Conversatorio Internacional: Normativa alimentaria: ¿Hacia dónde vamos?

 Conversatorio Internacional: Normativa alimentaria: 

¿Hacia dónde vamos? 

http://www.assal.gov.ar/conversatorio/ 

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Audrey Altmann: Taking the pulse of online grocery shopping (USA)

The internet has allowed consumers to drive the ultimate motivating force in retail: convenience. E-commerce purchases let customers shop for nearly unlimited items from anywhere, not just brick-and-mortar stores, and those items can arrive at their doorsteps within hours. That convenience has extended to buying groceries; several retailers such as Walmart and Giant’s Peapod have launched their own internal online grocery services while online services such as Instacart and Shipt have delivery options from several different grocery retailers. All of these options have led to online grocery shopping being more accessible to consumers than ever, and more customers are turning to the services for the level of convenience they now expect when shopping.

A study by Edison Trends found Instacart has 59% of the market share for grocery delivery, making the service larger than Amazon and Shipt in the US. The report also noted Instacart’s top 2019 retail performers, including Publix, Kroger, H-E-B, Costco and Whole Foods Market -- which ended its partnership with Instacart in May following Amazon’s acquisition of the retailer in 2017. Top-seller Publix does not have its own delivery service, making it a perfect match for Instacart users seeking to buy its products, as well as the convenience of online shopping.

Who is grocery shopping online?

A report by media and marketing firm Valassis -- titled “Unpacking the Dynamic Online Shopper: Grocery & Retail” -- found that nearly a third of US consumers have made an online grocery purchase in the past year from being surveyed. Those numbers change based on community type: 48%, 25% and 19% of consumers in urban, suburban and rural areas, respectively. These figures signify how using online grocery services is somewhat dependent upon where customers live, i.e. whether those people have ideal access to these services. Consumers in urban areas are less likely to have vehicles to transport grocery purchases, but those same communities are more likely to have several options for grocery ordering and/or delivery services.

According to the Food Marketing Institute’s US Grocery Shopper Trends report, Generation X saw the most growth in online shoppers in 2019, while baby boomers’ and millennials’ online grocery shopping also grew slightly. The growth in each age category demonstrates that these grocery services are being used by people of any age, not just consumers who have had online shopping as an option for most of their lives.

Why make an online grocery purchase?

According to the Valassis report, 72% of the overall consumers who have made an online grocery purchase also say they still do a majority of their grocery shopping in a brick-and-mortar store. While these people have placed at least one online order, this statistic indicates that these services haven’t drastically altered most consumers’ grocery shopping habits. Making online grocery orders to either be delivered or picked up is likely being used for specific needs or situations rather than a regular practice.

For example, half of American shoppers who already purchase groceries online say that they are likely to use the services more during the holiday season, which was reported in a study by ServiceChannel. People clearly wish to use these types of services during busy shopping periods, perhaps because they don’t have time or because they wish to avoid the crowds. The key factor here, yet again, is the convenience of online shopping.

Features and accessibility

Several grocery ordering services have recently debuted new innovations that make grocery delivery or pickup even more accessible to consumers.

Walmart has introduced an in-home grocery delivery option in select cities that allows workers to enter customers’ homes via a preinstalled smart lock and leave the order in the garage, on the kitchen counter or even directly in the refrigerator. The convenience of this type of online purchase now means buyers don’t even have to be at home to receive potentially perishable items.

This summer, the retailer also added Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, also known as food stamps, as a payment option for online grocery orders at more than 2,500 pickup locations. This addition enables SNAP customers to have a similar level of convenience in their grocery shopping as customers who pay with cash or credit and ensures that Walmart’s online grocery service are accessible for different populations.

To drive more online grocery purchases on its e-commerce platform, Amazon recently made grocery delivery free for all of its Prime members in the US. The service offers quick delivery times through Amazon’s Prime Now service, which delivers within hours and offers products from both Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market.

“[R]etailers and brands are working quickly to improve the experience and make the process more streamlined through e-commerce optimization,” Julie Companey, Valassis’s director of grocery marketing, told Supermarket News. “Those who create the right omnichannel promotional campaigns can gain a leg up and engage consumers while they are in the planning phase.

V

First E-commerce Law in China

On 31 August 2018 the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress published the long-awaited E-commerce Law, which will come into effect on 1 January 2019. The law reflect the Chinese government’s determination to fight counterfeits and protect consumers in one of the largest (if not the largest) e-commerce markets in the world. This article highlights some of the changes introduced by the E-commerce Law to which brand owners should pay attention.

