[[{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/06\/16\/how-grocery-retailers-can-beat-amazon\/#Article","articleBody":"We all felt the ground shake with the news that Amazon plans to acquire Whole Foods.\nSimilar to an earthquake, while living through the experience is shocking, there were ways to predict that it might have been coming, and ways to prepare for it. While the after-tremors of this surprise announcement are being felt far and wide, (and will be for a long time), right now is the time to take a deep breath and realize that the landscape is changing, and that you can navigate through it.\nEssentially, it\u2019s time for reflection and a renewing of your strength and dedication to the market and the customer.\nHere are the facts as we see them: How grocery retailers can beat Amazon\nThis is a game-changer\nHow many times has the term \u201cgame-changer\u201d been used with Amazon? Countless. However, Amazon has been ramping up their entry into the grocery retail market.\n\u201cAmazon has been steadily breaking into grocery, the largest segment of retail, with AmazonPantry, AmazonFresh, AmazonGo, and most recently their AmazonFresh Pickup pilot. Just yesterday they released a Dash Wand that can not only be used to scan products into a shopping list or cart, but also includes Alexa for find recipes, get product recommendations, and place orders,\u201d said Stephanie Waters, Retail Industry Principal with SAP Hybris, \u201cAnd now, today, this.\u201d\nStephanie noted,\u00a0\u201cSome grocers haven\u2019t been overly concerned about Amazon, saying they don\u2019t know how to do fresh and they don\u2019t have stores. That all changed today when they acquired one of the world\u2019s experts in fresh and 465 stores across North America and the UK. The grocery industry will never be the same. We are on the cusp of a quickly moving environment and I think we will see the acceleration of supermarket chains innovating their business models and modernizing their organizations.\u201d\nPrice wars are coming\nExperts in the industry\u00a0have been aware\u00a0that a battle was brewing when it comes to pricing and grocery retail, but today\u2019s announcement brings grocery retailers to the front line.\nCutting prices isn\u2019t the answer. You need to deliver an outstanding customer experience and maximize operational efficiencies.\nData: the not-so-secret weapon\nMany grocery retailers partnered with Instacart to provide\u00a0fulfillment services, thereby turning over their customer data to a third-party vendor rather than retaining and using that data. Today should mark a shift in how grocers proceed with this process.\nIt remains to be seen what impact the Amazon acquisition will have on the Instacart and Whole Food partnership, but taking back control of both the customer experience and data derived from it will be a key element in getting through this disruption in the industry.\nFewer customers walking into stores and ordering online from the retailer equates to\u00a0lower slotting fees, which means a significant crack in one of the foundations of grocery retailer bottom lines.\nOnline is the new frontier\nIt\u2019s hard to believe that there are grocery retailers who haven\u2019t made the leap to online, but they exist. \u201cThe news of this acquisition today only accelerates the online grocery forecast which is estimated to grab 20% of grocery by 2025,\u201d said Waters, \u201cretailers who are not online risk losing market share. Period. Full stop.\u201d\nPrepare to fight for your customer\nToday is a day to recognize that a long battle lies ahead. You have to be prepared to fight for your customer, and you need the tools and strength to do it. It\u2019s time to take a deep breath and assess where you are and where you need to be.\nIt\u2019s\u00a0been noted before, but bears repeating over and over: if you evolve your business model to include online retail, but you ignore the customer experience, you have gained nothing, and could even lose customers.\nHow do your customers feel about your brand right now? Are you providing what they need? Learn how to monitor and adapt to their needs\u00a0HERE.","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/06\/16\/how-grocery-retailers-can-beat-amazon\/#Article_Person","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/06\/16\/how-grocery-retailers-can-beat-amazon\/#Article_Person_ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/JennVandeZande_Profile_Pic_2018-1-150x150.jpg"},"name":"Jenn Vande Zande","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/jennvzande","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jennvandezande"],"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/jenn-vande-zande\/"},"dateModified":"2020-04-21T15:37:58+00:00","datePublished":"2017-06-16T20:08:00+00:00","description":"We all felt the ground shake when we heard the news that Amazon acquired Whole Foods. Here's how grocery retailers can beat Amazon.","headline":"Amazon and Whole Foods: How grocery retailers can beat Amazon","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/06\/16\/how-grocery-retailers-can-beat-amazon\/#Article_ImageObject","height":"630","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/thumbnail-dbcfb85c920e1bbeeb7575ded6512d01-1200x630.jpeg","width":"1200"},"mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/06\/16\/how-grocery-retailers-can-beat-amazon\/","name":"Amazon and Whole Foods: How grocery retailers can beat Amazon","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/","additionalType":"https:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/wiki\/Q1193236","description":"Relevant, timely information & analysis on commerce trends, both consumer-facing and B2B.