How do shoppers feel about the future of retail?
New technology promises to bring new experiences to the grocery world – retail media included. But which of those potential applications do shoppers find most exciting?
From agentic shopping to augmented reality, the retail space is alive with new ideas. For shoppers, though, their focus seems to be squarely on pragmatic innovation – for now, at least.
Presented with a list of potential in-store and online applications, respondents gravitate firmly towards ideas that would have a practical impact on their personal shopping experience, such as the idea of personalised pricing (64%), predictive suggestions (52%), and mobile notifications aligning with relevant offers in real time (55%).
Excitement isn’t just limited to pricing and predictions, though. More than half of shoppers say they’d be excited to see in-store screens showing relevant product suggestions (56%), or scan-and-go apps that suggest items while they shop (53%).
Interest extends to exploratory concepts, too. Personalised product bundles (51%), tailored health suggestions (54%), smart fridges that suggest products (45%), and virtual reality stores (41%) all draw support.
Enthusiasm does seem to dim when people feel that tech is taking too much ownership over their basket, however. Agentic shopping, for instance, excites 29% of people – but almost half describe it as intrusive or unnecessary (49%). This could be down to a lack of understanding and regular use, and suggests there is a need for educating shoppers on the benefits to them to allow trust to grow.
What do the charts show?
As the charts above show, the retail media technologies which ranked highest with shoppers had a bigger gap between positive and negative sentiment, showing that they feel strongly comfortable with these options.
On the other hand, the retail media technologies which ranked lowest with shoppers had a much smaller margin in sentiment, showing that the there is an opportunity to turn this sentiment from negative to positive much more easily. Again, this hesitancy is more to do with a lack of knowledge, understanding or practice with the technology so maybe there is an opportunity for retailers and brands to educate shoppers on these upcoming technologies.
Key insight:
There’s a tangible link between innovation and insight. The ideas that shoppers are most excited for – personalised pricing, predictive suggestions, and personalised lists – all have their foundations in data. That extends to more exploratory concepts too, like personalised bundles and tailored health suggestions. Our study shows that there is a clear distinction between accepted and understood use of technology vs emerging technologies where the benefits need to be clearer before shopper 'buy-in'.