Given our interest in ecommerce in the Food&Wine sector and the work we have performed for clients, we think it is interesting to show the evolution of the data for the entire sector.
In this research, we intend to take an overview of how domestic and international food retailers approach ecommerce.
We analyzed the functionality of the ecommerce sites of some brands operating in large-scale retail both in Italy and abroad.
The evolution of the Food & Grocery industry.
This research, aims to survey Food & Grocery data that emerged from the survey conducted by the B2B eCommerce Observatory of the School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano.
The online Food&Grocery market has 812 million euros in 2017, +37% when compared to 2016.
Another interesting figure is the share of purchases made from a mobile device for the Food&Grocery sector, which is worth about 200 million euros, accounting for 26 percent of total ecommerce in the sector (in 2016 it was 18 percent).
The growth of the Food & Grocery segments.
It is important to mention the growth of the three segments that identify the Food&Grocery market:
- Grocery food (supermarket food products): Grocery food as a percentage of total purchases in food is 34 percent.
The segment’s purchases are worth 240 million euros. A 57 percent growth over 2016. - Food and wine (gourmet products and alcoholic beverages): confirmed as the first segment of food (257 million euros, +13% compared to 2016).
It loses share in the incidence within the sector (38 percent instead of 46 percent in 2016). - Catering ( ready-to-eat food): reaches 201 million euros (+66% compared to 2016).
The segment’s incidence increases from 24% in 2016 to 28% in 2017.
The online food market in Italy saw a +2.2 percent increase in sales compared to last year’s figures. The percentage tends to increase if we think about the Grocery food segment, where large retailers are included.
Regarding large retailers, the percentage saw a growth of +3.4 percent in the first months of 2017 (January to April).
Such growth should be sought in the implementation and enhancement of ecommerce projects and sites developed by large national and international food retailers.
Advantages that drive consumers to shop on the Internet include:
- The convenience of purchasing, which can be done at home from a computer or mobile device;
- the ability to view and choose products with just a few clicks;
- The timely delivery of groceries;
- The opportunity to take advantage of promotions and discounts.
The GDO Food
The Food GDOs we would like to present in this research are as follows:
SELEX GROUP.
The Selex Group has a retail network of 2,516 outlets. He launched in April 2017 the CosìComodo.
The purpose of the platform is to unite the offerings of multiple signs.
The signs where the service is active are:
-Emisphere(Unicomm Group) at the Vicenza store;
-Gigant at outlets in Novara and Milan;
-Mercato(Dimar Group) at the Turin office.
The operation of the portal is simple:
- the client enters the location;
- the system directs directly to the list of outlets that are active;
- the customer chooses the products (dairy products, frozen products, fresh products, cold cuts, household items).
SoComodo offers other services:
– shopping list: suitable for those who make repeated purchases. This way, you can put them on the list and quickly add them to your cart;
– most frequently purchased products: the portal stores each customer’s spending and suggests the products they buy most frequently;
– suggestions: the system suggests products based on recent consultations.
The customer places the order, picks up with the help of the assigned staff and pays at the indicated point of sale.
Selex Group, through this ecommerce platform, aims to save customers’ time. It allows access to all products in the supermarket in just a few clicks.
The consumer can decide the preparation of the product, the cut of meat, fish, etc.
ESSELUNGA
Esselunga invested in ecommerce and came up with two projects:
- “Click and Go”
for the present store in Varedo (MB). The service, which has been active since March 2017, offers the opportunity to do your shopping online. It allows you to pick up your groceries directly on the same day with your own car. - Esselunga at Home
, an online shopping service established in 2001. Today it covers 1,115 municipalities in 5 regions: Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany and Piedmont.
Customers choose the most convenient day and time to receive their groceries at home. Pickup is from the day after the order is placed up to 20 days after the order is placed.
In 2016, about 1,350,000 groceries were delivered to its customers thanks to “Esselunga at Home.” Total combined turnover of 158 million euros.