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1","height":"96","url":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1","width":"500"},"name":"The Future of Customer Engagement and Experience","sameAs":["https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/a-call-for-a-better-experience\/id1479742201","https:\/\/twitter.com\/FutureOfCEC","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/4844282","https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/feed\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/"},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/06\/16\/how-grocery-retailers-can-beat-amazon\/#Article"},{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Organization","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1","height":"96","width":"500","@id":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1"},"name":"The Future of Customer Engagement and Experience","sameAs":["https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/a-call-for-a-better-experience\/id1479742201","https:\/\/twitter.com\/FutureOfCEC","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/4844282","https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/feed\/"],"additionalType":"https:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/wiki\/Q1193236","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/","description":"Relevant, timely information & analysis on commerce trends, both consumer-facing and B2B.","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/"},{"@type":["Article"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/06\/16\/how-grocery-retailers-can-beat-amazon\/#Article","@context":{"@vocab":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","kg":"http:\/\/g.co\/kg"},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/06\/16\/how-grocery-retailers-can-beat-amazon\/","publisher":[{"@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/"}],"author":[{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/06\/16\/how-grocery-retailers-can-beat-amazon\/#Article_author_Person","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/jennvzande","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jennvandezande\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/jennvzande"],"image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/06\/16\/how-grocery-retailers-can-beat-amazon\/#Article_author_Person_image_ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/JennVandeZande_Profile_Pic_2018-1-150x150.jpg"}],"name":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/jenn-vande-zande\/","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/jenn-vande-zande\/"}],"image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/06\/16\/how-grocery-retailers-can-beat-amazon\/#Article_image_ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/thumbnail-dbcfb85c920e1bbeeb7575ded6512d01-1200x630.jpeg","width":"1200","height":"630"}],"mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/06\/16\/how-grocery-retailers-can-beat-amazon\/","articleBody":"\n        We all felt the ground shake with the news that Amazon plans to acquire Whole Foods.\nSimilar to an earthquake, while living through the experience is shocking, there were ways to predict that it might have been coming, and ways to prepare for it. While the after-tremors of this surprise announcement are being felt far and wide, (and will be for a long time), right now is the time to take a deep breath and realize that the landscape is changing, and that you can navigate through it.\nEssentially, it\u2019s time for reflection and a renewing of your strength and dedication to the market and the customer.\nHere are the facts as we see them: How grocery retailers can beat Amazon\nThis is a game-changer\nHow many times has the term \u201cgame-changer\u201d been used with Amazon? Countless. However, Amazon has been ramping up their entry into the grocery retail market.\n\u201cAmazon has been steadily breaking into grocery, the largest segment of retail, with AmazonPantry, AmazonFresh, AmazonGo, and most recently their AmazonFresh Pickup pilot. Just yesterday they released a Dash Wand that can not only be used to scan products into a shopping list or cart, but also includes Alexa for find recipes, get product recommendations, and place orders,\u201d said Stephanie Waters, Retail Industry Principal with SAP Hybris, \u201cAnd now, today, this.\u201d\nStephanie noted,\u00a0\u201cSome grocers haven\u2019t been overly concerned about Amazon, saying they don\u2019t know how to do fresh and they don\u2019t have stores. That all changed today when they acquired one of the world\u2019s experts in fresh and 465 stores across North America and the UK. The grocery industry will never be the same. We are on the cusp of a quickly moving environment and I think we will see the acceleration of supermarket chains innovating their business models and modernizing their organizations.\u201d\nPrice wars are coming\nExperts in the industry\u00a0have been aware\u00a0that a battle was brewing when it comes to pricing and grocery retail, but today\u2019s announcement brings grocery retailers to the front line.\nCutting prices isn\u2019t the answer. You need to deliver an outstanding customer experience and maximize operational efficiencies.\nData: the not-so-secret weapon\nMany grocery retailers partnered with Instacart to provide\u00a0fulfillment services, thereby turning over their customer data to a third-party vendor rather than retaining and using that data. Today should mark a shift in how grocers proceed with this process.\nIt remains to be seen what impact the Amazon acquisition will have on the Instacart and Whole Food partnership, but taking back control of both the customer experience and data derived from it will be a key element in getting through this disruption in the industry.\nFewer customers walking into stores and ordering online from the retailer equates to\u00a0lower slotting fees, which means a significant crack in one of the foundations of grocery retailer bottom lines.\nOnline is the new frontier\nIt\u2019s hard to believe that there are grocery retailers who haven\u2019t made the leap to online, but they exist. \u201cThe news of this acquisition today only accelerates the online grocery forecast which is estimated to grab 20% of grocery by 2025,\u201d said Waters, \u201cretailers who are not online risk losing market share. Period. Full stop.\u201d\nPrepare to fight for your customer\nToday is a day to recognize that a long battle lies ahead. You have to be prepared to fight for your customer, and you need the tools and strength to do it. It\u2019s time to take a deep breath and assess where you are and where you need to be.\nIt\u2019s\u00a0been noted before, but bears repeating over and over: if you evolve your business model to include online retail, but you ignore the customer experience, you have gained nothing, and could even lose customers.\nHow do your customers feel about your brand right now?\nAre you providing what they need? Learn how to monitor and adapt to their needs\u00a0HERE.\n\n\n\t\n      ","dateModified":"2022-03-17T20:07:26+00:00","name":"Amazon and Whole Foods: How grocery retailers can beat Amazon","datePublished":"2017-06-16T20:08:00+00:00","headline":"Amazon and Whole Foods: How grocery retailers can beat Amazon","description":"We all felt the ground shake when we heard the news that Amazon acquired Whole Foods. 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