Getting started in online retail should be lean and focused. In this article, Emporix and atrify show what is important when starting out.
Content
- The future of food retailing is cross-channel
- Entering the online grocery business step by step
- Composable Commerce: creating a scalable basis for success
- Convincing high-quality product information
The future of food retailing is cross-channel
Retailers in the food sector who still run their business exclusively stationary have a hard time: even before the pandemic, competition from online retail began to grow considerably. In the pandemic, the situation was exacerbated by delivery services, which are aggressively entering the market and are becoming increasingly popular, especially among urban consumers. It is clear that the future of grocery is cross-channel.
Statistic: 4 out of 10 shoppers made their first online purchase during the pandemic, 9 out of 10 intend to continue doing so in the future.(criteo.com)
Grocers who have not yet digitised their sales, or have hardly done so at all, are well advised to address the topic of online commerce now, but without immediately falling into technology actionism. Even though we at Emporix are on fire for online grocery, we recommend our customers to approach the entry into digital commerce step by step - starting with the measures that can be realised with little effort and risk.
Entering the online grocery business step by step
"If online, then properly" - this is the motto of many grocers who have put off entering online retailing for a long time and are now afraid of missing the boat. In this situation, overambitious decisions are often made and quite a few retailers overshoot the mark with oversized technology at the start. When time is of the essence, e-commerce systems often cannot be large and comprehensive enough.
Misconception: "A lot helps a lot" often leads to traders getting bogged down with overambitious measures and failing.
Complete systems that combine "typical" functions such as product catalogue, search, ordering, payment, etc. in one solution appear attractive at first glance because they claim to offer "everything you need". However, it is often overlooked that although complete systems cover many areas, they quickly reach their limits when it comes to very specific requirements. Moreover, such systems usually offer much more than traders need, especially in the start-up phase.
Composable Commerce: creating a scalable basis for success
Instead of activating all functions that could theoretically be relevant today or in the future in one fell swoop, traders should digitalise their sales step by step. To get started, a few components that can be easily realised are often sufficient, e.g. an online product catalogue and a database with the most important products. The crucial thing is to create a scalable technological basis right at the beginning that allows online sales to be expanded gradually.
Background: Online grocery is dynamic, so technical solutions for online grocery must also be dynamic.
Emporix offers a scalable platform for "Composable Commerce". On this basis, traders can compose and expand their system according to their individual needs. The modular architecture of Emporix makes it possible to flexibly connect functional components (services) via standard interfaces (API), to exchange them if necessary and also to remove them again. This allows traders to react flexibly to new technological requirements at any time.
Convince with high-quality product information
High-quality product information is the fuel for sales and already plays an important role when starting out in online grocery. Without product data, there is no product presentation in the online shop, which is why it is advisable to clarify questions of quality and management of product information at an early stage: how is the data prepared for sales? Where is the data stored centrally and how can it be maintained decentrally if necessary?
For your understanding: High-quality product data is not a "nice-to-have", but absolutely crucial for the success of online sales.
The product content platform atrify allows product information to be managed easily and systematically on a cloud-based platform. For the food trade in particular, it is important to comply with legal requirements such as the Food Information Regulation (LMIV). In addition, atrify supports universal data standards such as GDSN as well as the automated exchange between PIM, merchandise management and other systems.
Conclusion: Scalability and data management right from the start
A study from 2020 concludes that the pandemic has accelerated the digitalisation of retail by about five years. New delivery services and the online shops of the big brands show that this development has also reached the food trade. Retailers who have so far sold exclusively stationary should become active now at the latest - step by step and oriented towards what is feasible and makes sense in the individual case.
It is important to take the right measures that both enable a quick start and provide the necessary flexibility for future development. With the Composable Commerce Platform from Emporix, retailers lay the scalable foundation for their online sales. The cloud-based Product Content Platform atrify supports the systematic management of product information. Both systems form the dream team for the start in online grocery.
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About emprorix:
emporix grocery commerce is a cloud-native headless commerce software based on microservices and APIs that is tailored to the specific needs of grocers' online and omnichannel business. And this for B2C grocery retail as well as B2B grocery wholesale.