COOP ALLENZA 3.0
Coop Alleanza 3.0, the largest consumer cooperative in Italy, has deployed its new ecommerce platform: EasyCoop.
EasyCoop, a new online shopping service, has a range of more than 11 thousand products. Fresh produce (fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, cold cuts and dairy products) are 3 thousand. The site was based on magento software
On the platform, all COOP brand lines are available alongside the big brands. Typical local specialties and foods for special needs.
EasyCoop serves all residents of Rome, Bologna and some neighboring municipalities.
The service approaches Amazon:
-Customers can do their shopping online;
– receive it directly at home, with the guarantee of product quality and freshness. Same price as hypermarkets and all promotions for those who buy online.
The operation of the platform includes:
-minimum order amount of 50 euros;
-Scheduled delivery service from the day after the order is placed. Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., with customizable time slots and costs.
The user can choose delivery at a predetermined time by paying a surcharge. The customer is notified half an hour before the delivery time by message.
-payment can be made online. You can choose to pay on delivery by credit card, prepaid card or ATM card.
Online Coop
COOP ALLEANZA 3.0 has released a new ecommerce site www.cooponline.it in collaboration with others of the same brand such as COOP LIGURIA, COOP LOMBARDIA SOC. COOP.VA, COOP RENO, NOVA COOP.
Together they have adopted a Hybris platform, then SAP to offer customers a comprehensive and very pleasant online experience.
The presence in the territory with hundreds of outlets allows to cover a large part of the Italian territory.
Purchases concern non-fresh for now and focus on home supply and technology. Leisure and sports. A large area is dedicated to children, from toys to early childhood.
Coop online has created a customized digital commerce experience with registration and many online services for the consumer such as free in-store pickup and of course free returns within 14 days. Excellent solution as info marketing on the wide range offered.
CONAD
Conad at Home offers the ability to order, pay for one’s groceries online and choose whether the pickup should be made at the supermarket or directly at home.
The platform is Adobe Experience Manager for the store location and Hybris for the sales section.
Operation follows several steps:
-User registration and entry of some personal data, including: first name, last name, email and city of residence;
-Setting the preferred supermarket at which to order and pick up groceries;
– choice of products to purchase;
-forwarding the order to check the availability of the requested products;
-preference of time for delivery and payment of groceries;
– Preparation of products and delivery of groceries to the home or pickup at the supermarket.
In our view, the UX in store selection could be improved.
SIMPLY
Simply, a supermarket brand of Auchan Retail, is present in the large-scale retail sector in 18 Italian regions (more than 1,500 stores).
In June 2016, the chain activated the SpesaSimply service in Milan and province with 3 formulas:
- Home delivery (shipping cost 7.50 euros): The service is operational in the Lombard capital and 35 hinterland municipalities. It allows you to receive your groceries directly to your home.
- In-store pickup (click & collect): it is functioning in four Milan outlets. With this service, consumers can choose the date, time, and store where they want to pick up the products they selected online. No extra charge and queues at checkout.
- Pickup at the drive (pickup by car): is operational exclusively in Rozzano, in the province of Milan.
The customer can pick up the groceries after 2 hours after order confirmation. It is loaded into the car in a short time.
TESCO
Tesco is a British retail group. It has a presence in about 2,000 stores in the United Kingdom. The group is active internationally.
Engages in retail marketing of groceries and other basic necessities.
Clothing, telephony, entertainment and other financial services.
Its headquarters is in London. The group has subsidiaries in China, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey and the USA.
The grocery delivery service is started in London in 2014. To date, it is available in 300 outlets.
It allows consumers to purchase at the desired time and place.
The cost ranges from 3 to 8 pounds (3.35 to 8.90 euros). No limitation on the number of items you want to order.
Consumers demand more for same-day deliveries.
The data notes that Tesco, since the beginning of 2017, has seen an increase of 18 percent.
The value of online is at 8 percent of total sales.
Insights
If you want to learn more, also read our research:
- Growth of food ecommerce in Italy and the new consumer trend of online shopping
- Ecommerce: Italians increasingly multidevice, food growing steadily
