Standing out and gaining share in the grocery retail market has never been tougher, and yet most companies are ignoring a key strategic growth driver that’s already in their stores.
It’s time for grocery retailers to rethink non-food and treat it for what it is: a strategic imperative.
The overlooked growth driver
It’s easy to understand why non-food isn’t an intuitive priority for grocery retailers; in fact, the clue is in the name. Food is the core business and the primary reason shoppers visit grocery stores.
Furthermore, categories like fresh food and food-to-go offer good margins, create a more sensorial customer experience, and drive frequent visits.
But prioritising food above all comes at a cost: non-food categories are often overlooked, under-funded, and afforded a marginal footprint, leading to an offer that feels tacked on instead of complementary.
The result is unrealised growth potential, which businesses cannot afford in today’s highly competitive market.
Rising to the competition
Shoppers value the convenience of picking up everyday essentials in a single trip, but quality matters: they expect non-food categories to deliver relevance, value and inspiration.
Non-food specialists, discounters, and online retailers are raising the bar in these areas, offering sharper ranges, lower prices, greater product focus, better variety, and more convenience. These advances are shifting expectations of what great looks like - and the bad news is shoppers don’t lower their expectations for non-food in grocery stores.
Consequently, retailers failing to live up to standards are risking a negative form of differentiation where their offer contrasts poorly with others. And the contrast will grow starker as non-food competitors continue to enhance, innovate, and diversify.
Read more from Stewart Samuel, Director of Retail Futures, IGD in the latest issue here
