Grocers Expect AI to Impact Staffing and Software but are Slow to Implement

Grocery Doppio's survey of grocery industry executives, shoppers, and shopping data reveals state of AI in grocery, flat digital sales, and further decline of third-party share of sales.

NEW YORK and MIAMI, June 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Incisiv, a next-generation industry insights firm that helps retailers and brands navigate digital disruption, and Wynshop, the leading provider of digital commerce and fulfillment solutions for local store-based retailers, today revealed the findings from their State of Digital Grocery Performance Scorecard for May 2023. The Performance Scorecard reflects the latest analysis of shopper orders, plus interviews of grocery shoppers and executives about their current plans and expectations for AI in grocery.

After first interviewing grocers about AI in February 2023, Grocery Doppio followed up on the matter in this month's Performance Scorecard and uncovered the following key insights:

• Between February and May, the percentage of grocers who discussed ChatGPT at senior level meetings rose from 67% to 83%.
• While 82% of grocers said in February that AI was a necessity to remain competitive in the future, only 74% are actively looking for new AI capabilities in their software RFPs.
• Whereas 13% of grocers planned to spend non-budgeted funds on AI in 2023, just 7% have actually invested in 'net new' AI capabilities.
• Every grocery executive polled expected that AI would be used to augment (43%), automate (39%) or replace (18%) grocery staff, but only 11% expect AI to "significantly impact" their staffing within the next 24 months.
• The top challenges to adoption of AI are budget (71%), proof of performance (69%), and infrastructure limits (63%), according to grocery executives.

Grocery Doppio's "State of Digital Grocery Performance Scorecard" for May 2023
The monthly State of Digital Grocery Performance Scorecards are one of many resources available on the Grocery Doppio website. The reports are built around data analysis of 1.8 million shopper orders and survey results from more than 31,500 shoppers and 3,041 U.S. grocery executives.

More key findings from the May 2023 Performance Scorecard include: 

• Grocery is now truly omnichannel, but growth of digital is slowing down
  —61% of all grocery shoppers used digital channels part of the time in May 2023 and 69% of all grocery sales were "digitally influenced" in some way.
  —While YoY growth of digital grocery sales amounts to 19.8%, that growth has slowed significantly in 2023, increasing just 1.1% between April and May.

• Digital Grocery adoption and preferred fulfillment method are highly dependent upon grocer size
  —Small grocers experienced a 31.7% YoY dip in digital grocery sales and 4.8% MoM decline, while large grocers witnessed a 20.1% YoY growth and 1.2% MoM increase.
  —53.9% of large grocery shoppers prefer to pick up their orders themselves, while delivery is preferred by shoppers of small (67.5%), local (62.1%), and regional (55.4%) grocers.

• Third-party providers continue to lose market share
  —Grocery sales through third parties fell $503 million dollars, from $2.2 to $1.7 billion dollars, representing a 22.5% reduction between May, 2022 and May, 2023.

"Omnichannel is the new normal in grocery," said Gaurav Pant, Chief Insights Officer of both Incisiv and Grocery Doppio. "As the digital channel continues to mature, it is natural that we see a tapering off in growth alongside refinement in capabilities like fulfillment and AI."

"AI is clearly of interest to grocery executives, but they are cautious about its adoption," said Charlie Kaplan, Chief Revenue Officer of Wynshop. "Grocers need to have reliable infrastructure and proof of performance before they will commit limited budgets to new technologies."

Grocery Doppio is a free, independent source of grocery insights and data designed to help grocers jumpstart, accelerate, and sustain digital growth. Each month, Grocery Doppio brings together rich, research-driven grocery content, fact-based observations, inspiring perspectives, and deep performance benchmarks that identify improvement opportunities for grocery retailers. 

To download Grocery Doppio's "State of Digital Grocery Performance Scorecard: May 2023," click here.

On June 21-22 join grocery leaders and AI influencers for Grocery Doppio's Virtual AI in Grocery Conference. Speakers include executives from Wakefern, Giant Eagle, Microsoft and others. To attend, please register here.

About Incisiv
Incisiv is a next-generation industry insights firm that helps retailers and brands navigate digital disruption in their industry. Incisiv offers consumer industry executives responsible for digital transformation a trusted platform to share and learn in a non-competitive setting, and the tools necessary to improve digital maturity, impact, and profitability. More information is available at www.incisiv.com.

About Wynshop
Wynshop is an ambitious team of digital innovators obsessed with a solitary mission—helping grocers and other local store-based retailers grow wildly successful online businesses. Its refreshingly easy-to-use digital commerce platform enables efficient in-house picking, reduces fulfillment costs, and gives retailers the ability to control every facet of their customers' digital shopping experience. This results in a more personalized customer journey and amplified shopper loyalty. Learn more at www.wynshop.com.

Media Contact:
Laurel Getz
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203.767.5963

SOURCE Wynshop