Through the stomach to the customer's heart

In 2016, almost one in four citizens of the European Union bought groceries online. Concerns about the quality of goods or long waiting times for delivery are disappearing, according to experts at e-commerce platform Shoper.

Optimistic signals for the FMCG industry related to the online sales channel have been coming for several months now. Morgan Stanley analysts predicted at the beginning of last year that one in three Internet users worldwide would make food purchases online. That's a significant increase from 2015, when only one in five made such purchases. In the United States alone, the value of the fresh grocery e-shopping market in 2016 could close at $42 billion - up 163 percent compared to 2015.

Morgan Stanley reports that the primary factors keeping customers from buying food online are the tendency to pick products off the shelves themselves and the ability to make quick purchases at stationary stores after work, on the way home. Objective concerns - about the cost of delivery, the quality of the products delivered and the delivery time of the order - were cited less frequently.

- The e-grocery industry, like everything on the Internet, will grow - there is no turning back from that. Customers have their own shopping habits, but these do not prevent the popularization of the online food sales channel, comments Tomasz Tybon, sales director at Dreamcommerce, provider of the Shoper ready-to-use online store software. - What's more, by adapting services to consumer behavior, retailers can gain a lot. Imagine a bakery with a subscription model - delivery of selected fresh bread on Monday, Tuesday and Friday, with a delivery schedule set and paid for online.

According to data from the Eurostat agency, nearly 25% of the European Union's population bought food online last year. The most active in this regard are Internet users between the ages of 25 and 54, i.e. representatives of the so-called commercial group, with the most affluent wallets. In turn, according to a Kantar Worldpanel survey, the value of online food sales in July 2015-June 2016 amounted to $48 billion, 15 percent more than in the same period a year earlier. The market is expected to grow to $150 billion by 2025.

The favorable economic climate creates good conditions for entrepreneurs thinking about starting online sales or expanding their current business to this channel. - Many people do grocery shopping every day, but the value of their shopping cart is small, Tomasz Tybon reminds. - Therefore, a good chance for success has companies that solve the problem of small but frequent purchases, quickly delivered to the customer.

A peculiarity of the industry is that grocery e-shopping operates mainly locally - it would be difficult to ship fresh products to the other end of Poland. On the other hand, there is no longer the slightest problem with the delivery of thermally packaged products. That's why e-stores with healthy food or e-delicatessens, offering unique or hard-to-find products, are very popular. That's why eCommerce is also a good way to promote original products, such as regional delicacies and specialties - an example of such an e-business is, for example, the butcher store Smak Tradycji, operating on the Shoper platform. Thanks to the fashion for organic food, virtual marketplaces and platforms for ordering products straight from farmers and growers are also growing in popularity.

Customers buy in stationary stores believing that their offer is richer than that of online stores. An entrepreneur opening an online business must convince them that in an e-store they will get the same and even more - unique products, not to be bought elsewhere. - Regardless of the assortment, comprehensive product descriptions with extensive information about the product, its composition or method of preparation are key," points out Tomasz Tybon. - In addition, in the food industry, as perhaps in no other, high-quality product photos count. It's the photography that has to make a potential customer salivate at the mere sight of the product! How to do this is shown, among others, by the owners of the PrzeSmak catering e-shop

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E-grocery services are provided by some supermarket chains. Recognized brands from the food industry also have their own e-shops: the Shoper platform features a store by Prymat, among others. - The market is capacious and there is room for both small and large players. The former should take advantage of the fact that they can adapt faster to changing conditions and customers' needs, advises an expert from Dreamcommerce. - A neighborhood "vegetable store", operating an online store and employing a goon who would deliver the order within 20-30 minutes, would quickly win the hearts of many customers, and in the process learn about their shopping preferences.

The growth of the e-grocery sector is also helped by the development of new technologies - such as InPost's refrigerators and Alma's coolmats. Great potential lies in the Internet of Things - online food ordering will be handled on our behalf by smart home appliances, such as a refrigerator that detects that we are running out of stock.