H-E-B will turn underperforming Houston shop into an e-commerce center

Dive Short:

• The San Antonio-based grocer says 28,000 square foot shop is too little to use the product choices that customers in the area need. The grocer said it prepares to bring a larger supermarket to the location in the future.

• With this, H-E-B becomes the latest grocer to repurpose a shop for online satisfaction. When it shuttered 63 Sam’s Club stores earlier this year, Walmart stated it would transform a part of those places into e-commerce warehouses.Dive Insight: As e-commerce demand increases, professionals cannot rely on their stores alone to fill online orders. This remains in partly why< a href =https://www.fooddive.com/news/grocery--kroger-partners-with-ocado-in-a-bet-on-the-future-of-online-grocery/523768/ target=_ blank > Kroger partnered with Ocado to develop automated warehouse and why retailers like Walmart and Hy-Vee have built dedicated e-commerce storage facilities. Some grocers like Ahold Delhaize can take unused storage area in a brick-and-mortar store and turn it into a mini-warehouse to complete orders for location customers using its Peapod delivery service.While physical shops are frequently used to fulfill orders put online, it can end up being difficult as more

  consumers turn to click and collect or house shipment. As the popularity of the e-commerce grows, more staff members are needed to finish these orders, and individuals

  assembling them can get in the method of customers who are doing their shopping at the store. In addition, individuals buying groceries online frequently order wholesale as part of a less frequent shopping trip compared to those in the shop who drop in more frequently– suggesting the type of product bought through e-commerce may be different than the shop( think a family-size pack of Oreos vs a smaller box of the cookie.)With limited shelf space, a physical place like H-E-B can have a hard time to have room to carry all these items. It’s much more effective to have

  a facility dedicated exclusively to e-commerce that does not have to handle these outdoors distractions and can set out its items to make assembling them the most efficient.E ven though e-commerce accounts for a small portion of sales, research study shows consumer need speeding up, with The Food Marketing Institute and Nielsen estimating the channel will have 70%penetration and

  be a$100 billion organisation within the next couple of years. Merchants need to get ready for this projected growth, and overhauling underperforming shops to enhance their e-commerce focus might be one method to do that quickly, particularly if they already own or have a long-lasting lease with the location.A significant innovator in the grocery market, H-E-B is not only aiming to increase its e-commerce footprint however to also make it as efficient as possible. Together with the grocer’s H-E-Btoyou Delivery service, H-E-B Curbside, its acquisition of alcohol shipment service Favor, and now its satisfaction center, the grocer is on its method to winning the grocery e-commerce sector.Recommended Reading: