When drive-up becomes a mark of respect

The results of the 2017 Shopper Value® Barometer have recently been revealed. In the food sector, customers approve of drive-up services, which has become the preferred point of access to daily products. Through this service, many people feel more respected by brands.

It has now been 5 years since ShopperMind, the Atavia group’s consumer trends observatory, launched the Shopper Value Barometer, the biggest study that focuses 100% on distribution clients. Its aim? To measure the link between the client and its brand. Every year, over 5,000 clients from 130 brands in all sectors are surveyed, using 10 main expectations that make up the Shopper Value: price, time, information, protection, respect, etc.

In 2017, the results for the food sector threw up several surprises.

Feel respected

“In the food sector, we have noticed for two or three years that drive-up services are becoming more and more associated with new items, that we would never have thought of!! says Jean-Marc Mégnin, Director General at ShopperMind. Of course, customers say that this service saves them time and helps them to manage their budget. But, more surprisingly, they also consider that drive-up is a more pleasant experience and that it represents a mark of respect from the brands. On this last point, differences of 4 to 6 points were observed between drive-up and the shop.”

This year, these trends have more than been confirmed: the official classification of the Shopper Value® Barometer 2017 reveals that three of the four most popular brands are now drive-ups. Behind Amazon – taking the top spot – we have Auchan Drive, Carrefour Drive, and finally E. Leclerc Hyper. Drive-up has become “the preferred shop” of French people, emerging as the preferred point of access to daily products. “If we take this thread of reasoning to the extreme, the only advice we can give to a brand that wants to improve its image, is to communicate its drive-up and services instead of its shops or its products!” notes Jean-Marc Mégnin.

Choose to not wait any more

How can we explain the customer’s strong preference for drive? “The fact that you can do your shopping from the comfort of your home – plus your previous orders will be saved for next time – then nice young, smiling people will load your shopping straight into your car, that is one explanation, says Jean-Marc Mégnin. And the fact that the idea of time spent in a shop is no longer seen as a good thing, also comes into play. Making customers wait in a queue is considered a lack of respect from the brand.”

The drive-up/grocery store duo

Regarding purchasing food, the most likely scenario is the following: for all purchases that can be automated (70% of your regular shop), excluding fresh products, customers tend to use drive-up services or home delivery; for the rest of their shopping, they go to a grocery store, “which is rather good news!” concludes Jean-Marc Mégnin.