Analyzing the 75th Consumer Expenditures Study to Understand How Retailers Can Use Robots to Win Customers

In the dynamic landscape of retail, understanding consumer preferences and adapting to their needs is paramount for success. The 75th Consumer Expenditures Study conducted by Progressive Grocer sheds light on the factors influencing shoppers' choice of a grocery store. According to the study, key influencers include sales and promotions, products in stock, store cleanliness, helpful employees, and organization of the store.

To capture and retain customers, retailers need innovative strategies that will set them apart from competition. Let's explore how robots can be instrumental in helping retailers win over customers based on the key factors most important to shoppers.

Sales & Promotions (59%):

A primary attraction for shoppers is discounts, deals, and promotions. Retailers can drive more people into their stores with these promotions, and also generate impulse purchases. However, ensuring the price tag at the shelf accurately reflects the correct price, especially when a promotion is running, can be difficult to track.

Retailers can leverage inventory scanning robots and artificial intelligence (AI) to detect inaccurate price tags, helping retailers quickly identify and resolve issues that can lead to shopper frustration and mistrust.

‍Products in Stock (69%):

Customers expect  to get what they want, where they want, when they want. So when items are out-of-stock, customers can be left disappointed by their shopping experience.  Autonomous inventory scanning robots can continuously monitor stock levels, scan shelves for missing items, and alert staff to replenish items. By ensuring shelves are constantly replenished, robots contribute to a seamless shopping experience and prevent lost sales due to unavailable products.

Store Cleanliness (58%):

Attractive settings attract customers. Maintaining cleanliness throughout a store is essential for creating a welcoming environment that customers want to shop in. Autonomous floor care robots can clean the floors of stores, offering increased levels of cleanliness from the ground up. Additionally, by taking this repetitive, time consuming task off the place of janitors, more time can be spent on other assignments, which helps improve the overall cleanliness of the store.

‍Helpful Employees (40%):

As consumer expectations continue to evolve, exceptional customer service remains paramount in retail. Robotics can complement human staff by automating routine and time-consuming tasks, allowing employees to focus on delivering exceptional service and building meaningful connections with customers, elevating the customer experience and differentiating themselves in a competitive market landscape.

Organization of Store (32%):

Retailers can employ inventory scanning robots that provide localized insights, auditing the location of products and helping ensure products are where they should be. This helps create a well-organized store, and ensure in-store shoppers and pickers can easily and quickly find the items they want to buy. Both retailers and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies invest significant resources into determining the optimal placement of products within a store. However, despite this  planning, the execution often deviates from the intended planogram, resulting in what can be termed as a 'realogram' mismatch. This discrepancy can frustrate shoppers and online order fulfillers who struggle to locate items, and make stores feel unorganized and chaotic.

Retailers can employ inventory scanning robots that provide precise, localized insights by auditing the placement of products throughout the store. This helps retailers  maintain  organized stores, ensuring that both in-store customers and online order pickers can easily find the items they want.

Integrating robotics into the retail environment presents an opportunity for retailers to meet and exceed customer expectations. By addressing key factors influencing shoppers' choice of a grocery store, such as sales and promotions, product availability, cleanliness, employee assistance, and store organization, robots can improve operational efficiency and customer satisfaction - creating a winning strategy in this increasingly competitive landscape.