How can food and beverage brands win in omnichannel grocery today?

In 2022, nearly 1 in 5 U.S. grocery shoppers reported purchasing groceries online at least once in the past month, with 44.7% of these online shoppers doing so three or more times.

Fast forward to 2025, and over 90% of consumers now blend online and in-store grocery shopping. This shift underscores the importance for food and beverage brands to ensure consistent product information across all channels.

However, maintaining this consistency is challenging. Discrepancies in product details across platforms can lead to consumer confusion and erode trust. Brands must navigate the complexities of omnichannel retailing to meet the evolving expectations of consumers.

In this article, we’ll explore strategies that successful food and beverage brands use to maintain consistency across different channels, the challenges they encounter, and how centralized product information management can be transformative in today’s omnichannel grocery landscape.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• Why is consistent product information crucial across grocery channels?
• What makes product content so difficult to manage in grocery retail?
• How do successful food and beverage brands stay ahead in omnichannel?
• What role does centralized product content play in omnichannel success?
• How does Inriver help brands keep product content consistent?

Why is consistent product information crucial across grocery channels?

Imagine this common scenario. A shopper scrolling through a grocery app sees your product. It features a thumbnail image, a brief title, and possibly a snippet of ingredients. Later that week, they spot the same item in-store, but the label looks different, or the sizing doesn’t match what they expected. That moment of friction can be enough to break the sale.

Consistency isn’t just about branding. It influences purchase decisions, search visibility, and even your eligibility for promotions through retail partners. The more channels a brand appears on, the more places there are for small data errors to multiply into big problems.

Younger consumers, in particular, especially those in Gen Z and Gen Alpha, expect product content to be current, localized, and continually optimized for the channel they’re using. They move fast between discovery and purchase, and they don’t wait for corrections.

That means brands targeting these groups must meet their expectations from the first click to checkout.

According to Adobe, omnichannel marketing depends on creating a unified experience across every touchpoint—not just coordinated campaigns, but also aligned product details, pricing, and availability (Adobe).

This alignment is especially critical in the grocery sector. Consumers rely on accurate product information for health, safety, dietary needs, and price comparisons.

If a product’s allergen info is missing online, or a discount isn’t reflected in one app, it can erode trust and push the customer elsewhere.

This is especially important in the context of today’s discovery behaviors. Many shoppers follow a pattern of scroll, stream, search, and shop, with each stage placing different demands on the content they encounter. Understanding the 4 S behaviors helps brands stay ready at every moment of that journey.

Meeting these expectations takes more than good intentions. It requires a system that keeps product content synchronized at scale, no matter how many platforms are in play.

What makes product content so difficult to manage in grocery retail?

Grocery brands are pressured to keep product content accurate across dozens of touchpoints. Promotions shift weekly, packaging updates roll out by region, and ingredients change to meet regulations.

Every update needs to show up everywhere, without delay. That’s easier said than done.

1. Multiple channels, no central control

Retailers, marketplaces, apps, and DTC platforms often run on different systems:

• One partner wants a spreadsheet
• Another requires manual uploads
• A third pulls from a syndicated feed

Without a centralized platform, updates scatter across systems, and errors slip through.

2. One product, many content demands

Even when the data is correct, it might not be ready for the shopper. A single grocery item often needs:

• Lifestyle images for web
• Compact labels for mobile
• Region-specific claims or certifications
• Accurate nutrition and allergen info for every listing

Managing this at scale strains teams and opens the door to inconsistency.

3. Broken content hurts performance

Disjointed product content doesn’t just create friction; it costs sales. It leads to:

• Poor visibility in search results
• Lower conversion rates
• Confusion or mistrust among customers

Improving the product experience starts with improving the content behind it.

4. Optimization isn’t optional

Getting found is half the battle. To compete, content must be:

• SEO-friendly
• Channel-ready
• Tailored to shopper behavior

These content optimization tips highlight how top brands create content that performs consistently, wherever it appears.

The takeaway? The real issue isn’t how many channels you sell through; it’s how you manage the content behind them.

How do successful food and beverage brands stay ahead in omnichannel?

Some brands treat omnichannel as a checklist. Others treat it as a strategy.

The difference shows in execution. Leading food and beverage brands don’t just aim for presence across platforms; they prioritize accuracy, speed, and adaptability.

That means getting the right product content in front of the right audience at the right moment, wherever they choose to shop.

Successful brands do this. They:

1. Don’t wait for errors to surface

Top performers don’t rely on partners to catch mismatches. They take ownership of product data and push updates proactively, not reactively.

With a trusted internal source of truth, every platform starts with aligned, accurate content, reducing the risk of inconsistencies before they hit the shelf (or screen).

2. Support their channel managers

Channel teams are often the first to flag content issues. However, without the right tools, they’re stuck reacting to retailer complaints or manually chasing down updates.

These five tips for channel managers demonstrate how to simplify the process, enhance speed, and foster stronger alignment with retail partners.

3. Move fast, without losing control

Speed matters in grocery. Promotions shift weekly. New products launch constantly. Brands that can update listings quickly without sacrificing accuracy have a clear edge.

Inriver’s approach to faster omnichannel distribution enables teams to make rapid updates across multiple channels without duplicating effort.

4. Treat content as performance fuel

Product information isn’t just backend data; it shapes discoverability, shopper confidence, and sales performance.

Brands that invest in high-quality, optimized content consistently outperform their competitors in terms of visibility and conversion.

In categories where purchase decisions happen fast, content is often the deciding factor.

What role does centralized product content play in omnichannel success?

When product information is scattered across multiple locations, errors occur. A file gets missed. An update doesn’t sync. A retailer pulls outdated specs.

Even small inconsistencies can lead to cart abandonment, compliance issues, or costly returns.

This is exactly what centralized product content is built to prevent.

One source, fewer surprises

With a centralized system, all product content, including images, specifications, certifications, marketing copy, and region-specific claims, is stored in one place.

Teams can update once and syndicate everywhere. No more guesswork, version control problems, or last-minute scrambles before launch.

It also gives teams full visibility into what’s live, where it’s published, and how it’s performing. That clarity is essential not just for efficiency, but for building a better customer experience across every touchpoint.

Stronger compliance and traceability

Food and beverage products are subject to specific regulations—from ingredient disclosures and nutritional standards to supply chain traceability.

A centralized system ensures that the right data is consistently applied across regions and formats.

That means if a product update is triggered by a regulatory change, you’re not chasing edits across ten platforms.

Product compliance management becomes an integral part of the process, rather than a separate cleanup task. And when traceability matters, for recalls, audits, or sustainability goals, it’s easier to deliver the whole picture.

Built for scale, not just survival

Centralizing product data unlocks growth. Brands can launch faster, adapt to local markets with less friction, and support new retail partnerships without overburdening their teams.

Omnichannel grocery is becoming increasingly complex. But with the right foundation, it doesn’t have to become unmanageable.

How does Inriver help brands keep product content consistent?

Inriver provides food and beverage brands with a single platform to manage, enrich, and distribute product content across all channels.

From updating a label to launching a new SKU or adjusting content for a retailer’s format, Inriver ensures consistency without manual cleanup.

The platform is built for speed and flexibility. You can adapt content by region, streamline updates, and support new channels as your business grows, all from one trusted source.

It’s a purpose-built PIM that helps you deliver accurate, ready-to-buy product content wherever your customers shop.

Talk to us about how to simplify your grocery content operations and stay ahead in every channel.