Protection of IP rights

The E-commerce Law clarifies uncertainties in Article 36 of China’s Tort Law and establishes a complaint procedure for e-commerce platforms. It also puts the onus on platform operators to remove listings, disable web pages and terminate transactions if IP rights infringement is detected.  Although complaint systems are already in place on most popular e-commerce platforms, the E-commerce Law specifies the procedures that e-commerce platform operators must follow.

The law stipulates that if a rights holder has reason to believe that a business operator on the platform has infringed its rights, the it can notify the platform operator by submitting a notice of IP rights infringement to request that the platform operator take measures against the business operator. The notice requires that the rights holder submit prima facie evidence of infringement at the same time. Upon receipt of the notice, the platform operator redirects it to the business operator. If the platform operator fails to do so, it will be held jointly and severally liable for additional damages caused by the prolonged infringement. The business operator can equally submit a declaration of non-infringement to the platform operator.  This declaration, similar to the notice, is submitted together with prima facie evidence of non-infringement.  Upon receipt of the declaration, the platform operator forwards this to the rights holder and informs it that it may file a complaint with the relevant administrative authority or commence legal proceedings against the business operator in court.  If the platform operator does not receive notice within 15 days from the rights holder about filing a complaint or commencing legal proceedings, they can cease all measures taken against the business operator.

This is a welcome change in the structure of the complaints procedure. It gives rights holders confidence that their complaints will be properly handled and measures taken promptly against the infringer. However, the procedure for business operators to submit a non-infringement declaration attempts to mitigate the risk of squatters attempting to disrupt the business of legitimate operators on e-commerce platforms.  The E-commerce Law holds the complainant liable for loss and damage suffered by a business operator in the case of a wrongful complaint. Liability can be doubled in the case of a malicious complaint. However, the levels of evidence required and the meaning of prima facie evidence of infringement and prima facie evidence of non-infringement are yet to be clarified.

The complaint procedure is terminated if the business operator provides prima facieevidence of non-infringement and the rights holder fails to take action within 15 days. The absence of a reply mechanism and the need to take action within such a short period (which is unlikely to be sufficient for an overseas rights holder to prepare the necessary documents) may mean that procedures are brought to a close prematurely. Further, it is not uncommon for an infringer to fabricate authorisation documents. The rights holder may therefore have to be prepared to take action against the infringer following a complaint and may raise these authorisation documents (if fabricated) against the infringer in subsequent legal proceedings.

There is a concern that detailing the differences between genuine and counterfeit products could provide the infringer with information to make counterfeit goods in the future, as the notice is redirected to the infringer and includes prima facie evidence of infringement. The details required to meet the threshold are crucial to minimise leakage of valuable and confidential information to the infringer.

Enhanced protection of consumer rights

The E-commerce Law places great emphasis on the protection of consumer rights. Practices that may damage the e-commerce credit system (eg, false advertising) are explicitly prohibited. The E-commerce Law protects consumers from fake reviews by:

• banning dishonest practices such as hiring agents to write positive reviews;
• luring customers to leave favourable reviews with monetary rewards;
• disclosing credibility records selectively; and
• deleting unfavourable comments (unless they are defamatory or otherwise prohibited).

The E-commerce Law also requires e-commerce platform operators to shoulder more responsibility in ensuring the quality of items listed on their platform. For goods or services that affect the health and safety of consumers (eg, medical products), platform operators are held jointly liable with the business operator if they fail to examine the qualifications of business operators on the platform. Consumers are entitled to seek compensation directly from platform operators, which can subsequently seek reimbursement from the retailer.

Under the E-commerce Law, all business operators on e-commerce platforms must be registered and licensed with the SAIC, except for sellers of crafts and home-grown agricultural products. Businesses must make their licence information available on their web pages and provide their identity information to platform operators. These mandatory requirements will make it easier for consumers and right holders to identify infringers and make it harder for infringers to evade enforcement actions by simply closing down their online stores.

While the E-commerce Law has been passed to keep up with the massive growth in China’s e-commerce market, there are doubts as to how it will be enforced on a day-to-day basis.  It is expected that further notes and/or guidelines will be published for further clarification and more updates as to the actual practice will be provided after the E-commerce Law comes into force.

For further information contact:

Ken Hung 

Vivien Chan & Co 

View website: http://www.vcclawservices.com/?cid=61

Email: vivchan@vcclawservices.com 

Tel: +852 2522 9183

This is a co-published article whose content has not been commissioned or written by theIAM editorial team, but which has been proofed and edited to run in accordance with the IAM style guide.