The future of traditional grocery retailers

: the impact of enabling trends on grocery retailers' business model

Abstract

The grocery retail industry is transforming based on changing consumer expectations, new cutting-edge technologies and increasing competition through new market entrants. Slow adaption to external circumstances places traditional grocery retailers under increasing pressure, which adds urgency to strategic choices between a selection of digital and non-digital activities. This study analyses digital and non-digital trends that are defining the future of the grocery retail industry. Combining secondary data with a consumer survey and expert interviews, major enabling trends for traditional grocery retailers are identified to provide insights on how future business models need to strategically evolve. The results reveal, that several technologies along the entire value chain will be crucial for a holistic transformation, especially automation in warehousing and distribution processes and the launch of digital customer applications as an omni-channel solution. Thus, customer profiling can be enhanced to generate valuable customer insights. In the future, major key performance indicators will focus on increasing efficiency and personnel cost reduction, which makes implementation of technologies essential.

Date of Award	27 Apr 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Peter V. Rajsingh (Supervisor) & André de Almeida Pinho (Co-Supervisor)