We talk a lot about how independent retailers like you can grow order volume – from eye-catching marketing panels and creative Collections, to promo codes and direct linking on social media. However, hand-selecting a customer’s order is one of the most important steps to ensure happiness and retention on your program. To help our retailer partners, we are sharing some picking best practices that are sure to help deliver delight!
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but 61% of online grocery shoppers say they want to receive their grocery delivery as fast as possible. We also know that out of stocks and missing substitutions also have a high impact on customers’ happiness and convenience, so much so they may go somewhere else to shop online. To promote peak speed and efficiency, we’re offering tips for in-store managers and pickers alike to make sure your operations are meeting your customer’s expectations.
Map out your picking route
Time and efficiency will be lost if your Pick Lists are not optimized to your store route. Rosie has tools to help map your store by department or aisle locations. We’ll use your store’s layout to automatically prioritize your Pick Lists to ensure pickers grab items that are near each other as they fulfill an order.
Find out how to get started mapping your store with Rosie if you’re a current retailer: Mapping your store on Rosie
Only pick the best
Once your store’s aisles are mapped out, you’ll want to help make sure your pickers are only selecting the best quality products. During refresh trainings, help coach them on how to identify the best fruits and vegetables. Some retailers will have their produce managers host this training to help them self identify and teach them who and where to go to with questions. Another tip is to make sure they are picking products with the longest expiration dates. Customers who receive poor quality items when they shop online won’t try it again! Many of these tips may seem obvious but if you have new pickers who may not be familiar with working in a grocery store, these are very valuable insights.
A quick guide to selecting quality produce for Rosie retailers: Picking Perfect Products
Correctly handle out of stocks
It’s a fact of the grocery business – out of stocks happen. But if your pickers are prepared, then you can handle them like a pro and not miss out on potential revenue. Remind pickers to double check whether an item is really out of stock before they mark it on the Retailer App just because they don’t see it on the shelves. Also, reinforce how important it is to find a good substitution (more below) so you aren’t missing out on that purchase. It may seem like an out of stock here or there wouldn’t be an issue, but you could be missing out on thousands of dollars of revenue each year on missing or unsubstituted items. Also, 1-2 out of stocks can have a major impact on the customer, who was expecting all items to be filled.
If you’re a current Rosie retailer, discover the impact of out of stocks here: How To Reduce Out Of Stock (OOS) Rates
Make comparable substitutions
We’ve heard it time and time again – customers really appreciate when the people picking their orders send them a text or give them a call to let them know when they need to make a substitution. This courtesy will strengthen the trust your customers have in you and give them a little more control over their groceries. When training your pickers, make sure they have an understanding of what a comparable product is when making substitutions. And when in doubt, encourage them to reach out to customers to ensure they’re substituting with an ingredient the customer will like.
Communicate using your parking lot
You may not have thought about this before, but your parking lot is a great place to share important information. Having designated parking spots for pickup orders will help your pickers easily bring out orders to the right cars while also advertising that you offer online shopping to your in-store customers. Another way to utilize your parking lot? Put detailed pickup instructions for delivery drivers, like couriers with DoorDash, Postmates, or UberEats, so they know how to follow your store’s process.
Rosie retailers can learn more about parking lot signs here: Signage Best Practices
There’s a lot that happens from the moment your customers click “Buy” to the minute they receive their groceries. We hope these tips help simplify and supercharge your order fulfillment process to make that in-between time go as smoothly as possible. Don’t forget to share these tips with your pickers and double check your store is using Rosie’s features, like aisle mapping, to make their jobs easy and enjoyable.
