Get more bang for your buck: Building customer baskets in online grocery

In the world of online grocery shopping, an expanded basket is the ultimate goal—leading to higher customer satisfaction and stronger profits for the retailer.

What does a bigger basket indicate for retailers? Relevant products have been stocked, at accurate price points, delivering a strong value proposition and an intuitive user experience.

And for customers, the bigger the basket, the more satisfied the shopper. An expanded basket indicates that the shopper has found most (if not all) items in one shop and has potentially even been tempted to try new products.

On The Ocado Smart Platform – an ecommerce, logistics and fulfilment solution specifically designed for online grocery – global grocery retailers are expanding their baskets in two clear ways:

• Broader Ranges - Diversifying into new categories and stocking specialist products through a centralised fulfilment model.  
• Smart Ecommerce Tools - Leveraging customer order history and the intelligence-driven ecommerce tools that are embedded into OSP to create unique upsell and cross-sell opportunities.

Building baskets through broader ranges

OSP offers an unbeatable range, giving customers the ability to buy most (if not everything) of what they need from one location. From commonplace staples to niche brands, products and categories, the variety on OSP is next to none.

Our centralised fulfilment model makes all of this possible, with single sites processing volumes beyond the reach of any physical store. Automated Customer Fulfilment Centres support the process through cutting-edge technology and smart storage solutions, enabling existing partners to process over 50K SKUs from just one site, versus 6-10K SKUs from typical bricks-and-mortar sites.

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This gives you the flexibility to cater to any new fad or seasonal trend, as CFCs can be used to store small quantities of new ranges. You can then trial new products in a low-risk way, delivering based only on demand. In a store environment, these same products would have to be stocked in every shop to be accessed by customers – occupying prime real estate and risking wastage if not picked up.

Leveraging smart ecommerce tools  

On OSP, you can create as many storefronts on your webshop as there are customers. Simply leverage the wealth of customer data on the platform to offer uber-personalised recommendations, creating delightful experiences for every visitor.

Get creative through promotional pairings, creating smart suggestions to encourage shoppers to spend more. Say your customer was after a birthday cake, so why not nudge them towards other relevant items that they may have forgotten or planned to buy elsewhere? Relevant suggestions here would be candles, decorations or a birthday badge.

A tailored check-out walk is another excellent way to encourage customers to spend more, as it’s a good opportunity for last-minute sales, predicting items that may be missing from the customer’s basket.

Customers will pay more for ease, so focusing your upselling strategy around convenience will give you the biggest gains. Our recipe feature allows you to search through different recipes and auto-select the ingredients mentioned to be added to your basket. This provides endless upselling opportunities, allowing you to pick more premium products and embed these within the recipe for higher margins.

How AI inspires customers to try new products

Our teams are continuing to innovate and explore new methods of basket-building. When it comes to broader range, OSP now enables retailers to offer a wide-range of non-complex General Merchandise items in the same shop as grocery. Even bulkier items, such as washing machines and fridges, can now be merged into a grocery shop via store fulfilment methods or external sites.

Bespoke coupons are another exciting addition to the platform. These work by harnessing OSP intelligence to create personalised discounts based on a customers’ previous order history. This a win-win for retailers and customers, as relevant coupons help retailers to find new opportunities to increase spend, while matching customers with products they love.

To discover new ways to expand baskets and deliver unbeatable customer experiences, visit our ecommerce and customer fulfilment pages.