Dive Brief:

• Fresco y Más is partnering with online grocery marketplace Shipt to offer shoppers grocery delivery in South Florida, Tampa and Orlando. The chain, which is owned and operated by Southeastern Grocers, claims it is one of the first Hispanic growers to rollout the new service, targeting Hispanic and Caribbean shoppers in Florida’s metropolitan areas.
• Through an app, shoppers can select a wide range of items including fresh meat and seafood, produce, household products, along with hot items from the brand’s in-store eatery, Cocina.
• One-third of shoppers have purchased groceries online in the last year according to a study from SEG, while 88% of users also requested delivery of those items in lieu of in-store or curbside pickup. The primary driver for most consumers is time savings.

Dive Insight:

With roughly 55 million Hispanics in the US, nearly 60% are millennials according to research from IRI. The study also concluded that Hispanics are more likely to shop online than other demographics in categories like cosmetics, fragrances, beauty, and general household products, and that they by and large see online shopping as a time-saving venture.

Even more importantly, the survey concluded that Hispanic shoppers tend to be more engaged during the entire shopping journey, either in the store or on the web, with over one-third of Hispanic shoppers comparing prices and hunting for deals online before making a trip and roughly one-quarter comparing prices offline.

The Hispanic community is also the fastest growing ethnic group in the U.S., with a population expected to pass the 77 million mark in 2024 and with an expected purchasing power of $2 trillion.

Unsurprisingly, there are a few other Hispanic retailers offering online shopping, including Zocalo Foods, MexGrocer and AmigoFoods. All three offer a variety of products including imported goods from Mexico, North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Fresco y Más parent company Southeastern Grocers, which also owns banners Winn-Dixie, Harveys and Bi-Lo, has been working to revamp its role in the marketplace after emerging from bankruptcy in mid-2018. Earlier this month, it announced the closure of 22 stores across four states including 13 Bi-Lo stores, seven Winn-Dixies and two Harveys locations.

The Fresco y Más banner is one of the company’s strongest performers. Southeastern began converting Winn-Dixie and Bi-Lo stores over to the format in 2016 and accelerated that rollout over the past two years. In December 2018, Fresco Y Más opened its 26th store location in Lauderhill, Florida, offering unique items like specialty meat cuts of goat and oxtail and a new bakery department offering an expanded menu of Caribbean and Hispanic baked goods.

Southeastern Grocers offers online shopping via Shipt at Winn-Dixie and Bi-Lo stores. Making a play for the rapidly growing online grocery market could be another pillar of the company’s restructuring plan, particularly in light of Hispanic shoppers’ affinity for picking up items online.