# Grocery Commerce Intelligence > Incisiv benchmark research, 2026. 200 grocery banners in 8 countries, each assessed on 78 capabilities in 4 experience areas and 16 capability groups, at one of four levels (Basic, Developing, Advanced, Leading). Sixteen findings, each with a decision the commerce leader can own. Cite as: Incisiv, Grocery Commerce Intelligence, 2026. https://grocery.incisiv.com Basis for any number: the Q3_2026 release of the Incisiv grocery benchmark, published 2026-08-27; a share of banners at Advanced or better at a stated base. A banner is a brand in a country. One release exists, so no number is a change claim. How the benchmark reads is at https://grocery.incisiv.com/methodology. This file holds everything that is open on the site. The sixteen findings in full and the explorer need a signed-in account with a work address; see https://grocery.incisiv.com/sign-in. AI clients can connect to the report through MCP at https://grocery.incisiv.com/mcp; instructions at https://grocery.incisiv.com/connect. ## The four levels - Basic: The capability is absent, or barely there. - Developing: It exists in part: in some channels, some stores, or a reduced form. - Advanced: It works everywhere the shopper looks. - Leading: It works everywhere and adapts to the shopper: personalised, real-time, or best in class, in the definition’s own words. ## The report, chapter by chapter ### Chapter 01. The app can find the item. It cannot say whether the store has it. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/shopping Search works. Filters work. The catalogue is complete. What the app cannot do, in most banners, is say whether the item is on the shelf in the store the shopper is about to drive to, how fresh it is, what tonight’s dinner could be made from it, or whether the price on the shelf tag is the price in the basket. The fill-in trip goes to whichever store can promise the item. Headline: 11 in 100 of the 116 supermarkets show a live stock level for the item at the shopper’s chosen store. What to do: Pick twenty stores and the 200 fastest-moving fresh and staple items, and show live stock for those items in the app and on the product page. Findings in this chapter (title and headline number are open; the full finding is behind sign-in): - 1.1 The app can find the item. It cannot say whether the store has it. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/shopping/the-app-cannot-see-the-shelf 11 in 100 of the 116 supermarkets show a live stock level for the item at the shopper’s chosen store (base 116, Supermarket). - 1.2 Nobody tells the online shopper how fresh the food is. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/shopping/how-fresh-is-the-food 5 in 100 of the 116 supermarkets show a use-by date for the actual item on sale (base 116, Supermarket). - 1.3 Tonight’s dinner is a North American habit, not a grocery one. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/shopping/tonights-dinner 54 in 100 of the 105 North American banners put a recipe’s ingredients into the basket in one action (base 105, North America). - 1.4 The promotion on the shelf is not the promotion in the app. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/shopping/the-promotion-in-the-app 22 in 100 of the 116 supermarkets keep the member price online in step with the shelf (base 116, Supermarket). ### Chapter 02. Loyalty reached the online checkout. The savings did not. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/checkout The loyalty scheme knows the household. Most banners let it redeem points online. Far fewer apply the coupon the household clipped without a code, take SNAP online, let the shopper scan with their own phone, or start the weekly shop from last week’s basket. The shopper who has to work for the discount stops noticing it. Headline: 17 in 100 of the 116 supermarkets apply digital coupons without the shopper typing a code. What to do: Every loyalty offer and digital coupon the household has clipped applies in the online basket without a code. Findings in this chapter (title and headline number are open; the full finding is behind sign-in): - 2.1 Loyalty reached the online checkout. The savings did not. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/checkout/the-savings-left-on-the-counter 17 in 100 of the 116 supermarkets apply a clipped digital coupon in the online basket without a code (base 116, Supermarket). - 2.2 Four US supermarkets in ten still take SNAP only at the register. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/checkout/snap-at-the-register 43 in 100 of the 67 United States supermarkets take SNAP only at the register (base 67, United States supermarkets). - 2.3 Scan-and-go is a supercenter habit. Supermarkets are still queuing. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/checkout/scan-and-go 24 in 100 of all 200 banners let the shopper scan with their own phone and pay without a lane (base 200, All banners). - 2.4 The weekly shop still starts from an empty basket. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/checkout/the-empty-basket 36 in 100 of all 200 banners let the shopper add past purchases to the basket straight from the order history (base 200, All banners). ### Chapter 03. The store won the picking. The order still loses the shopper. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/fulfillment Most online grocery orders are picked in a store, by a store colleague, for a household that colleague has never met. The swap is decided under time pressure, the fee hides what the order costs, the slot cannot be moved without a phone call, and nobody says whether the chilled bag stayed cold. Every unwanted swap is a reason to try another store next week. Headline: 29 in 100 of the 116 supermarkets let the shopper approve a substitution in the app. What to do: In every store that picks, the shopper approves or refuses each substitution in the app while the pick is happening, with the picker’s alternative shown. Findings in this chapter (title and headline number are open; the full finding is behind sign-in): - 3.1 The shopper is told about the swap. They cannot say no in time. