EVALUATION OF ONLINE GROCERY SHOPPING BASED ON THE HYPE CURVE CONCEPT

Globalization has an impact on changes in consumer habits and the purchasing behaviour of customers. In this context customer demand better and more innovative products and services. That has also been reflected in grocery sales where a major innovation of today is online grocery shopping through various platforms and technologies. Each innovation is accepted by its users in a different time horizon, but the path from the introduction to the plateau of productivity on the market is the same. The path of innovation is called the Hype Curve. By this curve it is possible to gauge at what stage of innovation the innovation is. The Hype Curve can be an important guideline for companies that recognize the importance of innovation as a factor of competitiveness. The aim of this paper is to evaluate into which phase in the concept of Hype Curve is online grocery shopping on the Czech market. Secondary data on the penetration of online grocery shopping and the publicity of this innovation on the Czech market will be used to identify this phase. Research outcomes are useful for strategic managers of traditional retail organizations that decide to switch to the e-tail or hybrid form. The results of this paper can also help retail organizations that are already trading in this market in deciding on the adoption of further innovations linked to OGS. Voice Purchases, Augmented and Virtual Reality, Chatbots, Smart Refrigerators, Echo Amazon and Amazon Dash, Delivery Droids and 3D technology are the other innovations that this paper also deals with.