Opportunities and challenges for online grocery retailers in Finland going forward: a qualitative study based on expert interviews with online grocery retailers in Finland

Abstract

The online grocery landscape is a fast-evolving industry and previously very little research has been conducted from the retailers’ perspective. This thesis aims to outline the future opportunities and challenges that the Finnish online grocery retailers are facing in the next 5-10 years. The research questions “What are the perceived opportunities of Online Grocery Shopping (OGS) from the retailer’s perspective going forward”, and “what are the perceived challenges of OGS’s from the retailer’s perspective going forward” strive to outline conclusions that can help online grocery retailers’ future-proof their business. This study was conducted in the form of semi-structured interviews with industry experts from the online grocery shopping (OGS) industry in Finland. The author interviewed six people in various positions, which means that the sample size is relatively small. The interviews were conducted during the spring and fall of 2022. The empirical study concludes the following opportunities for retailers: investing in initiatives to understand consumers, invest in infrastructure and automation, make use of data in development of digital channels and investigating the space of additional services to find new revenue streams. Inflation, rising food prices, running an online grocery web shop in a profitable way are some of the challenges the retailers will face or continue to face in the future. Additionally, low consumer adoption on online grocery shopping continues to be a challenge for retailers in the Finnish market.