2020 was an important Test for the Internet industry. Food retail has shown fantastic growth. The Coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the digitization of businesses - Federal retailers have started online. Shoppers ' habits have changed and the online shopping experience they have gained will continue to support market growth in the future. Valentin Kulikov, the founder of the online supermarket chain Bringston, shared his experience with the launch and explained what to look for.
Prospects for the food retail trade
According to Finistere Ventures, 8 8.7 billion was invested in the sector in the first three quarters of the year. The secret to success is that technology helps commerce provide services remotely. This is the future we have been waiting for in 3-4 years. However, the pandemic has served as a catalyst for development. I joined Food Tech in 2019 after working 10 years in classic food retail. At that time, I did not know what next year would look like. On the one hand, I understood that digitization would significantly increase the audience of online stores. But I didn't think so fast.
Before the pandemic, the Bringston supermarket had time to test operational and management issues, which allowed us to successfully withstand an explosive growth Phase of the blockage. But after the restrictions were lifted, growth did not stop. According to our analysts, demand in January 2021 exceeds the same indicators in April and May 2020. the number of searches in search engines has increased for Bringston and for food delivery in general. The major federal networks saw no prospects on the Internet for years to come. And in 2020, they spent huge Budgets to go there. Because the market demanded. I believe that Food-Tech will grow 10 times over the next 2-3 years. The reasons for this change are a new user experience that saves time and forced digitization due to the pandemic.
Market analysis
The idea of putting on the market a full-fledged online supermarket came to me in 2016. I didn't start from scratch-Brinston opened an offline branch on it. True, at that time there was a" blue ocean " in online grocery stores, and there was no question of daily delivery. But I believed in the concept, because the value of time in Moscow is very high, and a trip to the store eats 2-5 hours a week. Together with the Bringston team, we carefully developed the USP and offered users the lowest prices with the widest possible selection (7500 items) and express delivery. For this reason, it turned out that it stands out against the background of large retailers.
In market analysis, I advise you to focus more on your competitors. Not with regard to plagiarism of ideas, but with regard to the study of errors. See what has been done, what is requested, and what is not. As a rule, successful entrepreneurs do not hide their mistakes - this is a valuable material for a beginner.
Now we look at the development of Darkstores, as they can compensate for the shortcomings of stores. Essentially, a Darkstore is a customer-free warehouse where employees take orders from the shelves. This Format allows you to simplify processes, closely monitor the Matrix and speed up the entry of commands.
Website development and optimization
A small manufacturer of goods, like a farmer, can do without a website. At its disposal are bulletin boards and social networks. If it is a supermarket with a large matrix of products, then the Website is needed. So make Budgets over time. At Bringston, we've been doing the platform for about a year. Initially, the developers associated the CRM system with the branch accounting system but required independent architectural improvements. The mobile app was only launched in test mode in the summer of 2020. A full version is scheduled for this spring. According to our own analyzes, people use the app much less often than the website and mobile Version.
The mistake of the team was that they did not immediately connect Smart Search. We simply did not think that the user could make a mistake in the name, for example, "activia" instead of "Activia", and could not find the desired product. It is therefore recommended to conduct an intelligent search on the site from the first days. After implementation, Bringston's Basket increased by 10%.
Another important optimization index is the filling of product cards with content. Many people underestimate this. But the more complete and unique the map, the better the indexing by search engines. And the main thing is that the text should not be copied or pasted from a third-party website. This approach will not bring any benefit. When you plagiarize content, the search engine displays the original source, which is the page from which it was plagiarized. Therefore, when using other people's materials, another person's resource is also advertised.
And of course, it is imperative to implement Google Analytics and Yandex.Metrics for user data collection. Analytics allows Bringston to identify errors in time and reduce distortions.
Delivery
There are three ways to organize a delivery system: create your own courier, connect to third-party delivery services, and combine both options. Bringston is 90%, are engaged. The remaining 10% were partners Yandex, Dostavista, Gett Taxi - for security reasons given. Clean couriers are more profitable both from a financial point of view and from a customer service point of view. Our employees wear branded uniforms-this is an additional advertisement. We can always track the communication in case of a problem and solve the problem quickly. This does not work with third-party service mails.
Support
For us, communication with a customer is a fundamental topic. First of all, because of the scope. It is large and often needs to be replaced. Second, the sense of security for buyers. When you pay online with a card, you want to know every second where the order is. This is especially true for the new brand. The big ones have some kind of social credit. Customer service is a kind of non-monetary way to increase loyalty.
Therefore, I advise you to ensure communication in popular social networks and instant messengers and make customer service contacts visible on the site.
Customer loyalty system
E-commerce trends are slowly forcing food retailers to refuse to attract new customers. It is expensive financially and physically. That's why we focus on loyalty systems based on customer data. We offer you personalized offers, discounts, and cashback.
I advise you to carefully collect the analyzes for loyalty systems: customer portraits-gender, age, region; online behavior and communication channels; order history, etc.all this allows you to build a personalized communication, increases the average bill and lifetime value.
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