EQUIPMENT & DESIGN
Store Formats
The Design Categories Shaping Grocery THESE KE Y TREND T YPES OFFER A PATH FORWARD FOR GROCERS AND CONSUMERS. By Steven Duffy
t’s safe to say that we’re living through an economic inflection point that affects our daily lives. Food and other current trends are influencing the future of grocery for the next three, five and even 10 years. Understanding these trends as “breadcrumbs” that influence food and grocery design will help in understanding how they shape the future and prepare us for change. In the book “Trend Sociology v. 2.0” by Louise Byg Kongsholm, the author notes that change itself is at the heart of trends, and she reminds us that everyone fundamentally feels that change is good, even if it doesn’t affect them. Kongsholm explores the significance of six trend types that we’ll apply to grocery: 1. Types of society, which last for centuries. 2. Paradigms, which guide personal beliefs that last for decades. 3. Gigatrends, which are long trends that affect us for 10 to 30 years, radically changing our way of life and conditions. These trends also often have a global effect and usually contain elements of economy, politics and technology. 4. Megatrends, which are those medium-length trends lasting three to seven years, and are characterized by spirit, lifestyle and consumption. 5. Microtrends, which last six months to three years. 6. Fads, which have a longer shelf life by comparison.
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Regardless of its timeframe, each trend has three affluential parts: society and culture, consumer trends/behaviors, and the industry’s response to delivering new products or services. Consider these when looking at trends, and you’ll notice a path forward becomes more apparent and a bit more demystified.
Gigatrends
These trends have been underway in food and grocery for at least a decade, and the most significant one is the “phygitalization” of retailing, reshaping society, grocery and how we experience commerce. The term “phygital” has begun to be more widely accepted as the accelerated merging of the physical and digital commerce realms — a seamless integration of virtual shopping that’s surpassing the in-store experience. Phygital transformation includes the wholesale adoption of technology by shoppers, merchants and vendors. It truly leverages technology for the full spectrum. Convenience in commerce is a definite trend. Shoppers have fiercely gravitated toward ease of shopping in the quest for a frictionless experience, as demonstrated by Amazon’s premier platform of Just Walk Out technology. The online Progressive Grocer article “The Incredible Shrinking Grocery Store” detailed this technology and also discussed the increased use of self-scans speeding checkout and benefiting operations labor.