Check Out What’s New at the Grocery Store

Walk into any MULO (multi-location) grocery store today, and you’ll likely find far more than what you might have experienced 20 years ago.

In fact, the most popular grocery store in the U.S. today is not even an actual grocery store. According to this recent study, 7-Eleven ranks highest, which is proof positive of the “rise of the C-store (convenience store)” as a destination for today’s shoppers.

Walmart (also not a traditional grocery store) leads the country in grocery sales.

Placer.ai recently published a fascinating infographic (below) about grocery “dwell time,” which means that the popularity of apps like Instacart and DoorDash and BOPIS — buy online and pick up in-store — options, the number of grocery shoppers who like to walk the aisles, search for deals and new products, and score discounts and loyalty points while they fill their carts may be on the decline.

What else is new in the grocery store?

• The store entrance used to be where you could pick up a cart (hopefully without wobbly wheels). But now key-making machines, lottery ticket dispensers, coin changers, and even ammo machines are being presented to shoppers as a way to streamline errand-running. Some stores have coffee cafes, florists, pharmacies, and dry cleaners on premises. The term “grocerants” sprung up, referring to places where someone can eat a snack or meal within a grocery store.
• Self-service checkout is commonplace today and a whopping 77 percent of shoppers prefer it because they believe it’s faster.
• Grocers are building strategic alliances with CPG brands, running both promotions and influencer campaigns to boost purchase of particular items.
• Technology abounds. Within the next couple of years,  smart carts, digital coupons and recipe apps will be mainstream, according to Grocery Dive and a Kroger’s study. 
• Other technologies that will make their way into the grocery ecosystem are warehousing, product stocking robots, and security systems that mitigate shoplifting.
• As in all MULO retail categories today, savvy marketers will use loyalty programs to amass data about individuals’ tastes and shopping patterns and can use that effectively in targeted marketing.

Before you even get to the grocery store…

Your home refrigerator may take inventory and let you know when you’re running low on milk or if that cheese you bought last time is expiring.

Join us at Street Fight LIVE 2025 to learn how the lines between retail, restaurant, and service businesses have been blurring for a while now, and traditional definitions of stores may soon become obsolete. The way consumers buy basics like bread and milk is now totally phygital!