Breaking Down Kroger’s E-Commerce Site [Video]
In this episode of Coffee + Commerce, we break down Kroger’s e-commerce site with Faisal Masud and Ryan Bartley. Faisal is our CEO here at Fabric and was previously the director of AmazonBasics and the CTO at Staples. Ryan is our co-founder and was previously the director of mobile at Staples and product manager at eBay.
Kroger reported that it increased online grocery sales by 108% in Q3 2020, and some retail analysts say Kroger is an “advanced” online grocer. Our breakdown shows otherwise. Despite this, Kroger (and its competitors) can improve the online shopping experience by implementing the changes recommended in this episode.
Key Takeaways
[0:07] Faisal
Make online grocery shopping intuitive.
The online grocery shopping experience should mimic the physical grocery shopping experience as closely as possible. It should be easy to browse, make repeat purchases, and check off lists. (Amazon sets the bar here with Whole Foods and their online shopping experience.)
[0:39] Ryan
Make online grocery shopping an easy replenishment experience with a mobile app.
As a grocery shopper, you are mostly entering a replenishment experience. You typically buy about 80% of the same stuff every week. With that in mind, it makes sense to push a mobile app download so people can take their phone from their pocket and quickly restock on the groceries they need.
{1:01] Faisal
Use IP address tracking to identify the closest store to the shopper.
Kroger does this to an extent but interrupts the shopping experience by asking people to confirm their zip code. There is also awkward language used in the pop-up (You’re Shopping Ship).
[1:39] Ryan
Promote loyalty and app downloads.
Kroger promotes their app in the footer of the website. This call to action should at the top of the homepage and every other page. Don’t be afraid to push app downloads as an online grocer.
[2:03] Ryan
Get your bananas/search right.
When bananas are searched for in the search bar, no actual bananas appear. This is a problem as bananas are the number one product bought in a grocery store. Granted, the word bananas was spelled wrong with three N’s, but a smart search function/microservice should correct this.
[2:52] Ryan / Faisal
Don’t use sign-in to add.
To add a product to your shopping cart, you must sign in. When Kroger’s customers walk into their store, they don’t ask them to sign in. Therefore they shouldn’t be doing it on their e-commerce site. With the world of ApplePay you shouldn’t have to sign in at all.
[3:34] Ryan / Faisal
Make recipe ideas transactional.
Kroger offers holiday recipes but does not let shoppers add the ingredients for these recipes to their shopping cart.
To make changes based on these recommendations and upgrade your e-commerce site, a headless commerce setup is vital. This makes it easy to add new e-commerce functionality and features while maintaining full control over site experience. To learn more about this modern approach to e-commerce, check out Fabric.
Content marketer @ fabric. Previously marketing @ KHON-TV and Paramount Pictures.
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