THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ON THE RETAIL FOOD BUSINESS

Abstract

Accelerated evolution and continuous improvement of digital technologies challenge retail companies to change and restructure their business models. Digitalization becomes a concept which transforms societies, economies and ways of doing business, including the retail food business. The research on transformation of retail companies due to the impact of digitalization is a relatively new issue. More and more retail companies are looking for ways to understand and use the opportunities of digital transformation. Despite the potential of digital transformation to generate significant economic benefits, many businesses do not undergo successful digital transformation. The main goal of the study is to interpret the impact of the digital transformation on the retail food business, considering the change in consumer behavior, and on this basis to derive the emerging dependencies. The method of single linear regression and correlation is used to measure the manifested dependencies. The highlighted method is applied using IBM SPSS Statistics (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). Respondents in the survey are individuals from the 27 Member States of the European Union. The data for their budgets refers to the period 2016-2021. Eurostat is used as the main information source of data as a statistical service of the European Union. The obtained results allow revealing the impact of the digital transformation on the business models of food retailers, as well as on the change of consumer behavior in the process of ordering and buying food. In the study, the approach of focusing on the costs of individuals for online food purchases is of particular importance. It is this approach that determines the relevance of the study.