Criteria 2: Awareness

In this article, we shall look at how some of the  grocery chains in the US are driving awareness for their mobile app.

Observation 1: Drive End User Awareness of the Mobile App.

Surprisingly, although nearly all the big grocery stores promote online purchases, there is little or no mention of their mobile app. While one can view the calls to action for social media sharing like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram, an user may end up spending a few minutes on the website, looking for the app.

For example, we looked up Kroger’s website. A quick look at Kroger’s homepage shows us an option for online shopping, but you have to scroll down two more pages to find any mention of their mobile app. But if you were to open your browser on your smartphone, it first suggests you download the app.

In comparison, there is no mention of mobile apps anywhere on the website for Whole Food Market.

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Engaging the mobile customer – how to create awareness?

When considering the mobile shopper, it is important to remember that there may be multiple scenarios of use. For instance, the user may simply choose to download the mobile app and install it. The user may also open a browser and key in the domain. There is yet another scenario where the user may simply make a search on the mobile.

In each case, the user should ideally be directed to the option of installing the app. For Instance, this may be achieved through a pop up window. Given the minimal real estate on the mobile user screen, the placement of this pop-up should be carefully considered.

For example, on initiating a search for “Kroger”  from a mobile browser, we observed that there is a small pop-up that directs the user’s attention to the mobile app. However this pop-up does not stay on the top of the screen for more than a few seconds. To see this again, you would have to scroll back up.

An attempt to reach the websites on a mobile browser for Whole Foods Market, H-E-B,  Publix Super Markets  resolves into a simple mobile friendly version of the website, without any pop-ups or ads for the mobile app, as shown below. While Whole Foods Market recently updated their mobile version of the website to include a bar code for Amazon Prime, it still does not feature the app.

Search engine results for these stores did not yield immediate results for their mobile apps either.

However, when search query was specifically tagged with the words “Mobile App”, search results for all these stores indicate the presence of mobile apps for both iOS and Android devices, some including phones as well  as tablets.

A summary of our initial findings

Stay tuned for our next blog – The Mobile Maturity Model.

smartGrocery   Part 1 – How mobile friendly are our grocery chains?

This is the first in a series of articles where we attempt to provide a view into the effort made by various grocery chains to capitalize on the mobile shopping channel.

With the pervasive availability of Internet connectivity and adoption of smartphones in the US, one would assume that the top grocery chains would have made an effort to capitalize on this new channel to engage with customers.

Who we looked at?

We looked at seven prominent grocery chains in the United States, based on a cross-section of regional popularity and market share .

What we looked for?

We looked at a number of criteria to assess their state and readiness for mobile. We will progressively review these in the upcoming articles. In this article, we will focus on two aspects.

1. Is the website optimized for mobile browsers?

Most of the 7 businesses have websites well suited to the mobile screen interface. While some of them actually direct the user to a mobile specific server, some do not. But overall, the user screen is well rendered, though not optimized, in many of them. 

2. Is a mobile app available ?

As you can see from the results, it is great to see that everyone we looked at has already taken the initial step towards “delivering a website that is mobile friendly” and “making mobile apps available” for customers. Some of them redirect the user to a mobile specific website, while others don’t. These 7 businesses appear to be in different stages of adoption and readiness for the mobile shopper. In the next article, we will compare and contrast how they drive end user awareness of the mobile app.

The day started out great. The air was ripe with promise, tense with expectation. The whole world seemed to be quivering with impatience.

On hindsight, it was more likely was just Dad, radiating impatience and orders, as he screamed and hurried the rest of the family out of the house and into the van.

“Into the van, get inside now. Belt up!”, he screamed, as he danced around juggling two backpacks, a tripod, videocamera and a massive bunch of keys any giant would be proud to own.

“Have you taken the cake, water and snacks? Do you have the balloons?”

“Yes, Yes… We should leave now or we are going to miss it.”

With a huge sigh, we backed out of the driveway.  “Did you turn off the stove?”

“I am not sure. Didn’t you check before you locked up?

“No, I didn’t. Thought you did. Why do you always do this? Why can’t we ever be sure?”

Swearing under his breath, Dad sprinted off to the house for another last minute check. Hopefully, no one was watching!

Panting with the exercise and the hurry,  he sprinted back into the van, the crisp starchiness of his shirt rapidly turning limp. In the back, our graduate leaned over in her seat, chewing gum, and totally indifferent to the fact that we were already 15 minutes behind schedule to her graduation.

“You know, I never really had a proper graduation ceremony”, I reminisced. “It was a few months after my final exams and I never went back there after then”.

“Well, it is nothing special. Just the ceremony, right?”

“Easy for you to say, after all, you had yours when you finished your Masters.”

“Didn’t you do the same for yours? Or did you actually ever complete it?” , he ribbed.

Determined not to give it to the impulse of punching him, I sat in stolid silence for the rest of the journey, nursing my wounded pride.

Soon, we were pulling up at our destination and as we rushed in, we were met by the Director of the school.

“Oh, you guys just missed the opening ceremony”, she sighed. “But the rest of them are all still in their graduation attire and if you would like to take some pictures, you may.” “You may want to get in there and may it quick, young lady!”, She hissed to our daughter.

So, we raced in, determined not to miss the photo shoot. Miss I-don’t-care had gone on ahead, suddenly very much interested in the ceremony and we found ourselves lost in a sea of parents, jostling with each other for prime photo-shoot spots.

Elbows, knees, and heads;  the audience was filled with adrenalin-high parents, excitedly awaiting their  graduates. Extendable Selfie poles hovered over our heads, the nearly continuous flash lights threatened to blind everyone.

A sudden hush fell on everyone as the music swelled and the proud graduates marched in, one after the other. We soon spotted our daughter and oh boy!  Were we proud! The years of handwork melted away, as we looked at her in all the splendor of the graduation gown, cap and the scroll in hand.

There she was, all 44 inches of her, as she stood with her pre-k class, glowing with excitement and the happiness, while hysterical parents screamed and clicked pictures in a frenzy.

And so, there we stood, proud parents of our 5 year old, getting our pictures taken with our 5 year old daughter, as she graduated to Kindergarten, with our 3 month son sleeping in his stroller, with the packed diaper bag and his formula standing ready for his instant satisfaction, if he woke up screaming on the 5 minute ride back home.