. They eliminate long lines and, as an added benefit, minimize the possibility that an employee may be disrespectful to a client.

Computer vision training models may be deployed fast, especially when compared to other artificial intelligence techniques. Once operational, they can provide heat maps and other information to assist shop managers streamline their layout.

The inherent benefit of a physical storage

When grocery businesses implement digital transformation, they give their consumers with a shopping experience that is comparable to that found online. Consumers cannot go around the aisles in their jammies, as they may when buying online, but they can avoid many of the traps that make in-store shopping uncomfortable.

Physical supermarkets have a few inherent advantages over their internet competitors. Customers can select the fruits and vegetables they desire or pick a carton of milk that is three weeks from expiry. They are not at the mercy of an internet picker who is more concerned with closing the transaction and moving on to the next purchase than with meticulously picking the perfect red apple.

Shoppers may make their own substitutes if an item is not available, and once completed, they can take their food home and utilize them right away. That isn’t something an internet store can provide.

Supermarkets may compete by integrating the benefits of digital technology with the physical food shopping experience.