What's the “Thing” in Internet of Things in Grocery Shopping? A Customer Approach

The Internet of Things (IoT) technology presents an opportunity for retail groceries to develop an infrastructure that makes physical things such as mobile phone, shopping basket, store shelves, digital display, and, even the product itself smart, allowing real-time interaction with customers both in the physical store and in the virtual store. The aim of this study is to expand understanding of how IoT can create value in the retail grocery choice situation. To investigate the impact of IoT-related information on consumer choice in a shopping situation, we arranged a conjoint experiment in which participants (n = 61) purchased fresh salmon in a grocery store. The results (Pearson´s r = 0.939, p = 0.000) show that relative to static information about price, expiry date, quality, and offers given, the real-time information was the most salient stimulus when choosing fresh salmon. Moreover, quality ratings by other customers were the most salient stimuli among real-time information, followed by an offer based on a product in the shopping cart, real-time expiry date, and real-time price. These findings contribute both to researchers and managers within grocery retailing who want to understand how IoT can be used in a way that creates value for the customers.