FreshDirect Reveals Top Food Trends for 2021; Online Grocery and Home Cooking Boom to Continue

FreshDirect, a leading pure-play online fresh food grocer serving the Northeast, announced its top food trends for 2021. This year’s predictions were curated by FreshDirect’s in-house team of food experts. As food retailers at the forefront of the industry, FreshDirect has a unique and early view of cutting-edge grocery, ecommerce, and customer trends.

“As a leading online grocer, we have a unique and unmatched ability to understand the ever-changing buying habits of our customers. Our view on past orders, as well as those placed in the future, allows us to spot changes in trends quickly and react to them in real-time. The rapid increase in demand for online grocery and the boom in...

Instacart Announces Finance Industry Veteran Nick Giovanni is Joining the Company as CFO

Instacart, the leading online grocery platform in North America, announced it has appointed Nick Giovanni as Chief Financial Officer, effective January 27, 2021. Giovanni will oversee finance, accounting and corporate development for the Company, and will report directly to Founder and Chief Executive Officer Apoorva Mehta. Giovanni will succeed current CFO Sagar Sanghvi and the two will be partnering together to ensure a seamless transition.

"We want to thank Sagar for all of his contributions to Instacart over the last five years. During his time at the company, Sagar helped us navigate some of our biggest business milestones while...

Albertsons Companies Debuts Automated Grocery PickUp Kiosk in Chicago 

Albertsons Companies announced that it is the first American grocer to pilot an automated and contactless grocery PickUp kiosk. The kiosk, located at one of its Jewel-Osco stores in Chicago, demonstrates continued expansion of the company’s eCommerce business and deep commitment to providing easy service through its websites and apps.

The automated, temperature-controlled kiosk, created by Cleveron, provides a contactless pickup experience. Customers who select the “Kiosk PickUp” option will be offered 2-hr time slots during which to pick up their groceries.

When customers arrive at the kiosk, they scan a code on their phone and their groceries are...

Mercato Hires Jean-Michel Boujon as Chief Marketing Officer

Mercato, the online grocery eCommerce platform for independently owned grocery and specialty food stores, announced that it has hired Jean-Michel Boujon to be its Chief Marketing Officer. Boujon will direct all efforts associated with Mercato's brand, user acquisition, and lifecycle marketing. In addition, he will seek to advance the trend of consumers choosing to source their groceries from independent, locally-owned retailers.

"I am thrilled to announce that Jean-Michel has joined Mercato and to have him apply his talents to our company at such an important moment of our growth phase," said Bobby Brannigan, founder and CEO of Mercato. "He has a proven ability to...

COVID-19 Fuels a 50% Increase in Omnichannel Shopping Across the U.S. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has democratized e-commerce for all types of consumers, and over 18 million CPG buyers (and counting) in the U.S. have flooded the online space since March. Online shoppers have been mirroring their purchasing within the channel to their constantly shifting, pandemic-related needs and are becoming further entrenched in their shopping behaviors.

But not all online engagement leads to an online purchase. For many, online channels are a key means to compare prices, research new products and find physical stores, giving way to...

Food Discounter Sales Set to Grow Over 10% in 2020 

While COVID-19 has proved catastrophic for many of Britain’s retailers, new research from Mintel reveals that this year has been a success story for food discounters, such as Aldi and Lidl, as sales grew 11% in 2020.

By the end of the year, Britain’s savvy shoppers will have spent an estimated £24 billion at food discounters. And, according to Mintel research, the nation’s love of discounters is set to continue as by 2025 Mintel estimates that food discount sales will top...

Acosta Explores the "Mobile-ization" of Grocery Shopping and Acceleration Caused by COVID-19

With more than 260 million people now using smartphones in the U.S., it's no surprise that grocery shopping is becoming an increasingly mobile experience, which has only been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Research released in The Mobile-ization of Grocery Shopping report from Acosta — a leading full-service sales and marketing agency in the consumer packaged goods industry — provides insight into how and why consumers are "mobile-izing" when it comes to grocery shopping.

"Smartphones have grown to become a huge part of daily life, so it's only natural that retailers and shoppers are connecting this technology with the grocery buying experience," said Colin Stewart, Executive Vice President, Business Intelligence at Acosta. "We saw...

COVID-19 has Flipped the Value Proposition of Omnichannel Shopping for Constrained Consumers 

With few alternatives available during the widespread lockdowns earlier this year, e-commerce quickly became a go-to means-to-an-end for shop-needy consumers around the globe. Six months later, that early reliance on e-commerce has expanded into a fundamental dependence on still-evolving omnichannel shopping experiences.

The premise of omnichannel shopping certainly wasn’t borne out of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the global health crisis has dramatically elevated consumers’ use of both on- and offline channels in tandem, whether for click-and-collect, contactless delivery or an array of other fulfillment options. And across consumer groups, online channels have become the most critical shopping resources for...

Over a Fifth of Canadians Have Bought More Groceries Online Due to COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated Canadian usage of e-commerce with online grocery being one of the main benefactors. The latest research from Mintel reveals that by mid-April, almost four in 10 (37%) Canadians were shopping more online, with 22% of Canadians specifically noting they were buying more groceries online due to COVID-19, including 10% of seniors (those aged 65+).

Physical grocery stores have a big challenge to encourage consumers to come back into stores and spend time inside. Mintel's research shows that as of mid-April, 70% of Canadian shoppers were...

Has the Coronavirus Caused Consumers to Adopt New Eating Behaviors? 

Although social distancing measures have forced many people to stay indoors and start experimenting in the kitchen, the verdict is mixed on home cooking. According to Datassential, two in five consumers did not actually start cooking more often. However, about 35% found joy and excitement in discovering new dishes, yet more than a third of Gen X and households with children are sick of having to cook more often for their families.

For the most part, the pandemic has encouraged very few consumers to adopt new shopping and dining strategies, the rest are maintaining their prior routines. Online grocery shopping and grocery delivery have benefited the most from these new trials, with 21% trying grocery pickup for the first time, and...

Survey: Coronavirus Transforms Americans' Grocery & Cooking Habits

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a profound impact on Americans' grocery shopping and cooking habits, according to a March 23 survey of more than 3,000 consumers by meal planning service eMeals. Shoppers were unable to find 40% of the grocery items on their shopping list as the gravity of the COVID-19 outbreak sent them flocking to grocery stores to stock up on food from March 18-23. Respondents also reported a 55% increase in weekly shopping spend, cooking dinner at home six nights a week, and surging online grocery use that has caused fulfillment delays because of the high demand.

"Shopping and cooking habits have clearly been impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. Short supplies at grocery stores, restaurant closings, and the need to...