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What to Know About Kroger’s Online Marketplace
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As the e-commerce landscape continues to grow, The Kroger Co.’s new online marketplace has emerged as an exciting opportunity for brands and sellers that are looking to expand their operations beyond Amazon.
The nation’s largest grocery retailer recently launched its digital marketplace, which helped the company earn over $11 billion in e-commerce sales last year, plus the No. 9 spot on the list of top U.S. e-commerce retailers.
Expected to double its digital sales by the end of 2023, Kroger is quickly becoming a major e-marketplace player that brands and sellers may want to explore as the platform evolves in the coming years.
Everything You Need to Know About Kroger’s Online Marketplace
In the fall of 2020, the company expanded its ship-to-home service, Kroger Ship, by partnering with Mirakl, a digital marketplace developer, to allow third-party sellers the ability to offer products on its growing platform.
The move reportedly added more than 50,000 new items to the e-marketplace, giving its customers substantially more options for shopping online amid the shift in trends accelerated by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
As part of the platform’s expansion to third-party sellers, customers can now purchase several items not typically found in Kroger stores, such as certain specialty and international food products, natural and organic foods, as well as toys and household goods.
As consumer online shopping preferences continue to shift to e-marketplaces, expect Kroger to continue introducing new product categories to its platform to better compete with the likes of Amazon and Walmart.
Businesses interested in expanding their online presence to Kroger must go through the company’s supplier qualification process, which will enable them to use Kroger’s vendor management system, Supplier Hub, once approved.
Opportunities for Brands and Sellers on Kroger
According to Feedvisor’s 2021 survey of more than 1,000 U.S. brands, Kroger emerged as the second most popular channel that brands would consider selling on outside of Amazon, with Google Shopping taking the No. 1 spot.
As 53% of brands believe e-marketplaces are their greatest source of opportunity, it is clear that the current shift towards online shopping will continue to fuel Kroger’s growing digital presence.
The grocery store giant hopes to attract more brands and third-party sellers through what it claims are next-level data and insights that are unrivaled by Kroger’s competition.
Although it is unclear how much businesses can benefit from the online marketplace’s technology, what is certain is that Kroger plans to invest more into its digital operations going forward.
The company recently opened a new 375,000-square-foot customer fulfillment center, which combines “vertical integration, machine learning, and robotics with affordable, friendly, and fast delivery service.”
It will be interesting to see how much more efficient Kroger’s delivery system will be for both the company and its vendors as they explore new ways to integrate automation within their processes.
Final Thoughts
Kroger’s expanding digital offerings should excite online shoppers as much as third-party sellers, with new opportunities to benefit from its growing embrace of data and technology.
It will be exciting to see how the company continues to evolve its platform and how businesses can utilize Kroger as part of holistic strategies for selling products online.
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