Letters: Grocers, get ahead of the game
[Re: Jubilee weekend boom fails to lift June’s retail sector, July 22]
Given the difficult winter ahead, it is unsurprising the latest ONS retail data showed that many are choosing to spend less.
However, the rise in food sales tells a slightly different tale. Driven by the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, it speaks to the ability of grocers to connect with their customers in moments of celebration. During the challenging months ahead, grocers must work hard to maintain that special relationship and connect with consumers on a personal, human level.
Grocers who fail to connect face an uncertain future. According to Ensono research, 79 per cent of UK shoppers have tried an alternative grocer following their experience with their normal grocer during the pandemic. Unlike previous decades, consumers aren’t as attached to their grocers as they once were.
To stay ahead of the game, businesses in this sector need to rethink and reimagine the shopping experience for customers. A period of economic slowdown is a moment for grocers to work even harder to stay in touch with customer needs, offering them a personalised experience that mixes value and flexibility. This work will be enabled and accelerated by a modernised approach to technology, bringing together the best of cloud-native systems with reliable back-end mainframe technology.
Simon Ratcliffe