Top Grocery Store Trends for 2024

Grocery stores have become one of the fastest growing markets in the commercial foodservice space. With more supply and demand, many grocery stores are actively working to stay ahead of the curve by exploring cutting-edge trends to suit our ever-changing world. From improved sustainability to advancements in AI, these new trends run the gamut.

Below are some of the top-most trends sweeping the grocery store game for 2024 and beyond.

Sustainable Solutions

One of the hottest topics in the commercial foodservice space this year is sustainability: how to be more sustainable, how to cut down on waste and how to make your business all around environmentally-friendly. And it’s not just the foodservice industry that’s thinking greener; according to a 2021 study conducted by the Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council (CCRRC), 7 out of 10 shoppers actively try to reduce their environmental impact, and 2 out of 3 shoppers will make conscious efforts to recycle. 

Additionally, the study also states that shoppers are willing to pay 4% more at food retailers like grocery stores that are environmentally and community-conscious. So, what are some of the ways a grocery store can go green for 2024?

Responsibly-Sourced Goods

We’ve covered before how restaurants can sustainably source their ingredients, but this practice isn’t limited to just this area of commercial foodservice. In fact, one of the biggest trends hitting the grocery store industry for 2024 is to offer more consciously-sourced products to customers. Since people are becoming more curious about where their food is coming from, providing them with the information along with the goods is not only sustainable but responsible as well. 

There are several ways to responsibly source food products for a grocery store, but some of the top methods include the incorporation of locally-grown or made products and selling conflict-free meat and fish. Fresh Thyme Market, a Midwestern-based grocery chain, has recently released their own report on grocery store trends for 2024. Based on their own study of customer spending habits, they concluded that these two areas of responsible sourcing are the most important to shoppers. 

Whether it’s partnering with a local farm for fresh seasonal produce, stocking shelves with honey sourced from your area or switching to responsibly-sourced seafood goods, incorporating sustainable products can provide many benefits to your store, partners and customers.

Bulk Shopping

While not a new trend per se, bulk shopping has been growing more popular as more people bring awareness to it. And with fluctuating high grocery prices making shopping trips more expensive at the consumer level, the practice of bulk shopping can ease those spending woes. Not only that, but bulk shopping can make purchasing and stocking easier for stores and staff. 

Also known as bulk refill shopping, this practice ditches traditional grocery packaging for large bins that customers can fill their own containers with. Most popular with dry goods, spices, cooking oils and coffee, it’s an exceptionally sustainable way for customers to shop. On the store level, bulk refill bins offer decreased waste, can reduce store labor costs and generate more sales at a lesser cost to shoppers, according to King Retail Solutions. All in all, there are a great many benefits to bulk shopping for grocers and shoppers alike. By offering refill stations in the New Year, you can also tout yourself as a sustainably-conscious store in your area.

Automation & AI

Incorporation of Automation

Automation has recently become a growing trend in the foodservice world in general; in the grocery space though, it has the potential to become a new normal. For example, Supermarket News outlines how automation can benefit the various labor issues that many are experiencing right now. According to them, “Robotic solutions can take over repetitive, labor-intensive order fulfillment tasks—running around the clock with minimal human involvement.” 

Additionally, Grocery Doppio outlines other benefits for adding automation in grocery stores like inventory management, food safety and quality control of food storage areas. Adding automation to various areas of a grocery store could ultimately help lead to collecting more accurate data, increase food quality and assist with product ordering.

Adopting Artificial Intelligence

One of the fastest growing trends globally is AI, or “artificial intelligence.” Many sectors in the foodservice and retail spaces are becoming early adaptors to the use of AI and its power processing skills. In the grocery space, AI can serve a vital function in data aggregation, profit forecasting and personalizing customer shopping experiences. 

In addition, AI has the capability to provide dynamic pricing on products wherein it collects price changes within the market to inform the operator of any significant changes. Oracle, a leader in the tech world, illustrates how beneficial dynamic pricing is for grocery stores: “AI software can analyze millions of price variations across stores depending on demand, season, day of the week, promotions, economic factors, and other changes and then recommend prices for items to maximize profit. Supermarkets, in turn, can replicate prices that work across cities or regions.” This can help with price inflation fluctuations and work in your favor to compete with regional pricing by offering better deals. 

AI integration has a multitude of benefits within the grocery store setting, and is definitely a trend to explore before the new year.

Utilizing Social Media & Influence

At first glance, this may seem like a no brainer since pretty much every business has some sort of social media presence. And while grocery stores may not seem like likely internet stars, social media can be more beneficial than you’d think. Platforms like Tik Tok and Instagram have made e-commerce integration easier while also showcasing the latest and greatest in food, beverage and lifestyle hacks. So, it stands to reason that utilizing these social media platforms could become the next viral trend for grocery stores.

Showcase What’s Trending

In the previously mentioned report by Fresh Thyme Market, one of the suggestions they make to capitalize on social media trends is to market and showcase the ingredients needed for the hot new recipe within their stores. These ingredients can be displayed on end caps or near the entrance with signage that explains what the dish is. Not only is this a great way to get in on the latest social media trends, but it’s also a great way to generate revenue and spotlight select products you sell.

Get Social for S-Commerce

There are a multitude of positives that social media can bring to a business, and this isn’t something that’s missed in the grocery store world. Fostering a solid online presence not only builds trust with customers, but allows stores to share products and recipes while also capitalizing on current trends. Not only that, this allows grocery stores to incorporate “s-commerce.” Also known as social commerce, s-commerce is a rapidly growing segment of e-commerce, with an expectation of total s-commerce sales to rise to 6% by 2027 as reported by Forbes. They state that based on this estimate, with s-commerce sales pulling in close to a quarter-billion in sales in 2022 that it could increase to $700 billion in 2027.

Incorporating s-commerce into a grocery store’s social media profile can be especially lucrative in places like Tik Tok, Pinterest and Instagram thanks to their capabilities to link to products and their easy interactive features. So while you’re streaming your own take on baked feta pasta, you can link to all ingredients and cookware used for a simplified shopping experience.