Jumping Off the Digital Shelf

4 min readApr 11, 2018

Online grocery sales will reach 20% of the US grocery market by 2025.

(CNBC)

Around a quarter of American households currently buy some groceries online, up from 19% in 2014, and more than 70% will engage with online food shopping within 10 years, according to “The Digitally Engaged Food Shopper” report. Findings also revealed that of those who will buy digitally, 60% expect to spend about a quarter of their food dollars online in 10 years.

By 2025, online sales will equal the volume of 3,900 stores.

(FMI–Nielsen)

Last year’s online sales were the equivalent of 764 grocery stores, based on store volume; by 2025, digital share could grow by 500%. The study predicts that canned goods, condiments, spices and other “center of store” products will likely shift online faster than traditionally perimeter items like fresh produce and meats.

Convenience, assortment and ease of delivery are key motivators.

(COKE)

Online grocery shoppers are 50% more likely to pay for an item that saves time and on average spend 20% to 40% more on food and grocery items than the brick-and-mortar-only crowd.

What does this mean for brands that sell packaged goods?

Imagine the world. Invite people in.

In order to thrive in the increasingly digital world of consumer packaged goods, brands must fully understand the role of packaging within the broader ecosystem and lifestyle.

Use context to tell your story.

Online, brands and products can show up in countless contexts, formats, and settings. This breadth and flexibility allows us to tell a more emotive, compelling, and rich story.

Make an introduction.

The first moment of truth no longer happens on shelf. A wide variety of online touchpoints weave together and interact to introduce the brand and what sets it apart.

Design for reinvention.

Built for low attention spans and fast scrolling, the best online-first brands embrace the dance between recognizable consistency and intriguing re-invention.

Lift up your voice.

With greater frequency and variety of communication, the brand voice has to be strong and headline-ready, but big enough to flex. Done right, the voice feels equally at home when selling the product or commenting on the world around it.

Provoke participation.

Bite-sized pieces of art catch the eye, build admiration, keep your brand top-of-mind and encourage users to become part of your world.

Make un-boxing an event.

The un-boxing experience is a chance for your brand to tell an engaging, delightful, well-paced story that cements emotional connection.

Let packages be packages.

Freed from the burden of communicating everything about the brand, online-first packages should be simple, beautiful and wholly human-focused. They demand to be left on counters, photographed and shown off to friends.