7 supermarket and grocery industry trends for 2025

The grocery industry has been rapidly evolving and increasingly competitive recently, influenced by rising customer demand, personalized shopping experiences, and technology advancements. Retailers need to stay updated, embrace grocery trends, and adopt the latest technology in order to meet customer expectations. This blog post presents a few of the latest grocery retail trends, which can help you run a profitable and sustainable grocery business.

Table of Contents

• Growth of the grocery retail industry
• Challenges in grocery businesses
• Grocery store trends to look for in 2025

Growth of the grocery industry

There has been a tremendous rise in the size and number of grocery stores across all demography in the last decade. As per a study by Grand View Research, the global grocery market is expected to reach $14.7 trillion by 2030.^[1] Factors, such as rapid urbanization, increased buying capacity, and rising population, are a few reasons for the amount of grocery stores to increase and grocery retail trends to evolve.

India has been one of the quickly developing grocery markets with a total of roughly 13 million active grocery retail stores.^[2] With food and grocery businesses accounting for 65% of share in the retail sector already, the numbers are only expected to increase in the future with an expected rise of 4% in CAGR by 2030 from now.^[1]

Source: 

^[1] Global Food & Grocery Retail Market Size & Outlook by Grand View Research

^[2] The 21 Top Supermarkets in India by Gourmet Pro

Challenges in grocery businesses

Rise of quick commerce

Quick commerce has already become an essential in the grocery industry. As per a study, the quick commerce market in India is estimated to be 45% of the online grocery market and is expected to reach 70% by 2030.^[3]

A few years ago, an ideal home delivery time was meant to be 30 minutes. But today, 10-minute delivery is the new norm. Consumers expect an omnichannel experience to order items from anywhere and have them delivered to their home within few minutes.

Retailers who don't adopt this change will not be able to meet the customer expectations and lose their revenue.

Source: ^[3] The 21 Top Supermarkets in India by Gourmet Pro

Heavy competition

Retailers used to fight the competition from their nearby businesses. Today, grocery businesses have to additionally fight competition from ecommerce players who operate without physical stores. Due to a low cost of operation and less investment for ecommerce players, they can sell their items at a lower price.

Since traditional grocery businesses have expenses such as rent, salaries, electricity, and other miscellaneous costs, they find it difficult to fight the price war with ecommerce players.

Retailers need to integrate their business with ecommerce platforms or build their own ecommerce sites to attract online consumer orders and beat the competition.

Margin protection

The price of grocery items is subject to change based on various factors. With grocery businesses managing multiple SKUs and different suppliers delivering them on different days, having price control and margin protection is difficult.

If the transactions are not recorded digitally in software and purchase history is not tracked properly, there is a high chance of data misappropriation by staff and theft. In addition, retailers should also maintain different prices based on sales channels, customers, and other conditions, which requires high attention to protect your business margin.

Grocery store trends to look for in 2025

1. Focus on sustainability

Sustainability has become a new grocery retail trend where both consumers and retailers focus on reducing the environmental impact of each sale and purchase. About 45% of consumers want retailers to help them be more sustainable by reducing plastic packaging or using biodegradable material for packaging ^[4] 

This trend is influenced by consumers' inclination towards an eco-friendly shopping journey, and retailers focus on waste reduction, ethical ingredient sourcing, and the use of sustainable products across the supply chain.

Source: ^[4] The changing store of sustainability by Nielseniq

What you can do:

• Implement a cloud POS system without extensive hardware and large servers consuming more energy for operation.
• Send bills digitally via WhatsApp and SMS instead of paper bills for each sale to reduce paper waste.
• Use eco-friendly biodegradable materials for packaging.
• Insist consumers pack purchased items with reusable bags. Encourage them with special rewards, offers, and credits for doing so.
• Source items from local markets to reduce logistics and emissions.
• Implement a supermarket POS that tracks damage and expiry accurately so you can slash the price and sell them before they're disposed of.
• Implement an advanced purchase management system that lets you predict demand accurately and raise purchase orders for required items.

2. Expansion of private-label products

The retail industry is driven by trust. A new grocery retail trend shows consumers are relying more on retailers' private-label products, believing retailers will be more cautious during packaging and have more of a sense of personal responsibility.

As per latest report by NIQ, 50% of global respondents are buying more private labeled products than before.^[5]

The private-label products are considered high quality but at an affordable cost, driving this grocery retail trend. Since the retailers are the owners of the brand, they have complete control over the pricing and can sell them at a good price with better margins. Promoting these private-label products with efficient marketing strategies and merchandising techniques will pull the consumers toward your brand items.

Source: ^[5] NIQ's Mid-Year Consumer Outlook: Guide to 2025 report

What you can do:

• Procure daily grocery items such as rice, dal, chilli, and tamarind in bulk and repackage them as needed based on demand.
• Create separate item codes for both bulk and repacked items and track the inventory accurately.
• Monitor the movement of repackaged items, do the production planning, and transfer them to outlets with a proper warehouse management system.
• Build brand loyalty with good in-house product quality and service for consumers to shop with you again.
• Fix the price strategically and implement effective marketing techniques so consumers prefer private-label products over branded products.

3. Increased AI adoption

You can't forget the two-letter buzzword, AI, which has impacted all industries over the last couple of years. As per a study by IDC, the retail sector is second among all industries to spend the most on AI technologies.^[6] 

Today, AI is used to analyze purchase behavior, interpret sales patterns, forecast sales, manage inventory, recommend products, and assist customers during their shopping journey.

A recent study by IHL Group reveals that retail businesses that use AI have witnessed two-times the sales growth and three-times the profit growth compared to competitors. Hence, AI in retail has become one of the important grocery trends to adopt in 2025, as it provides accuracy, improves productivity, reduces returns, and decreases operational costs.

