How To Increase Basket Value In Grocery

We've covered a range of marketing strategies on this blog that are designed to grab that elusive sale, but the process doesn't end once you've convinced the customer that they actually want to make a purchase. Fostering loyalty and increasing basket value are crucial next steps in order to capitalise on this initial interest. You can read some of what we've written about fostering loyalty here, but right now we're going to focus on increasing basket value.

Increasing online grocery spend through click and collect

Click and collect, or grocery pickup, has been largely responsible for the acceleration of online grocery adoption in the US. Walmart has invested heavily in click and collect and it has paid dividends. Recent results from the grocery giant revealed that online sales rose 37% year-over-year. Click and collect is not just a convenient way for grocery retailers to increase interest in online grocery. Increased basket value is an additional benefit. According to Numerator, the average spend per trip for grocery pickup at Walmart is $124.86, while in-store it drops to $49.70. This is a significant increase that cannot be ignored. Grocery retailers hoping to replicate this success should focus on incentivising consumers with coupons and special offers and by creating a seamless experience that will encourage them to give grocery pickup a try.

Using smartphones to increase basket value in-store

Most of us have used our smartphones during a trip to the supermarket at some point. Whether it's to check items off our list, look up a recipe or browse social media, many of us are glued to our screens even in the grocery aisles. This is good news for grocery retailers that want to increase basket value. Consumers who use their smartphones in the supermarket spend on average 41% more than those who don’t. You can read more about the study here, but it boils down to distracting ourselves from the reason for our trip, resulting in us looking at more products and spending more time in the store. While the theory doesn't rely on customers checking out grocery-related content on their phones, savvy grocery retailers could encourage phone usage by employing creative strategies. A great example of this is Albertsons' use of Pincodes to offer customers fresh recipe inspiration as they browsed the store. Not only does it add value for the customer, but it also has the potential to increase basket value for the retailer. 88% of consumers already use their smartphones in the grocery store according to FMI, so encouraging to do so in a more relevant way is the next step.

Turning convenience into increased basket value

Shoppable recipe content adds value for the customer because it shortens the customer journey considerably. A few clicks are all it takes to add a week's worth of groceries to your basket. It also eliminates the chance of forgetting an important ingredient. For retailers, it offers the opportunity to increase basket values. Recipe Guru's research indicates that for the retailer, shoppable recipes offer basket value uplift of 3.2% when chef-authored recipe content is added to a customer's basket. No surprise then that 'Add ingredients to basket' buttons are becoming ubiquitous on grocery retailer websites.

If increased basket value is your ultimate goal, employing a combination of the above three strategies is a smart move. Online grocery is a relatively mature and successful space in the UK where click and collect and shoppable recipes have been employed as strategies for many years. Online grocery is on the cusp of going mainstream in the US, with grocery retailers investing heavily in innovative ideas and technologies in order to capture the imagination and spending power of consumers. Putting increased basket values front and centre at every point of the planning stage will pay dividends.