5 Lessons Learned During Online Grocery Product Development

Online grocery services are steadily gaining in popularity. Recent statistics show that 22 percent of American shoppers buy groceries online at least once a week. In addition, U.S. digital grocery sales are expected to increase by at least 149 percent by 2023.

Despite this level of growth, it's important for online grocery delivery services to understand that there will be a unique set of challenges that come with the development of a top-tier e-grocery experience for customers. Here are five lessons from Food Rocket that can help other brands avoid the same mistakes we made.

1. Leave the bright, flashy packaging to retail chains.

   
   

In e-grocery, your customers are making their choices virtually. You don't need to create attention-grabbing packaging with bright colors or flashy graphics. Focus your efforts on developing a product description that's enticing, informative and useful to the customer.

A recent survey found that more than 87 percent of online shoppers place a "high value" on product descriptions when it's time to make a purchase. This is especially true for younger generations, who are 40 percent more likely to be influenced by product descriptions that they perceive as "impressive."

It is actually quite difficult to translate the in-person customer experience to a comparable online experience. When customers are in your store, they can see, smell and touch the products. They can also get descriptions, nutrition information, manufacturer information and more when they pick up a physical product. Since this is impossible for an online shopping "trip," you must do everything in your power to support a consumer's need for information directly in the app.

2. Take the time to develop suitable packaging solutions.

   
   

Imagine that your company decides to deliver hot coffee. The challenges of how to keep it hot for 15-30 minutes, how to retain the taste, and how to deliver the products and necessary condiments without damage are all important considerations.

Choosing the right type of packaging is vital for e-grocery deliveries. After all, it doesn't matter how good your coffee is if it arrives with cream and sugar spilled in the package or a cold latte in the cup.

Food Rocket once decided to deliver these amazing danishes with fresh berries and vanilla cream. Customers were so excited about the product, so we expected a great launch day. However, after launch, our customer chat was flooded with complaints about how the danishes arrived damaged from delivery! We realized that we needed to pause deliveries for them and rethink the packaging before offering them in the app again.

We learned our lesson and had a great success story with hot dog delivery. We developed a perfect container with the help of our team and a supplier, and we included a separate "topping holder" to keep ingredients separate and give customers control over how much topping to add.

3. Be prepared to change how some products are delivered.

   
   

Having the right packaging for the product is just the beginning. As we saw with the danish launch and imagined coffee delivery, some products must be completely changed before they can be successfully delivered.

In the hot dog example above, I mentioned a separate topping holder. This provides a better experience for the customer because it keeps each topping fresh and allows customers to "choose their own adventure" when it comes to adding toppings.

The same is true for many products. Sauces often need to be placed in containers separate from the main course, and temperature alterations may need to happen for other products. For example, if a latte needs to stay hot for up to 30 minutes before it reaches the customer, then it's critical to have packaging that retains heat as much as possible. In addition, you will have to change how you prepare the drink. The milk will have to be steamed hotter than usual, but this must be done carefully so that it doesn't taste burnt.

4. Add customization options when you can.

   
   

The ability to customize food options is more important than ever for online food ordering. Technomic notes that over 60 percent of consumers place high importance on being able to customize their orders, and 66 percent are willing to spend more on a meal with new or interesting flavor choices. While these statistics were focused on restaurants, the same is true for e-grocery orders.

The more opportunities you have for customization, the happier your customers will be. Be sure only to implement as many customization options are your operation can handle, though. Remember that you can offer not only dish customization but things like meal deals and related add-ons as well.

5. Perform consistent quality checks at every stage.

   
   

Quality assurance is not unique to the e-grocery sector, but it is something that businesses should pay special attention to. Customers are expecting products that are the same or better quality as they would get in their favorite restaurant or supermarket.

An American Express report found that a single bad food delivery experience can result in 33 percent of American customers switching to a competitor. Whether this is damaged products, poor service, or dissatisfaction with food quality, consumers are rather unforgiving when it comes to food quality.

Online Grocery Delivery Has Its Own Unique Product Challenges

The online food and grocery delivery sector is booming, but the truth is that there are plenty of operational challenges that companies can unexpectedly run into. When developing new products for e-grocery, it's important to think through the delivery process and, when in doubt, pay attention to customer feedback. There will inevitably be times you get it wrong, but each of those instances is an opportunity to learn how to improve your service for the future.