The grocery industry is changing fast, driven by new customer expectations and advances in technology. Marat Bolatov, founder and CEO of Cloud Retail, shares a clear vision on how overcoming operational complexities is key to unlocking growth and enabling speed, accuracy, and sustainability.
The Real Challenges Behind Grocery eCommerce
The grocery eCommerce market in 2025 is marked by intense competition, particularly in Europe, where price wars dominate. Retailers like Aldi and Lidl aggressively compete on price and product assortment. Unlike other retail segments, grocery demand is highly inelastic, with price and assortment being the primary factors influencing consumer choice. Although quality and sustainability are gaining importance among affluent consumers, the broader market remains extremely price-sensitive.
This price sensitivity is intensified by the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, which has shifted many eCommerce teams’ priorities from customer acquisition to cost efficiency. Online grocery operations are often still considered secondary to offline retail, limiting investment in digital innovation.
Front-End Innovation Alone Isn’t Enough, Is It?
Many grocery retailers focus heavily on front-end digital innovations such as personalization, digital experience platforms, and MACH architectures. However, these efforts often overlook the operational backbone critical to profitability and scalability. The complexity of synchronizing supply chains, managing inventory in real time, and optimizing last-mile delivery requires strong, integrated systems.
Legacy offline processes are ill-suited for omnichannel retail and ultra-fast delivery demands. Fragmented SaaS tools create disjointed workflows, increase error rates, and drive up operational costs. Without real-time data and unified systems, retailers face frequent stock inaccuracies and delivery failures, which damage customer trust and retention.
For example, in some rapid delivery operations, manual stock checks have caused fulfillment delays of several hours, frustrating customers and increasing operational costs. This often leads to challenges in scaling the business efficiently.
In another case, a regional grocer integrated local supplier data into their platform, enabling fresh produce delivery within hours and increasing repeat orders by nearly a third. That’s exactly how combining operational agility with local knowledge can create a competitive edge even against larger rivals.
Real-Time Data and Business Intelligence. What Do They Do?
Industry leaders emphasize that “delay is the enemy” in grocery eCommerce. Slow technology adoption and reliance on manual workflows remain major bottlenecks. Before automating, it is essential to audit existing processes to identify true inefficiencies.
Cloud Retail’s platform exemplifies this approach by integrating marketing, sales, logistics, and analytics into a single system. Real-time business intelligence enables retailers to detect bottlenecks, improve demand forecasting, and reduce errors. This holistic visibility is vital for improving key operational metrics such as order fulfilment speed and inventory accuracy, both crucial for enhancing customer satisfaction.
For instance, one retailer cut delivery errors by 40% within weeks after visualizing order flow data and dynamically reallocating resources, an improvement impossible without real-time insights.
Changing Consumer Expectations
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated consumer demand for speed and convenience, yet ultra-fast delivery models remain challenging to sustain profitably. Major British retailers like Tesco and Sainsbury’s have reintroduced rapid delivery options, recognizing that speed is now a baseline expectation rather than a premium service.
There has also been a shift in consumer attitudes towards delivery and service fees, with greater acceptance of transparent and fair pricing. However, reliance on third-party delivery platforms such as Glovo, Deliveroo, and Uber Eats, while boosting sales, does not foster customer loyalty or allow retailers full control over the customer experience. Issues like incomplete deliveries and lack of real-time stock visibility remain widespread.
Strategic Recommendations for Grocery Retailers
To succeed in this evolving landscape, grocery retailers must prioritize scalable, adaptable technology platforms that unify operations end-to-end rather than relying on fragmented SaaS tools. Building data-literate teams capable of leveraging real-time business intelligence is essential for agile decision-making.
Strong partnerships with technology providers focused on measurable outcomes, such as faster time-to-market, reduced error rates, and improved margins, are critical. Fostering a culture of continuous adaptation enables retailers to anticipate market shifts and supply chain disruptions effectively.
The future of grocery eCommerce lies in balancing operational excellence with technological innovation. Sustainability, transparency, and putting customers first will be essential for success. Cloud Retail, under the leadership of Marat Bolatov, is positioned to empower retailers to navigate these challenges. The company focuses on shortening launch cycles and connecting disjointed workflows to help retailers manage grocery eCommerce more effectively.
As Marat Bolatov notes, “The future is not just about price and assortment, but about delivering seamless, transparent, and sustainable experiences that build lasting customer trust.”
