Supermarkets ranked most successful in survey on the use of technology to improve customer service
Supermarkets ranked most successful in survey on the use of technology to improve customer service
A new survey of more than 16,000 consumers in North America has ranked self-checkouts as the number one technology to enhances their overall shopping experience.
Half of consumers also indicated that an easy-to-use grocery website was also important. Yet, despite its importance, a third said websites only ‘sometimes’ meet their expectations (28.8%) or ‘never’ meet their expectations (4.1%).
Demographics influence tech preferences
The Empathica Consumer Insights Panel survey also revealed some differences between men and women when it comes to grocery store technology. Fifty-one percent of women said they value grocery store’s electronic product offers sent via email or a mobile device versus 46% of men.
In addition to appreciating email and mobile offers, the majority of women (57%) said an easy-to-use website ultimately influenced their overall customer experience. Slightly fewer men (51%) considered websites important.
The Insights Panel study revealed that 80% of consumers between the ages 18-24 said grocery technology was an important factor in their grocery shopping experience. However, this percentage declined consistently across each age range; only 44.5% of those over 65 expressed the same sentiments.
“As the younger generations get older they will put pressure on grocery stores to deliver on their expectations for service, and in doing so, will reward them with their loyalty,” said Brian Jones, vice president of grocery and consumer packaged goods for customer experience management software and services provider Empathica.
Tech delivering differentiated experience
“The Empathica Insights Panel found that technology will increasingly be a requirement for delivering a differentiated customer experience,” he added. “Because of this, grocers need to think about their customer-facing technology strategy, and link that back to their customer segmentations. Otherwise, the implications for the perception of the grocery experience among certain segments of their customer base can be considerable.”
While the survey found self-checkout enhanced Americans’ overall shopping experience, this contrasted with Canadian consumers. When evaluating grocery technologies, 65% of US consumers considered self-checkouts important, compared to only 54% of Canadian consumers. In fact, more than half of Canadians said self-checkouts were ‘not applicable’ in their grocery experience, indicating that not all Canadian grocers have this option available in stores.
Top grocery store technologies that consumers value, from most important to least important were:
- Self-checkouts
- Easy-to-use website
- Kiosks offering product information, coupons, recipes, etc.
- Electronic offers sent via email or mobile device
- Wireless access within store
