In the past decade, evolving technology has caused the number of consumers shopping in- person to dwindle. Now, it’s pulling people back into the stores.
In a world with a powerful technology presence, consumers are becoming increasingly entranced by “quick and easy”. In the retail industry, this translates to fewer people coming into stores and more online shopping. As stated in a 2019 study done by Big Commerce,
95% of Americans shop online at least yearly
80% of Americans shop online at least monthly
30% of Americans shop online at least weekly
5% of Americans shop online daily
But technology may be evolving to pull population back into the stores. The implementation of “scan & go” technology is making waves in the retail world. In essence, this enhanced shopping experience is designed to cut out the middle man: the cashier. Customers use their mobile phones or physical scanners to scan their items as they shop and eliminate the hassle of a checkout process at the end.
Big chains such as Kroger, Walmart and Sam’s Club are implementing this new scan & go system and seeing great success.
Sam’s Club says 80 percent of its members who use scan & go technology use it again within 90 days. On top of that, its scan & go transactions have doubled this year.
This new system comes with several advantages, including increased employee versatility, customer control, and cheaper installation.
With fewer employees occupied by the duties of a cashier, they’re free to carry out higher cognitive tasks. This is critical for stores looking to increase worker efficiency as they battle rising wages.
Customers, on the other hand, take on more responsibility in this shift, which they appreciate. Walmart customer Kari Malinak affirms, “I can’t stand it when they bag my produce. It gets all bruised. I like to have control. And I like the quick and easy aspect.” Additionally, customers are able to keep track of their total as they’re shopping to avoid overspending.
And finally, it’s a relatively cheap system to install. There’s no special equipment to manufacture- just app and scanner development.
However, with any system there are drawbacks, and there are a few obstacles that come with implementing scan & go technology.
The first, and most prevalent, is the barrier of downloading the app. While some stores have physical scanner tablets available for use, many stores employ an online app. This app needs to be downloaded on the customer’s personal device before shopping, which is often the biggest roadblock.
This is accompanied by the discomfort of getting used to a new system. Especially for less technologically savvy customers, it may take some time to grow accustomed. Stores face the risk of customers running into an initial inefficient period while they’re trying to figure the system out, and giving up on it altogether. Finally, stores must be especially cautious about possible theft. Stores with an online app check digital receipts, but without a cashier mediating the checkout process, it’s possible for customers to sneak items into their bag without scanning them.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about this topic, please reach out to the NewPoint team. If you are interested in more food marketing topics, please visit our Food for Thought page or check out NewPoint’s Patrick Nycz’s book: Moving Your Brand Up the Food Chain.
To identify and isolate areas for improvement in shopper marketing program strategies and tactics to further your CPG brand growth against set KPIs:
Maximize the economic performance of your CPG brand shopper marketing investment
Increase velocity at retail and consumer brand affinity
This shopper marketing audit will detail and contrast your CPG brand shopper marketing and messaging versus that of industry standard competitive practices and will include, but not limited to:
Target market reach, integrated retail marketing support, promotional continuity & awareness, offers and incentives, and tactical execution timing
Go-to-market launch strategies, timing, and tactical execution
Deliverables
Marketing Communication Audit Report
The deliverable will be a white paper with NewPoint Marketing findings and recommendations related to marketing activities in one retail partnership or DMA/market as defined by the client.
Brant brings 20+ years of experience to NewPoint as chief brand communicator and marketing-plan contributor.
Brant’s specialty is bringing an outside, investigative perspective that can feel alternately “rigorous” or “exasperating” depending on your point of view. Yet, he never fails to uncover a business’s unique selling proposition—one which can serve as a brand foundation for marketing that is compelling, creative and “sticky.”
Throughout his career, Brant’s applied his skill set to a broad range of business applications along the food supply-and-service chain. His services have provided vital clarity for all types of operations, from the more conventional food and food equipment manufacturers to the adjacent enterprises that partner with them, such as the Purdue University College of Agriculture.
Stephanie Bossung
Food industry marketing expertise—from retail to food-service and food-service equipment— is a natural outcome of having deep knowledge in every facet of a business’ operation. With 10 years in branding and business development, preceded by 15 years in mass media and promotions, Stephanie is an FMI Emerge mentor, holds an executive-level expertise in sales, marketing, media, and production management.
This exceptionally diverse skill set adds value for NewPoint clients by providing a full complement of perspectives on food-industry brand management endeavors.
Wired for a hawkish attention to detail while also maintaining a high-resolution view of the big picture, Stephanie is uniquely able to provide astute branding direction and simultaneously apply the business principles necessary to squeeze more bang out of every marketing buck.
Patrick Nycz
A member of the Forbes Agency Council and quoted in the New York Times, USA Today and Adweek, Patrick Nycz is the author of Moving Your Brand Up the Food Chain: Marketing Strategies to Grow Local and Regional Food Brands. He is an FMI Emerge mentor, an American Advertising Federation’s Silver Medal Award winner, and the Founding President of NewPoint Marketing, a full-service food industry marketing firm focused on food industry brands On a mission to grow.
Patrick’s vision for NewPoint emerged from his team’s success using this proven model for food industry clients and is fueled by NewPoint-funded food buyers and food manufacturers research around tracking consumer, industry, and ongoing food trends.
Kristy Blair
Since starting her 20-year career in commercial graphic design at one of the foremost catalog retailers in the world, Kristy’s visual branding skills have organically narrowed into the food-industry niche.
In that time, she’s directed graphic identities for snack food and restaurant startups, print materials for multiple agricultural seed companies, display graphics and merchandiser signage for major food-equipment manufacturers and everything in between.
Today, as one of the key brand architects for NewPoint clients, she continues to lead our visual research & development team, always working to find the innovative median between the best practices worth honoring and the accepted rules worth breaking.