Chapter 04 / After the order

You hear about the failed order after the household has moved on.

The order data knows which item was missing, which delivery was late and which cold bag was warm. Almost no grocer acts on it before the shopper calls. The service desk cannot see the loyalty card, the digital channels never ask what happened, and the assistant that could shop for the household exists at a handful of grocers.

The routine breaks quietly, one household at a time.

4.1

Grocers wait for the complaint.

4% of grocers contact the shopper about an order problem before the shopper contacts them. 68% respond only when asked, and 28% have no visible process.

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4.2

The loyalty card knows the household. The service desk does not.

Loyalty Recognition in Service, supermarkets: 26 not recognized, 67 basic recognition, 20 Advanced (loyalty visible in service), 3 Leading, so 23 of 116 (20%) Advanced or better. Unified Customer Profile, the contrast, is 55% in the same 116: the profile exists, the desk cannot see it.

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4.3

Almost nobody asks the shopper what happened.

Feedback Collection, all 200 banners: 79 Basic (none), 106 Developing (an occasional survey link), 11 Advanced (routine in-app feedback after an order), 4 Leading, so 15 (8%) Advanced or better; supermarkets 8%. NPS/Survey Integration: 135 of 200 Basic, 7 (4%) Advanced or better, none Leading. Customer Feedback & Loyalty is the weakest of the 16 groups for supermarkets at 34%.

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4.4

An AI assistant that shops for the household exists at three supermarkets in a hundred.

Agentic AI Shopping Assistant at Advanced or better in 4 of 116 supermarkets (3%), none Leading; all 200 banners: 4 (2%). Generative AI-Powered Search & Discovery: 3 of 116. Chatbot Support: 24% of supermarkets. The pioneers named by the data are three banners of one company, and the finding says so or does not count.

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The four levels behind this chapter

Every number in this chapter is a share of banners at Advanced or better. Here is what the four levels mean.

BasicThe capability is absent, or barely there.

DevelopingIt exists in part: in some channels, some stores, or a reduced form.

AdvancedIt works everywhere the shopper looks.

LeadingIt works everywhere and adapts to the shopper: personalised, real-time, or best in class, in the definition’s own words.

A capability at Advanced or better works everywhere the shopper looks. The share is always of banners, never of stores, shoppers or sales. Bases under 20 banners appear only inline, with the base beside them.

Put the findings to work

For the three most common order failures, issue the credit and the apology before the shopper contacts you, from the order data.

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Back to the start / 01

Search finds the item. Nothing says whether the store has it. ↗

All chapters

01The shelf you cannot see 02The savings left on the counter 03Where the order goes wrong 04After the order