What 1,000 U.S. Shoppers Told Us About the Future of Supermarket Retail
Running a supermarket has never been tougher. Costs are up, staff are hard to find and the one we have is stretched thin, and online competitors are always a click away. At the same time, shoppers walking into stores expect more. Faster service, informed choices, fairer prices, and a little bit of the online magic in the experience.
Picture this: A shopper spends 40 minutes carefully selecting groceries, fills their cart with $100 worth of items, then takes one look at the checkout line and walks straight out the door. Sounds dramatic? Our latest consumer research shows this scenario plays out more often than retailers realize. And this is just one example of many.
So what do they actually want from the in-store journey?
To find out, we surveyed 1,000 U.S. supermarket shoppers about their expectations, frustrations, and openness to retail technology. The results shine a light on what really matters to consumers today and where supermarkets can win or lose their shoppers’ loyalty.
The Real Cost of Long Lines: More Than Just Frustrated Customers
Here’s a number that should make every grocery executive pause: 25% of shoppers will abandon their full carts when faced with long checkout lines. Among younger shoppers aged 18-44, that figure jumps to 28%. We’re not talking about impulse buyers reconsidering a candy bar – these are committed shoppers walking away from substantial purchases.
Think about that for a moment. These aren’t people changing their minds about a last-minute purchase. They’ve invested time walking the aisles, made their selections, and filled their carts – then they walk away from the entire transaction because of operational inefficiency.
The ripple effects go deeper than lost sales. When shoppers face these delays repeatedly, almost 38% say they’ll actively look for a different store next time. For younger customers, that jumps to 43%. In today’s competitive grocery landscape, losing loyal customers over something as fixable as checkout speed represents a significant missed opportunity.
Shoppers Want to Know What They’re Spending (Before They Get to the Register)
We discovered something interesting about how people think about money while shopping. Nearly two-thirds of shoppers (64%) say it’s important to verify their bill is accurate before paying. For shoppers 55 and older, that number climbs to 75%.
But here’s what caught our attention: 39.4% of shoppers want to track their spending in real-time as they shop, not just verify it at the end. This desire is strongest among people in their prime spending years – 51% of shoppers aged 35-44 want this capability.
What surprised us most? This isn’t just about budget-conscious shoppers. While 45% of people earning under $25,000 want real-time budget tracking, 43% of those earning over $125,000 want it too. Apparently, the desire to avoid sticker shock at checkout crosses all income levels.
Traditional grocery shopping creates this blind spot between putting items in your cart and reaching the register. You’re doing mental math, estimating prices, hoping you’re close to your target. Smart shopping carts eliminate that uncertainty by giving you a running total as you shop.
The Promotion Problem: Great Deals That Go Unnoticed
Promotions and discounts remain powerful motivators for grocery shoppers, but our research uncovered a significant disconnect. 41.6% of shoppers feel they regularly miss out on deals and discounts. They know promotions are available, but they either don’t see them or discover them too late. Men seem particularly affected by this, with 44% expressing this frustration.
Even more telling: 46.6% of shoppers want personalized discounts tailored to their shopping habits. This desire is strongest among shoppers 45 and older (49%), suggesting that as people develop established shopping patterns, they want retailers to recognize and reward their loyalty.
The traditional approach – paper circulars, end-cap displays, shelf talkers can’t match the precision that shoppers experience online. Smart shopping carts can bridge this gap by delivering relevant offers based on what’s in your shopping list and what’s actually in your cart right now, combined with your shopping history.
From Online to In-Store: The Personalization Gap
Something interesting is happening in how shoppers think about their retail experience. Just as they expect targeted product suggestions when shopping online, 40% now want personalized recommendations in physical stores. Men show even stronger interest at 45%, while younger shoppers (ages 18-44) value these suggestions most highly at 50%.
Smart retailers understand this shift. When a shopping cart can suggest items based on what you typically buy or what goes well with your current selections, it creates value for everyone. Shoppers discover products they might have forgotten, retailers increase basket size and engagement.
Technology Adoption: Shoppers Are Ready
Perhaps our most encouraging finding: 61% of shoppers are interested in using smart shopping carts. Rather than resistance to new technology, we found genuine enthusiasm for solutions that create a truly frictionless shopping experience.
The features that resonate most align perfectly with the friction points we uncovered:
- Real-time cost tracking ranks as the top desired feature
- Integration with loyalty programs comes in second
- The ability to skip checkout lines follows closely
What shoppers are really asking for is to eliminate the traditional hassles. No more guessing what you’re spending, no more missing out on deals, no more waiting in lines with a cart full of groceries.
Interest varies by life stage, which makes sense. Families with children show 65% interest, probably because they understand the value of avoiding checkout lines with tired kids. Shoppers aged 35-54 show the highest enthusiasm at 69%, representing people in their peak earning and spending years.
What This Means for Retailers
While shoppers focus on convenience, smart retailers see the bigger picture. A frictionless shopping journey eliminates those traditional bottlenecks – from navigating aisles without guidance to standing in checkout lines with uncertain totals. Every smart cart interaction provides data about shopping patterns, product preferences, and customer behavior that traditional shopping simply can’t capture.
This isn’t just about operational efficiency, though that matters too. With fewer customers needing traditional checkout, staff can focus on customer service, inventory management, and other activities that truly add value. Given ongoing labor challenges in retail, technologies that optimize workforce deployment become increasingly important.
The scalability factor is crucial for retailers considering this type of investment. Smart shopping cart solutions grow with your business. From pilot programs in single locations to full deployments across entire chains. The technology infrastructure scales seamlessly, and the insights and appeal to CPG’s become more valuable as adoption expands.
Meeting Shoppers Where They Are
Our survey reveals grocery shoppers whose expectations have evolved faster than many store operations. They want transparency in pricing, control over their spending, and personalization that acknowledges their preferences. These aren’t unreasonable demands, they’re logical extensions of what people already experience in other parts of their lives.
The retailers who succeed will be those who recognize that adopting new technology isn’t about replacing the human elements of retail. Instead, it’s about creating truly frictionless shopping experiences that eliminate the frustrations our survey identified: long checkout lines, budget uncertainty, missed promotions, and generic product offerings.
Smart shopping carts represent one approach that addresses multiple customer needs while creating new opportunities for retailer differentiation. The question isn’t whether grocery shoppers are ready for this kind of innovation – our data shows they clearly are.
Want the Complete Picture?
Our full survey report digs deeper into the demographic breakdowns, and additional behavioral insights that can help grocery retailers make informed decisions about their technology investments and customer experience strategies.
Download the Complete Consumer Trends and In-store Retail Technology Report to access all the survey data, detailed methodology, and strategic recommendations for implementing smart shopping solutions in your stores.
About the Research: We partnered with PollFish to survey 1,000 US consumers aged 18 and above, all of whom confirmed they regularly shop at physical supermarkets. The survey used an in-app methodology to ensure representative sampling, with 55% of respondents shopping in-store at least once weekly.