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/fulfillment/the-swap-you-cannot-refuse 29 in 100 of the 116 supermarkets let the shopper accept or refuse a substitution in the app before the order leaves (base 116, Supermarket). - 3.2 The fee is shown. The cost behind it is not, to the shopper or to the CFO. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/fulfillment/the-fee-and-the-cost 30 in 100 of all 200 banners show the shopper what the fee is made of: delivery, service, small order (base 200, All banners). - 3.3 The pickup slot is there. Changing it means a phone call. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/fulfillment/changing-the-slot 34 in 100 of all 200 banners let the shopper move the slot themselves in the app or on the site (base 200, All banners). - 3.4 You tell the shopper the order is late. You do not tell them it stayed cold. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/fulfillment/did-it-stay-cold 31 in 100 of all 200 banners send chilled and frozen items in dedicated insulated packaging; 4 of 200 monitor the temperature (base 200, All banners). ### Chapter 04. You hear about the failed order after the household has moved on. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/service The order data knows which item was missing, which delivery was late and which chilled bag was warm. Almost no banner acts on it before the shopper calls. The service desk cannot see the loyalty card, the app never asks what happened, and the assistant that could shop for the household exists at a handful of banners. The routine breaks quietly, one household at a time. Headline: 5 in 100 of the 116 supermarkets fix a problem before the shopper reports it. What to do: For the three most common order failures, issue the credit and the apology before the shopper contacts you, from the order data. Findings in this chapter (title and headline number are open; the full finding is behind sign-in): - 4.1 Supermarkets wait for the complaint. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/service/waiting-for-the-complaint 5 in 100 of the 116 supermarkets contact the shopper about a problem before the shopper contacts them (base 116, Supermarket). - 4.2 The loyalty card knows the household. The service desk does not. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/service/the-service-desk-does-not-know-you 20 in 100 of the 116 supermarkets let the service agent or desk see the shopper’s loyalty status and history while helping them (base 116, Supermarket). - 4.3 Almost nobody asks the shopper what happened. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/service/nobody-asks-the-shopper 8 in 100 of all 200 banners ask the shopper for feedback after an order, in the app, as a matter of routine (base 200, All banners). - 4.4 An AI assistant that shops for the household exists at three supermarkets in a hundred. https://grocery.incisiv.com/report/service/the-ai-assistant 3 in 100 of the 116 supermarkets have an assistant that builds the basket and hands it to the shopper to approve (base 116, Supermarket). ## Perspectives ### Walk your top two hundred items through the app every Monday. https://grocery.incisiv.com/insights/walk-your-top-two-hundred-items Builds on chapter 01. 5 minute read. The article is pending; the work and the assignment are settled. Each week, a named person checks the 200 fastest-moving items in the app for availability, price and promotion against five stores at 8am. Assignment: Run it for four Mondays, bring the mismatch table to the merchandising meeting, and pick the one fix that removes the most mismatches. ### Do your own household’s shop online once a month. https://grocery.incisiv.com/insights/do-your-own-households-shop Builds on chapter 02. 5 minute read. The article is pending; the work and the assignment are settled. The executive places a real order for their own household, once a month, and counts the steps, the codes typed, the offers missed and the items re-found. Assignment: Three months of counts, then one decision on the step that costs the most. ### Read a hundred substitutions with the store manager. https://grocery.incisiv.com/insights/read-a-hundred-substitutions Builds on chapter 03. 5 minute read. The article is pending; the work and the assignment are settled. Once a quarter, the executive and one store manager read 100 substitution decisions from that store’s picks, with the shopper’s response where it exists. Assignment: The ten rules, written by the store manager, in the picking app within a quarter. ### Follow twenty failed orders to the next trip. https://grocery.incisiv.com/insights/follow-twenty-failed-orders Builds on chapter 04. 5 minute read. The article is pending; the work and the assignment are settled. Each week, service pulls twenty orders that went wrong and follows each household for 30 days: did they contact us, did they get a credit, did they order again. Assignment: Four weeks, then the three failures to resolve before the shopper asks, with the credit rule for each. ## How the benchmark reads https://grocery.incisiv.com/methodology Scope: shopper-facing digital commerce at 200 grocery banners in 8 countries, assessed capability by capability at one of four levels. The unit is a banner, a brand in a country. Every number is a share of banners at Advanced or better at a stated base; populations under 20 banners are illustrative and appear only inline. A banner is named only when it is Leading overall, and only for a strength. The release is quarterly; this is the first, so the report makes no change claim.