COVID and grocery eCommerce is today’s focus on the Digital Grocer Podcast. With widespread impact on the grocery industry worldwide, we’re addressing the important questions surrounding this pandemic: what is COVID-19? How has it impacted grocery retail? And why should retailers invest in owning their eCommerce experience now?

Mark and Sylvain start by considering the progression of the viral outbreak, and response from the population and governing bodies over the past two months.

As the population is encouraged to self-isolate and practice social distancing, we're seeing a massive spike in adoption of grocery eCommerce. "On the Friday, in three of our markets...we had in the space of 20 minutes, 10,000 new accounts being created."

The uptick in online registrations will empower retailers to grow their eCommerce, but not if they have outsourced their eCommerce to a delivery-provider marketplace.

“If you're a grocery retailer and you're not invested in owning your platform, guess what? You've accelerated someone else owning the relationship.”

In anticipation that COVID-19 sales will be short-term and costly for retailers, retailers need to capitalize on increased eCommerce adoption and increase profitability of this line of business by taking ownership of the eCommerce experience.

“So I think if you're a retailer, and you're not invested in owning the relationship and building out your platform, trust me, this is something that you need to be extremely mindful of. This will be the new normal...There's no avoiding it at this point in time. Now is the time to actually plan and solidify that strategy.”

Discover what we learned are the three vital parts of grocery eCommerce you need to own today, from experiencing the Coronavirus outbreak.

Enjoyed this podcast? Then you might like these resources:

• Blog Post: COVID-19 and grocery retail: what grocers can do right now
• Podcast: Coronavirus and Grocery Delivery: Responding to Market Influx