During Hispanic Heritage Month, we celebrate more than just the union of our cultures. We also celebrate our growth as a community, family, and professionals. If we focus on our supermarkets, the human factor is vital in managing all our teams, associates, managers, and suppliers.
From a competitive point of view, our community is already consolidated at all levels of the industry and, therefore, also with a series of pressures in each of the responsibilities, such as:
- The management before our leaders, where the demand with the results is usually high and constant, according to the culture of our companies.
- In the management of our teams where we must always keep all associates encouraged, motivated, and focused on the objectives.
- The management of the family, because the schedules in the retail industry are long, and we must be able to make these schedules sustainable over time under a family reconciliation for our employees.
With motivated and focused teams, we must look at the current state of our supermarkets. New trends are defining the new retail landscape, adapting against the clock to seduce new generations and remain competitive in the face of the advance in e-commerce.
Related Article: The Growing Value Added by Women in Latino Supermarkets
Technological advances have opened up a new range of possibilities in our sector, facilitating the purchasing process and expanding the information available to the customer.
Virtual suppliers and 3D technology have leaped from science fiction to the point of sale, and consumers are increasingly demanding in this respect. Proof of this, for example, is the number of devices we are already beginning to see in our Latino supermarkets from which we can extract a great deal of information on customer traffic, consumption, how long they stay in our stores, etc.
Something that can also be seen in supermarkets is radio frequency identification, which allows us to remember which customers have visited the store before and thus be able to offer them benefits or offers just for coming back.
Technology is becoming part of the out-of-store shopping experience. Customers can now find spaces in shopping malls with interactive zones that will immerse shoppers in the brand story and digital storefronts and window displays.
The emergence of low-cost or hard discount store formats, the ability to compare prices online before making a purchase, and new consumer habits have increased price sensitivity in the purchasing decision.
Shopping for a lower price no longer depends on the economic capacity of the buyer but has become a way of life.
In particular, customers who shop more than twice a week in supermarkets are the most demanding when looking for value for money and the least likely to be concerned about what the items look like. To address this need, consumers will be able to receive vouchers and offers directly on their cell phones and compare different prices online.
This partnership between our human and technological capital will define our near future and what we will achieve as a company. Congratulations to the Latino community for Hispanic Heritage Month, especially to our retail sector and those who give us a voice like Abasto Magazine.