Online grocery shopping hasn’t really caught on yet and I’m not sure if it ever will. Food companies have the right idea by trying to modernize the massive grocery industry, but it may be time to change the approach.

Instead of attempting to overtake brick-and-mortar grocery stores, vendors should focus on selling specialty products exclusively online to attract new customers and add extra revenue.

Coca-Cola laid the blueprint on Sept. 22 when it reintroduced Surge, its popular drink from the ‘90s that was discontinued in 2001. Thanks to a Facebook group with over 128,000 followers lobbying for Surge’s return, Coke released a limited amount of 16-ounce cans exclusively on Amazon.

This was Coca-Cola’s first product distributed solely through e-commerce but it might not be its last.

“If expectations are met, this may be only the first of a variety of efforts we explore to launch niche products through e-commerce relationships,” said Wendy Clark, president of Coca-Cola North America’s strategic marketing in Sept. 15 coca-colacompany.com article.

It’s time for the food e-commerce industry to think a little smaller to increase its online profits. According to Business Insider, food and beverage is by far the largest retail category in the U.S. at $600 billion per year, yet only 1 percent of that business occurs online.

That same Sept. 24 Business Insider article states that more adults are willing to purchase a “specialty” item that’s hard to find in the stores, rather than just general groceries online. Consumers aren’t against buying all food online, just certain foods.
Vendors need to realize that grocery is one of the few industries that doesn’t translate well to the Internet, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any opportunities for food sales online.

Like Coca-Cola did with Surge, other companies should use the same strategy and reserve some of their fan favorites for online buyers only. Taking a go-to item off the store shelves might cause some customer service backlash. If done tastefully though, with throwback or limited edition designs and flavors, vendors could help out their online sales and simultaneously attract new buyers.

Advancements in technology since Surge’s departure in 2001 should make it easier for specialty items to sell on the web. Social media is better and faster promotion for new items than anything that was available two decades ago. All it takes these days is a quirky YouTube video to get people excited about a new product, especially for big companies like Coca-Cola and for products that can’t be found in stores. It would be hard to market normal groceries like bread or milk, but limited edition items could go viral with the right online marketing campaign.

Partnerships with services like Amazon also allow companies to monitor the analytics of how the new product is performing without taxing its own sales staff. Niche products will give businesses an idea of how to maneuver in the e-commerce world before trying to take on the giant grocery industry as whole.

I’ll stick to buying my fruits and veggies from local stores, but there is definitely a bright future for niche products in e-commerce. The entire grocery industry now waits and watches, hoping that consumers get used to the idea of placing food and drinks in their online shopping carts in addition to the real ones.

Aarick Knighton is a junior information management and technology major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at adknight@syr.edu and followed on Twitter @aarickurban.

Published on October 2, 2014 at 12:18 am