New York City-based online grocer FreshDirect has more experience than most retailers when it comes to merchandising produce on an e-commerce platform.
Core to the success of FreshDirect is its vertically integrated supply chain and stringent quality control, according to chief merchandising officer Scott Crawford, but because the company has been selling fresh food online for nearly 20 years, it is also further along the path than many retailers in delivering a compelling online shopping experience.
One of the concerns of the produce industry as the online share of grocery sales increases is that produce consumption may suffer because many e-commerce sites are not designed to encourage impulse sales to the same degree that physical stores are.
Indeed, Crawford said more than 30% of FreshDirect customers shop exclusively from their “re-shop” basket, which shows only items that a customer has previously purchased, with the most frequently purchased items floating to the top of the list.
FreshDirect has also been creative, however, in giving customers reasons to branch out from their normal basket. The company uses in-house photography and research and development in an effort to create Instagram-worthy product and recipe imagery, Crawford said, and the journey from inspiration to purchase can be quick; shoppers can click on a picture and see the five ingredients needed to make the recipe, then add them to the cart.
Another key feature of the site is its star rating system, which FreshDirect has been using for more than a decade. Instead of letting customers rate and review items, however, FreshDirect has its quality control team rate hundreds of items daily, and the items with the highest number of stars float to the top of the list.
The system creates some internal push and pull, Crawford said, because if procurement buys a product that is not up to par, quality control will rate it accordingly.
Having integrity in those ratings, however, gives shoppers the confidence to trust them, and because what’s in peak season is usually high-ranking, shoppers tend to start anticipating the seasons for different items and buy with seasonality in mind.
FreshDirect also uses recommendations based on artificial intelligence. If people who buy asparagus regularly also tend to buy high-quality butter, for example, the latter product might be suggested to someone buying the former in a “If you like this, you might also like this” style of presentation.
The retailer also creates a list of the fresh foods that its team is most excited about, and the goal is to have nothing on the list that isn’t perfect.
While the bells and whistles of the site can provide inspiration for other retailers looking to improve their online presence, Crawford said the foundation of FreshDirect is quality and freshness, the fundamental building blocks for any retailer.
“The real secret is short supply chain, the fast turnover of food,” Crawford said. “We have literally the largest grocery store in New York City, and I always say it’s the fastest-turning grocery store. Our inventory turns are way north of what even Whole Foods would consider as good inventory turns because we’re buying just what we need when we need it and the customer’s getting it as we buy it.”