Food-Retail Establishments: Creatively Supporting Customers and Employees during the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has unprecedentedly changed the world and how we do business. Many businesses have suspended operations due to government mandates or fears over spreading the coronavirus. However, essential industries such as healthcare, finance, and supermarkets have remained in service during this health crisis. Supermarkets and grocery stores, eager to do their part in alleviating the crisis and flattening the curve, have adapted in ways that protect the safety and well-being of their employees and customers while also protecting their bottom lines. Technology and Strategic Shifts Protect Customers While Promoting Sales Many customers, consistent with stay-at-home orders, have [...]
How Food-Retailers Could Maximize Online Technology during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Many consumers have taken their grocery shopping online during the COVID pandemic. Online shopping has shown a significant surge of adoption over the past few weeks. Post pandemic, it is estimated that this trend will continue and food-retailers should strategize how to maximize online technology for short- and long-term benefits and implement resources for their customers. Enhancing Customer Experience A strategic and targeted way to enhance customer experience is through the use of mobile apps. Today, when smartphones are a primary tool for communication, it is advantageous for retailers to have mobile apps to communicate with their customers. Customers want [...]
Merchandising Tips for Food Retail Amid COVID-19
The beginning of 2020 has been an eventful one, to say the least. The world has been turned upside down as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and grocery stores have been designated as essential businesses supplying the necessary resources to feed and provide for their customers. As a result, businesses are also needing to rethink their store layout and merchandising strategy. Supermarkets need to shift the dynamic of the way they have always done business. They are now reimagining their merchandising strategy, and how they can effectively use their existing equipment to accommodate the needs of today and offer [...]
Food-retail Companies Give Back to Vulnerable Communities Affected by Coronavirus Pandemic
The Coronavirus outbreak has been very challenging to all of us; most especially to the vulnerable sectors in our community like senior citizens, children, and family members belonging to low-income households. Due to COVID-19, food insecurity has been prevalent and food-retail corporations are working together with charitable, not-for-profit organizations to give the communities in need all the support they can get amid this health crisis. Amazon, the popularly known online retailer, is delivering 6-million meals to local food banks in 25 cities across the country with the use of their own Amazon Flex drivers. In Houston, Texas, Amazon has partnered [...]
Everything’s Under Control!
How sweet the sound! For businesses that rely on refrigeration for their very existence, like retail food, food processing, cold storage warehouses, biopharmaceutical, and such, having that process under control is the very measure of the health of their business lifeline. There could be no sweeter or more comfortable words to hear than “everything’s under control with your refrigeration process.” Many of these types of businesses are increasingly turning to CO2, a natural refrigerant solution, for their refrigeration needs, driven in large part by their desire to “future-proof” their operations against the specter of costly, regulatory-mandated refrigerant change-outs. Hillphoenix has [...]
Moving Forward: What Has the Food Retail Industry Learned so Far During COVID
It has been four months since the Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the food retail industry. Restrictions were put in place, consumer buying behavior abruptly shifted and food retailers have adapted their strategies to keep things afloat. As we move to the 3rd quarter of 2020, and we go on with our operations one cautious step at a time, here are the things we have learned so far: Technology is winning If there is one thing that this pandemic has taught us it is that everything, most especially buying groceries, can be done online. As stay-at-home restrictions were implemented, consumers [...]
Supermarket Food Bars: Are There Better Days Ahead?
It has been a rough road for some food retailers ever since the pandemic hit. Some grocery departments like fresh produce, meat, and center store have been booming, while self-service areas have predominantly dipped in sales. For self-service areas like food bars that have been frowned upon due to health and sanitary concerns, its present state is uncertain. But, will it have a better future? Road to Recovery Since the pandemic hit, retailers have seen a steady surge in sales for the center store and produce department; however, the situation is far different for food bars and deli prepared. According [...]
C-Stores Gaining Traction Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
C-stores are seeing a rise in consumer spending in recent months due to reasons like proximity, convenience and safety. However, as consumers’ buying behavior changes, they are also demanding for more available products – not just shelf stable items – indicating a wave of opportunities coming for the channel. Consumer Rise in Spending and Demand Convenience stores' total spending boosted by 3.2% in the month of May. One reason for this increase in spending is proximity. Consumers continue shopping closer to home and are trying to avoid large crowds in big food-retailers like supermarkets to eliminate the risk of exposure [...]
What Would You Give for a Truly “Future-Proof” Investment
“Change is the only constant in life.” Somewhere along the line, most of us have heard that saying. After all, it’s been around a long time — a matter of fact, most people would never guess that the author was a Greek pioneer of wisdom named Heraclitus who lived around 500 BC in the days before Plato and Aristotle. It’s hard to argue that the statement is anything but an unequivocal truism. We face changes every day of our lives. The impact of those changes on each of us can run the gamut from negligible to life-altering. Ignoring the inevitable [...]
Online Grocery Shopping is…NOW!
The grocery shopping habits of consumers have changed drastically over the past few months. Online grocery shopping, which shows a very high surge in adoption, is reshaping the food retail industry. In these trying times where our lives have become narrowed, how is online grocery shopping winning over consumers’ and industry’s demands? Surge in Online Grocery Shopping Since the start of the stay-at-home restrictions, people have been using online grocery shopping to deliver their essentials at home or curbside. Due to this surge, even some brick-and-mortar food-retail businesses are jumpstarting their e-commerce platform strategies. According to Brick Meets Click and [...]