数字时代的零售业

For many urban commuters, grocery shopping is another chore to be shoehorned into an already busy day, taking up valuable time and creating a logistics nightmare on public transportation. Imagine the relief these shoppers would feel if they could just press a button and have their groceries magically appear.

对于很多都市通勤族来说，采购杂货是在本已忙碌的一天中硬生生加入的又一桩苦差事，既占用了宝贵的时间，又徒增了来回换乘公共交通的烦恼。如果按下一个按钮，就能神奇地得到所需的食品杂货，这些消费者们将会感到非常欣慰。

Last year Tesco, the UK grocery retailer, made this a reality, using the walls of a subway station in South Korea to display photos of products for sale, with each item carrying a unique QR code. Shoppers could use an application on their smartphone to read the code and place the selected item in a virtual shopping cart for home delivery after work.

英国日杂零售商乐购(Tesco)去年将上述想法变成了现实。乐购利用韩国一个地铁站的墙面展示所售商品的图片，每张图片上还附有一个独一无二的二维码。消费者可以利用智能手机上的一款应用程序读取二维码，并将选好的商品放入虚拟购物车中，下班以后就可以直接回家坐等送货上门了。

Suddenly, what was once wasted time waiting for a train had become the ultimate in ease and convenience. Tesco has now taken its commuter-friendly shopping wall into the UK. market, as has Ocado, an online retailer.

突然之间，曾经被浪费掉的等车时间成为了最为便捷的购物时点。乐购如今已将这种适用于通勤一族的购物墙模式搬回了英国市常同样采取这种模式的还有在线零售商Ocado。

This is just one example of how technology is shaping the way grocery retailers compete for shoppers. New forms of online grocery shopping are also on the rise. These two forces will contribute to significant structural change in the grocery sector over the next several years, and retailers must prepare for it.

这只是科技塑造日杂零售商争夺客户方式的一个例子。此外还出现了其他新的在线日杂购物模式。在这两股力量的共同作用下，未来几年日杂零售行业将发生重大的结构性改变，零售商必须对此做好准备。

Technology-Enabled Shopping

基于新兴科技的购物模式

Digital technologies are becoming pervasive in shoppers’ lives; smartphones and tablets can now be found in shoppers’ pockets, purses and briefcases, and shoppers can log on from their homes, offices or the stores themselves. But the use of mobile technology in grocery shopping is still in its early stage. It will assuredly increase as shoppers become more familiar with the technologies available and begin using them increasingly to simplify their experience.

数字技术已经广泛应用于消费者生活的各个层面；消费者们的口袋、钱包或者公文包里装着智能手机和平板电脑，消费者还能在自己家中、办公室或者商店内随意上网。但移动技术在日杂采购领域的应用仍处于初级阶段。随着消费者愈发熟悉现有技术并日益运用这些技术简化购物经历，移动技术在日杂零售领域的应用必将增多。

More than half of all shoppers now use technology as part of their grocery shopping routine, according to research by Booz and Company. These practices include printing and “clipping online coupons, checking prices prior to planning a grocery shopping route, or using mobile technology in the store to check prices and find special offers before committing to the checkout line. A full third of shoppers combine two or more of these techniques.

博斯公司(Booz and Company)的研究表明，目前已有超过一半的消费者运用技术手段进行日常采购。相关办法包括打印及收集网络优惠券，在计划采购前先进行网上比价，或者在店内借助移动技术查询价格并在最终付款前查询其他商家对于同款产品是否有特别优惠。足足有三分之一的消费者会结合使用两种或两种以上的技术手段。

Grocery retailers can respond to this trend in several ways. Because increased price transparency is unlikely to increase margins, retailers will need innovative strategies in merchandising, marketing, operating cost management, and the like in order to remain competitive. They will also need to decide whether to participate in these increasingly transparent discussions of price and value by making more store-level pricing available on their website and by avoiding use of unique SKUs (stock keeping units.)

日杂零售商可以通过多种手段应对这一趋势。由于价格透明度上升导致利润率很难提高，零售商们为了保持竞争力，必须革新采购、市场营销、运营成本管理等领域的商业策略。零售商们还必须决定是否参与到这种日益透明化的价格与价值的讨论当中，在自己的网站上提供更多商品的店内零售价以及避免使用有着唯一编号的最小存货单位（stock keeping unit，简称SKU）。

Online Encroachment

线上侵蚀线下

Over the past decade, online grocery shopping has quietly closed in on the traditional industry; half of all grocery shoppers go online to shop today, albeit for specific product categories or SKUs. Although shoppers are spending only a small proportion of their grocery budget online (around four per cent), it’s a natural fit for certain categories of goods they need regularly ; an online order for nappies, pet food, cleaning supplies, or automatic coffeemaker capsules lessens the chore associated with these repeat purchases.

