Whole Foods is growing oyster mushrooms right in the store in New Jersey. Talk about fresh. Kroger rolled out to 400 stores Scan, Bag and Go technology. And voice-based shopping leveraging home device technology will hit $40 billion by 2022, according to OC&C Strategy Consultants.

No doubt today’s shopper is more interested than ever in healthy eating and how technology can play a role. So much so that more than half of shoppers would be willing to scan the receipt to receive a nutritional score based on their purchases. Shoppers would love suggestions based on their score as well. And imagine tying the nutritional information to coupons and rebates for healthy products. Our Syndicated Data Study showed:

• 88% of those we surveyed desire more healthy offers.
• 52% of shoppers say they always read the labels.
• A surprising 20% strictly follow special diets like gluten-free, Paleo or vegetarian.
• Shoppers are looking for keywords on the labels like all-natural, heart-healthy, sugar-free, low-sodium, low-fat, or clean.
• 60% would love digital scanning for nutritional information.

Today’s shopper is more interested than ever in healthy eating and tying shopper incentives to healthier choices.

Our 2018 Shopper Behavior Study revealed shoppers want you to put technology and data to work for THEM.

Despite improvements in the economy, shoppers are still carefully budgeting and using coupons to stay on budget. We conducted a quantitative survey of 1,000 shoppers who were 18 years or older and qualitative research in partnership with Lowes Foods supermarket where we did shop-along interviews. In exchange for their information and data, 53% of shoppers want relevant offers based on their purchase habits as a part of any loyalty program.

• They want you to reward their loyalty with exclusive offers. And their desire for more personalization has increased over the previous year. If they are your loyal customers, they feel you should truly know them.
• For many shoppers, true personalization and convenience would equate with one click-option to select all the available digital coupons.
• They want stores to provide new offers on a regular basis.
• Shoppers prefer stores to provide information in a way they want it, whether that is by mobile or online/offline.
• 32% of shoppers want bundled offers that naturally go together. Shopper data can provide insights into items that are frequently purchased together.
• 86% of shoppers want stores to highlight the coupons and deals for them.
• Many shoppers enjoy the convenience of digital coupons so that they don’t lose them and find it easier to track them in a digital wallet. But 43% report they forget to redeem their digital coupons. Geo-location technology has the potential to identify shoppers on their shopping journeys so timely reminders can be sent.

Fresh products sit alongside convenience and price as top desires of today’s shoppers. Beating out assortment, cleanliness and high-quality products, freshness is now in the top three most important characteristics for a grocery store today.

• 77% of our respondents said they typically go no further than 5 miles to get their shopping done. These trips are not fill-in trips but stock-up trips. And while they’re out, they visit on average two stores to get everything they need — choosing to shop at supermarkets and mass merchandisers.

• 45% know what they are going to buy before they go to the store. 89% create shopping lists and 62% purposely look at store circulars and pair offers with digital coupons. In fact, 79% use the physical or online store circulars on a regular basis.

Not only is there a focus on fresh, but with everything going toward digital, there comes a whole other set of expectations. Not only do shoppers want the ease and convenience of digital, they want friendly customer service when they need it. Bottom line: Shoppers have many demands today and the retailer who will win their hearts and share of wallet will have to evolve quickly to meet their needs.