Artificial Intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies are arriving sooner than many of us expected.

The retail grocery industry, like most other industries, is trying to catch up — to figure out what the new technologies mean to them and their consumers, and how to integrate them into their daily operations.

As a new study commissioned by Supermarket Perimeter and conducted by Cypress Research makes clear, those consumers are ready for what’s next. Many — in an effort to save time and money and to make buying groceries more enjoyable — are already enthusiastic users of the technologies that are already here.

According to our research, 46% of shoppers lean on grocery technologies to enhance their shopping experiences.

Not surprisingly, young people are leading the way. While 92% of boomers shop in physical grocery stores, just 75% of millennials do. Gen Z is even more likely to rely on tech over brick-and-mortar.

Gen Xers may lead in use of grocery store websites, but it’s millennials and Gen Z who are leading the way in use of grocery mobile apps.

The Supermarket Perimeter study shows the growing importance of technology for consumers and grocery shopping, especially as it relates to supermarkets offering technology that helps shoppers save money and directly impacts their ability to spread their finances further in this inflationary environment, said Brian Numainville, principal of The Feedback Group.

One finding in particular jibes with similar findings from The Feedback Group.

Namely, the fact that older generations tend to shop the supermarket first, followed by other channels, while the younger generations shop Walmart and in some cases other channels, more than supermarkets.

“This creates a challenge for supermarkets, and perhaps those who adopt the right technology can appeal more to younger generations of shoppers,” Numainville said.

The finding that many shoppers like to pick their own fresh items in the store rather than online provides an opportunity for retailers, he added.

“Figuring out how technology can help provide more assurance to customers of the quality of their fresh items when ordered online could be a game-changer for supermarkets.”

And while many shoppers have used self-checkout, research The Feedback Group has conducted shows that cashier-assisted lanes are still the favorite of shoppers.

“With the challenges of finding labor, reconciling this can be a challenge for supermarkets,” Numainville said.

Convenience and efficiency

Technology has transformed grocery shopping by offering more convenience and efficiency for shoppers, Numainville said.

Consumers now use mobile apps and online platforms for ordering groceries, and increasingly rely on digital coupons and promotions. Mobile phones, Numainville said, provide a ready tool to help navigate the store, find deals, make payments, and redeem loyalty rewards, as well as get product information, nutrition facts and personalized offers.

Another transformative technology, self-checkout, allows shoppers to get in and get out of a store quickly.

And smart shopping carts can help shoppers find savings, track spending, and provide another way to skip the checkout line.

Even though smart shopping carts are already in use, widescale adoption will likely be a slow process.

Technology can also be as easy and simple as QR codes, which can share the stories and journey of products, as well as discounts.

It’s an easy way, Numainville said, to ease shoppers into next-level technology.

“Supermarkets excel in offering diverse technology solutions, which streamline the shopping process, making it quicker and more convenient for shoppers,” Numainville said.

There is, however, plenty of room for improvement, he added.

For starters, the supermarket sector is not exactly known for rapidly adopting new and emerging technologies.

That creates an education and perception gap that retailers must work hard to fill to convince shoppers that grocery and technology can go together.

“As stores bring in these new technology tools, building awareness of the utility and convenience of things like smart shopping carts, in order to increase adoption, will be critical given the investment required,” Numainville said.

Looking ahead, advanced AI and machine learning will continue to play a more central role in the everyday operations of grocery stores, Numainville said.

Companies like Puzl are already helping retailers see how AI can improve their profitability. AI will also transform inventory management and make it easier to provide more personalized offers to shoppers, among many other benefits.

But, as with other technologies, getting consumers fully on board will take time.

“Shoppers have a harder time visualizing how this technology will help them,” Numainville said.

Coming soon

Several other technologies will significantly alter the grocery store of the very near future.

Blockchain technology, for instance, will help shoppers feel more secure about the journey of their products from farm or manufacturing facility to shelf.

And Enhanced VR/AR will provide immersive shopping experiences for more and more shoppers, Numainville said.

Yes, VR/AR is already here, but there’s a long way to go to make it more accessible, less expensive, and less difficult to use, Numainville said.

“But down the road, VR could provide a much more immersive online shopping experience, and AR could really augment shopping in the store with so much more information.”

Another cutting-edge technology, Palm Recognition and Biometric Payments, will offer secure and quick checkout options.

The hurdles to their wide adoption, Numainville said, are privacy and security of personal information.

And don’t forget delivery drones. But don’t hold your breath.

“It remains to be seen if this will move beyond the testing phase and into more full use at a larger scale,” Numainville said.

This article is an excerpt from the August 2024 issue of Supermarket Perimeter. You can read the entire Technology and the Consumer feature and more in the digital edition here.