过去十年间，线上日杂的销售规模已悄然逼近传统零售业；目前大约有一半的消费者在网上采购食品杂货，尽管他们可能只是购买特定的产品类别或者SKU。虽然消费者们目前在网上的日杂采购支出仅占日杂总预算的一小部分（占比约为4%），但对于消费者有固定需要的某些类别的商品来说，网购是一种再合适不过的方式：在线采购尿布、宠物食品、清洁用品或者咖啡胶囊降低了此类重复式购买给人带来的厌烦感。

Of course, sellers of low-value, low-margin, bulky goods will always struggle to justify shipping costs and logistics, but some grocers are experimenting with direct-from-manufacturer shipping and centralised pickup points, keeping prices competitive for budget-sensitive consumers. As these options become more popular, traditional grocery retailers should take note. The online experience, when designed well, can be simpler, quicker, and, with some product mixes, even price competitive compared to bricks-and-mortar stores.

出售低价、低毛利大件商品的商家当然需要为降低送货成本和改善物流而不断努力，但一些食品杂货零售商已开始试行从生产厂商直接发货以及设立集中取货点的模式，以保持自身商品价格对于预算敏感型消费者的竞争力。由于这些新模式更受欢迎，传统食品杂货零售商应给予关注。如果设计得好的话，线上购物可能比在实体店购物更加简便快捷，而且一些商品组合还可能更有价格优势。

What’s Next?

下一步会如何发展？

So what are traditional grocery retailers to do in the face of these technology trends? They need to reassess their ‘way to play’ - their overall strategic value proposition - on two dimensions. The first is the strategic fit with the evolving psyche of consumers. Grocery retailers need to clearly communicate how they deliver value to shoppers today, and how they will do so in the future. This requires a careful analysis of the demands that exist in the market and a determination of which are worth fulfilling.

那么传统型日货零售商应该如何应对这些技术潮流呢？他们应从两个方面重新评估自身的“商业策略——即整体战略价值主张。这种战略首先要适应消费者的心理变化。日杂零售商需要清楚说明现在它们是如何为消费者创造价值的，以及未来如何创造更多的价值。这需要商家仔细分析当前市场需求并判断哪些需求值得迎合满足。

Next, grocery retailers must develop and strengthen the key capabilities they will use to deliver their value proposition. In this new technology-fueled landscape, distinctive capabilities might include a deeper understanding of the shopper, an innovative usage of digital and mobile marketing, a sensitive deployment of multichannel marketing, or an innovative approach to solving problems unique to that retailer or market.

其次，食品日杂零售商必须发展并强化用来阐述其价值主张的关键能力。在这个以技术驱动的全新领域，独特能力或许包括对消费者更加深入的理解，对数字以及移动营销手段的创新使用，以及解决零售商或市场个别问题的新办法。

For Tesco, technology met innovation on a subway wall that turned routine grocery shopping into commuter multitasking, but not every grocery retailer can or should reach its customers this way. Rather, each one must get to know its own market, always remembering that comparison shopping, value seeking, and the quest for shopper convenience are only an app away.

对于乐购来说，技术与创新在地铁墙面上的交融，将日常的日杂采购转变成通勤一族的多任务处理。但并非所有日杂零售商都可以或者应该通过这种方式与自己的客户发生联系。正相反，每家零售商都应了解自己的细分市场，永远牢记消费者仅凭一款应用程序就可以进行价格比对、价值发现以及寻找更加便捷的购物体验。

Nicholas Hodson is a partner and Thom Blischok is a senior executive advisor with the consumer and retail practice at Booz and Company. Matthew Egol is a partner in the firm’s communications, media, and technology practice.

尼古拉斯·霍德森(Nicholas Hodson)是博斯公司合伙人，汤姆·布里索克(Thom Blischok)是博斯负责消费者和零售业务的高级执行顾问；马修·埃戈(Matthew Egol)是博斯公司负责传播、媒体与技术业务的合伙人