Survey Shows North American Consumers Value Self-Checkouts Above All Other Grocery Store Technologies

Empathica’s 2011 Consumer Insights Panel survey ranks the grocery store technologies that consumers consider most valuable in enhancing their overall shopping experience.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada – August 08, 2011 – Empathica Inc., a leading provider of Customer Experience Management (CEM) solutions to some of the world’s most respected brands, announced the results of their 2011 Consumer Insights Panel survey of more than 16,000 consumers.

The survey asked consumers which technologies they value most in their grocery experience, and how their expectations are being met by grocery stores across Canada and the U.S. Results showed self-checkouts ranked as the No. 1 technology that enhances consumers’ overall shopping experience. Half of consumers indicated that an easy-to-use grocery website is also important. Despite its importance, a third of consumers say websites only ‘sometimes’ meet their expectations (28.8%) or ‘never’ meet their expectations (4.1%).

Top Grocery Store Technologies that Consumers Value, From Most Important to Least Important:

1. Self-checkouts
2. Easy-to-use website
3. Kiosks offering product information, coupons, recipes, etc.
4. Electronic offers sent via email or mobile device
5. Wireless access within store

How Demographics Influence Technology Preferences
While self-checkout enhances Americans’ overall shopping experience, this contrasts with what Canadian consumers report. When evaluating grocery technologies, 65% of U.S. consumers considered self-checkouts important, compared to only 54% of Canadian consumers. In fact, more than half of Canadians said self-checkouts were ‘not applicable’ in their grocery experience, indicating that not all Canadian grocers have this option available in stores.

“Brands have the opportunity to differentiate themselves from competitors by implementing the technologies consumers look for when choosing a grocery store,” says Brian Jones, Empathica V.P. of Grocery and Consumer Packaged Goods. “As technology continues to evolve, stores need to consider new grocery store enhancements, and how they’ll improve the overall grocery experience for shoppers.”

The Empathica Consumer Insights Panel survey also revealed some differences between men and women when it comes to grocery store technology. Fifty-one percent of women said they value grocery store’s electronic product offers sent via email or a mobile device versus 46% of men.

In addition to appreciating email and mobile offers, the majority of women (57%) said an easy-to-use website ultimately influences their overall customer experience. Fifty-one percent of men consider websites important, according to survey results.

“The Empathica Insights Panel found that technology will increasingly be a requirement for delivering a differentiated customer experience,” says Jones. “Because of this, grocers need to think about their customer-facing technology strategy, and link that back to their customer segmentations. Otherwise, the implications for the perception of the grocery experience among certain segments of their customer base can be considerable.”

The Insights Panel study revealed that 80% of consumers between the ages 18–24 said grocery technology was an important factor in their grocery shopping experience. However, this percentage declined consistently across each age range; only 44.5% of those over 65 expressed the same sentiments.

“As the younger generations get older they will put pressure on grocery stores to deliver on their expectations for service, and in doing so, will reward them with their loyalty,” adds Jones.

An earlier Empathica survey during Wave 3 2010, reported that 78% of North Americans ranked supermarkets and grocery stores as the most successful industry in its efforts to leverage technology. Other industries falling lower on the list included fast food and casual dining restaurants, department stores and hotels.

For the latest Empathica Insights Panel survey findings, visit http://www.empathica.com/insights.

About the Empathica Consumer Insights Panel:
Empathica Consumer Insights serves as an authoritative voice on consumer based economic indicators; the retail, financial services and restaurant industries; consumer shopping intentions and customer satisfaction as reported by thousands of consumers in the U.S. and Canada. Results from Empathica’s Consumer Insights, led by Dr. Gary Edwards and Empathica’s Consumer Insights’ team, are published several times a year. The results are based on outbound Internet surveys with Empathica’s growing Insights Panel, derived from more than 30 million consumer surveys per year. Results have been weighted to reflect latest Census distributions in the U.S. and in Canada, including Region, Gender, Age and Income.

Aforementioned data is reported by the Empathica Consumer Insights Panel – Wave 1, Issue 3 2011.

For more information, visit www.empathica.com/insights.


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