After 50 years in the retail produce business and spending countless hours in stores of all types and configurations, I still do all the grocery shopping in my family.
I’m sure it is some form of mental illness, but I’ve just never grown tired of spending time in stores, whether procuring my personal shopping list (yes, I still use a shopping list) or just watching and observing merchandising schemes and consumer shopping patterns.
This past year has been particularly interesting—if “interesting” is the right word—for watching how retailers have adapted and adjusted to the new normal with respect to the pandemic.
I’ve commented on the acceleration of omnichannel retailing frequently, but I’ve recently observed a new phenomenon. I never thought I would say this, but I am reasonably certain food retailers have collectively declared war on the unsuspecting instore shopper.
Hints have been manifesting themselves for some time now: inconsistent in-stock items, mediocre attention to rotation and freshness in perishables, a lack of cashiers and almost an insistence on customers using self-checkouts, and other seemingly small areas associated with good operations.
On top of all this, retailers also have a secret weapon, one with stealth technology as it cannot be seen or heard. It strikes at a moment’s notice, without warning, and without regard to any specific place in the store.
I’ll give this weapon a name: the order picker.
While I’m sure the original purpose for order pickers was to select and bag online orders for delivery or curbside pickup, they have now morphed into weapons of mass destruction.
I’d like to think I’m still nimble (for an old guy), but I cannot tell you how many times I’ve narrowly avoided collisions with these oblivious monsters.
One would think that because these jumbo carts have a human element, there might be some regard for others. Yet pickers look only at their cell phones, park their carts on one side of the aisle, gather items from both sides, and effectively block passage for everyone else. Heaven forbid, two pickers arrive at the same aisle.
While I talk about this with tongue firmly planted in cheek, there is a very real concern when it comes to produce. Pickers are judged on how long it takes them to assemble orders, so they move swiftly through departments, grabbing items on their list.
They take no time to select the right item, they just grab and go, creating an ambiance of haste to let others know they should get out of the way.
Given 70 percent or so of instore produce purchases are made on impulse, this cannot be a good thing.
A well merchandised produce department is not a “grab and go” proposition. It’s meant for browsing, careful selection, looking for and trying new items, and enjoying the colors, aromas, and textures that make fruit and vegetable shopping so special.
This does not apply to online shopping and order pickers. And with online shopping showing triple-digit increases with some retailers, it’s small wonder that fresh fruit and vegetable purchases are down.
I’m not saying this order-picker phenomenon is totally responsible for the decline in fresh produce purchases, but it’s symptomatic of a much bigger issue—how is the produce department going to remain relevant as online shopping proliferates?
Next time you happen to shop in a food store, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