Source: ^[6] IDC Worldwide Artificial Intelligence Spending Guide - Forecast 2023

What you can do:

• Streamline inventory management practices so AI can study the data and provide recommendations accurately.
• Adopt a comprehensive grocery POS system that empowers you to analyze inventory and raise purchase orders automatically based on current stock and estimated demand.
• Implement an advanced digital shelf talker that updates the price automatically based on the price variation.
• Adopt an intelligent supermarket POS and integrate with ecommerce platforms that can recommend products based on past purchases, and suggest combo items and strategic item selling during festivals or events.

4. Experiential retail

Supermarkets can no longer just be a store selling just products; they have to also sell experiences. Consumers browse for a product online and shop for it in-store and, alternatively, try the products in-store for a touch-and-feel experience and end up placing an order online through an ecommerce site that offers the best price. They place orders from anywhere and expect convenient home delivery.

As per a study, more than 60% of consumers want brands to give them a multi-sensory shopping experience.^[7] Offering a uniform experiential retail experience is essential to please customers, make them remember you, and influence them to repeatedly shop with you.

This trending grocery trend requires both the online and offline channels to work in sync with real-time updates of business data for smoother operations. This allows grocery owners to meet the evolving customer demand, offer consistent experiences, and increase business revenue.

Source: ^[7] Only boring retailers are dying: long live retailtainment by The Drum

What you can do:

• Adopt an omnichannel grocery store software that allows you to receive online orders, integrate with ecommerce platforms, and handle home delivery.
• Look for efficient grocery software that empowers consumers to do seamless and faster self-checkout.
• Enable live shopping by allowing consumers to connect with your store virtually, try the product, and complete the transaction without coming to the store physically.

5. Everything in one place

The shopping pattern and spending capacity of consumers has changed a lot in recent years. Consumers used to plan their shopping in advance based on their budget and bought essential daily groceries as required. Today, they prefer shopping at regular intervals with their family. They expect to find all the items they need for their home in one store, so they can stroll through the aisles and shop for all the required items at once.

Due to increased consumer buying capacity, increasing demand, and a larger gap between consecutive purchases, the average order value per customer has increased. This provides a good opportunity for small, local grocery owners to scale their business with a variety of items to satisfy all the needs of consumers.

What you can do:

• Evaluate the demand and categorize items based on weekly sales.
• Start by adding a few fast-selling items to the SKU list and slowly add more SKUs as the business improves.
• Implement grocery software that can handle multiple SKUs and track batch-wise transactions effectively.
• Plan your purchases ahead and stock required items with regular inventory checks.

6. Personalized shopping experiences

Personalization is one of the influential grocery trends in 2025 thanks to the advancement of AI/ML technologies. As per the 2024 state of personalization report, more than 70% of brands said AI will play a key role in personalization.^[8] With AI, personalization can help set dynamic pricing, run loyalty programs, recommend personalized products, and increase customer satisfaction.

Furthermore, personalization makes customers enjoy their shopping journey, increase repeated walk-ins, and boost loyalty with your brand, which in-turn reduces marketing expenses for attracting new customers. In fact, as per a McKinsey report, personalization can cut customer acquisition costs by 50% and boost revenue by 15%.^[9]

For example, a significant amount of sales done during Amazon's Prime Big Billion Days were AI-recommended. In the apparel and fashion category, 15% of the sales were driven by AI.^[10] A key takeaway is that with AI technologies advancing each day, there is a greater scope for hyper-personalization in the grocery industry in coming years.

Source: 

^[8] Exploring the evolution of AI in Personalized Marketing by BCG

^[9] What is personalization by McKinsey

^[10] AI-Generated Product Recommendations Power Amazon's Fall Prime Event by Retail Touchpoints

What you can do:

• Collect customer data at each touchpoint and update the customer master.
• Implement a comprehensive CRM that can track all customer details and send personalized messages.
• Adopt supermarket POS software that comes with features for loyalty program management and offer management.
• Integrate your software with WhatsApp and SMS to send tailored promotional messages about offers running in your store.
• Implement AI chatbots in your ecommerce site to ensure quick customer service even out of working hours.
• Look out for AI-based solutions that analyze the sales pattern, track customer buying behavior, and recommend products during self-checkouts.

7. Online marketing overtakes offline marketing

Social media has become an influential grocery marketing trend, turning scrolling time into shopping time if marketing strategies are executed right. As per a recent study, 82% of consumers use social media as their shopping assistant.^[11]

With millions of users spending hours of day on social media, the medium has become a thriving marketplace more than an engagement platform. Already, retailers have started spending on ads to boost brand visibility, and is expected to be an even bigger marketing channel for the retail industry.

Another popular grocery marketing trend is partnering with local influencers. Since influencers are provided incentives and referral bonuses based on sales value, they become more engaged and committed. They play a critical role in sharing authentic and personal experiences that resonate with the viewer's taste, creating a sense of personal connection and trust.

Source: ^[11] Social Commerce 2025: Definition, Key Trends, and Statistics by Hostinger

What you can do:

• Analyze the social media platform where most of your target audience spends time.
• Build a strong social media presence with regular posts about offers, new product launches, store openings, and promotions on that social media platform.
• Partner with a trusted influencer and discuss the commission structure transparently.

Conclusion

Grocery retail trends are meant to evolve continuously, but retailers need to consider them as chances for growth and adopt these trends early. This year, we expect the grocery industry to be driven by innovation, personalization, sustainability, and marketing strategies. Retailers who embrace these trends can ensure higher customer satisfaction, increased operational efficiency, and improved business revenue.

Want to learn more about how you can implement these grocery trends and succeed in your business? Talk with our expert now.