I recently attended Groceryshop, probably the largest gathering of leaders in the grocery business in the country. On stage, there was lots of discussion about how the grocery industry is on top of its game. To listen to the presentations, you’d believe that grocery industry leaders are managing a glide path, transitioning to more online grocery buying and integrating the online and in-store shopping experiences. You’d have heard leading companies discuss the introduction of new products and services to meet consumer needs and take advantage of technological changes. It was impressive indeed.
But in the seats, the discussion was very different. It was a lot more about turmoil, upheaval and uncertainty in the grocery business than it was about any smooth transition. I asked numerous senior people from leading grocery retailers, consumer package goods companies and many others two questions:
- How will consumer adoption of online grocery shopping accelerate in the next several years?
- Will the leading companies in the grocery business in the U.S. right now be the leaders in the online grocery business in five to ten years?
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