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Produce no easy pickin’s in online grocery

United Fresh panelists shed light on getting it right

Russell Redman

June 26, 2018

5 Min Read
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In online grocery shopping and delivery, getting produce right is paramount.

That’s what two grocery e-commerce veterans stressed Tuesday in a discussion panel titled “The Digital Retail Landscape” at the United FreshMKT and SmartFood Conference, held in Chicago by the United Fresh Produce Association.

Dan_Bourgault_Instacart_UnitedFresh_0.pngFor online grocery leader Instacart, 92% of all shopping baskets contain fresh vegetables and fruit, said Dan Bourgault (left), head of brand partnerships. But that didn’t come easy for the San Francisco-based company.

When Instacart was building its business, the top reason people didn’t do online grocery shopping was because they didn’t trust someone else to pick their fresh produce, he said. At the time, research showed that 86% of consumers not buying groceries online gave this as their chief reason.

“At Instacart, the No. 1 category people buy is produce. It’s not even close: first is fresh vegetables and then fruit, followed by beverages. So produce is the most important thing we have to be good at picking,” Bourgault explained. “Customer comments like, ‘I want ripe avocados because I’m making guacamole tonight’ are a big deal. If you screw that up, and they can’t make their guacamole, that’s a bad experience. The better we get with picking, and then trusting us to deliver the produce the way they want it and the way they like it, that’s how we get customers long-term.”

Mike Burrington, vice president at IdeoClick, a Seattle-based e-commerce specialist, noted that this trust must be earned. And he should know. Before joining IdeoClick, he served as senior vendor manager of produce and floral for AmazonFresh.com — helping to establish the service’s standards, processes and vendor relationships — and years earlier was category manager for fresh produce at online grocery pioneer HomeGrocer.com.

“I can’t tell the customer — I cannot tell mom — ‘Don’t worry, I can pick produce better than you can.’ Mom will say, ‘You can’t pick my tomatoes as well as I can.’ But if you prove it time and again by what you deliver, all of a sudden the trust that mom holds back falls into place. Then you’ve proven yourself, and now just don’t screw it up,” Burrington said.

That places a lot of responsibility on online grocery personal shoppers, who must be able to not only pick good quality vegetables and fruit but also follow any directions issued by customers, such as choosing green bananas.

Instacart’s Bourgault pointed out that this can be challenging when online grocery service is ramping up in a new market area and there’s demand for more personal shoppers.

“It can be trial-and-error in terms of how you get shoppers to be good at it. Produce is the No. 1 category they get tested on, in terms of knowing the difference between green leaf and red leaf and romaine lettuce. So you have to teach and train them,” he said. “We get some pretty avid feedback if they mess up. But we’re very good with due diligence and going back and saying, ‘That was a bad head of green lettuce. Here comes a new one, and we’ll get it to you within an hour.’

“Our shoppers want to make money, and when we train them, they know that quality is paramount to their success. They have to get produce right,” he noted.

Mike_Burrington_IdeoClick_UnitedFreshShow.pngIndeed, consumers pay close attention to performance and will speak up about their online grocery experiences, according to Burrington (left).

“Many people go to Amazon to make purchase decisions based on reviews. It breaks my heart now to read the reviews on Amazon Fresh,” he said. “They’ve made some choices and made some mistakes. But don’t doubt for a second that Amazon isn’t learning from those mistakes. [Amazon founder and CEO] Jeff Bezos has an expression, ‘Mistakes aren’t expensive. Errors of omission are costly.’ Take a look at any number of their offerings — whether it’s Pantry, Amazon Go, Prime Now, Amazon Fresh — there are mistakes and successes with all of those.”

Turning to Bourgault, Burrington spotlighted the importance of a reliable supply chain in online grocery no matter what the service model, whether it’s Instacart or Amazon Fresh.

“What’s interesting is that [Instacart is] no different with a pick-from-store model than Amazon Fresh is from a dedicated pick facility in that supply chain is key. To some extent, you’re at the mercy of each store you’re picking from and how well the produce manager maintains that department,” Burrington explained. “No matter how well-trained one of your pickers is, if those strawberries came in with condensation and the item is delivered to the consumer and molds the day after it’s received — and the same thing happens at Amazon Fresh — then you’re both in trouble. So supply chain is a big deal.”

Instacart has about 40,000 personal shoppers and counts more than 200 supermarket operators in North America as partners, which run the gamut from independents and small chains to the largest food retailers, including Kroger, Albertsons, Publix, Costco, Ahold Delhaize USA, H-E-B, Loblaw and Sam’s Club. Its service is now available in over 240 markets, and the company expects to reach more than 80% of households in North America by the end of 2018.

“We create a consumer-friendly environment for online grocery shopping,” Bourgault said. “The goal is to make as many people feel comfortable about the evolution of digital grocery shopping so it becomes part of the fabric of their lives.”

About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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