Roland Berger and EFMI Business School have conducted a joint study to gain insight into the future of the Dutch grocery sector, and understand how the industry could transform itself over the next 10 to 15 years within the context of a rapidly-changing world.

In order to capture accurate insights from within the sector, we organized roundtable discussions with CEOs and senior management of a wide variety of players active in the food and retail industry – both incumbent companies and innovative newcomers. In addition to the insights gained from these roundtable discussions, EFMI and Roland Berger conducted an in-depth food industry survey in which 150 executives from retailers, fresh food companies, brand- and private-label manufacturers gave their views on the future of the grocery sector. Next to these insights we added information collected from (desk) research.

Rather than trying to cover the full scope of the future of Dutch grocery shopping, we focus on specific developments in a number of selected deep dives or "Retail Tales". In a series of tales, we cover areas related to brick-and-mortar and smart shopping, to digitalization, and to a number of social aspects of the industry. In this introduction, we first provide you with an overview of what the grocery sector could expect in the coming years, with a special focus on the following:

• How industry developments and trends will impact the physical footprint of grocery retailers and how brick-and-mortar stores will change in terms of function and in-store technology
• How online grocery shopping will evolve and which e-commerce models will become most important in the sector
• How the social function of grocery players could change in a world where sustainability, value chain transparency and consumer health is becoming increasingly important