Dated: Oct 19, 2023

The Dirty Martini Digest volume 6

Welcome to The Dirty Martini Digest, Issue #6. This newsletter is built for our technology friends to enable you to do your job more effectively. We took a little late Summer break on the newsletter but it doesn’t mean we took a break on executing great research and insights. We’re in full ‘pumpkin spice’ season now. So if that’s your thing, grab a pumpkin martini or coffee and enjoy this month’s issue of the Dirty Martini Digest!

The Dirty Details

As summer turns into fall, it means conference season ramps back up and the Incisiv team was busy executing the release of several studies to support our partners for Groceryshop and NACS. At Groceryshop, we released the sixth annual Digital Maturity Benchmark Report as well as our second annual Unified Commerce in Grocery Study. Both studies highlight the ongoing progression of the industry as the importance of digital technologies continues to grow and evolve.

The research highlights that while the industry has made good strides in creating a more consistent experience across physical and digital channels, there is a long way to go, both from an operational and infrastructure perspective. As we highlighted in our last Newsletter, over 80% of grocers state that adopting AI will be necessary to compete in the future - Well, the future is now so innovating fast is an imperative to stay competitive. Other key findings from the study include:

  • 83% of North American grocers and 79% of LATAM grocers say that they lack the technology architecture to unify physical and digital commerce.
  • While average order size dipped from $92 (2021) to $72 in 2022 - it has jumped back up to $90 in 2023, driven by inflation.
  • 44% of North American grocers and 56% of LATAM grocers consider natural language processing (NLP) for advanced customer service important as part of their in-store enhancements over the next 1-2 years.
  • While 84% of grocers allow for shoppers to schedule for future orders, only 1% offer the capability to be notified when out-of-stock items are available again.
  • Improving self-service options is an area of high interest for grocers, with 40% in LATAM in pilot or on roadmap, and 50% in North America.
  • 60% of grocers in the Leaders category offer the ability to see available promo codes in the cart view at checkout vs. only 31% for Non-Leaders.
  • LATAM grocers (27%) are ahead of their North American counterparts (15%) in terms of allowing shoppers to connect directly with their order picker.

Dive deeper into our cross-industry research and content

Straight from the Shaker

Get practical insights and best practices straight from our industry experts as we shake up and serve up our knowledge to help you improve your go-to-market strategies. Each month, we'll share tips to help you stay ahead of the game.

In this month's "Straight from the Shaker," we're taking a page from a recent study released by Informa. Titled the 2023 Trust in Marketing Study, the recent report highlights what B2B buyers value from content, insights, and campaigns. The findings were quite interesting and very much aligned with the ethos of why Incisiv exists. Below are a few highlights from the study as well as our take on why it matters:

  • Quality is key: 71% of business technology decision-makers are often or sometimes disappointed in the value of B2B gated content. When creating content, deliver value in the form of insights or actionable information that your prospects will want to learn more about.
  • Detail and familiarity breed trust: 60% percent of respondents deem the content trustworthy if it provides a sufficient level of detail on the subject and 61% trust content if it is from a publisher/analyst they trust. Generalized content doesn’t fly in B2B anymore and if you can partner with a company that B2B decision-makers trust, it will dramatically improve your chances for success.
  • Relevancy is vital: In the ‘trust buster’ category, 41% of respondents stated that receiving content that wasn’t relevant to them or was deemed ‘spam’ would cause them to never buy from that company. Alternatively, 45% of respondents stated that receiving personalized content improved their trust of that brand. This seems like an ‘oh-duh’ data point but it is shocking how many companies are still sending blanket emails to anybody and everybody in their prospect database.
  • Be the trend-setter: B2B decision makers were emphatic in the top reason they engage with content. 67% responded that it is to be able to keep up with industry trends. Develop content that will help them meet this objective.
  • For the love of Incisiv!: The study’s top recommendation is as follows: “Instead of turning to desk research and often-shared facts for your next gated paper, try commissioning research and tapping into your zero-and first-party data to create content that differentiates your brand”. Obviously, we agree - developing original insights that deliver on the above value levers for B2B buyers will deliver more successful campaigns for your company.

On the House

Sip on our team's latest research, analysis, and industry news, with a quick scan of our recently published and upcoming work and key takeaways.

  • 2024, Better or Worse? - We’re getting to end-of-year prognostication time - Do you anticipate business conditions will improve or worsen in 2024? Guess that may depend on how this year went for you but we’d love to know! The first 10 people to email a response (and prove you’ve gotten this deep into the newsletter) will win some sweet Swag… Click on title above to email.
  • Webinar: State of Digital Grocery (Q3) and Sustainability Trends - Check out our Q3 update on Grocery Doppio with our very own Gaurav Pant, Wynshop’s Barry Clogan and FMI’s Doug Baker. In addition to our data readout on the state of Digital Grocery, the panelists will have a discussion on sustainability trends in the industry and if/when they start to have an impact.
  • NRF Big Show Fun - Incisiv will be there in full force celebrating some major milestones! We’ll be producing our 9th Speakeasy @ NRF Executive Dinner on January 13th. Retail executives, amazing food, great networking - what could be any better? On January 15th, our 15th (yes..15) Annual Rock & Roll Underground will bring together the industry's most amazing musician retailers to entertain and delight. For details on getting involved, ping us here.

Art on the Rocks

Experience the intersection of technology and creativity each month as we use artificial intelligence to generate a unique art piece that explores a key industry topic.

Art on the Rocks volume 5

Next week we’ll be releasing the second annual Future of Convenience Stores report with Toshiba. The above are a few images we’re considering. Which one do you like?

For more details on the program, contact me at dave@incisiv.com

Second Round

Expand your industry knowledge with our recommended reading, featuring insightful articles and resources that caught our attention this month.

  • Netflix to open Brick & Mortar Stores: To us, this is an interesting development as the brand affinity to Netflix and much of its original programming makes it ripe to expand the company’s footprint into stores. We’ll be watching this one closely to see if they can bring a great physical experience alongside their great digital experience.
  • Is Career Development Underdeveloped in Retail? A fascinating discussion from the Braintrust at Retail Wire over one of the most important subjects in the industry.

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We're here to help you navigate through your biggest challenges and win in this highly competitive market. Anytime you want to talk, book a meeting.

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